lavender love

Lavender has been on my brain A LOT lately. Case in point: I'm sitting here in a lavender sweater and highlighting budgets in lavender. Time to take a "coffee break" and post some pictures.


I have loved this picture forever.  Think it was one of the first pictures I saved in my "Rooms I Love" folder, back before I was blogging, which is why I have no clue where it came from.  Can anyone help me out?

I also think it's where I first got the inspiration to do the turquoise walls, though I went much darker.

But I love the Easter egg colors.  The turquoise walls, the coral curtains, the blue-patterned chair in the foreground, the green peeking in from the other room - and the lavender chairs.  I really think they make the room. 

I've also always loved this chair from Horchow.  I picture it paired with olive green leather and possibly some dark turquoise.  And lots of gold accents, which is another of my favorite things right now (and that I don't have enough of).

Then this bench from Crate and Barrel caught my eye a while ago and I keep picturing it pulled up to my dining table

I recently bought some fabric samples from fabric.com and one was lavender velvet.  I currently have it next to some light avocado-y greens and it's just so very lovely.  I think I need to add some lavender to my living room.  Maybe I'll recover the wicker chair's cushion in lavender velvet.  Add a lavender throw pillow to the orange chair once I make it green.  I think it'll be pretty.

welcome home, west wind

In 2000, my mom took my sister and me to Italy.  It was a great trip.  We did a tour with Globus which eliminated three strong personalities from fighting over what to do - all we had to do was show up and soak in the beauty of the country.

Lunch in Verona

I can't remember which town it was, but we were wandering through an outdoor market of sorts and my sister spotted these terracotta masks.  SO perfect.  Large enough to not get lost amongst other tchotchkes, but small enough to fit in our carry-on suitcases.  She went with a very scary Medusa, I went with a sweeter West Wind.  At least I'm assuming it's the West Wind.  No snakes coming out of his head to signify exactly who he is.  And who cares that they were probably mass produced?  We still bought them in Italy so they're still special to me.

Zephyrus lived at home with me for several years, but when I moved to my current office at work, I decided to bring him in.  He lived happily on the same wall for years, but then I recently rearranged things and got rid of the second desk (and hopefully will not have to bring it back in!) and decided that it was time to bring him home.

And he's perfect in the blank space above my little dresser!

What's that?  You want to get a better look at how I've rearranged my TV bookcase?  Okay, no need to twist my arm or anything.  Here it is with the flash so you can see the detail a little better.  It's not perfect, but it works.  And I'll probably rearrange it before the summer's out.  I like a bookcase that evolves.

I really like using flowers to balance out the birdcage, though ultimately I'd like to put a lamp there and get rid of the floor lamp.  Though wall sconces would be even better!

sorry for the dark photos - if I wait until I have good light in my living room, I'll never end up posting any pictures!

new curtains?

I've been thinking about new curtains for a while now.  My navy blue velvet ones are very pretty, but they're not quite right.  They're a bit too heavy, a bit too dark, and a bit too blue.  I mean, in the picture below they practically look black.  Overall, I just don't think they're the look I'm going for in my living room.

The velvet was very nice in the winter for keeping the cold out and will be nice in the summer to do the same for the heat, but I think I'm willing to sacrifice a little comfort for something prettier.  And besides, I'll probably just stash the velvet ones in the attic so I can pull them back out when I change my mind again.

These new curtains that I saw in the Pottery Barn catalog are what inspired this blog post:

Pretty, right?  Here are a couple of close-up pictures so you can better see the pattern:

Last year when I checked out couches at Mitchell Gold, I fell in love with a tea-stained floral pattern.  It was pretty and dreamy and romantic and I've dreamed about it all winter long.  But I can't seem to pull the trigger on a new couch and then who knows how well that fabric would wear.  It might be better to get a super sturdy canvas and pillow it up, you know?  I think I could deal with a solid couch if I had more pattern elsewhere.  Like my curtains.

I've also thought about solid green.  These linen/cotton ones (also from Pottery Barn) are the grass-y/avocado-y/light olive shade that I've been craving lately.  But then it's still a solid and therefore safe.  I think I'll be disappointed if I go safe - and I already did that with the blue velvet.

But would the tea-stained floral go with all my white accents?  That's what I can't decide.  Part of me thinks yes - it will be a fun contrast, make the room a little more me and not a copy of Jonathan Adler.  Though I do love me some JA and often think how fun my living room would be if it was as playful as one of his.  But then considering my recent cravings of brown, perhaps I'm moving away from Jonathan and not realizing it?

Picture it.  Light brown floral curtains.  My mess of pillows on the couch (post coming about that later).  My orange chair painted (yes, painted - saw a blog post about that a few days ago) a dark avocado-ish color.  My coffee table either replaced with a glass & brass version or possibly just painted gold (yeah, still thinking about this one).  A couple of gold or brass sconces flanking the quilt.  Right?  Right? 

My homework: reread Jonathan Adler's book.  Possibly order curtains (PB graciously sent me a 10% off coupon with the catalog. Damn enablers). 

side note: I've also checked out curtains elsewhere, especially Anthropologie and they seem almost TOO fun and cutesy.  These in yellow seem like the best option, but yellow & turqouise is just too preppy tropical for me, at least in a semi-permanent position like curtains.

more pretty fabrics

Initially I was looking at fabrics thinking of something that would be nice for my wicker chair.  Currently the cushion is a taupe-y linen, which is perfectly nice and neutral.  But I like color and patterns, you know?  Especially in my house.  Maybe if I lived somewhere bigger that had gorgeous light streaming in all day long I could go with whites and neutrals.  But I live in a tiny little house that's almost always shaded by big, gorgeous trees.  So I go with color.

But I didn't find anything that made me say "Yes!" so instead here are just a few pretty fabrics that I have no use for in my current house.  All are from Robert Allen, who is to-the-trade, so again, this is all about dreaming.

This one is called Aged Decadence.  I LOVE that name.  I'd want to use it even if I didn't like the mustardy yellow and rough textures of this fabric.

I've dreamed about this fabric before, but in the lighter colorway.  This umber version is what caught my eye today.

This one is called Celestine and it perfectly embodies one of my fave Kirsty Maccoll songs.  Listen and see if you don't agree!



And am I crazy but would the above three fabrics be really cool together in a room?  I like it!

inspired by LL Bean

I love LL Bean's Home collection.  Part of it comes from spending summers in Maine growing up where I would dream of having my own cottage with their blueberry stoneware and lots of Mission furniture.

How did I not realize that interior design was my calling?  I have so many similar stories...

And I still get excited when the new catalog shows up in my mailbox and I feel like the latest one was particularly good.  Something about it all just seemed so fresh - and refreshing.  Is it because I'm getting into a summer state of mind?  But these are the items that I thought could work in real life. 

This lamp comes in black and cream.  I like both, but I picked the black because it's a little different.  I picture it in a white and neutral-based room as a little jolt of darkness.

If you follow me on Twitter, you know that I was thinking about this pillow the other day.  I did end up buying two of them and will report back on how they look!

At first, I didn't get this wreath.  Think the blue bow threw me off.  But it's made out of actual sea glass.  How cool is that?  One can always replace the ribbon.

These nesting tables are charmingly rustic.  I'm thinking in a room with a lot of glitz and gilt.  Or, you know, my imaginary Maine cottage.

wanting: a new mirror for my powder room

I came across a new-to-me blog today, bryn alexandra, and was looking through her past entries and came across one about a powder room update.  And she bought this mirror from Wisteria:

And I had a flash of what it would look like in my powder room - and it looked fantabulous. 

It would add so much drama to the space and add yet another layer of pattern.  Unfortunately, this is the best picture I have, but you can see how the white mirror isn't doing anything for the space.  I've thought about painting it or even silver-leafing it, but I'm just not in love with the shape so don't really feel like spending any time jazzing it up.  Because even jazzed up, it will just be a plain rectangle.

I clicked on the link only to find out that it's out of stock.  Sad face Debbie.  They do have this one, but I'm not sure about the birds and I'm also not sure about the price.

I need to go home and meausure the space and then the hunt is on for a mirror of my own!

preoccupying my thoughts

I feel like a bad homeowner.  My house just has not been at the forefront of my brain these days.  I mean, sure, I bought a new bowl when I was at Target last week.

 and I paused at the charcoal grills (how pretty is this copper one!)

and checked out the planters (how nice would a series of white ones be in my front yard, full of herbs and spriggy flowers?)

But really?  My heart belongs to Bonnaroo and will until June.  It happens every year and anyone who's been will understand my obsession.  I make lists - Excel spreadsheets galore.  I research equipment.  I attempt (and fail) to practice setting up my new tent in my living room.  I do crazy things like buying a tent when I am so not a camper.

This year, I started a blog.  I spent about a week making a post with what I consider Bonnaroo basics.  And pretty soon it will be full of clothing purchases and more lists and pictures of my tent set-up once it's finally warm enough AND not raining for me to spend an afternoon in my yard.

If it's lonely over here, check me out over there.

Though once it really DOES get warm around here, I may have some actual gardening posts.  Seems like it's about time to really get my hands dirty and get something to grow on purpose.  And I think I did enough prep work last year that I should be able to get started as soon as I get the gardening bug!  Okay, I'm actually pretty excited about that as well!