Swoon Interiors

interiors that make your heart skip a beat.

Sophisticated Stripes

Striped curtains make me swoon.

 Don’t these just kind of take your breath away?

A Thoughtful Place





Design Chic
Designer Amy Howard




A Well Dressed Home via Pinterest

 They really kind of elevate each of the rooms from just beautiful to … fabulous. 

We still need curtains in our living room and master bedroom.  The problem is … I just can’t choose which room to “give” the stripes too … I would love to do something like the blue and white panels in the bedroom above against our pale blue walls.

But I also like the taupe and ivory ones, or even gold and ivory like the ones below for our living room …

Design Dump

Autumn of Design Dump revealed her source for the ones above she had made for her own home … an online site called Village Workroom and I am dying to check them out myself.

Here’s a sampling of the duponi silks they offer …

 

You can choose the color, number of panels, width, finished length, lining. And there are 11 options for headers. Do you prefer flat, rod pocket, inverted pleat, pinch pleat ….
modified pinch pleat?

And the cool thing about their site is that after you select exactly what you want, you get an instant quote!

What do you think? Is there a room in your house that could use some bold stripes?

This is addictive …

Have you heard of Pinterest? I am forewarning you … it is addictive.

Basically it’s like a virtual pinboard where you can “pin” things, pictures, etc. you see online to create collections of things you love.  You can also follow other people’s pinboards for more inspiration.  There are lots of different categories … Home & Furniture (my fave), Food & Drink, Travel, Fashion, Photography, Kids, Weddings … you get the idea.  So you can make something like this …

… but keep it all stored on your computer.
Technically, you need to be “invited” to join, but you can go on the site and request an invitation and you should get an email a few days later.
I love being able to “pin” things from any site I’m on by just clicking the “Pin It” button on my Favorites Bar and you can create your own categories like “Lovely Bedrooms” or perhaps “Kitchens I Would Die For.”
Among others, I created a pinboard for “Unique Headboards” and here’s a sample of what’s on there …

Source: None via Amy on Pinterest

Source: hgtv.com via Amy on Pinterest
If you’d like to see what other things I’m pinning, just join Pinterest yourself and then click on the “Follow me on Pinterest” button I’ve added to my site on the right-hand side.
Well, it’s a crazy week with the last days of school … so I apologize in advance if my blog gets a little neglected while we adjust to our new summertime schedules. 
Have a good week everyone!

City adventures

So last Sunday … as part of my birthday weekend… (it always nice when you can extend the celebration beyond one day) my three men indulged me in a trip into the city for the first weekend of the Randolph Street Market Festival which is open the last weekend of each month through October. 
I love, love, love this street fair and try to make it down at least a couple times a summer. To me, it’s like an adult treasure hunt. And someone was even smart enough to take that idea and extend it to the kids.
Each kiddo is given …
… their own treasure map of things to find at the various booths.  When they do, the vendor initials it, and if they fill up their map, they get to pick their own “treasure” out of a chest at the end.
It’s tucked inside here …
Bubbles. Chalk. Crayon. Map. Pretty cute.
But first … there was breakfast at Orange.
Probably our favorite brunch place ever.
That’s Kyle drinking his freshly squeezed watermelon mango juice.  Yeah, you can pick your fruits, mix and match. Into the juicer. Yum. Best juice ever.
Just waiting for our fruishi to arrive.
(Fruit + Sushi = Fruishi)
It’s kind of a breakfast appetizer.
Thoroughly stuffed, we were ready to roll

Just steps inside I spotted these cool old baskets filled with … antlers!  Interesting centerpiece.  I also like the antlers individually resting on a coffee table or mantel.

There was a lot of what I like to call “industrial chic” which is a trend I’m kind of loving myself … especially when a more industrial piece is paired with something softer or feminine like this antique mirror.
Awesome butcher block table …

I loved the patina on this zinc tub … would make a nice planter. Oooh … there’s a nice demijohn jug too.
I love these blue mason jars to use as vases, and I actually bought a couple more to have on hand.  They’re also pretty inside a glass front kitchen cabinet.

Great candlesticks, glass jars, old tins, vintage lamp to the left … wait … what’s that under the lamp? Um, yeah. I think it is.  “Biology chart” for your bedroom anyone?
Ok … so this is not a good picture … it was starting to sprinkle … but these mercury glass vases with an emblem on the front made me swoon.  I really, really wanted them but ….

Within minutes we went from sprinkles to monsoon.

We took cover under one of the vendors tents, waiting for it to pass, or even let up, but it never did.  The water was coming so fast even the tents looked like they might collapse under the weight of the water. We had to make a run for it … our car was at least 3 blocks away.
We made it.
It is pretty fun to run in the rain.
 
I am wondering if those mercury glass bottles will still be there next month.

Birthday Present

Despite the lousy weather on Saturday and Sunday, the weekend was a great one. I couldn’t ask for anything more. Lot’s of great food, R&R, family, friends, two little toe-heads that crawled into my bed in the mornings, and then finally a nice hot summer-like day.

On Saturday night Dan took me out to oe of our favorite little french bistros, Bistrot Margot, in the city. (Let me highly reccommend the mussels and the chocolate chip bread pudding!)

And on Sunday night, he not only made a fantastic dinner for me, but also hung my new birthday present …

This was not as easy of a task as it first appeared to be. But with the gracious help of my father-in-law, who is most definitely our favorite go-to handyman, they got it up in time for dinner and to my great delight.
If you read my post on chandeliers, you may remember that I have been wanting to swap out the builder-installed chandelier in our breakfast area for sometime now. It just seemed to scream “Home Depot” to me. (Not that there’s anything wrong with the store.)
I have gone back and forth over several chandeliers for awhile, but finally decided on this one from Wisteria. This is, after all, a breaskfast room. I thought it called for more of a simple elegance than some of the bolder, more ornate choices I was looking at. I really love it’s vintage-lantern look. It is also a large, substantial size (perfect for high ceilings) but still manages to have a light and airy feel.
I also saw it featured in the home of another great designer, Brooke Giannetti. who’s blog, Velvet & Linen, I adore. That sealed the deal.
It definitely makes me swoon.
(Especially when being served a fabulous orechiette with sun-dried tomatoes, rapini and sausage made by my husband. Mmmm. Did he treat me right, or what?)
And these two other men in my life are pretty special too.
Thanks to my parents and everyone yesterday for making my birthday the perfect day.
More of our weekend adventures to come later this week … stay tuned.