More of Aerin Lauder

With the expectative of getting my hands in the new Aerin Lauder book that I mentioned on my last post, I spent a few minutes lusting over Elle Magazine pictures of her NYC apartment.

Love the dresses, the dreaming, and lusted over the internet, dressing room. The gold details are just perfect in a sea of blues and greens!

Pictures source: Elle Magazine

Genevieve

With the replacing of the windows on the 2nd floor "reading room", now being transformed into a playroom, some of the many toys that were housed in our family room have been moved into the new playroom, and a more adult environment has been created.

In the family room, a built in has survived and houses memos, books, and orange color galore!

I love orange color, it reminds of my travel to Thailand, the Buddhist monks robes, the praying beads,...for me is a very soothing color.

I have added some of my souvenirs from several distinct places, such as Mozambique, Ethiopia, England, Costa Rica, South Africa, and Goodwill from just around the corner!

Mr Y has a very good eye for bargains and nice things, as well. He was a darling when he got an antique print with a lady called Genevieve, my late mom's name.

I used the holes that can be found on the sides of the built in to pass through the red and white ribbon I  got a few years ago in Cape Town, added a clock from Target bought for song at Goodwill, and slowly my built in is being nicely dressed with my cooking books, cake stands and magazines.

Stripes and florals: yes, please!

Do you get happy when sometimes decor purchases just fall in together as a well though puzzle?

Well, it was how I felt today when I put the Thibaut stripes wallpaper I had bought a while ago on ebay,  and an amazing Sharon Kessler fabric adquired at my most recent DeBois haul.

The plan:

Wallpaper the lower portion of the dining room walls, and replace my not so fancy paper curtains to some snazzy roman shades.

What do you think? Do you like/mix prints with stripes, either on your fashion or home decor?

Stripes and florals:

Fabric detail:

Hasta la vista, paper curtains!

Mid week decor cravings

I really consider that the entry hall, entrance of a house, is like a teasing for what you will find in the other spaces.

Some inspiration:

Source: Google

Before & After: The Brutal(ist) change

I have mentioned previously that one my furniture enablers/feeders is the amazing, and fast growing famous, store in Hampden, called David's on the Avenue.
It all started when I rented my tiny apartment, with the best Mount Vernon Place view, I just needed few and small pieces, to receive friends for a drink before going out to the many fantastic restaurants of the area.
At that time I was constantly traveling to Africa, and my roots were pretty loose until my husband, that time still fiancé, and I bought our first house at the Cross Keys Village, and I went from one bedroom to three bedrooms. Fast forward another couple of years and we had seven bedrooms in our hands to fill with more furniture.

When I moved to Roland Park, some furniture was just too small for some spaces, but with a good vision and a coat of paint (I used Gloss White by Rustoleum), and you immediately change that piece!
The original dingy, brown sofa table on the first picture. For a while I had the 2nd photo set up, but the lamps were just too small.
It's located in the landing area of the second floor, between the master bedroom and the nursery.

BEFORE:

MIDWAY:

AFTER:

This brutalist Zodiac mirror is by Original Finesse, a company started in the 60's by two brothers in law. The company was closed in the late 70's. I have two other pieces from them, and is always a piece of conversation as one was bought at David's and the other one through ebay.
You can find two of these mirrors on 1stDibs here.
I paid around $200 for the piece, and I think it was one of the most expensive pieces I got there!

Monday Musings

Today in São Paulo is raining and cold. A perfect day to browse through my inspiration decor files.

Calico Corners catalog:

Some traditional bags in one of the many markets in Maputo, Mozambique 

Before & After: Art addi(c)tion!

What a simple addition of art, two prints, and a mirror brings so much warmth to a room!
My twin bed guest room is always in change, but is getting closer to my vision.
Both Carol Gigg's prints and mirror were bought at my local Goodwill store for less than $50.
I had the headboards upholstered, and were $300 both (only work), and I got the linen fabric at Calico Corners for $80.
The duvets and covers are from Ikea: $60. Lamps ($19.99 each) were from Home Goods, and the amazing vintage vanity table , $55, was from a local furniture consignment store that has closed for business, and the rug was bought at an auction ($150).

Unfortunately, I don't have photos of the all whole process when I started, but here it is how it looks now:

BEFORE:

 AFTER:

Before & After: Small Changes

As many of you can attest (the ones with the decor bug, of course), is that there isn't one day that you don't change something around the house.
Well, today I just did it, and how nicer it looks:

The before:

And the after:

Feeling a bit blue...

Blue is definitely my favorite color... or at least one of the top 3!
I have plenty of blues in my wardrobe, and I have decided to revamp my house with touches of blue, as well.
I have started with a guest room, but now I want to add more touches all around the house!

Some ideas that start with just a silk blue blouse:

All walls? (maybe a bit too much!)

Just a pop:

Or a bigger pop?

Before & After: Chinoiserie at best!

Before my adventures into upholstery, and with the help of many youtube and blogs tutorials, I decided to put to some good use an amazing Bassett McNab's Tea Garden fabric I purchased from FHG (fabric holly grail, aka, DeBois).

I had already seen the impact and use of the wallpaper of the mentioned fabric:

                 

Room by Gideon Mendelson as seen at House Beautiful

After many theories in how to make a headboard (thank you Rachel and Sara), I decided to take the plunge and go for it:

Add amazing fabric:

Some plywood and MDF:

Et voila! In less than 3 hours (matching the fabric was the most difficult of all tasks):

There is still a lot to do before I unveil the final product: my blue guest room. I still need to use the remaining fabric to do a roman shade for this room, add a rug, paintings, and a nifty chair I just purchased from Goodwill!

Linking my DIY project at The Pink Pagoda

Before & After: "Almost perfect" and I am fine with it!

I love evenings... So much, that I have trouble going to bed at night. I prefer staying up reading and spending endless hours on Pinterest. However, due to this last "addiction", my mind is filled with ideas (please read grand ideas, zero-how-I-will-translate-that-to-real-life).
To add to those grand ideas, I have become a fabric hoarder.  Since reading at the fellow Baltimorean blogs design par Deux and Pigtown Design about the "fabric holy grail" that is Debois Textiles.
My furniture hoarding "enabler/feeder" is an amazing store in Hampden filled with great pieces and people David's on the Avenue.

This is an example of one of my most recent adventures into the needles and thread ruthless world...
You mix a great chrome black leather, tarnished with a few cigarette burns:

With 2 yards of Windsor Smith for Kravet, Mandella fabric, and you get:

An awesome, almost perfect bench! 

I must thank Rose from Nifty Needle that with loads of patience and trust on my poor, almost non-existent  sewing skills, lead me through my first upholstery project!

It's not perfect at all, due to being short of fabric I was unable to align the patters, and will not win any Martha Stewart crafty honor badge in a million years.

Beijinhos, MY.

The entry hall

If your house fails to provide a first good impression as mine does, it is the plain Jane of the block, if not of the entire Roland Park area filled with its gracious mansions, old Victorians...
My Maison proudly stands as the poor cousin, but only from outside...
Before I present her to all of you, I share some of my ideas I gathered to fill her with a strong, attractive personality, non-plain-Jane-thank-you!

Katie leede papyrus | veranda magazine, feb. 2012 Home details Wall paper

Ruthie Sommers

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