Wednesday, March 10, 2010

My Homemade Sisal Pendant Light

My favorite reading spot before:
I really disliked that lamp!
I've been trying to figure out what should go in as a replacement, but everything that I found was either way out of my price range or not quite right. I wanted to make that corner feel natural and a little organic, and not too "finished." I also wanted something that would tie into my wall mounted "baskets" (aka ikea placemats and bowl :) which had started to look a little random. And if they looked random to me, I can only imagine that they would look more so to someone who didn't know how I was really holding out for some antique winnowing baskets but hadn't happened to find any yet.....

This is what I came up with in my rough sketch mock-up (forgive the 1/2 a cow hide rug and sub-par photoshop skills :) I am planningn drapes to replace the roman shades down the line, but rest assured that they won't look like these :)

I liked the look of West Elm's discontinued Abaca pendant, but couldn't find any good replacement. However, I did find this tutorial explaining how to make something similar. I liked the concept but not all the materials that they used.

So, I took this :
Covered it inch by inch in this:
wrapped it around this:
and wound the mod-podge covered string around it until it looked like this:
Let it dry, then deflated and removed the ball like this:

and hung it up like this:
I like how it doesn't make that corner too cluttered, and how it looks like one of the baskets just jumped off the wall. It casts awesome shadows too!

You can check out my complete instructions here, which I posted on this lovely blog started by my very talented friend Molly who I wish didn't live halfway across the country.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Ruth's whimsical wedding (one year late)

While looking for inspiration for tonight's Apartment Therapy post on decorating with old book pages (check it out here) I re-discovered some photos that I took at my dear friend and former roommate, Ruth's, beautiful wedding in Dallas just about this time last year. I thought I had lost them when my computer crashed last spring, but I had forgotten that I had uploaded them to my trusty but little used flickr file.

Ruth comes from one of the most talented families I know. It's full of artists, writers, literary geniuses, and comedians, and every time I'm around them I think about asking them to adopt me. Not surprisingly, Ruth's wedding was full of lovely artistic touches, mostly fueled and masterminded by her lovely sister, Lucia.

Lucia took an old branch and cut leaves from old books to create this whimsical branch decoration gracing the entrance to the reception.
And I love these getting ready shots. Ruth's family's house is so beautiful.


Here's one of Lucia's pieces. Literally everything she creates makes me beam, so creative!
Lucia's wedding (probably around 6 years ago) was at her parent's house, and one of her preparations was this cabinet redo. Apparently the cabinets were in rough shape, and so she collaged them with book and magazine clippings.

A few hours before the wedding a bunch of our college friends got to decorate the reception site, the lovely old Turner House in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas.
Artsy Alissa crafted away, and I mostly just snapped away on my camera :)except when I got to help the talented cakemaker, Ellen, decorate Ruth's very sweet and simple cake...
That weekend I stayed at lovely Desarae's house which happened to have quite a lovely staircase that I was absolutely obsessed with....taking more pictures of it than people!
Better late than never, right?

Monday, March 1, 2010

Three Years Old

There is hardly an ounce of baby left...

in our little girl with the big eyes...

The one who grows her own (2) tomatoes...and puts on daily fashion shows...
the one who occasionally decides to nap...but thinks pjs are just fine even when she doesn't...

The one (our littlest one!) who turns 3 today!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Bed

Could there be a lovelier concept? The last 2 weeks have been one big whirlwind, and the promise of sleep has been the light at the end of the tunnel. These quiet lovelies make me feel like I'm already dreaming


(above 2 from domino)
(Sarah Foote via Design Sponge)

(morten holtum)

(Lauren Liess from Pure Style Home)

(Monique Keegan of Enjoy Co.)
(3 above from living etc)

Sweet dreams to you all!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

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!

Monday, February 8, 2010

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!