Did It Myself No. 6: Blue and Orange Bedroom

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Enough has been said about New Year’s resolutions. I’m not going to add to the cacophony. But I will say this – about myself. I make resolutions all the time. Spring resolutions. Birthday resolutions. Morning resolutions. Sometime I keep them. Sometimes I don’t.

Inspired by a piece of soap. Soap in a dish…
not on a rope.

One of my current resolutions is to blog more. Why? Because I like putting stuff out there, whether I get paid for it or not. Perhaps the current state of social media will be the downfall of us all, but I like that we live in a Pinterest-y world where people share ideas and creativity flows from one home to another.

I often wonder why Pinterest wasn’t called Pinspiration, because isn’t inspiration what it’s all about? Is it too long of a word? Maybe it didn’t quite hit the nail on the head as far as the namers were concerned? I’m sure if I went in search of an answer I’d find it. But I’ve got more important things to do. Like blogging.

The thing I love about inspiration is it can come from the strangest places. Like the master bedroom redesign I recently completed. Would you believe a piece of soap is responsible? A piece of orange soap on a blue soap dish. I looked down at it and thought, blue and orange…  what a beautiful  – and unusual – colour combination! (Even in my thoughts I use en-dashes.)

Kind of looked like a 1990s
dorm room before… minus
the Pearl Jam posters.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one who had come to this conclusion. I found a few jumping-off photos on, where else, Pinterest. One pin in particular convinced me orange curtains were a must, so I headed on over to my new favourite website Fabric Spot. Many hours were wiled away looking at intoxicating prints when my daughter was a newborn and I was trapped (lovingly) with a sleeping infant in my arms. (Yes, I am intoxicated by fabric samples. I lead a simple life.)

When I found this orange and white damask I knew my curtains were nigh. Paired with blue walls (albeit with the deceiving name "Aloof Gray"), a linen coloured duvet cover, orange bird throw pillows and a blue and orange bird-printed fabric, also from Fabric Spot (and sadly no longer available), and I was laughin’. (You know, because I was drunk on my fabric purchases.)

I was not the only one to be oh-so-delighted by my design choices. My daughter, now over a year old, pointed at the new curtains and bird artwork I’d hung overnight (more birds!) and said, “oooooooh.” What can I say? She’s got great taste.