Inspiration Everywhere

So last night we were making tuna and cheese melts for dinner and Seth asked me if I remembered the "power of cheese" commercials. No. I didn't. He was shocked, so we had to get on Youtube to watch some while we ate. We watched this one where a politician said he didn't like cheese and everyone was horrified, then BAM. The mornings paper with the shocking headline slams to the ground.

Beautiful right?? Ok, it's just a stack of newspapers, but what I saw was a beautiful newsprint pillow. Maybe it's just the journalist in me, but I think a pillow like this would be so charming. Made out of newsprint fabric, and tied with some simple string. This one's going in the future inspiration files. 

As for a newsprint fabric, how about this one from Etsy? Covered in totally iconic images and headlines. Look, there's even Audrey up in the left corner! *sigh* I love her. A lot. This fabric would be stunning.

Well, it's time for me to go to work, but I hope you have a fantastic day. Look around you today, and be inspired by something. Anything. As *ahem* cheesy as it might sound, I am constantly finding myself inspired by everyday things around me. I truly believe you don't have to spend a lot of money for beauty. God has placed it all around us. Just open your eyes.

*amber*

Dear Santa...

For Christmas I want:

1. Long luscious locks.

I miss the feel of my hair whipping in the wind. Like this.

Or this. Actually, if you could just insert my into this picture, I wouldn't mind. The hair, the dress, the cardigan, the scenery... take me there.

Or, if you can't just give me the hair, can you at least make mine grow faster? It takes FOREVER!

2. Cozy sweaters and boots. To keep me warm. 

Like this.

And these.

3. And finally, could you please just slow time down? Or maybe stop it altogether?

I need a good long vacation in Italy. So I can pass my Italian final tomorrow morning! Really, it's not a want, it's a need!

And so I can have time to work on all the projects I have planned in my head. Like making amazing reversible sweater stockings, inspired by these.

And do this to our bedroom wall.

That's all, ok? Simple requests, really. Ready... Go!

*amber*

Announcement! With some visions of sugarplums on the side.

Ok, are you ready? Here it is...

We're going to Disneyworld for Christmas!!! 

I seriously cannot wait. This is going to be me.

Yes, the one on the left. Furreals. She is my idol and I've wanted one of those dresses since I was 3. I'm determined to find one in my size this time.

We're smack in the middle of finals, but all I can think about is, "Florida, here we come!" It doesn't help that I've had major travel fever since this Summer. I've never been to Disneyworld (or Florida), so if you have and have any good advice, please share!

* * *

In other news, because of finals and the fact that we won't be here for Christmas, I decided I didn't feel like decorating. Not even our tree! I don't know if you realize how big of a deal this is for me. I'm a decorating freak. Seriously. Any given day, you can ask me what decorating projects I'm planning or thinking of and I'll talk your ear off. So it's no wonder that when I told Seth I didn't feel like putting up our tree, he asked me what I did with his wife.

Anyway, that's just how I felt this year. Then, last Saturday, I went to the Festival of Trees with some friends from work.

Yes, Seth was photoshopped in hehe. He couldn't come because he had too much homework :(

The Festival of Trees is a charity event where people donate decorated trees, wreaths, gingerbread houses, quilts, and other crafts to be silent auctioned and all of the proceeds go to Primary Children's Hospital. It's a fun Christmas event. They have some of the most creative trees I've ever seen there.

So I started getting into the Christmas tree spirit. Except, I still didn't feel like doing it. Mostly just thinking about Christmas trees. (Still weird. In my mind, any form of creativity or expression is totally worth the work.) So I decided to post some pictures of our lovely tree from last year. So I can still look at my beautiful tree. Maybe I can't bask in the warmth of the magical glow it casts throughout our house, but at least I won't be lint rolling fake snow off my clothes for the next three months.

Here you are.

Mmm... lovely. I love Christmas trees.

Merry Christmas everyone! And if you have a tree, enjoy it for me!

*amber*

Oh Ingrid...

How do you always write songs that fit me so perfectly?

Dearest Seth,

We might not have any money, but we have our love to pay the bills.

So... 

Let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of France,

Let's get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance,

Let's get rich and buy a house on a mountain making everybody look like ants,

Way up there, you and I... you and I... (will actually have time to spend together!)


* * *


Ok, I'm not that superficial or money obsessed... but wouldn't it be nice? Seth is two weeks away from graduating. I, on the other hand, feel like I will perpetually be haunting the BYU campus. We are both going crazy. Seth, because he has 5 days of classes left to finish about 3 weeks worth of work. Me, because I just want to graduate, get a wonderful job in public relations, and start living a normal life. The college student life can really wear on you.

Perhaps this isn't the best time to be feeling this way. Finals are a week away. But I just can't help thinking of the day when I'll be free and we can do what we want with our time. Maybe I feel like this because my week has been ridiculous and Wednesday night I got a grand total of 2 hours of sleep, because I spent all night putting together two group projects. Ugh.

Yesterday, I felt run down and burnt out. Seth totally didn't have time for it, but he took the time to take me on a date. We went wandering through a thrift store, then got frozen yogurt. It was wonderful to spent time with him, because we hardly have time for date nights anymore. Now today is one of those days where I just want to snuggle under the covers all day. Unfortunately, that is SO not an option.

Blah... but listening to this song over and over seems to be helping some :)

Also, we are going on an amazing vacation very soon. More on that later.

*amber*

Dickson Dream Home: Purple Bedrooms

Lately, I have found myself really loving purple bedrooms. It is a deep, rich, luxurious color. And on top of that, it is a restful color. Studies show that people have more restful sleep in purple rooms. How could you say no to that? The chosen color palette for this inspiration is varying shades of purple, crisp white, and a silver-gray-pewter color.

I stumbled upon this guest room photo in a Country Living photo spread, and fell in love. I've now decided that we will have a purple bedroom someday.

I love the simplicity and cleanliness of this bedroom. The light gray tulle on the sheets and curtains is so charming. And the texture and color of the throw looks ridiculously comfortable. I just want to take a nap here.

 Mmm... this photo is my absolute favorite. I'm a total sucker for upholstered headboards. With all the great tutorials for them, I'm sure I'll be making our own someday. The antique bed is beautiful. The metallicy pewter and the pattern of the wallpaper are stunning.This room is unbelievably beautiful. It feels like an amazing European retreat. That's how I'd like to feel every time I walk into my bedroom.

This is the bathroom attached to the room above. Amazing right? Look at that freestanding tub! I even love the whimsical little chandeliers, or whatever those are.

Before I decided I wanted a purple bedroom, I'd known for years that I wanted a purple master bathroom. The color is just too soothing to ignore. Now it seems obvious that we can tie the two rooms together with a related color palette.

So this room actually has the colors I would like in our master bathroom (and what we have in our bathroom now.) Deep purple, bluish sea green, and creamy white.

Also, the fireplace. Our dream is to have a fireplace in our bedroom :) And the master bathroom actually. It would be placed in the wall between the two rooms so it could heat both at the same time.

The striped wallpaper by Graham and Brown behind the fireplace is also great. I live a nice bold stripe on a wall, and those vertical stripes make your ceiling look much higher.

Around the fantasy fireplace, there would be a cozy sitting area with a small sofa and lovely little chairs like this one. Photo Credit: Amanda Nisbet Design.

With a color this deep however, lots of lightness and natural light is a must. That means big windows, gauzy white curtains that let in dreamy diffused sunlight, and crisp white furniture.

I just love the contemporary simplicity of this one (found here.) The lighting and unique artwork make this feel so sleek and chic.

A beautiful architectural mirror like this artistic circles piece, or this classic venetian mirror adds brightness and glitz to the room.

I heart these pillows from Thomas Paul. Seriously, isn't purple such a delicious color? I think my favorite color, green, may be getting jealous.

And perhaps a vase of these, no?

More purple inspiration was drawn from this wedding inspiration shoot by Victoria at The City Cradle.

* * *

Now don't get me wrong. I love our bedroom now. I mean we are still students on a tight budget, but thanks to generous wedding gifters, we were able to get a really nice bedding set.

 It's the DKNY Wildflower Field bedding. Now, don't be fooled. That's not our room. Ours was a little too messy for photography, so I had to use the catalogue picture. Our bed has the pretty comforter with some different red sheets and none of the decorative pillows. (It was all a little pricey, but I'm working on making some.) Ours is much simpler than this, but you get the idea. 

I think it's beautiful and fell in love with it the first time I saw it. Which is weird. For me. See... I'm not a huge fan of the color red. Now before you decide to kick me off the island, I do not HATE red. And in my defense, I did pick this bedding. But I'm just usually attracted to cool toned colors and red is almost too warm and overpowering for my personal taste. Don't hate me, ok? 

I just think it's interesting that I, of all people, picked red. (The contrast with the white helps.)And though I still love it, I think when it's time to get new bedding, I may have to go for something a little more me-ish.

* * *

What colors/styles/textures do you like for a bedroom? Or am I the only person that thinks so much about stuff like this? Hm... Well I need to have decided what I like before I have to decorate a house, right?

*amber*

Dickson Dream Home: Spooky Daydreaming

Hm... isn't daydreaming usually pleasant? But it can't be nightmaring because it's daytime. Ok ok, today I have been daymaring.

I've finally caught Halloween fever! Oh don't worry, I've been working on our costumes for weeks. But I'm finally getting into the Halloween spirit! Took me long enough... Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!

Today, I was walking home from school, and as I passed our neighbors' yard, I admired all of the Halloween decorations that positively coat their front yard. I began daymaring about all the things I would love to do... someday... when we have money to spend on frivolous things... *Sigh* I fear it's the eternal struggle.

So, because our house won't be adequately decked out this year, I decided to post some of my dream (or mare) decorations here. Welcome to the Dickson's Nightmare Manor of Horrors. Mwahaha!!!... Sorry. Carried away.

Upon entering our spooky abode, you will come face to face with a foreboding knocker.

In the entryway, you are greeted by a buffet covered in sinister looking terrariums. Full of everything from creepy giant spiders, to stacks of miniature skulls, to unidentifiable plants floating in sickly colored liquids.

via: Country Living 

 You then walk down a hall, lined with old family portraits. But wait, when you glance back at them, they've taken on a ghostly form!

Seth and I saw some spooky portrait holograms when we were grocery shopping this week. Set in antique frames, they would be a perfect haunting element for any Halloween home.

 Everywhere you go, candelabras cast eerie shadows all around. 

What is so great about Halloween is that almost anything can look spooky, if staged right. Especially if you have pieces that are antique or worn. For example, put tall black candles on an elegant antique candelabra, and you've got the perfect light source for any haunted house. 

In the dining room, you find the table piled with gilded pumpkins and gords, and lined with fall leaf garlands. 

The centerpiece is a huge floral arrangement full of deep fall-colored flowers, accented with dark feathers and draping strands of black pearls.

 The wall above the sofa is covered in a collection of masks, staring down at you.

These masks can be bought, or very easily made. In high school, we had a masquerade themed dance and we all made our own masks. Just use those plastic dollar store masks, cut them to the shape you want, then use acrylic paints. Splotched metallic paint looks great on top of a deeper color. Then accessorize with feathers, glitter, ribbon, or whatever else you have lying around. If done well, they can look very expensive.

 Ravens are perched sporadically through the house. 

 And of course, everything is adequately covered in cobwebs.

 As you exit, you must walk through rows of  tombstones and ancient statues, lit only by the glowing jack-o-lanterns at their feet. 

Ideally, there would be big spooky statues in the forms of angels and demons. Inspiration here was drawn from Phantom of the Opera.

Happy Halloween Season! 

Now I'm off to work on our completely DIY costumes... they're taking so much work. But they'll be worth it. The unveiling will be coming soon.


PS: aren't you so happy I've broken out of my lazy blogger-video posting rut? I am :)

*amber* 

The Dickson Dream Home: Numero Uno

So I have a confession to make. We are officially obsessed with having our own house. Someday. Far far in the future. When we don't have to worry about school anymore... Anyway, we've fallen in love with the idea of having a real home someday. You know, a place that won't be infested with spiders but have landlords that won't pay for pest control. A stove that won't randomly start the washer and dryer instead of the burners... oh yeah. That will be the life.

It all started this Summer. We've spent a lot of time at my parents' house this Summer for family events, things to do up in Salt Lake, etc. Every time we're there, we watch tv. Bad habit, I know, but we don't have tv so we take advantage of it when we can. Usually, the television ends up on HGTV. Thus, we have been watching lots of shows like "My First Place" and "House Hunters". And guess what? We've caught house fever! (Oh ya, and I've been watching Design Star on hulu all season... This is not a good combination)

As a consequence, our conversations lately have consisted largely of layout discussions, theoretical design questions, landscaping ideas, and plans for our future home. Now let me tell you, our dream home is turning out to be quite the little pad... completely state of the art of course.

Since our future nest has been on my mind so much lately, I've been noticing things that I like and good ideas everywhere. So I've decided to put some of those things on our blog. That way, I'll have easy access to all of my good ideas and I don't have to worry about forgetting things.

Thus begins... THE DICKSON DREAM HOME PROJECT! 

By: Amber and Seth Dickson

* * *

Many of my favorite ideas and inspirations have come from pretty pictures I've seen. Photographed rooms and homes always look so perfect don't they? But what happens when you take a closer look? Often, you find a lot of vignettes of random objects that don't necessarily go together, and furniture pieces that serve absolutely no function. But hey, they always photograph well, right?

Recently, I happened upon this blog by LA comedian Molly Erdman (who you might recognize from the Sonic commercials.) She takes pictures from catalogs and adds a story based on what is in the picture. I guarantee, as you follow Gary and Elaine through their perfectly photographed world, you won't be able to help falling in love with this blog and its perfect satire.

Here's one of my favorites:

The only things Elaine treasures more than her prized blue and white urn collection are the framed drawings of her blue and white urn collection.

Visit Catalog Living to see more goodness.

*amber*

Home Sweet(er smelling) Home

As hoped, I am now in a much better mood. Everything was sorted out with the leak and the carpet (well, hopefully. I guess we'll see when it rains again) and we can breathe the air in our apartment without feeling nauseated.

The plumber finally came on Wednesday and decided that it was because our rain gutter was plugged up with leaves and stuff so water just kept building up and dripping down our outside wall; which is growing a lovely trail of moss all the way down. Beneath that, the cement kind of dips and has a crack, so he thinks that is how the water got in. I sure hope he's right. And I hope someone comes to re-cement that soon.

Wednesday when I got home from work, this is what I saw:

The carpet had all been pulled out and underneath was this old tile. I thought it could have been kind of pretty just to leave the tile and fix it up a bit... am I crazy? :) It would be like those old houses where they pull up the carpet to find nice hardwood floors because that's what people used to put under carpet. They just have to refinish it and... voila! Beautiful antique hardwood floors!

Anyway, there was that white junk plastered all over the floor and the only place you can actually see the tile is where, I'm guessing, the water washed it off. You can see in the picture where most of the water damage would have been. The wall with the window is the back wall where the water came in from. Where I'm standing is in the kitchen door. The water traveled all the way across the room. 

Thursday, some guys came to put in new carpet. This is what I saw when I came home from work:

Hm... brown carpet eh? I sort of feel like we're living in the 70's now... Groovy.

But hey, at least we have carpet right? And it's dry. And it's not as thick or padded so if we leak again, the water won't have as much room to soak in and start growing things. 

So now we can start putting our house together again! Huzzah! I can't wait to have things back to normal. We can finally sleep in our own bed again! I haven't even gone grocery shopping since we've been home from our trip because I didn't want to cook food with mold spores all over it. 

Yuck... I need to stop thinking about it. Just remembering disgusts me...

Happy Saturday everyone!

*amber*

Homeless

Disclaimer: This post is really nothing but an angry rant. I am not an angry person. This is probably the most angry you will ever see me. Feel free to skip this post. I just needed to vent a bit.

* * *

Last week, we went up to Washington for a little vacation with Seth's family. It was so wonderful! We had lots and lots of fun and have lots of great pictures. I was planning on being totally blogtastic this week. But I have a feeling it's not going to happen. At least for a few more days...

We got home from our amazing trip Saturday night. By the time we got back to our house in Provo, it was around one in the morning. We were exhausted and couldn't wait to just fall into bed. I opened the door and walked in. This is what I heard: "SQUISH SQUISH SQUISH" with each step I took. I looked down and realized that our carpet was soaked at the same moment I felt water soaking through my shoes. Great.

When we first moved into our apartment, we noticed that the carpets in the living room felt slightly damp. It was so slight, that we weren't sure if we were imagining it. Maybe it was just cold? But we called our management company and told them to send someone out to look at it, just in case. 

Well, no one ever came. We called a few more times, with this and a few more problems, and still no one has come to our house. I started to get a little irritated but because the carpet wasn't getting any worse, I just tried to be patient and not worry about it too much. 

Now, I'm really upset. We were gone for over a week, so we don't know how long the carpet has been like this. We do know it was raining a lot, so it may have been from that. But it's so wet that in places, you can see the water drops resting on the top of the carpet. And it doesn't seem to be drying at all either.

So at 1:30 on Saturday night, I called our management company and left them a very heated message. I knew no one was there and that no one would be there until today because of Memorial Day. However, I was mad. I'm not the kind of person that gets mad very easily. Or is very assertive or likes to talk to people on the phone or likes confrontation. At all. But I think I snapped. Our whole house smells like mildew and it's really disgusting. We've been trying to keep all of the doors closed and even put up a curtain so the smell would stay mostly in the living room. Somehow, it still finds a way to seep through.

Sunday morning, I woke up sick. Probably from all the mildew and stuff in the air. We didn't even make it to church on Sunday because I was sick and we were trying to get everything out of the living room. We really hope all of our furniture isn't damaged beyond repair. After moving everything, we sort of re-packed our still packed bags and headed up to my parents' house so we could shower without getting moldey again, and so we could sleep in clean air. We spent last night there too because we didn't want to come back here, then came back to Provo this morning for work. I'm not sure where we'll stay tonight. I feel a little bit homeless, living half at my parents' house, half out of suitcases from our vacation.

Not only will we need new carpet, but we really need to figure out where the leak is coming from. I really hope someone can find it. I went into our management office today and demanded that she get someone to come out here TODAY. The plumber called Seth and said he could probably come this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Well, he never came today. All I can say is, he better come tomorrow.

Sorry for the rant. If you can't tell, I'm really not very happy about this. Ok. Now I better go try to unpack and do some laundry... which I haven't done yet because all of our living room furniture is crowded into our kitchen and bedroom. There is not much space left to move around. 

Ugh.

Anyway, I'll try to blog about happier things later in the week. Maybe by then I'll be in a better mood.

*amber*

La Mia Bella Vita (my beautiful life)

Yesterday was such a good day. My mom came down and helped me paint our living room. Thanks mom! Seth also helped me finish painting after work. Look how cute he is... *sneak peak at the color*

It looks so much better now. I'll post some picture as soon as the furniture is all back in place and I can get some good ones. I also tried a new recipe for Apple Crisp and I think it's going to be one of our new favorites. With vanilla ice cream.... yum. Seth and I played games on our bedroom floor and played with the painters tape after taking it off the walls. Our house was all torn up from painting which would usually drive me crazy, but I had fun being silly and acting like a little kid.

I wish every day was like yesterday. I just had so much fun. Lately, I've been stuck in a rut. Seth works full time and I work afternoons. After he leaves for work, I always seem to get sad and lonely. I'm not exactly sure why. Yesterday was so different though! Maybe it was just because I had company, or maybe it was because what we were working on made such a difference in the mood in our house... I don't know why. But I'm making it my goal to keep that good mood. In the mornings when I'm all by myself, I'm going to find things to do that keep me cheerful. I have a few projects planned that will probably help with just that. I also want to start writing more. It's been awhile, but I might look into a little freelancing this Summer... we'll see.

* * *

I saw this video this morning and it brought me to tears. It made me so thankful to have such a beautiful life. 

It also gets me excited to celebrate mothers in two days! (more on that later.)

*amber*

Il Mio Tavolo

Last week, we finally got a dining table! I'm still so excited about it. And still loving the fact that our new house has room for one!

Last night, we had people over for dinner for the first time since we've been married! It was so exciting. I love cooking and having people over, so dinner parties might become quite commonplace now. 

My old roommates Jessica and Averyl were our first official dinner guests. We had fish tacos, cilantro lime rice, and black beans, and rasperry cream filled lemon cupcakes for dessert. 

I'm really becoming a little obsessed with cooking... I think I can blame a lot of that on our HUGE new kitchen. But it's not such a bad thing... right? I mean, there are worse things I could be obsessed with. 

*foreshadowing*

And thus began the Summer of countless dinner parties... (just sayin'...)

*amber*

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!

Yesterday we finished cleaning out our old apartment. We brought the rest of our stuff to our new house and scrubbed til the old one was sparkling clean for the new tenants.

I have to admit, there were a few days there where I was really sad to be moving. When we first moved in to our old house, it was really gross... even the paint colors were HORRIBLE. Poop brown for the bedroom, poop green for the living room, dark dark purple for the kitchen, and old orange tile in the bathroom. No exaggerations. We did a lot to fix the apartment up. Eventually, we got it to feel like home. As little and old as it was, I grew to like the poor-chic charm of our apartment.

Ever since we moved in, I've regretted not taking before and after pictures. Because really, it was nasty. Now, I wish I had a least taken after pictures. But I never did. 

 

As we were moving out, I got really sad and sentimental and wished I had gone through and taken lots of pictures or something so we'd have a record of the first place we lived after we got married... I'm still a little sad I didn't do that. I waited until it was too late. So now, all I have are the pictures we took so we could post the apartment on Craigslist. Not very good, the house is messy, they don't show every room, and we've already started packing a little so things aren't set up like they usually were. Sigh... oh well. I'll have to let it go. 

Goodbye old house.

Now... Hello new house! 

True, I will miss our old place. Mainly because it was our first place. But it is now time to move on. And I'm ready. Our new house is wonderful. MUCH more space. 

Things that make our new house SO much better:

Walking distance to campus. Covered parking. Close to lots of our friends. BIG kitchen!!! (Look at the kitchen picture above. That's pretty much the whole kitchen.) Closet space. Cheaper rent and utilities. No popcorn ceiling. Neutral paint on the walls. 

Only downsides so far:

The shower is a bit small. And the apartment is always really cold... but that will be good in the Summer right?

Yes, I love our new places. There are still boxes everywhere and it's more like we're camping than really living in a house at this point, but I already feel so much more at home here. There is just a good vibe in this house. It's a good feeling :)

So now, I'll take a deep breath, and dive into setting up our new life here.

:)

*amber*