Apartment LOVE: Monelle Totah

There are some homes that I can look at over & over and never tire of. These are the FAVORITES. We usually see them a million times splattered all over blogland and to me, Monelle Totah's home featured in Elle Decor a few months ago is one of those. It gets to the point where I almost feel bad posting because I know everyone's already seen it, but I just have to because I love it so much. Monelle is the head designer at Williams-Sonoma home so it's no wonder her place is GORGEOUS. Her living room is my favorite spot:

All- white with small hits of black and silver. It's sophisticated & just insanely beautiful. With its leggy furniture pieces, exposed wood floor & the color palette, it feels airy & open. That coffee table = yum yum!! Accessories are layered to perfection & it just feels ready for cocktails in there!! I'm also loving the dining room (below). It's a bit softer with a little more age due to the antiques, but has the same nice graphic punch of the overscale striped rug that the zebra hide had in the living room. I love seeing the silhouette of the table under the simple linen tablcloth. Such a relaxed elegance...

Below is a stocked little secretary & stylish mail-collecting spot. (At least that's what I'd use it for! ;)

The kitchen is light & airy & freah. The glass cabinet doors makes it feel larger than it is:

Of course I'm loving the white slipcovered headboard & general feeling in the bedroom (below). Also, check out her tired nightstand on the right side of the bed. How great is it for stacking books?! The two ottomans at the end of the bed are great touches (would be full of clothes at my house ;) and something about the green hydrangeas in the arrangement just seals this space for me. I love that hit of green! I have no idea what her budget was in this space but I think it could be fairly easily created on a tight budget. Headboard, ottomans, prints on the wall, books, seagrass rug... And I love the old sawhorse/bench under the window. I've seen them a lot while out shopping (Lucketts usually has one! - very inexpensive) and always consider buying them! (They're a little too skinny to be comfortable sitting on for any period of time though but look amazing... probably great for putting on shoes & setting books on... haha now I want one!! don't go to Lucketts!! just kidding ;) And for me, if I make a splurge in a room (which I usually do) it tends to be on the lamps...

I love seeing little stands & table & chairs in bathrooms... Do this one stay around after the photo shoot I wonder? Sadly, non of my bathrooms are big enough for any of these pretty extras... yet ;) hee hee... I'm also loving the toile in the shower area:

This bedroom has a perfect little galler wall & I love the splashes of gold and orange in the all-white space. How easy is this room to switch up seasonally?!! love it!

And the modern chair & art playing off the with the frilly chandelier & painted bamboo dresser = WOW

And finally, one last shot of the main area. It's just beautiful and if we didn't need striped rugs before, now we do ;)


Also, if you haven't seen already. Brooke from Velvet & Linen is having the COOLEST GIVEAWAY EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I won't spoil the surprise if you don't already know, but just go over there.

Have a great weekend & I took photos of our finished bedrooms (finally) and will be posting Mon!!! We're painting those nursery stripes -ahhhhhhh!!!

xoxoxo,

Lauren

ps- I just have to tell you about the weirdest dream I had last night: I was at K-Mart and Martha Stewart was there because of her products (I think she's stopped selling there in real life?) and she was helping to put carts away in the parking lot. I thought that was very nice of her. ;)

70s Redo Living Room Update: That Darn Wall!!!

Ok, so I've rearranged again (lately I've been doing it every couple of weeks just to give new things a try) so that the sofa would be across from the windows & we can enjoy all the changing leaves outside cuddled up instead of in separate chairs. (castered sofas = AMAZING for this!! ;) ;) In all of this rearranging I've learned that some arrangements photograph better than others (of course) but that sometimes the ones that photograph the worst are my favorites! haha like this one:

Which leads me to "THAT DARN WALL!!" argggg(above) It's been driving me insane as you probably remember. It's a tough imbalanced wall because of the angle of the ceiling... First I just tossed up some flea market paintings & a mirror we had up on the walls & while they look cozy & warm in the photo, there was way too much dead space on the wall so I knew the fix was only temporary. (Still planning on having mirror set into the fireplace box- on my to do list for this month)

Next I tried these huge mirrors from Ballard. (below) I love that they add to the height of the space but the black is getting to feel too harsh for me in here as it's getting colder. I had still planned to work in something around the mirrors but the arrangment in my mind bothered me. (And I have the perfect place that's begging for them in my entry... They remind me of a window & my entry is dark so they'll reflect a lot of the light from the LR windows.)

So, we've finally decided to do a gallery wall ... which was what was originally planned. (what goes around comes around I guess.) I know lots of people are 'over' them, but I've never had one long enough to get sick of them. We've got a bunch of Leonard Da Vinci sketches & drawings & we're going to frame them in matching oversized frames with oversized matting. (30!!!) I want to go as close as I can to the ceiling & take it down almost to the ground. I think it'll create a modern-feeling gridwork pattern but will also warm up the space at the same time... Below is a photo of a mid-sized gallery wall I did in a client's home:

I haven't ordered the frames yet & am hoping not to spend an insane amount. I found some possible online sources & will share when I decide which I'm going with. (priced under $20) I worry though because I haven't seen them in person. The store I'm really thinking of going with doesn't offer samples... So I'll let you know how it goes! For now though, here's what's going on in the rest of the living room: I'm waiting on some pillows (using a green & white floral I'd had around for years!!) for the sofa and I can't wait to add a little more pattern in this space:

We finally added the bookshelf lamp to our "cluttered" & loved bookshelf:

And because green is my favorite color, I keep finding green things to bring in here ( = free!!) My best friend gave me this cozy green throw & I love cozying up under it:

And the camel saddle has become a great ottoman:

I love having walnuts around in the Fall and here's a shot of the white urn they're hanging out in right now:

And the gilded chair is still alive!

And my dining room chairs are also still on the "to do" list... Slicovered linen parsons chairs are where they're headed, but for now I pulled in some garden chairs from outside in galvanized steel... As you can see, some fabric is needed over here in the dining room (come on parson's chairs!!) so I pulled in our little friend, the ottoman for the pic so it wasn't so cold. Now Christian loves it there & makes himself at home with his toys on the table. Works for me!

I'm still crazy over that piece of wood & the vintage chemistry beakers... I mixed them with a glass orb and an inexpensive beaker-like vase from Ikea:

And the storage space has been awesome in the $165 sideboard I found. It's also a nice 6 foot expanse of display space- yay!!

If you want to see the "before pics" of the living room & the changes we've made, you can go here to view it. So , what are your thoughts on a gallery wall& parsons chairs? Any good sources for me?

xoxo,

lauren

A Comfortable Home: My Thoughts

As you may have on a read on a couple of the other DC-area blogs, Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams held their book launch & signing for their new book A Comfortable Home at their store in DC last week. I was sad to have missed it but so thrilled that they sent me a copy for review!

The layout is almost like a work-book with step-by-step instructions. It's very "how to" and I love that about it. It's full of beautiful rooms for sure, but its purpose is in teaching readers how to attain beautiful, comfortable rooms that make them happy. For example, here's an excerpt below which describes the process of creating inspiration files & discovering what it is that moves you in a room:

There's lots of eye-candy of course:

The idea of "the comfortable home" really resonates something within me. I love beautiful rooms but I'm happiest in a beautiful space that's, above all, comfortable. I love attainable rooms. Doable spaces. And that's what this book is all about.

The rooms in the book make you think, " I can do that" and it's really encouraging. Yes, the book is full of MG + BW merchandise, but it's not pushed on you at all... it's merely used as a means to show you how you can easily create spaces.

There are several sections of the book where they show you how a room can be arranged in different ways & it's a great way to jumpstart your traditional thinking. It's definitely a book that you can write in, take notes in & really use. I recommend it to those who are trying to reinvent their homes & make them more functional & versatile. It's a great overall teaching book on the design process of making your home beautiful, functional & comfortable.

So, what makes a home comfortable to you??

xoxo,

lauren

Time Flies... Better Late Than Never!

Well, time's really flown since we moved into our new house. It's been 6 months! I've been pregnant the whole time & when we first moved (during my first trimester) I was pretty worthless with helping out. I fell asleep on the sofa almost every night around 7 & poor Dave got so much done.

Second trimester (and summer) just flew by with an insane amount of home improvement projects and travel plans....

And now, here I am with a baby due in a little over a month & I can't believe how quickly the time has flown!!! (haha and back on the couch again! - but not really ;)

First pregnancies & second pregnancies are VERY different. (at least for me.) For my first pregnancy with Christian (now 2) it was pretty much all we talked about for MONTHS. We had lots of name ideas & found out as soon as we could that we would be having a baby boy. (I really thought I was having a girl & wanted one badly!! haha) We talked to Christian the whole pregnancy long. The nursery planning & painting began in February & he wasn't due until July. It's really a magic time & there's nothing like it. (Christian's nursery below.)

Now for my second pregnancy... sometimes I forget I'm even pregnant! Christian takes up so much of my thoughts & energy that I just don't have as much mental room cleared out for this pregnancy as I did the first time. (I can only imagine how subsequent pregnancies go! :) We don't know if we're having a boy or a girl and decided that when Baby 2 gets here, he or she will be loved & coddled an insane amount so that for now (while he/ she is still "inside") we'll focus on Christian. But, when we sing & talk to Christian, this little baby is hearing it too so I'm okay with this.

Anyway, what this is all leading to is the fact that we've done NOTHING with the baby's nursery. eeeeeeeek It's definitely a lot harder to plan a nursery this time not knowing if we're having a boy or a girl. Of course we're keeping all of the same furniture, but I do want to do something a little different from Christian's nursery. (Hey, I'm a decorator! I live for this stuff! ;) And, let me be totally frank here: a nursery is for the parents. (in our case, for me.. Dave could really care less how cute it is ;) But no baby cares what his room looks like. They just don't. So when planning this nursery I'm under no illusions that this is going to make my baby happy or that the color of the walls will matter at all to him or her. It's for me. It will make me happy. Below is the seashell mobile my cousin & I made for Christian's nursery over 2 years ago... It really did make me smile...

Here's the chaise lounge that we're still using: (pictured in our old house/ nursery)...

And now sad & lonely in the new nursery:

Here's the new nursery... just waiting to be done!!! We're keeping all of the furniture you see along with the bumper & sheets. (We're doing a new blanket- the striped blue one I made for Christian & I'll do a new one for the new baby- and also new mobile, and crib skirt & pillows... don't worry the pillows won't go in the crib to suffocate the baby ;) And of course we need some paint!

So... I was thinking owls a bit back if you remember... and then I came across this awesome owl lamp from Gallery Designs: (top 2 pendants are from them as well.)

Finally when I saw this lamp, a vision started forming. (It took long enough! ;) Since we don't know the sex of the baby, I'm going to stay super-neutral: creams, browns, oatmeals, black and white... I can always add in color in accents once the little one arrives... (really more likely once the "3-6 month blur" passes over this house ;) But I just want it to be totally relaxing & subtle & textural with a little hit of fun. I loved the tone-on-tone stripes in Christian's nursery & want to do the same thing in cream in here. Since we sometimes call our house "the treehouse" I thought that owls & trees would be great for the nursery... So I want to make a huge tree growing on the wall behind the crib out of decoupaged newspaper... Then we can tape up photos and pictures & little notes & fun things all over it.... Sort of like this wallpaper tree from Romp but out of newspaper:And I'd love to add a sculptural natural chandelier similar to this one from Arteriors Home. (This one is unfortunately too big with only 8 foot ceilings.)

And for a fabric option, I love this: Does anyone know what it's called or where to get it?? I found it at southlandpology.com:

And I'd love to add a Dash & Albert rug:

Anyway, I'll be looking for some good artwork to hang above the toy/ book shelf and of course a bunch of fabrics, so if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them!! For the windows I'm just doing Sears Roman shades in 'natural.' (I probably won't add any ebellishments to them because I want to keep the window treatment pretty blank for future room switches..) We plan on painting in the stripes (SO TEDIOUS!!) this weekend...

xoxo,

lauren

ps- for the full story & photos of Christian's nursery, click here

***UPDATE: Ok, I decided to go "cuter" than originally planned. After talking with family & thinking about how Christian will be in there enjoying it too, I'm going a little more "baby" than I wanted to go. It's still going to be really textural with some hits of color (and we're doing the newspaper tree) but it'll feel like a little more of a vintage-modern mix & maybe a little more "fun" than originally planned. I ordered the Dash & Albert pale blue rug above (boy or girl, I like it ;) and am sticking with the cream striped walls, but am using this colorful mobile made by a super-talented etsy -seller.

I found this vintage concert poster & will have it framed with oversized matting for one wall:

I'm loving this owl fabric. Such a pretty pale blue... I'm thinking either for a blanket or a pillow or bedskirt or even as banding on the roman shades... depends "how" cute I want to go ;)

And I'm crazy about this vintage crewel owl family (below). They look so lovingly-created! I plan on layering them above the shelves with the toy baskets along with a large mirror, lamp & some other things...

Finally, depending on if we have a boy or girl, I'll still add in "girlier" fabrics, curtains & accessories or some more boy colors...

Living With Less

(room above by Chaffee Braithwaite) I was so excited to see our kitchen renovation on Design * Sponge and one of the reader's comments really got me thinking. The reader wondered about our losing storage space when we tore down the upper cabinets & replaced them with shelving.

(image above from channel4.com)

It hasn't been a problem for us & I actually have a ton of storage space for what we have (we have a pantry for our food & miscellaneous appliances & a large sideboard in the dining room for servingware & sets of china and our wine & most of our hangs from the wall) but it did get me thinking that there are things that we've gotten rid of or don't buy simply because I don't want my kitchen filled to the brim... and that maybe if I did have all of those things, this kitchen wouldn't work for me... Things like specialty appliances & gadgets that we would rarely use. We really just don't have these. (We have a blender, a toaster & a mixer & even one of those "set it and forget it" rotisseries... but we never opened the fondue set we got as a wedding gift, I borrow my mom's crockpot when needed, we don't drink coffee so the coffeemaker stays in storage until guests come and we have very few kitchen gadgets.)

Sure I'd love to have all of these things at my fingertips, but cramming my kitchen full of the latest & greatest and the "just in case" items would make my life more cluttered on a daily basis, and it's not worth it to me. I'd rather do without the amazing fondue we would make once a year... or make it on the stovetop instead and put it on a pretty bowl..

Living like this doesn't come easily to me & we have to purge constantly as I've said before. We have a cabinet in our laundry room with "giveaways" that we have to empty about once a month or so. Stuff just wants to sneak into your house! It's crazy!! We accumulate and have to fight off incoming-stuff daily or find places for it: coupons in the mail to restaurants we'll probably never use, mail-mail-mail!, paper clutter, cardboard boxes from packages, little notes & lists, purchases we decide to return, and somehow toys are always finding their way into our home... BUT, on top of fighting off incoming clutter, I think it's important to not have a lot of stuff in the first place. (room below, Susan Ferrier, House Beautiful)

What I mean by "a lot" is also very subjective. To the extreme minimalist, "living with less" might mean living with clothes and a few dishes and furniture, but to someone like me, "living with less" means having only what I need and love... and this includes lots of books & decorative accessories & dishware ;) The important thing is keeping what you need and use and love- whatever it may be- and then ditching the rest.

OK- OK -- I have a confession to make: I have hoarded some things from my childhood: I've saved all of my Barbies in case we have a little girl and am waiting for the day when we can play with them (she WILL love Barbies ;) ;) and also some of my stuffed animals and toys that are still in good condition. This may sound weird or cheap but we give them to Christian for birthdays & gifts because to him, they're new and it makes me so happy to see him playing with my old toys. (He loves them & so many of them are better than the new plastic toys!) (image below from vintagetoys.blogspot.com)

Ok, but back to "living with less": It's freeing and you honestly have more time when you live with less. (image below from Nate Berkus) We spend enough time as it is cleaning up our own messes: laundry, dishes, toys, and the 3 bibs that my dog drags into the dining room EVERY DAY arggg, but nothing makes me more frustrated than trying to find a place for something I didn't really want in the first place. So why let that stuff stay in my house? I don't. Living with less is a constant process and battle, but one I find very-worth fighting.

"Keep and seek only what you love and your home will be truly yours."

xoxo,
lauren



So how about you? Do you try to "live with less?" And what is "living with less" to you?