After a lovely week spent with family in Arizona, we flew home Saturday night, just in time for hurricane Irene. On the positive side, the MFA closed today so I didn't have to go to work. On the negative side, if they had made that decision just a few hours earlier we could have rescheduled our flight and spent three more days in the sun. Boo.
In any case, you've probably noticed that I did not spend my vacation blogging. I did, however, spend some time thinking about what to blog about. My original plan for this blog was a very informal one: something to the effect of "post about whatever's on my mind when it's on my mind." But posts take a very long time to write, research, and publish, so the reality has involved a lot more thinking and planning than expected before actually posting. I've noticed my posts falling into unintentional categories of sorts, and I've been thinking that perhaps I should create a little more structure and get your input about what you'd like to see on this blog. I don't want to go so far as to create regular "features" (like "wedding Mondays," or "Craigslist Tuesdays"), but I would LOVE to hear which types of posts are most interesting to you. Here are some of the aforementioned categories I've noticed, with examples of each...
1] Inspiration roundups (pictorial wallpaper, midnight blue + ochre, inspiration boards, greige, billowy skirts)
2] Product roundups (velvet, metallic-toe shoes, bamboo, agate + geodes)
3] Craigslist decorating (I, II, III, IV, V)
4] My projects (recovering my ottoman, making my desk, making my inspiration/bulletin board)
5] Being an art history nerd (J. Crew + Millais, J. Adler + ancient Peru, 18th century pocketbooks)
6] Wedding plans and ideas (inspiration, more inspiration, table settings)
7] Looks for less (Plantation Design ad)
8] Random assortments of images and links, either from my files or products I've come across; this would result in more frequent posts but less structure (examples here, here, here, and here)
I'm not a huge commenter – I NEVER commented on blogs before I had my own, and I'm still pretty bad about it – so, comment-shy people, I get it. But I really want to hear from you, even if it's just an anonymous "I like #5." And feel free to give me any other feedback you want! I started blogging because I wanted to be able to talk about my crazy interests with people who wouldn't be bored to tears by them. Now that I actually have some readers, I'd really love to hear from all of you!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
ASSORTED LOVELINESS FOR YOUR FRIDAY
A short trip we just returned from has left me rather emotionally exhausted, so for lack of a real blog post, here's some assorted loveliness for you today: the things that have stuck in my mind over the past few weeks...
And a little peek at what I've been up to: the results of a trip to my favorite flea market [more on that soon!] ...
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| Robert Rodriguez dress at Neiman Marcus |
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| Amy Merrick's beautiful new website design |
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| Rue magazine |
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| Vera Wang Lavender Label at Neiman Marcus |
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| via Style Me Pretty |
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| Black Crow Studios wallpaper |
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| via Style Me Pretty |
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| Hadleigh's bespoke slippers, via VT Interiors |
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| Vera Wang Lavender Label gown, at Neiman Marcus |
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| Heather Safferstone via Aesthetic Oiseau |
And a little peek at what I've been up to: the results of a trip to my favorite flea market [more on that soon!] ...
Friday, August 12, 2011
PLANTATION DESIGN: LOOK FOR LESS
Now that this is finally over, I'm starting to slowly regain my sanity and my interest in blogging. My past week has involved very little sleep, making plenty of design boards (yay!), and a lot of long, angry lines (boo):
I love the calm but playful atmosphere of this room. It feels like the perfect twentysomething room, the kind of room I could see a lot of my friends loving... if any of us had the money to buy $2000 mirrors. Every time I browse Plantation's website I fall in love with about a hundred things, and simultaneously wonder who on earth spends many hundreds of dollars on a single tiny box or frame. This particular image got me to thinking about how many of the things in this room are beautiful but not particularly unique, and I wondered whether I could put together a lookalike room on a more reasonable budget. Here's the result:
Not perfect, but pretty close. The rug is clearly meant to be a knockoff, but it appears to be darker than the original, which is why I offered an alternate option. Despite the different pattern, I think the second option more closely resembles the luxurious texture and muted colors of the one in the ad. The details of the garden stool and the bench aren't precisely identical to Plantation's, but the prices are right! The bed was by far the hardest to match; after scouring the internet and browsing through what now seems like hundreds of upholstered beds, I realized that I'd have to compromise on something. I found tufted beds with no wings in the perfect color, tufted wingback beds that came in all the wrong colors, wingback beds with no tufts, and beds whose headboards were twice as tall as Plantation's (see below, Z Gallerie runner-up) - not to mention a few almost-perfect ones whose price tags took them out of the running. I ended up choosing a white one, prioritizing tufting and wings over that precise platinum-grey color. I know it loses points for having curved wings rather than those pretty clean-lined straight ones, but I think it most closely fits with the idea of the original room. Plus, it's about half the price of the Z Gallerie bed that I was leaning toward.
None of the accessories seem to be on Plantation's website - they were probably brought in by a stylist - but here are some lookalikes to fill in (almost) every last detail:
What do you think? Is it a good substitute, or do "looks for less" just not compare to the real thing?
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| approximately 1/3 of ONE of the two lines that wrapped around the MFA on Saturday - picture via Twitter |
With my newfound downtime, I was flipping through an issue of Elle Decor a couple days ago and came across this ad for Plantation:
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| apologies for the bad scan |
I love the calm but playful atmosphere of this room. It feels like the perfect twentysomething room, the kind of room I could see a lot of my friends loving... if any of us had the money to buy $2000 mirrors. Every time I browse Plantation's website I fall in love with about a hundred things, and simultaneously wonder who on earth spends many hundreds of dollars on a single tiny box or frame. This particular image got me to thinking about how many of the things in this room are beautiful but not particularly unique, and I wondered whether I could put together a lookalike room on a more reasonable budget. Here's the result:
Not perfect, but pretty close. The rug is clearly meant to be a knockoff, but it appears to be darker than the original, which is why I offered an alternate option. Despite the different pattern, I think the second option more closely resembles the luxurious texture and muted colors of the one in the ad. The details of the garden stool and the bench aren't precisely identical to Plantation's, but the prices are right! The bed was by far the hardest to match; after scouring the internet and browsing through what now seems like hundreds of upholstered beds, I realized that I'd have to compromise on something. I found tufted beds with no wings in the perfect color, tufted wingback beds that came in all the wrong colors, wingback beds with no tufts, and beds whose headboards were twice as tall as Plantation's (see below, Z Gallerie runner-up) - not to mention a few almost-perfect ones whose price tags took them out of the running. I ended up choosing a white one, prioritizing tufting and wings over that precise platinum-grey color. I know it loses points for having curved wings rather than those pretty clean-lined straight ones, but I think it most closely fits with the idea of the original room. Plus, it's about half the price of the Z Gallerie bed that I was leaning toward.
None of the accessories seem to be on Plantation's website - they were probably brought in by a stylist - but here are some lookalikes to fill in (almost) every last detail:
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| clockwise from upper right: jewelry box, $30 pink quartz cluster, $23 Avedon Fashion: 1944-2000 exhibition catalog, $63 big skeleton key, $12 frame, $17 green vase, $23 |
What do you think? Is it a good substitute, or do "looks for less" just not compare to the real thing?
Monday, August 1, 2011
WHAT OUR WEDDING NEEDS IS...
...some fabulous gold sunburst chargers. And, while we're at it, I'll take some of those napkins that happened to be monogrammed with my initials.
I'll pass on everything else, though, especially that tablecloth. There will be many more wedding-table-setting related posts before next June, but while we're on the subject, I have a question: WHY DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE SHINY AND PLASTIC? We went to the showroom of a linen rental company a few days ago, and after seeing a lot of polyester faux-silk, I voiced my dislike. The (otherwise very nice) woman responded in a rather belittling tone, "Well, yes. That's because it's a party. It's not like you have to live with it." Are parties supposed to have more fake dupioni in them than real life is? 'Cause I feel like good taste is good taste. Not to mention that my tables are going to have plenty of real (silver or brass or gilt) shiny things on top of them.
Back to the topic at hand, does anyone know how to get their hands on sunburst chargers?
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