love forever

Wanderlust: Three Days in Providence, RI

I've talked about my intense wanderlust instinct before. It's definitely a bit of a grass-is-always-greener syndrome- I spend three days in a cute town, city or hamlet and I instantly want to move there. But I swear, I could actually live in Providence for reals. When Squam friends Elizabeth and Christine invited me to spend a few days in their adobable city, I jumped at the chance.

Providence rolled out the perfect fall weekend for me with crisp sunny days walking through leaf strewn sidewalks and lazy brunches nibbling on pastries and drinking tea. Elizabeth and Christine were perfect hosts- that just right combination of lots to do and see but no hurry to do it in.



On Friday I hopped the train (I love train rides don't you?) from NYC and got into Providence very late but luckily Christine's house has a separate entrance so I snuck in to find a gigantic king size bed piled with pillows just for me and note telling me that there were homemade muffins and butternut squash soup in the fridge. What is this magical place? My personal heaven?












Saturday we walked all over the city, stopping for a delicious, local and somehow still inexpensive lunch at the art collective space AS220. My favorite part of the day (and possibly the month) was a visit to the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab, part of RISD but open to the public. Artists of all kinds can peruse the thousands of specimens, rocks, shells, feathers and animals there and then sketch, sculpt and paint them at the giant tables there. I think I could go there every day. They also had a beautiful exhibit about the geometry of plant life and nature. Just the kind of nerdiness that I go for.







We had dinner at La Laiterie, another local type retaurant. I had steak with mushroom gnocci and sunchoke fondant. It made my head explode with happiness.











Sunday started off with the aforementioned lazy brunch at Elizabeth's beautiful light filled house (and her vey own mini- Nature Lab). Seriously Providence, why are you hogging all the sun? I like my house fine but let's be real, it is a dark South Philly cave. After that we took another walk, did some shopping, followed by dinner at Christine's (why didn't I take pics of here house too? Dang!) and dessert at Pastiche.

And Sunday I took a walk with Elizabeth then headed home. Even the adorably cute train station had good food: I got myself a grilled cheese on sourdough bread from the local bakery with avocado and bacon. Take that Penn Station.

Good eats and pretty scenery aside, the best part of the trip was the talking. You know when you are with people that just get you, regardless of how short or long they've known you and the conversation is just effortless? I came home inspired and happy, ready to start lots of new projects and dream lots of big things.

Big Blue- Pinterest Favorites

It's a grey grey Tuesday and I must be craving a clear sky because everything I posted to Pinterest today was blue blue blue. Oh, and I spent a lovely weekend at friend's house in Brooklyn and she has one fantastic teal blue wall in her living room. Hmmm...maybe I shouldn't have painted my living room white!
I'm a bit of a color harlot- I can't really think of a shade I don't like! Any colors you really hate or really love?

A gorgeous home from Design*sponge


Farrow & Ball wall colors


paint chip quilt by kimem


Abigail Ahern's totally-awesome-and-over-the-top blue table.


Shades of blue, green and yellow.

White Cube

I have to admit: I have never, ever in my life wanted white walls. So it's a little weird to be completely obsessed with white right now. The Mr. and I currently live in a very brown house; it's all brown floors, brown stairs, brown couch (what? I bought it before we moved!) and white walls seem like the only thing to combat the sea of brown. Not taupe, eggshell, cream, just white white white. I've been pinning and saving any inspiration I can find with white walls. Here are a few favorites below...

Oh, and the color we picked? Snowbound by Sherwin Williams. Just a teensy bit creamier than pure white.

the Smithy home (it's for sale!) in the Catskills.


Jonathan Adler's New York home

two images above of the designers of Nightwood's home in New York Magazine


to the left: from Convoy, to the right, a house styled by Emily Henderson

Humblegarden Apartment

 

This apartment refurbishment by Tham & Videgård Hansson Arkitekter is off the hook amazing. I'm not quite sure if I could live here but you have got to admire their design chutzpah.

The apartment was designed to reflect the changing colors of the seasons reflected in the park just outside and the repeating parquet theme carries you from one room to the next. The colors are just incredible right? I could stare at them for hours.

 

via yatzer.

 

Jennifer Talbot: Installations and Interiors

I never really write about kid's designs but this is too amazing to pass up. Jennifer Talbot goes waaayyyyy beyond the usual child's playroom and creates these fantastically fun environments with beautiful handmade details.

I mean, this room includes a working tree swing, pickable fabric lemons and a thrift store stool transformed into a racoon! So cool right?

Now these are some lucky kids!

Check out her website and blog for many more projects for kids and some for adults too!!!

Color Inspiration

We're deep in the nesting and decorating phase of moving and as always, I have been thinking a lot about color. I'm trying to shake a few things up in this new place (I am beyond over my pink and black go-to bedroom combo) so I've been bookmarking colors like crazy.

Here are few that I love:

Blue, salmon, straw, lemon- from the Color me Pretty series on Decor8

A riot of pretty sorbet shades- from here

Apricots, seafoam and peacock green from the Color Collective blog

Canary and sky blue from Creature Comforts

No matter what, there will be stripes. Maybe this one from Superbuzzy:

Or this one, the standard navy ticking stripe that is totally timeless to me.

 

And I have always loved this set from Dwell, even more that it's called Draper Stripe.

Home in 178 square feet

 
 

I've been thinking a lot about how much space I need to live comfortably. In Brooklyn, we lived in a cramped railroad that felt very much like a long hallway. We loved it (it was New York and you take what you can get) but I spent a lot of my time pacing back and forth from room to room. When we moved to Philadelphia, we settled into a gigantic industrial loft and it's as if everything we owned instantly expanded to fill the space. We love this place too but I think it's too fancy for us; I like some crumbling walls and peeling paint in my apartments. So now, as our lease is almost up, we are looking for something a little in-between, a just-right sort of place that we can call home.

But, when I see places like this 178 square foot apartment, the home of designer Zach Motl, I think, "I can do that". There's something actually quite comforting about a tiny home, everything needs to have a place and there's no room for extra crap that you don't need or want.

What do you think? Could you live in a little place or do you like the room to spread out?

Breathtaking use of color and bright African fabrics from stylist Irina Graewe's portfolio.

Marimekko Interiors 2009

These photos from the Marimekko 2009 catalog have made the rounds on blog-land quite a bit but these photos are too cheerful and happy not to share. Just looking at them for a a few minutes actually made me feel better. I hope they brighten your day too.

Marie Claire Idées: Crafting with Packaging and Labels

I love these images of projects inspired by packaging and food labels from the newest issue of Marie Claire Idées. Doesn't everything look better in French?