dreamy light bedroom tour

I've discovered that lots and lots of snow (and even the absence of electricity caused by it) has some unexpected bonuses...one of them being incredible light and the freedom from distractions (internet, tv, elliptical--ha ha ok, not exactly a distraction in the same way:) that usually keep me from noticing subtle things like that.
Our bedroom in particular looked so pretty with the intense light being reflected off the snow. It was just calling for me to snap some pictures (ok, LOTS of pictures :). It's already one of my favorite places in our house because it's so simple but also a little bit romantic too...the closest I'll ever get to fussy.
I got the parasol head light cover at Pearl River over a year ago with the intention of switching out our atrocious broken ceiling fan (bane!). While I waited to find time to install a regular bare bulb fixture, I hung the parasol head on an old random nail in the wall, but then I started loving how it looked, so it stayed.
Both of the chairs were curbside finds while living in South Bend. Both are a little too rickety to be used as everyday chairs, but I like their simple farmhouse vibe, so I decided to use them as bedside tables. The little lamps are from ikea.The jar painting is by Nicole, It was the first piece of art in our room, and I love it!!! She's so generous to let me "borrow" it. The portraits are by my mom. The one on the left is a pencil sketch on tea-stained paper that she made as my 20th birthday card.
You can't really see it in the photo, but there is writing on the right hand side. It's been in a folder since college, but I knew it would look beautiful in our room. I tried a million frames, but they all looked too fussy, so I glued some sticks on the top and bottom edges and hung it scroll style with some jute twine instead.
For now we've decided to keep our mattress right on the floor with our mantel headboard (you can see how I made it in my post for apartment therapy). I was inspired by the simplicity of traditional rural Swedish bedrooms I usually prefer silver to gold, but I love the contrast of the little touches of gold against the light gray and ivories. It's such a soothing place to wake up in...especially when the heat is on!

PS- this is what it looked like when we moved in...not exactly the spare, peaceful vibe we were going for. Thank goodness for paint!

Homebound

Nothing quite like 2+days without power, heat, and internet, to remind me to be extremely grateful for the abundance of modern conveniences...however with a stash of wine and my sister, brother-in-law, and their kids right next door we didn't spend too much time feeling sorry for ourselves. The first night was absolute bliss as we indulged in some of the more appealing aspects of simple living...

candle light!

family stories

and cozy fires!

And now we're bracing ourselves for MORE snow!

Bloomingdale's Big Window Challenge

In case you haven't heard the big window challenge is going on in New York as I type, and voting ends tomorrow! Three very talented designers: Eddie Ross representing Elle Decor, Eileen Joyce representing Bloomingdales, and Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan representing Apartment Therapy (of course!) have each created a fascinating window room vignette incorporating in at least one key Bloomingdales pieces. All three rooms took me by surprise. With three different designers with completely different styles you can expect a good bit of variety, but I was shocked by the range of styles, and even more so by the particular styles that Eddie and Maxwell expressed. I like all of them for different reasons, but I particularly like the cozy eclectic vibe of Maxwell's room: "The writer's romantic supper." It's polar opposite from what we've seen of his own well-edited, clutter-free homes. I especially love the painted bookcase mural that AT's color therapist, Mark Chamberlain, painted for the vignette. So old world! Maxwell is often slammed for being too unsentimental about possessions in general and books in particular--advising people not to hold onto things/books they don't love or use regularly--so it was fun and interesting to see a room completely drowning in tomes.

So many bloggers have expressed much more eloquent opinions about Eddie's room than I can do at this hour (WAY past this girl's bedtime) so I won't expound much.

I admire its vibrancy, pleasing symmetry, and bold mix of color, pattern, and form--the signature vases and bust!!! There is just one detail I can't convince myself to totally love, the Hinson splatter wallpaper... and I really wish that I could. It's certainly a show-stopper which is a huge part of what the competition is about, so I'm sure that design-wise it totally works, but man, I suppose I'm just not modern woman enough. I've been keeping an eye out for explanations of why people do like the paper in particular, but I haven't seen any commentary on it. I am completely smitten with his blog and every other design masterpiece I've seen of his, but I keep trying to picture the room with something else on the walls. Any thoughts?

And now, you can go vote!

beautiful imperfection

Last week we had all of our windows replaced as our 5 year anniversary present to each other, very romantic! When I walked in during the process I was struck by how lovely the chaotic scene was--so sunny and airy and imperfect! It reminded me of an anthropologie photo-shoot (ie, photo above)...minus the uber-styling of their talented creative directors :)
I thought briefly about how to incorporate that "undone" type of beautiful chaos into my home everyday, but then I realized that I already have....

Cheers to those good decisions!

establishing a mood

I've spent a lot of my life trying to distance emotions from aesthetics, only to discover recently that they can't really be separated. Successful rooms are ones that elicit "feelings"--I really cringe writing that sentence--so cheesy--but I'm absolutely convinced that it's true, so I might as well say, er, write it out loud :)
One of the interiors that I'm getting ready to help design belongs to a couple who have been married for over 15 years and have had 4 previous homes. However, despite having some nice furniture and functional floor plans, they've never really enjoyed any of the homes. While talking with the wife, I suddenly realized that the easiest way to assess what they really want to get out of their home was to ask how certain elements--colors, furniture, etc.-- made them feel, and how they wanted other rooms to make them feel. At first I felt a little uncomfortable, but it was kind of a revelation to both of us. She actually knew a lot more about her tastes than she though initially, and I have a much clearer vision of how I'm going to go about helping them with their home.

Without really knowing it, all of the pictures in my personal inspiration file for our home have a very similar feel to them, and although they're quite different in some respects, all have a similar effect on me.To describe the collective interiors themselves (some of them are pictured here) I would use the words: warm, a little gritty and industrial, sturdy, vintage, old, slightly whimsical, and imperfect.
But I would also say that these qualities make me feel at ease, loosely ordered, contemplative, and creative.
In books, magazines, and homes that I help with, I love energetic color and playful accent pieces, but in my own home I want the overall feeling to be calm, unfussy, and laid back. And I've found that warm light grays, ivories, whites, aquas, and earthy greens as color choices, and natural textures like rough hewn wood, slubby linen, and light cotton complete the feeling.

(Images: 1: torie jayne via pinkwallpaper, 2: anthropolgie, 3: unknown, 4: country living, 5: Marie Claire Maison, 6: Apartment Therapy:NY Sue & Jared's artist loft, 7: mine, 8: Elle Decor, Darryl Carter's Virginia Farmhouse)

Catherine's House Tour

Catherine's house tour finally made it to Apartment Therapy! It was supposed to go live on Thursday, but there was a glitch in our posting program, and it didn't get posted until today. You can check it out here.

Catherine was totally delightful, and hilarious! It's so much fun to walk into a home that's both cozy and interesting, and lived in. Anyone that knows me also knows that I could spend an entire day looking through shelter magazines. "Done up" homes are such a treat to look at, esp. in a magazine, but real homes--ones that are full of the personalities of the people who live there--are something special. They are a hundred times more inspiring than anything I see in magazines because I get to see how the inhabitants have worked around certain obstacles and how they've incorporated hand-me-downs, heirlooms, and "placeholder" furnishings into their homes.


Even though we have rather different styles, Catherine totally captured the feeling that I would love to incorporate into my home--laid back, simple, unpretentious, and creative. Now, you should go check it out.

Style Quiz

The last time I took a quiz not for school I was probably 16, but I love this style quiz (from sproost), so I decided to indulge (again)...you should too! I like to take it when I should be writing an article, but have a mental block. I always come up with rustic revival and vintage modern...and sometimes cottage chic too, which is probably pretty accurate. They've collected a wonderful collection of images, and it's actually very helpful too if you're confused as to what you really like in terms of style. Once they formulate your style, they list a bunch of furniture selections that might suit your taste. Helpful indeed, but mostly, it's just fun.

Go try it!

5 years of you!

Yes you, Rich, my sweet fat gene bach, whom I love just a bit more today than I did...

10 years ago at your high school prom....or even on

this day 5 years ago. And...

a little more than even the day we had her. Or...

her. More than...

this day last month. And maybe even...

a tiny bit more than yesterday.

Thank you for making me a moss, I'm very grateful...and cheesy, but you knew that!

(Images: my wedding photographs by the illustrious photographer, Marcie Revens, who is also the writer of this illustrious blog)

Rooms That Scream (or whisper, rather) Serene

This month at Apartment Therapy, we're focusing on bedrooms and healthy living, and when I picture good health and happy living, these images are exactly what comes to mind. All emphasize simplicity, peacefulness, and calm through natural textures and neutral hues. The hardest part about incorporating this laid back, subtle style into a normal home is working with the general lack of architectural detail that most homes post late forties exhibit. This style works best with wood floors, plaster walls, and high ceilings.







Homes with wall to wall carpet and low ceilings require a bit more creativity, but it's easy to accomplish a peacefulness even so. I've found that the best way to work around this is with neutral wall colors with gray and taupe undertones (like the second to last pic. warm beiges can look dingy unless you get a LOT if natural light and have a variety of light sources for night time) and lots of natural textures. Layering a sisal, jute, or seagrass rug over the carpet creates a focal point and a similar natural vibe as worn wooden floors.

(Images: 1 notebook mag, 2 Marie Claire Maison, 3: 11 bonita, 4: jim cooper, 5: jake curtis, 6: cecilia granath, 7: sharon cairyns)

wild wild horses

As I've been gathering inspiration for our home, I've noticed a recurring theme: horses! Wild ones!

Almost every part of our home has been influenced at least a little by the homes of my husband's grandparents. We are lucky enough to have all four of them still living, and some of our best memories have been made while visiting their homes in Ecuador, Arizona, and Colorado. And they happen to be where we fell in love with wild horses.

Horses have a been a huge part of my husband's life. Not in the usual east coast equestrian sense though. He spent a lot of his childhood at his grandparents' cattle ranches in Ecuador and Paraguay, and was allowed free reign of most horses in a way that I can only dream of. When I visited the ranch in Ecuador I fell in love with the rugged oasis. It's situated on the coast and is surrounded by a coconut palm forest. The house itself is simple and rustic, but that's part of the beauty. You feel tied to your surroundings...especially when the power and water supply go dead inexplicably!

While everything at the ranch is beautiful, I especially loved seeing the horses. it's one thing to see horses prancing around a polo field near the Potomac, but it was completely breathtaking to see them galloping in packs down a completely undeveloped coastline (sometimes with my husband and brother in laws riding on them bare back--yikes!).

Whenever I come across one of Robert Dutesco's powerful horse portraits from his Wild Horses of Sable Island series, they remind me of our time at the ranch...which is exactly why I want to incorporate one of them into our home. Here are a few of my inspirations...


The two above are from one of my favorite houses ever, designed by Christine Lane. Whenever I'm looking for inspiration, I go to this house. It has the most serene feel to it. You'll be seeing more of it in future here for sure.
and a bigger version in a another amazing space designed by Thom Filicia below:Horse decor can definitely border on cheesy...or pretentious or both, but the ones above have me absolutely crazy. The large scale and the close up view make for drama rather than cheesiness in my opinion. Not like a a stallion rearing into the sunset on a beach or something (much cooler in real life than in a photograph).

Last night I ran the inspirations by Apartment Therapy readers, and (shocker;) there were a few who definitely did not share my enthusiasm. But there were also some great new sources suggested for more horse photographers.

(Images: 1: Roberto Dutesco, 2,3: Christina Lane Interiors, 4: House Beautiful of Thom Filicia's Big Chill Showhouse, 5: Elle Decor, 6: Thom Filicia)

******update*****

some kind AT readers added these, and I love them every much as Robert Dutesco's

from the amazing pioneer woman, and it's downloadable here...which means you might be seeing it in our living room very soon ;)

and I'm not sure where this one is from, but it's stunning, isn't it?
Growing up , it seemed like there was always a little girl in every class that was completely obsessed with horses--dreaming about them, drawing them, wanting one... and that's how I feel...just about 15 years too late :)


and this is from a recent trip to Matthew's Home and Garden, which I'll be reviewing tomorrow for Apartment Therapy. I wish I could show you the whole series. There were two more, one a the horses mane from behind, and another one of the ridge of it's back--so beautiful!

2009 Apartment Therapy favorites

I've acquired quite a few bonuses from writing daily posts for Apartment Therapy, thick skin being the most useful ;), but the best gift has been the opportunity to practice my photography on beautiful subjects. I don't know whether or not so many wonderfully generous people would have opened their doors for me to photograph their homes if I hadn't started writing for AT. In gratitude for the wonderful experiences, I wanted to share a few of my favorite pictures with you. Some are from house tours posted throughout 2009, and a few are sneak peeks of home tours that I will be publishing this year.


Stefan's studio (below). I fell in love with Stefan's blog, architect design about a year ago. He's one of the rare design blogs who uses tons of his own photos and discusses a wide variety of styles. After blog-stalking him for quite awhile, I inquired whether we could meet up for me to photograph his home. He very generously agreed, and the results are lovely. He has an incredible eye. For the tour click here.


Anne-Marie's home (below). Anne-Marie has been very encouraging as I dive deeper into the world of design. Like her, her home is refined and inviting, and everything seems to have the perfect place. I love visiting and seeing what changes she's made. For the full tour click here.

This home (below) has yet to make an appearance on AT, but I had the chance to photograph it earlier this winter, thanks to Miriam Dillon, a brilliant local architect and designer who did much of the design for the home. The millwork throughout is breathtaking, as is the expansive photography collection. I will post more pics as soon as it goes live on AT.
Catherine's home (below) is another one in the works for a full AT house tour. She is a delightful person with a lot of creativity. Her home was one of the coziest I've visited.

And you all know how much I love Nicole's home...so I won't go on an on about it. For the full tour, click here.


Nicole's Studio, for the tour click here:
The charityworks greenhouse (below) is probably one of my favorite showhouses to date. I must confess that showhouses are not always my cup of tea. They can be over the top, impersonal, and uncomfortable. And that's probably because they're made to look styled, not lived in. But this one was different, especially because it happened to have one of the most exquisite mudrooms you've ever laid eyes on. Miriam Dillon and Rebecca Foley turned one of the house's smallest spaces into one of the most exciting. It had a comfortable, accessible, homespun beauty about it that emphasized the woodwork and well chosen accessories. I esp. loved the cisco brothers and bobo intriguing objects lighting fixtures. For more or the house click here and here.
Mary's Home (below). I've publishes bits and pieces from my visit to Mary's incredible home in Arizona. Ever wall has been thoughtfully filled in with objects from her travels. Mexican mission style is one of my absolutely favorites, and she has totally nailed it.


Grace's home (below). The publish date for this keeps getting pushed back, and because of it, some of these pictures are already in accurate as Grace continually shifts her accessories around her condo. I'll keep you posted for when the full house tour goes live.




Supon's home (below). Supon is a very talented graphic designer turned product designer who also dabbles in interior design. He was so generous to open his home for me to photograph. Every room is completely unique, and according to him, is always changing. For the full tour, click here.I'm excited to see what spaces 2010 brings!

Looking back, 2009 home and family favorites

This was from one of our many visits to the Museum of Natural History, or "The National Bug Museum" as the girls like to call it. We went there about 10 million times this summer and I don't think we ever saw anything except the bugs. They love them! I remember being fascinated with the silk worms when I visited as a little girl too.

She is not always well-behaved, but this little girl is always photogenic ;)

These are from our house before our epic 4th of July party. Last year it poured, and most of the party was spent inside our (very muddy!!!) house, but this year the weather was absolutely perfect. I had so much fun getting everything ready with my sister.

I love this little corner of our house. It sits above the craft station that I put together for our girls, and the old soda crates hold my art supplies as well some of my collections (little boxes and buddhas) that I collected from childhood through college.
This was one of my favorite days this summer. I snuck in while the girls were playing in their room and started snapping away. Sibling love, it kills me....sometimes it means snuggling...

sometimes it means terrorizing....

and sometimes, it means escaping for some down time...

Living room progress

INTERRUPTION! I'm already taking a small break from my new years revelry...

In my small number of posts, I've probably spent too much time talking about our living room. But that's because it's the room that I most want to be totally us. It's the first thing you see when you walk into our house, and ideally, it's where I'd love to see our family spend the most amount of time together. The problem is that I spend way more time thinking about it than doing anything to it. It's the only room that I haven't really experimented with paint or pattern. What I want is peaceful, simple, light, airy, and cozy, but what we've had is boring, sparse, and a little unwelcoming. As a result I've been hesitant to post about it because it kind of hurts my pride. Well, one new year's resolution is to be a bit more transparent and less concerned with perfection on the homefront. So here it goes.

BEFORE: when we bought the house...

DURING: just after we moved in...

A FEW MONTHS LATER:

CURRENTLY:

Unfortunately, my mother in law's trip to South America did not yield any baskets (the ones I had in mind are actually form Africa anyway) however she did seek them out in five countries, God bless her, she's the absolute best. So for now, my ikea plate chargers and serving bowl are standing in. I like their shapes and textures too. The bold ethnic floral pillow is made from a Michael Smith fabric memo that I rescued from the wastebasket at work. I'm the world's biggest scavenger! there are still alot of things that I'd like to add and fix up before it feels complete to me. The biggest things are the lighting and the rug. Right now everything is sort of floating and the lovely orange honey stained floor clashes a bit with our furniture.
The other side of the room still needs some love, so when we get to it, Ill show you that too.

beauty's an addiction

I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm completely addicted to beautiful things--landscapes, my daughters (people in general--one of the reasons I love photography), rooms, vignettes and tablescapes (I could just sit and stare at a beautiful table vignette forever, scary), blogs (blogs especially because there seem to be an infinite number of creative minds all pouring out their perceptions of beauty for all to see)--to the point that real life sometimes falls by the wayside. I feel like I need an extra day in the week just to absorb, look at, and reflect on beauty--sounds cheesy, but it's a struggle and a problem! I notice it especially with blogging here because I could spend 5 hours sifting though beautiful images that I've collected or photographed, and in the end I run out of time to actually share them! Does that happen to you?

SO, as 2009 draws to a close, I'm going to celebrate with my favorite pictures from the year. Tonight let's start with people and events since they're the most beautiful! Mostly chronologically starting with the summer...

This is what our backyard (and girls) looked like for a good part of the summer. Our neighbors love us.
I wish everyday was 4th of July! We had our second annual Independence day party with my sister/next door neighbor, and this year we were blessed with sun, 200+ plus friends, and a long, long night of rowdiness (I mentioned our neighbors love us, right?)

Cousin summer time

DC has the best selection of carousels. We like to visit them all!

I love this picture! It was taken on the hottest day of the summer. We were invited to Gianna's derby birthday party, and I don't think I ever had so much fun snapping pictures. Kids! In hats! On horses!My grandmother's house is the strangest mix of chaos and peacefulness. My mom is from a huge family, so half the time it's overflowing with people (40 + grandkids!), but when it's summer time, it goes through a magical transformation especially if you go into her garden. She never seems to be concerned with plants being a little too untamed or overgrown or kids being a little too messy, ad that's what makes it so peaceful. It's a wild sort of beauty, and it's even more beautiful to see my girls making the exact smae kind of memories I had in her garden growing up.


All for tonight! Sleep's beautiful too!

Christmas Countdown

Ornaments are being hung...

(and some branches are getting all the love :)

Candles are being lit...
Christmas treats and ornaments are being made...

and trouble too...


And we're enjoying the remnants of the weekend blizzard...
I think Christmas is the season that we enjoy our home the most, especially since having kids who get excited about all the little details.

Sick days ...

are really craft days around here. I know I'm probably creating a couple of hookie-playing monsters, and it's most definitely going to come back to bite me in a few years, but today I embraced the idea of the sick day and totally took it as a chance to stay home and indulge in some projects that we're making for Christmas presents.

The morning started with a lot of little coughs and a couple runny noses and a claim of a sore throat, which may or may not have something to do with the fact that they were up too late last night consuming way too many cookies while swapping germs with 10 + kids under the age of 4 at the cookie making party we had with our neighbors at our house...
Regardless of the cause, the girls weren't up for rough day of pre-school, it can be so demanding afterall, so I let them do this...
But that turned into this...

And so we just gave up being sick, and did this....

picture of illness ...
But I can't show you what we made yet, because they may just be coming your way :)

More living room inspiration = more linen, raw wood and old textured things

My mother in law if off to South America next week, and has promised to look out for some shallow hand woven baskets like these. Rather than a lot of color, we're going for a lot of texture, with a few saturated accents. Right now I have this torn out magazine page on the wall where I'm hoping my dream baskets will go.


we are on a hunt for a good natural fiber rug, and after seeing this jumbo-weave jute one, I don't think anything is going to be able to compare.

(above images from the June/July Issue of Interiors Magazine, below images from Simple Home)

If I could crawl inside a book and live in it, this would be it. Mark and Sally Bailey have an incredibly peaceful and natural aesthetic that's warm and comfortable while still being refreshingly spare.

The beams! Or post-war brick colonial would look so silly with rough hewn beams, but I still dream about them. I've even tried to convince my husband that it might not be such a bad idea to remove the ceiling between the top floor and attic to expose the joists. It's only a matter of insulation and a few dollars afterall :)

I have a few pieces of pottery that my mother made me in high school, and I'm using the image above as my arrangement inspiration, minus the ladder (although I wouldn't put up a fight if the Bailey's decided to send it my way...)

Raw Wood + Linen

The tactile equivalents to pure peaceful simplicity....

Advent Mantel

It will be at least another week before we deck the halls, however, now that we're two weeks into advent, I'm making a little progress on our advent mantel. Does time move as quickly for everyone else? I always feel a little queasy when I hear Christmas music in the stores before it's even Thanksgiving, but those retailers may be on to something. I always have a lot of crafty good intentions about how I want our home to look for advent, however, it usually takes a couple of weeks to translate any ideas into real life. Oh well...

we found this antler in my in-laws back yard!

This year I've been on a major purging mission, getting rid of nearly everything that we don't love or don't use, but I continually make one guilty exception. I work for a textile company, and I've been slowly hoarding away beautiful discontinued fabrics whenever we get in a new line. A year and several bins of textiles later, I finally put a few pieces to good use by making them into a stocking style advent calender. Some of the stockings have small treats, and others have little scrolls with the picture of the nativity figurine that the recipient gets to place in the manger. My girls have been eagerly awaiting it's completion!



Last year, I fell in love with Martha Stewart's moss wreath, and haven't been able to let go of the idea, so I attempted to make my own...but it was way harder than I anticipated. I didn't research the process before I started--bad idea...instead I grabbed some sheet moss and a twig wreath at the florist and attempted to bind the two together. Well, it didn't exactly turned out as I had hoped, and the front of the wreath looked awful--like someone had glued green felt onto a wreath form. So, not having the patience to do my research and go back to do it right, I opted for the "rustic" (slacker ;) version by flipping the wreath around backwards to reveal the twig form with patches of moss from the front showing through. Still not perfect, but I'm growing to like it.
and I'm forcing paperwhites for the first time this year. I'm so excited, I love the smell, and love love the idea of something so beautiful blooming just in time for new years.

So there you have it!

crafty inspiration

Every year about this time, I re-fall in love with everything handmade and crafty, and as a result the girls and I have been spending our afternoons crafting away. Our craft room, however, is a work in progress (like every room in our house!). Here are some of my inspirations.

The ones above are of moomah (via design*sponge), an awesome little kid hangout in NYC that's as equally inspiring and enjoyable for parents. They have a wonderful philosophy behind their unique shop--connect, discover, nourish, create-- which is suited to the ideal home life as well. Hipster or not, I love the ideas, the deco, and the emphasis on simple, nature-inspired, handmade beauty!

(via nuevo estilo)

(via Angel At My Table)


(via AT flickr pool member atlierpmadour)

(via sundance)

Learning to Use Your Home

Although I'm probably one of the most naturally impatient people I know, I've learned a lot about the process of design and my own style by being forced to work ever so slowly on our house.
Plumbing, waterproofing, and minor landscaping issues consumed most of our resources during our first year here, which left me no choice but to be patient about turning my attention to the fun details of decorating. In the process of waiting and saving up, we've learned how we actually use our home. When we first moved in I had a mile long list of things we needed, and while some of them still remain on our wishlist, a lot has changed because we have a better idea of how our home's layout works for our family, which rooms we use the most and how we use them, as well as the styles that suit them because of the way the light hits them throughout the day, etc.
Taking our time has also allowed us to accumulate a lot of inspiration (all of these beautiful pictures) and research each piece of furniture more instead of springing for a filler piece.


Right now we're still focusing on our living room. I love incorporating lots of rich, durable textures and easy natural tones into the mix. Our most recent find was this great leather arm chair.
It's like a plush, indoor version of an Adirondack chair--so comfortable!

Rich doesn't usually make a lot of design demands, but he put in a special request for one of these masculine leather beasts. However, leather is very tricky to get right. Cheap leather is the worst, and even decent leather can look like the worst if its too pristine. We both had it in out heads that we'd need a vintage one that was already well loved and perfectly worn, but our treasure hunts didn't yield any good results. Every good quality leather chair was either way too big or way too expensive...except one I found in the UK...but shipping was more than it's modest price tag...bummer! After searching high and low, we totally lucked out and found this one at a very deep discount at the Restoration Hardware outlet in Leesburg--the same outlets we happened to find our very first favorite piece of furniture, a glass door teak bookcase which we use as our sideboard and china cabinet., which came from the not extinct storehouse, sniff :(

The chair is very low, which we love, but the rest of the room needs to be rounded out before it really fits in. The following are pieces I'm considering...

over the leather chair

in the corner behind the leather chair

next to the leather chair

for the coffee table

a lamps for the side tables flanking the sofafor a chair on the other side of the fireplace

However, living rooms are not our only focus these days. We're making some sweet waves in the fashion world as well......

(Images: 1: Lonny, 2: Helen Norman, 3: Domino, 4: B-Metro, 5: Real Simple, all the rest are products or my own)

Geeps

she kills me with her big eyes

Gug loves bugs

This is the Gug, my sweet nephew/neighbor that I couldn't help but share. He is 100% boy.

woot woot!

Our living room is growing up! It's been a neglected space, more like a hallway than a place for people to actually relax and spend time visiting. However, now we have plans, sweet plans, and these are a few of our inspirations and influences....







also, every room that I included in my Apartment Therapy post on wood and whites is fueling the inspiration fire...

This is the current state of our living room. I like bits and pieces, but overall it seems a little uninviting and disjointed, and a little too country. And the lamps are a total downer.


And this is my handsome accomplice...

slaving away to support this exciting endeavor :)

(Images: from top: beachbungalow8, design*sponge, southern accents, country living, coastal living, elle decor, emmas blogg. all the rest are products or my own)

Nic in the spotlight once again

ok, so I'm thinking that my next blog should be titled, "Ode to Nicole" :). This month at apartment therapy we're focusing on artists so of course I asked her if I could feature her there once again. Here's the post, I'm so excited it about it.