A Bohemian Bedroom in Cambridge : Part I

My good college friend is having me help her with her bedroom in Cambridge, MA.

I have pulled together a few mood boards to start the process. We are trying to decide on the rug first & then we will add more. After looking at her pinterest inspiration boards…she really likes light, airy, bohemian room. The space has high ceilings & beautiful oak floors so I think any of these would look awesome in her space.

before

cambridge apartment bedroom

Which is your favorite?

Links are below for some of the items if you are looking! If you would like help with a space in your house, email me at onedelightfulshop @ gmail.com

SHOP THIS STYLE

Courage, Dear Heart: How do we build a life around our priorities?.

Our podcast has become a kind of free counseling for us. We are processing life as mid-thirty-something people that want to live to the full and not settle for life just happening to us. It sounds so cliche…but if we don’t stop and consider what we really want from our life - sometimes life just starts to happen, leaving you to find yourself someday as a person you never intended to become doing something you never intended to do for the long term.

This year has been huge for our really trying to zero in on what are priorities are and organizing our lives around them.

How do we build a life around our priorities?

This kind of thinking takes risk & courage. It feels weird to not just maintain the status quo. It feels irresponsible to make life decisions based on what we think our priorities are rather than just getting a job for the sake of getting a job.

In Gary Keller’s book ‘The One Thing’, he writes that figuring out the ONE thing that is most important to get done - the one thing that will do the most to help you achieve what you are heading toward in life or business - is the essential thing to figure out in order to successfully live according to your priorities. My husband and I both really enjoyed this book (but I don’t know that we have mastered this concept yet).

The Prioritizing your priorities worksheet in our printable library might help you if you are processing the same thing.
We personally, settled on three things in our family life & future that we wanted to serve as filters through which to process what we want to do in our next phase of life and the kind of people we want to become:

• We want to live simply, but while leaving room for fun. We like minimalism - but want to enjoy life!

• We want to live in community (we want to do life with friends, family & neighbors - not live in isolation)

• We want to keep a healthy work/life balance (we want to work - but we want to be able to be together as a family and not let work consume us)

Join the conversation on our podcast this week. And stay tuned to One Delightful Creative where are hope is to offer design services that help you create spaces in your home and life that remind you of what’s most important in life and leave room to enjoy it!

We made the Courage, Dear Heart print line over in the shop as a reminder to take courage and keep moving forward towards living out for what’s most important in life.

We’d love to hear if you have gone through a reflection process or are intentionally living for what matters most to you.

one wild + precious life

I have always loved this quote, but in life the season I’m in, it resonates with me more than it has before. Maybe it’s a quarter-life crisis, but instead of being satisfied with wondering what could have been - we are choosing to pursue our hearts.

Do you ever wonder what might have happened if you took a different road?

And then maybe you start to fixate on - why did I not do this years ago?

In college, I wanted to study graphic design, but the application process was confusing & I didn’t take any art classes in high school (another thing I regret - why did I pick band instead??).

When we were first married (2008), I decided I wanted to open some sort of creative shop & opened a jewelry business, which still exists. I wanted to do something with homes, but fear always kept me back from trying.

I have always loved houses - especially old houses. I know they can be impractical, but I love the stories behind them, the worn wood floors lasting over years and years.

One of the ways we are shifting is changing our business to fit our hearts. In our shop - I create designs that remind you to live for and enjoy what’s most important in life.

But we are also taking a leap of faith & adding a design business to our company, One Delightful. Our hope is to run a business that helps you create spaces in your home that help you to enjoy what matters most in life. More time for playing, hugging, and appreciating the beauty of it all. Less time spent overwhelmed, cleaning up the clutter, and wishing things could be different. My design style is unpretentious, eclectic, functional, yet beautiful. I love using old pieces from my home that have a history, but incorporating the new, too. I’m the creative brain of our projects & my husband, Philip, is often the voice of reason and the self-taught handyman, helping to bring the dreams to reality.

We have loved renovating our three homes with our little people in tow. Our kids have taught us already that babies don’t stay small forever & that now is the best time to create a life and home that creates space for what matters most. They have also taught me that visual clutter really wears on me - & that creating a beautiful space is good for my well-being. We’ve started to see how amazing beautifully designed, simple spaces can be in helping to remind us to live the kind of life we want. We would love to help do the same for you!

• Help bring the dreams you’ve pinned on Pinterest into reality through online or in-person home design that will make your spaces more functional, simple, and beautiful.

• Create custom, hand-lettered designs for your home + business that will remind you about the things in life that matter most.

• Shop our current selections of hand-crafted prints at One Delightful Shop!

Popular Podcast Episodes

10 takeaways from 10 Years of Marriage

Let’s Talk about Side Hustles

Our first episode…the Simplicity Experiment

A Sense of our Style

The Airstream Renovation that Never Happened

The Painted Piano

Pinterest

2018 holiday gift guide

Here is our 2018 holiday gift guide!

To get the links - just click the download link above for a pdf with links.

Our podcast this week explains of our favorites.

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must have for an at home business

photo by kellyn boyden // letterfolk letterboard is one of my favorite accessories

I thought I would share some of my favorite tools + things for running a business from my home. Some of these will depend on what kind of business you are running, but as an etsy & squarespace seller these have been the most helpful things to me.

There are so many easy ways to shop these days…AHHEM - amazon, target, etc. SO EASY!

If a person is choosing to shop handmade with you or just with you in general, they are making a choice to do that when something else might be more convenient.

Here are a few things to personalize + professionalize your shop to give your customers a positive experience + make things run more seamless for you as you may be squeezing in work time while your kids are sleeping.

work time

I have been working from home for almost eight years and seven of those have been with kids. I occasionally have a sitter so I could get a little work done. I cannot say enough good things about having a set of bluetooth headphones so that you can tune out whatever is happening - since you do have a sitter after all.

Now my kids are often at school while I’m working, but I still love these headphones - walking, working out…while working…there are so many ways to connect to bluetooth and I love these.

P.S. I would have got this version, but didn’t know if I was cool enough for them and chickened out.

letterboard from above here // get yourself a pegboard at home depot - great functional + inspiring space

pictures

I use my iphone for a lot of photos, especially when I was selling Lularoe and moving a lot of product quickly. If you are usually a photo that you can reuse - brightening it, using a higher quality lense attachment - like this one is a great option.

packaging

I love some personal touches to make packages special. Here are a few things things I have enjoyed.

Shipping tags is something i have used for years & love having as a part of my packaging. I’m glad they don’t seem to be out of style yet.

I make my stamps using a stamp site like rubberstamps.com - but I feel like getting the Ipad pro & procreate app - its been so much more to add a real personally touch with hand-lettering.

I also loooove washi tape. There are so many great uses for washi tape. Not all washi tape is equal. Some have very little stick to them. MT is one brand I have been happy with. I also like 3m brand as well (pictured and linked above).

ship from home

This is a beautiful thing + a must! You save money by printing labels at home (they charge less online than at the PO) & its a time saver. You can even order for FREE shipping supplies from the post office (priority mailers).

To ship from home, you’ll need a scale to know how much things weigh - I have had this scale for years and have not had any problems with it.

This Dymo Printer is not a MUST, but it is a great time saver & great luxury item if you are shipping enough items to need one. I love that it doesn’t need ink & it prints super fast. It also gives a professional look to your packages.

Every once in a while your dymo will act weird and this is the best tool I have found to get it to start working correctly again. DYMO also suggests you use their labels - so I always have though I know others do not and have not had problems.

If you are not going to get a dymo printer, these labels are a good time saver.

I love fun mailers like these. There are so many fun options on amazon!

If you do not have a printing service, but do have a PayPal account - you can use this handy link to buy postage.

Choosing a Platform

If you are just starting out, etsy is a great place to be on for handmade or supply shops. Many people are familiar with it and have accounts for easy shopping. BUT you can also get lost in the crowd & you do not want to send your customers to etsy. I have always had both running, but have usually directed customers to my own site. I have used big cartel in the past and am currently on squarespace. Shopify is awesome & has a ton of great features too!

Etsy also gives you the ability to ship from their system which I think is a great feature as well.

Those are these things that jump out at me!

I’m sure there are more & I’ll try to update this list as I think of them.

**these do contain some affiliate links / but I love & highly recommend all of these products and receive a small credit for sharing them.