I'm not the type of person who looks for products (or anything really) that is exactly like what everyone else has or things that will blend in unnoticed. If I like it and it's popular, oh well, what matters most is my feelings about it, but in general, I'd rather have decor that is different from others'. This works out because most of my family and friends have very different taste. Finding unique items can be hard, but when you find the right thing, it can make a serious statement. 

Can you imagine entering a room with this double head snake handle on the door?  It suggests there may be even more interesting things inside and says a lot about the personality of the person dwelling there. Someone bold, wild, sexy? The handle, designed by interior designer Lisa Jarvis, is two feet long, so it can be used on a door, or perhaps a larger cabinet. It's not for the faint of heart and I love the idea of having one on my front door (I'd have to have a separate mechanism to lock the door, but I'm not thinking about practicality right now)—what a statement that would make. 

top image via lisa jarvis, bottom image my own

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The sunburst mirror has certainly had its day in the sun, so to speak.  If you gravitate toward a different style, check out the 55 Downing Street mirror sale, which started today and runs until Saturday, April 5. They have nearly 1500 decorative and functional (the magnify-your-face-to-uncomfortable-degrees kind) options and they're going fast. Some have already sold out and the sale's been open less than half a day!

Frameless and framed options in a multitude of styles, shapes, and sizes are all discounted. 
 
Personally, I prefer large mirrors as opposed decorating with clusters of tiny ones, and I've shared my favorites from the sale here. I love the Art Deco frame above because it reminds me of the office building I worked in on 42nd and Lexington when I was at Traditional Home. The building had some of the most beautiful elevator doors I've ever seen, gold with great imagery and detailing similar to what is on this frame. 

As you can tell, I'm also drawn to mirrors with a bit of movement and while I've only shown metallic or neutral frames here, I would also use a colored frame if I found the right one (the mirror on the bottom right comes in dozens of colors). 

I also think using one or more good mirrors like these instead of one large unframed (ugly) piece of glass in a bathroom is much more attractive. Interesting mirror frames are just another way of injecting your personality into your decor and of course provide the added bonus of creating more light in dark rooms and making small ones seem larger. What is your mirror style?

Ever have those days where you can't find something important in your bag and you look and look and it's not there?You search the whole house and finally you find it, when you check your bag again. 

Or, is your place too small to have a table by the door and so you don't have a consistent, convenient place to leave your keys, sunglasses, etc?

Elefunction's newest products will take care of that for you; their tagline is Design That Never Forgets.

The Elephant mounts on the wall very easily and can become your command center to corral your things.. The strong cord holds glasses, sunglasses, phones, mail, and other small items, while super magnets embedded in the 'trunk' take care of your keys (even if you're a janitor, I've seen it in person).

Available in walnut or ash, and with or without an edge color, these products are all handmade in Colorado. 

If you like to check your hair/teeth, or throw on some last-minute lipstick before you run out the door, the Echo mirror allows you to do that and has the same organizational function as the Elephant. Echo comes in walnut or ash.

Keeping your keys and glasses in one dedicated spot like this also keeps your keys from scratching the lenses of your glasses, which can happen easily in a bag. Plus, most importantly, you don't run around like a chicken with its head cut off looking for things when you're trying to get out the door to work or to meet friends.

Designer Brad Reed Nelson, founder of Board by Design - who I first met when I fell for his fabulous rockers at the AD Home Show a few years ago - initially started Elefunction as a way to keep track of his sunglasses. The product, the I Wear rack, was a simple board and tension cord (it and earlier iterations are still available). In the process Brad found that what they were doing was creating better relationships because people were happier, less stressed, more prompt, and more pleasant to be around all because they weren't wasting time looking for their things. 

It's pretty powerful when a simple product can do that!

Whether you are a devoted dog lover or just a really big fan of Go, Dog. Go! (as I am), you'll probably love this totally adorable cushion from Chelsea Textiles. This hand-embroidered cushion is designed by Scottish artist Domenica More Gordon on linen and cotton. It's high end, so not a cheap throw pillow, and too cute not to share!  There are a few other styles available, as well. 

Take a look at More Gordon's website, as it has images of her adorable wool felt animal figurines, watercolor dog portraits, and other whimsical drawings and illustrations, as well as charming video clips introducing her books, Archie, which came out a few years ago, and Archie's Vacation, which is officially available tomorrow, but you can pre-order today.

In one of many procrastination breaks late last night (I'm on deadline again), I finally signed up for Instagram. I've had the app on my phone for probably two years, but never registered. It wasn't that I didn't find the app interesting or valuable, it's just that sometimes I get overwhelmed by how many things there are to register for and sign up for. Websites that you have to register with to see the content kind of drive me crazy. Does that happen to you? Thank god for password keeper apps.

I was the same way when I had to go from Friendster > MySpace > Facebook. I really resisted Facebook. I was good about limiting my time on there in the beginning. Now I'm checking my feed pretty often. I'm not sure how consistent a Intagrammer I'll be, but I definitely want the infusion of inspiration. So that's where you come in:

Help a girl by leaving your own account or your favorite accounts to follow, and I'll check them out. And if you follow me, I'll try to keep it interesting! Find me at instagram.com/xxabl - I'll start posting as soon as I finish my article.


image via thepatterns.info

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I'm not the first person to be excited about Oh Joy!'s collection for Target, which just launched, and I certainly won't be the last. I have to say in all honesty, that Joy Cho is probably my favorite blogger of all right now (I even bought her book on my Kindle so I could learn more about blogging as a business, now if I could just find time to read it). In addition to having an insanely attractive family (I want to have a playdate with our daughters), her taste is fabulous, and she seems so down-to-earth and real; she's very positive, but she isn't afraid to peel back the layers and share her hectic reality. Somehow it was comforting to know that Joy struggles with a lot of the same things I do; you always know other parents feel the same way but it's reassuring to hear it anyway. 

Her collection for Target is really lovely and feels very much "her"—as much as you can know someone from reading their blog, it feels like an accurate translation of who she is and her style. The products are very cheerful and feminine, and the shots from her LA launch party have so many great entertaining ideas and decor moments in them. The paper goods are adorable, but I especially love the entertaining pieces that have more longevity. The collection includes more paper goods, cutlery, decor items, cake toppers, and balloons. 

The launch party in LA was intended to be an outdoor garden party, but rain drove them inside. I don't think the party lost much of anything by being indoors. There are so many great and easy entertaining ideas that I'm actually planning to blog about them tomorrow for my other job at the event planning company. But decor-wise, here's something I loved. We've seen this cocktail table around for years, but it's always in white. How fresh does it look in color? I love how they painted the tables to coordinate with the collection.

I like random silly holidays like Pi day, and I have a sweet tooth, so I like pies, too. For fun, I thought I'd share the recipe for my most favorite pie of all: the grasshopper pie. If you never had it, it basically tastes just like frozen Thin Mints. Read: Amazing. I've been making this recipe since 6th grade and it's delicious and easy to make. Enjoy!

crust:
1 1/4 cup fine chocolate wafer crumbs
1/2 cup of butter, melted

OR

1 premade Oreo cookie pie crust (I've done this the last few times I've made it)

filling:
1/2 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
20 marshmallows (regular size)
3 tablespoons creme de cacao
3 tablespoons creme de menthe
green food coloring

-If making the crust, combine wafer crumbs and butter. Blend and shape to pie pan, chill in pan till solid. 

-Heat milk in double boiler, add marshmallows and stir until melted. Cook thoroughly.
-Combine whipped heavy cream, creme de cacao, creme de menthe and a few drops of green food coloring.
-Fold into cooked marshmallow mixture.
-Pour into chilled crust and chill pie until firm. 

Serve cold.


I don't usually add anything to the top, but before it's chilled completely, you could add cookie crumbles, or if you want to be fancy, drizzle or shave chocolate on top.

Noticing a pattern? The weather on Tuesday was such a tease. Maybe if I double down continuing on the floral theme, Mother Nature will be beneficent. So! Using florals indoors via wallpaper. Floral patterns are great because they can run the gamut from chintz, to vintage, to modern and feel so different. They mix well with stripes, checks, ethnic patterns, and obviously solids. 

Some florals, like Oh Joy's pattern for Hygge & West, you've probably seen in lots of online magazines and blogger's houses. You may remember this lovely vintage paper from a previous post. Here are a bunch of really fun florals, mostly on the more graphic, medium-to-large scale side. The scale of course also plays a big part in how traditional or modern a pattern can read. How do you like your florals?

As I was perusing gardens, backyard and otherwise, yesterday, I came across TerraTrellis products. I really don't have a green thumb, but I like the idea of adding some geometric shapes to the more freeform flowers and plants. It always interested me how plants adapt to a trellis and take it over, winding their way in and around it. The colors these trellises come in seem to complement the hues of the flowers really well, too (see the image below with the artichoke).

The powder-coated frames are built and painted by hand and come in seven colors. I'm more of a fan of the general trellis pieces but if you're also a bird lover, a selection of the pieces are topped with a birdhouse. A bee nest (for the brave, I think), is also available, which encourages pollination throughout your garden. The pieces are functional art and bring a different, modern, element to a garden in addition to the practical application of adding support and structure. 

I'm not sure if I shared this already, but on top of freelancing, I've also been working part-time on social media and marketing for a local events company and the brand new loft-style event venue the company's owners are building (part of why my posting here has been less frequent). As you might expect, in addition to corporate and social events, galas, and bashes, the company plans and designs a lot of weddings. 

I've always loved weddings, not just because I'm a romantic, but because of all the insanely great decorating ideas, stationery, and fashion. I've reached the age where most of my friends are married so I'm not attending a lot of weddings. Being at this job gives me even more of an excuse to fritter my time away on Pinterest (as if we needed more excuses for that, right?) and look at pretty ideas, which is how I came across this gorgeous cake. 

The thing about this cake is that it is fashion-forward and could easily inspire both an outfit and decor, mixing stripes and floral with hits of gold. I know it's probably over by now since everyone did it years ago, but I still want to paint an entryway with vertical black and white stripes. I was supposed to do this in my last house, but as you may have gathered by now, I didn't pull the trigger on too many decorating projects, mostly for financial reasons. The plan was black and white stripes, a floral-upholstered bench, and I bought these great red coat hooks from Anthropologie. I really love this Hana floral pattern from Kenzo/Lelievre which I first saw several years ago when we used it in another colorway for a Traditional Home story. I couldn't decide on a colorway and now I'm worried that it's been discontinued. So the search continues.

But it's not like good floral elements are scarce: How about a classic Cecil Beaton fabric? I actually really like florals on a black ground, like this fabric from Osborne & Little. Or another print from Manuel Canovas with more of a hand-drawn quality. These could each work well with a bold stripe and metallic accents.