Friday Crush

Thank God for Mary McDonald. Seriously. Coral orange, pale aqua, chocolate brown zebra and an obelisk. My, my, my. I absolutely adore rooms that commit to a color palette where fabrics, accessories and furniture don't stray from a set array of hues...it's so sophisticated. And this is truly one of the most sophisticated spaces I've ever seen.

It's shaping up to be a great weekend - I will be toasting two dear friends for their birthdays AND Carter and I are rolling up our sleeves and finally tackling the paint job of the master bedroom (which I have seriously been avoiding and procrastinating on). I'll be thrilled if we make a dent in that task this weekend.

Do share if you have a design adventure...

See you Monday!

Links Love

I am most certainly a fabric junkie. I am constantly on the lookout for new prints that catch my eye. And I like A LOT of fabric...it doesn't take much to get me excited. But occasionally, I'll come across a print that is just perfection (and those are typically the ones that I will purchase).

Such a print crossed my path this week - I was checking out this post over at High-Heeled Foot in the Door and immediately fell in the love with the swatch of indigo fabric HHFD recommended for the curtains.

Her link sent me to House Fabric, a source I have used in the past, where I discovered that my new fabric crush is a print called Links by the wonderful Annie Selke.

Behold her many colorways:

Indigo

 Chocolate

 

 Taupe

 

 Citrus

 

Pink

I love all of the colors and the wavy lines that produce the geometric pattern. Geometrics are usually so tight and crisp...and this one is a bit more relaxed, giving it a bohemian feel. Love, love, love.

I am the new proud owner of one yard in the taupe colorway. I'm considering it for a framing project for the living room...as in I might frame it for display, perhaps as the backdrop to a print. Wouldn't any of these be great on a chair or an ottoman? Or the perfect pillows for a white couch? My mind is racing thinking of all the ways I could use each color...

To purchase your own, go to housefabric.com and type in "Links" in the search box at the top. The fabric is $20/yard, which is not bad. I also saw the fabric over at lsfabrics.com (again, search for "Links") and they had it in an additional Slate colorway.

eBay Fabric Searches

Last week, I posted about some fabric I found via eBay and I received a question from Alison asking how I go about conducting my searches. So I thought I would share...

I mainly search fabric manufacturers' names, unless there is a specific pattern name that I am trying to find. I also usually have more luck searching eBay Stores, so don't forget to search for your term in eBay Stores in addition to regular listings.

I search each term below one at a time. Type in the word "fabric" after each of these:

Schumacher
Greef
Lee Jofa
Kravet
Clarence House
Cowtan (for Cowtan & Tout, but you usually only need the Cowtan bit)
Thibaut
Duralee
Brunschwig (for Brunschwig & Fils)
Scalamandre
Osborne (for Osborne & Little)
Quadrille
Manuel Canovas
Robert Allen
P Kaufmann
Ikat

A sampling of what you might find:

Schumacher (I am TOTALLY in love with this print)

Click here for listing

Lee Jofa

Click here for listing

Thibaut

Click here for listing

Kravet

Click here for listing

Fabric junkies out there, what are your favorite search terms? Please share in the comments...

HomeGoodies

HomeGoods is SO good right now. I spent copious amounts of time at both of my HG locations this weekend. I was long overdue for a visit as I had not been since about mid-December. Not going to HomeGoods for over a month is quite normal for most people - for me, it's like holding my breath.

So as I roamed the hallowed aisles, I spotted so much good loot. Only a couple of items came home with me, but I documented the loot to show you all the goodies in case you are near a HG and something strikes your fancy:

They had two of these ENORMOUS blue ginger jar lamps - hard to see the size here, but they were quite big...and gorgeous. If only I had a big spot for them.

I was the most impressed with their pillow selection - I'm usually not a huge fan of HG pillows, but they had a ton this time. And in fabrics that I recognized (and that I actually own). These orange ones definitely caught my eye (the graphic ones...not the iridescent rose-covered ones).

And so did all of these pillows...

 

 

Another lamp that was right up my alley:

I've been pining over this lamp below for a while...I'm surprised that it's still available and on clearance! But I don't have anywhere to put it...so sad.

 

I adore these boxes - they had them in so many different colorways...I'm still pondering how to use them because at least one needs to make its way to the AO House!

And I like this painting...not sure why as there is nothing particularly special about it...but I just liked it. It was prettier in person...

 

I left all of these goodies at the store, but I did pick up a couple of fun pieces...and Tyler and I picked up some great items for her dressing room...all in all, a very productive HG weekend.

Sally in SoLi

Did you catch D.C. designer Sally Steponkus in February's Southern Living?

 

I was so happy to see Sally as I flipped through my issue - she's a great designer, great person and the images were of her own well-appointed home. Don't you adore that large bamboo mirror over her couch?

Sally was recently featured as one of 20 up-and-coming young designer by House Beautiful - check out this blog post to see some of her recent beautiful work.

And, Sally told me that she has just signed on to do the Master Bedroom of the 2010 D.C. Design House. I can't wait to see what she comes up with - I'm sure it will be fabulous. I'll be heading to the Design House on February 27 for the Bare Bones Tour to see the rooms before the designers work their magic. Of course I'll be blogging about it :)

Kudos to Sally on the Southern Living shout-out...I have a feeling we'll be seeing more and more of Miss Steponkus, don't you?

Friday Crush

image via Alicia B. Designs

If you are an avid design blog reader, I'm sure you've seen this image. It's Eddie Ross' design for Bloomingdale's Big Window Challenge. Eddie was selected by Elle Decor to design their window for the challenge, and I absolutely love it. You don't know where to look first, but in a good way. There are classical, modern and traditional elements all mixed together - and the color palette is fantastic.

Click here to see the other rooms in the Challenge and vote on your favorite. And click here to read a very fun description of the room on Eddie's blog.

This has been a VERY busy week...I'm so glad it's over. T and I are checking out a Craigslist find for her dressing room tonight...and also hitting up HomeGoods this weekend to score some accessories, which I am very much looking forward to .

Hope your weekend is fab...see you Monday!

Chiang Mai and eBay Fabric Loot

As I mentioned post-Navidad, I was the uber-grateful recipient of a yard of Chiang Mai Dragon (Schumacher) fabric in the aquamarine colorway for Christmas (thanks to my in-laws Holly and Jerry - thank you, thank you, thank you!)

What's funny is that even before I knew Chiang Mai would be in my future, I was already designing my living room around it. It started with my obsession for the color green...followed by the pairing of said green with aqua...followed by touches of orange and navy. It's as if I was willing my room to morph into some echo of this iconic fabric.

And now, I actually have this fabric to pull all of the colors in my living room together. I will be using it to cover the seat of a white cane chair that sits in our living room (I will also make a matching pillow for the back of the chair).

Now that I have my dominant fabrics covered (Chiang Mai and Sassari Ikat), I am looking for accent fabrics to make some additional pillows to litter the sofa and armchair in the living room (I mean litter very lovingly...Carter would actually mean it as litter...he's not too keen on pillows).

So I turned to my trusty fabric source, eBay...it never lets me down (although I will say that fabric hunting on eBay can sometimes be an exercise in patience). I came across two remnants that I snatched up for fun accent pillows:

One is a vintage Greek key Lee Jofa print in a beautiful deep coral:

And the other is a vintage Robert Allen fabric called Libretto:

Loved the small-scale pattern on both to juxtapose with large patterns on my dominant fabrics. Each remnant is just big enough for a pillow front - so I'll back each with a coordinating fabric. And each was under $10 bought from this eBay store.

Pictures to come once the pillows are complete...I'm thinking some pom-pom trim needs to be involved.

The Design of Lindsey Harper

Friends, I am low on commentary today. My week has been positively batty with work.

So, in exchange for words, I am saturating you with images from my new favorite designer - Lindsey Coral Harper (I trust the design of any woman whose middle name is Coral). I am positively smitten with her aesthetic - and she's Southern (working in NYC but originally from Georgia).

I hope you love her rooms as much as I do. Enjoy!

Designer Lindsey C. Harper

All images via ww.lchinteriors.com

All design by Lindsey Harper

Latest Inspiration

Design by Lindsey Harper; Image by Quentin Bacon

This is the latest image that has me nutty. I came across it the other day on the Matters of Style blog...I believe the topic was velvet. And this stunner of a couch was the perfect example of velvet upholstery.

To say that I love everything in this room is perfectly appropriate. This LH is a genius...I am LOVING her designs...I'll need to share more pictures with you.

Let me count the ways that I enjoy this room:

1) To kick off with MoS' topic, I adore velvet. I've always used it in my living room - in the new house, my drapes are aqua velvet (isn't that an aftershave?) And here, I love LH's pick of navy velvet...I find it preppy and country club, but not at all serious.

2) Can we talk about the lacquer coffee table? I love anything lacquered...Carter might look quite handsome with a lacquer finish. And the crimson hue of this table is sheer perfection - not too loud...but kind of sultry. Perfect companion to the navy velvet.

3) Ummm, I've never seen a mirrored wall look so chic in my life. Usually when you walk into an apartment with a mirrored wall you want to run in the other direction. But it does wonders for this room - makes it twice as nice with the reflection and the light it provides.

4) Anyone who uses a heavy dose of stripes has my vote...and the red/white combo is divine.

5) And I would be very happy with a set of those Chinoiserie bookshelves...they are so delicate and beautiful - and look dynamite against the mirror. And the turquoise foo dogs are the perfect accent.

There is one element of this room that is totally catching my eye for Tyler's dressing room...hmmm...

I am currently attempting to finish off the decor of our living room - and this is the perfect inspiration picture. I love the use of color and the mixing and matching...the room has such a fun, relaxed, yet traditional and sophisticated vibe...exactly what I'm looking for. The perfect inspiration to tape to my virtual bulletin board (otherwise known as my laptop).

Design Adventures in NYC

Carter and I jetted off to The Big Apple this weekend...because we are jetters like that.

Actually, Carter's siblings live in NYC, so we planned a week or two ago to head up to spend some quality time with them...and since this was to be a family QT weekend, I was not to camp out at fabric stores and spend hours hitting up the home decor hot spots in NYC (keep in mind, I have no idea where said hot spots are, but I imagine I would sniff them out).

Saturday morning, we awoke to a beautiful day in the city - a balmy 50 degrees with the sun shining - and my dear bro-in-law Jason had planned a lovely brunch for us. So we hopped a cab (the boys know me very well) and as we stepped out at the corner of 39th and 9th, something immediately caught my eye...a white sign that said "Hell's Kitchen Flea Market." Ummm...wait, what? HKFM!? It was my lucky day! I wasn't even looking for a design adventure...and one found me!

Our restaurant was appropriately called "HK" and its windows faced into the flea market...so as I sipped my bellini, I gazed upon the wares that I would soon be perusing for myself. Luckily, we had about an hour to kill after brunch and the boys were amenable to taking a little walk through the market...

My first look at the market...I felt so hip since I often read other bloggers talking about their HKFM finds (did you read Alicia B.'s recent post?) 

The first stand that we saw ended up being the best one of the bunch (in my opinion) - lots of goodies with Asian appeal...

 

That's my b-i-l Jason checking out a bookcase...he's looking for a bar for his (super-cute) apartment and we ended up falling in love with the piece. Alas, we didn't quite have the time to jet the bookcase back to his place, but he vows to return to see if it is there in a couple of weekends.

This was one of the best pieces I saw...not quite sure what it is, but it would look dynamite hanging in my dining room...

 

And below it were some fabulous mirrors...Jason also considered one of these for his place...

 

This box of Chinese calligraphy pens was my absolute favorite find...they were GORGEOUS...I was overwhelmed by the choices, and I of course wanted about ten of them, so I walked away without one. But they were so beautiful...

 

Check out this faux bois one! Pretty cool, isn't it?

 

The old phonograph intrigued all of us...if I had the right place to put it, it might have come home with me...

 

I have no use for a cane stand, but isn't it lovely?? And I loved the canes too...also a perfect piece for umbrellas...

 

I'm a sucker for silver...

 

This console table was so charming...I really liked the shape...much prettier in person.

 

The market was really fun to stroll and although I left empty-handed, the experience was well worth it...the perfect way to spend a very pretty afternoon in the city!

So you would think hitting up the flea market would have been enough of a design adventure...but wait, there's more!

We had a bit of time to kill on Sunday morning before heading back so Carter and I ducked into a cafe to grab a bagel and some coffee. As we sat there, my mind started to wander thinking about fabric...and how the city was chock full of amazing fabric shops...and how Jason had mentioned that the garment district was near Penn Station...and how we happened to be a couple of blocks from Penn Station...hmmm...

So I pulled out my trusty phone (which took all the flea market pictures, btw...pretty good in a pinch) and I googled "NYC fabric district"...and lo and behold, several stores popped up in the 38th/39th and 7th/8th area...about two blocks from where I was sitting. I looked at my watch and I had 45 minutes before we had to go - I wasn't sure how many stores would be open on a Sunday, but I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass me by...so I grabbed my purse, kissed Carter on the cheek, promised to be back on time, and headed out to see what I could find....

 

And find I did...rolls upon rolls upon rolls of fabric...I had died and gone to heaven.

 

I didn't get enough time to do any shopping, but just witnessing the volume of fabric available was enough for me...

 

And I even hit up some notions and trims stores...I was positively light-headed looking at all the trim...

 

In contrast to Saturday, Sunday was cold and cloudy. As I put on my coat to head to the fabric shops, I grabbed my umbrella...Carter (whose back was to the windows) asked why I needed my umbrella...and I explained that it had started raining...

Carter: You're going out in the rain?

Me: Yes

Carter: Wow, you must be dedicated.

Dedicated indeed.