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carterquinn.design
pixelcoffee
@carterquinn.design
280 followers 220 following 140 posts
All Things DIY / 3D Printing / Traditional & Digital Art / Freelance Graphic Designer (No AI! 🚫🤖)

Portfolio: http://carterquinn.design

🎨 + 📚💙 + 🕹️ + 🎲 + 🧚‍♂️

currently reading: The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson
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carterquinn.design
There’s still a lot to do in my #diy home office, but it’s *finally* starting to become a functional room again!

Loving how the rug really ties the room together. 😏

I still need to make the built-ins look more… built-in. Paint touchups, floating desk, trim, & window seat doors are all next too.
View of my finished-ish home office! A couple of sets of cabinets, a custom window seat built into a bay window, a record player, and a small desk in the center on top of a fun, floral rug.
August 2, 2025 at 5:09 AM
carterquinn.design
The floors: DONE! ✅

My husband pulled off a miracle and got the rest installed between online meetings & work calls.

We even got my rug and a little desk put in, so that I could play #dnd for the first time in here 🥺

9.5 months of planning and #diy work, and its finally my own space again!
Wide-angle view of my home office DIY project. On the left is a dark blue window seat built into a bay window. The back wall is a deep fuchsia with a separated pair of matching fuchsia cabinets and white upper caninets. The countertops are birch butcher block. A third piece of butcher block is leaning against the wall, in between the two lower cabinets. It will soon be a floating desk that gets mounted in that spot. On the right is a wall with arched alcoves that are painted the same blue inside as my window seat. The floors are a dark, warm brown wood laminate. The baseboards are still missing. The ceiling has three levels of height that stair step up higher towards the center. The highest level is painted a soft pink and has a gold chandelier hanging from it.
August 1, 2025 at 5:31 AM
carterquinn.design
#diy home office update:

- Hard to see from the backlit photo, but the 2nd coat of paint is on the window seat! Leaning more to that dark & moody fairytale vibe.

- Flooring is now ~50% installed 😍

- Also 👀 those outlet covers! They make me so happy.
View of the corner of my home office. On the left is a custom-built windowseat. The doors are missing on the cabinetry of the seat, but the frame of it is painted the same deep teal blue color I used on the opposite wall (not pictured). On the right, one of my lower cabinets is in frame. It is a deep raspberry color with gold and mother-of-pearl pulls and handles. The handles have a butterfly wing on either side. It is topped with a maple butcher block countertop. The floor looks ridiculous because it is not installed yet. It’s got a special pad called an underlayment on it, which is shiny and silver. The laminate wood flooring will go on top of it. Hopefully soon!
July 30, 2025 at 3:51 PM
carterquinn.design
Espresso Martini with my homemade coffee liqueur! 🍸

#cocktail #cocktails #martini #espressomartini #coffee
Closeup of my hand holding an espresso martini. The drink is dark with a nice layer of beige foam and a single coffee bean floating on top.
July 29, 2025 at 2:08 AM
carterquinn.design
Flooring time! Can’t believe how close we are to actually being done.

We’re doing the floors and window seat paint this week. (It will be the same color as the arch wall).

Next is the floating desk with white bead board above, lots of trim, and I can officially move my office back in! 😳 #diy
View of dark wood laminate flooring in the early stages of being installed in my home office floor. I’m not a huge fan of laminate flooring. It’s great on a budget for sure, but since this is a creative space (and we have kids), I’m not expecting it to last forever. My husband has long dreamed of real hardwood throughout the house. But that’s definitely a “someday” project — maybe even after the kids are grown. The wall behind where the flooring starts is painted dark blue green and framed with light linen white arches. The other wall in view is a deep fuchsia with matching lower cabinetry, topped with maple butcher block, and above it is a linen white upper cabinet. They all have golden handles inlaid with mother-of-pearl.
July 29, 2025 at 1:45 AM
carterquinn.design
Hardware is up! 😱

#diy #interiordesign #homeoffice #anthropologie
Close-up of mother-of-pearl and gold knobs on fuchsia cabinets. The handle on the drawer has a butterfly wing on each side. The knobs have an intricate looped pattern with a diamond shape in the middle. A wider angle shot of the same cabinet, with a matching set to the right. The uppers are a soft linen white instead of fuchsia. The cabinet tops are birch butcher block. There’s a third piece of butcher block, meant to be a floating desk in between the two lower cabinets. But it’s not attached yet, so it is currently leaning against the wall.
July 24, 2025 at 4:08 PM
carterquinn.design
So many new updates on my #DIY home office!

✅ audio cable run in walls
✅ cabinets installed
✅ butcher block cut and sealed ✅ window seat designed and built (minus the doors)

I’ve also shortened and tied up my blinds cords so the toddler can’t reach them (although he’s not allowed in here yet haha)
View of a home office under construction. There is no flooring yet, but the walls are painted rich, deep fuchsia and dark blue with soft linen white accents and arches. The ceiling is a cheerful light strawberry pink with a gold chandelier, and there are two pairs of built-in upper (white) and lower (fuchsia) cabinets with butcher block tops. A window seat, still made of raw wood, is built into a large bay window. A gold and mother of pearl butterfly cabinet pull has been drilled into a wall, near a corner. The cords from a set of blinds are wrapped around the back of the butterfly to keep them elevated and out of the reach of small children.
July 22, 2025 at 8:55 PM
carterquinn.design
Uppers are up!

Spent most of the day ripping up staples, carpet tack strips, and removing all of the baseboards.

But things are starting to feel very real now!

#diy
View of empty cabinets installed. The lowers are fuchsia to match the wall, and the uppers are a soft off-white.
June 29, 2025 at 11:30 PM
carterquinn.design
Goodbye old dog-piss-filled carpets! My nose will NOT miss you!! 🤮

And hello beautiful, messy subfloor. ✨

The vision is slowly but surely coming to life!

#diy #homeoffice #interiordesifn
View of the corner of my home office buildout. The left wall is a fuchsia purple with matching (but uninstalled) lower cabinets underneath. In between the two lowers are the two upper cabinets, painted a light creamy color. None of the doors are attached yet. The right wall is a deep ocean blue separated by archways. A gold chandelier with four frosted, round bulbs hangs from a pink multi-tiered ceiling. The floor shows raw plywood subfloor where the carpet has recently been torn away and thrown out.
June 28, 2025 at 11:07 PM
carterquinn.design
More than 2 months (and 1 mostly-recovered wrist injury later), and the cabinet painting is finally complete!

Y’all, this took FOUR coats of paint to do by hand. 😭

Next up: drilling hardware holes, and removing the baseboards and nasty carpets for some secret cable runs. 🕵️‍♀️

#diy #interiorsesifn
Photo of my home office interior. Four empty cabinet bases and their doors are strewn about with fresh coats of paint drying on them. The lowers are a deep berry fuchsia color, while the uppers are a neutral off-white.
June 26, 2025 at 10:12 PM
carterquinn.design
Priming takes forever when you don’t have a sprayer! 🙃 I am still hoping for a professional-ish finish, using a “dry rolling” technique I found online.

The primer absolutely needs 2 coats, as dry rolling picks up most of the paint back up. Hope the slow and steady approach will be worthwhile. #diy
A photo of my home office, under construction. Empty cabinetry shells are scattered around the room with the front doors all spread out on the floor. They are drying with two coats of primer on them. A closeup of the hardware for my cabinetry. Round knobs and a wide handle framed in butterfly wings, all in gold with intricate mother of pearl inlay.
April 18, 2025 at 11:03 PM
carterquinn.design
Last night’s sunset!

I was late putting the baby to bed, but when I saw that telltale lavender glow radiating from down the hall, we dropped everything to run outside and just take it all in for a few minutes.

I love how it makes everything feel candy-coated IRL. 😍
A photograph of a fiery, cloudy sunset. The sky is a pale blue at the bottom, and a rich periwinkle blue at the top. The clouds are a dark lavender purple that have been dip-dyed in neon shades of pink and coral. It looks like it would taste really good. The rooflines of houses are dark silhouettes along the bottom of the photo.
March 24, 2025 at 10:06 PM
carterquinn.design
So when anyone hears me talking about fairies, THIS is what I mean!!

This piece (“Fairies and the Peasant Girl” by Yuliya Litvinova) has haunted me *in the best way* since I first saw it ~2018. I’ve always dreamed of owning a print, and now I do! #art #fae

Link: www.artstation.com/artwork/JlaRPA
A large printed piece of artwork in a gold frame. It shows a group of creepy individuals in whimsical, lacy outfits spilling out of an ancient and gnarled tree. They are peering down at a peasant woman who seems to have been caught in the middle of foraging in the forest. It is an overcast day. The people in the tree look human, ethereal, and very dangerous. Their expressions range from narcissistic elegance, to villainous intrigue, to rage. The peasant woman is shocked and looks like she’s frozen mid-step. I dunno what happens to her, but I’m guessing nobody ever saw her again. Oh and the art style is a delightful mix of painterly strokes and stunningly delicate details. You can make out blood vessels on the back of the woman’s hand, while some of the tree branches are created using a single paint stroke. Because there is some light bouncing off from the glass of my picture frame, which obscures some of the art, this is a digital version of the same artwork. This is just a closeup of the same fairies I described in the first image.
March 24, 2025 at 8:07 PM
carterquinn.design
My home office progress has been slow, but I’m gearing up for the next big push!

The dark fairytale art I ordered from INPRNT is out for delivery today (finally!! 😭) Not sure if the mat in my frame is cut right for it, so I may have to get that fixed before I can share. 🧚‍♂️

#diy #interiordesign
Side by side photos. The left image is of an abstract botanical patterned rug. The colors are teal, green, dark blue, orange, gold, pink and a pinkish burgundy red. It’s on a dark wood laminate floor. The other photo is the corner of an empty room (to be my home office). The left wall is a rich fuchsia purple. The right wall is dark blue-ish teal and framed in a small arch and a large arch. The arches and the lower levels of the ceiling are a light grayish white. The highest level of the ceiling is pink with a gold chandelier hanging from it. The four light bulbs are globe shaped and frosted.
March 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
carterquinn.design
Eeeeeeeeeee they’re actually heeeeeere!!!

FedEx came through only EIGHT DAYS EARLY (which is making me feel a tiny bit better about my art print from INPRNT being 3 days late. DHL of course, haha).
Closeup of my hand holding a gold cabinet knob with mother of pearl inlay. The inlay is shaped like a large diamond in the center, curving inward on each edge. This leaves a gap between the outer perimeter of the knob and each side of the center diamond shape. These perimeters are filled with curvy triangle inlays, creating a border of 12 triangle-ish shapes around the whole knob.
March 20, 2025 at 5:36 PM
carterquinn.design
My home office renovations have been slow lately since the whole family has been sick. But we’re finally shaking it off now!

Cabinets are next: repair, sand, prime, and paint. And I got these gorgeous mother of pearl drawer pulls on the way! 😍

#interiordesign #diy #anthropologie
Two photos of cabinet hardware. The first picture shows a round gold knob with mother of pearl inlay. The inlay is shaped like a large diamond in the center, curving inward on each edge. This leaves a gap between the outer perimeter of the knob and each side of the diamond shape. These perimeters are filled with curvy triangle inlays, creating a border of 12 triangle-ish shapes around the whole knob. All together, these shapes are abstractly reminiscent of the pattern on a monarch butterfly wing (in my opinion). The second image is of a gold drawer handle. The left and right edges have a butterfly wing. They are symmetrical to each other and have mother of pearl inlay to match the round knobs of the first picture.
March 13, 2025 at 3:32 PM
carterquinn.design
Home sick w/ sick kiddo and sick baby on my birthday, but making the most of it!

Watching The Great Muppet Caper and admiring the area rug my family gifted me. (Test driving it in the living room until my home office remodel is finished!)

So pretty 😍 Same flooring will be in my office someday!
Closeup of a wool area rug on a dark wood floor. Abstract botanical patterns in teal, blue, pink, burgundy, green, orange, snd yellow.
March 6, 2025 at 5:31 PM
carterquinn.design
I saw this reviewer’s username on Amazon and I can’t stop thinking about it
A review for curtains on Amazon. Where someone’s username would typically be displayed, it says: “The power button seal was broken. I was so bummed because I really looking forward for my pitbull to go out for dog run at the park.”
March 5, 2025 at 1:07 AM
carterquinn.design
Took a break from the home office makeover to flip this set of dining chairs.

They came with the house and are lovely, but color didn’t match our decor and the seats were sunken from ~40 years of use.

Finished dying them today and we redo the cushions starting tomorrow!

#diy
Two photos. The first is a pair of chairs with the seats missing. The backs of the chairs are a shield shape with a padded cushion in the middle. The fabric is a pale yellow with a gold floral design. The second photo shows all six chairs in the set. They are tipped forward onto the ground and have been dyed a deep navy blue. The floral pattern looks almost black.
March 2, 2025 at 2:25 AM
carterquinn.design
Getting ready to dive in to the third book in the Emily Wilde series!

For my matching bookmark, I’ve selected the paint chip “Connors Lakefront” (SW 9060) from Sherwin Williams.

#heatherfawcett #emilywilde #booksky 💙📚
A hardback book standing on a wooden table with a fuchsia wall in the background. The cover reads: “Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales, Book 3 of the Emily Wilde Series, A Novel by Heather Fawcett.” The cover has an ornate art nouveau aesthetic to the lettering. It is framed by a symmetrical pattern of tangled branches and vines which have eyeballs peeking out of the leaves. There are bees scattered throughout, and a black cat is perched within the letter “C” of “Compendium”. The cover also depicts a cluster of multicolored mushrooms and a pin cushion with sewing pins and a couple of spools of thread, one of which is pierced with a sewing needle. Two of the darker vine branches look like dark skeletal hands. The background of the book is a chilly blue color with a slight tinge of green to it. The book is bookmarked is a rectangular color sample swatch in a matching blue color.
February 26, 2025 at 5:26 PM
carterquinn.design
Just finished my re-read of Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke.

864 glorious pages. It is still my favorite book, and I definitely enjoyed it even more the second time around. I don’t normally get sad when a book is over, but it hit me hard this time.

#booksky 💙📚
A side view of the 20th anniversary edition hardback of Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. The cover depicts a ship, waves, the sliver of a crescent moon, and the wing of a raven bursting out of a shattered oval mirror in an ornate frame. Behind the mirror is a glimpse of a manor house with tree roots sprouting along the bottom. The night sky behind it all is filled with twinkling stars and books taking off in flight like birds.
February 26, 2025 at 5:19 PM
carterquinn.design
Went a little wild this week with the paint chips.

The gray we had picked for the room had too much blue in it, and I finally got fed up.

I’ve switched to Sherwin Williams 9109 “Natural Linen” and I am absolutely in love with it!!

#diy #interiordesign
Two images side-by-side. On the left is a gray column with nearly two dozen paint sample cards taped on in different shades and sizes. On the right is a zoomed-in view of a ceiling where it meets a wall, above an arched opening. The ceiling is the blueish-gray I didn’t like. The underside of the arch is the old, buttery yellow color that the room started out as. In between these two colors is my new color. It is a warm, soft gray with a tarnished silver tone to it. It’s not too warm or too cool, and it’s GORGEOUS — I love it so much.
February 24, 2025 at 1:24 AM
carterquinn.design
The latest arrival for my bedside mini bookshelf.

Gotta finish my Jonathan Strange re-read first, but then this will be next! 💙📚

#EmilyWilde #HeatherFawcett #booksky
Closeup of several books on a shelf, but the one closest to camera is “Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales” by Heather Fawcett, book 3 of the Emily Wilde series. The books in the background are “The Ladies of Grace Adieu”, “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell”, “Piranesi”, and “The Wood at Midwinter”, all by Susanna Clarke.
February 19, 2025 at 7:39 PM
carterquinn.design
My third mural design on display! I loved making these food, coffee, and cocktail illustrations.

Hand-drawn in #Procreate, vectorized in Illustrator, and printed in vinyls

#art #GraphicDesign #Nashville

(Designed for Stay Golden in Nashville, TN. Photo Credit: prettythingsnash on Instagram.)
Photo of a mural on a cement block wall in a cafe. The mural says “STAY GOLDEN” In large block text, and “Nashville” underneath in cursive. The mural is peppered with illustrations of coffee drinks, cocktails, food dishes, and ingredients. The color scheme is dark and light teal with accents of a light buttery yellow and a poppy red. In front of the wall are five round gold tables with gold and white chairs. The floor is concrete.
February 14, 2025 at 12:08 AM
carterquinn.design
Did some window shopping at World Market today. I’ve had my eye on this rug for a while now. Definitely fits the dark fairytale aesthetic I’m going for!

#interiordesign #decor #diy
A large, rectangular area rug hangs on display in a store. The rug is primarily a medium teal green color, with abstract botanical patterns of flowers, stems, and leaves in tones of copper, pink, burgundy, yellow, green, and gray.
February 13, 2025 at 10:31 PM