Floor It
How fantastic is this idea?
Pocket-sized floor plans! With measurements and paint chips! I am all over this.
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June 30, 2008
It's a Wash
I don't think I will ever get tired of saying these words to Jon: "That goes in the laundry room."
Yes, the new house has a room dedicated to washing and drying and ironing clothes. And, although I'm not a fan of these chores, I am super-psyched to have a laundry room. In fact, I have been sifting through old magazines and online galleries searching for inspiration for ours.
Source: HGTV Canada
Source: House to Home
Source: This Old House
Source: Hampton Design
Source: Domino
But before I get too carried away with the design of the room, I have to actually pick a new washer and dryer ...
June 27, 2008
Roll Out
Bust a Move
It has been a crazy week. There's been a lot going on, but the biggest thing is: We closed on a new house!
Although we LOVE our current house and I suspect that I will get weepy in the days leading up to our move, our main concern was the square footage. Since we'll soon have a bigger space to play with, I am constantly peeking at Desire to Inspire for decorating ideas. These are a couple of my favorites lately:
P.S. Yesterday, I went to the Pacific Coast Builders Conference for a writing assignment and got completely overwhelmed by doors, windows, countertops, hardware, etc. I'm relieved we won't be doing any remodeling with the new place!
June 25, 2008
Kenzo Maison
Back in April, when we were in Paris, I spent a few hours wandering around the housewares department at Printemps. I couldn't stop looking at the Kenzo home collection. I didn't buy anything — in part because I sometimes couldn't tell if I was picking up a tablecloth or a bed sheet — but, thankfully, Unica Home carries some Kenzo Maison pieces.
Lovely stuff.
June 20, 2008
Flat Lands
I couldn't resist. J.Crew unveiled some new arrivals this week and I had to buy these Penelope flats:
P.S. Those are the girls' Penelopes; the grown-up version of the flats comes in other colors.
June 19, 2008
Feathers
Jill and I were at Anthropologie the other day and we both had to pull out our cameras (well, she has a cool iPhone) and snap some photos of this display:
Close inspection revealed that the installation was made with real feathers as well as some fashioned out of wood veneer. Clever!
June 17, 2008
Finally: Curtains!
Remember the Kelly Wearstler-ish fabric I bought back in January? Well, SIX months later, they have been transformed into curtains that are finally hanging in the office/craft room:
The original plan was to hang the panels with clip rings, but I screwed up on the measurements and we had to go the pole-pocket route. Oh well. I still love our new curtains.
Now we just need to clean up the rest of the room! Oh, and dress up that daybed.
P.S. Did you see the fantastic installation of the Wearstler "Imperial Trellis" wallpaper over at BeachBungalow8? So pretty.
Pretty in Pink
Back in April, I mentioned the rosebushes that my parents planted for us — including a red one. Well, shortly after that post, we had some yard work done. And I came home from work one day to find the red rosebush gone. No trace of it. It had been accidentally removed, so it was subsequently replaced ... by what we thought was another red rosebush. Until it started blooming recently:
I love this hot pink color, but really miss our red rosebush. Maybe we'll have to plant another one somewhere else in the yard.
June 16, 2008
Monday Morning Surprise
One of my souvenirs from April's trip to Paris was a roll of wallpaper from Habitat. It was a multicolored Marcel Wanders pattern that, by the time I got it home, I had fallen out of like with. And I kept thinking about the Barbara Hulanicki design that I had passed up. Look how good it looks hanging in Eden & Eden:
It's fantastic, right? Well, here's something even more fantastic: A co-worker strolled into the office and handed me a roll! His brother is visiting from London and, upon hearing of my wallpaper regret, brought it over for me.
It's going to take me a while to figure out how/where to best put it to use.
June 12, 2008
X Marks the Table
I am liking this table ($115), available for pre-order at Urban Outfitters.
But our house is full. No more room for any new furniture.
June 11, 2008
Noooooooooo!
Say it ain't so!
Berry Disturbing Makeover for Strawberry Shortcake
P.S. Apricot and Hopsalot were my favorites when I was a kid.
Joyce Lee
Perhaps in part because of the gorgeous weather, I find myself unable to stop looking at these Joyce Lee chromogenic prints:
Both are available at The Beholder, which is a fantastic online art gallery.
Dwell Studio Window Treatments
June 10, 2008
Round Nesting Boxes
June 09, 2008
Liberty of London
Yikes. It's been about two months and I have yet to upload my photos from our trip to London and Paris. Terrible! But here are a few shots from one of my favorite shops, Liberty:
Things I Learned This Weekend
- If you are throwing a party for a group of five-year-olds, booking a bouncy castle and a balloon guy are all you need to keep them entertained and happy for hours. Oh, but it cannot be just any ol' balloon guy. No, we're not talking about your average balloon guy. Here are just a few of the creations made at a party I helped plan on Friday afternoon:
- The fries at Spruce are my new favorite. SO GOOD. (Thanks, Adam!)
- Lotta Jansdotter is one popular lady in the Bay Area. Her event at the Craft Gym on Saturday night was crazy crowded.
- Jon does much better in triathlons when he actually has time to train beforehand.
- I hate the Celtics a little less after hearing Oakland native Leon Powe's story during halftime of yesterday's game.
- After staying up sick half of the night, these things are making me feel much better today = some Advil + wearing a pretty new skirt + my new Anna Beck bracelet.
June 06, 2008
Cavallo Point
A Cup of Jo linked earlier this week to Abbey's "staycation" post, and it got me thinking about taking a quick local retreat. Cavallo Point, which opens its doors next week, is definitely on my list of places to check out soon.
The property is situated in Fort Baker (Marin Headlands) and offers amazing views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Of the two types of accomodations available — historic (top photo) or contemporary (bottom photo) — I would go with the former. The historic rooms are located in turn-of-the-century Colonial Revival buildings that were originally the Fort Baker Officers Residences.
I love that they're going to offer creative arts and culinary arts programs. Oh, and there's a spa for Jon as well.
A Tea and Cupcakes Party
I have admired these lovely invitations by Mr. Boddington's Studio for quite some time now. One of these days, I'm going to have to throw a Tea and Cupcakes Party.
Just in Time for Christmas ...
Yes, you read right: I said Christmas.
Mark your calendars. Target has just announced two limited-edition collections that will be available in stores October 12-December 26. Anya Hindmarch and Sigerson Morrison!
June 04, 2008
Aida Dirse Bowls
How great is this shot of Aida Dirse's new bowls at Rare Device?
I already have one of her lovely creations sitting on a dresser in my bedroom, but now I'm thinking it's a little lonely and needs some company.
Rubie Green
I am in love with these two Rubie Green patterns and think they would work well together for a pair of cushions on a couch:
Alas, I have been instructed that NO MORE PILLOWS are allowed in our home. Jon has declared a ban on new pillows. When we were in Europe in April, he would shake his head every time I picked up a pillow. When he sees a post about pillows on this site, he lets me know that it is absolutely not okay to buy any more pillows. When he hears me say that there are pillows stored somewhere, he immediately assumes that I've gone against his wishes and brought yet another pillow into our lives.
But fabric to MAKE pillows is different, right?
P.S. If you enter the promo code "dominodeals" on the Rubie Green site, each yard of fabric is $50 instead of the usual $90. Thank you, Domino!
Pretty Pantry Gifts
At the bookstore last night, I spied this neat kit:
"Pretty Pantry Gifts" includes recipes, cellophane bags, fabric jar toppers, gift tags and other supplies needed to assemble your own batch of homemade jams and sauces.
P.S. The Chronicle ran a great article in last week's Food section about the "fresh wave of home canners."
June 02, 2008
One for the Books
While browsing at Crate&Barrel this weekend, I noticed that a lot of their furniture set-ups include books covered in plain, kraft paper. This reminded me of an episode of "Room Service," during which host/designer Sarah Richardson covered what must've been hundreds of the homeowners' books. She used a pretty cream-colored paper and then adhered labels to each and every one of the books.
I think this might be a cool project for the living room or guest room — where we keep a handful of books — but couldn't imagine doing this for an entire room.
Off the Wall
More wallpaper was brought into the house this weekend! But not on the walls ...
Here's the deal: We have a guest bedroom. Yes, it's very nice and grown-up and all. But it actually isn't the best use of an entire room in our house. Jon and I have discussed and he insists that we maintain a guest bedroom, so there you go.
There is a small closet in this room that is used to store random stuff (e.g., my wedding dress, our luggage, paintings we picked up in Paris). When we have guests, however, we have to clear out this closet and make way for the guests' belongings. Well, this practice just could not continue. So we decided to buy a narrow Ikea armoire for the room, and this armoire is entirely for our guests to use. Since it's not a very big room, it's not ideal to bring in another piece of furniture, but it makes the space function better.
To spruce up the armoire a bit, we lined it with PB's Overlapping Leaves wallpaper and replaced the knobs with a pair of white coral knobs I picked up at Anthropologie:
The wallpaper was super-easy to apply. It's pre-pasted and features some fancy schmancy wallpaper technology called Surestrip, so you just need to dip it in water and then stick it on. THAT'S IT. Magic, people, magic.
I'm not sure about the knobs, but I like them better than what came with the armoire. I wish I had purchased extras of the link knobs that I spraypainted for the nightstands (seen here).
Remaining projects for this room:
• Paint and sew a new cushion for the chair that Elizabeth found at the Alameda Flea Market.
• Arrange some travel photos and art prints on the empty wall.