decor: dressing room collage

Here it is folks, my first real blog post about my own house!  This is the "moment of truth" I guess...

Our house has three bedrooms.  A "master" bedroom (it is the "largest" and has a "master bathroom" attached to it.  I am using quotes because these are simply formal names rather than accurate descriptions) and two other bedrooms.  One bedroom is used as office/storage space, the other is a dressing room, or "my closet" as my husband calls it.  In this dressing room, I have an awesome old desk I use as a vanity, all of my work clothes, a jewelry armoire, all of my shoes, and a chest for miscellaneous clothing.  So, he is right, it is basically a closet for me :)

This room tends to be pretty low on the priority list.  Mainly because no one really goes in there besides me and the dogs and cats.  And, I might mention, there is usually a pile of clothes and shoes in the middle of it... I am not always the best at putting away clothes that I have changed my mind about wearing while getting dressed for work...

Anyway.  When we first bought our house, I was shopping at the art and craft store and stumbled upon an adorable print that I had to buy.  Preface: I love pigs.  Especially pink and/or tiny ones!

source

So this print I found had a picture of a pink pig wearing pearls with the famous Coco Chanel quote "a girl should be two things: classy and fabulous".  I thought it was perfect for two reasons: it included a pig and it was girly (when you are living with a male, very few things get to be "girly").  So I purchased it that day, not having any idea what I was going to do with it. 

And there it sat, for two long lonely years, on top of my dresser getting dust and hairspray on the plastic packaging.

Fast forward to July 2014... I am at the craft store (this seems to be a recurring theme...) browsing the clearance section, and I come across this awesome piece of framed art for the low price of $8!  Immediately I pick it up, not having any idea if I am committed to purchasing it, but knowing I cannot set it down until I decide because it is such a good price, surely someone else will buy it if I don't.  It has a print of a wire mannequin, and an interesting newsprint-on-geometric-print background.  My brain starts processing, and I decide that surely I can find a way to make this work in my dressing room. 

And that is where it all began. 

The colors in the mannequin print are brown, pink and blue.  The walls in my dressing room are blue.  The pig print (from two years ago) is pink.  I have somewhat of a color scheme happening here.  So over the next few weeks I go shopping for other items that would fit with the brown/pink/blue color scheme.  I found two other clearance pieces - one for $5 and one for $12 - and a frame for the pig print. I decide, this is enough to make a collage.  So I convince my husband to help me hang the artwork one evening.

Before: blank blue walls

After (Part 1): pig print, mannequin print, chandelier painting, geometric print

I liked how the pieces turned out, but they just seemed... unfinished.  If you look at the "after" photo, you can see on the right-hand side I have a towel bar with scarves hanging from it.  This is the space that looked blank to me.  It just seemed to scream "hang something here, please!".

So I continued searching... this time for smaller items (since I did not have as much height as I did in the corner).  I knew I had to continue with the brown/pink/blue theme.  I also wanted to add some white in the mix since all three items on the left had white in them and the chandelier painting did not.

After (Part 2): additional pieces hung

After (Part 2): additional pieces hung

Could you imagine if I hadn't hung anything above the scarves? It would be so... empty.

I am quite pleased with how it turned out.  It has a feminine feel without being overly girly or too pink.  I also like the sort of vintage-look some of the pieces have.  When we painted the house, I had no idea what color to paint this room because it really didn't matter that much.  So I just went with blue because it worked with the other colors we had throughout the house.  After we painted I thought to myself, for being a room solely used by me, blue may have not been the best choice.  Now, after having some artwork on the wall, I really like the blue.

Let me show you some of my favorite details about the pieces I bought:

I loved this piece for three reasons: 1) I kept finding myself drawn to pieces with birds on them, and I'm not sure why  2) If I could, I would have a chandelier in this room as a light fixture, this seemed like a good alternative  3) It has gems on it! I love anything that glitters or sparkles :)

I purchased a teal/blue frame for the pig print to coordinate it with the other pieces.

I am a sucker for quotes... inspirational ones, funny ones, uplifting ones, love ones, it doesn't really matter - I like them all.  When I found this tiny little metal sign with a quote on it (that I loved!) and with all three colors I was using, I knew it would be perfect!

So, what tips can you use for your next collage project? Here are a few:

1. Start with something.  Anything.  You don't have to know what you are going to do with it. If you like it, purchase it.  The rest will fall into place.
2. Repeat elements.  If something has white in it, make sure other pieces also have white.  If something is metal, make sure you have one or two additional metal items so the one doesn't look out of place. 
3. Keep working it at it.  Hang things on the wall, and then look at it.  It might be great or it might need something else.  You won't know until you try it though.

I hope these ideas can help on your next project!  If you have any other ideas, feel free to comment below.