Friday Photo Finish

Ready to escape to a weekend filled with cooking, friends, and football. 

image by me

Before & After

Ever have one of those days where you are just so fed up with life or work that you just want to sit down in the middle of the sidewalk and give up?  Just throw your hands up and quit life?  Sometimes I just get tired of fighting life or caring about anything, and I’m beyond the point where even running away to sell lemonade on a beach in Mexico sounds like an escape.  It’s definitely been one of those weeks.
  
But then you persevere.  You keep putting one foot in front of the other.  You get on the train and eventually it arrives at your stop.  You get off the train, and because there is a rainstorm coming, the air is heavy with the scent of early Spring blossoms.  So you keep moving forward, smelling the trees and the flowers and the freshly cut grass in the park.
 
You get home, get on the computer, and see a stunning “Before & After” room makeover on Design Sponge like the one below. 
The first thing that catches your eye is the most amazingly detailed ceiling medallion in a creamy white against that deep, dark ceiling.  Simply stunning.  Then you start to notice the other details in the room like the gold candleholders on the wall, the polish of the rich mahogany floor, the luxurious floor to ceiling drapes, and the mix of the modern dining table and upholstered chairs with the antique chairs and table all paired with a simple sisal rug.  And just like that your day is transformed from the “before” to the “after”. :)       

Go here to see the “Before” photo.  You will be amazed at the difference.

Sweet Valentines

I can’t believe Valentines Day is just a week from Sunday!  Where did January go?  Apparently I’ve been too busy at work to notice it creeping up on me.  I haven’t even so much as put glue to paper this year to make my Valentines cards, and I’m not sure that I will have time between now and then either with our big Super Bowl Party coming up this Sunday.
   
Fortunately these super adorable cards from The Black Apple are still available at her Etsy shop, and ready to ship for those of you who like me are unprepared.  It’s like she read my mind.  I was just out a few weeks ago looking for cards just like the ones that kids hand out at school, but for adults.  Lo and behold, here they are, the “Anytime Valentines”. 

Apartment Update

It’s been four months now since we moved from our tiny studio apartment into our much larger apartment in San Francisco, so I thought I’d update you on some of the recent purchases we’ve made on the long road to making this place our home.    
Since we have no carpeting anywhere in our apartment, we really needed to get some rugs to help absorb some of the echo of our voices and footfalls in order to keep the peace with our neighbors downstairs and up, especially since Pete and his business partner often take late night conference calls with their team in Pakistan.  Plus we’re planning a big Super Bowl Party this weekend and a nice padded rug can serve as extra seating if necessary. 
So here are the ones that we’ve chosen, so far.

The Henley Rug in Taupe from Pottery Barn for our living room.  I’m hoping the color will be close to that shown in the photo as the room is in the middle of the apartment and doesn’t get much natural light, so I want the rug to help add a little warmth and lightness to the room.  I almost went for this brightly patterned rug from Crate & Barrel, but decided that a neutral rug that I can dress up with patterned pillows and other accessories would be best for now.
For the dining room, I chose the Andalusia Rug from West Elm to go under the table.   

What really sealed the deal for me on this one besides how much I love the pattern, was this image above with the pale blue-gray sofa which is the same color as our walls.  It can be difficult to parse yellows online as they can seem much brighter than in reality.
For the hallway that runs between the front door and the kitchen, I picked up the Sigrid Runner below from Ikea while Pete and I were there to pick up some folding chairs for our party this weekend.  It was split-second decision to grab it, as Pete was waiting for me by the registers, but I’m really happy with it, so far. 

So now we just need rugs for both sides of our bed, the spare room, and one for the office.  It’s not that I don’t love the wood floors, but with our high ceilings, the smallest sounds can be so loud.  Also the floors are really chilly to walk around on in your bare feet especially in San Francisco where it’s going to be months before the warm weather returns.  

One last item, we’ve decided on for the living room besides the rug, is this Olivia Sofette also from Pottery Barn.
  
I’ve been looking for months for a suitable seating solution for our small living room.  We already have a large sofa and a small chair in there, but definitely needed to add either a small loveseat or a couple of additional chairs to go along the wall, so we can seat more people.  This image below from Skona Hem via Decor8 helped me finally settle on the Olivia.  I fell in love with the antique loveseat, and combined with the modern sofa, it looks so cute and refreshing. 

The Olivia fits in perfectly with the Victorian style of our apartment, while also fitting into the limited space we have for it and filling our need for additional seating.  We can just add a throw blanket and some pillows covered in some modern fabric to help tie it in with the existing sofa.  
I’ll be sure to show photos of our apartment once everything has arrived.     

Cynthia Vardhan

Cynthia Vardhan creates the most beautiful and intricately decorated pottery using the slip application of pigmented clay onto vases, bowls, and other ceramics.






Available for purchase from her Etsy shop.

Friday Photo Finish

I had just 10 minutes to grab some early morning photos of Lancaster before hopping back in the car and heading to the airport to come home.  The rest of the time I was there, I was working indoors from morning until after dark unfortunately, so these were the best I could do. 
Happy Friday!





images by me

Sweet Lettering

I keep coming back to these sweet letters designed by Jeanie of Jeanie and Jewell ever since I saw them on Black Eiffel.  I just never seem to get tired of beautiful typography. 




Also check out the website for her line of custom stationery and announcements, called The Paper Nut.  Jane and Poppy are my absolute favorites.  Such exquisite detail to her work. 

Orange Slice

Orange Slice makes beautiful jewelry is made from a high-quality, non-toxic, hardwood laminate that is made in studio from sustainably harvested trees.  I saw their work up close at the most recent Renegade Craft Fair in December, and they really are impressive. 




The pieces are available for sale on their Etsy shop.

Valentine’s Garland

Isn’t this a great way to get more mileage out of your Christmas lights (because you know you haven’t taken them down yet anyway)?  From Christmas lights to Valentine’s Garland.  How simple and perfect. 


images by {elena} via Mary Ruffle Tumblr

Bright Stripes

I spent Sunday sitting in our sunny yellow kitchen while the rain poured and the wind howled outside the windows.  It’s such a bright happy room to be in, but it could use some curtains to give us a little more privacy at night. 
However I’ve always had a love hate relationship with curtains.  I like the privacy they offer at night, but I hate that they would block even just a little bit of of the window, and thus natural light, that comes in during the day. 
This image below got me thinking that it might be fun to add some bright stripes to the mix of yellow walls and white cabinets, and the bright fabric could make up for the small amount of window that get covered up.  Hmmm….

image by Magnus Selander via Desire to Inspire

And I'm back!

Sorry for the absence last week, but I was working some very long days at my day job to try to catch up after traveling the week before.  Turns out that no matter how much I love writing this blog, when I'm tired, it's impossible for me to post anything.  For some reason, when I'm tired I tend to think nothing is good enough to post, and thus end up searching desperately for something I find worthy to post, which means I ultimately post nothing. :)  Also pulling the photos and writing sentences after working a 12 hour day at my day job just seems like an insurmountable amount of work to do, and so I opt to veg out instead.    

Anyway, I've gotten a jump start on this week's posts so hopefully I'll be able to produce a full week of posts for you.  You've all been so nice with your compliments of my little blog.  I hope you've had a wonderful weekend because you certainly make my days!   

Nina Invorm

It started raining yesterday, and it’s been predicted to last all week, so I’m going to need a little happiness and brightness to keep my spirits up this week.  These ceramic pieces by Nina van der Goor, aka Ninainvorm, should help start off the week nicely.  Her work has been featured in publications such as O, The Oprah Magazine to decor8. 




This one would make a great gift for Valentines Day. 
All items available for sale from her Etsy shop.

Stripe it up

Loving the idea of a striped dining table… but maybe in navy stripes instead of pink… or silver… or aqua…hmmm.  Well at least I know that I’d keep the natural wood top to do it on. :)  Such a fun way to jazz up your dining table.  A chevron pattern would look great too. 

image via David Cleveland

Be Still My Heart

I know that it’s not always cool to care about Valentines Day, and that some people just think of it as a “Hallmark Holiday”, and that when you’re single it can be the most painful day of the year, but I can’t help but love it.  Even when I was single, I loved Valentine’s Day all the way up until the actual day, of course. ;)
These treats from Williams-Sonoma really make me happy.  I haven’t tried any of them yet, so I can’t vouch for their taste, but aren’t they just the sweetest (no pun intended)?

Message Heart Cookies


Sweetie Pies


X&O S’mores

And the most beautiful of all are these…

Heart Macarons!!!

Quilted Art

So how was your Monday?  I spent my day traveling from San Francisco to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for work.  The internet at the hotel is a bit slow, but I’m going to try to keep up my posts this week while I’m here (there?). 

In honor of being in Amish country, I’d like to share with you these beautiful handmade pieces by Laura Amiss.

Lost

Our Umbrella

She Wore a Yellow Dress

Running with Balloons