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Monday, December 10, 2012

Gift Guide: My Wish List

Hello, hello. Apologizes for the late post, it's been a crazy busy day full of projects and picking up kiddos etc. I wanted to share my wish list, gift guide. Not sure if Santa will make it by my house this year but I thought I'd share some of my favorites and needs (wants) none the less!


1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/10/11

Here are the deets on my picks! Happy Holidays. I can't believe Christmas is two weeks away.

1. I'd buy three sets of these and scatter them around a mantel and coffee table when entertaining. An inexpensive way to create ambiance is to add dimmers to all your lights and scatter votive candles all around!
2. Absolutely on my list is a long beautiful pendant necklace. I'm LOVING both of these and would even wear them together, at slightly different lengths. The Wheat Lulu Frost one is from J.Crew and keeps going in and out of stock. The druzy necklace is by Margaret Elizabeth, I love her designs.
3. I love bamboo motifs. I would mix this bamboo china with all sorts of colors and patterns. It's so versatile but a bit more interesting then all white dishes.
4. I thought Carsten Holler's museum installation was inspiring. I loved the mix of gold, silver and metals. It was chic + glamorous. You could purchase one or more of these illuminated fixtures from Shades of Light for the same unexpected effect in your home, could even paint them white if you wanted to achieve the same look as the wonderful sign.
5. The zipper just failed on my down coat, it's time for a new one anyway. I may get it fixed and donate it! This Barbour version would work to keep me toasty this winter!
6. I'm dying for a few sequins in my life this holiday season. I like how these oversized sequins on this Suno blouse are unexpected! Plus I'm always cold, so it's still sassy enough to wear out for cocktails but will cover me up a bit.
7. Pink baubles, need I say more. These stackable bangles would surely make a statement, plus they're a steal at $28.00 for the set.
8. I still love leopard details but the newest gold tipped toes and heels I'm spying are fabulous.
9. My wallet is looking pretty tired. I often grab my wallet and go, so I like a piece that can be carried alone but doesn't look dirty too quickly. This Tory Burch violet version is pretty and practical.
10. Really? This is more of a dream then a wish. I'm dying for a great leather jacket. This green Balmain jacket is GORGEOUS but the cost of it could feed a small family for weeks!
11. I will own a real Beni Ourain rug some day. I know they have been all the rage for a few years now but I love the look and would layer this over a great flat wool sisal rug.

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Christmas Tree Decorating

Here's a fun job I did yesterday...
I got an email on Friday afternoon from a branding company asking me if I could decorate a Christmas tree for their government client - and if so, quickly. Once I saw the photo of the sad looking tree, I had to say yes. I visited the office that day - saw the aqua and blue colours behind the reception desk therefore had the jumping off point for the decorations. Shopped in the weekend and on Monday afternoon, I decorated the tree. This is how it went...

The tree - before.

Moved the tree onto the carpet (closer to the waiting area) and the branches got some loving treatment.

Add fairy lights (x 3 sets of 200) and covered the stand with turquoise tulle.

And covered the tree in decorations - all 296 of them and pop the star on top.

Mission accomplished.

Photographs by Charlotte Minty.
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BODIE and FOU Voted Best Interior Shops by ELLE DECORATION NORWAY

Trop coooool!!!!
I've just found out that BODIE and FOU have been voted Best Interior Shops by ELLE DECORATION NORWAY
I always get super excited when we get featured in Elle Decoration Norway because... well, it's Elle Deco (!!) and secondly because my great grand-father was Norwegian.
At least it was the story that my dad told me until I was 16 "your grand-dad was a sailor, blabla...Kรถng comes from Koening meaning King, blablabla" and in fact, knowing that the Viking spirit was running in my blood gave me some kind of pride and a great answer to all the stupid boys at school who thought they were hilarious when they were calling me King-Kong.
And then at the age of 16, my dad told me that actually he wasn't sure and my great grand-dad may have been from Switzerland....
What!? So not only I'm no longer the daughter of a Viking but now it seems that the grand-dad was a bit of slapper with wives in every port from Norway to Switzerland...great!
To this day, I have no idea where the name comes from but I shall stick to my Viking story!
Big thank you to ELLE DECORATION NORWAY for this but also thank you to Helene Bye for featuring our Gaivota rocking chair in their December issue as Editorial's favourites!





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Family Room Design Plan

Wow, what a fun weekend!  We enjoyed some 7th grade basketball (very fun to watch!), dinner with friends and I had an opportunity to tour a few of the homes on the IPC Holiday House tour on Sunday afternoon.  I have to say Andrew Brown's house was amazing.  Such a cool mix of styles and totally unexpected from the traditional exterior of the home.  I'm sorry I didn't take a single picture.  I decided to treat myself to the tour without focusing on reporting it all.  I did lots of inspiration and will certainly be incorporating lots of the ideas from what I saw into the design plans I'm currently working on for clients. 

Speaking of design plans, I wanted to show you a design plan I put together for a cute couple in Mountain Brook.  They have a gorgeous home and were interested in a fresh perspective for their family room.  Here's what I came up for their space.

Here is the design board for the space.  The fabrics for the pieces shown will be totally different (for example the sofa is a midnight blue jumper pattern), but this gives you an idea as to how the pieces relate to each other.  The game table and armoire were pieces the client had and wanted to use in the space.  They also have a fabulous Heriz rug with lots of navy and gray(sorry no pic of the rug). 


And here is one option for the pillows we're considering for the space. 

How's the holiday shopping going?!  I've decided to do most of mine online this year.  So much easier than braving the crowds.  M.

All sources for these products included in this plan are considered work-product.  Thus, I am not able to share them with you on the blog.  However, if you would like help in pulling a space together or creating a plan to take your current space to a whole new place, I would love to help you! 



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A one room wonder

I hate when I find one amazing photo..with little to no info about where it came from or where the rest of the house is..

I am starting a little series devoted to these one room wonders... I would like to call 

"ONE ROOM WONDER"



P.S. if you have info on where the rest of this house is....tell me!


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Boxwood wreaths...




I was so excited to find some beautiful boxwood wreaths at Trader Joes.  For the price I feel as though I could replace them 3 times over the season if they get a little crispy!  
Looking forward to gearing up for Christmas this week with our tree coming soon.

Happy Holidays!

image by christina for greige
Photobucket 
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Holiday Style Oliohop

I'm thrilled to welcome you to 2012 Olihop Holiday Style!

Before I begin let me explain a little about what an Oliohop is.  
It all begins on Olioboard, an online tool for creating 2D and 3D design boards.

An Oliohop is a blog collaboration of 10 bloggers at the same time.  This month we are focusing on Holiday Style.

Perfect, I know!

We are taking a look at my vision for Tablescapes Holiday Style this year, 2012.

I always begin with some inspiration.  Soft, quiet colors of Duck Egg, muted greens and natural burlap.

I always mix old with new.  Some unexpected with traditional.

Let's take a look at Holiday Style in my own home.  A work in progress...



My Annie Sloan Work Book for making notes and tracking my thoughts.  Duck Egg Annie Sloan Chalk Paint™ is my inspiration for everything.


Yes, that's a book...and yes I painted a pearl necklace...the unexpected!

The final table for two for the Holidays.



Buffalo Check in a soft Duck Egg Blue.






I put my Apparel Design skills to work and made an apron just for the Holidays.


Now for the final Olioboard Tablescapes Collection...



My favorite part of Oliohop is seeing and sharing the other amazing nine bloggers and their posts!

Drop by to see what they have been up to.


http://nyclq-focalpoint.blogspot.com (Lynda Quintero -Davids )



Have a super week!



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Sunday, December 9, 2012

Grey by Studio Bakker




Spotted on Emma's Design blog - these gorgeous and restful grey interiors by Stef Bakker, a Dutch interior designer, stylist and art director. Nice.
Photographs via Studio Bakker.
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On my Christmas wish list is...

On my wish-list this year are...
- a baby
- The CANON EOS 5D Mak III but I'll settle for the Mak II if I have to :-)
- This white Dadasi carafe designed by Nelson Sepuvelda for Belart Industries
- A yearly subscription to MILK DECORATION but they don't done one :-(
- A new iPhone 5
- Soft PJs from Hush (I'm so rockn' roll...Look, they are beautiful, comfy, soft and it's winter time!)
- What Katie Ate's first book - sadly only released in Australia and New-Zealand, the only year we don't go there
- this KitchenAid mixer (let's go crazy!! I've just managed to cook my soft boiled egg properly...)
- and this fabulous fair garland from Chez Les Voisins which is very similar to the one below and I'm in love with it.
What's on yours?
Photo: vtwonen
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Holiday Style with Talent!

I'm enjoying my cup of Joe this morning on a cold snowy day in anticipation for tomorrow...


It's Oliohop time again with Holiday Style!

I am so lucky to be joining nine other very talented bloggers in an Oliohop collaboration.  A themed blogging experience powered by Olioboard, creating 2D & 3D design boards.

This past October I had the opportunity to participated for the first time, not really knowing what 
to expect.

The theme was Fashion + Decor and WOW, what an experience!    


I had a ball reading each of the bloggers posts, seeing their amazing genius.  Oohing and aawing at each unique post carefully put together with an artistry of their own.

Join me tomorrow for the launch of Holiday Style.

The official launch time is 6am EST.  

Yes, I'll be up at 4am my time!  

You can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Olioboard with #HolidayStyle & #OlioHop.

Please message me through one of the social networks, I'd love to hear from you and chat back.  Yes, I will be drinking a lot of coffee with Spiced Pumpkin Eggnog.
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Masculine winter...



This space makes me want to start up that fire and pour a glass of wine.  I love that it has an air of mystery, what is up above?  How tall are the ceilings really?  It is pretty amazing!

Has fall turned cold finally for you?  We are finally starting to feel it here in California and I am glad for the change.

Don't miss your chance to enter our Holiday Giving Series here on the blog!

image via pinterest


Photobucket 
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Saturday, December 8, 2012

On my travel wish-list...Bruxelles

I've always wanted to go to Bruxelles for a weekend. 
I would also like to go back to New-York for a week and Koh-Samui for 4 weeks....In fact, if you ask me, the list of places I would like to see is quite long. I've been suggesting a long weekend in Bruxelles to Steve but he's not really feeling the love yet and that is because we come from two different views. 
Steve thinks flight/queue/hassle/tootired/traveltoomuch/Europeanparliament/weather
I'm thinking inspiration/decoration/design/vintage/coolplacestosee and yes I could go there by myself like the big girl that I am but the truth is, I'm done travelling on my own. I don't enjoy it as much as I used to, mostly because I miss my little family as soon as I'm away 
So here is list of places I would like to see when we go there (because we will! :-)

ICI (photo 1) a lovely delicatessen launched by Saskia et Marine 
{35 Rue Darwin, 35 1050 Bruxelles Tรฉl. : 02/343 88 57 You can follow them here}

The ALEXIS VANHOVE Gallery and SHOWROOM (photo 2): Dedicated to mid-century furniture, the first is a gallery with regular exhibitions, the latter is a space (and quite an amazing one!) where Alexis and his business partner Celine Blanc display their well-curated collection so you can see what the Pierre Paulin coffee table would look like at home.
{Gallery 61 rue Emile Bouilliot 1050 Brussels Tel +32 476 547 349 info@alexisvanhove.com | Showroom 311 Avenue Van Volxem 1190 Forest info@celineblanc.com}

VINTAGE ITEMS (photo 3) - A lovely shop two doors down from ICI to dig out some vintage treasures from the 60s to 80s.
{33 Rue Darwin, 35 1050 Bruxelles Tel 0479-43.05.65}

GUAPITO (photo 4) A cool concept store for kiddos set up by Justine (50kms away from Bruxelles but that wouldn't stop me ;-)
{Chaussรฉe de Philippeville,44 6280 Loverval http://www.guapito.be}
Credits: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
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collecting... life



I adore collections and a little collection under glass is a wonderful thing.  I am hesitating on my holiday decor this year.  We have a trip planned and between that and the work I have to complete before the holiday is enough to keep me busy for 2 months really!  I have a cloche in my living room that I need to reset, change up with new little mementos from the year that is about to be complete.  It is a fun chore but still a chore that gets pushed to the side in this holiday craziness!  
How about you are you holding out on the holiday madness or are you taking it all in with all of the magic all around you?  I promise when I do get to the decorations I will post some photos here for everyone to see again this year.  This is what we have done in years past.... 2010 and 2011


Photobucket 
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Friday, December 7, 2012

Wish List

As much as I LOVE and wear my black Hunter wellies with the fleece inserts all winter. I'd LOVE to get a brightly colored pair too. I love style with a bit of an edge, but there's no denying being a Boston girl. Sometimes I appreciate a little prep in my step. I could use these to brighten my day in slushy Vermont this weekend. Happy Weekend.  I'll be back on Monday sharing my entire random, holiday wish list with you! xx
What color would you opt for? I may need hot pink! (although, it's last years color). Here's this year's hot colors.
Pink Wellies under the tree?


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Happy Weekend, Happy Holidays

Remember Cottage Living? Of course you do! I loved receiving that magazine for it's stylish yet affordable interiors. An all time favorite were the holiday photos of Lee Kleinhelter's snazzy digs in Georgia. (Image one) Those window treatments and that tree are beyond good! I dug into the archives and shared a few of their other holiday shots with you. I'm heading to Vermont for our tree this weekend. I hope to share some holiday snippets via Instagram. I really need to get that account up and running!! (I sadly recently joined and sharing more work with you all is on my "hit"list)


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