Happy Easter

Happy Easter! I hope the whole weekend is uplifting for you!
This sweet Sir Hopsalot is by Forest Blue on Etsy. Found via the lovely Automatism.

Beautiful Weekend

I hope you have a beautiful weekend!Show the world your colors! And thank you so much for visiting me here this week.
Lovely Peacock by Twoems on etsy.

Seven

My baby is seven! Not so much a baby anymore, I guess, but it's very hard to believe. I love that he is still such a sweet soul, and has a lot of his little boy innocence. He's had a very happy birthday weekend -- the robot-making party was a great success, he's enjoyed skiing both days, there are lots of presents, and grandma and grandpa are visiting tonight. He may need a recovery day!I hope your weekend is going well too! This beautiful photograph is by Elgarbo Art on Etsy.

It'll Be A Robot Birthday

Happy Friday! Eddie's birthday party is tonight. I can't believe he's turning seven tomorrow. Wow. The boys will be tearing apart old radios and things, then building robots with the parts and other weird pieces we've collected. We're drawing our inspiration from these goofy amazing guys on Etsy. My sister even found lots of old binoculars and opera glasses on ebay... Eddie has been planning this party in his mind for months, so I hope it's a success. I'll try to snap photos between helping to screw on arms and wheels. Happy weekend to you and thanks so much for visiting!
1,2,4,and 7 by Reclaim2Fame; 3,8, and 9 by StangMont; 5,10 and 11 by Sally Colby; 6 by Jones RoboWorks.

Laura Brown

I love Laura Brown's art...

pier

boat

twilight zone 3

Laura and I met a few years ago through blogging. One day she posted one of her prints on her blog and it resonated so much with me that I had to buy it. She just wrote me to tell me her new website is up. I couldn't be happier to see her new work! So beautiful. And some are available for sale here on etsy.
A little while back, Laura completed these delicate, lovely books for which she created the paper and the artwork, and then printed her works and the words of other artists on the pages. They are simply stunning...Laura is currently creating a fantastic looking 2012 poster calendar. It's available next week. You can order yours here.
Oh, and here is my Laura Brown print mountain 1 on my wall...I just love it.

Ball of String

Every year, my mother would say that all she wanted for Christmas was a ball of string. When we were young, we didn't believe or understand her. Now I think I really do and I wish I could tell her that.

These are from antiquity by sadieolive, re-found via Bliss today.

These Make Me Happy

images: 1. per breiehagen (you must go visit)(thank you Elsa!), 2. The SoHo, 3. Huset, and 4. the lovely Solid Frog.

More Fun Finds for E's Dorm Room

Hi! Happy Tuesday. During my search for pieces for my niece's prep school dorm room (my inspiration boards are in last week's posts), I came across so many fun items for a teenage girl! I think any of these would be great in a black and white (with a bit of color) themed room...And, honestly, I really want most of these for myself.
Top row: Ferm knit pouf (comes in black!), Safari rug, felt cushions. Second row: Klippan bubbles blanket and retro blanket. Third row: zebra finch print, birds pillow, print. Fourth row: FUZ dusty chalk board, pillow, owl print. Fifth row: pillow, zebra pillow, Marie Antoinette bean bag. Sixth row: paper garlands, another Willow Baus sailboat (too cute in pink polka dots!), stars and stripes pillow.

Black and White Four for E

And here is the final inspiration board for my niece. I used this bedroom as a start, even though it's more gray and white with yellow accents than it is black and white. I just really wanted to work with this bedding! I love it. The bedroom is Angela Hardison's, as seen on Design Sponge. The bedding is DwellStudio, which I learned Thursday thanks to The SoHo, who magically posted about it as I was trying to prepare this board...Just a few finds here, maybe very sophisticated for a teenager, but if any teenager would like these, I think it would be my niece. Isn't the Queen pillow fun for a pop of color? I just may have to redo my bedroom to incorporate these.
Find them here: desk organizers, DwellStudio Draper Stripe Ash duvet set, Queen Ten pillow by Karen Hilton Designs on etsy, letter blocks by Countryside Sayings on etsy, lacquer lamps at Lotus Bleu, dancers drawing by Jose Lampreia on etsy, chalk globe, and CB2 paperclip table.
That's my last black and white board for my niece, but I think I'll be posting a few more random finds that are too sweet to resist. Have fun, sister, choosing a few perfect things for her. I hope she has the most beautiful room in the dorm!

Black and White Three for E

Whoa... that week flew by. My little one visited with his grandparents, so we used the time for some home projects (painting and updating his room) and for some fun (hiking and dates). I do want to post two more black and white inspiration boards for my sister and niece, though, so here's the next one. It's based on this simple, stylish room below. The sling chair and the Componibili storage unit really caught my eye...
While I think the chair is amazing, I have no idea where to find one just like it. If you do, let me know. So, the Paulistano chair, which I also love, is my (pricey!) substitute. Perhaps the price renders it inappropriate for the dorm, but seriously when I told my husband a couple of years ago that I liked it, he said, "It looks like it belongs in a dorm." Right? (Update: Monika helped me find many a Butterfly chair, and the canvas ones are perfect for a dorm room. Thank you so much, Monika! See images of just two options at the end of this post) I like the pom pom blanket from West Elm for some texture similar to the cottonballish blanket in the inspiration photo, and I happened to be in Room and Board earlier today and loved their quilted bedding collection, so I've chosen that, too. Again, there's a little bit of sailing in the sweet boat from Tweet by Willow Baus on etsy.
Find my choices here: it wasn't me pillow, Marimekko Unikko pillow, Paulistano chair in white cotton (or purchase the frame here and a pattern to make your own cover here - much more affordable), West Elm desk boxes, West Elm kite kilim rug, Componibili storage unit, sailboat (this one is not available now, but I believe she will make similar), vintage pencil sharpener from bouquet on etsy, West Elm pom pom blanket, micro Tolomeo table lamp, xoxo pillow, quilted bedding from Room and Board, and Hable Construction's toiletry bag.
I'm planning one more board in the next day or two, so I hope you come look for it!
And here are two butterfly chair options, from Urban Outfitters and from Classic and Modern, which will use virtually any leather you'd like...

Once again, the inspiration image is from the beautiful soup.

Black and White Two for E

OK... here is dorm room idea board number two for my niece! (See the first here.) This one takes inspiration from the relaxed room below. I love how the flower wall paper adds a graphic pop, which I pick up with the totem pillow and the blanket from Pendleton Mills...
Again, I concentrated mostly on bedding, pillows, and room accessories because furniture (except perhaps a fun chair?) will be provided...Board two includes more natural elements, especially in the jute rug, the wooden boxes, the linen pillow, and the fun wire dog. My niece loves to sail, so I've incorporated sailing art work in both boards. I'm so drawn to the sailboat photograph in this board -- it's really peaceful to me.
Find components here: totem pillow and pom pom throw from West Elm, pillow from Pawling, floor lamp, jute rug, Eames rocking chair (or a less expensive copy here), embroidered frame pillow, vintage tin ceiling tile from Hindsvik on etsy, Hub Man, wood and lacquer desk boxes, Pendleton Woolen Mills flower blanket, hanging shoe organizer, "E" from Mr. Tom on etsy, sailing photograph by levens photography on etsy, and the vintage wire dachshund paper organizer from bouquet on etsy.

top image from The Beautiful Soup.

Black and White for E - One

Happy Monday! I hope you had a good weekend. My niece is heading off to prep school in a month and she's decided to decorate her dorm room in black and white. She's a young teenager, and she has great style and intelligence. I've created this first moodboard for her based on this beautiful image...Her room will certainly be a lot smaller than this one, with a twin bed, bureau, desk and roommate provided! I mostly concentrated on bedding, throw pillows and a few accessories. This bed image is from West Elm, to show my sister and niece how the parachute duvet cover looks. It's feminine but sophisticated, I think. Click on the moodboard to enlarge and see the details more clearly...
Here's where you can find the: corwin and mociun pillows, tulip chair from Target, west elm organic cotton blanket, west elm parachute duvet cover, PB Teen task lamp, Format desk accessories from CB2, Jonathan Adler hugs pillow, black sheepskin pillow from overstock.com, tin mug from hindsvik on etsy, zebra print rug from amazon, cable knit pillow from a crooked sixpense on etsy, and three choices for a colorful print: sailboat print from mengseldesign on etsy, wishbone chair print from treasury designs on etsy, love print from Jennifer Ramos on etsy.
I hope to put together a few more black and white with pops of color boards this week, so stay tuned!

top image from The Beautiful Soup.

Apples

Happy Monday... a bit late! I hope your weekend was fun, and that you've made it through the beginning of the week in tact. I'm stopping in quickly to tell you I like these apples...They jumped out at me this weekend. I especially like the cast iron pot, which I'd leave out on the stove for a great pop of color.

pot from terrain, tape measure from hindsvik on etsy, and image from plastolux.

My New Abby Powell Photos

I'm so pleased... I just received my order from Abby! I've loved her work since I first started following her a year and a half ago. I ordered these three prints from her Etsy shop...It's hard to believe, but they are even better in person. Thank you, Abby. Until April 9th, Abby is having a contest on her beautiful blog Abby Try Again. You can win a set of bookmarks with her photos on them. Click here to learn about it.