ribbons + stone

Beautiful details + contrast from the Vera Wang Collection

sandbox studios

The like the light/bright/eclectic living room from the owners of Sandbox Studios. I dream of living in a space with big windows like that.

These images are from one of my favorite spots for interior design inspiration, Design*Sponge's sneak peeks. The website is full of beautiful homes from real people, not just set-up for a magazine shoot (though I'm sure they put special care into styling each picture).

carafes

Every bedside table needs a friend, and I am always thirsty at night.
Clockwise from top left:

[1] Recycled Transglass by Artecnica
[2] Cristal Carafe & Cup set by Marcel Wanders
[3] Recycled Night Set by ReForm School
[4] Self-cooling Carafe by Arian Brekveld
[5] Hand-blown Carafe by Simon Pearce
[6] Cora Carafe by CB2

handmade ties

I'm eyeing this handmade gingham tie by fieldguided, the stitched name on back is such a nice touch. A perfect valentine's day gift for your sweetheart.

[ via MartaWrites, and you can enter a tie giveaway too! ]

easychange wallpaper

These are a few of my favorite wallpapers that I gleaned from browsing the Sherwin Williams EasyChange books online (found via Oh Happy Day). It is a great idea for renters and we are going to use it to wallpaper our office. Now we just need to choose one...

devotchka

We saw Devotchka in concert last night. They were phenomal on stage and we loved the show. Concerts always seem to get me into an album even more. And the tuba lady? I love her too! It looks like they are heading west now, check their tour dates here.

[ images from their website ]

The opening act, Claire and the Reasons, was quite good too.

grazia casa

sparse + industrial

I like the organic arrangement of the plate wall.

[ photography by Matthew Hranek for Grazia Casa ]

library

I keep coming back to look at this wall of books.

[ Mark Schnabel for Hulsta furniture ]

refinishing a desk: part 1

Our search for a desk continued this weekend.

(1st) stop: the upper west side Housing Works Thrift Shop. Lucky for us, we found a desk! It was buried under piles of frames and dishes, but we could tell it was a gem.

The style was simple with straight legs and two drawers, the size was great, and the price was right at $75.

(2nd) stop: Google, How to refinish furniture?

(3rd) stop: our local hardware store to stock-up on supplies.

I took pictures of our progress yesterday (sorry, not the best quality):

We spent most of the day/night working our fingers to the bone with scraping, sanding, scraping, sanding. Originally we planned on painting it, but it turns out the wood is beautiful so we are going to stain it.

Our apartment is covered in dust but we're making progress. At one point Brad said, "This is all part of being married to an interior designer." What a good sport.

Part 2 coming soon, hopefully.

gingersnap-pear cheesecake

[ image 1 from real simple, image 2 from my kitchen ]

I had my first attempt of making a cheesecake this weekend, I really like the recipe, Gingersnap-Pear Cheesecake from Real Simple. Besides the springform pan having a leaking problem it worked out well.

bright + bold

Diane von Furstenberg Spring 2009 Collection

The middle-right dress is my favorite.

eye-catching colorful

Illustrations from Andrew Bannecker

no pants subway ride

If you're needing a laugh, head over to the lovely blog Color Me Katie to watch the "No Pants Subway Ride" video from ImprovEverywhere. It happened this past Saturday in NYC and the reactions are classic.

FYI, getting down to your skivvies is not illegal in NYC, just ask the Naked Cowboy.

the desk

Black Eiffel posted this image with the parsons desk (below) from Martha Stewart. Lovely. If we can get our office looking this sharp I will be pleased.

furniture hunting

This weekend I went to the Salvation Army, CB2, Muji, Crate & Barrel, The Container Store, West Elm, and several vintage shops in search of a replacement desk for our office. Our current desk from Ikea is small and awkward for working.

In my searching I have come to two conclusions:

1) there is a lot of ugly furniture in this world

2) a good desk is hard to find, unless you're willing to pay $1000+

I almost bought the west elm parsons desk , it is the right size and has a simple style. I'm so glad that I waited because I think I found the same one on Craigslist, in white. We are currently in email negotiations, I'm crossing my fingers!

uppercase

With only 5/6 weeks (!) left until her baby arrives, my sister Kellie, is in a serious nesting phase. Most of our gchat conversations revolve around cribs, what to hang on the walls, etc. While searching for inspiration we came across this great gallery wall image:

This is why I love the internet. One website can be a gold-mine for ideas. The flickr page for Uppercase (a gallery & papergoods store in Calgary, Canada) is full of amazing images. Including an entire set dedicated to 'Old School' workbooks:


Wouldn't these be great in a frame? or collaged? or enlarged + framed? So my sister was going to do some digging this weekend through old school folders looking for good pages to frame for the bebe's room. This is also the reason I sometimes regret that I'm very big into purging. You just never know when you might need an old spelling test!

UpperCase is currently my favorite site, and I am still browsing through their flickr sets.



You can find Uppercase here: [ website/store ], [ flickr ], [ blog ], [ etsy ]. Thank you internet! Happy browsing.

chocolate chip walnut

This cookie, is quite possibly the best cookie I have ever tasted. We had a box delivered to our office yesterday from the Levain Bakery and people swarmed. Copy-cat recipes can be found here.

address frames

I want to make a framed print with the address of each place we have lived since we have been married ( 3 for us ). It would be fun to have a keepsake of each spot. I really like this print from pennypeople on Etsy.

murals

My wheels are spinning with ideas for our bare apartment walls after seeing these large scale murals on Kamp Studios.

[ via DailyCandy ]

muted january

I've got my eye on you...

[ shirt ] [ skirt ] [ bag ]

the laundress

Laundry duty just got fancified with products from The Laundress. My favorite part: all products are sulfate free, phosphate free, dye free and 100% biodegradable. I have been using scent-free detergent but I miss that 'fresh' laundry smell. The Laundress scents come from essential oils, not artificial fragrances. No chemicals to ruin your clothes or upset allergies. I'm sold.

I would also like one of these sweater stones for pilling sweaters: