Hey everybody. Remember when I told you about a month ago how I had BIG new plans for 2015 for my blog and my life for 2015? In 3 weeks, my personal home redesign will be featured here on my blog and I will have videos too! Each video will not be over 30 minutes, the length of an HGTV show. Long before I went to 4-1/4 x 5-1/2, I designed all of my houses, all over the United States, to make them beautiful homes and have designed a lot of other's houses as well for my friends and family, who have referred me out.
I've gone through trends, stages, colors, you name it. And I'm also very good it at too. My style on paper is one thing. My style in a home is another. I take more chances and am so much more bold in making design decisions. I have so many pictures of my homes that I've designed that I will be sharing with you. In my first home moving back to California, in my kitchen, I had white cabinets with gray/black granite, which is beautiful. But, my accent wall painting was a rust color with the rest of the kitchen being painted olive…it so worked, it so rocked. I have impeccable taste in home furnishings and colors palettes, and how to re-purpose what you currently have or just rearrange what you have in your house to reach it's full potential without paying a dime! This will also be part of my series on a subsection level. Would you like your home to be a part of this series? You can and it's so easy. No matter what your personal style is, we will make your home look like it should be in a magazine, and it could very well end up in one. Are you in yet?
In card-making and scrapbooking, I feel like I'm competing, and I am. I was very well known in the industry and a highly sought after designer and the "it girl" until tragic personal circumstances look me off of the map for a few years, and in this industry, I worked so hard to achieve my success and I'm working hard again to get back on top of my game and it is paying off in ways I never imagined. I don't feel insecure or competitive when I get a hold of a house. I do my thing and my style changes from house to house to house. Each of the houses that I've lived in have all been different styles and as such, they all demanded different decor. The house speaks to you as to what it needs – at least that's been my experience. I never started to really decorate until I lived in one of my houses for 6 months so I could get to know it. Now that I've lived in absolutely everything from a historic farmhouse in upstate New York to a McMansion to a Southern Plantation to a California ranch, and the rental houses before and after, and now living in a 1-story condo for the time being, I've been there and done that. My farmhouse was my baby. People waited for years for that house to go on the market and when it did, it sold in 4 days for full asking price. Each house was distinctly different and needed distinctly different decor to make it as beautiful as possible. The only house I truly finished was my Kentucky Southern Plantation mansion and then I had to move 4 months later. I was heartbroken, but happy at the same time since I was coming back home to the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area after being gone for 20 years. The California Ranch was a rattlesnake pit, literally, they were crawling up the house into the vents to get inside the house. I can't believe nobody got bit and I was neurotic. We had a rattler who lived under an evergreen tree by the pool, and…who the heck puts evergreens by a pool area? Where were my palm trees? Anyhow, I would be multitasking of bleaching my teeth, sleeping and getting my tan on and that thing would wake me up. A quick check around the concrete around the pool let me know he was by his/her/its evergreen tree and I would fall back asleep.
For the time being, I'm in Northern California, about 2 hours away from the Bay Area. While I am here, I've decided to take this place on and you get to watch it. I hope that you will join me and I look so forward to going through this experience with you and provide you with inspiration. I also want you to provide me with inspiration and advice too! Be sure to subscribe to my You Tube Channel and we're going to have a lot of fun. We're going on shopping trips together, I will be sharing with you my favorite places to shop, the best junking scores ever and what to look for, DIY projects, you name it. You will meet a side of Cindy Coutts that you have never seen before. The real, raw me, and I know you will love it.
I don't have a personal hair or makeup staff. I'm aiming for one video a week to start and eventually two videos a week max. Of course, I need and want you to participate and follow me on social media to give me your ideas. I have been working hard with corporate sponsors for giveaways. You don't want to miss this. I'm so much more confident in designing than I am with making cards for those of you who have watched me for 10 minutes trying to figure out what color, size and type of ribbon to use on a card. In 10 minutes in my house, you will see a wall get done. We will also be creating our own art on canvas and I have already started on that. I have a lot of inexpensive and easy DIY projects and gifts that can be home decor or whatever you want it to be for your needs, but I will teach you everything I know.
My "staff" consists of one man so far, Bryce, who is my labor. We work together. He comes up with some fabulous ideas too! I do have another friend who will be filming and editing my videos. Bryce is my cousin's husband who suffered a traumatic brain injury 9 years ago in a horrific car accident and God spared his life so that he can bless others, and he does bless others, especially me. Not just in helping me with my home, but he's my friend and I love him and you will too. We can hang out and do nothing and have fun. Bryce is a real servant of God and has a very pure heart. He can be sneaky at times due to the brain injury since he's an eating machine – then again, he is a guy. All I know is that he blesses me and he makes me laugh and he makes me happy. Bryce is extremely high functioning to the point if we go shopping and I'm buying jeans, he will tell me I have a "camel toe." Ya, I do want to smack him for saying that in public, but at least he was honest and I somehow manage to get myself out of the size 2's I had to pour myself into and go back to the size 4's.
The biggest transformation in my house is going to be getting what I call "the beast" out of my living room and into my dedicated craft room and I am going for it and when I get around to that, I have lined up the most popular celebrity designer of HGTV to do this for me and you don't want to miss that. I'm so going out of my box on my studio. It's going to be New York City Boho loft industrial chic with a lot of metal and glass and it's going to be amazingly fabulous! Of course, a killer chandelier will be my lighting. It's my thing in my craft studio.
I have so much to share with you and so many ideas for you to do your home, even on the strictest budget. I will also take you "junking" with me too and that is always so much fun!
When I put my mind to something, it gets done. I look forward to having you join me for this fabulous and life-changing adventure! Are you on board yet?!
My sponsors and I are here for you for this incredible journey!
By the end of this week, I will have a new blog badge for you to put on your blog and if you leave a comment by January 31, 2015, stating that you've blogged about this post, are sporting my badge and have started following me on all social media, especially Twitter, here is your prize from one of my sponsors.
A $100 gift certificate to Home Depot!
Be sure to spread the word and share this with your friends. This is big and you have the chance to win big prizes all along the way! I need your help and I'm counting on you. I am blessed to have many faithful blog readers and followers. Thank you!
This is going to be great and I personally invite you to join me on this adventure. 2015 is MY year and I am so looking forward to it!
This is only just the beginning. I'm excited!
PS: My plans this weekend are to start my back porch and hopefully everything will be here. I currently have Martha Stewart patio furniture that I need to spray paint white and add the lovely cushions. This is one thing I can show you as to what type of paint that you need before the formal series starts. We are not leaving anything out!
If I didn't mention this before, I will also show you my two favorite online vendors, who are also sponsors, who have a wide variety of anything and everything you need for your house with a fabulous return policy, no matter what your taste is. Their product line has something for everyone and they are also corporate sponsors who would love to send you a prize.
Shop Cindy B Designs Boutique. You will love the experience! Simply click on the shopping bag above and enter a world of beauty hand-crafted for you.
Need Stampin' Up! products? Just click on the button above to shop with me 24/7 from the comfort of your own home!
PS: And yes my dear followers, I promise to start putting my cards, kits and other fun items in my Etsy Boutique in the next 2 weeks. Thank you for emailing me in the meantime to make your purchases and orders. Your support really does mean the world to me.
WOW! That's a lot of news. You sound so excited and I'm very happy for you! Looking forward to seeing your creative journey!