Picking Colours

Do you find picking paint a little daunting? Or downright scary?? Or do you thrill at the sign of the Benjamin Moore fandeck or the Farrow & Ball brochure and think of all the possibilities therein?

{ fan decks fanned out }

It's amazing how we are given a teeny tiny paint chip as a sample of colour & how differently it reads once on the wall. And how varied the EXACT SAME COLOUR looks in different lights & on different planes.

My friend, Kelly, is building her home very near mine. I met Kelly at the school playground. She was warm, friendly, sweet & gentle; I liked her right away. (In spite of the fact that she has 100x the patience I do & legs that just don't quit which would normally be two perfectly good reasons to dislike her ~ hee hee just kiddin' Kelly!!)

Kelly has asked for a little help with picking paint colours for her new home. And I agreed. She has a great sense of what she wants in feel & colour for her home but as is the case with most of us, just needs a little nudge in the right direction. Let's hope I can be that nudge... I'll be posting more here as we proceed on this project.

In search of the perfect dining table...

I have been trying to find the perfect dining table. Long enough to accommodate our boisterous extended family & friends, but adjustable so it doesn't feel like you are at the other end of a tunnel shouting to 'pass the salt' when it's just us.

Here are some inspirations:

{ from La Leche in Puerto Vallarta }

I love how this is white on white on white & more white. My sister Leah discovered this restaurant while vacationing in Mexico. Guests & food would add enough colour, no?

Would you be brave enough to use this turquoise table from Dos Gallos??

{ 19th Century table; single plank top }

or maybe two benches like this (but finished in a rustic brown) along either side of the table:

with a soft flax coloured seat cushion & throw pillows for the back covered in this Madeline Weinrib fabric:

{ Suzani Collection; Colour: Sunder Blue }

And two of these chairs from Restoration Hardware at either end in the same flax colour as the bench seat cushion:

{ Belfort Wingback Dining Chair }

Or what about a clean-lined table like this one from Moe's (but in a brown stain that tends to the black vs. red)

Perhaps paired with some fabulous chairs from Casamidy:

in a fabric like this Ikat from Madeline Weinrib:

{ Luce; Celery }

It also comes in brown for a more subtle look...or go a little cuckoo-bird with this one:

{ Thomas Paul fabric }

it also comes in black if you were feeling nervous about the brightness of the first colour.

Ok, I'm inspired to tackle my own dining room... "before" pictures coming & "after" pictures soon; promise!

Paulina's Very Merry Unbirthday Party

Paulina's birthday party was last weekend & we had SUCH fun. Here are the invitations I made up (with lots of help from Miss P):

{ invitations created using scraps of pink paper & lots of ribbon }

I copied bits & pieces of the wording from the story & from websites I checked out. I scanned in the image of the White Rabbit from my old colouring book from when I was a little girl:

{one of the few items from my childhood which survived!! }

We attached tea bags to the invites so each guest could make themselves a cup in anticipation of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party to come:

{ making tea in Great Aunt Pauline's teacups }

{ something is brewing... }

My sister, Leah, & our fabulous nanny, Arlyn, helped me with the preparations. The party was held in our unfinished basement where the bar will be (one day....). And Paulina & Sebastian were great assistants as well.

{ Leah making cupcakes with Sweet P }

{ testing to make sure icing is not poisonous }

{ me & Sebsy prepping }

{ Leensie & Mama getting ready }

Soon we were ready for the arrival of our guests who were greeted with:

{ our welcome sign }

We are ready for our guests....

{ table settings }

{ take a bite }

{ eat me }

{ tea with the white rabbit }

And the guests arrive!!!

What a frabjous day! What uncommon nonsense was had by all!!!

Study Day

I have a few assignments to finish up before I complete my interior design course. I've been working on other projects (our house, other people's houses, eating & drinking too much at Easter, etc.) & just haven't 'gotten to' my school work. So today's the day...

And while I take my lunch break of Italian Wedding Soup

{mmmmmm}

here are some lovely school-y type images to keep me motivated:

I'm a sucker for vintage so this desk from Factory 20 had me at 'hello':

{ vintage atelier child's school desk }

And vintage books that have been well-loved? Yup, sucker for those too:

{ don't these just BEG to be read?? }

And to encourage good list-making & note-taking you can't be without your trusty notebook like this one from Mead available at Amazon:

plus a Sharpie for perfect penmanship:

Apparently these new ones don't bleed through your paper - hip hip hooooray!

Now, back to my assignments...

Going Under

& not going "Down Under" to Australia unfortunately...

{ Cable Beach, Broome, Western Australia }

Don't you think could run forever on this beach & get tired before you ran out of sand & surf ??Kind of a tropical Long Beach? And the retro station wagon? Love love LOOOOOVE it. But I digress...

Soooo ~ both my kids are in a private clinic this morning getting their teeth fixed up. Long story short they inherited their parents' weak enamel & it would take an interminable series of hour-long visits to get the work they need done, done. In light of the dental techniques & equipment of old:

...I think the current scenario is pretty sweet. They are getting their teeth taken care of in a sterile room with fuzzy ducky blankets to cozy into (Paulina) & cool high-tech equipment to check out (Sebastian).

So, to keep my mind off the fact that my kids are being put to sleep chemically & having are surgery (yikes!) I am blogging. Blogging about going under...

This bed from Anthropologie seems like somewhere you could have sweet dreams:

{ Dawning Lark Bed }

And this is something I would dream of if I could pick & choose:

{ De Beers Enchanted Lotus band }

And of course, because this is a design related blog in my dreams I'd be able to pick the brains of this trifecta:

Kelly Wearstler

She kind of scares me because I'm not sure how friendly she'd be. She looks perfectly perfect. Which I am so not. Not even kind-of perfect. But her talent is hard to dispute. Evidence here:

{ Viceroy Hotel, Anguilla }

and here:

{ Hillcrest Estate, foyer }

Billy Baldwin

I love his quips & quotes found here. I like a lot of the things he liked (books, the iconic slipper chair, rattan, pattern on pattern) & dislike most of the things he is averse to (fake flowers, fake books, (although I don't mind leggy furniture), fake fireplaces, satin, clutter). I think you could have a really good chat with Billy Baldwin, probably over a cocktail of sorts. One of my favourite quotes about design is his: "Be faithful to your own taste because nothing you really like is ever out of style". I like the fact that his rooms stand the test of time.

{ La Fiorentina }

{ Billy Baldwin Design }

And Billy Baldwin Decorates is as useful today as it was when it was first published.

Erika Powell

True confessions: I stalked Erika's blog & design website when we were building our house on Sunnycrest. Her design work is approachable but is always something that you wouldn't arrive at without her insight. Case in point her recent work featured in Coastal Living & Southern Living:

and here's another of her creations that I drooled over while I was in construction mode:

And [small, small world] she is actually a dear friend of my sister, Leah's, best friend, Katie. Any friend of Katie's must be pretty fabulous.

So now, wake up, stop dreaming.... I have 2 post-surgery kids who are convalescing. Must run...

Tea Party

We took the children to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Visually it was everything you could ask for: fantastical, fabulous, far over-the-top. The story-line was OK but the eye candy made up for whatever was lacking in spades (or should I say hearts??!!).

Ever since I was first read the story by my parents, I was fascinated by Alice & her Wonderland world. And tea... well, I've loved tea ever since I can remember.

{ Arthur Rackham's illustration }

Since the weekend I have been obsessing over garden tea parties. Paulina suggested that we have a Wonderland tea party for her birthday which made my heart leap. Let's hope she doesn't change her mind between now & mid-April or mummy will have to have a little temper tantrum of her own.

Couldn't you just imagine a bunch of little Alice-look-alikes gathered around a table like this one enjoying tea with some funky mini Mad Hatters? I could.

{ photo from Martha Stewart }

{ stack of Martha's teacups just waiting for a cup of lovely brew }

{ sugar cubes from The Secret Garden Tea Co. }

Could tea with sugar cubes like the ones above inspire a chandelier like this? Methinks so:

{ 1950s light fixture can be purchased from Gilt & Gloss }

Would a lovely old teapot like the one above inspire you to wallpaper with this:

{ wallpaper from Anthropologie }

Perhaps. And how about this photo:

I love the silver teapot redolent of another age, the Asian-inspired blue cups with double saucers & the rustic, well-used tray. I love the beat up trunk used as a coffee table. I love that there is a fancy-pants couch with a rolled arm nearby with an up-cycled sweater pillow on it. You could lounge back & read in that couch with the pillow behind your back. You could lounge with teacup in hand, and still have room for a friend at the other end. It looks like it might be a scary couch but really it's quite friendly. Friendly enough for tea. I like that.