Swoon Interiors

interiors that make your heart skip a beat.

Power in Numbers

I just got a new Arhaus catalog in the mail and was reminded of how much I love how they style their rooms and their stores.  Of course, they are known for their furniture … but I also love their accessories … and, more to the point, how they whimsically display them in large groupings. 

It’s a great place to get inspiration if you have a large wall, mantel or tabletop to fill. Instead of looking for one big thing or lots of different little things to fill the space, why not opt for a large collection of the same item?

Here’s a few examples from their catalog …

decorative plates …
simple ivory candles …

gorgeous candlesticks …

interesting sconces …



glass vases on the wall …

 I’ve also spotted a few other examples and I love the idea.

How great is this lineup of vintage globes?

Pinterest

Or these mercury glass bottles …

Elle Decor

Even these architectural accents on a bedside table are more amazing when grouped together …

Vincente Wolf via Design Dump

So next time you find one of something little that makes you swoon, why not think about buying a whole bunch of them? Or maybe you have a special collection already that is just waiting for it’s time to shine on your mantel or wall? Send me pictures … I’d love to see!

My quest for romance with a kitchen rug …

Up until two nights ago, we did not have a rug under our kitchen table. I’ve gone back and forth on it for a long time.  Of course, I thought it would look better with a rug, but since I spend inordinate amounts of time on my hands and knees wiping up what seems like half a meal after each breakfast/lunch/dinner, I have been afraid to put a rug down in fear of what it might look like after just a few meals.

Then I thought that perhaps if I found one that wasn’t too expensive, I wouldn’t feel so bad about it if it didn’t hold up for very long. Several fine candidates crossed my path.

First there was Mr. Nate Berkus Rug. It was love at first sight when I saw it on the set of his daytime talk show when it first aired. (Swoon.)

At the time, I didn’t even know that he was selling it on HSN.com. Sadly, by the time I figured it out, they were all sold out in the size I needed. 

Now they are no longer available at all. (I go on periodically to check, but no such luck.)

With that in my head, I was attracted to other bold stripes. I love how Nate himself used a boldly patterned rug in his own Chicago pad.
So then along came Mr. Wisteria Rug. I loved the soft green color and the thin dhurrie-style. My heart fluttered when I saw it in the catalog. The price was right, but the size wasn’t. A 9 x 12. (I needed a 6 x 9.)

It’s been a while and I have searched around but nothing else made me swoon. Sure there where some handsome ones, but they may have been too fancy for my kitchen.  I needed one that wasn’t afraid to get a little dirty. I found more stripes but not in the soft colors I was looking for.
Then maybe just a month ago I opened the latest Ballard catalog and … 

Perfection.  Suzane Kasler’s Wide Stripe Jute Rug.  I loved the durability and texture of the jute.  And, he had stripes to boot!  The paprika-orange would tie in nicely with the rug and some of the pillows I have in my adjoining family room. And, there was even a 6×9. (Which, I discovered, are somewhat hard to come by.) 
Ok, so with the start of summer, the weeks began to fly by.  Finally, one day I had a free moment, sat down at my computer and pulled up the rug online with my credit card in hand.  Choose color. Choose size. But wait … there in parenthesis next to 6×9 were the dreaded words I hate to see. NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
Ugh!
Surely this couldn’t be so! He was my perfect match!  Right away I called Ballard just to make sure. Nope they were all gone. Sold out quickly. Won’t be making any more. 
Really?  Are you sure they won’t be making any more? I mean, if it was so popular, couldn’t they … pretty please … make some more?
Sorry. No more information.
Where to turn? Now that I had been thinking about that rug for several weeks, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. And while I had been unsure about getting a rug at all before, I was now determined that my little breakfast area was definitely in need of a rug.
Hmmm.  Okay … so none of those other rugs were meant to be. Usually things happen for a reason. Maybe I just wasn’t supposed to get stripes.  But jute … one of the things I loved about the Ballard rug was the natural jute.  Maybe I should just look for a plain jute rug.
So I started looking again. But I was a little like Goldilocks … a 5×8 is too small. An 8×10 is too big. A 6×9 would be just right. But no one seemed to carry a 6×9. 
When I run out of places to look, I often check on Overstock.com.  It is hit or miss, but they have such a large inventory of, well, everything at such great prices so I figured it was worth a look.
And that’s where I found him. A beautiful 6×9 jute rug for under $200!
  It was meant to be.
I didn’t want fringe (too hard to get crumbs out of) and I didn’t want binding. So it was perfect. The reviews were great too. Done.
So the rug arrived last Friday and sat all rolled up through the weekend since we were out of town.  I was excited to get back and lay it down (after a thorough cleaning of the floor below the table) … but of course, as often happens … I was still feeling a little nervous that I had made the right decision.  After all, it is not easy to send a rug back. 
Back home, I was reading some of my favorite blogs and came across this one by Emily A. Clark all about finding the perfect rug for her family room.  What did she decide on? Jute!
And in her post she mentioned how another of my favorite bloggers, Lauren Liess of Pure Style Home had influenced her decision with her post comparing all of the different kinds of natural rugs.
I clicked on over to Pure Style Home and was so pleased as I read Lauren’s words …
“1) MAINTENANCE: laughable. I took the WORST care ever of our jute rugs & they looked fine. They kind of eat your dirt. You can just vacuum them. I’ve had ours in the kitchen & even spilled salsa (I know, gross!) in ours and just wiped it with a rag & then blotted it with a wet rag to get the stain out.

2)PETS: Great for pets. Like I said, these things eat your dirt so they just sort of suck up the hair & you can vacuum it off.
3) SOFTNESS FACTOR: There are a lot of jute-chenille blends that are actually very soft but full jute isn’t as soft. Jute is thicker than sisal & seagrass and also softer, but still not super-soft unless it’s a blend. Ours is full jute and it is more like a foot-massager (which I love to walk on) but I wouldn’t recommend it for a kids’ play area or somewhere that you want to hang out on the floor.

4) STYLE FACTOR: I LOVE the look of jute. It’s so chunky & warm-looking and adds so much texture to a room. “

A foot massager that eats dirt?  Who could ask for anything more? I think these two ladies were sending me a sign.
So we rolled him out and yes ….
… he makes me swoon.

And two breakfasts, two lunches and one dinner later, he still looks good.

He might actually save my sanity because I can no longer see (i.e. obsess) over every little crumb that falls. Yes, I know they are still there, and I will still vacuum … just maybe not after every meal.

If I Had a Beach House …

House Beautiful

Well, last week started with a 2 day power outage but ended with 2 wonderful trips to the lake houses of 2 equally wonderful friends.  The relaxed atmosphere, beautiful views and fresh air has me daydreaming about what I would want my beach house to look like.  Maybe a little bit of this …



Urban Grace



…mixed with a whole lot of this.



Architectural Digest

  Add in some of this …

Sarah Richardson via HGTV

Sarah Richardson via HGTV

 …and some of this …

House Beautiful


 

White



 … and I’m moving in for the summer.  With the heat this week, a lake house is sounding better than ever. What would your dream beach cottage look like?

Creating your own Gallery Wall

My blog is feeling a little neglected lately and I don’t blame it. Summer, travel, kids and sunshine are not conducive to sitting at a computer! So please forgive the infrequent posts this summer … I have been spending what free time I have on client work but also enjoying time with my boys and the pleasures of summer. I know the time will come all too soon when we are back inside for most of the day and I do not want to wish this time away!
Since it was SO hot today, I did manage to get a few things done around the house while we enjoyed the comforts of nice cold air-conditioning.
I was looking through some of my files and was reminded that I have literally dozens upon dozens of pictures I’ve saved over the years of art gallery style walls that have made me swoon. I’ll share a handful of my favorites with you here … some of them I don’t even have sources for, but they are all exquisite nonetheless. Dining rooms, stairwells, bedrooms, living rooms, I love them all.
Chicago Home+Garden

 To me, the more haphazard the better. I love a mix of different colors, frames, sizes, paintings, sketches, traditional and modern art.

Domino

Cookie Magazine

Check out Kate Spade’s New York apartment … each room is an art gallery in and of itself …
Kate Spade’s NYC apartment

Kate Spade’s NYC apartment

 I LOVE these black and white botanical prints.

Kate Spade’s NYC apartment

Another interesting mix of styles and frames …

 Add in a mirror …

via Decorpad

 Or keep it all black and white …

DIY ideas

 Love this for a young girl’s room …

via Houzz

 And what a way to make a statement in your foyer …

Pure Style Home
So I’ve been slowly collecting some pieces for my own art wall. I decided to pull them out today and play around with them a bit to see how I might put it all together.

These are pieces I’ve found in stores, art fairs, online, etc. that spoke to me in some way. As with all art, I think the most important thing is to make it personal.  Some of my pieces are travel inspired … a painting of Paris, European architecture …
I loved the original frame on this vintage watercolor.

I like to look for tiny art as well … perfect for nestling in between bigger pieces. I found the original painting of a farmer’s market and the feather both on Etsy.
It’s also nice to mix in a few nontraditional pieces.  I love the 3D quality of this vintage keyhole and pair of keys. Set on a beautiful background with just the right frame they too become art. (These were an Etsy find as well.)
I might even add in one of my own pieces. This is a chalk drawing I drew when I was in 3rd grade that my parents had framed and recently gave back to me.

 

Like I mentioned … I like to have a quite a mix. Black and white sketches paired with vibrant oil paintings …
So where and when am I going to hang this art wall? Well, therein lies the problem.
I haven’t quite settled on the place.  I am torn between this wall along our staircase …

Or holding off until we redo our dining room. I also think I’d still like to add a few pieces … I’d like something with a person or people. I think part of me enjoys searching for pieces so much that I’m not quite ready to commit to finished display. But that’s one of the great things about it … you can swap things out or tuck new things in as you find them.
If you are interested in creating your own art wall I’d suggest first going through your own home and picking out some favorite pieces.  Also keep an eye out at art fairs or smaller boutique home stores … especially for smaller pieces that usually are fairly affordable.  Periodically get on Etsy and search original oil painting, vintage painting, framed art, black and white sketch … you get the idea. It will take some time to sift through the results … but something may pop out at you and it is an easy investment. I am always pleasantly surprised by the quality of original artwork on Etsy.  And many of the shops specializing in vintage often have wonderful old art in its original frames … a great way to give your collection an “inherited” look. (Inherited art just sounds like it’s worth a lot of money, doesn’t it?)
Also check out Vintage Printable and the New York Public Library Digital Gallery for a huge collection of searchable art you can print right from your own computer and frame however you want.
I’d love to see what you have done to create a gallery style wall in your home … I’ll add it to my collection of inspiration photos and share the best here on my blog.
Have a good week!