design devotee: January 2011

13 January, 2011

baby room model

My boyfriend's sister and brother- in- law are having a baby in April!! For their Christmas present Brian (my boyfriend) and I put gift cards to Baby's R Us and Lowe's inside this model of their baby room that I made! Presentation is everything, right?!

Brian's sister is in the midst of decorating their baby room right now. So.. I thought it would be fun to take a look at some baby room ideas, hopefully these will help her!

12 January, 2011

DIY Jute String Chandeliers

The inspiration for these DIY string chandeliers came from Ruffled.

This is such an easy and fun way to add character to a space!

I'll walk you through the steps on how to make your own string chandeliers!!

1. Inflate the balloon to your desired size a shape. I made a variety of different shapes and sizes.

2. If you’re looking to make a lampshade out of the string chandelier, use a sharpie to mark a circle around the tie of the balloon that will leave a space for the bulb to fit in.

3. Before you start working, we recommend using a tarp. Mix corn starch, glue and warm water together until it has a smooth texture. ( An alternative would be to mix water and flour, 1:2 flour to water ratio)

4. Smear the vaseline all over your balloon until it is completely coated so the twine wet with glue won’t stick on the balloon after dry.

5. You can start a little assembly line with friends by one of you feeding the yarn through the glue mix and giving to another person to wrap it around the balloon.

6. Start wrapping the balloon vertically, and slowly change to wrapping horizontally. For a seamless look, tuck the ends of the twine under one of the wrapped strings.

7. Wait 24 hours until the balloon has completely dried before popping the balloon.

8. If you want you can spray the string chandeliers with a clear fast drying spray paint et voila!

10 January, 2011

Think. Design. Build.

This past semester I was in a class called Think. Design. Build. I showed you our first project, the shelving unit, a few post back. The second project assignment that we were given was to design a Tennessee Igloo out of at least 50% cardboard.

THINK--

We took time to study igloos, looking at how they are built and why there are built, what an "igloo" would look like in different climates around the world, and then finally we designed an "igloo" for Tennessee and it's climate.