I had an amazing time last week at the Sleep No More show for my birthday. I don’t want to give anything away but it was an incredible experience unlike anything I have ever been a part of. I would love to go again and for those who have yet to see it, please run. The show ends in April I think. The only thing I will say is that the rooms are decorated in 1930′s design and you know me, I love all things vintage. Especially walking into vintage style homes. One of the rooms that inspired this post was the taxidermy room. The room was covered in stuffed animals. I am not a big fan of taxidermy but I love when it is done in a different creative way. Meaning no real animals were used in the process. Artists Frederique Morrel creates the most amazing faux taxidermy animals I have ever seen. The animals are carved out of foam and covered in vintage tapestries. Below are some of my favorites. They are simply stunning.
Lauren
I love love love the embroidery work of 365 Lucky Days. I have written about the blog before, and had to share some more of her amazing work. I love it all and think it would look great hung all over the wall with like 20 together.
this I just love. Audrey with her mask, one of my favorite scenes from the movie
Marie Antoinette
amazing Gwen
gym inspiration
what I want to be doing right now and not in 29 degree weather
would love to live in this room
wonderful life
Lauren
I have been obsessed with notebooks and paper goods for as long as I can remember. I guess having a family who owned an art store kind of sparked my interest. Back in highschool my friend and I practically lived in a few stationery stores in Queens. They were the only place we could find Hello Kitty and her friends stationary, notebooks, stickers, and pens and pencils. We bought them all up for school and they made those school days and all of the homework we got more manageable and enjoyable. To this day I still love a good notebook and journal, especially when they are adorned with beautiful imagery and design. I have so many notebooks at home that each has its own purpose. One for writing down and drawing jewelry design inspirations, another for all of my blogging ideas. I swear they all serve a function and importance. I just can’t do my note taking on the computer. I am much more a pen to paper gal. Besides journals, I love to own a set of stationary to use as Thank You cards and to write quick notes to people. I collect cards and post cards and frame them to hang on the walls all over our home. I guess I really just love all sorts of paper goods! On Sunday Craig and I finally went to an art store in the city to use a gift certificate that we had been holding onto for years. So glad that he never lost it. I of course picked out a couple of stylish journals and two sets of magnets for the fridge. The first set was 24 magnets of vintage NYC imagery and the 2nd vintage ABC images. They are so cute and will add some extra pops of color and design to my fridge. I thought it would be fun to create a paper inspiration board on pinterest and show you some of my favorite paper goods. Click on my board for all links and pricing.
1. Each year I buy a new planner/calendar to keep track of appointments and my to do list. I don’t think I will ever use the calendar in my phone
2. I received some L monogram stationary for a gift a couple of years ago and it is the perfect correspondence
3. cute vintage looking valentines day card. I like cards that are handmade. Much more special
4. Thank You cards from Kate Spade.
5. I think giving a card any day of the week is a great way to perk someone up. Why wait for holidays?
6. Perfect folder to store all of your papers before you feel like filing, temporary home
7. Just bought this notebook over the weekend. Waiting to use it for something special
8. Recycled leather notebooks. Love all of the colors stacked together. Would look great all on a shelf in rainbow order
9. A set of vintage San Fransisco Images would make the perfect gift
Lauren
Now that it is the new year, I think it is the perfect time to re organize your home. Do a big purge of your closet and stuff around the house that you just don’t need anymore. Get rid of all the crap so your home can be more at ease. And do a big big clean after your purge so everything looks and feels amazing. I already did my closet purge over the weekend and bought two new boots that I love from selling all of my old stuff. My closet is now super organized and filled with clothes that I actually like and will wear for the first time. My next step is to spend the next few days cleaning my apartment because it is a big mess after these holidays. I need to dust, sweep, scrub every surface and when I am done I want to organize everything in the apt. I also want to check our storage space and see if I have any other artwork that I can hang on my walls. I really do believe that hanging art around your home really makes it feel warm and cozy. I recently stumbled upon vintage TWA posters from the artist David Klein. He was a famous illustrator and is most known for creating commercial advertisement posters for TWA airlines from 1955 to 1965. They truly are works of art and I really would love to start a collection one day. I love all of the colors that he uses and how he creates a completely different work of art for so many cities and countries. Below are some of my favorites.
Lauren
Since we adopted the cat’s a three years ago, we can no longer keep a Christmas tree in the apt. The cat’s would go insane screaming and trying to attack the tree. Probably breaking all of the ornaments too. Craig brought me a bouquet of flowers last Valentines Day and they screamed for it until I had to throw them away. I know, they are a little weird but so cozy, especially during this cold time of year. I still wanted to bring some holiday cheer to our home so I hung ornaments all around our apartment. Some in the kitchen and others on the door knobs. I have a toy baby christmas tree on our console table and a vintage reindeer figurine from 1982, the year I was born! And of course I have a lovely frasier fir candle that smells so good which was a gift from my mom. How do you all decorate your home for the holidays?
Bedroom Door
Front Door
Kitchen
with vintage purse in the bedroom
toy christmas tree
bathroom
kitchen
Lauren
Happy Holidays,
If you are like me, you love to collect and decorate your home with lots of things. I sure do and it drives Craig nuts that i like to have lots of things all around me. He is way more minimal in his home style then I am. I can pretty much collect anything and everything but I truly believe that your collections really make your home “yours” and just make you feel good inside. The older I get, the more I am understanding my own styles, especially when it comes to my home. I like to be surrounded by candles, antique’s, and lots of color. I am really happy with how our apartment is decorated. It has taken many years and apartments to get here but our style has really turned our small 600 square foot apartment into a home. I had a great time composing my home decor wish list on the blog and on pinterest. Click on my board for all of the links and add a little color to your home.
Home Decor Wish List
1. Jonathan Adler Pillow- love the referance to one of my favorite movies. Can you guess what it is?
2. Jonathan Adler Match Holder- perfect home for all those matches that I use on all my candles
3. Eiffel Tower Trinket Box- I love paris and this tiny box has such a fun vintage feel to it. Reminds me of an old post card
4. Pier 1 Vase- reminds me of a pile of gold in a bag. How cute would it look with a big bouquet of sunflowers popping through
5. Urban Outfitters Jewelry Box- love this glass box. It has a real antique feel to it and would look amazing in a pink cranberry glass. Maybe I can find an antique version one day
6. Antler Wall Hanging- would look extra amazing decorated with lots of my necklaces
7. Travel Coasters- I am always a fan of quriky coasters especially when they are colorful. I would also scatter lots of jewelry on them
8. Banana Bud Vase- very surrealist and unusual
9. Keep Calm and Carry On Poster- would love to have this hanging over my desk to remind me to relax a little more when I am working and stressed out.
10. Holiday Theme Stemware- my many tea lights would make these glasses come to life and add some color to any of your holiday parties
11. Jonathan Adler Paper Weight- I am constantly adding cute trinkets to my desk. Love how this paper weight has a needlepoint underneith the glass
12. Peacock Feather Candle- I own this candle and it reminds me of the 1920′s and The Great Gatsby. It is also nice and very oversized
Happy Shopping
Lauren
I had never thought of gemstones and geodes as art until I read a post about artist Carly Waito on my brothers blog last week. Carly finds the minerals she wants to work with, photographs them in macroscopic detail and then turns them into oil paintings. Her paintings show the complexities, colors, and depth of each mineral. Her work is truly incredible. I am blown away at how life-like each mineral looks.
amethyst
barite
tourmaline
smoky quartz
smoky quartz
bornite
smoky quartz with inclusions
watermelon tourmaline
a work in progress fluorite
pyrite
I would love to have a druzy painting hanging above my desk in crazy crazy colors!
Lauren
One of my favorite places to do some window shopping is at any Anthropologie store, I just love them. Whenever I walk through the door I am filled with inspiration. Lots of beautiful jewelry, clothing, and accessories to look at. But my favorite section is definitely the home goods area. They have the cutest items for my home and I would love to buy everything! My first home purchase was a tiny ceramic bowl that I use to hold my laundry quarters. Each time i use it the orange colorful designs perks up my day just a little. They also have an amazing plate collection with lots of colorful patterns and designs. I think they would look great adorning the walls of the kitchen. Here are my favorites below.
perfect to hold rings and bracelets
love the floral
so fun! would love to hang over my jewelry dresser in the bedroom
want this for sure
i have the orange one
love. would be perfect for all of my jewelry
ice bucket, so cute
perfect for holding my favorite cookies
very unusual jewelry box
love anything with a mirror, especially when my jewelry needs a home
Have a great weekend. Craig and I are taking Friday off for some important errands
Lauren
Now that Thanksgiving is over, I think it is the perfect time to start listening to Christmas music. I am guilty of playing the Michael Buble Christmas album on repeat all weekend in the car. And yes, Craig was not happy about it. Now is also the perfect time to start working on my holiday wish lists too. Which I will be working on all month. I am sure many of you have lots of holiday parties on the horizon, yankee swaps to attend, and stockings to stuff. The perfect gift for those events for men and women are candles. I think it is safe to say that I am pretty obsessed with candles. I don’t like your typical free standing pillar canfles. I like the candles in my home to be incased in some sort of decorative element. I also much prefer candles to room sprays. I have bought my fare share and they always seem to make the room smell worse.
So for my first holiday wish list of the year let me present to you KM Candles and Body created by my friend Kelly Marks. I was so excited when I learned that she recently started a candle and body product line. But especially excited about the candles. I would also like to say that I was also her first customer! Kelly’s candles are all made by hand in her Brooklyn apartment. They come in a beautiful array of colors and scents in adorable mason and bell jars.They have such a country french feel to them, which I love. My favorite flavor is the Apple Bourbon. Each candle is made with soy wax which I just learned is better because it does not release any chemicals into the air and it also causes the candle to burn longer. Another trick Kelly told me is to trim the whick each time you use it which also will make your candle last longer. Below is a preview of the candles. She has many more not available online, so if you’re in NYC visit her during the weekend at Artists and Fleas to browse her entire line.
lavender vanilla
plumeria
sun ripened rasberry
christmas tree
pumpkin spice
What’s you favorite scent, candle or otherwise?
Lauren
Me and my collections, I know I have way to many. But how good would a few white shelves in the kitchen look with vintage salt and pepper shakers. You know the really cute ones from the 50′s and 60′s in all kinds of crazy designs. I love to scope them out when I go to antique centers. I did some searching on Ebay and here is what I found.
What is your favorite?
Lauren
