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Once Upon an Interior

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“To be happy at home is the ultimate result of all ambition.”
~ Samuel Johnson

Outside of what I do here at Stainless Steel Droppings, one of the few ways that I nuture my desire to be creative is in the way I decorate my own personal spaces, be that my home or my office at work.

I love my house. It feels like home. Setting aside those all important ingredients of God and family, faith and love, I truly believe that one of the reasons this box I dwell in feels like home is because we have slowly but surely decorated the space to reflect our personalities. Our interests. Our passions.

And yet I often lament the fact that I don’t have many more rooms to decorate. I was reminded of that regret as well as inspired when I was visiting Stephanie’s blog today and saw a link to this marvelous, whimsical site: Miraentuinterior.com (If the site does not open up in English you may choose that option in the upper right hand corner)

This Barcelona, Spain based company produces these fun and funky wall decals that add a bit of personality to your space. What I find most enjoyable in perusing their offerings is the ways in which it inspires me to be even more creative and daring in my decorating. And from a design perspective these show rooms are a delight to look at as pieces of art in their own right. So allow me to take you on a fantastical journey through some of my favorites.

The first two that I featured have a bit of the fantasy/fairy tale theme that fits right in with our reading challenge as well as my more recent posts. The top one reminds me of the tree in the title character’s room in the film Penelope.

“What is more agreeable than one’s home?”
~Marcus Tullius Cicero

These next two, above and below, are ones that I like as much for the colors in the room as anything else. I love reds and oranges, especially contrasted against these more neutral colors or against black.

This next one is enormous fun. If it were me, I would have posed the model in a more romantic way, holding a similar flower with a lovestruck look on her face. But that’s just me:

“Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.”
~Jamie Paolinetti

This next one would be more appropriate for the R.I.P. Challenge!

Wouldn’t that be great in a library filled with mysteries?

“Design is in everything we make, but it’s also between those things. It’s a mix of craft, science, storytelling, propaganda, and philosophy.”
~Erik Adigard

Isn’t that a great quote? For me it describes in a nutshell a bit of what I believe about home decor. The science is the structure, the things necessary to hold it all together. The craft is the skill and talent (or at least the willingness to try) we bring to the task of decorating our homes. Our philosophy represents the foundation of who we are as well as what people read into who we are based on the way we create our spaces and the propaganda is what we want them to see, the things we want to sell others on, the things we are proud and happy to advertise about ourselves. The storytelling is the deeper, more true and real thing that goes on in our homes. When style becomes practical, when who we are and who we want to be are reflected in the space we inhabit it tells such a deep and resonant story about us and our lives, our dreams, our hopes.

Pardon me, I don’t know what came over me there. Perhaps it is the cold medicine I am taking! For me the storytelling aspect of decorating is so important and one of the many things I look for in stories is a sense of whimsy. I think these designs have that in spades.

“If you have anything really valuable to contribute to the world it will come through the expression of your own personality, that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from every other living creature.”
~Bruce Barton

I love these next two. They are so simple and yet so effective in the way they tie in with a common household item: the phone.

I would love to have this one on the wall of my office directly over my phone. As a director who supervises several individuals in the mental health field, it perhaps does not convey the proper attitude:

This next one is innocently naughty and cracks me up!

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.”
~Dr. Theodore Geisel, a.k.a. Dr. Seuss

They have several very fun kid designs that may well spark the creative juices in those of you who have young ones. My daughter is wanting to redecorate her room this summer and loves many of these designs. Perhaps I’ll pitch in this summer and curb some of my decorating appetite.



“I would be the most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves.”
~Anna Quindlen

That quote and this image appeal to me as a book lover. It gives me new ideas for that dream library I’ll have…someday…

In addition the site features a few office spaces. This one was my favorite. My office is one of the spaces I have access to that is partially decorated with things I love and yet I have two blank walls and a good deal of space. Time to get creative!

The items on this site are great if a bit pricey. I certainly would encourage plucking up one’s courage and trying a little painting if things like this inspire you.

“If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint’, then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced.”
~Vincent van Gogh

More and more I am feeling inspired to stretch out creatively. As I indicated at the beginning of this post I am pretty content with my home decorating (with the exception of the lack of more new rooms to go wild in). We have created a space that gives us both comfort and inspiration. I certainly can and will do more in my work space at some time in the future. I am currently working on some more photographs for my wife’s office to give her the kind of surroundings that make her happy there.

I’ll be the first to admit this post is a bit on the odd side. The paths of my logic are no doubt a bit twisted with this one. In brief my aim was to share some creative designs, share a little of my own personal philosophy about home decorating, and inspire you to exercise creativity in every area of your lives. The images on this site had just enough of a touch of fantasy to them that I had to share them now. I encourage you to visit as there are several more interesting, quirky design ideas just waiting for you. Go forth a create!

“Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon. A happiness weapon. A beauty bomb. And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one. It would explode high in the air – explode softly – and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air. Floating down to earth – boxes of Crayolas. And we wouldn’t go cheap, either – not little boxes of eight. Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in. With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest. And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.”
~Robert Fulghum
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If I am not mistaken, I have a prize to give away! Those of you who commented on my Friday Favorite post showcasing Rachael Direnna’s wonderful artwork by Monday at 11:59 p.m. were entered into a highly scientific random drawing that involved hi-tech equipment: miniscule slips of paper with indicators on them and a bowl! After multiple shufflings the Hand of Fate reached into the Glass Bowl of Possibilities and drew forth a winner:

Chris from Stuff as Dreams!!!

Chris, you win your choice of a print OR one of the four packs of cards (you can choose whatever four cards you want) from Rachael Direnna’s shop. Just shoot me an email (or leave a comment) telling me specifically what you want and I’ll get it ordered for you!

Congrats to you!!! Stay tuned ladies and gents, there are many more giveaways and other exciting things to come as the Once Upon a Time II Challenge rolls on! I know for a fact a few items from Rachael’s shop will crop up in future OUaT II prize packs!

33 thoughts on “Once Upon an Interior”

  3. Very Cool pictures!! I know my kids would love them, and my husband likes things that are unique. Not sure how they would look on the wall in his basement between the Michael Jordan jersey and the Peyton Manning jersey though!!

  4. I love the butterflies coming out of the box! And the first one, the tree on the red wall…beautiful!!!

  5. Really cool! I have to have one of these and I’m telling everyone about them. They should pay you a commission 😉

  7. I love these designs and I can definitely envision many of them in your home. I have a lot more decorating left to go, but sometimes it would be nice to have a larger palette to work with.

    But not to clean, so I’m good.

  9. Yay for me! That rocks…I won a Windling print last OUaT and now this…fits in perfectly with this post…you’re decorating my future place for me 😉 Thanks Carl!

    I love those designs. I really can’t wait to have my own place which will be as soon as the stars align to give me a new job. I miss having my own decorating space. That’s one of the things I miss most about living alone I think. But I’ve accrued quite a bit of stuff now to go into the new place. You can find similar designs to the ones you posted through Urban Outfitters as well and they tend to be a little cheaper. Urban Outfitters has awesome furniture and decorating stuff by the way!

    OK, off to shop! I’ll shoot you an email.

  10. I like UO and we have one here in KC. Fun designs on their t-shirts as well.

  13. Cool designs. I like the first one and the one of the woman with the wavy hair best I think.

    Congrats Chris 🙂

  14. I didn’t think this was an odd post at all! After all, creativity and art reach us through a myriad of ways, and how you decorate your own home is a way to make every moment spent there inspiring. I loved the tree one at the top and the little bird “hello” one. Can’t wait to visit the site. Thanks, Carl.

    And congrats, Chris!

  18. Well, I was never as fancy as these pictures, but when my kids were babies I did paint characters from Bambi on the “nursery” walls.. then when they were older my one son had me paint the Enterprise in space on his wall. Like I said, it wasn’t throught the house or fancy but anyone visiting would always make a fuss. Made me laugh. . I mean, it’s paint folks, if you tire of it paint over it and paint something else!

    and when “I was young” my brother had painted a mural on our livingroom wall.. it’s good to be different sometimes! lol

    Congrats Chris for winning the contest!!

  19. How fun!
    I recently did a mural for my sister’s nursery in all Sesame Street characters. It was incredibly fun to do… just a lot of hours put into it!

  20. I love the first few decals. I would really like something on my living rooms walls, but I am at a total decorating loss in that room. High ceilings have me confused.

    I have a stack of pictures to hang, but I have been lacking in creative energy. Maybe some warm, sunny days will perk me up. I sold my old china cabinet in my dining room and brought home a 1950’s cabinet with large sliding glass doors! I LOVE it, but I’ve got hours of sanding and painting ahead of me. It will go well with my other mid-century pieces. I can’t wait to drag it out in my yard and get to work.

  21. Jules: That sounds like a cool project. Can’t wait to see it. And yes, with those huge ceilings you really need to have some BIG artwork or something to fill the space properly.

    Angela: That is really fun. Unfortunately for us all of our walls are plaster (older house) and so have a texture to them so putting on decals or painting designs would be a challenge. Not impossible, but definitely a challenge.

    Deslily: What a cool mom! And I agree. I’ve never been afraid to try paint colors. It isn’t that expensive and can be easily corrected if you don’t like it.

  22. Congratulations, Chris!

    wow, these pictures are fantastic. I want to have a house decorated like this one day! Well, except perhaps for Hitchcock’s birds…I’m all for a little creepiness, but I have a strange phobia of winged critters in certain circumstances. That movie gave me nightmares for weeks.

  23. That was one creepy movie, Nymeth, but I loved it. I love crows and ravens. They are creepy and yet cool at the same time.

  25. about Hitchcock’s “the Birds”…
    as you know i did volunteer work for Tippi Hedren, and I remember people asking her many questions about her movies… when it came to The Birds, Hitchcock had some of the birds TIED on to Tippi so they wouldn’t fly away.. and they DID peck at her… the conclusion to it all was that she wound up having Therapy over the ordeal!! Quote the Raven?! nah lol

  26. Jules: I think you should put a series of bunk beds in their and charge rent! With your menagerie it could be sort of a zoological bed and breakfast! 🙂

    Deslily: I think I read that once about them tying the birds to her and tying birds down. Doubt they would get away with that sort of thing now. I certainly wouldn’t want birds pecking at me or swooping down at me, but I do like that film.

  28. Hi Carl (waving)!

    I LOVE your blog!! I just found it when I was over leaving Heather a “Thank You” note. Oh, and thank you as well for the congrats! It was very sweet of you!

    Now I have a new place to stop by during my daily blogging, I wish I knew how to list everyone”s blog on the side of mine…but, I’m new to this and I can’t figure anything out!

    I absolutely Love these decorating ideas! So beautiful! (I do want to go back and check out the site)!

    Well, thank you for having me and you’re welcome to stop by the castle ANYTIME! I’d love to see you there. And while this is my very first “Hello”, it won’t be my last!

    Hugs
    Your new friend,
    Amy

  29. I like these, very good for modern decorated or children’s rooms. I like the first image of the tree and the red wall most. Looks like a good home office or project room.

  30. Katie: I really like that one as well.

    Amy: Welcome! Glad to have you. 🙂

    Stephanie: Thanks for that link as well. I do like that apartment. I love watching all the home shows, etc. to get ideas. One of my favorites lately is Small Spaces Big Style because I like to see how creative folks can get decorating smaller spaces. I consider my home relatively small and it gives me inspiration.

  31. Absolutely creative designs! I particularly liked the tree and the moon. :] Thanks for sharing!

    Congratulations, Chris!!

  32. Love the color on the wall in the very first pic…it’s almost exactly the same color that we put in our bedroom last year – and went with dark brown furniture(used mossy green for accents). Seeing such cool pic’s makes me think I didn’t do too bad decorating on my own! 🙂

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