Wood you think of this?!

I've got a vision of the house that  I would like one day... and in this vision there is not a piece of wood veneered MDF or lino insight!

I came to terms with the fact that I wouldn't be able to make this dream a reality until I've made my millions, but maybe cheap wood effect panelling isn't so bad after all... Maybe all it needs is a little bit of character building!

image found here.

This is a picture of interior designer Sarah Tuttle's own kitchen. Apparently she was sick of living with a brown linoleum floor so she mapped out painter's tape to form 18" squares then painted the flooring with two coats of carport paint.


A nice, fresh twist which also makes the room feel more spacious.(I love the navy walls too!) 


Find a full tour of her beautiful house and insiders tips on iVillage here.

This, on the other hand is a design by Michael Iannoe and is made from organic kirei board which sounds to me like an environmentally friendly form of MDF... 

image found here.

Although I don't think I would buy something like this new, I am intrigued by the idea of stencilling a design onto another wise minimal, generic piece of furniture. (This is not to say Michael Iannoe's design is generic- I love the green choice of materials but the shape of the wardrobe would not be my first choice!)

I've taken note of how Iannoe has painted the 'negative space' white and leave the desired shapes untouched. The standard approach would be to stencil and then colour in your pattern but that wouldn't look as innovative as what we see here.

Now time for another Design Sponge revelation!

images found here.

Another Ikea special... but with a bit of sanding, painting and added decoration, all Ikea simply provides a basic structure then we can add do what ever we like to breathe some life into it!

Find the how-to here.

So maybe cheap can be cheerful after all... all you need is a bit of imagination!