New VL & New Office

It's always an exciting moment when our 2 subscriptions of Vogue Living arrive in the mail.  We get 2 so that I can have one at Black & Spiro and 1 at home.  We received the latest issue today and I have to say that it is jaw droppingly beautiful!  My favourite story is on Chrissie Jeffery and her redecorated Sydney apartment.  I remember when her apartment was featured in VL the first time around.  She is extremely clever and very inspiring. 

Talking about redecorating, I recently decided that I don't want to sit at a desk anymore in my office at Black & Spiro so I removed my desk and I have turned my office into my very own lounge room.  I now sit on my Peggy sofa with my laptop on my lap.  It probably isn't the most ergonomically suitable situation but I love it and I feel so much more inspired.  Here's a little snapshot of how the room is coming together.

Hope you all have a great day!  I have a huge week ahead of me and I am determined to get through it with all things ticked off my list by Friday!

Magnolia

'Tis the season for magnolias and I'm loving it. 

{Every once in a while my husband surprises me with one}

There's something about magnolia trees that is just completely Southern & romantic.  They transport you somewhere wlse.   (Unless that is, if you're already at a gorgeous Southern antebellum estate.}

(image from arborday.org}

According to wikipedia and the University of Florida's website, Magnolia trees are one of the most ancient trees we have today, with fossils dating back to 36-58 million years ago.  They were originally native to the Asias & the Americas (particularly the East Coast) and Europe, but the Ice Age destroyed the ancient European forests.  The American Southern Magnolia was  reintroduced in Europe in 1731 when it was discovered.  They became extremely popular and are now the most commonly planted shrub/ tree around the world.  

I wish I had a magnolia tree.  One day. 

{photo via landscapeplantsbycliff.com}

{Steel Magnolias: Shelby "got" magnolias...  she planned to float them in her pool at her "blush and bashful" themed wedding, although I don't quite remember ever seeing the pool at the wedding in the movie.}

When I have my hands on a magnolia bloom, I'm weird with it.  I literally just put my face in it & breathe it in.  For a long time.  It's "Heaven" as my 3 (almost 4!) year-old says because he's heard me say it so much. 

{I even have my husband take pictures of me holding them}

 I sleep with it mext to my bed and I can smell it all night long when I'm drifting in & out of sleep. 

They make me so happy and their smell just sort of makes stress melt away.  This past week was INSANITY.  Work has been really busy for both me & my husband, and we had to take Justin (our 18-month old) to the ER because his fever got so high & he was having mini seizures & vomitting.  (I didn't know that's what was going on, I thought he was having odd twitches as he was trying to sleep in my arms, and although that was scary, I'm so glad I didn't know they were seizures at the time.)  His fever has been up & down all weekend and my parents watched our 3 year-old for us.  During one of the down points Saturday evening when Justin was aleep & we thought he was all better, my husband surprised me with a magnolia bloom.  It hung out with us pretty much all night.  I literally fell asleep smelling it, and I woke up to a completely brown & crunched magnolia underneath of me in bed.   ah vell!  You only get them for a little while.

It was for all of these reasons that I wanted to create a magnolia - patterned textile.  The vibe of magnolias is such a free, casual & relaxed elegance and I wanted to make a fabric with that feeling.  It really fits with the setting around here.  (Virginia & DC are filled with magnolia trees.)  I worked with my super-talented my friend,  Kat Wright, who painted this beautiful painting in oil from my very junky sketches:

{Isn't she amazing!!?)}

It then became this on linen:

I played with the colors and created 4 other colorways, including china blue:   

I'm working out the final kinks in pricing, fabrics, etc. and am hoping to have the fabrics available to sell in my online store July 15th.  Like I've mentioned before, creating high-quality textiles on linen in small runs is much more expensive than I'd originally guessed it would be.  Prices will be around $90- $115/ yard for linen and I'm looking into cotton options. 

Here's a peek at the banner for the new online store:

I hope you had a great weekend & if you have a chance, find a magnolia:

My husband's taking Justin to the doctor today so fingers crossed for my little Tootaline.

Also, my friend Jill Sorensen of Marmalade Interiors and creator of Live Like You is offering Pure Style Home Readers 10% off of her newest design personality, Earthy Modern:

Enter discount code: EARTHY10 for 10% off until June 20th!

 Jill has launched an online store where she has created room designs for different personalities & styles.  You can view the designs for free and purchase everything in the plans right at Live Like You.   Congratulations to Jill & her new venture & thanks so much for the discount!!

And finally, I accidentally deleted my "Local" Blogroll when trying to add some new people on. (eeeek!!)   I'm in the process of writing a list of everyone that I can remember off of my old blogroll , but if you'd like to be added and if you're in the Maryland/ DC/ VA area, please email my assistant at  meghan@thepurestyle.com so that we can add you to the new Local blogroll.  When we get more time, we'll start working on adding a new blogroll for those who aren't local.  Thanks!!!  

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Dare Yourself

I love this quote and after chatting with a friend today I thought it was perfect to post.  I dare you to dare yourself to do something out of the ordinary this week.  Do something you have been wanting to do for sometime.  Find the courage and just do it.  I am going to...

image via coco & kelley blog

Fabric Loving

I took this photo at Black & Spiro before our sale last month.  The reason I am posting it is because I love the fabric we used on the antique chair pictured.  It's always so exciting stumbling across a fabric I haven't seen before.  It inspires me and gets me thinking about the possibilities of what I can do with it and what other fabrics I can mix with it.  Even though this chair has now sold I think I might need to have something else covered in this fabric...

Thank yous!

I just wanted to send a little shout-out (oh wow, did I really just say "shout-out??" ) to my mom & my grandmother.  They ("Gramma Donna" and "Gramma Cracker") come over once a week every week to watch our boys.  They bring all sorts of toys & games & activities with them and the kids loooove their grammas.  I work in the office while they play & unfortunately, I don't really get a chance to be with them at all.  But today, when they left, I found this pretty little surprise on the table:

{Hydrangea from the garden; ignore the kid dinner in background}

I'm not sure which of them did it, but I love it.  Especially they way the leaves were wrapped around the stems.  Go Grandmother! (I think it was you who did the leaf thing.)

I know I don't get nearly enough time with either of you or get to say it much, but if you're reading this, thank you for all that you do and I love you.

Summer is almost really here and we've been crazy-busy with some exciting new projects at work.  Meghan, my design assistant, has been amazing & just turned 23 yesterday!!  (Happy Birthday Megs!!)  And my best friend, Frammy, just turned 29 this week too!!  (Happy birthday Cheese if you're reading!! I love you!!)

Also, thanks so much to Linda Merrill for the mention in her online magazine, which you can read here:

Surroundings

And finally, thank YOU so much for reading. 

I truly appreciate it and I look forward coming here because of you.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

New Irregular Blog Series: "Love" Houses

If you've been following this blog for a while, you might have picked up that I'm not very good with doing regular blog series.  (And if you're new, well, I'm not good with doing regular blog series.)  I like to write about what floats my boat on any given day, so I'm better with irregular posts.  BUT in my mind I like to have some sort of organization so one of the new irregular series I'll be doing around here will be "Love" Houses.  These are the houses that have been featured in magazines or online that I just can't get over.  The articles I go back to for staring at time and time again.  The ones that I feel disappointed about when the text runs out.  The ones that get me dreaming & excited.  Some are old, some are new, but these houses are my favorite and go in the "love" pile and I thought it might be fun to share some of them on the blog.

My first favorite house/ estate is called Cherryfilelds (yes, it has a name :)  and belongs to John Dransfield and Geoffrey Ross (of Dransfield & Ross) and was featured in Elle Decor's July/ August 2010 issue.  Text is by Peter Tersian.  Photography is by Simon Upton & it was styled by Carlos Mota.

{I dream of having a massive living toom large enough for multiple interesting groupings.}

Dranfield & Ross actually traded for this house with its owner, Nancy Pine AKA "Princess" (an "outrageous" fabulous widow in her 80s.)   They foudn the house but it wasn't on the market.  They would stalk the house until they finally made an appointment to meet with Princess.  "They made a deal on the spot" and just needed to wait until Princess could find a house to move to.  They waited months while she searched and finally she asked them what type of house they had.  It was an 1806 farmhouse and they ended up swapping houses.  They think of her as their Auntie Mame and she visits when they're out, leaving notes.   My favorite part is that Princess says "The best time to visit someone is when they're not at home."   

"The building is long & rambling but it's only one room deep, so all the major rooms have light on both north and south sides."---- ummm, a-mazing. 

{You know I loooove these pools}

I love the conservatory-feel in some of the rooms:

{love their pup!}

...And find myself more & more drawn to black.

Light & airy yet dramatic at the same time:

I love that the house has a combination of airy rooms & moodier rooms. 

The kitchen is so charming.  Again, it's got that fresh-deep thing going on that I love.

I love this shot of the butler's pantry: 

{Heaven}

Everything feels so authentic & collected.  It feels carefree & relaxed yet elegant.  It's a laid-back formality that's really refreshing.  I just want to be there when Iook at the pictures.

You can view the article online at Elle Decor here and I'll be posting more "Love" houses every now & then!

I'm off for the day, but hope you had a great weekend!!  Only a couple more weeks until school's out for the summer & I can't wait!!! (my husband's a teacher)  I have the window open right now & have to be honest that I'm finding it harder & harder to buckle down in the office.  Outside's calling!!  eeeeeeeeeeek

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Easy Crab Feast

Last weekend we had a little crab feast with some of our friends.  At our house (probably like at most houses) we like to use parties as an excuse to tie up all of those loose ends around the house.  (see my last 2 posts ;) 

We finally had an excuse to mulch our gardens & break out all of that wedding drinkware. 

We strung up hanging lanterns & set out a couple of folding tables in the grass.  Here's a pre-party pic:

For a quick & summery arrangements, I filled old ironstone pieces with sunflowers for the tables:

We packed the kids off to visit "Gramma" and their playhouse shed turned into the bar:

I loved having this massive drink dispenser for the margaritas:

(I'm kicking myself for taking this pic before I'd set out the rock salt and hid the tequila to make it look pretty but oh well ;)

I made a couple of different salads including my chick pea one.  (recipe here)

 

We covered the tables in newspaper & topped with sunflowers & crabs:

My husband steamed the crabs in the oven using a roasting pan and they were easy & awesome.  I loooove Old Bay seasoning and sprinkled it on top and then we served the crabs melted butter, extra old bay & lemons.

It was soooooooooo yummy and I want to do it again right now. 

I love how the lanterns looked at night, lighting the patio for games:

I really loved having this party because getting it together was actually pretty easy.  It was a lot of effort but it was pretty planned out, which made it simple.  Food & friends  is always a good time, especially when the weather's perfect & you're outside.  

 

Of course I forgot to get pics of us.  (Fellow bloggers, I know you understand.)

...And I definitely did something to my hip dancing.  I think it was the kip-ups.

xoxo,

lauren

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Thank you

Thank you Loni for featuring Black & Spiro in your latest issue of Adore Magazine.  There is so much work that goes into producing these online magazines and most of the time the team behind them is quite small so I would really like to encourage a round of applause for Loni.  Her latest issue is a cracker!!

Click here to read...

Back to the old curtains

If you didn't read my previous post about having a party and going all crazy last-minute to fix my family room/ basement, well, that pretty much sums it up.  I've always wanted to replace my ikea curtains with doublewidth panels and tried out the Peytons from Pottery Barn because there was no time for custom curtains.  When I put them up, they completely changed the look of the room.  I figured I could repaint another time and switched up my rug and accessories for a quick change:

BUT it was completely the wrong feeling.  I loooove that rug but not in my family room.  I wanted fresh & fun & happy (we hang with the kids here a lot) and the rug & curtains were taking the room into a more serious, richer place.  Not okay.  So, I tried out the PB peytons in french ivory and with the lining and double panels, they still felt to "decorated" for me so up went my old cotton Ikea curtains.  I added additional rings so they wouldn't sag as much and am totally fine with them now after my fiasco.  (Just need to hem them! ;)

{The two men in the photographs are my dad (top) and my husband's dad (bottom) waaaay back when.  We have very odd wood work going on in our old 70s house so for now I'm just forgetting about it.}

I also switched up the art & accessories, FINALLY pulling in the green I was craving.  My basement was bothering me because it was so unrelated to the rest of my house but now with the added green, I'm loving the flow.  I had this old dinosaur chart and added the Peter Dunham pillows and a Dash & Albert rug we had:

{ignore the messy blanket and toys & books- sorry no time for pretty!}

And here's a pic of the natural woven shades we put up:

I'm ordering another set for the large window by the sofa to replace the white roman shade there, which will add the texture that's missing for me over there.  And here's a quick pic from the party:

I'll share pics from the party in my next post.  It was a ton of fun and took place almost entirely oustide.  I'm pretty sure no one even noticed my curtains.  (Except for those who'd read my whacky post before coming!)  Ah vell.  I do have to say though, I live for this stuff. 

xoxo,

lauren

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Black & Spiro Today

I quickly snapped this photo as I was leaving the shop tonight of our front desk.  Today we replaced the black and white ikat desk skirt, which we've had on the desk since our re-opening last year, with a new gathered navy and white ticking skirt.  This photo gives a very small indication of our new look for the entire shop which will hopefully be in place within the next 3 weeks.  There is going to be lots of red {I am very into red}, navy, pale blue, green, yellow and a softer/warmer pink than the one I am normally known for. 

I wish that all of our lovely new things would arrive sooner as the shop is a little bit empty due to our recent annual sale.  However, as I keep telling myself - beautiful things take time to come to fruition and as my mother always says - good things come to those who wait!!

It's Fire Time...

I think we have lit our fire every night over the past few weeks.  We are actually a little bit obsessed with lighting the fireplaces at our house.  Even on nights when it hasn't been very cold, we have lit the fire.  Brad chops the wood and Harry collects the smaller bits and Max and I watch.  It is a big family event every single night!!

We just received some beautiful paper mache pots into the shop last week as pictured below and I think I might need to take one or two home as they would be perfect to hold the pine cones and sticks.  And then when Winter is over, I think they would look wonderful with our Christmas tree placed in one...I love things which have varied uses!!!

Family Room Curtains Indecision

We decided we'd have a little party this weekend to kick off summer.  Well, our "little" party grew - which is always good- and yesterday I started looking around at our basement family room, tearing it apart mentally.  (Do you do that??)  Some of our friends coming over are designers and, although all of them are supersweet & would never judge, I couldn't help but want to fix it up before tonight.  (I had a client over to the office last week for a presentation and used areas of my home for "what not to do" and why we'd be doing what we were doing. hahaha )

I bought custom bamboo shades for the DC showhouse and sized them so that they could also work in my office once the showhouse was over.  As some of you know, my family room/downsairs has been irking me for a while.  I have to admit that I love the feeling down there- light, airy, fresh & happy- and I like working in it, but I've always felt like it just doesn't jive with the rest of my house.  Well, of course when the shades and some of my pillows came home from the showhouse, I started envisioning a new color palette for the space, using what I had.  Our basement is very coastal feeling and while I love it, it just doesn't make sense here.  (My dad lives on a lake and wants some of our paintings so I think eventually I'll give in because they'd be a better fit with him.) 

{greeeeeeen}

Anyway- besides the coastal vibe- the main thing that really bothers me about my house/ basement is the curtains. I made some myself and did Ikea for the rest, planning to upgrade later. I used only single panels on the door and large window. where I should have at least used double. Curtains are one of those elements that I notice when I'm in people's homes and they can really take a room up or down a notch. SO... Since there was no time to have any custom ones made the day before the party or change the color scheme too much, and I had the day off with my 3-year-old, we headed to Pottery Barn for some last-minute curtains. I like their linen "Peyton Drapes" which are lined and hung by drapery hooks so I bought a bunch in "blue smoke."

Here's a picture of the curtains that drive me craaaaaazy:

{oh so bad}

And here's a pic of the Pottery Barn Peytons (not hemmed to the proper height but that will have to wait for another day)

{oh yeah, I switched the rug with another one I had too.  I have plans to sell it but am having toruble parting with it.  I have a problem.}

I'm much happier with the width and quality of the panels and loved the color with the rug.. buuuuut....  I'm losing the vibe I want down there even more.  It took a turn in another direction I'm just not after.  (Although am now dying to do in a room "for real.")   The rug is insanely gorgeous in person and its vibe is just a little too warm/ rich/ formal for what I'm after.  We use the areas as the kids play space, and while I don't want it junky, I want it to feel a bit more effortless.  (ironic isn't it??  All this effort for "effortless?")

{So although the vibe's off, I'm much happier with the drapery hooks being hung nicely on the curtain rings...  my unlined ikea curtains were not thick enough up top to properly support the drapery hooks I'd used, so they sagged and flopped too much. And I'm also loving the doublewidths.}

BUT... they had to go because I can't justify them if they not where I'm trying to go.  I returned them last night & picked up some new ones in french ivory.  I also restrained myself from using the pretty rug and it's all safely packed away again.  (Who does this?!!!  I know I have problems.)  SO...  now I'm off the the family room to try out the ivories, but I have to be honest that what I really want isn't off the rack and I think that I'm looking for unlined and a bit more chill.  (and I know my friends will not care in the least if the windows are bare or Ikea'd) BUT...  maaaybe they'll work and then I'll be thrilled.  (And if anyone from Pottery Barn is reading--- so sorry to be such a PIA!!)

Wish me luck!

Is it weird that I love this?!!! haahahah

Oh ps-   We're having crab, shrimp, and bratworst along with a bunch of salads-  am so excited to dig into the kitchen today- and the party will be mainly outside in the backyard.  I can't wait to share pics!!

Have THE BEST WEEKEND!!!




If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.