I'm smitten with the work of Caroline Wright, an American artist who lived and worked in Paris for several years before returning to Austin (her hometown) where she currently resides. She's an active part of the art community there. Her work is primarily abstract with lots of bold colour and energy. Overall, it has a real contemporary vibe.
The "drip and line" painting are my favourites. Some of them are part of a migration series as well. (They were the first ones shown.) This last one is really pretty too. The "sky" is such a perfect mix of subtle colour.
You can see more of Caroline's work here. She's certainly one talented and prolific lady.
In other news, I found some fabric for our dining room and master bedroom windows. That means I'll be pulling the machine out soon to get those curtains done. I hope to hand paint some meandering lines on the panels for our bedroom, so I'll keep you posted on how that goes. That will be a bit of a time-consuming project but hopefully worth it. It would be awesome to get some lucite rods once we're ready to hang the panels. Like these. (Fingers crossed.)
At LuxHoldups
It's another rainy day here. Here's hoping the rain falls today and tomorrow and clears up for the weekend. Deck needs to happen!
-Sarah
At some far off distant date we will finish our basement. With yard costs piling up and up and up it will be some time before the downstairs gets done though. Our yard is bigger than we realized now that we're trying to plan decks and fences and gardens and flower beds etc. In the end it will be wonderful to have the space, but first up we need to plant a money tree to help fund the yard development. Anybody else need one of those?
The future basement will have a family/tv room which I'm looking forward to. I want it to be completely kid friendly with a relaxed but contemporary vibe. Something along these lines would be just swell.
Sources:
Soderhamn Sofa and Chaise, IKEA
Besta TV storage, IKEA
Round, Marble Coffee Table at CB2
Eames Replica Chair, Inmod
Cube Pillow and Spikes Mirror at Black Rooster Decor
Souk Rug at West Elm
Art (Painting) by Meredith Pardue
Photograph by Leigh Viner
"Words" Art via Pinterest (I would try to DIY it.)
I'm sure to change my mind at least somewhat by the time we're ready to bring the space to life (real life), but it's fun to plan and have an idea of what direction I want to go.
I hope things are well with you and yours. It's a bit on the dreary side here today. Good day to curl up with some tea and a book or play-do and apple juice if you prefer. We've got both going on.
Hugs,
-Sarah
If I had to decorate a nursery right about now (just for fun of course), these would be some of my top picks. I would go for a fairly neutral palette with bits of colour and of course some sparkle here and there.
I'm loving tassel garlands right now. They come in pretty much any and every colour. I especially like the ones that have some glitter to them. Tassels can be hung as a garland strand or grouped together to form a mobile above the crib.
These fruity poufs at Rowen and Wren are super cute. Apple or pear?
I like the idea of using a console as the change table. Good surface area on top and fabulous storage below.
Even better when you can score an industrial-style table like this one!
And I've shown you these before, but Animal Print Shop photos would pretty much be a necessity!
And I'd go big on texture.
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| Kantha Stitch Throw |
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| Dutch Diamond Berber Rug |
This is cute and a tad funny.
Stylish storage wouldn't hurt either.
So anyway, it would be good. There's no shortage of terrific stuff out there.
-Sarah
Tassels: The Flair Exchange; Fleur Lux; Nursery via Pinterest
Console Change Table: via Traditional Home; Industrial Table at Black Rooster
Throw, Rug and Pillow at Black Rooster
Toy Storage at Land of Nod
Hi and how are you? I hope things are well with you and yours. Over the past few weeks we've been growing butterflies in our kitchen. We started out with 10 larvae and got to watch them eat and grow and then cocoon and eventually emerge as beautiful butterflies. We fed them and enjoyed seeing them flutter around in their little home. Yesterday we decided to release them though. They were cramped in their "house" and since they only have a 2-3 week life span, we felt they should be given the opportunity to see more than a little corner of our kitchen. Some of them took flight right away, but others (who were probably less developed) hung around so we got to hold them. Certainly a fun process to watch and be a part of.
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| The "butterfly hotel" |
(Excuse the bike helmets.)
You may be wondering what possessed me to do something like this. Well, it was actually a friend's idea, so all the credit should go to her. I believe she ordered the larvae through Boreal Science. The butterfly kit was big so we split it up between a few families and each got 10 larvae. All 10 of ours hatched, but one had already died when we went to release them yesterday.
We've actually decided to home school our kids (or at least give it a try) so this was part of "school." To be honest, I feel kind of overwhelmed by the idea and worry that I'm going to mess up my kids! It would be awful to leave them with a huge hole in their knowledge. Being part of a community of homeschoolers will certainly help though, and I do love the idea of being able to pick and choose curriculum to tailor your child's education exactly to them. It doesn't have to be "one size fits all" which will hopefully make for a really great education experience for them. At any rate, I know I won't regret spending the time with them. They grow up so quickly. Homeschooling is not for everyone, and truth be told, we're still in the process of figuring out if it's for us! We think it's worth a try though.
-Sarah
p.s. Notice all of our nice, new dirt?! It's funny how exciting dirt can be. The yard already looks 10x better because all the weeds are now buried. Hopefully they stay buried.
Friday it is! Yay! I had hoped to get this up yesterday, but I ran into some technical difficulties. Gotta' love those. I showed you our deck plans the other day and mentioned that I'd like a bar cart/drink station/serving tray tucked into the one corner. I've been looking around and here's a round up of some really terrific bar cart options. Some of them are definitely on the pricey side, but others are more affordable. At any rate, it's nice to see what's out there. I'll keep my eyes peeled next time I'm in homesense. Not all of them were advertised as outdoor carts per se, but they are all made from materials that would hold up quite well in outdoor conditions.
1. Jill Bar Cart at Ballard Designs
2. Jacquelyne Cart at Pottery Barn
3. Palm White Lacquer Bar Cart at Worlds-Away
4. Glossy Black Cart at Black Rooster
5. Libations Bar Cart at Crate & Barrell
6. Thomas Pheasant Outdoor Bar Cart at McGuire Furniture
Here's another nice options if you're looking for some bright, cheery colour. Comes in 5 different colours. And I'm pretty sure I've seen this one at Homesense for waaaay less. The Hampton bar cart at Tonic Home (and other retailers).
And here's a terrific table on wheels option at IKEA. It's very affordable and would hold up well outdoors. The only drawback is that it's not bar cart height; it's more coffee table height, but maybe that's what you're looking for. Also comes in dark turquoise.
Well, have yourself a most excellent weekend, friends. Thanks for stopping by!
UPDATE: Hollie of Pillotopia is clearing out all of her already made inventory in preparation for a relaunch August 1st. You can pick up a pillow or two (or three or four) at her etsy shop for 50% off. Use the coupon code CLEAROUT50 to get 50% off anything she has in stock. Run, don't walk. And you're welcome.
-Sarah
Hello, hello! We finally have the ball rolling as far as yard development goes. An estimate was done last night for top soil (it feels wrong to pay so much for dirt, but I guess it's a necessary first step). We're also having all of the weeds sprayed later this week. There are SO many of them. We have a nice field of yellow right now. My kids think it's great to go out and "pick flowers." That has to end soon though.
I got some flowers potted for the front step. The planters are from Costco. I'm curious to see how the flowers do. There are tall, spiky things, snap dragons and cascading vine type plants. Ha! I'm such a gardener.
The door mat is from IKEA and only $16.99. It even stayed outside all winter and held up really well.
And here are my very rough drawings of the deck plans. As you can hopefully tell, there will be an upper and lower deck. The upper deck will mainly be for grilling, but I hope to squeeze in a chair or two with perhaps a small side table. We plan to get a dining table and chairs for the lower deck, and I'd like to find a small serving table or bar cart for that little nook between the stairs and the house. #1 is the basic plan and #2 has a few extras (mainly furniture layout) to it. I have to decide whether I want railing on the right side of the lower deck, or if we want to wrap the "one step down" around that side. Hmmm.
I'm leaning towards the Tuscany rail kit from RONA for the deck railings. Only the upper deck needs rails. I like how it's visually "light" so it doesn't obstruct your view out too much. I want a different end post and cap though. Something a little nicer if possible.
I'm hoping we can finish the underside of the upper deck with something that looks half decent. Horizontal boards could do the trick.
I'd also like a "wall" along the back of the house so you don't see the foundation from the lower deck. Since the lower deck is only about 1 foot off the ground we need to hide the foundation. Make sense? This idea but on a smaller scale. The wall would only need to be about 4 feet high in our case. Maybe we could hang a small wall fountain and some lanterns from it. Oh, the possibilities!
This is also a nice look, but it might be a lot of work to pull off. It's lattice from what I can tell but just a little more finished looking and probably more durable. Tacking up lattice can look kind of haphazard and it usually doesn't hold up well when kids are kicking around soccer balls in the yard.
I'll keep you posted as we start to get things done. I can't wait!
-Sarah
Hi friends! I hope this finds you well. We had a full weekend celebrating this boy's 3rd birthday. I hosted a friend party for him on Saturday, and then we had a family get together on Sunday. We all had a pile of fun. He was maybe just a little excited. The smile says it all. I love this boy bunches, and I can hardly believe he's 3 years old!
Check out the amazing cake my mom had made for him. Coolio. He loved it and wouldn't let anyone near it for the first little while. Very protective of his Thomas. In the end, he did decide to share since it was the birthday cake and cake is to be eaten (even when it looks too amazing to touch).
The Saturday party was his first friend party. We decided to only invite boys his age and it all went well. I was impressed with how well they did. Unfortunately, I didn't get many pictures taken. Boo. I made these vanilla cupcakes (and the buttercream icing) for the party. Very yum and we just won't talk about how much butter was in them (wink).
Terrific Weekend. Terrific Birthday Boy.
Things are in the works for our yard to get started soon. The deck will hopefully go up or at least start to go up this weekend. I really need to get the garden plot ready since the seeds I started indoors are way beyond the seed stage and rapidly outgrowing the small containers they're in. Hopefully I can share some of the yard plans with you later this week.
Catch you later!
-Sarah
This warm, sunny weather is making me dream of days spent poolside. I've decided that I want some pool art in my house. Anything to make the summer last longer, right? A big photograph would be perfect. I really like this one, but I can't find the original source (insert sad face). Maybe I could recreate it. Anyone want to paint their nails red and take a dunk for me?
Here are some other good options that could work pretty well too.
I like the vintage vibe that many of these have. And I'm throwing this one in for fun. Here's something you don't see every day! Made me laugh.
So, pool art is good or at least some of it is. The above photograph may be an exception although there's something to be said for a little quirk in your home. And this pink reindeer fantasy delivers!
-Sarah
Image Sources: Unknown; Quentin De Briey; Lucy Snowe Photography; Sarah Kane; "The Dive" by Jill Illife; Lucy Snow Photography; David Hockney Paper Pool; via Pinterest
