Hello friends! It's me, Leslie with Color Me Pretty and this time I wanted to work with a softer palette filled with neutrals, leaf greens, amber, lavender and a little chartreuse. My experiment was to use these colors while trying to find my inner "botanist" because little touches of science seems to be a popular trend in home decor that I just can't get enough of... I hope you like my translation of this today!

Decorating Tips: You can bring this decorating "scientist" look into your house really simply with lovely glass lab bottles filled with samples from a walk in the park or around your yard. I also love the look of amber glass for a similar effect. Instead of recycling my glass vitamin bottles I save them as little flower vases to hold smaller "specimens". If you are not into vitamins you can also purchase amber glass bottles really inexpensively at bottle supply companies and they come in all sorts of fun sizes.

Old botanical drawings of plants and antique looking fonts can also be easily found and used to compliment this look. If you are making your own projects, it helps if you create a little series and use date stamps -think science project observations! I walked around my garden and painted a few samples of what was growing last week, but photographs or collages could have been good too. If you put a little label and date on each piece you start to create a "study" kind of look that can be displayed together.

DIY Idea: I wanted to create a quick clothesline effect to hang watercolor renderings I did of what is growing right now in my little garden. However, I could not decide where I wanted to drill the holes into my walls! Instead I made a clothesline canvas that can be propped up anywhere and made in a jiffy. I used natural twine, mini wooden clothes pins, a canvas board (from an art supply store) and some heavy duty tape. As long as you do not hang anything too heavy, the mini twine clothes lines reinforced with duct tape on the back of the canvas can hold your inspiring little pieces. If you want to do something a little stronger you can use a prepared canvas that is wrapped around a wooden frame (ones made up for oil paintings) and use hanging screws and wires to create the clothes lines. Attach the hanging screws to the sides of the canvas, screwing them into the wood and use the wire as you hanging line. Either way you have an easy moveable display for your bits of inspiration. - xo Leslie.

Do you have any ideas that you'd like to share on how to bring a little decorating science into your home? Please share in the comments section!

(images: leslie shewring)