Back to Basics

Recently, the mother of a dear friend lost her house to a nasty fire. Thankfully she wasn’t hurt, but she did lose everything she owned. Sigh. Now she’s faced with started over completely, and filling a new house with everything from soap to sofas. As her mom is understandably overwhelmed, my friend decided to take on this HUGE project pretty much on her own, and reached out to me for a tiny bit of help. Through a series of questions (“if you were a chair, what kind of chair would you be” type stuff), we were able to determine that her mom gravitated towards traditional/coastal with a splash of contemporary. Better yet, she gave me a great place to start by falling in love with a bedroom set from Restoration Hardware. Anywho, just thought you’d be interested in seeing my thoughts and ideas. Hopefully they don’t suck. Oh, and the sentence about the lamps keeping the space "like and airy"? Yeah, that should be light. Bah.

Sources:
1. hathaway swivel glider from Crate and Barrel; 2. elise floor mirror from Pottery Barn; 3. Benjamin Moore paint in elmira white; 4. lancaster whitewash; 5. white dove; 6. "fragmented fields" giclee at Neiman Marcus; 7. creamsicles print from Crate and Barrel; 8. seaglass french ring sheets by Serena and Lily; 9. aqua border frame duvet; 10. aqua border frame shame; 11. aqua diamond quilt euro sham; 12. white introspect frames from Z Gallerie; 13. zak table lamp at Crate and Barrel; 14. bacchus table bedside lamp from Pottery Barn; 15. horsebit large silver tray from Haus Interior; 16. empire rosette sleigh bed from Restoration Hardware; 17. empire rosette closed nightstand; 18. empire rosette 8-drawer dresser

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Real Women Don't Juice

I hate to admit it, but I’m one of those people who skip breakfast almost every day. I know, I know, it’s the most important meal, it speeds up your metabolism, I could grab a banana out the door, blah, blah. But I’m a writer, and writers like coffee. Lots of coffee. (Among other things, but I’ll save you from those horrors today.) So for me, coffee is my breakfast of champions. And no, I definitely could NOT eat something WHILE drinking my coffee. Sacrilege I tell you. Then again, if I were to eat breakfast in a beautiful kitchen like this one instead of my car, I might change my tune. I draw the line at fresh-squeezed OJ, though. Regardless, it’s still a frun accessory. Kind of like my cookbooks.

(photo by Leslie of A Creative Mint, barclay single basin kitchen sink at Lowe's, hjuvik single lever kitchen faucet from ikea, label glasses set of six from CB2, dr. bird juicer from Zgallerie, tea towel from To Dry For)

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You're My Boy, Blue.

Sure, we’ve established I love white. So you’ll probably be horrified to know that I also love blue. Kind of a lot actually. I know, I know, you thought you knew me and then I go and drop this kind of bomb. What can I say, I don’t like to give all the goodies away on the first date. Er, something. Maybe it’s because where I live, 115 degrees is considered normal and blue = cool. Or maybe it’s that blue is one of the only colors my husband and I agree on. Or maybe it’s because blue brings out my eyes. Noooo, not really. The bottom line is, blue is the cat’s meow (yep, that just happened). As is this strap to turn my overwhelming pile of periodicals into furniture. Purrrr.

(image via Trine Thorsen, twin links floor lamp from Pier 1, book stool by Arik Levy via Unica Home, mercury glass votives from Beach Dwelling, helix rug by Jonathan Adler, cora carafe from CB2)

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