About this blog.

I have a second mood board to show you! This is a 'blog mood board', it will give you an idea of what this blog's all about. I have played with the idea of changing the name of the blog to Soiree House because I love evening parties and hope to be doing a lot of that in our home!

So, let me tell you about some of the things you'll see on my board and find on my blog:

1. Curious & thoughtful interior design, conceptual art & home goods. I really love to see people create spaces and 'moments' in their homes that move them. There's no need to have a boring, 'right out of a catalog'  home. You can make anything interesting & beautiful. For example, if your kid's insists on a John Deere Tractor themed room.. using THIS, instead of THIS would be a great start! You just have to put some care & thought into it and magic will happen! It's not as hard as you might imagine.

2. Fashion & Frills. I love anything that is extremely well made. It could be a pencil or a gorgeous dress, anything that's made with passion and precise attention to detail is inspiring to me. When I find items like this, I want to share them, and tell you WHY I think they're so neat!

3. Minimal, clean design, art, photography, you name it. If it's clean, well made & shows restraint, I love it and want to share it!

4. Extraordinary graphic design. From business cards to packaging, even to styling for special events in new and thoughtful ways! I love it all and want to make note of the best of it to keep myself inspired.

5. Ira Glass. I put him on my board because he has been a HUGE inspiration to me. Watch THIS and you'll see why. I'm self taught. I don't know everything about design. People I work with are consistently younger and further along than me. The amazing interior designers, Robert & Courtney Novagratz (who I just realized should also be on this board!) are known for "breaking all the rules" and I don't even know what all the rules are, that they're breaking! But, I'm 'closing the gap'.
My work really is (finally) getting to a point where it's beginning to be as good as my ambitions!

6. Lastly, the photo of the young woman next to the gorgeous pendant in the top left corner, is Sonora Webster Carver. Sonora was one of the very first 'diving girl's' in the 1920's. Sonora would climb up a forty (sometimes sixty) foot tower and mount a running horse as it reached the top, then they would jump from the tower, her on the horses back, into a pool below. She was phenomenal. In 1931, she hit the water with her eye's open and was permanently blinded. The even crazier part is, she continued to dive horses after her accident until 1942! Blind! The audience never knew. Pretty extraordinary. She wrote a book called, "A Girl and Five Brave Horses" that was later made into a movie by Disney, called, "Wild hearts can't be broken". She was reported to have thought that they veered a tad too far from the truth in the story, it's still one of my favorites. She's always been such an inspiration to me.

So, that, is a little summery of what this blog is about and what you can find here. I would love to hear from you! Do any of these things inspire YOU!? If not, what does? I'll leave you with this neat fan made video from the, 'Wild hearts can't be broken' movie. It's a good one! xo

Mood Board: Pretty. Manly.

Our living room, up to this point, has NOTHING in it. We're starting from scratch, so this was the perfect opportunity to gather my thoughts on how I want to decorate the living room. A couple of these items are not within our budget or no longer available for purchase (like the gold pedestal table that I've longed for forever) but they reflect the feel I'm going for and I decided it was ok to dream a little bit on my board... a girl can dream, right?

The item that I know for sure is happening is the Ektorp sofa from IKEA. EDIT: Once I got to the store I actually ended up going with the Karlstad Sofa. It was bigger and more modern looking. It was a difficult choice, but I love it and am very happy with it. We don't have a budget to spend $9,000 on a sofa, and honestly, I'm not sure it would be the right choice for us even if we did! The Karlstad Sofa sofa may not be as deep and cozy as a more expensive sofa, but, it's affordable, has washable covers and you can buy as many new/different style covers as you'd like. That works for me, and it seems to be a decent quality sofa for the price.

So, on with the design of my mood board here. My husband is a pretty manly man. Yes, he's an artist as well, but he builds muscle cars & loves to fish and play guitar (He'll play any instrument really) and generally speaking, he can fix just about anything. We also have a son who just turned 12... which means, I'm pretty well surrounded by all things BOY! Of course, that doesn't mean I have to live in a man cave (yuck!). So, being the only girl living with these very manly guys, I desperately crave some pretty in my life. However, I don't want to overdo it. On my mood board, there's not a lot of frill, but there is softness & bling. I've mixed those two things with the hard, clean lines, geometric shapes, warm wood, manly metal and simple colors.

I think that this strikes a pretty good balance between pretty & manly. What do you think? 

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Taffeta Curtains: Faux or Real?

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As you know, we've just moved into a new home. Thus far, we do not have curtains up, yikes! In the past, I've always gone with 100% silk dupioni for our curtains. They're gorgeous and pretty affordable. However, while I was packing up the old house, I came upon my specialty ribbon stash. I love luxurious ribbon & the pretty 100% silk taffeta ribbons were always one of my favorites to use back in my wedding invitation design & assembly days. The ribbon prompted a quick google search and in no time, I'd ordered & quickly received fabric swatches. Unfortunately, I've been paralyzed ever since! I simply don't know which fabric to choose! 

Generally, I believe that the real thing is worth any extra expense it incurs. For example, pleather vs. leather... no contest. Leather wins every time. 

My dilemma:
Moving is expensive and the faux taffeta is about half the price of the 100% pure silk taffeta; and with all the curtains needing to be 108" in length, and a whole house to do, windows are getting super expensive, very fast.

The swatches are small, and it is really tough for me to imagine just how great the difference in quality will be. Will the faux taffeta look like a hideous discount wedding dress or will it pull off the look of a luxurious 100% silk designer dress? I'm at such a loss and could really use your advice! 

Who inspires me & why: Terron E. Schaefer

I'm pretty much a jeans and sweatshirt kind of girl, but I love the NBC show, "Fashion Star" that debuted at the beginning of this year. Having worked in the stationery and graphic design field, I can relate to the drive all great designers must have to create something truly phenomenal. Whether designing clothes, events or even wedding stationery, we're all driven by this need to perfect our craft; to create something truly unforgettable. The designers on this show are no different. 
So, even though I'm definitely no fashion guru, I quickly fell in love with the show and in no time, I found myself totally, head over heals in love with the stern but supporting discernment of the Saks Fifth Avenue buyer, Terron E. Schaefer. 

Terron is is exquisite. Only a few minutes of being introduced to him on the show, it became clear that this man knows his stuff. He's got an eye for what I think of as, 'interesting beauty'. My favorite kind!
It took a lot to get Terron's attention. It's not that the clothes he passed on were not fabulous, many of them were, but it became very clear that he was looking, for something really special. At one point, he flipped the collar of his nicely made suit up to reveal a gorgeous neon lining hidden just underneath!  He said that that kind of detail on already beautiful clothes was the kind of thing he loved and also, was what he was looking for. Something very well made, of course, but something that also has a little surprise.. a secret. I'm paraphrasing of course, but you get the idea. Add that together with his unwavering support of  teacher turned designer (and eventual winner!) of the first season, Kara Laricks, and he completely won me over. 

This is not a fashion blog, but home decor and fashion feed off of one another and Terron represents the epitome of what I'm hoping to do in our home. I don't just want it to be beautiful & well done... I want it to have unexpected surprises. I want to create secret moments that make our home exciting and really, really special. As I plan our home's decor, and share my projects and idea's with you, you can definitely expect some Terron inspired touches of interesting beauty! I hope that you'll be inspired to create some interesting beauty of your own as well! Don't worry too much about the rules or what other people are doing. Do what excites YOU and I promise you, you won't be disappointed!
If you want to get to know Terron a little bit better, you can see his top 10 essentials interview, here. Enjoy!

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Love white? You must be afraid of color!

If you're like me and you love white decor, I can guarantee that at least once (but more likely several times) you've heard people say in exasperation, "Are you afraid of color or what!?!". To the contrary, though I love white, I am not afraid of color. I'm a graphic designer, color is a huge & important part of my life. I recognize the beauty & power it has and use it boldly & daily. Still, wether in home decor, fashion or design, white feels, has always felt, the most dramatic & exciting to me.

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In home decor, white creates a dramatic backdrop for amazing collections of art and unique furniture. It feels peaceful & electric at once. It's white hot & billowy calm in the same breath... no color I've ever seen has done for my soul what white does. It inspires me so fully.

As I mentioned above, I've always preferred white, especially in home decor. Unfortunately, I haven't always followed my heart in this matter. In my younger years, I resisted the pull to white and found myself reluctantly heading out to the paint store to choose some trendy or safe 'color' that would inevitably grow old. Usually in a matter of weeks! None of those colors ever aroused my curiosity or creativity. The only feelings they ever evoked in me were passion killing boredom, I'm talkin' nails down a chalkboard, unable to focus on anything else in the room because this beige is so ugly, kind of feelings! I was young & lacked confidence in my natural pull toward the simple, dramatic beauty of minimal white design.

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Eventually, I decided to take Eleanor Roosevelt's advice and follow my heart, embracing my love of white. And yes, there were critics. There are critics still. I can tell you honestly though, it's been many years since I gave in to my longings for white & it has yet to grow old to me! It still inspires my heart and brings me joy and comfort.

As I write this post, I sit in our very new home (we moved in only ONE WEEK ago!) It's been painted a beautiful shade of white (Sherwin-Williams Ibis White 7000) throughout. This blog is where I will be documenting my journey of making something of our new home! There's a lot to be done and there will be plenty of good art and bling and yes, lots of white too! So, whether it be white, candy apple red or that perfect shade of aquamarine that inspires you, all of us want to create a warm, inspiring and interesting place to call home.  Join me, as I infuse joy & personal touches into our home and try to inspire you to do the same, no matter what color you love!

I love this quote from the folks over at Living with White "Some say those that love white are afraid of color. We feel those that love color just might be afraid of white!".

What do you think? Does white excite, or is it a bore? What excites your soul in decor?