For the final project of my Interior Design class, we have been given dimensions and details to a room that we were asked to draft on a large sheet of vellum. Then, we were told to get all of the furnishings, paint, accessories, lighting, colors, fabrics, etc. for the room and put it together. In this room, we must include two sofas, two to six club chairs, a baby grand piano, a coffee table, end tables, art, accessories, lighting, and more. There’s barely any room and I have to fudge my sofa dimensions to make everything fit. Out of that, we must draw the room in a 2-point perspective with color renderings to show fabrics, color, shadow, shading, textures. We are also to do a “color board” where all of our colors, fabric samples, furniture samples, floor plan, etc. are put together and presented to the class and teacher/head of program. Because of the grand piano and large-scale fireplace, I made my room traditional and formal.

I pretty much had my furniture and colors all done until last night, when I was looking around the internet for some art, I found a new chandelier. I already had a chandelier that was adorable and classic, nice curves and somewhat sedated. But this chandelier is spectacular. I love this chandelier. I must have this chandelier in my room.

Now, none of my accessories and tables work. Plus, the teacher originally told me I didn’t have to have the baby grand piano in there, but now that I have the chandelier, the room is screaming for the piano!

It’s “Make It Work” time, people.

My friend at church with the recording studio asked me to come over again this Saturday and do a new take of that song, but I don’t think I am going to have any time until this project is finished. The rest of the week/weekend will need to be devoted to finishing the drawing and getting my samples together for the board, so I can spend the rest of my time on the rendering process.

At this point, I’m not sure if I feel good about the project or not. I’m definitely behind in schedule of where I’d like to be, but since I’ve been working on it every night, the situation isn’t grim. As long as I can finish up the color board and the drawing before Monday, I should be fine. We’ll see how it goes.

To decorate a home on a small budget is no project for the faint of heart. I started out with the same idea that my mom has: One room at a time.

Unfortunately, I am extremely impatient and I want instant results. More rooms have been started and not much has finished. I started out with the dining room and downstairs half bath with success. The superficial is done: Wallpaper has been removed and the rooms have been painted. But what makes a room truly come together are the little accents and artwork.

What most people do in this case is run out and buy a bunch of impersonal knickknacks and pretty artwork that they find in their local stores, creating a sterile, impersonal room - sans Pottery Barn. I would love to be able to do that, but in my own home I require pieces that I truly love, so I can’t just go out and spend hard earned cash on objects that don’t really move me. And so, my nearly-finished rooms sit barren, waiting for the artwork and little accessories that will grab me. I know they are out there, but they can often take a lot of time to find. Sometimes years.

It’s excruciatingly painful for someone who prefers instant results.

Decor8 featured a neat little website called BlueFlip Art, a website that aims to sell artists’ work as prints for low prices (most of their prints are under $20 - which is almost unheard of). When you buy a print, the artist donates a portion of the money to a charity of their choice. The charity is also listed on the site, so you know where your money is going before you purchase.

This print by Jen Lobo caught my eye, and I immediately fell in love with it:

The blue background of the print is the same color that I painted on one of my bathroom walls. It’s pretty fierce. Tom found a coupon for free shipping and ordered it for me. I hope it gets here before my mom does.

I want to say that my 1999 Volkswagen Jetta is the first brand new car I ever purchased, but that isn’t the case. I bought a brand new ‘98 Jetta, and someone totaled it after I had only owned it for two months. A moron at USAA kept losing all of my paperwork to get the car replaced, and I finally just got mad and made them send me a check. I used my even older Jetta for a little while - my very first car - an ‘87 Jetta in the typical Williams family brown. Strangely, all of our cars back then were brown, and we weren’t sure why. We figured Dad just had really good luck with brown cars or something. Eventually I decided to go for a ‘99 Jetta - the first year that they had come out with the new body style. It was a very basic car, and I didn’t negotiate on the price at all… in fact, somehow they managed to tack on even more money, and I never even noticed. I paid way too much money for that car.

The most memorable experience in the Jetta was when my friend, Liz, and I drove it to Montana for a week long vacation at Glacier National Park. I had only owned the car for three months and I was ready to make use of it. While we were there, Liz was sitting in the passenger seat and accidentally spilled her latte all on the upholstery. I was a little irritated, but then the very next day, the roles reversed - Liz was driving, and I spilled my latte all over the same passenger seat. I could never quite get the latte out of the car seat, so the stain pretty much remained for the next ten years. Aside from that, it was a great trip. We even met a young man who we shared a meal with and, because we’re weird, we talked to him about Jesus. It seemed that he had some problems in his past church experience, and wanted nothing to do with religion anymore. We kindly reminded him that it’s typical for people to screw up because we’re human and we do things that hurt others, even for the sake of Jesus. But we shouldn’t penalize God or the relationship He wants to have with us because people are hurtful. Everyone has had a bad experience in the church, I don’t care who you are. Anyone who has been in the church at least a little bit has a story that really sucks. I don’t know why it happens, or why it hurts more when it happens in a church setting. I have theories, but it would take too long to get into them. The important thing is not to neglect our relationship with God because of whatever happened.

I don’t know whatever happened to that young man, but I still think of him at times and hope that he is OK.

Since then, the Jetta has driven all over, even across the country, and it’s lived a good life. Tom and I chose a new 2009 Toyota Corolla, dark gray, with moonroof. We picked it up last night and I gave them the key to my Jetta. As we drove away in the new car, I couldn’t help but notice that they had already taken my Jetta away, and I remembered all of the good times I had in that car.

I got over it as soon as I pulled out of the parking lot. Did I mention my new car has a moonroof? LOL