Moodboards, Teepees and House Whisperers...

A little fun decor news -- A neighbor (who I also happen to be really fond of) has enlisted me to help her revamp her living room. Above is the moodboard I've been working on for the space. So excited about this project...


In other news on the "decor" front, there is a teepee in my living room...

Granted technically it's not my teepee; it's Audrey's (no I didn't ask Bryan's parents to buy her a teepee for her birthday because I wanted one... I would never do that).

And technically it's not staying in the living room, it will eventually reside in Audrey's bedroom permanently.

I'm just borrowing it for a little while.

And Speaking of Audrey's room, we're about to do a little switcharoo... Millie won't step foot in her own room because it's lacking in the pink department, so we're giving her Audrey's room (which is pretty much a pink extravaganza). Audrey will move into Millie's room where the teepee will join her and the walls will go from that lovely periwinkle to a slightly less lovely "lounge green" at her insistence. I figure if she's willingly giving up her (larger) bedroom, green walls are the least I can do. Before and after photos will ensue.

As a side note, while we're painting I'm throwing in one more tiny project and having the guest bathroom walls coated in "peppercorn" -- a completely awesome sooty charcoal grey. Much more excited about this move than I am about the "lounge green"...just sayin.

image via roe

And finally, I am obsessed with the idea of a "house whisperer" after reading this lovely post, especially this line:

"She pours through a house like a magic wand leaving it just a bit dreamier than you remember..."

I want a house whisperer -- someone to (gently) coax the place into submission... A vase of fresh flowers here, a case of San Pellegrino there, distracting me while they stealthily ditch all those mismatched plastic to-go cups secretly squatting in the second drawer on the right in the kitchen island.

The plastic cups are totally hypothetical of course.

Loving...

Yet another genius display of tissue lanterns via 100 layer cake...(tissue lanterns are my "slightly overplayed design blog obsession" of choice, my bunting and cupcakes if you will...I may never tire of them.)

This insanely comfortable looking dress via beklina...not 100% sold on the length, but you could cut that bad boy off at the knee, right?

These stunning pillows -- love them so much they're making me want to re-think my entire bedroom...(image by photographer mark eden schooley via south of market)

This perfect horn bracelet (it's on the short-list for fall with that striped "dress" from last week...just thought you should know)

This teepee (via sara's fantastic house)...

You know of my love for a good teepee. Suffice to say, it's right up there with my tissue lantern obsession. So I'm happy to report that one soon might be taking up residence on our back porch, as Audrey has requested a teepee for her upcoming birthday. (Of course it was totally her idea, no pressure at all from me, no siree...)

Maybe the prettiest bathtub ever via remodelista

This completely chuckle-worthy garland from pour porter (first spotted via karey)

Loving...

The gorgeous chandelier hanging in Dianne Merrick's Los Angeles shop. I am looking for something exactly like this to hang over Bryan's table -- some glam to temper the organic wood... I've been searching for one everywhere to no avail.

Any ideas?


These Cherner stools. I dream about these stools. Seriously.

Virginia Johnson's lovely "waterfall" scarf...which would be perfect for our upcoming beach trip (+ it's on sale.) Pesky spending hiatus.

Kvast's sweet, tiny horse necklace. Audrey would go nuts for this.

A perfect (and awfully springy) table via Emersonmade...

This teepee via Rikshaw Design. I want a teepee. Bad. (p.s. don't forgot to comment over here for a chance to win Rikshaw's fun little seahorse kurta...)

The fantastic new prints from Perla Anne...+ how great is that photo above!

Embracing our "Inner Hippies" -- A Peek at The Planning

Some evidence of the obsession -- my Pinterest inspiration board for Audrey's party...


image from Australian Harpers Bazzar/jmireps via Table Tonic

In between our trip to Marfa, my work trip to Chicago and the start of the new school year, Audrey and I have busily planning for her 8th (!) birthday party next weekend…

My “obsession” with planning the girlie’s birthday parties, tends to elicit a little, well... joshing from my buddies. I get it; the whole deal can seem a little nutty for what is essentially a couple of hours of sugar-fueled kiddos raging against the machine. But I love a good birthday party, I love all the planning and dreaming up the fun details… It’s my thing, and I think it might be Audrey’s thing too, as the two of us can happily wile away the better part of an afternoon dreaming up ( in grand detail) future parties we want to throw.

But beyond the pure creative aspect, I love how the process of creating a special “event” for the girls honors their birthday in a memorable way. Birthdays are important -- I think they deserve a little pomp and circumstance and effort. For me, it’s never about material extravagance or being excessive, rather it’s about lavishing creativity and time and effort on my girlies to mark the day they entered our lives…


Audrey's invites in progress...


dreamcatcher via Creature Comforts...


the "stretch goal" cupcakes via Lori Hernadez

To that end (after much joint brainstorming), we collectively decided to celebrate her special day this year with a sweet, mellow hippie/boho themed shindig. It’ll be a “girls only” affair at a little art studio where the guests will make dream catchers and beaded necklaces while listening to Joni Mitchell… kidding about the Joni Mitchell part, sort of ;-)

We’re also planning to use our teepee and IKEA sheepskins and (stretch goal #1) some homemade streamers modeled after Casey’s to create a little photo backdrop/hang-out space for the girlies. And, since it’s an afternoon party, we’re just serving lemonade and cupcakes, so I want the cupcakes to feel especially festive, thus stretch goal #2: attempting to somewhat replicate goodies that look like the ones above…I’ll let you know how that goes. ;-)

A Happy House and A Good Reminder (for me)

That image above, what with the teepee and the massive, awesome record collection, completely made my day when it showed up in my inbox earlier this week (thank you Lisa). Then I came across the rest of the house and had a moment of pure "house bliss".

This place makes me so happy. I love how natural and sort of undecorated (and even a little bit modest) it feels...not self-conscious or dripping in trends. I love the open spaces and amazing windows and how they mixed the chunky, earthy elements (the credenza and those beams) with little pops of femininity and opulence (the pink paintings and that gilded gold frame).

And truth be told, I needed a little shot of happy, because I've been, well...awfully salty of late.

I'm generally an optimistic gal. I’m upbeat, (sometimes even annoyingly so)…I don’t really have a “dark side” to speak of. So this bout of disgruntlement is throwing me a bit.

As a general rule I think there are things you’re always allowed to be a little bit disgruntled about, say, a week of consecutive hundred-degree days, bad service on airlines, the oil spill, people who text while driving… but (up until now) I have stuck pretty firmly to the belief that life is too short to be snarky and frustrated about little things.

And this friends is what’s throwing me…I’m (to use a completely overused phrase) sweating the small stuff and griping (incessantly) about the things I either can’t control or shouldn’t care about in the first place. For example, last night I found myself laying in bed wide-awake at 3:00 am, agonizing over the fact that I picked “eggshell” instead of “flat” paint for Audrey’s room, and all week I’ve been rehashing in my mind an old grievance that should be long forgotten.

And then as if by fate, just as I was busy writing a complaint filled e-mail to a buddy yesterday, griping about pretty much everything under the sun, I came across that image above via mary ruffle (but then again her tumblr is pretty much chock full of goodness) and thought yes, exactly. Totally obvious and simple, but most important things usually are.

So I'm going with it, trying to let it go, doing some yoga stretches, breathing, drinking (just kidding...sort of). We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, I'll just stare at the pictures of that house above some more.

Some Scenes From the Weekend -- Audrey's Birthday Edition

Me, Christine + Shannon and Kayli (the amazing ladies behind Oil and Cotton where we held the party...) hanging out in the teepee before the festivities started.









Clearly the big event of the weekend was Audrey's birthday celebration...

The party on Saturday was a success, and all the sweet girlies seemed to have fun making their little dream catchers (which I have to say, wasn't easy). But I think beyond all the obvious festivity of a birthday party, for me, the loveliest part of the day was watching 20+ five-eight year old girls have such an appetite for art and a willingness to help each other. I hope that desire sticks with them, as I truly believe so many amazing/powerful things come out of women banding together, but I digress ;-)

I'm also especially proud of how the party turned out, as I literally have never put more work into homemade decorations...(Let's just say, I spent an insane amount of time wrapping embroidery thread around a branch.) The effort was equal parts highly satisfying, exhausting and, well... humbling. The humbling occurred late last week as I toiled away for the third night in a row while gazing out the window at Bryan and the girlies happily splashing around in the pool. Later that night when Audrey and I were snuggling and reading a couple of books before bed, she declared she had a really good idea and proceed to gently suggest that I, "work on the branch after we go to bed so you can spend more time with me". Ouch. Talk about providing some perspective. I swear that one gets smarter with each passing year.

Needless to say, I took heed -- i.e. I stopped wrapping the branch and just slapped some paint on the bare bits of bark and nobody was the worse for it...

The rest of the weekend was spent reveling in A's b-day with lots of mellow family moments, and it concluded last night with dinner outside (in the amazing mid-80 degree weather!) to celebrate the exciting news that lovely cousin Erin and boyfriend Ben got engaged... So major goodness all around.


Hope you guys had a fantastic weekend!

And Speaking of Birthdays...Scenes From a (Fete Filled) Weekend

The weekend involved celebrating two of my favorite people's special days...

First up, sweet baby Wil's first birthday soiree, wherein there was tamale noshing, cake smashing, teepee lounging, and feather donning. (Oh and the littles had fun too.) Sam knocked it out of the park with a slew of sweet/simple/meaningful/memorable/clever details. Sam is just good like that.

It was the perfect way to honor the first 365 days of this amazing little man's life. Well played sister. Well played.

Next up my rockin' little mama Gracie's mermaid-themed 9th birthday festivities. Utter magic. I'm telling you friends, nobody creates dreamier kiddo parties than my insanely, gobsmackingly, (unfairly) creative friend Achlee. Full stop.

Hope your weekend was splendid.