Yin and yang. Shadow and light. The infamous Seinfeld black-and-white cookie episode. We're always looking to black and white to provide harmony. Black and white are huge right now, though I think truthfully we can always say that. There is a comfort in the consistency, it's always chic, and the less-confident home decorator is safe in knowing the two colors always go together and with everything else, too.
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Today I'm headed out to scout stores for a local magazine's holiday gift guide. But first, I wanted to share these two whimsical details from a house tour featured on new site, Clementine Daily. If you read other design blogs, you're familiar with Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind. She and several other known bloggers have formed a creative alliance called Clementine Daily which celebrates the reality and authenticity of life's experiences, though they sure make it look gorgeous. The site featured the home of Rosie Winstead, a Missouri-based author and illustrator. In the slideshow and interview, Rosie describes how she worked with little kids underfoot, and it sounds very much like my current experience. It's always nice to know there's someone else out there who's been through what you are going through. Her aesthetic is light and airy with sweet details scattered throughout. The chandelier (above) is a great example of her creative personality. Rosie began with a ballerina that broke off of a music box. She couldn't bring herself to throw it out (sounds familiar), so she hung it from the chandelier. Then added an ornament she wasn't ready to put away at the end of a holiday season (sounds like my pink glitter deer that hung around long past January), and it grew from there. A sort of 3D collage, a testament to the pieces of their family life. The whole house is filled with vignettes to spend time admiring, but my absolute favorite thing was her little daughter's tea party set up in the air vent. She didn't tell anyone, Rosie just spotted it one day while cleaning.
Her daughter is a fan of The Borrowers, which I need to read, but is the story of a family of tiny people who live underneath the kitchen floor of an English country manor and use the detritus and easily reappropriated items of humans to furnish their home. I love the idea of this little girl earnestly and carefully setting this scene for tiny people who might live under her own floor. To me, the clever display in the vent just speaks to the limitless creativity and magic of children's minds. Can't you just see her growing up to be an artist, interior designer, or some other equally creative powerhouse? Something about this just fills me with so much joy. images via clementine daily Xx a We had a fun afternoon Sunday at the local Parade of Homes. We toured eight houses, each from different area builders, and I think it was a successful show. It's always amusing listening to all the other people touring the houses to see who likes what.
For the most part, I think everyone played it pretty safe design-wise. These showhouses generally aren't about trends or pushing the envelope, so I didn't see any extremely bold colors, patterns, or off-beat design choices, but I saw a lot that I liked that would appeal to the average homeowner. There were a few things that weren't necessarily my taste, sure, but nothing that really turned me off—that has happened in the past. I wanted to share the elements and ideas I liked best that, for the most part, anyone could do. Well, today was a lot of things, but let's just say today was a Monday. One thing did go well, which was a quick meeting with the event coordinator regarding our vow renewal. I looked at some options for where we can have the brief ceremony if the weather is nice enough to hold it outside. I also chose the tablecloth and napkin colors, now that I have a tentative plan in place for the decorations. It's going to be pretty low key, because I am going to try and do it myself (party decor I tend to do DIY, that's about the only thing). Since I'm still going to be really busy between now and October fourth, I'm getting a little stressed about fitting it all in. Some days I catch myself calling it "the wedding" and I'm trying to find a balance between having enough decoration that it looks pretty and not so many that it looks like I am trying to recreate the big day. I am using a slightly more grown up version of our original color palette and I modeled the invitation after our original. But most of our wedding decor was floral, and we just don't have the budget for that. So I'm going to try a few things and hope they work out. If they do, I'll post them. Here is a 10-year vow renewal I came across today from Green Wedding Shoes. It's more "done" than ours will be; of course, they had an event planner and photographer. I can't afford to rent the fancy chairs or put up a big backdrop but I do want to make sure it feels special and pretty. And apparently, this site is like a secret weapon for engaged girls: Cloud Parade, which is probably the most dangerous thing to happen to me right now. Someone hide my wallet. I was sitting around all afternoon trying to figure out some vaguely back-to-school or office-related post I could write for today, but I just wasn't feeling it. Then I skimmed my Facebook feed and saw two pictures that a college friend posted. He has been in Montréal for a couple days, and today went to the botanical garden there. I was amazed by what he was seeing. The feature exhibit, called Mosaicultures Internationales®, has returned to the city after a decade-long absence. Nearly 50 incredible living sculptures have been created by horticulturist-artists from 25 different countries under the umbrella theme "Land of Hope." The event started at the end of June and runs until September 29, 2013. The detail on these pieces is pretty astounding. I'll let the works speak for themselves: I wish I had time to drive up to Montréal in September to see the rest of the exhibit and gardens in person. The artistry is really incredible, and I still have yet to make it to Montréal.
I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend! images 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, & 8 via Espace pour la vie Montréal website here and here images 5 and 6 courtesy JP Hormillosa Xx a |
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