Dipped Legs

I've been saving photos of painted chairs and stools with raw legs (or natural frames with dipped legs) for a couple years, but I didn't really realize how much I loved the idea until I saw this image in April's Better Homes and Gardens.

They used this chair from World Market (on sale for $100 each!) to get this amazing look. I want a whole set, please and thank you. That lavender is lovely.

A few more dipped legs, for your viewing pleasure...

anthro


D*S





D*S






Living Etc


via

Striped Rugs on the Diagonal

Do you read APT with LSD on Vogue's website? Lauren Santo Domingo shares the homes of really fashionable people. I loved when she shared her own apartment the best though! It's an amazing space (check it out here).

I loved this little trick she shared. Lauren bought regular striped wall-to-wall carpet (similar to the bound remnant I bought for my living room) and had her carpet installers lay it on the diagonal!! GENIUS!!!

What an easy and chic way to have super custom looking flooring. I'm thinking if we move and need a smaller rug, I'll have my yellow striped rug cut down on the diagonal and re-bound. It feels really fresh!

On a related note, I'm still loving chevron rugs in the right spaces. I rounded up a handful of great-looking chevron rugs HERE. The most expensive one by a long shot is $500 for and 8x10.

Huge Artwork Over the Bed

Thank you all so much for the sweet emails, comments and tweets of support about the scariness of last week. I'm sure you heard that hurricane Irene was milder than expected by the time it got to New York, which Michael and I were very grateful for. It ended up being a really nice family weekend. Anyway, thanks again for all the love, concern and support. We had offers to stay at readers homes all over the east coast! I really love you guys. xoxo

Timothy Whealon for Veranda

I've been working with Joanna on decorating her bedroom. It's sooo close to being done and it looks really great! I can't wait to share the projects here after she does a tour on her blog. The headboard was a killer DIY that you will love, and we really wanted something amazing above the bed, which we found last week and which you will also LOVE! So exciting.

Katie Ridder

Last week we were brainstorming about what size art to go with. I like it when art is placed where it can be easily viewed. Art hung really high on a wall or above a big piece of furniture (like a bed) really should be fairly large. Almost across the board, I only like using a small sunburst mirror (especially for a curved headboard) or really big artwork above a bed. I also don't mind a grouping of frames, as long as the images are pretty simple and don't need to be looked at up close.

Laura Seydel

We ended up going with a HUGE photograph above Joanna's bed - it's almost the width of her mattress. It's getting printed this week and hopefully hung next. In my mind and my sketches, it looks amazing! :) These inspiration images are giving more confidence too.

Coburn Architecture

I'd love to hear - what do you have hanging above your bed?

This month's Elle Decor


Elle Decor showhouse


Kips Bay Showhouse




Elle Decor


Sara Story for Domino


Madeline Weinrib in Elle Decor




Missoni




Peter Dunham

PS On Babble, I posted a DIY roller shade tutorial that would be perfect for a nursery...

And on one of my all-time favorite wallpapers.

I'm feeling chatty today...

It's been cloudy all morning, and the rain *just* started to come down. Heather, my sister, who has been living with us all summer and who is going back to Utah tomorrow for her last year of undergrad (if the storm doesn't stop her flight), said 'Well, this is the beginning of the end.' She's hilarious.

My friends are all renting cars and going inland for the weekend. Between this hurricane on its way and the earthquake earlier this week - it's been a weird couple of days. There's a really weird vibe on the streets here.

I met up with some local blogger friends for dinner last night. We all talked about blogging and work and what's new in our busy lives. Then we talked about how scary the earthquake was, because who ever expects there to be an earthquake in New York City? I've never been in one before, so admittedly, my reaction was probably stronger than necessary (especially for you earthquake pros in California). But guys, the books on my bookshelves five feet from my desk were falling down. That's scary stuff in the moment.

And now the rain has come. It's pouring. One of my vintage furniture dealers upstate is emailing me to say that I need to come pick up a bench I bought right away because his store will probably flood. My neighbor is telling me to go to the Duane Reade if I need toilet paper and milk, because CVS is already pretty cleaned out. I can hear at least two ambulances. And I look down at my desk to see the Emergency Evacuation Strategy packet my building manager left at my door last night.

I have been so stressed about work lately - should I do this, and/or should I do that? Is this a worthwhile opportunity? How will this effect my family responsibilities? How will this translate on my blog? How can I pass that up?

Last night at that dinner, Abbey and I were talking about how during the earthquake we were both just thinking about our babies. It was such a heavy feeling. The responsibility of other lives - those little bodies that mean absolutely everything to me. I think we all had a shake up moment where perspective changed a little. Things that have consumed my thoughts lately suddenly couldn't have mattered less.

I'm going to call it a weekend. We'll hole up and make some yummy food, watch a couple movies, maybe paint a side table I picked up last Saturday... Hopefully, Monday I'll be back with a fresh attitude and some sunshine. I'm praying that the storm on Sunday is gentle for all of us.
xoxo

Dear Jenny: Decorating Kids Rooms

Dear Jenny,

I have 5 year-old twin boys and I am pregnant again with another boy. While I'm happy to have another little buddy, I was sort of hoping to get to decorate a little girl's room this time. Almost all my inspiration images are full of pink and frilly things! :)

I know you have all girls in your family, but I'm positive if you had a son, his room would be adorable and chic, like everything else you do. Would you mind sharing some of your boy room inspiration images? I'd love pictures of both big boy rooms and nurseries. I feel so bored and stuck.

Please and thank you!
Carrissa

Hi Carrissa! I would LOVE to help here! In fact, a huge chunk of my Dear Jenny emails are requests for kids room inspiration images, so I put together two HUGE slideshows on Babble.

Cookie Magazine

Here are my very favorite boys rooms

And here and my very favorite girls rooms!

I think it's worth taking a look at both slideshows because there are design elements that could definitely work in gender specific or gender neutral rooms, depending on what you are looking for. Enjoy!! xx

Kitchens on Kirsty

Kirsty is a really cool site that features a new, really interesting slide show every day. Each slide show is curated by artists and designers and bloggers. I was asked to submit my favorite kitchen images, which was really fun.

Not surprisingly, my favorite kitchens are ones that have personality. We all spend so much time in the kitchen, why shouldn't it be warm, inviting and beautiful? Put up art! Don't be afraid to add some color! Use a pretty rug!

Check out all my favorite kitchens (with commentary!) HERE. Thanks for having me, Kirtsy! xx

Magnificant Malachite

Malachite is such a pretty stone - no wonder it's a favorite in the design world. Sadly, the only malachite I own is in the form of a ring and a strand of beads, but I wear them a lot (not together obviously). Surprisingly the color compliments a lot of other colors and patterns.

Last week I was browsing through Spoonflower's site and I stumbled across this malachite print. Have you heard of Spoonflower? You can upload your own designs and they'll print up some fabric for you (or you can purchase other people's designs). Prices range between $18-$32 per yard depending on the type of fabric you choose (like cotton or linen blend).

I was so excited to buy a couple yards of this malachite fabric for pillows for a client and to reupholster my rope benches. Look at all the cool stuff you can do with this fabric!

- Have PANTS made!!

image

-Upholster your walls

via d*s

-Upholster an antique chair:

1st Dibs

-Or just the seat of a chair:

Hamish Bowles for Vogue Living Australia via Habitually Chic

-Make some show-stopping roman shades:

Elle Decor

-Mod Podge it to the top of a chic little table and top it off with some glass:

-Make the folding screen of your dreams:

1st Dibs

PS I put together round up of my other favorite fabrics available on Spoonflower, HERE. I was shocked at how many patterns I wanted to buy!

National Geographics

Those girls at Tilton Fenwick are geniuses! I love everything they did in this room for the Hamptons Showhouse. I'm crazy over the studded grasscloth wall covering. I would kill a man for those chairs. And they have me clamoring for as many vintage Nat Geo's as I can get my hands on.

This would be a pretty good start:

I think the best type of decoration is something that is beautiful and also functional/educational. A big block of yellow spines would be so cool and graphic on my coral and black bookshelf! But I love that my kids and I could pull out different issues and actually learn something too. It reminds me of how my grandparents kept a big, heaping stack of National Geographics on the screened-in back porch of our cabin in Arizona. There was a triple bunk built into the wall of that porch and I remember as a kid falling asleep looking at the beautiful pictures of exotic places.

PS More colorful books in my Babble post.

Old Fluorescent, now Inset Chandelier

My parents used to have a fluorescent light box in their kitchen that looked a lot like this one

(image from google)

But my clever and handy mom and dad pulled down the box, moved the fluorescent bulbs to the perimeter of the inset box, added some crown moulding to mask the long bulbs, and hung a chandelier in the old wiring in the center.

It's nice and bright (which is great since there are no windows in my parents' kitchen), and it makes the room feel taller without the drop.

PS Today on Babble I'm talking about our vacuum cleaner situation, present and future. Input is kindly requested!