My back is jacked

I feel like such an old lady typing this - but somehow I messed up my back this week and it hurts bad. :( Like, back labor 24 hours a day. Not fun. I have a big deadline on Friday so I'm focusing every bit of my energy on that - I feel bad that I won't be around here much this week. I'm hoping to be back in action soon. All next week, starting Monday, I have a seriously amazing house tour to share with you. (Remember my friend Emily? It's her whole house!) TONS of tips and inspiration!

Speaking of inspiration, here are some images that I keep coming back to lately. The colors!!

Mario Buatta




Arch Digest






Melanie Acevedo

Hoping to be able to post again here this week, but if I can't, don't forget to enter my favorite things give away! I've been reading all the comments and I love seeing your choices!

Kohler Contest - SPONSORED POST

Hi friends! This is a sponsored post written by someone else. Thanks for being supportive of the sponsors that help me keep things running here at LGN, especially the great ones like Kohler! Lots of love. xx

PS This looks like a cool contest! If you win and make it to NYC, I would love to meet up with you!








Classic Meets Modern in a Fun Contest by Kohler

We’re all multi-taskers these days, and when it comes to the look and feel of our homes, it’s always great when our décor can multitask, too. Kohler’s Tresham collection is both classic Americana and eclectically modern, offering handcrafted fixtures that turn the bathroom area into a sensibly stunning area of your home. This mixing of past and present has even inspired Kohler’s Tresham Keepsake Contest on Facebook, which asks fans to share a photo and description of their most treasured heirloom.

Just head over and upload a photo of that beautiful locket from your mom or the gorgeous grandfather clock that adorns your dining room. Then give a brief backstory on your chosen vintage item. A panel of judges will choose one grand prize winner to win a trip for two to New York City, a professional design consultation, and stunning Kohler products. Three first prize winners will score Kohler products as well.

The contest ends on October 31st. Head to Facebook.com/kohler to enter.

Super Awesome Give Away

You guys, I've been blogging here for almost FOUR YEARS! It simultaneously feels much shorter and much, much longer than that. :) Thank you for all the love and support you've shown me. I have the sweetest, most respectful and encouraging readers. I really love you all - you make it easy to want to show up here every weekday.

As a thank you, I'm going to be putting together some give-aways over the next couple of months called Jenny's Favorite Things. Are you excited? You should be. Check it all out here. (comments on this post closed)

HAPPY MONDAY, FRIENDS!! xoxo

Style Me Pretty

Happy weekend, friends! What do you have going on? It's pretty drizzly here in New York, but I'm feeling good and productive (which, isn't that the best way to feel?).

I hope you have a fun-filled, exciting (and maybe productive?) weekend! See you back here Monday. Lots of exciting things to share next week!

Oh, and in case you're one of the five people in the world that doesn't read Style Me Pretty, head on over and check out my Buying Guide HERE, which was inspired by this beautiful Napa wedding.
Side note: Who else wants to have a redo on their wedding? Same guy. Different reception venue/photographer/flowers, etc, etc. I've talked to my friends who were married 8-10 years ago like I was (ie before blogs and Pinterest) and we all feel the same way :)

Can you guess what I've got up my sleeve?

This week is insanely busy (what's new), but I've got a project of my own on the brain. Can you guess what it is? Here's a hint...

PS Are you looking for a duvet cover? I was looking for a fun and cheap duvet for a client and thought you'd like to see what caught my eye.

I'm a Giant! Dollhouse Challenge!

We used to have this really huge, amazing doll house last year that we sold when we moved to New York for space reasons. I didn't realize how much they would miss the dollhouse! They ask about it often and Grace even asked for a dollhouse for her birthday. They're a little older now and super into imaginative play, so I'm feeling like we should make room for a dollhouse again.

When Emily (who is so hilarious and nice) invited me to participate in her Dollhouse Challenge I felt like it was a great chance to spend more time with my girls. Especially now that the weather is cooling down (sad!!) and the parks are getting to be a lot less fun. Both Grace and Claire are really into crafty projects, so I thought it might be fun to work on this together.
Last weekend I found this big old dollhouse at a junk shop. It is in horrible shape. I mean, really BAD shape. Which is *just* how I like my houses to start with!

Also, it was a good excuse to finally buy a Dremel! Boy oh boy.

I'm excited. My kids are excited. And other bloggers are excited about their projects. It's going to be a fun group challenge (you can learn all about it here). There's even talk about displaying the finished doll houses in December in California. Cool, right?

Here are some of the fabulous friends in on the challenge:
Emily Henderson from www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com
Nicole from www.makingitlovely.com
Morgan from www.the-brick-house.com
Erin from www.designformankind.com
Orlando from www.hommemaker.com
Corbett from www.girl-domestic.com
and Kirsten from www.simplygrove.com
And anyone else who wants in on the fun. Feel free to join! In the meantime, I'm trolling eBay and etsy looking for amazing vintage doll furniture, looking through my fabrics and wallpapers for small scale prints and digging through my craft bins for trinkets to repurpose. I can't wait til the girls get home from school this afternoon. They're always telling me how they're decorators too, so this will be fun to come up with mini design plans together.
PS the Lonny team did a dollhouse last year. Love it all - especially that Christmas-ornament-turned-light-fixture in the entry. Pretty!

Chloe Redmond Warner in MSL

Remember this great spread in the May 2011 Martha Stewart Living? Chloe Redmond Warner hits it out of the park (again) with all her layers of pattern:

This mural wall is completely genius. The black parts are magnetic paint!

Such a pretty living room:

I think it's nice to have a little desk in almost every room. Just a little place to sit down and make a list or write a note. This little desk nook is in the living room, it looks like.

Gorgeous, warm den:

LOVE this dining room!!

And of course I am crazy over the bedroom:

Check out that beautiful Pierre Frey wallpaper! It's the Nakai pattern in Tobacco.

There are lots of colorways available including one with a black background. I want to do a powder room in this!

images via MSL and the Redmond Aldrich site

Make it Blue

When I asked my girls what color they wanted in their bedroom Claire's answer was "pink" and Gracie's was "purple," so naturally like any good mother would do, I'm painting their walls blue.

The room gets hardly any natural light so I'm feeling like we need a really cool color (cool as in opposite of warm) on the walls. Plus blue looks great with pinks and purples, so we'll be sure to incorporate their favorite colors too.

There's just something about the color blue in a feminine room. I really like it:

I left all my paint decks at a client's house, so I just picked up some paint samples when I was at Home Depot a couple days ago. I want a really clear blue - not a lot of brown or gray undertones.

Once the paint goes up, I'm thinking about getting artsy/crafty and doing a little mural. Something simple and only in white. I'm not going for a Chinoiserie look, but the idea is the same. White design on a colorful wall.

Mrs Blandings did an AMAZING job in her dining room. Did you see?

I'm thinking something charming and scenic. Flowers, trees, stars, maybe an NYC skyline.

When I asked Grace what she wanted her room to look like she said, "Just...hmmm...(sigh)...magical." :) love that girl.

PS Speaking of magical girls rooms: I answered a Dear Jenny question on Babble today. Ideas on how to recreate this darling hot pink starred canopy bed:

Hanging Chair?

Things are getting d.o.n.e. around here, friends. The navy chairs are gone, I ended up getting that pretty yellow settee off craigslist (it's GORGEOUS - I'll post about it later) and the gray sofa is getting donated to Housing Works today or Monday. Painting and moving projects will most likely happen this weekend. Awesome all around!

With the new seating arrangement there will be room for one biggish chair in the space. For about 2.5 seconds today I contemplated a hanging chair. I mean, look how cool and unexpected these are. I especially like them mixed with more traditional furnishings.

Jonathan Adler


Lonny


Domino


(j/k. I couldn't pull this off in my space but I think this looks really cool in here)


Ilse Crawford




Jonathan Adler




Patricia Halpin

It's obviously not a perfect option for most homes, but I think it could be great in our loft. I also really like them in bedrooms. And of course a porch or a sun room would be an amazing place for these fun chairs.

Have any of you owned one of these hanging chairs? Here's what I'd like to know:
1) Do you have children?
2) Did said children break any bones as a direct result of the chair?
3) Did the ceiling hooks fall out? We have concrete rafters, so I think we could get a hook in there pretty securely, but still.

I'm keeping my options open, but in the meantime, I found a handful of these hanging chairs that would all be good options HERE. I think I'm partial to the rattan varieties.

HAPPY WEEKEND!!! xoxo