So you want to decorate for arguably the best holiday of the year without buying dollar store webs that you're going to trash as soon as the holiday is over? Good news! I've got you covered. I love everything about the spookiness of Halloween. Dressing up in ridiculous outfits is something I do daily, so actually having an excuse to do so speaks to my soul. To be honest, I've already broken out my skull mason jar to sip my water in to show my holiday spirit. If something as on the nose as a skull water cup isn't your style, I've rounded up some less tacky options to dress up your home while adding a bit of holiday flair: Green, black, and orange, oh my! Spruce up your home with a classic Louis Ghost chair in glossy black (aptly named, right?) or brew your morning coffee into an anatomically correct biology-inspired mug. Will you be decorating your home for the holidays? Send me links to your favorite classy grown-up Halloween decorations below! Shop the looks above here: Society 6 Pillow // Louis Ghost Armchair // Y Lighting Etch Web Pendant // CognitiveSurplus Mug // World Market Candy Bowl // Jonathan Adler Coasters // West Elm Tray // LindsayLucasCandles Scented Candle
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Here's the second of three expanded designs that you'll get to see! This design was created before I saw the lovely and incredibly witty "Girlboss" TV show on Netflix based on Sophia Amoruso's life. Since then, I've discovered a whole network of strong business women through Girl Boss, which is basically a movement that strives toward empowering women in the workplace to become their own bosses. Pretty cool, huh? I'm getting my hands on a copy of Sophia's book by the same name to hopefully get some insight on how to kick ass and be the best business owner ever- I have high hopes for this book. Can you believe that this design's name is what inspired me to kick start my freelance career in hopes to be my own girl boss? This design was based on bright colors in order to increase productivity while cultivating an environment that you'd actually want to work in. I think this design worked and that it worked well. This room was meant to be a design that one could use when converting a small bedroom into an office that packs a serious punch of style. What do you think? Check out the items that I sourced and my inspiration pictures for this design here. Stay tuned for the last of my expanded designs next week! I've been in the process of making a LOT of big things happen, and I can't wait to share with you what I've been cooking up. I have a new logo and branding, I've been doing a lot of freelance client work, and I'm in the process of registering as an LLC. Big stuff. I left the blog posts off right before I revealed the third design of my portfolio. The expanded description and inspiration photos for the design above are below. This design was all about channeling a whole lotta quirk and making it look like a cohesive whole. The design elements that I chose as inspiration pieces channeled the different textures and created the color scheme that I would work with to make the design a reality. This floor plan is for a smaller bedroom that doesn't have room for a lot of furniture but has a lot of room for a whole lot of personality. A design like this would be perfect for someone living in an apartment or a first home. When making a move into a smaller space, it forces you to think about the items that you have and make sure that they pack the punch of personality that you need to make the most of every square inch.
All of the lovely items used in this design are found on this board: https://www.pinterest.com/ashleyrosemarino/inspo-board-9/ I know that this blog post is LONG overdue, but don't fret. I have a lot of great work saved up for the blog from my freelance work and I can't wait to share what I've been working on with you! Remember this rad design? The past few weeks have been pretty hectic with me moving into my new space and seriously kick-starting my freelance interior design career. When applying and bidding for jobs, your portfolio makes or breaks you. After refining my portfolio, I felt like I should share each of my designs with you and explain what my full portfolio designs look like! Get ready for the next few weeks ahead. First off, I started with taking a design that I already had and then decided to expand on it. I started finding inspiration pictures and paired that with a paragraph of the design intention of the room and of what a potential client of the room might look like. I looked at the room and then found inspiration photos of other products, color schemes, and elements in nature that looked like they fit with the theme of the room. Above is the inspiration board of this moodboard design. The last part of each of my portfolio designs includes a floor plan of the space and a few objects that are included on the floor plan but didn't make it to the moodboard. This gives you an idea of what an actual space with the furniture sourced would look like. I loved adding on to my existing designs to create comprehensive overviews of actual rooms that I would give to actual clients! Now, just to get those clients... that's where you come in! Contact me and visit my Upwork profile to talk with me about design and get excited for next week's post, where I'll most likely be sharing another peek into my portfolio expanding on another past design. (It could be a TOTALLY new design, but we'll see how this next week goes!) This week I decided to create a pretty little bathroom vignette. The tub steals the show and acts more as a statement art piece rather than something that is kind of necessary to have in a bathroom. As if the tub wasn't beautiful enough on its own, adding a cement tile with a simple pattern to bring color into the room (before adding accessories) really helped make this space work. I'm partial to watercolor artists, so adding watercolor floral prints into the room was the next natural step to creating this space. I like to think that the florals create a calming atmosphere, which would be ideal for unwinding from the stresses of the day. Imagine being comfortable in this tub with a lit candle, a best seller, and a glass of wine. Can you say heaven three times fast? Without further ado, here's this week's moodboard monday! I already have my copy of "Eat, Pray, Love" and a bottle of Merlot on hand. This is my dream tub and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to have it in my future home someday. Here's the Pinterest board with all of the links to products used above: https://www.pinterest.com/misssashleyrose/inspo-board-10/ Here's a link to the Pinterest board I'll be using for next week's moodboard: https://www.pinterest.com/misssashleyrose/inspo-board-14/ Thank you all for joining on my mini moodboard March madness journey. This moodboard is my favorite of the three that I've created for you and I've been waiting all week to share it! This may or may not be my favorite solely because of the cactus painting that the rest of this board was based off of. Bringing nature into everyday designs is one of my goals for every space that I design, so basing this entire mini board off of an element of nature was totally in my element. A piece in the board that's not featured in the pictures above is an agate lamp, which brings out a different aspect of nature than the cactus painting does; it brings a whole new dimension of texture to the room. Agate is one of those trends that I'm totally on board with and that I'll love long after its had its day. Splurging on a lamp like this would totally be worth the investment for one of my clients that has the same love for agate that I do. No more talking about this design- here's the last mini board of this series! What do you think? This board really reminds me of the colors and textures that I saw on my recent trip to Mexico, which is probably why I love this design so much. Here are the links to the items I used above: https://www.pinterest.com/misssashleyrose/inspo-board-13/ Stay tuned next week for more full room designs by yours truly! I don't feel like really talking about this board today so I'll let my design do the talking for itself. Let's just say I had a fun time designing this board around the super beautiful wall mural that encompassed sea foam green, teal, and indigo into a beautiful whole. Bringing pale pink and cream into the mix brought this design the balance it needed. I'm loving the Kravet Kate Spade New York fabrics in this design that give this color scheme the real POP it needed. Here's a link to the Pinterest board that has all of the items I used above: https://www.pinterest.com/misssashleyrose/inspo-board-12/ Stay tuned for the last mini board of moodboard madness coming in the next few days- I can't wait to share this last one with you because it's my favorite of the three! This week we're doing things a bit differently around here. As you may have noticed, my blog hasn't been updated in the past few weeks. A LOT has happened since my last update, so I figured I should treat you guys to some new designs as soon as possible as a "thanks for waiting" gift. That's where Moodboard Madness comes in. Moodboard Madness is a week long event where I'll be posting 3 mini concept boards. You should expect to see some awesome seating, ridiculously beautiful fabric, and a few quirky accessories in these boards (but honestly, when are those not in my full moodboards anyway?). The first mini board was inspired almost entirely by the brand Flat Vernacular. I hadn't heard of this brand until a few days ago while browsing Chairloom. I was so inspired by Flat Vernacular's textiles and wallcoverings that I used 3 products of theirs in this moodboard. I know my love went a bit overboard, but honestly, I could not resist. I tied blues and pinks together through the fabric above and used white as my main neutral with black and gold as accents. The result is something that would be a bit too bold for my tastes, but I would love to find a client that would go for something this fun. I'm in love. Bright blues and hot pinks are by no means my comfort colors, but I can totally see this mini board flourishing into a full fledged project for a rad client in the future. Any takers?
All of the items used on this mini board can be found here: https://www.pinterest.com/misssashleyrose/inspo-board-11/ Since the next mini board will be live in a few days, I'll keep the link to its Pinterest board a secret so you can feel a bit of anticipation for the next design. Hint: Think green. This week I decided to go with an up close snapshot view of a room rather than a large view of an entire room. Since I haven't done a bedroom moodboard in a while, I figured doing a tight view of a bed and nightstand would be a nice challenge to kick-off March. This room is much more neutral than I normally tend to gravitate toward. Bold textures, gold tones, and industrial elements really made up for the lack of bright color in this space. One of my favorite features of the room is the three nesting end tables repurposed as a single nightstand. The jet black tops of the tables are such a stark contrast to the cowhide rug and the cool blue walls- I'm digging the combo. Overall, this room is vintage meets modern meets industrial and the amalgamation of styles here really sings to me. Hopefully you enjoy looking at the design as much as I did making it- What do you think? The one choice in this room that I was on the fence about was the wall color. Instead of going with a more neutral grey (which you can see pinned on my Pinterest board), I decided on the light blue to add just a bit more color to the space. In my opinion, it was the right choice. Maybe I can pull together this board with the alternative wall color to see which one you would prefer living in. (This is a hard maybe though and will take a bit of persuasion to actually do.) Check out what I used in the board above: https://www.pinterest.com/misssashleyrose/inspo-board-9/ Check out what I'm working on for next week: https://www.pinterest.com/misssashleyrose/inspo-board-10/ Who says that office spaces have to be dull? If you're a creative mind, being crammed into a beige cubicle is probably the worst possible thing you could do for your inspiration. Instead of stifling imagination, your office space should do the exact opposite for you. In this office, I've added only a bit of color to keep distraction to a minimum. Though there's only a bit of color, that doesn't mean that this space lacks in style. Inspirational quotes, a small gold-dipped dinosaur succulent planter, and a gorgeous patterned pillow bring this space together beautifully. Ready to see the cutest desk setup you've seen in a while? What do you think? I would be so productive if I were able to work in this space everyday. I'll probably be dreaming about that chartreuse chair for the rest of the week because I'm seriously so so obsessed with it. Check out what items I used above: https://www.pinterest.com/misssashleyrose/inspo-board-8/ Check out what I'm working on for next week: https://www.pinterest.com/misssashleyrose/inspo-board-9/ |
the blogHere's where you can come to get your weekly dose of design inspo. Every Monday, there will be a blog post with an original Ashley Marino Designs moodboard, trade-only tips, or ways to help you get the space that you're dreaming of. Enjoy! Archives
January 2018
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