Circus Fun

{Circus Series Prints, Roadside}

{Vintage Old Maid Cards, Sitting Pretty Vintage}
{Paper Doll Clown, Uncommon Eye}
{Vintage Playing Cards, Gsiberger07}
{Balls in the Air Game, phunkymama}

{Vintage Circus Collection Tags, RitasSweetShop}

{E for Elephant, Lavatican}
{The Balancing Act, Sugar Cookie's Shoppe}

Found all of these fun things looking for the perfect circus wall art at Etsy.

Girls Room Redo #2

{Tear sheet, Elle Decor(?)}

{Pottery Barn Kids}

These are the rooms that have been inspiring to my girls for Room Redo #2. They both like the busyness. We will be sticking with the current color scheme which is purple (shown here).

{Photo by Melanie Acevedo, Domino June/July 2007}

I'm hoping they might like to try this circus tent paint scheme. Just by adding the white stripe, the room would be completely transformed. It has the same kind of feel that they seem to be drawn to. I'll add a damask duvet cover, a taffeta headboard, and their initials above the bed. It would be fun and glamorous.

Glamorous

{Ikea, Hedig fabric}

{Ikea, Sofia fabric}

We are reconfiguring bedrooms in the month of July. Our oldest is entering High School and we have decided to give her her own room and see how it works out. She and I have been looking at fabrics and duvet covers and have come to the conclusion that these two fabrics from Ikea (my favorite place on Earth) will look fantastic with the light pink walls and Parisian theme prints already there. The flower print will be a duvet cover and the stripes will be floor to ceiling drapery. I am pleased to add color and keep it glamorous (before & after photos to come).

Next on the agenda is finding a scheme for our 11 year old and 6 year old girls who will now be sharing a space.

A Front Yard Garden

I saw my first true front yard vegetable garden while on vacation this week. I've seen tomatoes grown in flower beds but never an all out garden. I was immediately intrigued being that I had just been reading a little on this exact subject via About.com's Walking blog. The question there was yeah or nay on the front yard garden.

It has me thinking; from a neighborhood standpoint, I think that I would love to see front yard gardens. I'd know that my neighbor and I could talk plants and probably recipes too.

From the standpoint of tending a front yard garden, I'm not as sure. I have a hard enough time worrying about the neighbors behind me thinking that I'm nuts when they have to hear me in my postage stamp garden going on and on to the children and then to Husband about our latest news there, let alone being visible too.

I do plan to check out Edible Estates, by Fritz Haeg and see how it shapes my opinion or lack there of on this subject.

The Madonna Inn

This morning we stopped on our way to the beach at The Madonna Inn. Built by a husband (architect) wife (interior designer) team, it is in a category all it's own. The inn opened in 1958 and has since become a California Landmark.


The steakhouse restaurant is pure gaudy glam which seems to be a recurring theme throughout. The family and I looked around the common areas and all I could think was 'Oh, my gaudiness!'. I do think that this kind of over the topness is brave and fun, scary as it is.


The Inn has 109 unique rooms. Tour them here but know that only a true visit can give you the full measure, wow.

Rereading this post, I don't sound at all like I had fun visiting the Madonna Inn. So, just to be sure I've given an accurate account, I totally did. We were all amazed by it and of course I couldn't help but daydream about having a hotel with 109 rooms all needing my design attention, wow!

The Growing Grounds

The Growing Grounds is another of my favorites. It's a tiny garden outlet with lots of charm.


This little store is actually part of something much larger. It is the outlet store for Growing Grounds Farms, a wholesale grower that supplies plants to many local nurseries and participates in an adult vocational program for a mental health program offering paid positions to people with an open case with the counties mental health department. They strive to empower their employees and teach them new skills.


Through the Growing Grounds Outlet store and farm, they provide the area with beautiful plants, garden supplies and (more importantly), vocation and socialization opportunities for people with mental illness.

The Nest

Inside this unassuming storefront there is much to be found. The Nest was my first shopping stop today in San Luis Obispo.


Take a look at all that there is to be found here. I gawked at all of the goods, bought two white starfish and headed out to think about what I can't live without.


If only there were stores like this close to home.

On Vacation

It's that time of year so we'll be heading out for vacation tomorrow morning. I'm planning to take you with me. We'll be heading to San Luis Obispo. One of the best things about this destination is that there is such a variety of things to do, including great shopping. Cala Antiques is one of my favorites there.


I took this picture the morning we left town last summer while Husband appeased me by going inside to see what a great retail store should look like. I'm still working on him to get my own.


Store owner, Kimberly Stainer, has so much style that she has three stores in SLO, two of which are home decor.


I've been over to her website this evening psyching myself up for tomorrow's visit. I can't wait!

A French Contribution

{The Balloon of Jacques Charles and
Nicholas Robert, 1st December, 1783}

{Design for a Hot-Air Balloon with a Diameter
of 120 Feet to Take off at Dijon, circa 1784}

{The Ballooning Experiment at the
Chateau de Versailles, 19th September, 1783}

Today I'm loving these prints at Art.com and have added them to my mental library of design for future reference in decorating and redecorating our home.

If the Price is Right

{BHG February 2007; photographer, Edmund Barr}

Lulu Powers, chef and event planner, is quoted as saying, "If I see something and like it and the price is right, that's pretty much how everything in the house comes about." That's pretty much my life story.

{BHG February 2007; photographer, Edmund Barr}

Lulu's home was featured in the February 2007 Better Homes and Gardens. It is layer upon layer of a kind of accidental chic and believe me, there is no negative connotation to that statement.

{BHG February 2007; photographer, Edmund Barr}

It is amazing the amount of color and variety in each space including the yard.

{BHG February 2007; photographer, Edmund Barr}

Her home really supports the idea of buying what speaks to you and making it work. It looks effortless.

My Newest Find

Again, only $10! I found this table on Sunday. Again, just driving innocently down the road and there it was. Husband and I went back to take a look and upon closer inspection, it wouldn't go together with it's leaf. I couldn't think of anywhere to put it without so I looked at Husband, said 'I hate you' and we left it there.

Two days later a friend with great taste was over and we did a bit of quick design discussion. She suggested the living room furniture be pulled out a little. With that done, there was room for the table. Husband checked and fortunately, it was still there and it does come together without the leaf. We picked it up and it's perfect!

If Only

{Room and Board}

Choosing carpeting is such a daunting task for me. Five years ago, Husband and I went to a flooring store to choose carpeting for our addition. I thought it would be simple. I liked the color and style of our existing carpet so it seemed logical that we would simply find the same thing and order. Wrong! There were thousands of choices. I was overwhelmed. Typically I know what I want and where to get it. Carpet is definitely out of my comfort zone. We ended up choosing a mid length shag that we thought would be perfect and modern and it is in some of the areas we have it in but in the children's room it's just bad.

Now it's time for new carpet in the living room and bedrooms (large tile everywhere else) If I could find wall to wall in this cozy style from Room and Board, a cable rug, I would be sold. It must be available somewhere and I just haven's seen it yet. I'm on the look out.

Regality

{Horchow}

Contemplating trading out my wish for lions in the yard for two of these guys (outdoor version of course). It may be as close as I can get to having a dog.

Discovery

{Bird Seed}

I've stumbled upon the fabrics of Alexander Henry in my blogging adventures. Not only does this studio produce a line of vintage style fabrics for retail sale, they also offer custom design. I have to say that of the designs I've found so far, I either love them or hate them. Purlsoho has lots to love.

Inspired!

The Peace Keeper article in Elle Decor, May 2008 made quite an impression on me. The simplicity of the space contrasts so well with the high impact pieces the owner/designer, Darryl Carter, uses in each room.


I was especially struck by the horse art piece in the dining room which is nothing more than a painted barn door. It's such a simple idea, but in this room it's entirely sophisticated.


The napkin container on the kitchen island is also now on my list of things to copy. On our kitchen counter, there are paper napkins on display. This makes so much more sense.

Oh, Little Babushka

I'm loving the idea of a Babushka theme for a nursery or little girls bedroom!

Think of the many ways that this fabric, a bedspread from Urban Outfitters, might be used; a bumper pad, a bed cover, a throw pillow on the rocking chair, or maybe appliqued to a bed skirt in the way they been on this pillow from Junebugz Etsy Store.


Or...

{Enbal, Etsy}

How fantastic the addition of this print would be to most any bedroom along with one of these tiny beauties on the bed.

{Ravenhille, Etsy}

Any way, these Babushka's could make a happy space!

How Bizzare

{Pottery Barn}

I really like these towels and I'm pretty sure that they match the green on my bedroom walls. They might be perfect for the master bath.

The towels in our linen closet are embarrassing. They are fraying and worn out at the edges but I haven't found any that I like enough to replace them with. Now when I think about this it seems quite a bit absurd. I can't find towels that I like so we keep using ones that are worn! Is that rational? No!

I recently took a trip to Target and perused the four aisles of towels that they have to offer. Four aisles! I settled for two sets in taupe and copper. I brought them home. I decided that that they weren't going to work quite the way that I had envisioned in the store so I took them back. When I went back I left them with the clerk to exchange. I had purchased them on sale. I went back to the towel area and began my search again. Nothing! There was not one set of towels that said 'Take me home. I'm the one.' The same towels came home again. Once at home, again I couldn't do it. And so in the end, the towels were returned to the store and we were left with the old threadbare. How ridiculous! Yet this is my life.

Happy Weekend

Here's to the weekend and an opportunity for fantastic finds!

Possibilities

I love this room featured in the May issue of Domino and mentioned at Elements of Style. I am thinking about replicating the design of the headboards in my bedroom. They're from Target and available in quite a few sizes and colors. I need a specific size and have fabric that could work. Besides, any way I can have good looking things and save money is good.

A Few of My Favorite Things

{Domino}

I have a thing for silhouettes (I know, who doesn't).

This is one of my prized possessions; silhouettes of our four beautiful children. We had them done at Disneyland of all places. Watching each of them sit so still for the artist as she cut these out so perfectly, spending only about a minute each was the trip highlight for me. And they only cost a total of $45! It's been 5 years and I think it's time for another set.

{Carter Kustera for Jonathan Adler}

This style seems very appropriate to their current ages/stages. It will be so much fun coming up with each of their statements.