Gee, Ode To Thee!

4

August 9, 2013 by Decorum DIYer

Okay, okay, so as to the post’s title; technically, it is a ‘geode’, but hey, you try thinking of a clever pun for geode.

(Okay, maybe you can, but I couldn’t.)

My bloggy friend, Jennifer of Brave New Home has been participating in the

Inspired Design Challenge with a few other bloggers.

As you know, I’ve been trying to keep up, just finding small pieces of inspiration to help me complete my minor master bedroom overhaul (although it is a huge time suck and feels pretty major to me).

Thus far, I’ve managed to participate in two such inspiration challenges:

Target

and

Urban Outfitters

So, as usual, I am a day late (more like a week) and a dollar short (actually, I saved money – free project!).

I have some things in the works for the other retailers, which Jennifer and her decor blog gang have already conquered, but was able to sneak in a FREE inspirational piece or two from West Elm.

West Elm’s ‘Framed Geodes‘ for a whopping $169 (are they crazy?).

My husband and I actually collect little rocks and earthly treasures.

In addition, my father is a numismatist (coin collector) and I also enjoy the same hobby, but with a more worldly slant; in that I beg my traveling friends and family to bring back currency from any distant land they visit.

So, it was only logical that I incorporate both geodes and coins in my free decor inspiration.  In this case, I had one sliver of a polished geode and a mixture of six coins from both Africa and New Zealand. {No, I’ve never traveled to either place, hence the ‘friends and family’.}

I had two black frames that were once hung in Claire’s nursery:

Seashell prints using shades of coral, gray, ivory, and black were printed from an online image search and placed into an inexpensive frame ($2) from the dollar store.

So, I raided my stash of rocks and coins and got to work.

I played around with my treasures and decided on a simple layout, but disliked the background of the frames.

Using one of the spare curtain panels from the master bedroom drapery debacle, I recovered the frames’ backings.

I found the perfect, little spot for my treasures (and wouldn’t you know it, the location incidentally lined up with the ‘wealth and prosperity’ sector of the feng shui bagua).

Of course, the little knob was a silver tone-

so my trusty gold paint pen to the rescue and installation was complete:

I think they are right at home in that cozy, little corner, don’t you?

See, sometimes shopping (even virtually) reminds us of the secret treasures we have tucked away.  And really, aren’t those much more important to us than the ‘store-bought’ kind?

Where do you find your inspiration?

Any recent finds to share?