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My other half is trying out more of his macro photography technique (not exactly sure what that is, but I like the end result – especially because it gives me an excuse to splurge on flowers!) Here’s the latest subject: multicolored parrot tulips. I think these photos are pretty good. In fact, I’m thinking of printing them onto a roller blind for our bathroom, but I’m not sure if he can handle this much flower every day!
When artist Neece Clark commented on this post about wallpaper alternatives (I mentioned her lovely murals), she sent in a link to her latest paintings. I’m glad she did because they’re absolutely stunning.
This one is entitled ‘stars’.
This is ‘hot pink peonies on honey’.
The descriptions of the paintings are almost as tempting as the works themselves. Here’s how this one is described on the site:
“These three panels carry a sensual field of hot pink peonies with deep gold and saffron centers. Petals layered with translucent magenta and fuschia washes drift over a metallic background resembling honey-colored raw silk; like a silk persian carpet the metallic background changes ever so slightly with movement and light.”
I want, I want! Check out more of Neece’s collection and her shop here.
I absolutely love Ranunculuses. So I’m delighted that it’s Ranunculus season again. We planted some more in our garden and, to my surprise, some of last year’s have also re-appeared. I tried taking a few pictures of them. Then it occurred to me that if I really want beautiful photos of these flowers, there are people far more capable of capturing them in pixels than I am. So off to Flickr I scurried and look at what I found. Fabulous stuff.
These are from our garden.
Need to get more photography practice. Unlike the talented people who took these fabulous photos.
By photographer, Diana Brennan. Her photos are simply stunning. She has a blog here, which I have just subscribed to.
Then I found Jane Flanagan’s photostream. Jane is a writer (she blogs here), but she may as well be a photographer and stylist. These are great.
This is from Queenieinmanhattan‘s photostream (entitled ‘staycation’ which I thought quite apt since that’s what we’ve just had).
And finally, for those who can’t get enough Ranunculus, this field of flowers is from this photostream. The photo was taken in Carlsbad where there are fields of flowers, grown for commercial use. It’s kind of sad that they will all be cut down and sent to people’s homes and stores. But, at least they’re being grown domestically and it does make for an amazing sight.
Perhaps it’s because of the hot weather, but I’ve been thinking about beach houses (well, the beach in general actually). I’ve been wanting to do some posts about amazing movie interiors, so what better place to start than the most stunning beach house of all: the one in Something’s Gotta Give.
Something’s Gotta Give, with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, has been one of the most talked-about movies from an interior design perspective ever. Keaton’s city home was pretty special, but her beach house was just amazing. Some argue that it set the bar for Hamptons style. There are literally dozens of blog posts about the house, but one of the most helpful I found was on interior design blog, Surroundings.
To remind you, here’s what the house looked like (via Surroundings).
How to get the look
To me, this look is more about the colors and architectural details than about the individual furnishings. For example, a major defining characteristic is contrast of light and dark, with the all-white walls, moldings and cabinetry against the dark wood floors, tables, chairs and kitchen countertops. This is a look that works in pretty much any home, but is particularly effective here because of all the interesting architectural details.
Although some additional color is introduced in the drapes, rugs and sofas, it’s still all very muted – the designers have layered pale coastal-inspired blues and sandy yellows.
But what makes this house feel so personal is the use of texture. The drapes are all linen, the rug a beachy woven stripe, the furnishings a mix of cotton slipcover, wicker and polished wood. If you look carefully, you see that the book shelves are even backed in bead and board.
Then there’s the use of art, books and careful lighting – all of which make the house seem really cozy. Quite a feat really, considering it’s actually a movie set. Apparently, the set designers even sprayed sunscreen around just before anyone walked on set – to evoke that real-life beachy feel!
More tips here from Surroundings and also the Set Decorators Society of America. For those based in San Francisco, the SF Examiner had a few tips on bringing the Hamptons to the Bay Area.
More inspiration
If you’re looking for more beach house inspiration, try these tempting pics:
Marjie’s coastal cottage, via Apartment Therapy.
From Apartment Therapy’s ‘modern lake houses’ post.
This Portland beach house is from Design*Sponge.
And this house is in Sydney, Australia (via Desire to Inspire).
This photo is by Catherine Gratwicke and is via Desire to Inspire.
These next two are from LivingEtc.
These last two are from Coastal Living.
I like reading Apartment Therapy‘s ‘how to’ posts. Today AT Chicago has a post that’s particularly close to my heart – ‘how to avoid the catalog look at home’.
When we moved to the US seven years ago, we first lived in San Diego. We had visited a couple of months prior to scout out rentals and had managed to line up a nice townhouse in UTC, near La Jolla. But it was unfurnished. We were renting out our London house as a furnished property so shipped nothing more than a few clothes and books. Everything else stayed behind or went into storage. When we got to SD, we had just one weekend to furnish the entire place with the basics.
Knowing nothing about the city, or where to look for furniture stores, we went to IKEA. We bought beds, tables, chairs, sofas, kitchen equipment – just about everything – there. Then we had to personalize the place. Seven years on, we still have most of it and, although I love all the pieces we still have, I am constantly looking for ways to create an ‘un-IKEA look’. The fact is, though, as my experience shows, sometimes there is no option but to kit out your entire place from a catalog store. So, if you have to do it, here are my own tips for making it work.
Bring out the family photos
Luckily, shortly after we moved to the US, we got married so had tons of great photos to display. We bought multi-photo frames from Pottery Barn and created combinations of our favorites. One evening and a bottle of wine later, we had simple, but truly personal, art for our walls!
Stock up on books
When we moved, we had five books. Now we have three huge floor-to-ceiling shelves of them, plus three boxes in the garage (I’m intending to get more shelving for them). You can pick up dozens of secondhand paperbacks cheaply (or even new ones on special offer). They instantly make a place more personal and ‘lived in’. Now we feel like we have a history of our last seven years sitting on our book shelves.
Choose the catalog store carefully
I buy at all the usual favorites: IKEA, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Crate and Barrel. But, to me, two stores really excel at offering unusual, eclectic products at a decent price: West Elm and Anthropologie. Here’s why:
This is West Elm’s Bridge coffee table. It doesn’t exactly scream catalog to me.
These ‘Sheesham Objects’ are also from West Elm and would make a really personal touch to an office.
This is the Jacoby bench form Anthropologie. It looks like something picked up from your travels, not at all catalog.
Pillows as gifts
Whenever people asked what I wanted for Christmas or a birthday, I would tell them a pillow cover. It’s the easiest thing to mail overseas (you just buy the pillow itself locally) and you can always find a home for a gorgeous pillow. Even though we had limited time to travel beyond the London/San Diego (or London/San Francisco) route, it still looks as though we have been around the world because of the eclectic range of pillows we have.
Deck the walls with art
This isn’t an easy, or cheap, approach. But there is no doubt that, with a few personally-chosen pieces of art on the walls, you could furnish an entire home in IKEA and it wouldn’t matter. In fact, it would be the perfect backdrop. Instead of registering at a store when we were planning our wedding, we registered at Wills Art Warehouse in London. After the wedding we chose four spectacular paintings that we absolutely love and which have guided every design decision we’ve made since. Here are two of them.
My sister and her husband recently also moved from London to the US – they are in NYC. They had to fill an entire apartment from scratch in four weeks – in time for their first baby to arrive! Needless to say, IKEA played a starring role, but they also have a great collection of paintings, etchings and photos collected from their travels around the world. It makes their apartment look effortlessly stylish and really welcoming.
Apartment Therapy has more great tips here. At the end of the day, though, once you have the basics in place, it’s more about patience and being willing to let a home evolve around you over time. And there’s no quick-win solution to replace time.
Is it me or am I seeing displays of wall-mounted plates everywhere? I actually really like the effect, although it does remind me of an English country kitchen. It seems the trick is to use a mix of different styles and colors and avoid too formulaic a lay-out. The examples below almost look like clouds – the effect is quirky vintage rather than traditional.
This is artist Lisa Congdon’s kitchen, from the cover of new book, San Francisco Kitchens – spotted on SFgirlbybay.
As evidence that the trend is transatlantic, this photo is of Jamie Theakston’s (British TV presenter) home, featured in Livingetc.
I’m sorry to say I don’t recall where I spotted this picture (if it’s yours, let me know and I’ll update the post). But it is a fabulous example of the trend. I like the bird on the table and the hanging birdcage – very sweet with the plates. But the chandelier ensures the whole look isn’t too saccharine sweet.
It’s at this time of year I start feeling our home needs a lift. It’s sunny outside and I’m out of hibernation mode. I no longer want the house to be a cozy cocoon. I want to give it a fresh injection of life and energy. Of course, I can’t do a complete refurb every season but there are a few tricks for making the house more vibrant without spending a fortune. They involve making a few select purchases, rather than repainting or making any permanent changes. I have a few days’ vacation next week and I’m going to use the time to breath some new life into our house. Here’s my plan.
Liven up with plants
The obvious first step: bringing the outside in instantly livens things up. I’m planning on a large plant for the living room and some spring bulbs for the kitchen. I also spotted this great idea for the bathroom on Remodelista. I’ve never been that into succulents but am starting to gain an appreciation for their many varied forms and funny shapes. I was thinking of introducing a few in containers on our patio but I love this look for indoors.
Change the rhythm
Multiple small photos and prints in mismatching frames creates a much more lively rhythm than a single piece of art. It’s also a way to introduce more personality to a home. I spotted this pic on SFgirlbybay and it’s a perfect example.
I’m planning to make a gallery of family photos up the stairs and on the wall in the dining room. I also have quite a few shots taken on past vacations – sunsets in Maui, beaches in Mexico – which we can dust off and display now the weather is better.
Experiment with seasonal wallpaper panels
There are so many stunning designs that would be perfect for spring and summer. But they might feel too floral for winter. So I’m contemplating a single panel of wallpaper that can be propped up against the wall and taken away again if I change my mind. It will be much cheaper than covering a whole wall or room, not to mention miles easier. I love this Celadon Vase wallpaper by Designer’s Guild.
Throw some shapes
Adding a few curves into a space breaks things up and changes the energy. An arc lamp over a boxy sofa, a round mirror on the wall, an unusually-shaped rug – they all make a fairly ordinary scheme more lively. This house, designed by Mirka McNeill Farmer and featured in April’s British Homes and Gardens shows exactly what a few curves can do. I love pretty much everything about this house, but I particularly like the way she has used different shapes to make the place both quirky and restful.
I’ve seen this chair used a million times, but always in vast loft spaces. I never thought it would work in a London townhouse but this pic proves me wrong.
This rug looks like it’s real animal skin, which I wouldn’t use. But the shape offsets the the rectangular table, bench and fireplace beautifully. There are plenty of fake animal skin rugs that would do the job just as well.
These shelves, made of cardboard tubes, are a brainwave. They make a tiny bedroom really stand out.
Starburst and sunbursts
Nothing imparts energy more than these gorgeous mirrors. Replacing a rectangular mirror with one of these would add instant movement to a scheme. Look at the impact it has on this room, featured in Living Etc.
So that’s the plan. After all this energetic decorating though, I’ll need somewhere peaceful to rest…
I’ve mentioned before that we’re contemplating a kitchen renovation. So my mind is on countertops, backsplashes, cabinets… I want something a bit different for the backsplash and struck on the idea of using a favorite print behind a sheet of glass for the backsplash behind the stove. I would like something with a graphic, quirky appeal. Then I saw that Jennifer Ramos (MadeByGirl) has brought out some new prints in exactly the colors I plan for the kitchen. They’re really clean and simple. Perfect.
This is the kind of look I’m after for the whole kitchen, although maybe slightly more industrial:
Tiles would be too fussy for this look, so plain glass seems a better choice. Having one of these prints above the stove would just have to improve my cooking, wouldn’t it?
To some, a home is just four walls and a roof. To others, it’s a showcase for a lifetime’s achievements. To a few, it’s a canvas for artistic expression. To me, it’s a refuge and a source of comfort. It’s also a lab for design experiments, some of which go well, many of which don’t.
That’s the real reason I started this blog: to record the changes in our home, capture the things that inspire those changes; and document the disasters so I never repeat them!
To some people, I suppose our home looks finished. Or maybe it looks like we’ve barely started. But to me, it’s a work in progress. So here are the first photos of our home – finished or otherwise.
We live in a San Francisco Edwardian. There are three stories, including the basement garage. The living room is at the front and is open to the hallway via a double-width arch. We’re lucky to have tons of natural light, with windows on two sides – although that does make it chilly on winter evenings. The sofas are from IKEA (when we moved to the US seven years ago, we had to furnish an entire apartment in a weekend so most of our basic items are from IKEA – and still going strong, I might add). The ottoman is from Pottery Barn and has been absolutely invaluable – there’s nothing better than kicking back in front of a movie with this as a footrest. Good for extra seating too when we entertain. The shades are raw silk from the Shade Store (excellent for reasonably-priced custom shades). The mirror and lamp are from Pier 1 and the apothecary chest is from Gingko, a little store in Soma that makes items to order for a great price – mostly from reclaimed wood. I also have a beautiful Louis chair (out of shot) covered in cream velvet, with silver gilt arms. It’s rather ornate but balances out the two boxy IKEA sofas. The challenge here is keeping the effect modern while indulging my preference for vintage, gilt and shiny things. Seems I’m constantly teetering between the two.
Ok, this shot is taken from the sofa under the bay window, looking through to the hallway and then dining room. Here’s the Louis chair. The painting is by Chris Hankey. We asked for contributions to an art gallery for our wedding gifts, and this was one of the pieces we eventually purchased. If there’s one thing in our home that helps me relax, it’s this.
The dining room wall color was a major change for us – it’s quite a cool blue/green/gray. It’s Iced Marble by Benjamin Moore and seems to change color depending on what you put next to it. But it looks great as a backdrop to the wave painting. The table is (of course) IKEA, but the chairs are from a, now closed, store on Fillmore Street. I loved the leather but couldn’t justify buying six of them so two are in a charcoal fabric instead. The sideboard, just seen, is from Gingko again. I had trouble deciding what to do with the front door, which is glass. I didn’t want to block out the light completely, but also didn’t want passersby peering in while we ate our dinner in the evening. The laser-cut paper screen by Tord Boontje seemed to be a good solution – and, somehow, we’ve managed to prevent our toddler from tearing it to shreds.
Just off the dining room is a tiny sitting area, which we use as a playroom. I’ve already shared my excitement about the West Elm zigzag rug in an earlier post: I’m loving how it contrasts with the more somber dining room.
This is the master bedroom. It’s above the living room so we get the same great light. But we had to invest in extremely well-lined drapes and shades to keep the warmth in in winter. The bed is IKEA again, as are the lamps. I feel like we should replace the lamps with something more visible against the light-colored drapes. But the light they give is so warm it’s perfect for a bedroom so I can’t bear to part with them. The pomegranate painting was another wedding gift and was the inspiration for the colors in this room.
Ok, I’m no stylist. But I like to see this little collection of things on our dresser in the mornings. The photos are of my father as a child, the handheld silver mirror (lying flat) was an 18th birthday present, the mother-of-pearl inlaid mirror is from Wisteria and was a source of much soul-searching (should we really spend the money?) but it was the best price I’d found for this type of mirror and I absolutely love it. The domino box is also from Wisteria and was a present from my sister (with some strong hints…). The large paper flower was made by my two-year-old at his daycare and is, quite frankly, the best thing about this collection (in my humble, doting-parent, opinion!)
Last but not least, the guest room. The photograph isn’t great, but the room itself is really relaxing to be in. The wall color is Morning Dew by Benjamin Moore – a really pale, creamy green. The drapes are white linen and from the Shade Store again. The bedside tables were an absolute find for $140 each in a local antiques store (Past Perfect on Union Street – same place I got the Louis chair). Somehow they work with the IKEA bed and lamps. The rug is from South Africa, a gift from my parents.
In another post, I’ll try to show some pics of the nursery, office and kitchen. The latter is definitely a work in progress – we’re contemplating a renovation.
So, that’s our home. I hope it provides some ideas – even if only what not to do!
Decorology has posted a series of shots from photographer, Debi Treloar (I just added her to my blogroll after seeing these). They’re absolutely stunning. Don’t they make you wish you were sitting in one of these pictures, reading and drinking a glass of chilled wine? Now that’s relaxation…
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