all framed out

Happy Friday, guys! Wow am I excited for the weekend. Even though I'm planning on getting some work done, I just love the fact that we'll be home. For all of the traveling we do I'm really quite the homebody. That's why I'm so excited to finally have framed all of the photo prints from my shop so we can enjoy them in our living room! I also had a little graphic fun with a photo I took of the Sydney Opera House. Looks kinda like a fan, doesn't it? The color is just the pop that we needed in here.

All perfect timing too since I just received a copy of our home feature in IKEA Malaysia's Live magazine (!!!). We had practically just moved in so it's nice to see what we've done to make it even more homey since then.

Enjoy your weekend!

5x7 frames by IKEA / large frame by Habitat / cushions by {me}longings

let's play house {cabin}

1. NaturDesign  /  2. Pendleton  /  3. UGG  /  4. Tom Dixon  /  5. Vintage Sofa  / 6. Heath Ceramics  /  7. Holler Design  /  8. Capel Rugs  /  9. Crisloid Okay, so I have more than one dream home location: a cozy cabin near a lake. A place where I can enjoy long breaks with friends and family, totally secluded from the world and surrounded by nature. This time of year would be prime cabin season and I would love to have all of the above to enjoy the great indoors when it's too chilly out. Especially because I love kicking Joe's butt in backgammon ;)

let's play house {palm springs}

1. Curtis Jere  /  2. Rust Belt Threads  /  3. Mad Mats  /  4. Viesso  /  5. PopOColor (green, orange), Trina Turk (yellow)  / 6. CB2  /  7. inmod

As much as I love LA, my dream is to own a home in Palm Springs. I love the architecture, the slower pace of life, and the dry heat that makes my thick and wavy hair feel silky and flat. My home will have a fabulous backyard with a pool + lounge area and I'll always have my fabulous friends over for fabulous cocktails. I will go absolutely nuts decorating with a mix of vintage and modern pieces, making sure to pay homage to the structure of the house while still keeping things fresh. And yes, the house will of course be one of those iconic single story homes with perfectly balanced asymmetrical lines and no-fuss native landscaping. It will be fab-u-lous. Shall I fix you a drink?

Let's!

1. graypants / 2. Anthropologie / 3. ZP Studio / 4. Connected Goods / 5. Bauer Los Angeles / 6. Porro / 7. School House Electric  / 8.. Capel Rugs

Last month I kicked off the new series Let's! with a weekend escape outfit but today it's all about the home - it's so fun to play house! I keep finding myself gravitating to clean and interesting lines and mixing them with organic elements and pops of unexpected art. The stacked cardboard lampshade and the playful PVC place settings that resemble blobs of paint (at least they do to me) couldn't be more different but I love them together. I'm so sad that I missed the place settings on sale via Presive.com but I'll find another way to get my hands on them, yes I will. And how cute is that little giraffe wine cork? It's made in South Africa which is extra special since that's where I really fell in love with them, the most majestic animals ever. Elephants and hippos more your thang? They've got you and your wine bottle covered, too.

{happy friday} pic & pin

What a week. Just as I was feeling more comfortable in our new city I had a bit of a set back. I'll share more about it next week but today I want to look ahead and be excited for what is to come. We got word that our ocean freight shipment has entered customs so it's just a matter of days before we get to lounge on our perfectly cozy duck egg blue sofa (yay!).  I've been on total nesting mode and all I can think about is making our new apartment the best it can be until we can really go crazy designing and decorating a more permanent space one day. When I saw this concrete counter I immediatly pinned it to my home board. It's so.....us! It reminds me of our Downtown LA dwelling days with beautiful polished concrete floors but it also makes me long for the ritual of unpacking a gorgeous spread of fresh goodies from a farmers market. I mean, this kitchen is just begging to be covered with beautiful fruits and veggies.

There are markets here, of course, and while they're great, they are still a very different kind of experience. But, we do have a spankin' new modern kitchen so for now we're still living the dream. Pinterest sure has a way of making you dream all sorts of dreams, doesn't it? It can be a good thing though. How else do we create the lives we want if we don't have dreams and goals to work towards, even if it is one drool-worthy visual at a time?

With that in mind, here's to a weekend of making dreams come true - however big or small they may be. Enjoy!

this week's three rad links...

• pattern by duct tape - a brilliant DIY with endless possibilities via Justina Blakeney 

• long but interesting read on creatives and the economy via Salon (tweet source Rena Tom)

• my buddy Kai Brown has released a new album, LALA Vol I! watch his chuckle inducing pledge video and help fund Volume II via Pledge Music 

Minted Design Challenge Update: one of my holiday card designs made it to the second (and final) round - thank you so much if you voted! There are two more days to pick your final favorites so get clicking!

(image left:  mushrooms at Marylebone Farmers Market, London by Ana Maria Muñoz, right: Pin via H2Design, origin annaleenashem)

{show & tell} souvenirs from marrakech + giveaway!

I've been thinking of what to pack for our visit to LA and I'm pretty sure I've forgotten how to dress for 60/70 degree weather - it's going to feel like summertime to me but just how much??? I do know, however, that I'll be taking a few souvenirs from Morocco for family and friends. Weeks after our trip to Marrakech, I still find myself totally inspired by the city's colors, patterns, and textures. Thankfully we brought back a few things to keep the design love going and boy am I enjoying them.

It's hard to pick a favorite but if I base it on what I use the most, the leather slippers are it.  After seeing tons of traditional pointy-toe or heel-less styles, these caught my attention with their modern silhouette and ultra bright colors. On closer inspection, you can see the handmade details in the contrast stitching and pen outlines on the sole. It's details like these that reeeaaaaally make my heart sing.

We did find a rug after all and I cannot wait to get it cleaned, roll it out, and enjoy it - such a tease having it just sit there. It's a vintage Berber rug and we spent a good amount of time choosing it while sitting amongst hundreds of colorful woven beauties and drinking sweet mint tea. I totally envision styling it something like this in our future house...it's a lifetime souvenir for sure.

Two other exciting finds were a solid brass antique camel with the coolest designs ever and a hand-carved aluminum mirror that now helps keep the feng shui flowing in my office/guest room/closet. Apparently your back should never face the door but you can correct it with a mirror. I think it's a nice complement to the diy wall display, too.

And those rad leather tassels? Those were a gift from the rug merchant and now I will give one of them to you! Put it on your purse, car rearview mirror, door handle, use as a (very large) key chain, or even jazz up a curtain tie with it - there are so many ways you can have fun with it.

If you'd like a shot at winning the tassel simply comment below with your favorite souvenir of all time; truck stop convenience store finds totally count too. I'll pick a winner at random next Thursday and ship it to you asap!

Yay free stuff!

re-style your wireless internet router {diy}

In order to receive wi-fi signal throughout the rest of the flat, our router must be placed in a prominent location of the living room. This diva signal initially left us with an eyesore of an ugly, blinking light box and I hated it. I did everything I could to camouflage it by setting picture frames and flower-filled vases in front of it.

One day, after I had complained enough about it, Joe had the brilliant idea to cover it with a book. Heellooo....yes, so obvious and so perfect! A few days later he came home with a vintage book he bought for 50p (cents) and got to work with his trusty blade. It took less than a minute to cut the pages out and bend the spine to widen the overall fit. Once the cover was placed over the router I saw the true brilliance of Joe's idea - simple, practical, and effective. He was definitely onto a new tech/decor trend of using books to make necessary gadgets feel a bit more homey.  Anyone think they'll give this a try?

On a more sentimental note - are you wondering what the writing and clippings inside the book are? Apparently one of the previous owners, Maud Harbin, had a true love of gardens. When I took a look at the book for the first time I almost refused using it for the project. But since we can't hold onto everything, I compromised by spending some time flipping through it and photographing my favorite parts.

This book was a gift to her and in it she wrote lists of her favorite flowers, plants, trees and saved paper clippings with quotes and garden-related news. I fell in love with the energy of the book. Yes it is titled "California Gardens", but you could almost feel how precious this was to her, how much time she spent reading through the pages, carefully curating her own lists and adding her own notes. My favorite find was a hand-written quote on the inside of the back cover that reads "winter cannot dim the glow of the garden." No ma'am it cannot. Thank you for the inspiration, Maud ... and for covering the ugly blinking box.

{show & tell} car boot sale finds

One of the things that I miss about LA is driving past yard sale signs, slamming on the breaks, and parking the car to go hunting for new (to me) items on the cheap. Though I know that I'm not guaranteed to find anything vintage, yards sales are a great way to buy second-hand goodies without having to dig through a thrift store. In fact, yard sales, vintage/thrift stores, Craigslist, and flea markets have always been my main source for home-decor shopping. I guess I just really enjoy the satisfaction of finding something rather than picking one-of-many off the shelf.

This Saturday morning was perfect for a yard sale. It was bright and crisp but the only thing missing was, errr, a yard sale. In London - due to the obvious lack of lawn space - they have community car boot sales instead. These sales, often located in church or school lots, began with people hawking items directly from the trunks (or boots) of their cars. Now the norm is to set up tables or lay everything on the floor or on a blanket. This was only my second car boot sale but I've quickly learned that to find even one thing that you like, want, or need,  is to call it a shopping success. Here are the items we found that made us pretty happy...

1) A single cotton pillow case that will make a great set of napkins - i love little sewing projects!

2) Pair of heavy duty glass containers that we can use for anything. They hold our grains for now but I think they'd be great as vases, too.

3) A lock for our next trip to Paris. You can bet we'll be throwing the keys into La Seine :)

4) A nicely textured brass vase...perfect for displaying the cabbage flowers we bought later that afternoon at Portobello Road Market.

Still on our list of items to buy for the home are dining chairs and a side-table. I think I'll have to go down to Sunbury for that as they seam to sell more furniture than any other London-city market. It'll be a great excuse to pick up a few items for the shop, too ;)

simple pleasures

Maybe its the colder weather but I've been all about nesting lately. I recently bought some flowers to brighten up our rooms and I've realized that I'm much more of a single stem (or bunches of three) kind of gal. It's a great way to indulge in pretty petals more often :)

sweet little night stand...

...you make me so happy. In fact, I smile and do a little dance every time I walk past you. You've given me permission to get rid of the box and give our cherished pieces a proper home. You were meant to display Joe's alarm clock radio, a framed photo of us sent via care package while we were on opposite ends of the world, and a thrifted champagne flute turned vase. Let us not forget, a warm cup of tea.

Thank you, little vintage night stand, for making our room so special.

Imports to jazz up your drawers

Handcrafted drawer knobs with a vintage feel as sold @ Anthropologie are now brought directly to you from India. Check out my friend's new ebay store, Golden Years, for good deals on items she's picked up during her residency there. Some vintage clothing and newer non-India items are sprinkled in but the highlights for me are the jewelry and knobs.