The Cat's Out of the Bag

A great source for true vintage fabric, even rare and hard to find fabric is an Ebay Store known as Atomic Textiles. They always have a great selection, a few of which can be viewed above. So, if you're in the market for some great vintage/retro fabric check it out!

Wallpaper Wacky

I love these wallpapers by the design duo Astrid Nieuwenburg and Claudia Drübe of Onszelf. It is not currently stocked in the U.S., but hopefully will be soon.

It's Tea Time

The Scandinavians have done it again! Check out these tea towels at $22.00 from Maxwell-Silver New York.

Cool Lampshades by Santa & Cole

Villeroy & Boch New Wave Caffe Chocolate Drops Mugs & Plates

I love these creative mugs and snack plates from Villeroy & Boch. Check them out here.

Trashy

These bin bin trash cans by John Brauer for Essey of Denmark make taking out the trash a pleasure. You can check them out here.

Owl Pillow Beyond Cute

Owl Pillow
Originally uploaded by Snaggs.

Little Nephew Ollie
Originally uploaded by Snaggs.

Okay, I have now used the word "cute" twice in one day. I'm not sure what's happening to me. ;) But that's not the point. The point is this adorable Owl pillow handcrafted by Snaggs. It is made out of vinyl and felt and looks perfectly at home in Little Ollie's nursery. The pillow makes such a bold statement combined with the trees painted on the wall, allowing for the baby's bedding to be simple, which for me is a plus. Baby bedding is expensive and outgrown quickly. Here, the focal point is not the bedding, but the owl and the trees. This pillow and this room gets an A+ from me. I hope you enjoy these photos and are inspired to create something of your own!

DIY Crazy

dishtowel pillow2
Originally uploaded by ask anke.

dishtowel pillow1
Originally uploaded by ask anke.

As you might have deduced by now, I'm a DIY nut. I came across these fabulous photos while browsing flickr. Ask Anke had the clever idea of taking these too cute Atelier LZC tea towels and making them into pillows. I love a pretty dish towel but I never bother buying them because I can't bear the thought of using them in the kitchen. Ask Anke has solved this dilemma for me. I love this idea!

Wallpaper of the Future

Do you ever tire of the boring repeat that is wallpaper? Well, Design Wall of the Netherlands has a solution for you. Design Wall has created a collection of digitally printed paper that can be customized to your own personal specifications to any size or color, making each piece unique. They currently offer two different Ed Annink designs, which I think are awesome, with plans to expand the collection rapidly. To learn more about this idea you can check it out here, Design Wall. ENJOY!

Inspiration

This wallpaper is from Eijffinger, a Dutch wallpaper company with some great products. I'm trying to find out if they're sold in the US, but am still waiting for an answer. In the meantime, I wanted to share this photo-frame wallpaper. I'm pretty much a sucker for anything black and white and this I love. It's different, it's graphic, it's modern, but to me, at least, it's timeless. This would make an unbelievable focus wall. This is also a project that one could DIY. I've searched the web and will continue searching, but it would be easy to create with wall stencils. I'm hoping, and asking, if our friends over at Stencil 1 might be interested in creating a set of photo frame stencils for exactly this purpose. I'll let you know if I hear anything back and in the meantime, if any of you out there know a resource for stencils of this nature PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Thanks.

Decorating With Nature

Assorted Land Snails

One of the tips Nate Berkus gives for accessorizing a room is to bring the outdoors in. He, as well as I, especially prefer a touch of the sea. It's cathartic. I recently came across a website while doing some research. The Conch King not only sells these beautiful land snails, which I ordered, but a wide array of seashells as well. All of their shells are cleaned and polished and gorgeous. They have almost every color you can think of with some of the most eye catching details. Below is just a sample of their inventory.

If you prefer buying in person, Z Gallerie has a limited selection online and in stores.


Banded Jade Turbos


Turbo Semanticus


Tiger Nautilus


Strawberry Tops


Pacific Tonna Tessalata


Assorted Cones


Spindle Shells


Lions Paws

Christmas DIY

I am not a "traditional" Christmas decorator, meaning I tend to steer away from the sole green and red combo. I recently helped decorate a home for our local Christmas Tour and thought I would share some of the DIY projects we created. You can click on each image to get a better view.


First up is a simple tree. We cut a medium sized branch from a tree in the yard and suspended it on the floor using fishing line tacked to the molding and rafters above. We then decorated the tree with prisms and balls in a color theme complimentary of the living area.


This eye catching arrangement was so easy to make. We took a large glass vase and filled the center with a cylindrical piece of floral foam which we had cut to fit. We then took the purple balls, which consisted of flat and shiny finishes for variation, and filled up the space around the foam. The twigs and sticks were then arranged to suit.


A simple pewter tray filled with choice ornaments is quick and easy yet makes a huge statement.


Just about everybody has a glass cylindrical vase. We took plastic faceted beads and layered them with cranberries, creating an illusion of cranberries on ice. The branches were spray painted metallic silver, then embellished with silver berries we tore off an old, out-of-date garland.


We took an iron tree and decked it with clear prisms, creating an icicle effect. We then used marshmallows as snow, placing pinecones around to keep it sophisticated.


So, if the Season has you gloomy and seems so mundane, I hope these creations inspire you to go out and have fun creating something new and different for your Holiday decor this year.

Coming Color Trends

An emerging color trend composed of greens, deep blues and turquoise derived from the palette of the Peacock will be hitting stores early Spring.

These ceramic egg vases from West Elm



along with the Miranda Vase and Regina Pillow from Crate & Barrel


are great examples of this looming trend. Brown is a great neutral to intermingle with this palette.

Designers Guild also has some fabulous examples of this trend via their wallpapers and fabrics. Unfortunately, their website is undergoing some revamping so all products are not accessible at this time, but you'll want to bookmark it for your future viewing.



So, if you love blues and greens be on the lookout. It's coming to a store near you. :)

The Look for Less

If you've got the dough (no pun intended), this Basswood Deer at $449.00 from Viva Terra is a beauty.

But if you're budget challenged this sort of price tag can easily take up what you would spend accessorizing an entire room or two. For some affordable options that recreate this "look" for less I submit the following:

EBAY is a great resource for all things known to man and you can almost always bet the price will be right. You can find these gorgeous white tail antlers, shed at no expense to the deer, going at a final price ranging anywhere from $50.00 to $80.00.

Place them in a book case or on an end table and they're an instant attention getter.

To complete the look I suggest a DIY project that ANYONE can do. Just check out the current edition of Domino where Nate Turner gives us a tour of his rustic home and teams up with Domino to give us step by step directions showing us how we can make this


TOO!

Although Nate's is a reindeer, I think it is a graphic, yet subtle piece that makes a huge statement. If you feel reindeer are too "Christmasy", then simply follow his instructions using the silhouette of a deer. If you don't own a projector and have even the minimalest of drawing skills I have no doubt you can complete this project without purchasing the projecter. Just eyeball it. The 30" x 40" canvas is currently on sale at Pearl Cotton Canvas for $14.93 plus shipping.

So, if you're on a budget, you can easily recreate this $450.00 look for right around $100.00 and take pride in the fact that you did it yourself!

Inhabit Living is Having a Sale!

Check it out here : http://www.inhabitliving.com

Please Vote! November 19th, TOMORROW, is last day!

Go here http://www.inhabitliving.com/gpcom_06_v.aspx and vote for me, #3, Julie from Piggott...if you'd like. If not, please support one of the other entrants. I know we all worked so hard and are so excited.

Thanks for your time!