pretty excited about a desk

You guys. I am pretty, pretty excited about a desk I stumbled upon this week.  I was at Building Resources looking for light fixtures (didn't find any, still looking) and noticed an interesting cabinet-ish piece of furniture. I noticed there was a leaf covering the bottom half, so lifted it up and it turns out there are legs which swivel out to support the leaf.  Like a secretary desk, except the only examples I can find of secretaries have desktops which fold down rather than up.  Anyway, I couldn't pass it up, especially since I know that my office will also sometimes be used as a guest room. So perfect that we can just swing the desk portion down when needed. Yes!

not sure of the source....anyone? 

I don't have it yet since it was too huge and heavy for me to handle on my own, so once I pick it up later this week I will share photos.  But the really fun part is deciding just how to spruce it up.  I'm loving both of these projects which were spotted recently, both featuring pink and blue. Hmmmm...the right colors for this piece? Not sure yet. Some really great hardware going on here too.

above and below - awesome diy by  domestikated life

If I ever come across an old tool chest like this, I am SO doing this with it! The perfect jewelry armoire.

palm leaf shower curtain

A few days ago I showed you a glimpse of this fabric and mentioned there was a project up my sleeve. Here you have it!

check out the fancy trim :)

Our new shower curtain.

The rest of our bathroom is still a work in progress, so we'll do some better photos once new paint, light fixtures, art, etc. are in place!

This fabric is fabulous. Feels so full of LIFE.  Adds some major pizazz and style :)

gallery wall: check!

Yay! So excited to show you photos of our new gallery wall. I spend much of the day Friday on this, working away at it like a puzzle. I didn't purchase anything new for the project, so was literally piecing together items from my collection of frames, art (term used loosely as you'll see below!) and matting (or cardboard :)).

I gathered everything together and started out with this....

Then I began playing around with placement and removing/editing pieces.  At this stage I also started to decide where switches were needed - you can see evidence of this process towards the left side of the below photo (playing around with a too-big white mat in the long black frame).

After much shuffling and shifting, I started hanging, and ended up with this...

I love it.

A friend asked me if I measure, and the answer is no. I am not much of a measurer, in general. I admire people who can operate like that, but I do not have the patience!  Eye-balling is my style.

The peacocks above and elephant below are actually greeting cards, and I love how they turned out! I actually saw some very similar art not long ago in a room by Anna Spiro and it caught my eye...so when I spotted these cards the following day at Cost Plus I was giddy!  Did I mention that I LOVE them?

There are only two pieces in the bunch that are "official" ... all others are items I made into artwork with just a little effort...things like photos taken by me, one picture torn from a magazine years ago, one piece of fancy paper and a few cards!  Also, I think only two or three of the frames were purchased new.  Three others were thrifted, and all others were freebies from friends (when moving, down-sizing, etc.).

I had been wanting to do something about the arrangement underneath the TV console, and after seeing the above photos I couldn't wait any longer.  See below - I simply attached a scarf as a table skirt, using upholstery nails (pretty similar to thumb tacks, just a bit stronger).  I like it much better than before, but don't love it. Will have to figure out a more permanent solution here.  (also, the light fixture reflection is kind of driving me crazy but we're just going to pretend it's not there. okay? thanks.)

The trick is to not have too much going on, or it gets a little crazy (notice several large mats).  Also it helps if there's some common thread or continuity -- here, a little black weaving through most of the arrangement kind of ties it together.  There's no formula, but I think that loosely following a few principles such as these make the project easier.

It was such fun putting it together.  Hope you like it as much as we do!

open shelving in the kitchen

Now that I've rearranged the art on our living room walls (photos coming very soon, i promise!), the kitchen needs something different. Our living room and kitchen are sort of one big room (well, not SO big), with an island in the middle. They have to work together. I was looking at some photos to get my wheels turning, and am wondering if it's time to add some additional shelves to our kitchen rather than fill the wall with art. We could definitely use the extra shelf space.

Here's our current shelf situation. Not very inspiring!

We have no upper cabinets (open or enclosed) other than these two shelves, so storage is fairly tight!

There's a collection of beautiful glasses from my mother in law just waiting for a more worthy location...in the meantime they're stacked in neat rows on top of the fridge!  

Let's get inspired....

via here

Although I suspect that pretty much any type of pattern would be too much for our space, I am loving the subtle tile pattern above!  Also like the length of the shelf, although I'm going for more than one. The white is pretty here.

via here

Above is similar to what we have now, if we wanted to just add more of the same. Loving those green glasses!!

Schuyler Samperton

Check out the shelves toward the back right. I really like the rustic brackets. I wonder if I can source something old and vintag-ey to add a bit of character.

And just for fun, let's take a look at what I'd be considering if our kitchen was a separate room....

source unknown

Chevron backplash...now this is non-trendy chevron if you ask me, and I love it! So good.

source unknown

 Beautiful.

And just for fun, I'll leave you with....

Diane Keaton's home via Architectural Digest

Marcelo & Cris Rosenbaum via The Selby

 Even for me....whoa.

swaying palms

Received this awesome fabric in the mail yesterday and have a little project up my sleeve. Will share progress by this weekend!

deck love

Hi all!  Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!! 

One of the projects we are really hoping to get to this 'fall' (our summer in SF) is to stain and seal our deck.  It is badly in need of this!  So, in preparation I'm thinking about the overall design we're going for, and what color will work best for us.

source unknown

I know, this is a patio and not a deck.  Work with me :)  I love the blue doors, and have thought about doing something fun like this on the outside of our window that face the deck. Easy way to add a punch of color.  Also makes me want to paint the entire back of our house, which borders the deck.  Maybe I should start with the fence!

design sponge 

Love the exotic flair here, and will very likely end up with some elements that have the same feel (no surprise there!). Would be awesome to find some old, beautifully worn outdoor furniture to include in our mix!  Although the goal is to have a somewhat furnished and finished deck by next year, we will almost certainly continue collecting the furniture pieces over time and need to be prepared for a mix of wood finishes.  So, the base color needs to work well with a growing mix as time goes on.

This is interesting and has my wheels turning.  It's from a recent West Elm catalog, and the overall look is a bit modern for me, but I'm loving the fresh feel of it all!  I'm not actually sure how to achieve this look, since our raw wood is just a bit darker than this.  Would we need to bleach it?  Some research is needed!  Also, is it too 'of the moment'?  I know it's appealing to me because it's fresh and different, but will I get sick of it?  If it ends up being feasible, in many ways a light stain could really make sense for us, given that our furniture will be a mix of old and new and will add some 'weight' to the overall look.

Especially when I see this....

via vogue living

LOVE these chaise lounge chairs!  And I know the floor here is stone, but work with me...the darker furniture with the light-colored floor, and then you throw in some bright fabric...so good!  I'm thinking some otomi would be a great stand-in for this look....

found here

Hmmmmm.....

OR, we could go in this direction!

also from vogue living

I could see this tropical look working well with either a light or a dark stain under foot.  Definitely wouldn't mind walking out our back doors to find this!  So many options, but I know which way I'm leaning. I'm excited!  Now we just need to find the time to make this project happen!!