Covers

So, I realized last Monday's photos actually photo'd the wrong Robert Kaufman Velvet...I pulled both, and didn't notice that the one closest to the wall color had been moved when I went to take pictures.

So, not as teal...a slightly darker, less jewel tone version of my wall.  I signed up for a photography class to learn my DSLR, so maybe I'll have crisp, clear, color accurate photos soon.  Maybe.

Tonight has been a struggle with Olioboard...and I am left $8.99 poorer and unimpressed.  It is great for mock-ups from scratch and inspiration boards, but doing a mock-up of an existing space....I think I just better learn photoshop.  Oh, and buy it.  Sounds like a good project for maternity leave, and more doable than my other plans which range from experimenting with gold leaf to organizing magazines to planning 12 months worth of dinners.

Here is the fruit of my labor (actually, the first few room mockups were so laughable I didn't save them and went for colorswatches).  Yes, that is as large a jpg as Olioboard will save apparently...

I actually don't hate any of the combinations.  Am I missing something?  (ps--Kat the slipcover lady will have the final say).  The rug will stay for now, and be replaced with something pretty neutral and/or modern.

Btw--the green sofa is Crate & Barrel's Rochelle Sofa, and at $2500 is very reasoanble and $1000-$1500 more than this slipcover is going to cost me...so I really should ignore it and stop doing things like adding it to the board.  But there are a lot of things I should stop doing, like eating candy and day dreaming about beach houses I can decorate.

I've got to get some work done, sadly.  And help my kid with the most involved school project ever (2nd grade is too early for a Junior Acheivement style product development, don't you think?).  So, while this post was short and semi-sweet at best, try this cover which made me super happy this weekend.

Part of me totally wants to be that lady.

Heading South?

Greetings!  I spent Sunday in Cincinnati, mostly to see a National Theater simulcast of Coriolanus.

via

It was very good, and I had no idea that Tom Hiddelston, the star, is super famous (he plays Loki in the Thor/Avenger movies)--and that made me feel old.  But he was a great Coriolanus; I had never read the play, and it was minimally staged (which I don't typically enjoy) but it was easy to follow and generally excellent.  I will annoyingly mention again that the showings continue in March if you are interested.  We also checked out the Cincinnati art museum--the building was lovely, but I found the collections just OK overall.  It had this random feature called 6000 years of Art...which was just letting people walk through their storage.  It was a little weird, but also kind of cool--objets were grouped together in eras, but the paintings were totally randomly fixed on the wall.

Back at the homestead, the snow in my backyard is up to my knees (we don't shovel back there very often--which makes taking out the trash a little tricky), and we'll be getting a few more inches tonight after the ice storm moves through.  I'm thinking its time to go to Miami...which is why I bought a ticket to join Kevin at a conference there in 2 weeks.  He shouldn't have all the fun.

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Being rather pale and not overly fond of natural bodies of water, I'm more attracted to the live oaks and Spanish moss South than the Bouganvillea and little Havana South. But, considering studies are indicating that this winter is not a freak occurrence and just part of the new normal, Miami is looking better every day (as the live oak South does not have the same type of job opportunities).  This is what living in Miami looks like in my head (courtesy of pinterest...its late):

pic from USA, not Pinterest :)

So I hit Zillow.com to find out what living in Miami meant for me.  These two shots were pretty representative of my search results:

I'm guessing hurricanes and heat keep everyone with tile?  Hardwood is tough to find under $450K.  

But this looks promising at $300,000...no graffitti or bars on the windows, multi-story....until you read that it has 5 bedrooms but only 1770 sq feet.  How is that physically possible?  Oh yeah, it also has no interior pics b/c it needs a total gut job AND it backs up onto I-95.  Charming.

Actually, Miami is only 16% more expensive than Indianapolis on a cost-of-living basis.  Its just a lot denser so square footage and yards are hard to find.  As is the traditional Georgian-revival architecture I love--because this is what they were building in Miami in the 20s:

via zillow.com

This Coral Gables beauty can be yours for just under $1.7M; I could probably deal with replacing my center hall colonial with this beauty, but the more realistic option up top is less desirable.

But, living room fabric shopping has me contemplating some south Florida style for the heartland....what do we think about a pink couch?  Specifically, the third pink from the top:

I finally went to Calico Corners, which is apparently the only fabric store in town that made it through the recession (except the trade-only showroom that opened in the burbs in that period--a nice data point for the widening wealth gap).  I just needed to verify that this Robert Allen velvet

was the best blue I can get for $30/yd or less (for my couch slipcover).  Which only made me look at things that were $40 per yard, and consider colors besides blue...hence, the 2 additional Calico velvet options.  I also felt compelled to snap a pic of this velvet at $55/yd, which is getting a little high for a sofa I am not totally in love with, but it sort of looked like candy........

The Coral Gables Mansion would look great with a cotton candy colored couch, I'm sure....although maybe linen?

What do you think?  Worth moodboarding the green velvet and the pink herringbone?  What about blue#2? I would note that the Robert Allen velvet and the herringbone are "sturdy" and have some poly in them while the Como velvets are 100% cotton and not super heavy-weight.

I could always just scrap it all and go pineapples.  So tropical :)

Ennui......Pillows!

For the New Year, I splurged on the Whitney English Day Designer.   It is for the "Creative Entrepreneur", but I decided that shouldn't stop me--it gets great reviews.  And I sort of wish I were a creative entrepreneur instead of a corporate lawyer.

Pics via etsy

It starts out with worksheets...asking you to list your top 3 goals for different aspects of your life.  No, not annual goals...like deathbed regret level goals.  You then hack down the total list (15) until you get your 3 raison d'etre.  Those are supposed to be written at the top of each Month, so you can evaluate if you are spending your time properly.  

OMG that is some HEAVY SHIT.  And during seasonal-effective-disorder season, too.  It keeps going, and it is all probably a really good excercise, but I was not mentally prepared to realize that I have no idea what my top 3 family goals are...or that I have zero spiritual goals...or that I don't know what I want to do with my life...and that if I did, I wouldn't write it down in a planner that I carry with me daily b/c I'm apparently paranoid.  So I will re-evaluate at a later (possibly less hormonal) date, and try to use the daily calender sheets for now.

Pics via etsy

But since most existential crises can be cured by search engines, I figured I'd google what other organizing schemes could fix me.  Turns out there is something called the The Simplified Life Planner, which also has good reviews (and is sold out).

 

It actually looks like Whitney English "lite", so maybe that would have been a better fit.  But then, they start out like the below, and recommend that you work with Lara Casey's Make Things Happen worksheets to compliment the Simplified Life.

Well, here we go again.  And google wasn't letting up, either.

Do any of you engage in this level of planning?  

Could you do Whitney or Laura's worksheets?  

Am I being a baby?

This is what I imagine me having an existential crisis looks like.  via 

I do like the idea of getting my tangible life (e.g., what is that 401K from my old job doing or where is the dishwasher warranty information)  in order.  I'm considering doing the Buttoned Up bootcamp.  Actually, I had forgotten that I told Kevin this was what I wanted for Christmas back in the summer when I first discovered it.  Yes, I'm at the "forgetting that you were planning to do an organizing course" point.

Enough introspection and despair, lets discuss things that really matter, like throw pillows.  First, a pallette cleanser:

photo by Birgitta Wolfgang Drejer for Elle Decoration UK, via

Ahhhh......mental equilibrium restored.  (Side note:  this came from my new favorite eyecandy source out of Brazil)

So, confession:  I have always cheaped out on pillows.  I hit HomeGoods or Marshalls, I have one Thomas Paul Pillow but I bought it at a boutique on clearance for $30.  I've had some made, but I enslaved my grandmother to do it.

Time to grow up and do some research.  I'll use as many of the current pillows as possible but for some reason I didn't think buying pairs was a good idea so we need some symmetry help.  By way of background, the LR is blue, and the couch will be slipcovered in velvet in a blue that is pretty close to the walls (although this has been a long and difficult search...pea soup green is the current runner up).  And, in generaly, the couch isn't deep enough (or used too frequently?) to handle gobs of pillows.  I have some ideas of where to start--mostly things I almost bought.  But I went to reference the living rooms on my Pinterest Living Room Board and it turns out I have never really pinned anything specific on pillows.  So I looked at the full interior shots I pinned and it was not what I expected....

Good Living Rooms:

1.  Kelly Wearstler, Modern Glamour (photo via) 

 2.  via

Good blue living rooms....

3.  via

4.  Erin Williamson design, via

5.  Miles Redd in House Beautiful, via

And good blue living rooms with blue couches....

Thom Felicia I think, via 

7.  Romy Schneider wearing Chanel at Rue Cambon, Coco Chanel’s apartment in Paris, 1960

And here is why this excercise turned out particularly good:  at least in terms of pillows...I am drawn to 5 and 7 the most.  And those are WAY more conservative than what I would pick out in the great wide world of pillows.  When I started this post, I thought I was headed here:

Jamie Meares, via

Finding the perfect mix of prints.  But maybe with so much saturated color (and so much stuff, and so much mess), I don't want anything busy.

Anyhoo, here are my original shopping options I rounded up for your input:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I 

The top row of classic prints I wish I could afford 15 yds of (pcitured are all from Etsy); the middle row I think of as "toying with ethnic", and the bottom row are my current passing fancies (ps--G is metallic!).

Now the above random assortment aren't out of the picture completely, but I have some other things to  think about.  Reviewing the living rooms has definitely made me realize that I should invest in only one of the above options, and buy some good silk (or chintz maybe).  I'm thinking a solid and a pair of prints, or a print and a pair of solids.  A more neutral rug is on the agenda, and that will probably help tip the scale in one direction or the other.  And at the $200 and up price point, I might wait until the second sofa in the room is done (to be upholstered in a print).

Thoughts?  

What won't I get tired of?  

Is it just me, or is piping and/or turkish corners absolutely necessary? 

via

While the marbelized pillow above is from West Elm, my big plan was to do my own marbelizing.  I tried it this summer using supplies from Dharma Trading...it is not super easy, but I think it could be accomplished. Mixing up a good color combination (without spending a fortune) is the trickiest thing.

Unfortunately, to make a decent sized pillow (I think you need 18" or 20" on the couch....) I would need to get a tray that has 2" on either side of the material....which is hard to find and/or expensive.  I have stuff to build a frame and plastic to line it with...but you know, it is just one more thing that requires a drill, time, and a clear work surface.  And right now, I only have the drill.

And because I love tangents, and marbelizing is AWESOME, here are some links and eyecandy to hold you over until this Thursday's devotional.

Peace out peeps.

**************************************

Elle Decor did a round-up of the "trend".

Pic and article here.

Society Bride did a round up of marbelized wedding details.

Pic and article here.

 Pillows!

via Etsy

Dransfield & Ross, via

General eye candy:

from Shutterstock

via

via

via

And a few "How To's"

pic via Martha

• Martha Stewart
• Design Sponge
• Dharma Trading

Embellishments?

by Small Forest, via

The view from my couch

Just a quick shopping post this week, as I'm trying to figure out Olioboard.com (and how not to spend thousands on valentine's decorations).  I signed up ages ago, but never used it.  It creates mock-ups and moodboards for rooms, and if you pay the reasonable $8.99/mo then you have project management and budget tracking tools as well (and Benjamin Moore's paint deck, which is all I really want).  One of these days, I'll either get a digital plan of the upstairs room renos or they will be completed and I'll have pics of that.


I am working on putting the living room back together, after taking it apart to touch up paint and patch the holes in the wall created by the electrician.   And hang the enormous mirror.  Better hung on the wall?  I do think it is safer, and while this photo doesn't show it well, it is nice to have it up higher on the wall.

Sarah and her agreeable husband Kyle came over to put this baby on a cleat...which had to be screwed into the petrified wood wall studs that apparently frame my house.  And did you notice?  We got rid of the painters tape, too.  Major progress.  While the table and the lampshades are begging for improvement, they are taking a backseat to the pillow styling needs--but we will discuss pillows next week (Cliff hanger!!!)--because there are more pressing issues that don't require making a decision on the couch slipcover material :

BAM!  So many holes where art should be...and then look to your left, and

you are hit again by cold, negative space.  We need to fill these walls ASAP.  Besides framing some of Molly's abstract expressionist pieces, and pillaging my parent's house (hint, hint),

Carter Osterbind, via Walnut Gallery

I will probably grab a few from Julie Blackmon, Hunt Slonem, Elliot Puckette and Russell Young....if I win Powerball this week. But on the more realistic side, here are a few things I'm thinking about:

Jenny from MFAMB.  

Tumblr of her artwork here.  I like her jelly series, which really exploded (so hard to get your hands on):

Plus, I also am fond of her totally abstract pieces.

 both via her pinterest

The one below is a little different than her earlier work (or at least the stuff shown on her blog--which is a good read, btw), but I'm almost ready to hit buy.It is pretty big and only $175.  Generally, her stuff is super affordable.

Slim Aarons via Sufaceview.  Or anything from Surfaceview.

I was all ready to hit "buy" on this print (debating framing options) when I saw Gray Malin's Marfa Prada on sale at One King's Lane.  So it was back to the piggy bank.  But I haven't bought any art in a long time, so I'm due.   Right?  And while I'm at it, why not this for the girl's room:

(Side note:  My kids are super jealous they don't have one of these, Moo:)

via sosterbind27's Instagram

And this for over the mantel:

Can my living room handle this with Slim Aarons?  I'd like to think I'll make it work.  If not, a giant engineering print of a soft-serve swirl cone is being considered for this spot:

from etsy

Sidenote:  if you can't find something on etsy in your favorites and start to GO CRAZY, note that they initially show you items you hearted, and there is a seperate tab for stores you heart.  Mystery solved.

Conde Nast Store.  

A trip to the CondeNast Store is almost as much of a time suck as Sufaceview.  This is the leading contender for the LR:

Photo by Cecil Beaton

At 19"x15", it is $249 and at 35"x27.5", it is $649.  And since bigger is always better, I may have to wait on this one (did I mention there is really no budget...just using money otherwise earmarked for things like groceries and Target impulses?). They offer to mount it on wood for a small fee...not sure about this one. Could be nice and modern, could be super cheap and horrible.  I probably won't gamble with $649.

Butterflies.

And (sorry people) I love butterfly specimens.  If it makes anyone feel better, they are farmed and humanely euthenized these days as opposed to being netted in the amazon by foppish aristocrats.

via

I like the modern, lucite box this company does and their prices are pretty good.


But they get expensive when they get big....which I understand.  I mean, you don't want dead butterflies to be free, do you?  And while I love the lucite, not sure if I want the blue wall showing through or not.

Plates?

And you all can check out Unica Home, Barney's or Farfetch if you would like to pitch in and add a few more Fornasetti Plates to add to my newly started collection (of 1).

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There are lots more to acquire....

via

Not sure my plate is in the right spot now, but maybe when she isn't so lonely up top....either way, there are lots of places she can hang out.  They run $195 at Unica (but best selection), $180 at Barneys and $160 at Farfetch (but without a free shipping coupon, it will be the same as Barneys...b/c they are shipping from France).  And yes, I do know that bootleg prints are available (they actually pop up in my Google shopping results) but I'm holding out for the plates.