Vintage Finds

I did a little thrifting today, and I am dying over these teal chinoiserie armchairs from Minneapolis store Hunt and Gather!


Set of 4 for only $140.

I suppose the white vinyl seats could be improved upon, though I wouldn't want to do much pattern and compete with the great woven inset in the backs. I would just pair them with a Hollywood Regency sheaf of wheat table with a glass top and call it a day.I find myself wishing I had a breakfast nook or a sun room in which to put these....

Sweet Rose Lampshades

I was in Pottery Barn Kids the other day and saw these sweet lamps. The lampshade alone is $99, though, and the base is $49. I happened to hit Michael's the same afternoon, and when I saw the aisles and aisles of faux flowers, I figured there was a DIY project in it for someone with a good glue gun and a lot of patience.

Or you could try to split the difference -- Home Goods had some similar shades for half the price as the PB one, but when I went back today to snap a picture, they were gone!

Choosing Curtains

My husband does not believe in window treatments. He thinks that windows should have nothing on them, or, at minimum, a utilitarian shade for privacy or light blockage. When building the cornice for the girls room, I tried to engage him in a discussion about the height and shape of the thing, and he finally shut me up by saying, quite simply, "I don't want a cornice. Before this project, I didn't know what a cornice was."

I, on the other hand, believe in the power of a good curtain (or roman shade, or valance, or whatever suits your fancy; I draw the line at swags), and I think they are all about effect. Let a shade do the dirty work of sun protection. Curtains bring color and warmth, pattern and drama to a room. For years, if I couldn't find a store-made curtain that I liked, I simply bought some fabric and pinned it up to a rod, always intending to sew it, but never getting that far.

When we moved into this house, I was determined to do things properly. To finish projects. To aim for a certain polish in addition to effect. I was also determined to try to walk the line between the clean, minimal lines of the house and my own maximalist tendencies. I decided that three rooms needed curtains: the two upstairs bedrooms, which have more ordinary scale windows and needed some warmth, and the dining room, which has two half walls and is open to the kitchen and the hallway; curtains claim the hallway wall as part of the dining room to make it feel much cozier and finite.

I went looking for charteuse velvet (the (older) man at the fabric warehouse called me a "wild woman") but came home with yards and yards of chartreuse silk, which in the end I am loving for the sheen and weightlessness. I realized that finishing projects requires many decisions about details, and while I had fabric, I had no plan. I dug up the drapery how-to book I bought a decade ago when I first planned to sew proper window treatments and looked at the drapery options. I learned the difference between pinch pleats, butterfly and goblet pleats. Armed with this lingo, I turned to my trusty stack of Domino magazines and looked for curtains that evoked the mood I was going for: opulent without being fancy; a little flyaway and footloose. I liked the way some designers played down a fancy fabric with a casual treatment, like these grommeted silk draperies in the living room of Ashley Starck.

[Domino]

While I admire this choice in this room, I happen to dislike grommeted panels in general, so found myself drawn to an upscale, dorothy draper-like box pleat. I have now torn the house apart looking for this particular tearsheet--it is from the Domino guide to rugs--but have so far been unsuccesful. No matter, I realized that, as an amateur seamstress, I best not attempt such a tailored style: it would certainly give away every mistake.

I loved these, in a room decorated by Julianne Moore:

[Domino]

But wanted to challenge myself to do something beyond the pole-pocket top. (These curtains did, however, reconfirm my decision not to line the silk. Again, much less formal that way!)

Finally, I landed on this fabulous room in designer Fawn Galli's Brooklyn town house:

[Domino]

and fashion designer Nanette Lepore's insanely hot living room and family room.

[Elle Decor]

Perfect. But I couldn't find the name of this style anywhere, and without the name, how's a girl to google how-to videos? Finally, in the Domino Book of Decorating, I saw this useful chart:


Found! I was after a "tiny soft pinch pleat." At Calico Corners, I looked at their sample draperies and found that they had a sample with something similar, called a fan pleat. Finally, in another drapery book (studied at length sitting on the floor at Hancock Fabrics), I found that this look might also be called a "french" or "parisian" pleat. Who knew? I love that the Domino guide calls this a "bohemian" look, much more laid back than the traditional pinch pleat (if a silk floor to ceiling curtain can ever be laid back?)

It's always amazing how much thought, energy, and research can go into one very small decorating decision (I suppose this is why trained designers get the big bucks: they already know the difference between a parisian pleat and a pencil pleat). But making such deliberate choices make a difference. I also find it hilarious that I got Dave to look at tears of different styles of curtains and to actually weigh in. This was EARLY in the decorating process!

Check back in the next day or so for the next part in this process: planning and sewing. I promise, all the effort paid off.

Correction: Rust!

Just saw this post on the lonnyblog. Turns out, it was their editor who made the Nate Berkus show prediction about orange only, really, it was rust. Check out her other predictions here.

But since orange got some lovin, I will add two cents worth:

Amy, here's a look at the burnt orange shade I mentioned, circa Brooklyn 2007.


And Renee, I have always wanted an orange couch, preferably a corduroy chesterfield like the pair that designer Muriel Brandolini once had in her Manhattan study.

[via New York Living]

But then I went and bought an orange rug and, well, the dream of the orange couch was shelved. I'll live vicariously through you. Enjoy it!

Charteuse and Pink

I recently got the new catalog from Hive modern. Hive is like DWR, only more so. More esoteric design, higher price tags, totally drool-worthy collections. The catalog is itself a thing of beauty, with a square format and heavy paper, and I have been poring over it for days (though not a one of the designs is within my reach.) Mostly the individual products are swoon-worthy, but this particular room makes my heart go pitter pat. The chartreuse and pink combination could not be more luminous.


Going through some old tearsheets, I happen to find another chartreuse and pink dining room, from the Cottage Living 2008 idea home.


I love the way both rooms are grounded with bold color--black and white or royal blue--and the way both use mixed metals to stunning effect. My dining room is chartreuse and teal, which I also love, but this shell pink is just so soothing, so feminine, so, so lovely.

Evolution of a hanging chair

When we were looking for a house in Minneapolis, our search was a bit of a mad dash (50 houses over two weekends), and we looked in many neighborhoods at many different styles of architecture. I wasn't expecting to fall in love with a new house, or a sort of California contemporary style, but I did, and here we are. The house has clean lines, maple floors and cabinetry, huge windows, and tons of natural light, making it feel, indeed, more like it belongs in California than in Minnesota. In keeping with this sense of California casual, one of the first thoughts I had when starting to conceive the decor was to find a wicker egg chair, like these.

[via House Beautiful]

[via Domino]

When you walk in our front door, you look down a long corridor right to the back of the house. That room is the living room, and it's slightly awkward because a chunk of the living space is exposed to that corridor, kind of like its tucked away and exposed at the same time. I loved the idea of making a statement and setting the tone by making the chair the first thing you see, while also dividing the space visually with the long chain, up to the ceiling.

Well, as with all classic design that came about midcentury and is still in production today, the wicker chair (designed by Nanna and Jorgen Ditzel in 1959) comes with a steep price tag: you can have an authentic one from Unica home for a mere $3,850.


Needless to say, that would have been the first and last decorating decision I made, and while it would have made a statement, we had many functional needs to eke out of our budget. Like a bed for the guest room, that kind of thing.

Several months later, just after complaining to Dave about never finding anything good on craigslist, I found this simpler version, listed for only $100 (retails for 2-4 times that).

I got super excited and emailed the poster immediately, only to realize, as I was supposed to go see it (and presumably buy it), that I could no longer hang it in the living room. First, other decisions had been made that didn't really work with the chair. Second, I had installed a completely ginormous chandelier in the neighboring dining room, and that would have been a lot of competition. Weeks later (sometimes I'm slow this way), I realized that it would be just the thing for the girls room, so I emailed the owner and was surprised to find that it was still available. I guess not just everyone is hanging a swing chair in their house (though I should mention that we already have this Ikea one in the basement!)




Added bonus? As it had been sitting unsold for all that time and wasn't in perfect condition, the owner let me have it for $50. I talked Dave into hanging it the other day, and while the location of the ceiling beam ultimately limited my placement options, I think it looks pretty good.


I love the way it plays up the beachy preppiness of the girls' curtain fabric and plaid blankets, and the way it gives a visual lightness to the room (while the girls still need their beds on the floor from a functional perspective, it can weigh the room down a bit.)

While I would probably still prefer the simple beauty of the Ditzel's original, I kind of like the way the rattan grid plays up the plaid and the diamond pattern in the rug. I was planning to make a cushion covered in that same curtain fabric (more on that misguided project in another post), but I find myself wondering if I should leave it bare, or make a thin little cushion out of some pink linen I have lying around. Or really trick it out with a sheepskin (my friend Sara just did this in her son's room, and I love the result) and a kicky throw pillow, like this:

[tonic home]

Of course, this shot also revives my interest in painting the thing.
What do you think?

Craigslist Find

I've been searching for a dresser for the guest room on a very tight budget, and when I stumbled upon this dresser and hutch combo for a mere $75, my jaw dropped for all of it's cuteness. The faux bamboo! The brass hardware! The little finials on the top of the hutch!


I mean, right? Makes me want to scrap the girls room and start over, building around this. I won't, but I'm tempted.

It reminded me of this awesome piece in designer Celerie Kemble's office.

[via Domino]

Love the turquoise color. MN folks, someone should really, truly, snap this piece up!