Pairs and pairs and pairs and pairs of pairs

Last week in my post about my tendency towards artwork in pairs, I mentioned some advice I read in an old House Beautiful.  Number two on a list of 101 easy makeovers, it went something like this:


If a room has three or more pairs of anything, put one half of a pair away. Too many pairs, too stiff.


I found myself counting up the pairs in various rooms in my house, and found that I am in violation of this rule once or twice, and I found myself tempted to break up the rooms: if I suffer from any great problem as a decorator, I think it might be this: Stiff is my s-word.  


Then, perusing the current issue of HB, I came across this living room by Martyn Lawrence Bullard.

How many pairs do you count?


I see at least a dozen.  A dozen!  And yet, I don't find this room stiff.  Balanced, oh, yes.  Stiff, no.  Of course, I'm not MLB, and, love him or hate him (he was much reviled in early episodes of Bravos' Million Dollar Decorators), he is a Big Name for a reason.


I will say this:  most of us have far fewer items in a room, period, than what can be found here.  I think we just don't have the money or the space for so many layers of functionless objets, like the two pairs of foo dogs in this room.  And in a way, I think having so many of these items in pairs lends order to a room that is big enough and full enough that it could easily have slipped into chaos.


What do you think: Are you a lover or a hater?  Is there an upward limit on pairs in a space?  And, perhaps the most telling, what is the greatest number of pairs you have in a single room in your home?  (For me its the girls room: headboards, bolsters, throw blankets, lamps, and silhouettes, though as a group of three now, I suppose they don't count.)  5.  Or really, 4.  Not as bad as I would have guessed.

On the Fringes

One of the things I love about my current work situation is the variety.  When I get a little burned out on design work, I can write a blog post.  If I need something concrete, there is always book keeping.  I happened to have 3 or 4 projects all in the conception stage at the same time, which is incredibly fun, but it also left me feeling the need for something a little more tangible.  I wanted to make something, to do something, to see an end result now.

So I made some time and knocked a couple of items off my own project list, and I'm feeling great.  Nothing big, just small signs of progress under my own two hands.  I'll share some with you this week.

First up, you may be tired of seeing the girls' room, but here it comes again.

It's completely counter-intuitive, but moving in to this modern house with simple lines has brought out the traditional girl in me, and I have not only done more floor length draperies on a per-window basis in this house than any previous house, I have also found myself drawn to more formal trappings like pelmets and fringe.  I think it might be a desire to layer in details to a house with minimal architecture.  With a limited budget, I've mostly left out this particular finishing touch (the navy blue Ralph Lauren silk tassel trim I wanted for the guest room curtains was $30 per yard even at my fabulous fabric outlet.)  But after finding just the right trim for $8/yard, almost a quarter of the price of something similar at, say, JoAnn's, I decided to go for it.

Here are the curtains most recently "before"

And here they are after.

I love how the tassel reinforces the three dominant colors in the room--the green, pink, and yellow--but leaves out the blue.  I also like how finished the treatment looks, and how playful the overall effect ended up being.

I will admit that these curtains didn't "need" tassels with such a bold pattern and the finished effect of the cornice box, and at $45 for the 5 yards I needed, this was not a super cheap change.  But I think sometimes these subtle bits and pieces add up to a lot of impact.

I also think trim could be used to jazz up inexpensive curtains for a very custom look.

Take a pair of basic ikea curtains for about $20, add this pom pom trim on both sides of the panels,

and you have your own version of these anthropologie Toorie panels.

Or add these ruffles (they come in lots of colors)

 in vertical strips a couple of inches apart and you have something like these panels from Urban Outfitters.

Run your ruffles horizontally for this effect, a la Land of Nod

(if you did several rows on floor length curtains, these would be worthy of a grown up space.)

Go over the top fabulous with layers of box pleated taffeta trim and pretend you run with Miles Redd.

Okay, not quite the same thing (his is silk organdy, inspired by Oscar de la Renta couture gowns) but you could get something of the look for less.  As an aside, this is one of my favorite bedrooms of all time.  Seriously, I would take it in a heartbeat.

Okay, back to embellishing curtains.  I also like the idea of getting a little exotic.  How about linen curtains with short beaded fringe for a sort of tribal look?

Or feathers??!!

(Truth be told, I tried to get my mom to go for some feather trim on curtains in her guest room.  If anyone was going to go for feathered curtains, I would think it would be my mom, but no dice.)

For a more sophisticated take, you could add a simple tape inset from the edge.  Maybe a greek key or a classic scroll?

Come to think of it, I kind of like that scroll for my chartreuse silk curtains in the dining room....

I think trim might be a love it or hate it kind of a thing.  Which side do you fall on?

Small Measures: Dramatic Wall Treatment

[spotted here]

Like marbelized paper or bleached out malachite, this wall, like Rome, was probably not built in a day.  But I dare you to try.

Vintage Educational Charts

This one has been a long time coming, but I'd say that the educational chart trend has hit critical mass.  The official date and time was, oh, this past Tuesday?  I believe these were in one of the One Kings Lane tastemaker tag sales, listed for a cool grand or so.

And just last week, I saw these at Minneapolis's own Hunt and Gather, for less than half the OKL price.

(I will admit, these are quite awesome--and they are HUGE).

Back in the fall, I had considered using one of these in Oliver's nursery,

but Oliver's mom is a teacher and thought this hit a little close to home to have it in her, er, home.

I know I have seen them EVERYWHERE, but in putting together this roundup, my search was not super fruitful.

Let's see.

Steven Gambrel in Elle Decor.

Amy Larocca's house in Domino (I was almost too lazy to scan this one, but you guys are worth it.)

An insect chart in House Beautiful

A Sneak Peek on Design Sponge.

Okay, make that two.

A creepy anatomy version on the Readymade blog (SO sad that Readymade is no more)

This one's not totally what I'm talking about, though.  There seems to be a preference for french educational charts, I suppose because they are in French?  Kind of like how adorable french accents are on little children?

There also seems to be a preference for a black background.  Maybe more dramatic that way.  And for hanging it unframed.  Like this one, from Rue Magazine.

Incidentally, love the black on black.  

Here's one on a blackboard wall, taking the school house thing up a notch or two (via pinterest).

Want one?

Get mammals, here (do you know three potato four?  No?  Well, have fun over there.)

Get botanicals, here.  Oh, they have zoology, too.  

Or make your own and report back.

Seriously.

Seeing Double

Last week, I mentioned my affliction for pairs of things.  Admittedly, I am a fan of symmetry, but I think there's also something to be said for power from repetition.  This predilection for pairs has made its way into my art collection, and I have found that I'm about twice as likely to buy a piece if it has a brother (or sister.)  Take the pair of vintage 70s portraits in my living room.  I really fell hard for him (kind of reminds me of my husband, and, in fact, when I brought the thing home my girls asked "is that Daddy?"), but I couldn't leave her behind.  I wasn't as thrilled with the quality of the painting or the look of the subject, but there she is, hanging in my living room.

So, falling for pairs kind of makes sense, right?  How about hanging them stacked vertically, instead of side by side?  Take a tour around my house and you will see this trend.

In the dining room

In the office

(these are new--the "$10" tags are still on them--Oops.  They are awesome vintage African prints that I snagged at the sale where I did not buy the lamp of my dreams.)

In the guest room

In the pantry

In the girls' bathroom (TWO stacked pairs!)

And bedroom

While I think this is partly because of the walls I have available--the larger walls are either broken up by really big windows or too big for small works, and the smaller walls are taller than they are wide--I must just also like the way the stack looks.

A quick tip about hanging art: you want the height of arrangements to relate from one room to another, if the pieces share sitelines.  See in the photo of the office above how the pair of African prints is centered vertically on the pair of 70s portraits in the living room?  Or the pantry pair is centered vertically on the large print in the kitchen?  That's what I'm talking about.  It allows your eye to move around the space in a measured way, without going on a roller coaster.  Here, I did it for the dining room and living room pairs, too.

Ha.  I didn't expect to be particularly helpful this morning, but hopefully that's a useful tip.

Here's another one:  I was just reading an article in a back issue of House Beautiful with 100 instant makeover ideas.  One of them suggested that if you have three or more pairs in a room, to remove half of one pair to keep things from being too stiff.  Do you think this applies to the whole space of a somewhat-open-plan home?  Well, even if it does, I think I'm keeping all my pairs of paintings.

So tell me: do you tend towards one kind of arrangement in your home?  Do you prefer pairs up and down or side by side?

Lantern Love

I have a client presentation at the end of the day, and we are possibly using lantern pendant fixtures in the living room and foyer (the two spaces are technically one big room).  Because lanterns are more tall than wide, as a typical armed chandelier, the "rules" of scale don't seem quite accurate, and while sourcing the perfect fixtures, I turned to some inspiration shots.  Turns out, interesting lanterns work in all kinds of rooms in varying scales, shapes and finishes.

In addition to some tearsheets in my inspiration file and others found around the internet, I happened upon a whole roundup over at Cote De Texas, including these gems:

And in the blogger's own family room:

Also pulled a bunch from my favorite source, House Beautiful:

Of course, lots of these are antiques and totally fabulous, and we have neither the searching time nor the budget for such things.  I'm actually most liking the simplest ones (in my clients home, there is a high ceiling and a large clerestory window to be mindful of).

The natural preference for these fixtures seem to be in the dining room and kitchen, but I do think Cote de Texas makes a strong case for the living room.

What do you think?

Put Your Stamp On It

My husband kind of has a thing for stamps.  He doesn't collect them ,it's not like that, he just gets kind of excited when new collections come out at the post office.  This is one of those utilitarian things where I--the aesthete--would just buy a roll of flag stamps, just your basic little guys that are all business.  But Dave buys them in sheets.  He buys the Simpsons, and Jazz Musicians, and Quilts.  He went to the post office recently and came home with some of the latest designs, including these Pioneers of American Industrial Design.


I love them.  He got extra because he knew I would.

I think the lamps are my favorites, though those bright pitchers are surely in the running.

So tell me: do you buy plain stamps, or do you go for the designs?  What's your favorite?


Oh and p.s., I have a little stamp project to share later this week.  True story.