GREAT GALLERY WALLS: HOW TO CREATE ONE

I like the look of gallery walls, and often use them in my own spaces. The image above is from a small apartment I renovated and decorated. I find the key is making sure you have enough artwork to fill in the space, they don't look good if it's too skimpy. It's a great style, and can be an excellent way to use different frames and styles of art that you might have laying around. It can take some experimenting to get the layout perfect. I lay all the artwork out on the floor first, like a puzzle, and move things around until the overall fit looks right. From that point I choose the centre piece and hang that one first, hanging the others around that. In my opinion, it's not a perfect science. As you can see in these rooms it can be nice when colourful prints, photos and paintings are mixed together.

Sources:

Image 1:  Deb Nelson Design, photo by Janet Kimber

Image 2: houseandhome.com

Image 3: lonny.com

Image 4: unknown

SMALL SPACE SOLUTION: DIY SOFA WITH STORAGE

This is a small space solution, that can also work if you're in a home and looking for a multi-purpose sofa/bed/storage. When I was designing this small space above, I was looking for a way to incorporate those three elements. There are options out there you can purchase, but I didn't want to commit to keeping a piece of furniture there, I was looking for more flexibility to be able to easily move things around or change items. So I came up with the idea you see above. I used some Ikea cabinets to create a base, so there was storage, and I topped these cabinets with a board. I then made a custom foam mattress to fit on the board and covered that with linen fabric. I had looked at many of these ideas online before I came up with this idea.  These were a few in my inspiration file.

So used 3 of these cabinets from Ikea as the base, to use for storage:

And here is how it all looked finished. For the purposes of the photo shoot I covered the white fronts with a piece of black fabric, creating the look of a skirt around the base.

BEFORE & AFTER: AFFORDABLE, DIY KITCHEN

In this kitchen update, the only material I used was paint and that was the only cost involved! This is what I would call a true paint makeover. Here are a few BEFORE pictures:

And a few more of the AFTER pictures. I painted 8 different surfaces in this kitchen, can you spot the changes?

Painted surfaces included:

1. The fridge: in black chalkboard paint, probably my favourite part of this transformation and was so easy to do!

2. Upper Cabinets: white

3. Lower Cabinets: F & B, mouses back

4. Counter

5. Backsplash: you might be able to see in the 'before' the backsplash had a dated flower motif throughout the tiles

6. Hardware: spray painted all the old hardware silve

7. Range hood: it was an 'almond' colour before and didn't match the white stove

8. Dishwasher front: painted in lower cabinet colour to blend in

DEB'S DIY: CREATE A COLOURFUL VASE

This is an easy DIY and all you need is a clear vase and some decorative paper. The idea is to line a clear vase with patterned paper – it can be any kind of paper – maybe left over wallpaper, wrapping paper, etc. You can use the vase to hold items, like rolls of wrapping paper or branches (any dry arrangement that doesn't require water). Another fun part of this DIY is that you can use it over the holiday season with your favourite wrapping paper, or for a children's birthday party and match the wrapping paper in the vase to the theme of the party. The options are endless! Here are the simple steps:

Use a clear, clean vase.

Make sure the paper is wide enough to wrap in the vase. Use the vase to measure the height of paper.

Use a pencil to mark where you need to cut the paper to fit.

Place the paper in the vase, I put the 'cut' edge of the paper at the bottom of the vase. I also used a bit of clear tape on the inside to keep the paper taped in place.