Tag Archives: inspiration

Fromental Wallpapers

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I am FAR behind in lining up posts for this week due to an outrageous amount of time I spent looking at Fromental wallpaper online yesterday.


I found this company via Brooke at Fabulous Doodles (a super fun fashion illustration blog if you are into that kind of thing – and if you’re here, I assume you are…) She raved about the display she saw at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show and I was intrigued.


So 24 hours and a Google reader exploding with 1000+ unread posts later… I thought I’d justify the time I spent on the Fromental website by inundating you with pretty pictures.


This London based company opened their doors in 2005 with a mission to “to create the world’s most beautiful wallpapers.” They call their hand-painted and embroidered designs “couture for your walls.”

I couldn’t agree more…


















This Carousel design would be adorable for a Park Avenue nursery, don’t you think?






I don’t know which colorway I like best. But I’m in love with that zebra.

And now I guess I should go catch up on all of those unread posts in my reader…or feed the children or something… It’s Spring Break for Fairfax County public schools – and even with Oliver only going to half day preschool this year, it’s going to be a looooong week.

Paper Lanterns

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Maybe it’s tied in with my love of chinoiserie, but I’ve always had a bit of a thing for Chinese lanterns.


Earlier in the week I posted some images of fine china and my absolute favorite piece was this bowl with a lantern motif:


It reminded me these two Janet Hill paintings that I’ve kept in a folder forever – just so I can look at them and sigh:



If I could go back and do anything differently with my wedding – I would consider tying in a theme of Chinese lanterns:



Not sure how well it would have worked with the beautiful painted ceiling of the ballroom we used… Maybe it would have to be my parallel universe wedding under a tent…

Anyway – I saw this image today, and it pretty much summed up my love of lanterns in a nutshell:


I want to live in that picture. Dim Sum anyone?

Images: 1 Katidid 2 home, james! 3&4 Janet Hill Studio 5 The Milwaukee Wedding Blog 6 Wedding Fanatic 7 ngoc minh ngo via Lolalina

Sunshine

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Chris’ beloved Papa (grandpa) passed away last week. His own father, Chris’ great grandfather actually wrote the song, “You Are My Sunshine.” Sadly, he was an unworldly country boy from Georgia who knew nothing of copyrights or patents, and the lyrics were snatched away from him. Family lore can’t be proven as fact of course…be we know the truth…

I keep “visiting” this lovely Annechovie print:


It may be the happiest little thing I’ve seen in ages. And it may need to be purchased to for the kids’ room. After all, the song writer was named Oliver – something we learned after choosing that name for our first born.

Two DIY Silhouette Ideas

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Last week, I found two different posts about creating silhouettes for display. I’ve always loved this idea – it may be connected to my childhood love of all things “old fashioned” which included cameos. But it never occurred to me to try it myself.

Now I have a couple of options to consider.

The first comes from Caitlin Wilson of Style Files (owner of the beautiful lamps I featured yesterday).


You’ll have to go to her post for full details, but here’s the basic idea:

First you take pictures in silhouette and cut them out.


Then you paint them.


And then you mount them on paper and frame them.


Beautiful! and even better – this creates a family portrait effect for people who cannot under any circumstances stay still and with the group long enough for an actual photograph.

The other method I read about comes via Emily A. Clark. She used Widdly Tinks to make a FREE silhouette of her “virtual” family.


Here is her family portrait:


She even put together some cute gift cards for her kids:


They won’t be personal silhouettes – but come on, they’re silhouettes. Like anyone will know the difference.

The chances of me getting to this before Fall of 2010 are unlikely. But I feel a holiday card idea starting to take shape…

Kate Long Stevens

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More goodness from The NEO-Traditionalist today! Actually – she posted about this artist last week, but I gather my post ideas the week prior – so there you have it.

Anyway – I’ve fallen madly in love with the work of Kate Long Stevens. And I was floored to read that she’s very young (graduated from University of the South in 2003). But talent doesn’t hinge on age – and these paintings are truly wonderful.

Her figurative paintings capture light and motion and often vehemently nod to the Impressionist masters.





More impressionist notes can be found in her “land and sea” paintings, and these serene landscapes make me sigh.





Finally, I was blown away by her abstract paintings. Their bold brush strokes and feminine colors are enchanting.





I’m no art critic – so my observations are far more decor and design directed. But this artist’s accomplishment in such a short period of time can’t be denied. I find it incredibly inspirational.

Mrs. Lilien

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Run don’t walk to this fabulous blog!

On Mrs. Lilien, each post is a “Mrs.” with source annotations (you’ll have to visit Mrs. Lilien for those details). For example:

Mrs. Meyer

Mrs. Mingle

Mrs. Why Not?

Mrs. Brunch

Mrs. Weekender

Mrs. Uptown

Or at least most of the posts are devoted to a “Mrs.” Some have a slightly different theme. Like this Mrs. Lilien paper doll:


I may stay up all night going through the archives…

Apparently her genius stems from a graphic design background. So it’s not ALL creative talent and extraordinary taste. This makes me feel minimally better about myself.

Working Class Studio Designs

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Remember this glassware giveaway from CSN Stores December?



Well I just discovered the source of the design. A division of SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), Working Class Studio “marries function with fine art” through original stationery and home decor lines.

This particular design comes from The Kay Collection.


And I fell in love with it for its subtle nod to Klimt (intended or not).


Other collections that caught my eye include, Un Petit Tour de Lacoste, stoneware plates and platters:




Re-Gift, fabric covered boxes and gift bags:




and Savannah Toile, a modern spin on a traditional textile:




I find this collaboration between students, teachers and alumni truly inspirational. What an amazing community. More art schools should institute programs like this one.

Sarah’s House

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I have never seen this show. In fact, I didn’t know it existed until I saw a post about it on Design Ties last month.

Apparently, it’s an HGTV-Canada program in which “Sarah” and her designer partner Tommy do complete home renovations. So far, they’ve done two houses and one cottage.

Here are some pictures:

Season One




Season Two




The Cottage




Hmmm. I may need to start watching more HGTV. It might guilt me into attempting some DIY projects of my own…