Online Shopping: The Well Appointed House

Have you heard of the phenomenal site The Well Appoined House?  You can shop their amazing and extensive collection by room, theme (Chinoiserie, Hollywood Regency, French Country), color (Mellow Yellow, Pinkaliciously Chic, Green with Envy) or designer (Jonathan Adler, Bungalow 5, Trina Turk).
You could spend hours on this site, and leave with anything from a $25 chic plastic plate to a $20,000 out of this world playhouse for your (spoiled) kids.

Some of my favorites....

Furniture:

Lighting:

Children:

Accessories:

Pampered Pets:

What will you find?
Happy Weekend!
Deb

Developments in Orange

Homegoods + My Mom = A Match Made in Heaven:

Check out the very amazing orange leather, with nailhead trim, chairs my mom picked up for me at Homegoods for $130 a pop!  Free delivery (by her, from three states away) to boot!  A very fun addition to my constantly evolving and still not quite finished living room. 

Same street, a few houses away, my best friend/college roommate is playing with her own orange accents. 

In her family room, she's trying to choose fabric for her custom roman shades.  She'd like to pick up the orange from her tragicallly discontinued Pottery Barn tile rug.  Check out how she used "microsoft paint" to superimpose images of two fabric contenders on to the windows in a picture of her family room to help her decide.

Arbre Chinois by Schumacher

Hot House by Schumacher

Which do you prefer?  Have you used any fun colors lately?
Deb

Lovey Portrait Update

A few weeks ago, I blogged about Holly Johnson of Cheeky Monkey, and the pictures she took of my daughter's lovies, Scratchy and Softy, in preparation for painting their portrait (see orginial post here).  Reader feedback helped me decide on the photograph below as the basis for the painting.

"Nonnies Ear to Ear"

Check out the sketch Holly provided me for feedback.  I love the additional details she included, including Emma's tufted Serena and Lily headboard and dotted pink pillow.

I can't wait to see the final product!

Enjoy,

Deb

5 Tips to Creating Beautiful Container Gardens this Spring!

I was inspired to write a post about containers after our visit to London where we saw beautiful gardens and container gardens all over the city.  Read the London post here.  Thinking it would be easy to find some inspiration for my containers this spring, I flipped through over 30 pages of Google images. No luck.  No kidding. Why is it that people think that the more varieties of plants they put in a container the better it looks. Here are some photos of containers;  I have not included the sources for fear of offending someone...

Perhaps it is just me, but I get dizzy looking at these containers.

Here are 5 things to keep in mind when creating your containers this spring!

1) Color. Use colors that are pleasing to the eye and compliment each other.  Containers focusing on 1 or 2 colors are soothing and allows the eye to absorb the varying textures in the plants. (see #2)

2) Texture.  Similar to color, the eye can only absorb so much!  I would focus in on 1-3 textures and leave it at that!

3) Containers.  Just as you would consider the frame in a work of art, be sure your containers are the same style or same color.  You can certainly have different sizes and shapes, but there should be one 'uniform' factor either color, material etc.

4) Plant requirements.  This is obvious, but worth repeating.  Make sure the plants you have selected all have similar light, soil and water requirements or mid-way through the summer, some one is not going to be happy.  If you are not sure, ask when you are buying your plants.

5) Location. Put your containers where they will receive the attention they deserve!  Frame a doorway, anchor an entrance way, draw the eye to a focal point.

6) Bonus tip: Proportion. Remember to keep your plants in proportion with your container. For example, if you have a 3 feet tall container your plants are going to have to be large to balance the depth of the container. 

Here are some containers that I adore! 

Courtesy of GoodAlive

Above and below courtesy of Mahoney's

Courtesy of The Examiner

From our strolls around London:

Do you have any containers that you want to show off?  Email us your photos!

Cheers!
Becky

Sex and the City 2: The Interiors

As I'm sure aware, if you're reading this and alive, Sex and the City 2 opens Thursday of this week!  I have a soft spot for Sex and the City - I lived in Manhattan during its HBO heydey, and frequently bumped into their production trucks all over the Upper East and West Sides.  Charlotte's first wedding was filmed right across the street from my old apartment, and I met Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick (for about 3 seconds) at a New York City Ballet event one night (they were both lovely, and both super tiny).

While much attention will be paid to the undoubtedly fabulous costume designs draping the lovely ladies, I am personally anxious to check out the interior sets created by production designer Jeremy Conway and set decorator Lydia Marks. 

Sneak Preview.....

A shot from Carrie and Big's dining room, looking into the kitchen.  How wild is that backsplash?  The fabric covering the dining chairs is Belgravia by Lee Jofa.

Check out the different colorways available.  I just ordered a remnant of the pink and orange off ebay for some unidentified future project in my youngest daughter's room.

Carrie lounging in her living room, among a uniquely arranged grouping of books on the coffee table...

The chair is offered through Bergdorf Goodman, designed in the 1940s by British-born architect and furniture designer T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings, and available for $16,500 (but don't worry, you get a pair for that!).

The pillow on the couch is the Birdie Blossom pillow by Paul Smith for the Rug Company, available for $495.  And that's just for one, my friends!

I *love* this shot of Carrie in her foyer.  Perfection!

The wallpaper, Oiseau in Chocolate by Katie Ridder, is both dainty and exotic.  You can see glimpses of it in the background in the next two shots. 

I've always been a huge fan of all things quatrefoil/Moroccan tile, so the fabric on Carrie/Big's headboard completely does it for me. 

It's called Velvet Gate Tuxedo, made by Kravet.

When the ladies travel to Abu Dhabi, the landscape/fashion/interior design eye-candy just gets even more amazing... I want *every item* in the background of the next shot (spoiler alert!) despite the fact that I don't know what it is, how much it is, or where I'd put it.

Enjoy the show!

Deb

Sources:  Habitually Chic, Casa Sugar, MyDeco

Not Your Ordinary Rooftop Garden

When I think of rooftop gardens, I typically think of this:

 Courtesy of Fopple

Or this:

 Courtesy of New York Daily Photo

But not necessarily this!!

In Norway, it is fairly common to see the roof of a garage or small shed covered in grass.  Though this is certainly not a 'new' concept, as they have been doing this for years for aesthetic and ecological reasons, the trend seems to be catching on in the US in the last 10 or so years. The structures blend into the landscape and the soil and grass insulate the below structure and provide more area for plants to grow.  And since plants need more water and sun, they actually retain more water. In addition, having more plants decreases your carbon footprint. Read more

Quite ingenious!!

Have you seen any unusual roof top gardens?  Let us know!

Cheers!
Becky