Decorating for the Long Haul

all photographs by João Canziani via Dwell


As I’ve embarked on my little living room "revamp" project and Operation Simplicity, I’ve been thinking a lot about this idea of decorating for the long haul…this notion of design longevity.

When I flip through the pages (which I do almost every single day) of Handcrafted Modern, I’m struck by the utter timelessness of images. Most of the spaces that Leslie Williamson documents haven’t been “touched” in years, many, in fact, are exact replicas of how the owners/designers inhabited the space in the 60s, and yet, I’d happily move into any one of them today without changing a thing.

I had this same sense when Nelya sent me the images above of the home of California architect Ray Kappe… He and his wife have lived in this home (that he designed) for over 40 years, and it is still completely and totally relevant…beyond relevant even.

So while I’m busy switching up pillows, I’m careful not to let myself be seduced by what’s merely "of the moment" or (just as important) turned-off by something just because it feels a bit "overplayed" in the design blog-world (Jenny wrote a great post about that topic). I’m trying to follow my gut and my heart, to create a space that is a true (and somewhat timeless) reflection of our family.

Oh and I want cool pillows too. Just sayin.

Evolving A Room...

images via house beautiful...

I'm itching to change-up things in my house a bit...nothing too drastic, just some tweaks here and there, moving stuff around, editing the rooms a smidge. But I am thinking of doing a few more dramatic things in the living room, as I'm feeling like all the neutral (i.e. safe) earthiness going on in there could use a little amping up.

It makes me a bit nervous, but this is my first attempt at "embracing fear" in 2011, so I'm going with it.

I'm using Roman Alonso's house as my inspiration. I posted his sunroom a while back in a "loving" list and have since been sort of obsessed with the space. I like that it's earthy and natural but with a slunkier, groovier vibe.

I've already pulled the trigger on a rug, (which seemed key to the whole enterprise) and laid it over the existing sisal in the room. I also got a big fiddleaf fig and a groovy pot that I'm loving in the space (both visible in weekend scenes). Now I'm thinking I need to switch out my grey and yellow anthro pillows on the couch with some sort of cobalt blue ones (maybe velvet) and am on the hunt for a big chrome swing lamp and something, well...hot pink.

Hot pink = totally embracing fear.

We'll see how it all goes ;-)

I'm heading out to Salt Lake City in just a bit for Alt, so I'm signing off for the rest of the week, but I'll be back on Monday.

Have a splendid rest of your week friends!

And Now for A Short Pause in Our Regular Programming...

image via coco and kelley

to let you guys know that I'm selling a rather fetching little white shelf exactly like the one in the lovely Cassandra's living room above.

It's been in Millie's room holding her books and puzzles and whatnot for the past year, but due to the "great room switch 2010", sadly we no longer have a place for it.

So...if you are in the Dallas area and are interested in buying said shelf, drop me a line. It's in perfect condition.

*Update -- The shelf was snapped up by lovely reader Katie. Thanks everyone for the interest!

The Magic Place

all (incredibly lovely) big sur images via arrow and arrow

I’m all caught up in Big Sur lately.

It’s definitely my magic place…the spot I love above all others... the place that somehow represents my happiest moments in life (despite the fact that they didn’t all actually occur there).

Growing up in Northern California, we made pretty regular pilgrimages to this glorious stretch of the state. I think it is by far one of the most beautiful places (perhaps the most beautiful) I’ve ever been. Eager to share this magic with my love, I convinced Bryan that this is where we should spend our honeymoon, which enabled me to experience the most special place in my otherwise highly nomadic childhood with the person most dear to me.

That trip was 10 (!) years ago next week, and I haven’t been back to that particular spot in California since. I’m itching for a visit. Bad. I’m dying to take the girlies to my magic place…to get them hooked on its mojo, to somehow make it just as magical for them too.

So...do you have a magic place?

Moodboards, Teepees and House Whisperers...

A little fun decor news -- A neighbor (who I also happen to be really fond of) has enlisted me to help her revamp her living room. Above is the moodboard I've been working on for the space. So excited about this project...


In other news on the "decor" front, there is a teepee in my living room...

Granted technically it's not my teepee; it's Audrey's (no I didn't ask Bryan's parents to buy her a teepee for her birthday because I wanted one... I would never do that).

And technically it's not staying in the living room, it will eventually reside in Audrey's bedroom permanently.

I'm just borrowing it for a little while.

And Speaking of Audrey's room, we're about to do a little switcharoo... Millie won't step foot in her own room because it's lacking in the pink department, so we're giving her Audrey's room (which is pretty much a pink extravaganza). Audrey will move into Millie's room where the teepee will join her and the walls will go from that lovely periwinkle to a slightly less lovely "lounge green" at her insistence. I figure if she's willingly giving up her (larger) bedroom, green walls are the least I can do. Before and after photos will ensue.

As a side note, while we're painting I'm throwing in one more tiny project and having the guest bathroom walls coated in "peppercorn" -- a completely awesome sooty charcoal grey. Much more excited about this move than I am about the "lounge green"...just sayin.

image via roe

And finally, I am obsessed with the idea of a "house whisperer" after reading this lovely post, especially this line:

"She pours through a house like a magic wand leaving it just a bit dreamier than you remember..."

I want a house whisperer -- someone to (gently) coax the place into submission... A vase of fresh flowers here, a case of San Pellegrino there, distracting me while they stealthily ditch all those mismatched plastic to-go cups secretly squatting in the second drawer on the right in the kitchen island.

The plastic cups are totally hypothetical of course.

Thinking Back...

All photos above taken by Abby via her genius blog Abby Try Again...


Nostalgia is a funny thing.

For me at least, it never strikes when I expect it to. I’m rarely overcome with memories on milestone birthdays, my high school reunion didn’t faze me, heck, I wasn’t even mildly shaken by the fact that I now have a daughter who is seven-years-old.

No it’s always something small and seemingly innocuous that brings on a wave of nostalgia (and longing and what-ifs) so strong I find myself walking around unmoored for a few days.

In this case, it was Abby’s lovely and poignant photographs of the Clarksville neighborhood in Austin -- specifically the ones above of Nau’s and Fresh Plus. This was my neighborhood when I lived in Austin a little over a decade ago; I had just met Bryan, and a typical day might have involved leisurely ambling over to Nau’s for grilled cheese sandwiches, hitting a garage sale, and puttering around at Sled’s Nursery (maybe toting home a small plant if I was feeling especially flush). I was just finishing college and working as a grocery checker at Fresh Plus, entering pound after pound of coffee beans and endless tubs of homemade hummus into the register by hand (no scanners natch) and wondering if I would ever have enough money to actually buy the groceries they sold there.

And while I had no idea what my future life would look like, I thought (for sure) it would somehow always be conducted there…in Austin, wrapped up in those same places (and I somehow knew I’d be with Bryan… that was always the constant). Instead we ended up in a city I never thought I’d live in (but have grown to love deeply for wholly unexpected reasons), working in jobs we never thought we’d have (but appreciate and enjoy immensely, again for surprising reasons), with these two amazing daughters that I couldn’t have even fathomed in my wildest dreams. Our life is altogether different than I thought it would be. Better but different.

Despite the fact that Bryan, the girlies and I were in Austin just a few months ago visiting all our old haunts, there was something about Abby’s photos that transported me to that time and place in a way that made me catch my breath… Maybe it was the description of her discovery of the neighborhood, the feeling that her love affair with this city that is so special and beloved to me is just beginning while mine is decidedly in the past.

Or maybe it was (tamped down into my subconscious… is this getting too “therapy-speak” for you?) Audrey turning seven and my upcoming milestone wedding anniversary (Bryan and I have been married for 10 years next month) that had the nostalgia bubbling just below the surface… Maybe Abby’s photos were just the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back and pushed me squarely into nostalgia-land.

Either way I’m here, reveling in it and a bit surprise by the melancholy of it all…

A Few Random Bits... (On A Monday)

I don't have any scenes from the week-end, as I didn't think you guys would want to see photos of me running a million banal errands and packing for Germany (I'm there now), so instead I have a few bits to kick-off the week.

First up, the lovely Sam posted a home tour of my house over on style/SWOON... There are loads of little detail shots if you want to take a peek.

Next up... Elizabeth Abernathy's v. cool new online craft magazine, Nuno... so many gorgeous nature inspired projects. I'm especially digging the fantastic felt and stone jewelery.

And finally, my friend Christy gave me a little sample bottle of Hermès Jardin en Méditerranée, and I'm totally smitten. I've worn the same scent forever (Yuzu Rogue by 06130), so I'm excited to break out a little...this is definitely going on my wish list.

Ok that's all! Have a great Monday friends.

In Praise of Folding Towels...

A couple of years ago our home was on a local house tour, necessitating a slew of little (and not so little) house projects…

While overall it was a positive experience (we met lots of amazing people in our community + the tour raised money for our neighborhood high school’s scholarship fund), I’m not going to lie; it was stressful. There were some tears; there was bickering and even an injury. (I’m not sure that I ever wrote about it here, as at that time the blog was my “safe place” from all the household chaos, but in the process of one of the projects -- replacing the corian top on our little kitchen island with a giant butcher block -- Bryan ruptured a disc in his back and nearly severed a nerve, resulting in surgery and a long recovery period just a few weeks before the tour.)

So yes, it was pretty stressful…

There was also the sense, with all those projects and that giant to-do list looming, that we were in a perpetual state of “college”… You know that feeling that no matter how caught up you are on reading or studying there’s always more do to? Week-ends became non-existent, down-time a thing of the past. And truth be told, this state really wasn’t so far from how we had begun operating normally. I’d fallen headlong into that trap of the need for constant improvement.

So once we were past the tour, I decided we had to stop the madness. No more painting, no more decorating and buying and improving. We needed an indefinite pause… We (or more realistically I) needed to be ok with things as they were, and my family (or more realistically Bryan) needed an extended summer vacation (to continue the school analogy.) No projects in the queue, no improvements on the horizon, just “maintenance-mode.”

Since then we’ve enjoyed just “living” in our house…big projects these days involve folding several loads of towels (it's highly rewarding), buying new throw pillows for Millie's bed, watering the tomato plants or running the vacuum over the rugs. It’s nice.

And when we’re (I’m) in this mode (which isn’t often), and not unlike my response to the spending hiatus, I tend to focus on making the small things better… say lining the kitchen drawers with cork or moving a few pieces of art around. When we’re in this mode, I’m also thinking harder about how I want our house to “feel” (I love the way designers Roman and Williams think about home in this video), the vibe I want it to exude (mellow, cozy), how I want it to smell (right now it’s a combination of hippie incense and a Diptyque Baies candle) and the music we play (Avi Buffalo is on heavy rotation.)

When I'm in this mode, I also think a lot harder about the things I might buy for the house. I tend to stock up on basics -- in January it was new white towels (as we hadn’t replaced ours for 10(!) years) and just a few weeks ago I got a bunch of new perfectly, fantastically thin Marta glasses. I also keep a dream list, so that when we do have the opportunity to make an investment in our home, I have ideas at the ready, from the big wishes (an Allison V. Smith photograph of Marfa, Cherner barstools, that lamp from the St. Cecilia) to the more attainable ones (a tee pee for the girlies, more of Jonathan Cross’ pottery.)

I’m not sure how long all of this will last, as I tend to get itchy for a little unruliness (or at least for new paint and the chance to wallpaper another room), but for now I’m rolling with it.

Loving...

This jumpsuit -- If I were someone that could pull-off a jumpsuit (and let me assure you, I am not), I can say with 100% certainty that I would be saving all my pennies for this number. It's beautiful...a beautiful jumpsuit friends. I really never thought I'd write the words "beautiful" + "jumpsuit" in the same sentence. I'm just sayin.

Katie Todd's really lovely paintings...

The fantastic vignettes in this d*s sneak peek. Little spots of perfection in every corner, no? (+ more loveliness from ingalls photography -- owners of the house in the sneak peek...)

Patka's metallic clutch goodness...

The mugs that just might break me of my inability to buy anything but white dishes. I want to drink my coffee out of one of these beauties every. single. morning... Truth be told it's kind of throwing me off a bit (I'm awfully loyal to white dishes.)

DwellStudio's insanely gorgeous new collection... It's been oft-blogged, but for good reason, no? It's just freakin amazing.

The serious cuteness of Roxy Marj's illustrations (totally smitten with her blog too...)

Jill Bent's pillows (love her simple, sparse aesthethic...perfection.)

Just A Few Random Bits...

image via garance dore


And these are indeed random, so you'll have to hang with me here friends ;-)

First up, jeans. Or more specifically the fact that I've recently taken to lopping off the bottom of my jeans with dull scissors.

It all started with a brand new pair of jeans and a bad hem job. In an act of sheer desperation, I tried to "repair" said jeans and have since been walking around town donning skinny jeans that look as if a crazy lady lopped off the bottom of them with dull scissors (which is, as noted above, exactly the case.)

Then I read/saw this and felt better.

So there's that.


Then there's this NYT article... It's been oft-blogged, so I know you've probably already seen it, but I had to mention it too, specifically because of this passage:

"Ms. Brechbuehler, who is Swiss, added: “In Switzerland, if you buy a pair of shoes, you’ll have them for 10 years. They have a different attitude toward consuming, and I think Robert and his family do, too.”

Which pretty much sums up (at least for me) an ideal mindset about consumption...


image via we are all homeless

And finally, there's this v. cool video shot by my friend Ben of a demonstration held here in Dallas to raise awareness about homelessness. The video is fantastic, and the group is especially fantastic. Take a peek.

image via wide open spaces

And speaking of homelessness, I've had Emily's genius idea bookmarked forever. I'm not sure why I haven't done this yet. It's officially moving to the tippy top of my to-do list...

Home as Vacation...

photo via the lovely jeana sohn

I recently read this on artist Jeana Sohn's blog and haven't been able to get it out of my head:

"being home is our vacation."

I'm completely intrigued by this notion, as it's not exactly espousing (I think) a "vacation at home" or a "staycation", but (again my interpretation) more about a feeling that one's home puts off -- a sense of mellow, calm, a place to refresh, recharge, be inspired.

That is, after all, what a vacation is for right...to be refreshed, regarched, inspired?

This is not so much the vibe my home is putting off of late. Don't get me wrong, I love our home...I do, but it doesn't feel like a vacation. Rather it feels (especially lately, and maybe it's because we're in the thick of getting ready to go on vacation) harried and busy and sometimes even chaotic...yikes.

So one of my goals (while I'm on our actual vacation) is to think of ways to make that vacation feel carry over into our home all the time. Maybe it's a matter of turning off the TV (completely) for a month, eating outside as much as possible, throwing open all the windows, burning incense... Or maybe it's a state of mind. I'm not sure, but I'm going to work on it.

Any ideas?? ;-)

And while we're on the topic of home...this is my current dream house. (actor Vincent D'Onofrio NYC townhouse via Remodelista.) Sigh.

Just A Few Random Bits...

How lovely is Anthro's latest home catalog...all those rugs and that crazy gorgeous settee. Oh my.

I'm a tad obsessed with this desert wedding (via a desert fete)...so sparse and beautiful.

Side note: when I was ten-years old, my family moved across the country from the deep south to California, and during the trip, we spent the night outside of Joshua Tree. I've never been able to shake that landscape.

Magical.

Don't forget you have until midnight tonight for a chance to win that fantastic Virginia Johnson scarf (that I still want for myself...in case you're wondering.)

Ok, that's all!

Just A Few Random Bits...

All sorts of good stuff happening today: it's 67 degrees and blissfully sunny, and I scored some awesome flowering branches on the super cheap at the grocery store.

(Yes we do still have the ubiquitous "keep calm" poster in our den, but given the amount of sheer chaos that occurs in that room it seems fitting...)

I can't wait to see Boolean Valley (a collaboration between potter Adam Silverman and architect Nader Tehrani) at the Nasher later this month. The installation "explores the intersection between architectural precision and handmade craft."

Pam Voth and Tim Barrall's entire house from the latest issue of Lonny makes me immensely happy, but I have dreams about that sunroom...

p.s. don't forget to tell me your "6 random things" by midnight for a chance to win that little oh joy notebook!