Office Corner Organization

San Diego doesn't get much rain but these past two weeks have been filled with it so our landscape project we've been working on has been delayed (you can read a little about it here). I thought I would be done with that project by now and would be able to have the full reveal but it looks like it's going to be another week or two, weather permitting. When it comes to house projects everything seems to take longer than planned.

This past weekend I took advantage of the rainy weather and took care of some much needed cleaning and organizing in my office/art/sewing room. My Etsy shop has been getting more and more busy and my sewing area looked like a fabric bomb had exploded. So I took some time out to sort through all my fabric, separating it into solids, prints, felt and remnants stacks. I purchased some cute boxes from IKEA, one for each stack and placed the fabric in each box. Now I can find what I'm looking for quickly rather than constantly sorting through my growing stack of assorted fabrics!

Next I needed somewhere to put my newly organized fabrics as well as some books and other items that have been stacked up in the corner waiting for a home.

I had been putting this off because I wanted to search around for a interesting bookshelf but due to time and money constraints I decided it was time to hit up IKEA for a bookshelf. I found this modern looking white bookshelf, added some vintage finds and one of my collage art pieces to add a little character and voila, a well organized office corner!

 

Geometric Modern Pillow Cover

I found this great modern geometric fabric! I think it's a great color combination. I made a pillow cover out of it and it's now available at my Etsy shop! A great way to add some color and style to a chair, sofa or bed!

 

Driveway Landscaping Make-over Sneak Peek

The past several weekends we have been hard at work expanding our driveway by edging it with bricks and doing an entire landscaping make-over next to the driveway. It's already a huge transformation but it's going to be another week or two before the project is completed. In the meantime here is a sneak peek of what is being done! I'll go more into detail about the project in the big reveal!


A before photo. The bricks have been laid, I'll show the real before photo in the final reveal in a few weeks!

After

 

 We are trying to do a mostly water wise xeriscape garden. Here I used Ponytail grass and succulents.

Sam Maloof

A little less than 2 years ago my dad signed us both up for a class offered through UC Riverside called "A Day with Sam Maloof". It was a birthday present to me and what a great birthday present it was! For those who don't know, Sam Maloof is known as one of the finest woodworkers/furniture makers of our time and a leader of the California modern arts movement. If you have never seen his furniture you must check it out, it's really beautiful! So this class was to be taught by the master himself in his workshop which is located on the property of his home in Alta Loma, California. There are two homes on the property, the newer home where Sam's wife still lives and Sam's old home where he lived with his first wife. You can tour the old home and see Sam and his wife's art collection and a lot of his original furniture pieces, I wanted to take everything home with me! Sadly Sam had fallen ill and was unable to teach the class so one of his woodworking partners filled in. We were really disappointed that Sam wasn't going to teach the class but his partner did a really excellent job and we were happy we still attended! We got to tour the workshop and learn about many of the woodworking techniques Sam used, it was a fantastic experience! Sam and his wife were very kind and invited us all over to the house so we could still meet Sam and what a honer it was! Sadly Sam passed away just a few months later but he has left behind some truly beautiful art pieces. If you are ever in the area I highly encourage you to go tour his house. Here is a link to the Sam Mallof Foundation where you can get more info http://www.malooffoundation.org/

After the class was over we got to tour the grounds and the old house which houses many of Sam's furniture and art collection. I was so upset with myself because I forgot my camera. All I had was my cell phone and the camera on it is terrible. So I'm going to apologize now for the terrible, low quality images that are to follow but I wanted to share anyways.

A wooden gate on the property made by Sam Maloof.

 Sam and his wife were huge art collectors. There was beautiful pottery everywhere I looked!

A Sam Maloof chair, beautiful isn't it? Sorry for the terrible photo, this chair deserves better.

 More of Sam and his wife's art collection.

I'm so in love with this stain glass window!

 

 

 I'll take one of these please!

 

Amazing pottery collection

 Another wonderful cell phone photo, gotta love that poor quality. This is one of Sam Maloof's famous rocking chairs.

 Beautiful wood carved spiral staircase.

This is one of my favorite chairs.

The gardens on the property are really beautiful too, well worth taking the time to walk though. They appear to use mostly drought tolerant plants.

This made me swoon. I'm hoping to do something similar in our backyard one of these days. 

Wood carving that sits in the garden.

Red Tubes Pillow

My newest pillow creation now available at my Etsy shop! More colors soon to come! Made completely from Eco-Felt which is made from recycled post consumer plastic bottles.This super soft pillow cover is full of texture and color!