Moving In with Verdigris Vie

** Sorry I had a bit of a technical glitch yesterday! Let's finish up the "Moving In" serious with the fantastic Vitania over at Verdigris Vie. First, don't you just love that name for a blog?! I am not sure when I "met" Vitania but she has been an incredible supporter of CreateGirl since I started a year ago. She always leaves the most uplifting comments! When you visit her blog you will immediately be inspired by the gorgeous photos she posts and wonderful commentary. I saved her post for last as she has lived in her house for a few years but with 2 small children these are her 3 "saving grace" tips!**

Thank you so much Julie for inviting me to post on your incredible blog, it is such an honour. I have such great respect for you as a designer and a blogger, and I appreciate greatly all the wonderful work you put forth.

Moving into a new home is incredibly exciting and emotional. Whether it's your first home, or you're upsizing or downsizing, the process of redesigning a living environment can be a delight and a distress. The opportunity to start fresh in a space that better reflects your lifestyle is usually offset by the disappearing funds, and the realization that you will never have another free weekend again. Here are 3 things that helped me through the rough waters.

Paint it! - This is the one thing you don't want to hold off on. Attack it before or as soon as you move in! Nothing is worse than staring at drab walls, or a colour you don't like. If it's too overwhelming, have a designer come over for a colour consultation. It's worth every penny. You'll have set the foundation for your design palette, and future buying decisions will come easier.

Focus on a good one - You don't have to buy all your furniture at once. Pick a great piece to focus on, and take your time building your collection of furnishings. Finding local artisans and craftspeople to create the perfect dining table , server or armoire can be a very affordable choice. Buying quality always saves you in the long run, and is less wasteful . CreateGirl can give you 100 + ways to fill the space around it.

Plant life -Using Plants, floral arrangements even branches and twigs, will make your new home comforting, bright and inviting. Living plants actually help clean the air of your home. Their natural beauty adds life and energy to static spaces. Best of all, you can add pops of colour, volume and height to your home with ease seasonally.

(images from top to bottom: Canadian House and Home, House of Turquise, Pheobe Howard, Canadian House and Home)

Moving In with Coco+Kelley

**Please Welcome the incredibly talented Cassandra from Coco+Kelley as our Monday Guest Blogger! I have been following Cassie for about 2 yrs & have found like me she is an Italian, Red Sox loving girl!! Her mix of glamorous fashion and interiors is just beautiful, I find myself daydreaming when I am over at her blog! Pop on over and say hello, I promise you will be inspired!**

Trust me when I say I've done my fair share of moving. The process of getting it all there? Horrible. Packing for days, having to throw out pieces you just won't have room for, and living out of boxes. Ugh. But the best part? When you're in a new space, with a clean slate, and all the possibilities in the world...

The last apartment I lived in was in LA - and let's just say that you don't get much for what you pay there - but even this junky old place felt like home by the time I was done with it! The trick? Thrifting, getting creative, and holding out for the good stuff. For example...




The bedroom I had was teeeeensy. The walls in the space were all beige as was the carpet (of course) and there was a huge ugly heater that was just left of center over my bed. There was no way I was investing in any pieces for this room since I knew I'd have a bigger space someday, so the name of the game here was Ikea. I purchased fabrics to hang from the ceiling to the floor behind the bed as a 'headboard' and to cover the heater. The other fabric I tossed on the bed as a coverlett. The colors in the room were inspired by my Anthropologie pillow (my one little splurge) and the bedding was all WalMart and Ikea as well. The bedside table was my favorite Ikea find though - from the office furniture section! The drawers looked lacquered and the handles were acrylic. So chic!



One of my favorite little corners of the apartment was the 'bar area'. This bar was an investment for sure. A gorgeous MidCentury piece. These are much easier to come by in LA, and finding something similar on Craigslist would probably have happened eventually, but the black acrylic top is what sold me! Every single other piece on the bar is a thrift store purchase! And the framed 'artwork' was actually a fashion editorial that I ripped out of a German magazine and framed.

The high-low mix is really what I do to make a space not feel 100% store bought and cheap cheap cheap, and this little vignette is a great example. The luxe Mongolian lamb pillow? $80. The chair? Ikea (again). Contrasting textures and styles? Priceless! Oh, and the artwork (such a cheap way to spice up any space!) is covering yet another heater. Who needs that much heat in LA, anyway??

While moving can be a pain, moving in should be a joy! Don't rush the design process, and don't feel like you have to spend a ton of money to get what you want either. Filling in the gaps with thrift store purchases or Ikea pieces is a good way to save a bit, but be sure to mix in a few investment pieces along the way!

Moving In with SabbeSPOT

**Hi All! Please Welcome Stephanie, she is also a new friend who just moved to Boston. Her blog, SabbeSPOT is full of crafty secrets and every time she talks about making something she inspires me to run to the closet and dust off my own sewing machine. Though to be honest I have nothing to show for it just yet, with the colder months lets keep our fingers crossed for some progress! Enjoy Stephanie's post!**


Hello, let me start with a little background. We tremendously downsized when recently moving from our 1400 sf house in Memphis, TN to our teeny tiny 700 s.f. apartment in Boston's South End. My key to design happiness was moving things around, and around, and around until it finally felt right. Unlike our larger house, that we were constantly trying to fill out, a small apartment is like a puzzle. You have to be more creative. And I LOVE being creative.

I am a huge interior recycler. I had a friend email me a couple of months ago about a blog post I did on the craft nook I carved out in our bedroom. She was amazed the dining room table from our college days was living on.

Our dining room is another great example of my re-purposed interior

1. The art is an Ansel Adams calendar I had matted and framed.

2. The rug is by Interface FLOR. If you haven't discovered carpet tiles, you must check out their site. My dining room was larger in my last house. So I just deleted a row of tiles and ta-da, the same rug fits in a much smaller space.

3. The table and chairs were a consignment store finds. I painted them black and recovered the chairs.


4. The fireplace art is a damask fabric that I stapled over a piece of plywood.

5. We had some pots that we used for outdoor plants at our last house. Our new apartment does not have enough natural light to keep plants alive. I bought a bag of Moss from JoAnn's, wadded up balls of newspaper, and spray glued the moss on top.




6. We received a lot of serving platters when we got married. When I'm not hosting a dinner party I use them as decoration. They are too pretty to keep in a cabinet.

So my entire dining room may have originally cost me $200, but as far as my for my new home in Boston...it was basically free.

Moving In with Plush Palate

**Please Welcome Crystal, she is an absolute sweetheart. I "met" her over on twitter and immediately fell in love with her style. To make this new meeting even better, it turns out she grew up with one of my friends here in Boston. It can be such a small wonderful world!**


Hi everyone, it's Crystal and I blog over at Plush Palate, a style, fashion, and interiors blog. I'm thrilled to be contributing to CreateGirl today and to meet all of you! Recently I moved into a new apartment and Julieann has graciously invited me to share a few tips I've picked up along. Moving can be an overwhelming and daunting task, so I've learned to keep it simple!

1. Design in Stages

If you're like me, you want every room perfect on day 1 and loathe the idea of living in a half finished home. But since our budgets don't always allow for this, patience is key. When we collect furniture and decor overtime as we find those pieces that truly speak to us, the end result is a much more thoughtful design that truly reflects our personality and style.

2. Recreate High-End Looks on Budget

Don't we all wish we had an endless budget when it comes to decorating our homes? I know I do! Lucky for us, there are more and more budget friendly shopping destinations investing more into creating affordable and stylish designs. I love scouring the pages of Elle Decor and House Beautiful to pick up ideas and then keep my eyes open to see if I can re-create the looks for less. The bed above via Elle Decor likely cost thousands of dollars. Below I found one that achieves the same look at Ikea for only $279!

3. Pre-used Is Sometimes Better Than New
When trying to fill a space, we don't always have to find something new. Sometimes it's as simple as pulling a piece out of storage and sprucing it up a bit with some new paint or hardware. In my case, I was in desperate need of a new duvet cover. Instead of heading to the store to purchase something, I first asked my mom if she happened to have an extra one. To my delight, she had a gorgeous, white duvet she had gotten on a trip to Europe just sitting in a linen closet. Generously she passed it down to me. It's prettier and of higher quality than anything I could have found new in a store! So, don't be afraid to ask friends and family if they have something you could use. You might just be surprised :)

(images via Martha Stewart, Elle Decor, Ikea, Simply Seductive)