I love these over-sized globe lights. I have some from Target strung from our deck and they bring me so much joy in our backyard. They also put off quite a bit of light under our canopy of trees. So festive…
Have a great weekend, friends! We’re off for a few days. Hope you have some fun things planned with friends and family. Or maybe some time to dig into your garden, go for a long walk or tackle a new project.
See you next week!
{image: Golden Globe Lights by Napa Style}
Have any of you been watching Bravo’s first season of the new “docu-series” 9 By Design? I’ve caught a few episodes and have really been intrigued by their design style and their large, bustling family. I am always looking for inspiration for my home that is a little more eclectic. I find that I get too matchy-matchy and definitely want to stray away from that! I love a mix of vintage and modern and all sorts of colors, so I think I need to take more risks.
{ all images from Bravo.com }
The show revolves around couple Bob and Cortney who tackle a variety of spaces, including their own homes, to renovate and re-invent. I’ve enjoyed seeing how they recreate client’s existing pieces instead of always purchasing new things and being a new parent I love seeing how they interact with their young kids! Check it out on Tuesday nights if you haven’t already and let me know what you think.
In preparing yesterday’s post about Annie Selke, I realized how much I really do like Pine Cone Hill for my own home. As I mentioned, I typically think of Pine Cone Hill as modern country — bright colors and bold patterns but lots of ruffles.
Here are some of the more masculine designs — aren’t these beds dreamy?
{all images: Pine Cone Hill — Neutral Territory, Haute Lodge and Urban Treehouse collections}
Annie Selke is the designer and businesswoman behind Pine Cone Hill (linens) and Dash & Albert (rugs). If you’re familiar with either, you know they are soft, luxurious textiles with bold patterns and fresh colors. I’ve always thought of them as “modern country”.
{images: left, Dash & Albert; right, Pine Cone Hill}
Annie recently sold her eight-bedroom house in the Berkshires and bought this more modest 1960′s ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts. House Beautiful magazine is profiling a yearlong designer makeover, featuring Annie’s home renovations, much like HGTV’s Sarah Richardson series, Sarah’s House, that we love so much.
While Sarah tackles her renovations to sell, Annie intends to settle into her new neighborhood for a while. She grew up in this town and her mother lives just a few doors down.
I’ve always liked Annie’s product designs, and I’m excited to follow her transformation. She admits to diverting from her more country aesthetic of years past to the mid-century designs of her early childhood, rekindled by her love of Mad Men.
I’m loving the new direction!
You can get caught up on the House Beautiful series online:
Part 1 : Part 2 : Part 3 : Part 4 (also on newsstands now)
I wonder how her product lines will evolve alongside her personal design aesthetic?
{all images: House Beautiful, unless otherwise noted}
I’ve seen lots of great DIY mobiles in blog land recently, and I decided to try my making one of my own for Nathan’s room. I was inspired by some cute, paper Christmas ornaments I made this year, and they worked perfectly for this project. I hung the mobile in Nate’s room yesterday, and I love the added pops of color!
I was pleasantly surprised how quickly this project came together (I was a little worried that it would take hours of cutting, folding, and gluing, but it really wasn’t bad)! Here’s what I did:
Just a few more projects left before the nursery is finally complete. Maybe it will be done before Nathan is 6 months… Better late than never, right?!
Starting today, I’m back blogging after a little break since the birth of baby James. He arrived the end of March and I have been soaking up every minute with him!
Today I am sharing with you a re-upholstery project. I did not tackle this myself, but found a great company in town who did a fantastic job. This chair and ottoman are in James’ nursery. I originally received these pieces as a hand-me-down from my aunt with a somewhat dated light blue fabric. Both were in great shape, the chair rocks and swivels and I thought would be perfect for baby James’ room. I wanted something bold and an adult friendly pattern so we could use into the future. As well as a design that could hide any baby spit-ups that would be inevitable!
I know the fabric may seem a little busy, but the room is big and most other items in the room are solid colors, so this is the one patterned piece in the room. So far, James and I are loving it!
I tackled this thrift store lamp a while ago thinking it only needed a fabulous new lamp shade. As it turns out, it needed to be rewired (so easy!) and painted before I could really love it.
The flat black paint wasn’t doing anything for me, so I picked up a can of spray paint (Rust-oleum Painter’s Touch Ultra Cover in Paprika), removed the old wiring and hardware, and sprayed away.
At the time of the first makeover, a few of you suggested I go white, which definitely would be nice. But I decided I wanted to pair an edgier color the traditional spindle shape. Paprika is nearly a perfect match to all the other orange-red paint and accessories in the room and it definitely achieves the modern effect I was going for.
I picked up the linen lamp shade for a steal at HomeGoods — someone must have broken the lamp it went with because it was originally marked as “not for individual sale” and there were other lamps on display being sold with the same shade. This drifter was meant for me.
By the way, I still love my handmade shade, but the interlocking square motif was overkill in the same view as my entryway wall. I’ll just have to find another lamp for it!
Flipping through a recent Pottery Barn catalog I was so surprised to see that they are selling “Farmhouse Ceramics” that are identical to one that my parents have had in their kitchen for as long as I can remember!
I snapped a shot of theirs and you have to know that all I did was move it to the brick hearth for better lighting. My parents keep theirs on the kitchen counter with all their wooden spoons just as you see them here.
Uncanny that the PB shot is so similar with flatware sticking out!
Isn’t it fun when your design ideas are validated by an industry leader like Pottery Barn?
{images: left, Pottery Barn; right, Urban Nest}
Katie B! Congratulations, I hope you love your new bookends.
Thanks to everyone who entered for giving us a little feedback, and feel free to drop us a line anytime if there is something specific that you’d like us to tackle here at Urban Nest!
I have 2 sick kiddies at home today, and I’m running on fumes after getting up with both of them several times last night. Needless to say, I’m low on inspiration and time, so I’ll keep it short and sweet today. I have this room in my inspiration folder (I cannot remember where I found it – does anyone recognize it?).
I love the soothing color scheme, the painting, the white chairs, the light-as-air table, the pillows (did I miss anything). I’m going to close my eyes for just a minute and imagine that I’m sipping a latte while lounging in this room!
One last reminder: today is the last day to enter to win my extra set of fabric bookends. We will announce the winner on Monday. Have a great weekend!
My name is Rachel, and I am a paint-chipaholic. I have a hard time leaving the paint store without, oh, a dozen or so chips. Does anyone else have this problem?
{a small portion of my paint chip collection}
Considering my addiction to paint colors, I have been dying to get a peak of Sarah Richardson’s new paint collection at Lowes. From what I can tell, her new paints are only available in Canada. I have to admit, I haven’t been to a Lowes to confirm my fears that I cannot add chips of all 75 of her colors to my personal collection.
{bedroom designed by Sarah Richardson showcasing her paint collection}
This beautiful bedroom is the only glimpse of her colors that I’ve found. I love the pink accent wall, and that headboard is fantastic. Has anyone seen any more of the collection?
Check it out, friends. Modish is giving away a $50 gift certificate (in-store or online) to Quirk Gallery. You know how much we adore our friends at Quirk, not to mention all the fabulous trinkets and treasures to be found there!
Hop over to Modish to enter before May 19. And while you’re there, be sure to get to know Miss Modish a bit. Her blog is a lovely compilation of art, design and entrepreneurship. A little fashion, a little decor, a little glimpse into a sweet life in Portland, OR.
And since we’re all feeling a little generous this week, be sure to share a quick bit of feedback here for a chance to win a set of gorgeous handmade bookends from Urban Nest!
{image courtesy of Modish}
I’m enjoying this — www.SimplyNoise.com — while I work today. I just discovered it via Skirt.com {Daily Muse}. Choose from white, pink or brown. Not really sure what the differences are, but it’s an appealing selection, wouldn’t you say?
{image: xJavierx on Flickr}
This is our living room. It’s in the front of the house with only one window and nearly four full walls closing it in. You can see one door straight ahead that goes out to our sun porch; the front door also opens into this space but both doors are solid and don’t let any light in, unless they are open of course!
All that to say that the room does not get a lot of natural light. I almost always have the lamps on — morning, noon and night.
I recently added three mirrors to the wall facing the window. It’s remarkable how much they open up this otherwise small and dim room.
Here’s the trick — I painted all three mirrors the exact color of our walls. This creates a window-like effect where the frame adds a little dimension to the wall — like molding — and the mirror bounces light from the window on the opposite wall. Using the same wall color allows for a continuous expanse of light and dimension, where a contrasting color tends break up the wall space.
I couldn’t get the right angle to photograph it, but you can actually be sitting on the couch watching the television and see the reflection of the trees in the yard. It’s like having an instant wall of windows!
They work similarly at night by capturing the glow of the lamps beneath each of the side mirrors and across the room.
So, if you have a low light room or closed in space, you might try painting a mirror to match your walls and place it opposite a window, doorway or other light source. I think you’ll like the results!
By the way, you can see where I rehung my birdhouse and feeder in the right corner of the living room.
I also restrung them with twine. They came with delicate metal chains that I decided I didn’t like at all. I’m really happy with them in the corner!
Hopefully not, but, I do have a lot of mirrors in my house. There are two good reason for that: 1) mirrors tend to be very inexpensive for the impact they can have on a wall, and 2) mirrors add light and dimension to any space.
Today, I’m sharing a quick before and after of a thrift store mirror I picked up a few months ago.
Remember this $5 find?
I finally got around to layering a few coats of glossy white paint last week. I love the transformation and it’s a perfect fit in our dining room.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a mirror makeover trick that has worked really well for me in our living room.
PS: if you haven’t chimed in yet on Friday’s post, it could be well worth a minute or two of your time. These handmade bookends are gorgeous and we are giving a set away! Rachel has a terrific eye for luxurious fabrics and this tweed and silk combo is no exception!
Would you like a pair of bookends like the ones I made for Violet’s room?
I made an extra set out of some really fun fabric, fancy tweed and gold silk.
All you have to do is give us a little feedback. We’d really like to know what you want to see more of here at Urban Nest:
Do tell by next Friday, and one reader will be selected at random to receive her/his own set of fabulous fabric bookends made by yours truly!
I’ve been slowly working on updating Violet’s room since last fall. I shared a quick peak back in November when the bed, pillows, and curtains were done.
Well, this past weekend I polished off this cozy little corner for resting and reading when the time comes.
Violet and I made the artwork together before Nathan was born, and she loves having pieces she created hanging framed in her room.
The project that was holding up the works were these bean bag bookends, which is silly because they took less than an hour to make.
That’s what happens when there is a baby in the house. Even the simplest projects get pushed to the back burner. I’m so glad I finally finished them off – what a satisfying use of scraps! Now they are holding my old copies of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little and a few poetry books (Charlotte’s Web is Violet’s favorite).
I couldn’t resist giving Violet her own bouquet of peonies – they are the perfect colors. Every girl needs fresh flowers in her room from time to time (even if she’s only 4)!
My peonies are in bloom! When we planted them last year, I had dreams of cutting flowers from my own yard and arranging beautiful bouquets. It was so satisfying to put these lovelies around the house.
I can’t wait for the other varieties we planted to bloom. What’s blooming at your house?
An invitation to Williams & Sherrill after hours, a glass of wine and tasty hors d’oeuvres? I’m yours.
Rachel and I had the pleasure of attending an IFDA (International Furnishings & Design Association) reception at one of our favorite places in Richmond — full of amazing furniture, lighting, accessories and textiles. Not to mention a very sophisticated crowd of designers to mingle with! It was such a treat!
Thank you, Kevin, for the invitation! And to everyone for so graciously welcoming us!
I spent a good part of my weekend idling in the backyard. The weather was delightful Friday and Saturday. And while it may seem contrived that the book in the photos below is called How to Be Idle, it is actually what I was reading in my hammock over the weekend. I picked it up at a thrift store on Saturday and am having a hard time putting it down. It’s hilarious!
One of my favorite passages regarding the alarm clock:
…But what happened then, of course, was that I would turn the volume right down, ignore the coffee and climb back to the snuggly warm embrace of my duvet. Then I’d slowly come to my senses at around 10:30 a.m., doze until twelve, and finally stagger to my feet in a fit of self-loathing.
This from the chapter titled, “Waking Up is Hard to Do.” Any one of my room- or housemates over the years might recall me singing those very words to the recognizable tune of “Breaking Up is Hard to Do.”
Now, since Urban Nest is about design and decor, and not so much the art of laziness, I will point out my $6.45 painted chair from Goodwill. I’ve been on the hunt for something that would sit next to the hammock to hold a book and a drink, as it is tricky getting into a hammock with your hands full. I decided I wanted something colorful and charming, rather than a predictable piece of outdoor furniture that might just look awkward in the middle of the yard anyway.
I couldn’t believe my luck when I stumbled on this sweet chair that is quite possibly the exact shade of red as our outdoor cushions, pillows and porch door! I think it actually works out of context in the middle of the yard because it is so unexpected. Maybe you don’t agree, but I’m loving it!
Of course I wanted something that could withstand the elements. The red paint is layered on thick and glossy and since it was such a steal, I won’t be terribly put out if or when the weather gets the best of it.
{quote: How to Be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson, Harper Collins, 2005}
