Keep Calm and Carry On

Over the last few months (since we bought our latest house), I've become a voracious researcher of all things decorating. I'm absolutely addicted to houzz.com (as is evident by the fact that I've put a link to it down on the right), and the list of design-related blogs that I'm following is growing almost daily. All of this Internet research has been incredibly helpful in expanding my decorating horizons, giving me ideas that I would never have thought to implement before, and helping me refine my idea of what makes a house look extra special instead of like a cookie-cutter builder display home.

The one problem is, with all of these fantastic ideas floating around in my head, I have nowhere to actually put them into action yet! We're progressing only very slowly towards being ready to start thinking about pretty stuff for our Third House, so while the picture in my head of how fantastic it's going to look when we're done gets more and more concrete, it seems further and further away!

So, I've decided to give myself a little outlet for all of this pent-up decorating frustration and discuss my plans here! After all, what are blogs for? Plus it gives me (and you) a break from the neverending dirty ugly stuff like digging holes and knocking down walls.

So what's on my mind today? One of the little decorating images that keeps cropping up here and there in my travels through Houzz.com is this print:

eclectic kitchen design by media and blogs A Few Things From My Life

I actually nad no idea about the origins of this particular phrase. Upon further research, I discovered that it actually has an important historical context, and isn't just some quirky little slogan coined by someone in someone's marketing department (well, other than the British Government's of course). I then figured I would have to apologise for showing my age by having no idea about it, until I read this on Wikipedia:

"Keep Calm and Carry On was a poster produced by the British government in 1939 during the beginning of World War II, intended to raise the morale of the British public under the threat of impending invasion. It was little known and never used. The poster was rediscovered in 2000 and has been re-issued by a number of private sector companies, and used as the decorative theme for a range of other products."

And now it seems to be everywhere!

From prints in all colours of the rainbow...

eclectic home office design by san francisco media and blogs SFGIRLBYBAY

eclectic dining room design by san francisco interior designer Kerrie L. Kelly

eclectic entry design by other metros media and blogs Toc Toc Toc... Entrez!

...to all sorts of other merchandise.

Rugs...

entry design by toronto interior designer Lucid Interior Design Inc.

Diaries...

Coin holders...

Not to mention the many many alternative wordings...

Some cute...

traditional bedroom design by media and blogs My Sweet Savannah

Others a little more edgy (I decided to leave the coarse ones out to protect your innocent...eyes)...

Even the cushions are getting in on the action.

So, inevitably I decided that I wanted one. I figured I would probably stick with the traditional route, and perhaps later down the track adapt the design myself into something useful like this elsewhere in the house:

eclectic bathroom design by other metros media and blogs Michelle Hinckley

That was made by blogger and DIY-er Michelle Hinckley of the blog Three Men and a Lady as a cute reminder to her sons in the bathroom.

So! Even though I don't have a wall to hang it on yet, I couldn't resist doing a bit of searching online for competitively priced options. I eventually settled on this one from Blue Dog Posters.

And I'm thinking it will go somewhere in the kichen to match all of my red appliances. Here they all are in the kitchen at our second house:

It's only fairly small, so it won't be too dramatic a statement, and it was only $15!

So we have our first piece of new artwork for the house. Now if only the kitchen itself would hurry up!

Love,

Bec