I get so excited to find a new shop online that features fun, unique products (not that I need any more incentive to shop online, but still, it’s exciting). Delight.com has a great curation of distinctive products that would make really special gifts for a friend’s birthday, or an inspired wedding shower gift or maybe just for me for no reason at all! Here are some of my favorite picks from their site:
I finally finished my upholstered headboard project this weekend (with only a few minor speedbumps along the way). At the last minute I changed my mind and switched from the grey ikea fabric to a velvety golden yellow color; I decided that since I haven’t yet fallen in love with a new bedspread that I would choose an upholstery fabric that would match with both my old and new color schemes.
I decided that using a big piece of plywood like I had originally planned was going to be too cumbersome with my 1. lack of car and 2. possible moving at the end of the summer… so I substituted the heavy wood idea with a frame made out of stretcher strips used for stretching canvases:
In another attempt to substitute, instead of using an expensive piece of decorators foam, I bought an egg crate foam pad from target and cut it to fit the frame, which I then attached with staples:
Then I laid out the fabric and stretched and stapled it just like assembling a canvas:
And after attaching some picture hangers to the back of the canvas and nailing it up to the wall, voila! my upholstered headboard is complete:
Now onto the next project… pillows?
I’m back from a posting hiatus! Spent a long weekend with my family in New York, and though I didn’t have much access blogging, I managed to take some cute pictures of my parent’s house to share.
In my old bedroom in my parents house, stacked vintage luggage doubles as a small table, perfect for some fresh flowers or to use as a nightstand:
I love the weathered look of old suitcases and have rounded up some other fun examples of how stacked luggage can double as a piece of furniture.
Kelly Rae Roberts House Tour via Decor8
Who wouldn’t love to have an extra Louis lying around? via La Dolce Vita
These mini-suitcase would be great on a dresser to store baubles! via hbgordan’s photostream
I love the colors in this stack. via Kotori
Words can not express how excited I was to find out that Thom Filicia, my favorite celeb-designer, is launching his own line of home goods! Besides wowing me on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Dress My Nest, Thom is also the author of Thom Filicia Style, one of my favorite design books.
He’s venturing into numerous home collections, from rugs to lighting to appliances, but I will especially be excited to see what he whips up for his furniture and fabric lines!
Perhaps my favorite Domino house tour was of Thom’s summer cottage; I love how he blends his classic style into the rustic setting, it just looks like the perfect place to kick up your feet and have a cocktail on warm summer evening. (Thom: If you’re reading this, I’d be delighted to clear my schedule and join you for a long weekend there!)
I was holding off on this post because I wanted to finish a little project I’ve been working on, but it seems that silhouettes are the rage and I don’t want to be behind the curve! Apartment Therapy posted DIY Silhouette instructions last month, and followed up last week with some more black and white inspiration. I’ve seen them popping up all over etsy; showing up on dinnerware, and nestled in gallery-style photo arrangements.
I originally started an embroidery project to create a silhouette pillow, but after seeing them framed for wall display, I may decide to stretch my finished product over a canvas, or use an emroidery hoop as a frame!
Here’s my (seemingly never ending) work in progress:
And some of my inspiration for the project:
Thomas Paul via Oprah
Eventful weekend;I was in New York celebrating my mom’s 50th birthday (she would die if she knew I was broadcasting that number across the Internet)… and what better a way to celebrate than with a trip to Ikea!
I was very restrained, and only purchased a small ribba frame for a drawing I want to hang in my kitchen, and some great fabric to hopefully be used for my upholstered headboard idea! The photos look totally different on the ikea website, it’s much lighter in real life:
Do you have a childhood moment that spurred your love for design?
I’m sure there were plenty of shopping trips to flea markets and hours in the fabric store with my mom as a child that helped build up my design-addiction. One moment that sticks out in particular though is from a visit to my grandmother’s farm house when I was little; she invited us in the living room to show my mom and aunts her new upholstery project: royal purple velvet slipcovers for her couch. As a child, the thought of owning a purple velvet couch was probably the most magical concept to ever enter my mind, I was in love.
As teenagers my sister vocalized her desire to have it written into my grandmothers will that she would be the recipient of the purple velvet furniture should anything ever happen to their rightful owner and I still regret not thinking to stake claim first! So this is a salute to the infamous purple couch, may it live as long as it’s free-spirited upholsterer!
The fabulous bloggers at We Love Domino have been doing a great job filling the post-domino void, and are now holding a “Domino Inspired My Home” contest to highlight reader’s homes that drew inspiration from the favorite mag. Since I actually ripped a picture out of the magazine last year and used it as my jumping point for my tiny apartment kitchen, I decided to submit an entry and share some pictures of my result.
This was my inspiration:
I was so overwhelmed with the space challenges when we first moved in. For starters: the counter space is no bigger than 2ft by 2ft, there were no closed cabinets, and my storage space was limited to 3 small drawers. Luckily, the tall ceilings afforded me some open shelving and I used that as a jumping point. The inspiration I took from the Domino kitchen was making use of the open shelves and essentially creating simple vignettes that displayed my cooking tools as part of the decor. I stuck to the stainless steel, white, and jadeite color scheme in the photo, because it allowed me rely on cheap classics from ikea and to make use of a lot of the stuff I already had! Check out the result below:
Over on the Keep Domino Alive site, bloggers have been recounting some of the great icons of style that the magazine used in many of the issues. Today, Beth of Style Redux posted about how antlers were brought from the ski house to the downtown loft on the pages of Domino.
I’ve always loved their rustic accent to a room, but there is something a bit jarring about a full animal skull looming over the room. Lately though I’ve been bookmarking some great faux-taxidermy mounts that I think could be fun alternatives, with different textures, colors and patterns; Check them out:
Vine Deer Head from Zgallerie
From Made by Girl
Antelope from Pieces Inc
From artist Rachel Denny
I love gallery style walls of art in homes. While I’ve faced little difficulty in growing my collection of art, displaying it in a meaningful composition can be a challenge, especially when that collection is constantly growing and evolving.
Wes and Kayla from ApartmentTherapy just posted a great “How-To” on hanging art in a group that can grow. I’m anxiously awaiting until my personal collection is as robust and well-curated as these displays below:
Image from MadebyGirl
Image from Domino
Image from GoGoAbigail
