Beautiful Interiors (and Some Decorating Tips)

Happy Weekend! That was the longest short week ever! As you know, last weekend I was in North Carolina visiting family. My grandmother recently moved, and while I was down there visiting we went through some of the items that she did not take to her new place. It reminded me of what a beautiful house she had. All the women in my family are fabulous interior decorators. Their houses look like they could be in a magazine. One of the skills that they all posses, of which I am a bit envious, is the ability to fill their homes with beautiful antique items while still keeping a bright and modern feel. I've recently found some photos of various amazing interiors, not the homes of my family, just random ones from the vast world of cyber space. The ability to decorate a space is such a skill, and these photos are inspiring.

Here are a few things that I think make these spaces so successful:

1. Keeping the walls a light, off-white color. While true white can be a little harsh, choosing a slightly warmer shade of white or another light color makes the room feel large but cozy at the same time, and gives you a blank canvas for decorating with bright colors.

2. Use bright colors as accents. The pops of colors in the art and furniture are wonderful. Also, a fresh coat of bright paint is a great way to take an older piece of furniture and give it new life. In one photo below a simple wicker table is reinvented with a coat of bright pink. In another an antique wooden chair brilliantly stands out with a coat of bright green/yellow.

3. For artwork and rugs, mix modern with antique. Place a large, colorful modern canvas next to antique framed black and white prints. When hanging frames next to each other, keep one common element such as the general color of the frames (i.e.: all dark or black), but select different frames, some square and some round, and hang at different heights. Etsy is a great place to find relatively inexpensive art, and you can get cheap frames at Michaels. For rugs, try Ikea!

via Violet Rose

via Violet Rose

via Violet Rose

via The Now Book

via Houzz

Kitchen Items on My List

I really enjoy browsing kitchen stores like Williams Sonoma and Crate & Barrel. Even though I don't cook as much as I wish I had time to, I love my kitchen and have an ongoing wish list of food-related items. Here are a few of the things that are currently on that list.

Menu Romer Drop Fruit Bowl, All Modern, $49.95

Edge Wine Glass, Crate & Barrel, $12.95

End-Grain Counter Block, Williams Sonoma, $90

Set of 6 Personalized Tumbled Marble Coasters, OneDecember, Etsy, $24

Blue and White China

This photo is from my grandmother's house. She is a magnificent woman with great taste. Over the years she has had many homes, and each one was so brilliantly decorated that it looked like it could be in a magazine. Above is a photo of her china cabinet, which is so beautiful that I just had to post it. I love that each piece is different but they are all tied together by the rich blue colors. Her love for blue and white china has rubbed off on me. I am always looking out for pieces with vibrant colors, and particularly love to mix the antique Chinese and British pieces with more modern patterns. Here are some fun blue and white china patterns that could be easily mixed amongst the family heirlooms.

From the Deep Dinnerware, Anthropologie, $14-$24

Dansk Arabesque Blue/White Salad Plate, Table and Home, $10.99

iittalaTaik Blue Plate, All Modern, $25

Bluebird Dinner Plate, Anthropologie, $24

New Way to Recycle Old Textiles

Such a clever idea to turn old clothes into unique and functional furniture! I love this!

 Rememberme stol - av klader, Svenssons i Lammhult, 7 500 kr

Rock With Me

How amazingly comfortable do these chairs look!

Clockwise from top left:

Sway Rocking Chair by Markus Krauss, Mocoloco

Knotted Melati Hanging Chair, Anthropologie, $498

Cradle for Adults, Yanko Design

Home Spotlight: Sarah Hvass

The photos below from Design Sponge, showcase the home of Sarah Hvass, an artist living in Copenhagen. At the center of the home's design are her colorful, dream-like canvases that lay the base for the design theme throughout the house. To make the colors in the art and furniture stand out, Sarah stuck to neutral tones on the floors and walls. I love this home so much! It's so colorful and modern with a fantastical twist, and it makes me happy just to look at the photos.

Speaking of Etsy...Pixie Pixels Vintage Inspired Prints

I recently came across Pixie Pixels, an Etsy store selling vintage inspired prints. The prints are mostly nature-themed with bold clean lines and strong colors. Below are some of my favorites. I absolutely love them and think that they would look stunning as part of a modern or vintage design theme.

Underwater Sea Coral Collection, Ruby Red and Soft Cream, set of 4, 8"x10", $38.85

Deer Head Silhouette Prints, set of 2 11"x14", $31.90

Ikat Patterns (Series A), set of 4 8"x10", $38.85

Etsy Finds - Neon Wooden Bangles and More

How beautiful are these wooden neon bangles! Enough to get me excited about summer, even if it is still about 5 months away... Also, this would be a great DIY. All you need are wooden bangles, neon paint and masking tape. Cut triangles out of the tape, stick them on the bangles in creative patterns, paint over them with the paint, let dry and peel the tape off. Voila!

Neon wooden bangles, Vozclothingandart, Etsy, $22 each

I love this cutting board. Besides being a peace sign, it is very practical. It's like having four different cutting boards in one!

16" Peace Sign Bamboo Cutting Board, Woodencreatives, Etsy, $55

I have been eyeing this colorful, Impressionist farm scene for a while now. I really love the colors and think it would look great on my wall. The artist Solomoon does abstract landscapes with bright colors and broad, painterly strokes. I recommend checking out his Etsy site. This one pictured below may not last long (as I may be buying it shortly).

Farm, 16x16 oil painting, Solomoon, Etsy, $129

Cynthia Rowley Pillows and Rebecca Minkoff Laptop Bag - Love T.J.Maxx

Below are the results of my Friday trip to T.J.Maxx: two funky, colorful Cynthia Rowley pillows for our bed and a blue leather Rebecca Minkoff laptop bag. Fun fun!

Weekend in Williamsburg (Including an Ed Westick Sighting)

On Saturday my husband and I took the subway to Williamsburg in Brooklyn with no specific destination or activity in mind, simply wanting to walk around and explore a new neighborhood. It was so much fun! Williamsburg, which is known for being a trendy, hipster, less expensive alternative to Manhattan was full of cute, inexpensive boutiques, great quirky interior design stores and charming restaurants. Along the way we stopped into the Bedford Cheese Shop, a gourmet delight for the senses with lots of beautiful cheeses and old-fashioned candy. Then we grabbed a bite to eat and some wine at Spike Hill Bar & Restaurant, which had great vegetarian chili and a wonderful, dark pub atmosphere. It was not very crowded and we got our own booth in a mini private room with low lighting. Perfectly cozy and warm in contrast to the freezing, windy weather outside.

After that we headed to Mast Brothers Chocolate and tasted some of their pure, dark chocolate which is made on site with pure, natural ingredients. Although the chocolate bars are expensive ($7 per bar!), they are very high quality chocolate and come hand-wrapped in beautiful paper. We ended our time in Brooklyn at A&G Merch, a home furniture and decor store with really neat, funky things. My favorite items were zombie plates (exactly what they sound like - plates with pictures of zombies on them) and a beautiful batik upholstered recliner/mini couch, which, with a price tag of ~$1200 did not come home with us unfortunately...

AND, in A&G Merch we saw Ed Westwick! He was in there with some friends buying a couch, like it was completely normal, which I guess it is for him but it was not for me. Inside I was kind of freaking out, I mean it IS Ed Westwick. Besides the fact that I used to watch Gossip girl RELIGIOUSLY, he is pretty damn attractive. Walking out of the store I brushed by him and was about 2 inches away from him...so that happened...

Here are some photos:

More photos after the jump

Rugs for All Different Price Points

Nothing pulls a room together better than a beautiful rug, and the good news is that you don't need to spend a lot of money on one. Sure if you want a hand knotted rug from Turkey you should be prepared to fork over a few thousand dollars, but if you are only concerned with aesthetics keep reading. Below are some really fun rugs in a various price points (starting as low as $20). I actually have the $20 one below from IKEA in my bedroom and it's great!

GISLEV Rug, $19.99, IKEA

PB Found Vintage Kilim Rug, $1749, Pottery Barn

Iznik Dhurrie, $109, West Elm

Mohawk Home Rainbow Rug, $98.97, Home Depot

Breathtaking Barn House

Alchemy Architects designed this stunning house in the plains of Blair, Wisconsin, inspired by all the wonderful aspects of barns. The result is a modern, linear, beautiful, light-filled home set in an equally inspiring landscape. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to move in.

Photos via Architizer

New Favorite Blog

So I have to give credit to my husband for finding this one. Cabin Porn is definitely my new favorite blog. I love that it is so simple; just beautiful photos of amazing, interesting, serene cabins. As someone who works 50-55 hours per week in a corporate environment in the largest city in the country, I very frequently fantasize about taking a month long break from reality and going to live in a cabin in the woods. That's normal, right....?

 All photos via Cabin Porn (from top):

1. Mt. Brown Hut in the Southern Alps
2. One of the cabins of Dunton Hot Springs, Colorado
3. Finnish Garden Sleeping Shed, (Source: architizer, via mokoyfman via cabin porn)

This may be the cutest thing I have ever seen...

I don't have any children, but I almost died when I found this website and saw these adorable little animal photos by Sharon Montrose. They are PERFECT for a nursery, I can't even handle how cute they are. If I was expecting, I would absolutely buy some and frame them in little white frames and hang them above the crib, just like they appear in the photo above from The Animal Print Website. These would make such a great gift for a baby shower, or for someone who just had a baby!

Here are some of the cutest ones!

 

Clockwise from the top:

Lamb Close-Up 
Baby Monkey Close-Up
Cow No. 2
Baby Raccoon No. 2

All of the photos are by Sharon Montrose. Prices start at $25 and go up based on size.