Designs By JAlex

Welcome to my blog where you can hopefully be inspired

The design ideas in this blog are for you to get inspired to help make your home a place that will be warm and cozy. I'm not a minimalist and love to be surrounded by beautiful things that did not cost a lot of money. My husband and I went to garage sales for 7 years until we couldn't bring anything else home because it wouldn't fit. I use to take people with me to the garage sales by their request because they wanted to learn how I found so many lovely things. It was a great adventure for them and they learned how to get in and get out fast. So I hope I will be able to help you too find things that look like you spent a bundle when in reality you got it for a song.....

Monday, October 10, 2011

Photography Artwork Classic Cars

I have been very busy working on my Photography Artwork for the past 6 months. I take photographs and manipulate the photo using a 3 stage process and when it is done they come out brilliantly colorful. You can't look at these redesigned photos and not be happy. The bright colors speak to me and I hope they will appeal to others as well. I recently had my first festival that my husband and I participated in. It was loads of fun being a part of this event. We learned a lot of information about how all this works and when we got home we made some changes based on this information. What I really want to do is be part of a Classic Hot Rod event. I love classic cars and some of my artwork is classic cars redesigned. They look great and I think classic car enthusiast will appreciate what I've created. My life is never boring....I'm always creating something from something or out of nothing it is my form of therapy. I encourage everyone to get a hobby....you won't regret it.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Design Challenges and Dilemmas

I would love to hear from you regarding any of your design challenges. If you like you can send me a picture of the area that is giving you some difficulty. I started my blog to help inspire people to not be afraid to take the plunge in the designing arena. Getting started is always the most difficult part and once you get started sometimes it's difficult to stop..... For years I have been offering people advise on their decorating dilemmas and hopefully I can help you as well. I have made a few blunders over the years myself which makes my experience working through them helpful so you won't make the same mistakes. You don't have to recreate the wheel, that's why if you watch the design shows, read design books and magazines, etc. you can put your design ideas into motion. We all had to learn the tricks of the trade from someone at one time or another. It's true that some of us have a natural creative sense but there are still tons of design basics you need to learn. I hope you will send me your questions and let me help you work through them. I look forward to assisting you.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

DESIGN WITH COSTCO FURNISHING FINDS

Below are just a small amount of items that we have purchased over the years from Costco to help furnish our home. We were amazed that at the time the buyers were doing a great job, but lately they seem to have lost their design touch. Since we don't need anything now it's great for us, but not so much for those of you who are still furnishing your homes. Hopefully they will get a buyer that can bring in some great stuff this year when they bring in the first group of furnishings. We sometimes referred to our home as the "Costco House" because of all the items we found.....

Two Side Chairs, Silver-leaf Screen

Four of The Chairs, Bookcase, Floor Lamps (2)

Four Chairs, Two Red Pictures

Chaise, Two Ottomans, Chair, Torch Lamp, Silver-leaf Screen

Chaise

Three Metal Art Wall Pieces

Tiffany Lamp

Daybed

Leather Chair

Pedestal

Bay Chest

Dining Set With Eight Chairs

Chairs We Changed The Fabric From White To This Red Tapestry

Red Leather Chair

Large Wall Mirror, Metal Artwork (2)

Wall Mirror

Decorative Vase

Cherub On Bench

Two Chairs, Ottoman, Mirror, Lamps

Table, Mirror, Lamps

Chair, Lamps

Flooring

Large Mirror

Outdoor Dining Set, Outdoor Carpet

Outdoor Four Chairs, Table, Outdoor Carpet

Six Piece Outdoor Lounge Set, Outdoor Carpet

Arbor (on-line)

DESIGN IDEAS AND D.I.Y. 'S

Below are some easy design ideas and D.I.Y. projects to use around your home. These are some of my personal favorites.....

Make a Shadow Box Memorial for your Loved Ones

Use a Outdoor Clock Indoors

Outdoor Clocked Used in Current Home

Use Curtains to Update a Bland Shower Stall

Use a Metal Wall Art Piece as a Room Divider

Add Lace to a Curtain That Was Too Short

Use Outdoor Fountains Indoors

Paint an Oak Staircase Railing Dark Chocolate Brown

Use Two Ottomans as a Coffee Table

Use A Chandelier in Your Master Bathroom

Crackle Finish an Oak Cabinet to Update the Look

Crackle Oak Cabinets and Add Hardware

Add a Storage Shelf in Bathrooms for Storage

Paint clouds on Ceiling

Use Outdoor Fencing Indoors

Use a Table Lamp on Your Island for Additional Light

Replace Contractor-grade Mirrors With Decorative Ones

Before Bathroom Mirror Upgrade

After an Upgrade for Bathroom

Before Framing Was Added to a Plain Mirror

After The Framing Was Added to the Mirror

Add Extra Hand Towels to Your Bathrooms

Before New Flooring Went Over Existing Laminate

After New Flooring was Added

Use Wall Space in a Hallway to Create a Family Picture Wall

Add a Basket Shelf in Laundry Room for Storage

Use Large Tassels

Use Curtains to Add a Decorate Look to doorways

Hang a Large Clock on a Large Mirror

FRONT-YARD LANDSCAPING BEFORE AND AFTER

Coastal Bedroom Design Former Home

Former Home Remodeled Master Bath

After living with our home for 10 years we decided to remodel instead of buying a new home. Our Master Bathroom was such a transformation from what it was. I enjoyed every moment of picking out all the materials for this design. Be did the painting and electrical but everything else we had contractors do. Each process was done by a different contractor stone/granite, plumbing, cabinets, shower install, flooring.....that's a lot of contractors. Fortunately there were very little problems through the completion. I could write a book about the process of going through a remodel the good the bad and the UGLY!

LARGE PATTERNED AREA RUGS

Below are some examples of using large patterned area rugs. As I have mentioned it takes a leap of faith to buy a large patterned area rug and place it in your home. I personally like them and use them where ever I can fit one. After you get items on top of them they seem to fade away kind of like when you use a bold paint color when it is on the wall without anything else it is over powering but once you put your items up the wall color becomes less prominent. So go for it.....there are lots to choose from.

The use of Murals

I absolutely love murals if they are done in good taste. Here in our former home I used a mural of Paris on the back wall of the kitchen dining area. There is a long bench on the back side of the table for setting of at least 4 people. My husband put in the dropped pendant lighting over the table which helped illuminate the the mural. When we moved I wanted to take the mural with me but the new owners loved it so it was left behind. If you saw this in person you would be able to get the full impact. So don't be afraid to use a mural there are high quality one's out there that are as easy to install a wall paper.

Remodeled kitchen before and after

This kitchen remodel was in our former home where we did an entire house remodel from top to bottom. The kitchen was totally gutted and everything replaced. We saved over $50,000 by the way we did this room. We did the demo, painted the walls, the electrical and chose all of the contractors our selves. The cabinetry alone was a huge savings by getting them through a family members source. The brand was Decora with soft closing drawers really I was able to get the works. The price we paid for the entire remodel cabinets throughout the house was the same as some quotes were for just what we would have paid alone for the kitchen. When it comes to remodels shop around.

Dining Room Before and After

The chandelier in our current dining room was enormous but plain. I ordered crystals online and went to work with upgrading the fixture. I purchased the lamp shades to cover the naked bulbs (not a fan of naked bulbs). I had a red dining room in our last home too. For us it is what we like and I know it's not for everyone. When you dine in there you feel like you are at a Five-Star restaurant it's so cozy. I debated on painting the ceiling red or not but after the walls were painted it just seemed the contrast was too great so the ceiling got painted too. There's a lot of light coming in from that large window so it doesn't feel like a dark hole.... Red is my favorite color so you will see plenty of it being used throughout the home.

Sitting Room Before and After

The above pictures are from our former home where we did the major remodel. In this area we took out the french doors and added a conservatory sun room. Where the sofa is was were the original dining room was located that was moved to another room after the remodel. The ceiling became lower in the area because where we added a loft on the second floor they had bump it down a foot to allow for head room in the new office area above it. There's an arch as you go into this room so you don't notice the ceiling variation at all.

Fireplace Before and After

The above pictures are of the fireplace in the family room in our current home. I made several changes to it before we ended with this version. I was fortunate to be able to find the columns online that fit the dimensions exactly from the top of the fireplace to the ceiling. I purchases some rope wood pieces to add to the top above the clocks and just below the clocks and around the center edge of the fireplace to pull it all together. We had it painted green at first but the clocks got lost in all the darkness so we painted a muted yellow to make the clocks come alive. This room is painted 3 shades of green the accent wall, ceiling and other walls. The wall that the fireplace is on is the accent wall painted a dark green the other walls are light in color.