Wednesday, September 28, 2011

The "Real Housewife" of Decor Blogging


This is not my house.
(via The Selby)

I recently wrote a piece for The Powder Room about how my own house looks NOTHING like the fabulous spaces I feature here. A confession of sorts.

And I wanted to title it as above - but they changed it. I guess the Real Housewives phenomenon isn't main stream enough "across the pond."

Anyway - here's a lead in:

Since I started my decor blog in 2010, I've often wondered what the real lives of other design bloggers are like. Their posts are filled with beautiful spaces, their home projects always get finished and you never hear about anyone buying a sewing machine that stays in the box.

While perusing the impeccable interior design images, the photos of impossibly well groomed children, and weekends spent antiquing ....well I feel like a bit of a slob.

Don't get me wrong. I try to make my home pretty and warm. There are homemade cupcakes for my children's birthday parties (which admittedly taste better than they look), and I can pull together a lovely floral arrangement of seasonal flowers. But my house is usually kind of a mess. Piles of papers always creep onto my dining room table and I DO own a sewing machine that has never been taken out of the box.

Click HERE to read the rest!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Monday Color: Pink and Blue

People always talk about pink and blue as "girl" and "boy" colors. But together? There is nothing boyish about the blue. This is a distinctly feminine combination.






Love these sophisticated interpretations of a palette so often reserved for nursery colors.



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Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Deck the Walls

I've been thinking a lot about the art on my walls lately... I've moved a few things around, had some paintings framed and created a to do list for other frame jobs.

There are so many things I'd like to do in my house right now - but budget and time are my worst enemies! So I've focused on the walls. It's amazing what wall decor can do for a space. Instant personality.

Here are some images I've been hoarding that illustrate this. Picture the rooms without anything on the walls. Pretty blah if you ask me. Okay - maybe not the third image (the wall color and trim are pretty eye catching on their own), but the rest...







And you don't really have to invest much money in decorating your walls...That first image includes framed scarves. Wish you could afford a favorite wallpaper? Get some samples and frame them! This would apply to any textile...fabric samples, carpet, vintage fabrics...

Back in the '80s, my Mom went through a phase of framing old lace antimacassars she picked up at "antique" shops. Sounds a bit precious now - but it was a creative take on the Victorian craze at that time.

I think pretty much anything you love could be framed. Illustrations from falling apart children's books for a nursery! I can keep going... What about you? Any ideas?



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Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Monday Color (on Tuesday): Yellow

Since yesterday was a holiday, it was basically a second Sunday for me. No blogging - just a lot of figuring out how to entertain kids - AND get ready for the first day back to school.

And it's a dreary rainy morning in the DC area. Decidedly NOT like Key West. So I'm adding some color to the day in the way of sunny yellow.






I love how the soft yellow of that couch in the last picture takes the room from "dark library" to "cheerful reading spot."

Hope you get a little sunshine today!



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Friday, September 2, 2011

Rainbows All Around Us

I see a lot of rainbows. And some have been so incredibly memorable.

The technicolor one arcing over the road alongside the Potomac River as I drove home from work...The ethereal one that appeared in and out of the mist as my family drove to Hilton Head...The one that my children and I chased all over our neighborhood after spotting it in the sky on our drive home from the store. (Just realized that they're mostly memories that involve driving. Huh.)

And I see them all over my house. Always little ones though. The kind that appear on the carpet or the walls - light refracted by angles in the window panes.

But I have never in the almost five years I've lived in this house, seen something like this:


I'll take it as a sign of good things to come. Or at least a good weekend - hope you have one of those!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Sometimes It's all about the Packaging...

I've always preferred red to white wine. Not that I won't drink anything but red... I can enjoy pretty much any variety when paired with food, but I rarely buy a bottle of white.

So I had no illusions about why I was buying THIS one!





Is that not the prettiest bottle of wine you've ever seen? The contents are long gone, but the bottle is now up on a shelf waiting to be used for something...

Any ideas?

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