Swoon Interiors

interiors that make your heart skip a beat.

5 years ago …

I was blessed with this little boy …

Braden Christopher
Yesterday was his birthday …
We had a party in the park …
Thank goodness those aren’t real ants!
It was a little hot …
… but we still had fun.
Braden loves to sing and this is one of his favorite songs to belt out …
The Ink Society on Etsy

Aren’t these prints from Etsy so cute?

His “Mimi” (my mother-in-law) taught that song to him and it melts my heart every time he sings it in his sweet voice. He is definitely my sunshine, keeping me on my toes but always able to make me laugh and smile.
In honor of my Birthday Boy, here are some other fun kid’s art prints that remind me of him and that might just be able to brighten up your kids’ playrooms or bedrooms as well.
Studio Mela
Braden’s a Leo …
Parada Creations
(Check out the other cute zodiac signs.)
He LOVES animals …
Marla Sea
And especially sea creatures …
Wall Fry

Speaking of fries … Braden loves ’em. (Is there a kid out there who doesn’t?) 

Studio Mela
Happy Birthday my sweet Braden.
(That’s his new dog, Vanilla. Our poor cats think he’s real.)

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.

Birthday weekend

Whew!  What a weekend! Between a fab charity event, a bad cold, a case of laryngitis and my son’s birthday … I think I will be ready to call it a night by about 8 pm! But it was all worth it for this smile …

So I don’t have much to share on the interior decorating front … but I thought I’d give you a quick glimpse of my sweet seven year old through the years …

He was SO excited about that basketball cake!
(If you’re local … we got it from Jennycakes!)
I could not be more proud of my little buddy.  Even though each birthday of his makes me want to put on the brakes and slow down time, I also love to see the qualities of the person he is becoming reveal themselves each day, week, month and year.  He never ceases to amaze me or make me laugh.
And because he is very interested in “mom’s blog” (not so much the decorating part, but just the fact that I have blog about our house) I will take a moment to again say Happy Birthday Kyle! Here’s to another great year! I love you!
 ***
I’ll be back later this week with more decorating goodies!