StyleMutt Hits the Stock[image] Market!

Psst! There's a new Etsy shop on the block!

BohoStock is a little dream I've had for about a year, when I started saving up for a legit camera. Last Winter I began taking a little bit out of every payment I received through StyleMutt Home opportunities and after spotting a mega deal on Ebay right before Christmas, bought a Nikon D3200! It's a whole new world, for sure.

But back to the dream - One of the strongest desires Cate and I have had for StyleMutt Home is to join in with others in this industry and be a part of something greater than our cozy corner of the web. We've been so blown away by how open and welcoming the design community has been, both local and global. Creatives supporting creatives isn't just beautiful, it's powerful!

For this reason, I've been wanting to find a way to support my fellow small business owners. I don't know a lot about designing and building an entire website, but I understand branding. A strong brand is vital to clenching that first impression and building a relationship with your supportive community, whether it's clients, sponsors, followers or readers. And if you're workin' with a phone camera, as many out there are, (until now our entire existence here at StyleMutt Home has been through the little eye of our iPhone cameras),  it's even more difficult to fill your site and social media with images that give the professional, clean look you desire.

I created BohoStock to offer images for other creative small business owners to use to strengthen their brand. Our ready-to-use images are clean, fresh and inspired by nature. Stock images have been growing wildly popular as the need for them continues to grow, but there are very few that appeal to the modern bohemian. If you prefer wood tones and fresh greens to black desk supplies or romantic blooms, these stock images are for you, my dears. Use them to refresh your logo, clean your home page, or send messages regarding upcoming events, giveaways, winners, etc to your business' following community. Many of these images are also designed with enough space for a print if you're in the art industry and would like a fresh, consistent way of displaying your prints for your own shop, (here is a fantastic tutorial on layering images in Pixlr if you need some help)!

The BohoStock Etsy shop is filled with 30 some images ready for immediate download, (free from text and watermark). Now, go and have your business your way!

Thank you all so much for stopping by!

High Gloss Green & Styling a Highboy

There's a new dresser in town! And I painted it green; surprise, surprise. I'm on a green kick, no shame here, and this mid-century highboy had the perfect size and details to pull it off in high gloss!

In case you missed it, these knobs are from the Southwestern dresser I did a few weeks ago and they lost in votes to the cowhide pulls I did for the same piece! That dresser, and it's beautiful cowhide pulls, are now in a sweet expectant couple's western themed nursery and waiting on a new little one to arrive! I love that the cowhide pulls were perfect for that piece just as these hexagon knobs turned out to be perfect for this piece.

Let's talk about styling

For whatever reason, I find it easier to style a vignette on a longer, lower piece with more surface space than a taller piece like this. Because of it's height my first instinct is to keep the items on top on the shorter side, so the piece as a whole doesn't look taller. But who says tall ladies can't wear heels. I mean, right?!? Adding height to the top gives the piece balance!

So here's a really quick and easy to remember formula I, (poorly), sketched to show how I like to style a highboy piece such as this green beauty:

This is totally just one example of how to style pieces of comparable size, and once you get more comfortable you can play with the formula, move things around and swap things out! But a good place to start is Lamp, Large art, Tall sculptural piece, and a Stack of books topped with a unique object.

Since I don't have an art piece or mirror large enough to hang above this piece I decided to tear out a handful of select color plates from my botanical book, (that thing is completely destroyed; I've used it's pages everywhere, starting with this gallery wall, and then above this piece!)

Mr. Rex was in SUCH a fowl mood on shooting day! But, he made good on his promise not to utter a sound or move a muscle.

Glossy Green Dresser
47"H x 38"W x 19"D
$375 SOLD

Thank you so much for stopping by, friends!

A Picture's Worth a Thousand... Bucks? ||Part 2||

Welcome back!  I am so happy that you returned to hear how my staging adventure turned out from yesterday's post...  Bet you couldn't sleep last night because you were wondering how my design conundrum was going to turn out.  But really, I hope you actually slept like a log.  Ok so quick recap.  

 Fell in love with this bench:

Source: Zen Home

Cried a little when I saw the price... decided to make one of my own:

Got excited to sell it at Sweet Clover Barn [You're Invited!]

Tried staging outside:

Photos or editing weren't selling the bench... gave up on photoshoot al fresco.

Ok you caught up?  So in all that hullabaloo I'll admit I threw myself a pity party.  I was so frustrated that I didn't have any of my things to create a vignette for the mid-century/modern/rustic/eclectic customer!  But after reading all the great advice on Instagram and Facebook, I was resolved to creatively use some of my surrounding traditional décor to make a modern bench shine.  I did some digging around in the basement that Caleb and I are squatting in and found a quirky lamp table that could pass as mid-century.  It was like a light bulb went off [pun absolutely intended].  I grabbed some hardcover books, some shoes, and a hat, slapped some paint on one of my blank canvases, and got this:

BOOM!  This is exactly what I was going for!  That lamp table and easy DIY art piece completed the vignette I just couldn't get outside.

Even though the lighting in the basement isn't all that great and made the pictures a little grainy, the walls came off as more cream than butter yellow [how does paint do that?!?] which I count as a win!

The modern chrome makes for a beautiful contrast against the rustic Guernsey print don't you think?  [Guernsey meaning a brown-and-white-spotted cow.]  And the quirky lamp table and art help sell the eclectic story of a fun entryway bench or upholstered table.

Thank you so much for all your support and encouragement while I tried to work through this one.   This was an incredible lesson in stretching my style mutt muscles and working with limiting factors.  If any of you are also living outside of your usual decor element or trying to take photos to help sell your pieces, I hope my struggle encourages you to not feel trapped by your circumstances.  Keep pushing until you are happy with what you see.  

This bench will be for sale at Sweet Clover Barn in Frederick, MD this weekend Aug 21-23 10am to 5pm!  If you are a savvy local mid-century/modern/rustic/eclectic shopper in the market for a bench that looks $1,000 bucks but won't cost you that much... then I hope to see you there!