Friday Crush

Image by Justin Officer via Design*Sponge

Holy color, this image is AMAZING. Did you catch it on Design*Sponge? The home of  Kate Schintzius. I'm trying to have words for this picture, but I don't. Why do I love color so much? That chair has me reeling. And how it plays nicely with the art. And the paint contrasted with the curtains. And the chandy. Done and done.

Happy Halloween!!!!!!!!!!! See you Monday!

Varaluz Noir

In my endless trolling of the web, I came across these pieces on the behemoth that is csnstores.com. They are from a line called Varaluz Noir (not sure the manufacturer) and they are positively gorgeous.

I want them.

Varaluz Noir Console Table

Varaluz Noir Fireplace Screen

The warm brassy gold. The geometrics. All good things. All perfect for my house.

Chinoiserie Shades

Either of these shades on your window would make quite the impact.

Phoenix Shade

Dragon Shade

Beautiful, sassy focal points. Not sure you would need much else.

Nestor Santa-Cruz

One of my favorite local DC designers is Nestor Santa-Cruz, both in person and in work. Every time I look at his spaces, I am awed by elegance.

Often, the pieces of a room will merge together to offer you a big picture.  An overall experience. But in Nestor's rooms, the pieces speak individually (yet still coalesce to form a superior space). Each piece holds its own and likely carries a history. All thanks to Nestor's careful editing and selection of objects for his interiors.

Here are some images he sent me of the dining room of a house he is working on in Potomac, Md. The light fixture sets the tone for a completely artful space.

Photos by Angie Seckinger

Refined. That's the word.

designBoard: Kimber's Bedroom

A couple of weeks ago, one of my darling readers Kimber emailed me about helping her with her and her husband's bedroom. She had her main furniture pieces, as well as her paint color picked out, so she just needed help with the finishing touches and a color scheme.

Thought you might enjoy seeing the pink and green Chinoiserie bliss I put together for her:

The paint color she has is a beautiful gray blue, and the bed and armoire are very rich, dark pieces (which help turn this quite feminine designBoard a bit more masculine). These pieces help to brighten the room and bring in some punchy color at Kimber's request.

The star of the show is the Chinoiserie fabric - Folie Chinoise in Rose by Suzanne Rheinstein for Lee Jofa. It ties all the pieces together and brings a lovely dose of sophisticated whimsy to the bedroom.


p.s. The window treatment photo is from Susie of Maddie G Designs, who used the fabric in her living room paired with a pink silk sofa!

Friday Crush

Humor me.



Fantastic concept. Questionable execution. (Or perhaps I just judge choreographed dancing with a keener eye due to my high school dance team days) I find the idea of "random" dancing commencing out of nowhere incredibly slick. What fun. I love it. And this happened at High Point Market and thus blog-worthy.

Happy weekend...see you Monday!

Side Tables

Dang, I love a side table. One of my favorite accent pieces. You can mix up styles and create great places to set a wine glass or book in a space.

Two great ones at great prices caught my eye this week:

This beauty is from Home Decorators Collection and costs a charming $150. I love its Moroccan look, but it doesn't seem overly done. It comes in this gorgeous aqua, a nice green and an ivory. Would love this in a bedroom (great for a child's room).

And this lovely is from Crate & Barrel - the Jules Small Accent Table. It's a respectable $199. Perfect for next to an armchair in a living room - especially if the rest of your furniture is "heavy". This leggy number will lighten up the room and the finish and shape is eternally classic so I doubt you'll ever tire of it.

Wall Papers

Sooo...our fireplace wall in our living room has two large empty spots on either side of the mantel. I'm sure one day I'll fill the spots with something fabulous (maybe gallery walls?), but I haven't quite decided yet.

In the meantime, I've been looking for an inexpensive way to fill the large swatches of wall and settled on framing some gorgeous decorative paper.

I went with two of these marbled gold beauties from Kate's Paperie:

The swirls are quite pretty and the paper is a standard 24" x 36" size, so I purchased some poster frames and they now hang on our walls...and look pretty good.

I also liked these colorful options for a more modern look:

Lama Li Bubbles Paper

Lama Li Oblongs Paper

Chinoiserie at High Point

Are you like me and reading all the tweets and posts from High Point and wishing you were there?

Well, I have some reporters on the scene and they filed this report with me yesterday - gorgeous Chinoiserie at the Kindel showroom!

Fretwork walls, Chinoiserie canopy bed and a floral mix to boot. Very Draper (Dorothy not Don).

Thanks Sally for sending me the pictures!

SFERRA Party & My Weekend

I had the pleasure of attending a SFERRA party hosted by Ronda Carman in DC last week.

Designer Barbara Franceski, ArchitectDesign blogger Stefan Hurray, designer Heather Safferstone, designer Sally Steponkus, moi and blogger Michele Ginnerty of My Notting Hill

It was held at Timothy Paul and it was great fun to see SFERRA on display (read: crazy-good-soft sheets), sip wine and visit with some designers and bloggers. Highlights included meeting designer Barry Dixon (incredibly charming) and blogger Ronda Carman (sweet lady).

On another note, this weekend I:

1) Polyurethaned my left hand.
2) Spraypainted my bamboo pagoda chandelier a glossy red and I'm in love. (Said love comes at the expense of the fleece I was wearing which now rocks a nice red tinge)
3) Royally botched the painting of a black table.
4) Made some art for my living room. Well, more like framed some art...I didn't really make it.
5) Scored a glossy orange gourd lamp for my office.
6) Learned that the best $6 I've spent recently was on one of those comfort grips to use with spraypaint cans - totally changed my spraypainting experience. Don't ever doubt the purchase for your next painting project.

It's not all domestic bliss around AO, folks. The weekend had its ups and downs, but I did learn a thing or two! (especially about using poly)

Friday Crush

WOW. This room designed by Katie Ridder floored me this week - I always love rooms that utilize a beautiful lavender paint color. Everything about this space is spot on for me. I found it via Little Green Notebook, and I must say Jenny's post on big art was my favorite collection of images this week - every single one was crush-worthy...I had a hard time picking. Make sure you read it here if you haven't already.

I have a LONG list of house to do items this week - hopefully I'll tackle them all! Have a great weekend...see you Monday!

Glam Amethyst for My Table

I think I need these glam amethyst beauties for my table...

Wine Glasses

Salt and Pepper Shakers

To go with my china pattern...

Derby Panel Green by Royal Crown Derby

Don't you agree?

At Last

My chair has some seat fabric...

I bought this lattice-back chair in July 2009, so I've had it well over one year. And we have it prominently displayed in our living room. And for well over one year, its seat has been covered in a very bland white muslin.

I've bought LOTS of fabric to recover its seat, but nothing really clicked once I tried it out. I found this awesome raspberry ikat stripe fabric from Shannon over at The Designer's Attic and it was perfect.

So I f-i-n-a-l-l-y recovered the seat this past weekend. And I'm happy.

Happy Chic

More designer loot today.

Have you checked out Jonathan Adler's line for HSN (Home Shopping Network)? I think the line is debuting, but I might be wrong. I'm usually pretty good about keeping up with TV shopping networks and I remember hearing about Adler's loot for HSN, but I had not seen it until now.

There are lots of bright, colorful, modish items to choose from in true Adler style. And there are a couple of items that I think are yet to come that they haven't posted yet. If you like JA, these pieces are easier on the wallet (though just as charming) than his usual happy fair.

Some of my favorites:

Click here to view the full collection...

UPDATE: So clearly I have been ignoring my Twitter feed since @jonathanadler is tweeting this morning about the line's launch on HSN...so it is indeed brand new and today is the first day it is being shown on air. Hop to it.

Michelle Nussbaumer Loot

Did you see the amazing loot from Michelle Nussbaumer on One Kings Lane this weekend? I think we are all enjoying OKL's Tastemaker Tag Sales series and this collection by Ms. Nussbaumer has been one of my favorites.

The sale ends Tuesday and I think some of these items below are already spoken for but they were way too attractive to not post on the blog today. Michelle is clearly a lover of Chinoiserie and so many of her pieces called to me...but here are some of my favorites, if only to serve as inspirational eye candy.

Yup, I'll take them all. I am SO in love with that pagoda headboard. Visit OKL before Tuesday to score one of the items left in her collection or in the collection by Michael S. Smith which is also wonderful.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and a great start to your week!

Friday Crush

Extreme crush on this bedroom designed by Christina Murphy and brought into my life by the blog everything LEB. I'm mesmerized by all of its blues, the rug/carpet, the headboard and the peek of Leontine Linens on the bed. But, I'm actually Friday Crushing it because of the DIY potential of that nightstand. It has very simple lines that could be recreated. I'm sure you could find a similar piece at Ikea and then off you go with some white paint and flat wood trim painted a soft blue. Yes, it's not an easy task, but certainly doable if you are so inclined.

Fall has arrived and I can't wait to enjoy it this weekend. Have a wonderful weekend...see you Monday!

White Nutcrackers

The leaves are just starting to turn, but some holiday decorating ideas have already caught my eye. Have you seen these white nutcrackers, courtesy of West Elm?

I l-o-v-e the concept of an all-white nutcracker! So simple, and yet I don't think I've ever seen one before. These beauties at WE are a bit pricey, but part of the purchase price goes to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - a worthy way to spend some holiday decorating money.

But, you could also go the DIY route by getting some inexpensive nutcrackers at craft stores and spraypainting them white. If you opt for this project, look for the non-bearded variety with as little rhinestones/embellishment as possible to get the sleek look of the WE inspiration ones.

Could you imagine a row of white nutcrackers lined up on a mantle with fresh greenery interspersed? So simple and beautiful! Especially if you vary their heights. Putting this one in the idea folder for this Christmas.

Spotted

This Chinoiserie chair at HomeGoods last night.

Certainly caught my eye. Someone please name that fabric. I feel like I just saw it on a blog recently...anyone? It looks familiar and I definitely love it. Wouldn't this look fantastic in a lavender bedroom?

At first I thought $499 was a bit steep, but then I figured that if I found a cheap wingback on Craigslist, bought 7-8 yards of fabric and then paid for reupholstery...well, this chair is a good deal. Unless of course you can reupholster yourself and you find some great inexpensive fabric.

I need to learn the art of upholstery. The sky would be the limit with that skill.


p.s. For locals, the chair was at the Kingstowne location

Heather Safferstone

More beautiful autumnal inspiration.

Check out this bedroom vignette designed by Heather Safferstone and currently in the window of the Timothy Paul Bedding + Home store on 14th St. (between P & Q) in DC. Safferstone is an associate designer for Sally Steponkus Interiors, which is how I met her, and I had the chance to see this chic "bedroom" in person last week. 

Don't you love that bed? The combo of the legs and headboard make it so unique, and the perfect touch of exotic if your room is more traditional. I also wanted to swipe that side table (my newest obsession is inlaid furniture) and the rug (the photo does not do it justice). And of course, the bedding was luxurious and that orange pillow was also a favorite. The whole installation is warm and glamorous.

If you like what you see, most of the items are for sale at the Timothy Paul store, which also has a ton of other amazing goodies. Beautiful bedding, pillows, home accessories - definitely worth a peek if you are shopping in DC. 

And here is smiling, gorgeous Heather...all legs and leopard print. Doesn't she match her vignette perfectly?

 

Heather is wonderful and I'm so happy I met her through the blog. Can't wait to see how her career grows here in DC!

Weekend Warrior

As the old TV antennae came tumbling toward Carter, only to halt unexpectedly...

Me: Are you okay?!?!

Carter: Yeah...yeah, I'm fine.

Me: Are you okay enough to hold that pose so I can go get the camera?

Carter: Sure.

My husband, the weekend warrior, tasked himself with removing the [insanely ugly] TV antennae protruding from our roof on Saturday. I'll have to hand it to him - it took guts. We rented a 32 foot ladder and Carter climbed up [even though he is not keen on heights] and handled it. 

We deliberated long and hard on how exactly to maneuver the removal with my suggestion being just to throw it and pray it causes minimal damage to the surrounding structures. We actually got lucky in that the antennae bent in that crazy position [it used to stick straight up, above the chimney] and halted, wedging Carter between its spikes and the ladder. But, this allowed it to fall halfway so by the time Carter fully loosened it, it didn't have quite as far to fall and we only sacrificed a small chunk of our fence [and not, say, our neighbor's house].

I promise that Carter was in no imminent danger - the spikes weren't as crazy dangerous as they look [at least from my vantage point; Carter might disagree]. But it did make for a good photo opp to document my husband's never-ending devotion to this house. 

Friday Crush

It's no surprise that I found my favorite image of the week on Chinoiserie Chic, one of my favorite daily reads. Beth at CC did a post on Mary McDonald's Chinoiserie interiors and I literally gasped when I saw this image. I want to blow it up poster size and hang it on my wall. Isn't it gorgeous? I love the colors in that vase.

We are expecting a beautiful weekend in our area so I'm excited to experience some fall weather and get some much-needed work done on the house. Hope your weekend is wonderful...see you Monday!