This and That Friday (eye candy)

So glad it's Friday today.  Aren't you?

Here is a little treat from Denmark.  One of my favorite blogs in the world, Sanctuary, posted this sweet and colorful kitchen the other day.  Do you not love the blue & green, the square tiles, and the rusticness?  (coined a word there)

I can't get over how much my aesthetic is born from all things from Sweden and Denmark (and that is my heritage...I mean, generations ago)  I know I will always love white.

On another note, yesterday I was receiving an abundance of emails.  Now I know why.

Those little Homegoods scouts must be sneaky.  They didn't tell me they were going to use this blog to help advertise their lamps.  Hope I can help....I do love Homegoods  

(feel free to contact me for my address so you can share the love, HG.  Just kidding...kind of)

Thanks to Sherry for sending me the link!  Y'all have to see her blog...and her work.  (Here is her bathroom below:)

Next, Anisa wishes to sell her table and chairs seen here.  (White round table & four woven chairs with white cushions, $400)

Lastly, I am trying to locate the wallpaper on the bottom left.  Can anyone help?  It it silver mylar with the cream graphic.  (Here is Frank Keenan from Cottage Living--Fran, if you or your friends may happen to see this post, I would love to interview you, too!  We love your style.  I can't find you...I've tried)

Have a great weekend!!!  Julie & Anisa

Rachel McAdams' Glam Living Room (imagined)

The other day I was asked the question, "What kind of rooms do you dream of designing?"  

I couldn't help but admit I do dream of decorating rooms where the sky's the limit with resources and freedom.

I have loved Rachel McAdams ever since The Notebook.  She just has something--beauty, humilty, and that smile.  

I can't wait to see her new movie Morning Glory.

Here is a living room I imagine for a young and single starlet.....(she is single, right?  I can't keep up)

I know there is a lot going on here, but sometimes I think a room can handle a lot if you keep the colors fairly muted and neutral.

The mirror and the shell sconces on the top right would go above her mantel.  

The bookcase/cabinet in the back would be covered in the white and gray floral wallpaper you see on the top shelf.

The ceiling would be the blue/gray paint color you see on the far left.  I would paint her window panes the deep Orion Gray (Ralph Lauren paints).  

The walls would be BM's Decorators White for that crisp, true white.  The twist is I would have them be high gloss (similar to the picture below from Decorpad)

In the picture moulding beneath her imagined chair rail in her living room would be filled with the deep gray floral wallpaper you see on the left of the design board.

Oh, and these would be her floors!  (below, from Greige)

Hope you had a good Halloween!  We had a blast...Chris carted two little firemen around the 'hood.  These years when they are young are so precious!

If you want help creating the room you dream about, I can help you by creating a design board just for you & your family.  ($150 or $250, depending upon the room--you can view my design services on the tab above under the header.)

One more matter of business--Lavish! has added Jillian St. George from HGTV.com to our session panel.  I do hope you are coming.

All the best......Julie

are we influenced by Europe?

well, the short answer is, "Of course we are."  Yet, sometimes, I peruse dreamy images from across the pond and it truly seems like another world.  

(Oh, I could design an entire home around the color of this door)

Is it just that their homes are older and can't help but have more character?  Just like how we love a rugged Paul Newman or Robert Redford as they seem to deepen with age, is this the lure of Europe's homes?

Or is it more; like the souls of those who have lived here before are added to the spaces' DNA?

One benefit to our country's economic strife is (in my opinion) I see Americans striving for more with less.  Better materials, fewer square feet.  Craftsman cottages beat out McMansions.  

This is what I think I see in these homes from Marie Claire Maison--emphasis on beauty, finishes, timelessness.  These homes do not shout "look at me"--"I am hip"  "I have money"  "I am somebody".  To me, these homes aren't shouting anything.

They whisper.

Even this loud wallpaper is soft.

Am I generalizing in saying that these homes are obviously European?

What is it about these spaces that is so hard to nail down?  Do you feel that people in the states tend to overdecorate?  What do you think about these homes vs. American homes?

sorry it's a little deep for a Tuesday.  I'm in a mood.

Y'all are the best, by the way------Julie

(Katherine--you had a no-reply name in your comment.  I did get those organizers at Target.  They are the Real Simple line they carry (they are at the end of the aisle where I go near the stationary).  Email me again if you wanna.  If mine has anymore I'll mail you some.

Also, that bar stool from yesterday is "Toledo" --1st Dibs.  Pretty pricey but I recall seeing them elsewhere.

I'll post Kate's fabric source tomorrow for her playroom built-ins.  I saved it on another computer.

How is the best way to answer questions?  How do y'all do it?  Just leave a comment on the post and y'all read the post again?

Okay, bye.  Really this time.

wallpaper wednesday & recipe

So yesterday I had such a blast going to ADAC with Sherry and Ally.  We were like kids in a candy store looking at fabric from Lulu DK (my favorite), Celerie Kemble, Oscar de la Renta and Designers Guild.

(my favorite wallpaper find of the day was "Rugosa" above by Designers Guild.)

Before we met Ally, Sherry was kind enough to show me some of her favorite, tucked-away resources.  We were so in love with what we found there we couldn't even talk  (the only time this happened the entire day.)

A set of six vintage vinyl chairs

A brass coffee table from Paris.

2 stout, cream lamps with glass bases.

what unique chairs!

this huge, heavy (and pricey) Parisian mirror

and more wallpaper....

"Serena" by Manuel Canovas

"Opera" by Cole & Son

and "Rugosa Garden" by Designers Guild

I would LOVE to use Rugosa in our hallway.  Our entire home is so white, which I love, but having a dark and romantic hallway would be so fun.

And here is the recipe for meatloaf from Southern Living (I am a day behind in my recipes.  How did that lady who used the crockpot everyday for a year do it?!

2 lb ground round

1 (1 oz) envelope dry onion soup mix

1 cup (4 oz) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 cup fine, dry breadcrumbs

1 large egg

1 Tbsp Worch. sauce

1 cup ketchup, divided

1 Tbsp light brown sugar

1 tsp yellow mustard

1.  Combine first 6 ingredients, 1/2 cup ketchup, and 1/4 cup water; shape mixture into an 8 x 4 inch loaf.  Line bottom and sides of a 4-quart oval shaped slow cooker with aluminum foil, allowing 2 inches to extend over sides.  Lightly grease foil.  Place loaf in slow cooker.

2.  Stir together brown sugar, mustard, and remaining 1/2 cup ketchup; spread over top of loaf.  Cover and cook on LOW 5-6 hours or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees.  Lift loaf from slow cooker, using foil sides as handles.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.  NOTE:  You may also prepare in a 5-qt slow cooker.  Cover and cook on LOW 3 1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer registers 160 degrees.

Have a good one!  Julie

wallpaper wednesday

check out this ceiling...

I love our wallpaper from Lowe's in our bedroom...

this toile in "Summer's" bedroom

from a wonderful Swedish blog whose name left my brain...

Farrow & Ball has amazing new papers...

Must repost my fave from Country Living...

Oh, and one day I need to devote one post to this room and its wallpaper.  The picture is entitled "Novelists' Rooms Woolf"  

I can see her living here...a writer's space indeed.  Does anyone know the story on this room?  Was there a designer house dedicated to writers?  If not, what a novel idea if I do say so myself.  We should do one.  

I would like to see T.S. Eliot's room and Faulkner's.  I see Emily Dickinson's all neat-and-tidy.  Shakespeare's would be a mess.  

Oh, and to see contemporary writers' homes!  Toni Morrison and Phillip Roth and Joan Didion.  Whose writer's room would you love to see....alive or, well, not alive?

I will buy Lonny in print because of Lulu DK

Surely you saw Lonny, right?

In my opinion, the best ever!  And I'm not lying about the title of this post.  Sure, I think $34 is crazy money for a magazine...but I pay that for books that have inspired me less.  (And I will pay it for Rue, too, of course, if they were to print as well!!)

Here is the fabric designer above, Lulu DK, in her NY apartment (that may still be on the market?  Not sure.)

And here she is in her current home with her two sons (for Lonny) 

images via her blog Trail of Inspiration

How talented is Lulu Dekwiatkowki?  Please view these glorious rooms.

look at her fabrics on the ottomans.  I have decided I'm going to save up to buy one of her pillows.  Truly one-of-a-kind.

But one of my favorite rooms is this bedroom.  Who would think to put that neutral art in the center of the wall like that in-between two intricate black and white pieces?  The entire composition of the room just blows me away.

And look at where she gets inspired in Italy (her husband is Italian)

more of her custom fabrics....

And here the designer is for C Magazine (April 2009)

The best hallway ever!!  (Gotta tell Chris now that we are going to wallpaper our hallway..not kidding)

No windows?  No problem.  What about a custom beach mural.  I love everything light & natural (like the beach)...and just that touch of black and bronze in the chandelier.

And to close with an image of her NY home.

Once in a while do you come across a room, a song, a poem or a movie that just gives you a true high?  Lifts the spirits?  Isn't that what God created art for?  Her rooms--her art do that to me.

Have an uplifting Tuesday.....Julie