Mixing styles

The daughter of a good friend of mine just bought a new home in London. She lives in a very "hipster" area and wants to her new home to be decorated in the "Modern Nordic" genre. I had to smile when she shared her ideas with me for a number of reasons ... I am super excited to see what she does (oh, how I wish I could just jump over the pond to play in the new house with her) and also because I had no idea what some of her terms meant! I had an "idea" what hipster meant, but wasn't quite sure what "Nordic" was. So I did a little research.

My version of "Rustic-Modern-Chic" or "Nordic-Modern-Chic"

I also played around a little on Olioboard; I thought it would be fun to give her a little inspiration board.
And some fun images to look at.

Daniel Bergman | Nikias Hansen

Scandinavian

One of the questions I get asked a lot is when if it is okay to mix different styles. YES! 

Mikel Irastorza Interiors | Mid-Century Modern meets Boho Chic

Photography: Per Gunnarsson | Scandinavian Style

"Vintage Modern"

Leone Design Studio | Marrying Modern with Antique

I love the elements of antiquity in this space juxtaposed with modern furnishings. 

Ken Levenson, Architect | Jenna Lyons' Brooklyn Townhouse

"19th Century details with Modern and Rustic elements"

I have always mixed different styles. In fact, I do not like 100% "period" homes or a home decorated in all one style, so mixing just comes natural to me. I found some great examples of different styles mixed together...

Martha O'Hara Interiors | Photography: Susan Gilmore

"Glitzy-Glam meets Farmhouse-Chic"

Sam Van Fleet Photography | Puget Sound beach cabin

"Modern Rustic"

These are just a few - the possibilities are endless!

The wearing of the green

Green has been big the last year or two, but it is especially big today...

 

 

So whether you are Irish or not, and no matter how you wear it ... don't forget to put your green on today! Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!

Images: Miles Redd Kitchen | Photography: Tomas Loof, Fonseca Port wine bottle glasses | Etsy, glass knob | Anthropologie, watercolor | Etsy, ring | Etsy, painting, Murphy sofa | Room and Board, vintage card.

Walking home

Camille Pissarro / made by mollyinkenya via

I love this quote and think it could be said about people. What if we saw things in people that were not all that easy to see but are there. Things that other people don't see. Beautiful things.

via

And what if we spent our days helping those people see the beauty inside themselves. 

Ella Frances Sanders

Lisa Congdon | 365 Days of Hand Lettering

Because we are all in this together. 

"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other.

Just as I have loved you, you should love each other." - John 13:34

The first rose of the season

The first rose of the season showed up today in my front yard yesterday. It was tucked down low and I almost missed it ... 

The scent is heavenly. 

And although I almost hated to cut it, I couldn't resist bringing it inside. 

 {via}

That's all for today folks! Happy Friday!

Consignment shop treasures

I went to visit my daughter and her family last weekend. The snow has melted and Spring is quickly approaching. My daughter's birthday is also approaching and for her gift this year, she asked for a little help with her new home. 

One of the areas she needed help with was the living room next the the armoire where the TV is housed.

 It was an awkward space with just enough room on either side of the armoire to need "something" but not enough room to do much (and she didn't want a plant!). She also really wanted a dining table. 

As is my usual "M.O.", I started out at HomeGoods and found a nice side table and lamp. I loved that the table had a ceramic flower knob (ala Anthopologie, I thought) and I have no idea why it was on clearance but I was not going to complain.

The lamp was $49 and I thought it looked nice with the side table and the idea was to use it in the living room. But we ended up putting it on their entry table instead:

When they first moved into their new home, the armoire, (which was mine when we first got married), was centered on the wall. It seemed like the right placement but it made it really hard to figure out what to do on the sides. Moving it a bit to one side gave us more room to do something a little more interesting on one side and not have to worry about putting something the other side. 

Inside is their TV and book storage:

The top shelf (above the TV) has the grown up books ...

And the bottom shelf is their daughter's library.

They live in a very small town and there are not a lot of shopping resources. But they do have a few antique and thrift stores as well as a consignment shop. We found the plate for $10 at the consignment shop.

My daughter's favorite color is turquoise and we tried to bring a little turquoise in each room. In fact, you might remember the turquoise vase with the flowers from the posts I did on her nursery - it was the inspiration. You can see the nursery here and here. 

So we were pretty excited to find this at the consignment shop as well:

Now we are in search for some chairs!

Jewelry for your home

I was talking to a friend the other day and she told me how she went shopping with her daughter in one of those stores where nothing is larger than a size ten ... and her daughter realized that none of the clothes would would fit her.  My friend told her daughter ... No worries! There are always scarves and jewelry!

And I thought about how the same thing holds true in decorating. It is not always possible (or maybe even necessary) to go after the larger purchases. The smaller things can be just as fun. 

A $16.00 cobra tray from HomeGoods ...

Fresh flowers brought home from the market ...

A bargain gilded "sculpture" from HomeGoods ...

Or just a $4.00 pop of color from the thrift store ... can lift a room (and your spirit) as much as a new outfit. And hunting for these little treasures are pretty fun too.

And have you seen the new poufs at Target? Not bad for $69.99

Happy Monday everyone!

The language of love

I had lunch last week with a dear friend. It was a birthday celebration long overdue. We drove up to Santa Monica and walked around the farmer's market and then had a lovely lunch at an outdoor French bistro on the promenade. 

This friend is a wonderful gift giver. What makes her a great gift giver is not that she spends a lot of money; it is because her gifts are always gifts of the heart. She listens. She takes time to make sure each gift is special to the person she is giving it to. She puts a lot of effort into her choices and, of course, they are always beautifully wrapped! And what is fun is that she loves to play along with the color of the year. In fact, you should look at what she did two years ago when the color was tangerine!

The card she made this year was from a photograph she took while vacationing in Hawaii last summer. It was one of those things you could not plan any better - and she didn't - it just happened that she had the photograph in her camera and when the new color "Orchid" was announced, she remembered she had it.

The card was gorgeous and so was the wrapping - every detail perfectly planned. But it was what she wrote inside the card that touched me the most ...

I am reading a book right now about blessing others. A line in the book perfectly describes my friend:

"Sometimes life's power shines through us, even when we do not notice. We become a blessing to others then, simply by being as we are."*

I am so blessed to have a friend like this. She speaks the language of love and is a blessing even when I am sure she has no idea. 

*(Excerpt from My Grandfather's Blessings; Stories of Strength, Refuge and Belonging

by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., Riverhead Books, N.Y., ISBN: 1-57322-856-7 

page 195).