a n h - m i n h . c o m

We've spent the past few weeks packing up box after box and it's finally moving day! The previous owners of the new place vacated this past weekend, so Jon and I went over and snapped a few photos. Like this one:

There are skylights in pretty much every room on the main level of the house. And Jon informed me last week that those windows way up there by the ceiling are called "clerestories."

This photo is taken from the dining area and you can probably tell that there's a faux finish on the walls. I am not a fan of faux finishes. But Jon claims that he likes it. (I think he's just saying he likes it to avoid having the walls repainted.) I'm willing to live with it for a bit and see how it works with our furniture, but I'm skeptical that the finish will grow on me. I think the space would look better with a nice coat of white.

Posted at 07:11 AM | Link | Comments (9)

So so pretty!

I totally want that tangerine coat.

Posted at 09:19 PM | Link | Comments (9)

I've been ordering all sorts of fabric swatches lately and they usually arrive in a plain ol' envelope from the retailer. Well, leave it to Anthropologie to take things up ten notches with the coolest packaging ever for free swatches:

Included in the little box are: a handwritten note about their fabrics and furniture; cards detailing the various sofas and chairs they offer; the swatches themselves; a small pencil; and a measuring tape. Seriously cute.

Posted at 02:06 PM | Link | Comments (2)

Remember those great pocket-sized floor plans that were posted on Apartment Therapy? I decided to take that idea and modify it a bit by using a Russell + Hazel mini-binder.

Each room has its own tab, which includes: a layout of the space on grid paper, fabric swatches for furniture, and clippings of possible future purchases. I'm also keeping track of paint chips and wallpaper samples that we might incorporate in the house later on.

Posted at 07:57 AM | Link | Comments (0)

Did I mention that I'm going to have a gift-wrap/craft room in the new house? Indeed I am! So I couldn't resist when I spotted these spool stands on Mighty Haus. I immediately picked up a set at KarenElizabeth's Etsy shop to store my ribbons:

Yay for cute organizational goodies!

Posted at 11:14 AM | Link | Comments (2)

Must. Mark. Calendar.

Earlier this week, the de Young announced a 40-year Retrospective of the Work of Yves Saint Laurent. It opens November 1, and the San Francisco museum will be the only venue in the U.S. for the show.

I can't wait!

Posted at 03:24 PM | Link | Comments (1)

I seriously want one of Berkeley photographer Aya Brackett's chromogenic prints for our dining room or kitchen:

Sita's Tea

Saigon Cafe

Problem Solving

You can see more of her work at The Beholder. I love the travel photos on Aya's website, too.

Posted at 01:21 PM | Link | Comments (0)

Today's AT:SF House Call was a real treat to put together. It's the home of Maggie Mason. Yes, THE Maggie Mason, aka Mighty Girl. This painting has got to be one of my favorite things in her place:

Maggie and her husband, Bryan, commissioned the awesome painting by Diane Feissel.

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It looks like JHill Design has released even more cities in the "Places I Have Never Been" series, including:

Traverse City, Michigan, might be my favorite of this bunch.

Posted at 11:26 AM | Link | Comments (0)

Oh. My. Goodness. On my way to Holly's Nintendo party last week, I just had to stop the car, get out, run across the street in my heels and snap a few photos of this house:

I am totally in love with the exterior. How could you NOT be in a good mood if you came home to this house every day?

Posted at 07:32 AM | Link | Comments (7)

I read quite a few blogs.* And one of my favorite things to do is check out the comments. But you may have noticed that I don't have the comments feature turned on for my own site. This is something that I've been going back and forth on for a while now. The main reason I don't: If I activate comments, I get an email every time one is written so that I can approve/publish it. This is great because I get instant alerts ... but it also means I get a lot of spam comments/emails.

However, with the new house will come lots of new decorating projects. So I'm hoping the Internet (i.e., YOU out there) will give me lots of feedback and advice. And if I have to delete a few additional pharmaceutical, online gambling and no-interest home loan spams in my inbox every day? It's worth it.

* My newest regular reads are: In(side) the Loop and Urban Grace Interiors.

Posted at 03:38 PM | Link | Comments (12)

So I have this idea for our new house: a Wii Room! Jon's not fully on board yet though ... And that could be because we don't yet have: 1) any furniture for that room (including a TV), or 2) a Wii. But here's just what we need to get motivated to start putting together our Wii Room:

Nintendo wall stickers by Blik! (via Apartment Therapy)

Posted at 09:02 AM | Link

A while back, Meg put out a call for some helping hands for her fabulous Modern Economy sales. I couldn't make it to the SF event in April, but signed up for the Portland sale. It went down this weekend, which also marked my birthday. Initially, I was going to travel solo ... But then my sister wanted to join me, since her best friend lives up there. And then Jon decided to tag along as well.

So, in the end, I got to spend my birthday weekend with all sorts of great people. Which, of course, makes me one lucky lady. But on top of the awesome company I kept? I picked up some fantastic stuff at the sale. AND I enjoyed meals at Clyde Common and Saucebox. AND I met Lise (from Apartment Therapy) and Sally in person! AND I just had to squeeze in multiple trips to Stumptown Coffee.

Not only was the Stumptown coffee excellent, but they had these beautiful glass light fixtures. Pretty, pretty.

Posted at 08:07 AM | Link

Ever since Sasha at BellJar sent over this photo of her shop (for an Apartment Therapy post), I have not been able to stop obsessing over the wallpaper.

My dream: To line one wall of the laundry room with this pattern. And, on the opposite wall, hang a few of these little guys:

And, um, no. I still haven't really given the washer and dryer much thought. I'm too busy figuring out how to make that room pretty!

Posted at 10:16 AM | Link

Our realtors came over earlier this week to assess our current house. The night before they stopped by, I took down the Ferm Living wall decals in the living room:

I was sad to see them go and am convinced that I need to re-create this corner somewhere in the new house.

P.S. The wallpaper in the entry is staying!

Posted at 10:03 AM | Link

Remember when I said that I must have this teak mirror for the dining room?

Well, the problem is that it's $725 at Neiman Marcus. I was starting to calculate how long I'd have to save up for it when I saw that Pottery Barn came out with this one, for about $200:

I thought maybe, if I stained the wood on the PB one, it might come closer to the look of the pricier one. I finally resolved that I shouldn't settle if what I really want is the teak version. BUT. Look what I spotted on the Brown Design blog:

The shape looks a lot like the PB one, but the color of the wood is similar to the Neiman Marcus mirror. So now I'm reconsidering the cheaper option, with a nice, rich stain. Hmmm ...

Posted at 08:22 AM | Link

One of my favorite television shows right now is Bravo's "Flipping Out." I recently came across Ryan Brown's design website — that's Jeff Lewis' business partner on the program — and I especially like these shots from his portfolio:

P.S. Brown Design, which Ryan runs with his brother, also has a blog.

Posted at 07:35 AM | Link

Got ugly tiles? Swedish company Allrum's tile stickers might be the solution to the problem:

Posted at 09:22 AM | Link

• Yesterday, Jon completed his first century ride. Ever. And it was for an incredible cause: the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Because he raised a certain level of funds for the San Jose Livestrong Challenge, we were invited to a dinner on Saturday night. (Yes, Lance was there with Kate Hudson.) It was amazing to hear all of these inspirational stories and we're looking forward to possibly going to Austin later this year for the Ride for the Roses.
• I visited the home of a shoe designer this weekend for a future SF Chronicle article. This is what I learned: I am not a size 4 in women's shoes afterall. I'm a frickin' size THREE. And I have narrow heels. Perhaps I'm destined to shop in the children's shoe department forever.
• Elizabeth came over yesterday to take photos of the areas of our house that she's been especially instrumental in designing. The whole move/new house thing is just now starting to feel real. I've even started packing up some boxes, but there are many many more boxes to go.

Posted at 08:17 AM | Link

Hmmm ... It looks like Pottery Barn's latest pillow collection was inspired by some other designers ...

PB "Orange Leaves" and Orla Kiely's "Stem" pattern

PB "Velvet Appliqué" pillow and Adam & Viktoria's pillow

I know the Adam & Viktoria colorway is different from PB's, but it's got the same vibe — with the velvet design on a linen back. And A&V have actually done pillows in the same deep reds and pinks as the PB one shown above:

Very interesting.

Posted at 09:04 AM | Link

I love this UK store. There's even more good stuff in the shop now, such as:

Camila Prada's cup/saucer set and egg cup

Anthony Burrill's "Work Hard & Be Nice to People" letterpress poster

Rob Ryan's silkscreened prints, "Bird Lady" and "I Can't Forget"

Posted at 07:44 AM | Link

Excuse Me, Do You Work Here? No, I Just Need to Fold Clothes
Thousands of Neat Freaks Picked Up the Habit as Clerks at the Gap

Ha! Having worked in retail, including at the Gap and sister-store Banana Republic, I found this WSJ article pretty interesting. But I have to admit that I agree with Jezebel's take on the whole thing:

"Don't get me wrong: I can fold with the best of them — and without a folding board, mind you. Outer thirds of a tee rigidly marshaled, sleeves turned in at a 45 degree angle, and then the final letter-style flip. ... And my piles! Ruler-straight, color-coordinated wonders. Jeans? Even thirds, facing left. Anything on a hanger is leftwards, too, in ascending size order, carefully marshaled into sections organized by color and use. I love the novelty of this organization, the imposition of order on chaos — but largely because I don't do it at home."

Oh, and that WSJ article includes a video demo on how to properly fold denim. Awesome!

Posted at 10:39 AM | Link

Wow. I totally want both of these items — featured in this morning's AT:SF Scavenger post:

Green vintage steel cabinet

Vintage warehouse dolly (would make a great coffee table!)

But I don't *need* either of them. And I'm pretty sure Jon will stop talking to me if I bring any new/unnecessary furniture into the house while he's working hard to plan our move.

Posted at 09:34 AM | Link

Just one of the reasons we love our new house: It's got a little bit of a treehouse feel to it.

Another reason we're eager to move in: AIR CONDITIONING! This current heat wave is brutal.

P.S. I haven't posted any interior shots of the place because the only photos I have feature the previous owner's belongings.

Posted at 07:56 AM | Link

In my head, I've already started mapping out exactly where everything will go in our new house. And there are two pieces of furniture that I'd really like to buy: a bench for the end of our bed (I've always wanted to have one and finally have the space to make this happen) and a comfy armchair in the guest bedroom. You know what I learned while researching these items? That lots of companies will send you free fabric samples, including Pottery Barn, Crate&Barrel, Williams-Sonoma Home, and Room&Board. Very handy!

Also: Fabric stores — such as Textile Arts — often charge a small fee for samples, and you can later apply that fee as a credit towards your purchase. (I really like Nicole's Lumimarja curtains and am leaning towards that fabric in a different colorway for our bedroom curtains.)

Posted at 03:54 PM | Link

It's no secret that I love the displays at Anthropologie, and one of my favorite locations is the Carmel store. We were staying at Pebble Beach for the holiday weekend, so of course I had to pop in and snap a few photos. Sadly, I only had my cell phone with me, so they're not very good.

There was a small wall in the back of the store that had been given a woven treatment. Buying some wide ribbon in bulk could make this a budget-friendly project:

UPDATE: In case you're wondering, the material above is jute upholstery webbing. (Thanks, Anna!)

And this project costs absolutely nothing. Turn some found rocks into tabletop accessories with just a permanent marker and a cool pattern in mind:

Posted at 08:02 AM | Link

I must have this mirror:

I hope it'll work above the dining room credenza. Fingers crossed ...

Photos from Angie Hranowsky's portfolio, via Orange Beautiful.

Posted at 07:42 AM | Link

Gorgeous!

Vera Wang laser-cut notecards, $38 for a set of 10.

Posted at 07:19 AM | Link

All available at Huset.

I would love to line the back of my shoe storage area with this Lisa Bengtsson wallpaper:

Nanni Holén's "Nero" shelf is a contender for a wall in the new house:

If only these weren't $80 each! I would love to line up half of dozen of these porcelain birds (which also come in black and white) near the entry:

Posted at 10:33 AM | Link

Cute! There's a bunch of these Lost Birds available in the Reform School art department:

Posted at 09:53 AM | Link

Just in time for the summer getaways! I ordered a set of these little bags from Philadelphia-based Something's Hiding in Here:

And now I see they've added these cute report card pennants — very good, pass, fail, incomplete — to their Etsy shop:

Posted at 09:15 AM | Link

I don't drink much hot tea during the summertime, but I'm thinking I should pick up one of these Paige Russell teapots for future use:

I love that repurposed and felted striped cozy.

Posted at 08:50 AM | Link