Have you ever looked at home decorating magazine or watched a design show on HGTV and wished you could make your own rooms look that good? Design is not always about expertise or even an unlimited budget, but more about taking inspiration and making it work for your own space. That is the philosophy behind Ditto DiY.
Once a month, beginning in May, nine very different bloggers will attempt to recreate in their own homes a project or design element inspired by a haute couture design selected by the (uber talented) Darlene Weir of Fieldstone Hill Design.
Rebuilding my house from the ground up forced me think about my decorating style, to give it words. Darlene recommends even creating a Pinterest board of spaces you love and then studying them. I came up with five words and a quote, that summarize my style: eclectic, cottage, Texas, vintage, and Southern chic. (I’d love to know your words in the comments!).
“A sense of gracious invitation. Warm, personal colors. Respect and reverence for our past. Subtle intelligence.”
My strength is decorating is that I know what I like. My weakness is in editing the room or vignette to not include EVERYthing I like. This should be fun!
In addition to Darlene, the participating bloggers include:
Ruth @ Living Well Spending Less
Cindy @ Skip to My Lou
Jen @ Balancing Beauty & Bedlam
Edie @ Life in Grace
Rachel @ Surviving the Stores
Karin @ Trophy Mom Diaries
Lauren @ I am THAT Lady
Kelly @ View Along The Way
Melissa @ The Inspired Room
Be sure to pop over to each of these fabulous ladies’ sites to find out more about their personal style, as well as to discover their own decorating strengths & weaknesses!
So here’s what happens next: Monday, May 6th, all nine of us will share our inspired DiY projects, while Darlene will provide expert design tips on incorporating the featured design element into your own space. She will then also present our inspiration photograph for the following month. The truly fun part will be seeing what different interpretations of the same photograph this incredibly eclectic group comes up with!
After you’ve had a month to see what Ditto DiY is all about, we will be inviting you ALL to participate! Beginning in the first Monday in June (and every first Monday of the month after that), all you with blogs will be able to link up. (Non-bloggers can share your pictures on our Ditto DiY Facebook Page!)
Be sure to tune in Monday, May 6th to check out our first Ditto DiY projects. And now, without further ado, here is this month’s inspiration:
{ditto} DIY
This month’s Inspiration, selected by our interior designer:
A chic painted tray and vanity vignette, from the home of nina bergsten, photography by marcus lawett.
The {ditto} DIY Challenge:
Create your own painted tray and vanity vignette.
Designer Thoughts:
“Study the image above, and be inspired by the sophistication and simplicity of this design. The attention to each detail adds up to a beautiful vignette. “
Can you come up with three words that best describe your style? Do your spaces reflect those words? Wouldn’t it be fun to take small projects like this and slowly incorporate your vision into your home?!
(ditto) DIY …. great idea. I didn’t really know what my style was until I answered some questions on a website and it came up with my style .. farmhouse glamour .. it fits perfectly.
Interesting! That will be fun to follow 🙂 xo Kristin
Can’t wait for it!
I have a tendency to “not decorate” the past few years. This is great because it will give me baby steps. I am so excited. Your timing could not be better.
My style is cozy casual with some modern accents thrown in.
I love glam and sparkle, but we’ll see if I can edit enough to make that happen in my Ditto DIY project! So excited to be partnering with you in this. I can’t wait to see what everyone creates – especially when we open it up for *everyone* to participate. Going to be SO fun to see all the interpretations!
I love this idea!! Looking forward to reading and seeing what everyone does. 🙂 I came up with words when you originally wrote about it. Three of mine are farmhouse (yes, I love white!), vintage, and clean. Not that my house is always clean but I want it to look clean and fresh. 😉
This looks like such a fun idea; I look forward to watching as you share these ideas. My current style tends to lean towards vintage and farmhouse, but because I love so many styles, it is difficult to restrain from wanting a different style in each room of the house.
I looked through my pins on Pinterest and started writing down words that came to mind with some of the pictures. Mostly it comes down to:
Colorful, Orderly, Eclectic, Rustic and Vintage
I tried to narrow it down further, but couldn’t. 🙂
looking forward to following along on this next little journey…
I love looking at inspiration pictures and recreating them in our home with my own flare.
okay…words that describe my decorating style….
neutrals with pops of color
textured
eclectic (but not nearly as awesome at it as you are Ms. EDIE!!!)
old meets new
How fun! I am trying to find my style right now…I am thinking eclectic cottage chic? with a touch of industrial…? MAybe that just falls under “eclectic”.
I was a quitter and didn’t get my words completely narrowed down. Thanks for the inspiration to pull out my notebook and get back at it!
Fun idea! Can’t wait to see!
I’m so excited to see how you all put your own spins on this project. Ditto dyi…this is my kind of project!