Rebecca's Quilt

Happy August! A quick post to say you must go gaze at Rebecca's quilt, handmade for her and her husband by her mother-in-law...Stunning.
photo by Rebecca Haas for Campestral.

The Travel Files is Live

Danielle de Lange of the beautiful The Style Files has a new site: The Travel Files! She says, "The Travel Files is about traveling, exploring, dreaming and enjoying life. We showcase beautiful destinations from all over the world. Small or large, urban or rural, budget or high end: it doesn’t matter, as long as a place has a certain charm, edge or uniqueness. The Travel Files is dedicated to search the globe for beautiful hotels, B&B’s, restaurants, shops and other places worth visiting." This will be a new follow for me! It looks amazing. Congratulations to Danielle. Go check it out for yourself! Happy Thursday!

photos from The Travel Files.

New Follow Monday

Hi - I'm back with new follows for the week. I stumbled on both last night and immediately added them to the list. The first is Kelly Wearstler's new blog, My Vibe My Life, because it is pretty exciting to have such an approachable, honest and personal look into the creative process of this soon-to-be (already?) iconic designer...The photos are taken by Wearstler herself or, in some cases, by someone right beside her who is photographing her. They are glimpses into the raw materials that inspire her, how she thinks and creates, and what she's putting together right now. I particularly love the "vibe trays" she creates (second photo above), which are essentially mood boards, but to me they have so much more depth and fluidity. This is a very cool new blog... I love it. I hope you do, too. (Oh, and did I mention it's in super-large format? wow!)
The second fun find is Rive Gauche Rehab by a+b kasha, found thanks to the always-inspiring Bloesem...Beautiful interior photos, huh? a+b kasha is Alon and Betsy Kasha and their team. They buy, rehab and furnish, and then resell lovely Paris left bank apartments. They document the process and show us what inspires them on their blog Rive Gauche Rehab. I enjoy seeing creatives in the middle of their work, especially when their photos are this gorgeous, so this one is right up my alley. I hope you like it too. Thanks for visiting and... get outside this first day of Spring!

top four photos and My Vibe My Life header by Kelly Wearstler, bottom four photos by a+b kasha.

New Follow Monday

Good Monday Morning to you. I spent yesterday deep cleaning my closet, which was completely liberating. I have a few bags for thrift and a very clean closet. After I hang some art (because I can now actually see the bare walls), I will show it to you. It'll be like a normal person's version of The Coveteur, but with bad photos and a serious lack of designer bags or shoes!
While I vacuumed, scrubbed and folded, I had CNN on in the background. The devastation in Japan is astounding. I've put up a link (scroll up to the top right there) to The American Red Cross... see Naomi Ito's sweet little rising illustration? You can click it to donate. Thanks so much.
This past week I began following Carla because she is amazing.I'll simply link you to Friday's post about Carla's work and you can go browse her beautiful sites on your own.
I also subscribed to the feed for The above-mentioned The Coveteur,because looking through fabulous closets is just plain fun. Enjoy, and I hope you have a good and generous week.

Top photo is the cover of Carla Coulson's book Italian Joy, photo by Carla Coulson. Bottom photos by Jake Rosenberg for The Coveteur.

Photographer Carla Coulson

Today I'm so pleased to feature the work of Carla Coulson. One day, not long ago, I discovered I had a new follower who'd left a kind comment, so I clicked over to her blog and I was floored...As you see, Carla is an exceptionally artistic and accomplished photographer. She is also a kind person who leaves me happy, encouraging little comments on my blog. She is an Australian living in Paris who left the corporate world over a decade ago to follow her passion for photography. She has written and photographed two books, Italian Joy and Paris Tango, and has photographed two books written by Vicki Archer, My French Life and French Essence. The photos above are some of my favorites featured on Carla's blog Carla Loves Photography. They are: 1. from an Ellie Saab show during Paris Fashion Week a few seasons ago, 2. a portrait from Paris Tango, 3. Carla's niece in 2008, 4. the Imperial Suite at The Ritz Carlton Paris from Paris Tango, 5. Vicki Archer's daughter photographed for French Essence, and 6. Venice's St. Marco Basilica from Italian Joy. Carla's intelligence and her love for her work are evident in her blog and her portfolio. If you are still here and not there, I'm not sure why. I hope you are off to take a look.

All photographs are copyright Carla Coulson and are used with her permission.

New Follow Monday

Happy Monday, the last day of February already. Wow, that month flew! But it was a great month, and this past week I re-found today's new follow. It is the blog of two artists/designers featured on the lovely Bloesem back in November. I loved Linnea and Peter Dunham's home, so I clicked over to their shop Uusi and found their delicate, modern but whimsical wood sculptures... remember this? I've found Uusi again and am now following their blog Gibber-ish...The initial inspiration, the Dunhams's home, is lovely. It is warm, cheerful and, well, the home of cool designers. Very much up my alley...It is also seen in the top photos. (Among the many reasons I'm drawn to their place is that they painted with Benjamin Moore's Atrium White, the same paint we chose for our entire interior. And it really looks that warm on the walls.) But the duo are also designing hip, clever pieces, and styling them beautifully, too. Here: their Moderne cats, sweetly contemplating each other for Valentine's, and their Moderne blocks looking like skyscrapers...From Uusi's website: We are a creative studio for product design, graphic imagery and architectural interior elements, from concept through production. Our projects range from the commercial to limited edition studio pieces and commissions.
All items in the Uusi shop are Limited Editions or one-of-a-kind pieces. All are handmade by craftsman in the USA with sustainable, environmentally safe materials and finishes.
Happy to be following Gibber-ish!

New Follow Monday

Happy new week to you. Our weekend was very good - quiet and snowy. This past week, I was excited to find the following two blogs. Both are so beautiful and unique to their creators. The first is Mo+Mo Living, the work of Boulder, Colorado designer (and talented photographer) Michelle Wentworth. Mo+Mo appeals directly to my desire to be more organized and calm...Michelle's ethos is:
* pare to what is essential, valued, and beautiful
* revere simplicity, beauty, and order
* purchase with consideration to aesthetics, sustainability, and quality
* live with style, awareness, and eco-consciousness
The entire site is created to inspire it's readers to live this way. It makes me want to throw away all the clutter, wear a total of six perfect pieces, and eat only fruit. This is honestly just what I need right now.

The second new follow is Campestral, the charming blog of paper and jewelry designer Rebecca Haas. Rebecca is incredibly creative and also an excellent photographer, so it is a pleasure to look through her very personal record of her works in progress, her sweet child and her inspirations...Also, you may link to Rebecca's lovely jewelry collection and paper works by visiting her blog. I'm so happy to have found both of these women.

Top three photos by Mo+Mo, bottom three by Rebecca Haas.

New Follow Monday

Happy Valentine's Day again. I hope this is a good day for you. There were many years in my life when I dreaded this day, but I'm glad to celebrate it now. I'm low key about it, but thankful for my loves on this day. I hope the same for you, too.
OK... to the post. This past week, I started following the blog of one very talented Los Angeles artist. And, I am so happy that tiny.k is blogging again that I'm including her, even though tiny.k been on my side bar for years... I've been hoping one day she'd come back and she did.
First up is The Mincing Meerkat, found thanks to Decor8, and following because of this...I simply love this painting. It was the first thing I saw when I clicked over there, and I didn't need to see more before I hit follow. His blog links to more of his original work and also to the etsy shop Holly featured. His work is definitely worth viewing, and buying, in my humble opinion.
Now onto tiny.k. I'm so happy she's back. She has a little girl now and a new home, and this is the kitchen she transformed...I am so looking forward to seeing more, and I'm loving seeing her inspiration again. I hope you go have a look! Happy new week and thanks for visiting today.

New Follow Monday

Happy Monday! We've had a busy, fun birthday weekend around here. I hope your weekend was good, too.
This past week, I started following two blogs. Neither is new, but I'd forgotten about one and have only recently discovered the other. I'm very happy to be following both. The first is Beach Bungalow 8, interior designer Megan Arquette's blog...I like her humor, her straight-forward writing style and the widely diverse inspiration...Also, she papers her walls and paints her floors all by herself...
which I find completely impressive. And, I live in a land-locked state, so a little virtual trip to the beach each day is quite welcome. Happy to be following Beach Bungalow 8!
The next new follow this week is The Life of Polarn Per, the blog of an art director in Stockholm. It's a wonderfully masculine place, with random collections of images that inspire Polarn Per. Here are some from recent posts that piqued my interest...I'm really enjoying his male perspective. Go take a peak. I hope you enjoy it, too.
I hope you have a great week! I can't believe how fast time is flying. Or that my little guy is six. Wow.

New Follow Monday

Happy Monday all. I'm pleased to be starting a new weekly feature here that I'll call New Follow Monday! Each week, I'll link you to one or two gorgeous, new-to-me sites I've begun following over the past seven days, and I'll show you why I clicked follow. I'm definitely not a systematic blog follower (or blogger for that matter, until this series) so, while some of these have been around awhile, I never knew about them. Some are newer, but are very cool, promising great info and inspiration to come. So, here we go...
I'm very excited about this first follow: the new blog of Angie Hranowsky. I'm following for a number of reasons, including Angie's most recent post, in which she has expertly paired some jaw-dropping foot wear with a number of awe-inspiring spaces...
Also seen (and filed as "wow")...Angie is a successful Charleston SC area interior designer and the images above are from her pretty blog. In June of 2010, I found Angie's own home in a dog-eared copy of Charleston Magazine (which I promptly stole!). I fell in love with it for every reason and posted about it here. The same home was just recently featured in a stunning sneak peak on Design Sponge.Love! Angie does not post often...yet. But I know I'll love learning more about what inspires her when she does!
The next blog up this week is The North Elevation, which has been live since 2008 and has gobs of followers (duh, Liza). I'm following because of features like this... and this...both of which are so beautiful to me. But I'm also following for it's Favorite Picks (Auctions!!) series... and its Icons series...How amazing is this photograph of Andy Warhol at the Glass House? Definite FOLLOW.
I hope you have as much fun with New Follow Monday as I do. See you back here tomorrow!