Archive for September, 2012
Happy Friday!
Another Friday and another week where I feel spent. But, all projects are progressing which really makes me incredibly thrilled.
Remember the pearl inlay coffee table I spoke of last week. Well, it was delivered last Friday and it’s so happy in its new home…
The coffee table does need friends though so today a pair of spindle chairs will be joining and soon a large jute rug will be added…
In other news, I recently bought the Tom’s Desert Boots and I love them!! I highly recommend for the fall.
Happy Friday everyone! Hope you enjoy the weekend.
ETSY Find
Okay, so it’s not the Rolls Royce of map dresses, which I’ll dub Elisabeth LeCourt the rolls (if I remember correctly, retails for about $2,000)
It’s not exactly the Mercedes either, like the Restoration Hardware version (retails for $599)…
But, I do love the price tag of the ETSY version and that it’s lovingly handmade in Australia. Look at the dresses that I found…
At $75 each, get these sweet numbers framed and they’ll be looking like the Rolls Royce or Mercedes in no time. I guess Baby Girl can get her dress art and a crib. She’s a savvy little one. Plus, nobody wants a pretentious baby, showing off her rolls royce of paper dresses. You know how these things go straight to infant’s heads.
Baby Girl Decor Needs
Thank you so much for the comments yesterday! We are absolutely over the moon about our baby girl. Literally, I walk around the apartment just singing, “baby girl” with a big grin on my face.
Baby Girl is already telling me exactly what she needs in her nursery. I tell her that she actually NEEDS important things like a crib, glider and some sort of changing table. However, Baby Girl is more hooked on the accessories and she’ll probably get what she wants. Here’s what she’s kicking for…
How baby girl is going to fit all of this into her 8′ by 8.5′ bedroom is a little beyond me. But, I guess that’s not her problem. It is fun to look around for sweet little pieces. The one that I wish I could pull the trigger on is the Vintage Map Dress. For those parents out there, I’m wondering, what is more important…a crib or beautiful art work? Hmmm. I blogged about Elisabeth LeCourt’s beautiful dress artwork back in June of 2011 and I have not forgotten. I haven’t done enough research to see if Restoration Hardware is carrying her art or just ripping her off. I hope it’s the former as I hate when artist beautiful work gets ripped off by mass production. That being said, is anyone extra talented at origami, has loads of free time and wants to give this a go for baby girl?
Baby Boy? or Baby Girl?
First of all, let me say that we truly had no preference for what the sex of the baby would be. It was a struggle to get pregnant and so to have a baby on the way is gift enough.
Growing up with three older brothers, I really get the male population. I grew up with a 13 ft. half pipe, a go-kart, and the biggest lego collection I’ve ever seen. Despite my mother’s best efforts, I grew up where spitting contests were a norm, belching the alphabet was a serious talent and farts were hilarious.
When we first got pregnant, I had a feeling it was a girl. But, as time went on, I flipped and I felt in my heart of hearts it was a boy. It also helped that the general public encouraged such a notion. I’ve had four women tell me that I’m carrying high and it’s a boy; the chinese medicine calendar told me boy; the ring test came out boy. I thought, of course it would be a boy. I’ve always been surrounded by boys so patterns tend to continue throughout my life. Graham was on board with me in the boy camp.
Imagine our absolute surprise, when we found out we’re having a girl! Past experiences be damned. This home will be filled with sugar and spice and everything nice. I wish we had filmed when we did the big reveal for ourselves. It was first silence. Then, “oh my God” about 550 times. A girl!! Woa. Once the shock wore off, absolute delight was all that we could feel. I mean a little one to dress in pink tutus, to take to ballet practices, to venture to the American Girl store in New York, to go dress shopping with for prom, to plan her wedding with, to watch her having children of her own and to have her take care of us when we’re old, toothless and bat shit crazy. A girl!! This is going to be one spoiled little precious girl.
PS – I realize these are all stereotypes and our girl could be a lego loving, football watching, farting, burping, skateboarder. If she is, we’ll be just as thrilled.
Sail to Sable
Have you heard of the new shop Sail to Sable? I may be the last one to this preppy party but I’m sure glad to be here. The owner of the shop was born and raised in Darien, CT so I respect that she knows all things prep. I do love me some Darien/Greenwich people with all the sailing and beach club invitations they gave me when I lived in New York. How could I not fall in love with the towns?
The best way for me to bring back the yesteryear of East Coast living is by shopping at Sail to Sable. I’m smitten for this number…
And they have pillows with ric rac trim…
Perfection!! Note to self, I must use in nursery and for the girl’s room I’m working on.
Pearl Inlay Greatness
Today, I’ll be stopping by a clients for a delivery. Amongst the pieces that are being delivered is a pearl inlay coffee table. When this client called me on board, she had bought some very modern pieces for her traditional style home. She was feeling that her new modern pieces didn’t go with the home so she brought me on board to mix the two styles. I’m excited for the challenge and I like the pieces that we’ve been picking out.
One piece I’m ga ga for is a pearl inlay coffee table. It brings an eclectic, global vibe to the mix which will assist when mixing and matching the traditional and modern styles.
This is the coffee table that will be delivered today:
I’m happy the client took a leap of faith with me because that was the only photo I had of the table. While all I had to show my client was that lousy I-Phone shot, I do have pretty inspiration photos to share with all of you today.
Betsy Burnham
Four Walls and a Roof
Summerhouse
Amber Interiors
Wether it’s your living room, dining room, powder room or bedroom, I think pearl inlay furniture is oh so pretty and just the perfect touch. Do you?
Philly Apartment
My blogger friend, Ashley, of Meet Me In Philadelphia was just featured in the online magazine Ivy and Piper. I’m so happy for her and I’ve loved her home forever so it’s about time that I share it on here.
Isn’t her apartment gorgeous? I love how she uses shades of red and blue throughout and those dot stools are to die for! She has a wonderful sense of design and I hope this helps push her into decorating full time! Fingers crossed.
All images by Courtney Apple. To see more of her apartment, check out her spread in Ivy and Piper.
Wedding Recap
We had a great time this weekend hanging out with friends and going to a beautiful weekend. I’m usually terrible at taking pictures but this time I finally remembered to.
The wedding was absolutely beautiful and in a picturesque setting at the groom’s family winery in Templeton, Ca. They were married under a giant oak tree on the property.
Image by Culinary Eye Catering and Events
The dinner was held amongst the rows of grapes. The bride chose long farmhouse style tables and a beautiful lace runner.
Image by Culinary Eye Catering and Events
As the sun began to set, the string of lights came on and cast a really beautiful light over the dinner…
Image from Culinary Eye Catering and Events
The food was out of this world, catered by the ever exceptional Culinary Eye (based out of San Francisco).
After dinner came my favorite part: dancing. We headed down to a beautiful little alcove with a lounge area, dance floor, bar and more farmhouse tables, this time covered in candles.
Image from Culinary Eye Catering and Events
Everyone had an absolute blast and I even ran into a friend from college who I haven’t seen in about nine years. Don’t you love when those little surprise run ins happen? And a small sampling of the good times…
The bride looked stunning in a form fitting bodice with a flowy skirt and beaded arm detailing. She took everyone’s breath away as she walked down the aisle and she and the groom were so much fun to boogy the night away with.
Feeling Tweeny
On of the projects that I am working on is girl’s bedroom. This girl will one day be a tween and then a teen so I want the room to grow along with her. I want it to work with both Samantha dolls and Justin Beiber posters. So, lets take a look at some inspiration rooms for ideas…
Designed by Steven Miller
Designed by Tori Mellot
I don’t know about you but I would gladly move in to any of these rooms. They all use girly colors (hello, pink!) but have a sophisticated element to them. I can’t wait to dive into this project.
Golden Girl: Nursery Board
Even though I think it’s a boy there still is a 50% chance it’s a girl. So, in order to be prepared, I whipped up a girly mood board and I’m in love.
I know if we have a baby girl, it won’t be born with a silver spoon in it’s mouth. A gold spoon? That’s a different situation. I’m into gold and so baby girl obviously would be too:
Again, this is not the most realistic nursery. But, I have to say that I’m so smitten with this design that I think I would move in. If I curled up nicely, I could probably fit in a crib, right?
Sources:
Crib: Jenny Lind (painted gold)
Standing Lamp: 1st Dibs
Sofa Shot: Hable Construction Fabric for custom wingback chair rocker
Pouf: Tazi Designs
Side Table: Oomph
Changing Table: Dorothy Draper Chest
Polka Dot Fabric (for bedding): Cali Fabrics
Map Art: ETSY
Rationale: Ummm…have you met me? Do you read my blog? I LOVE all things colorful and bamboo and gold is great too. That Hable Construction Poppy Fabric (pictured on the sofa) would be the showstopper in the room as the custom glider fabric. Our girl would be surrounded by all things girly, sweet and colorful. The one art piece is the map of the world which I would blow up large to encourage my little girl to travel the world. I imagine her baby dreams to be filled with pink parisian cafes that she’ll surely visit in later years.
Kate Collins Interiors 
