Happy New Year!

More Info

Free Printables for your New Year's Eve Party

It's not too late....  Do you have card stock and a printer and a few minutes?  A quiet evening at home with your family or dinner with friends?  Add some ribbon and glitter and make your New Year's Eve pretty with these printables.    Included is a door sign, 2011 banner, cupcake toppers, candle votive wraps, dinner menu, napkin embellishment, drinking straw flags and anything else you can think to do with these pretties.  Created by moi.

Download them HERE.

 

http://www.scribd.com/doc/46110738/2011-New-Year-s-Eve-Free-Printable More Info

L O V E

the home of Spanish designer Tony Espuch by way of  HABITUALLY CHIC More Info

Cafe Express has finally made it to Austin

Was thrilled to hear about their new location down by Seton Medical from my sister. Less thrilled to wait for a parking space on a recent lunch date with my hubby. Though I'm so happy Austin finally has a Cafe Express!  Have y'all checked it out?

More Info

Christmas Present

I'm so sorry if I'm totally driving you crazy with our Better Homes & Gardens article but I've been meaning to share the article on here for readers who weren't able to get a copy.  (And, it really was the hi-light of our year; I'm not gonna lie.)  If you click on the pics (photos by Helen Norman), you should be able to see them larger. 

{Stockings by Handmade Pretties on etsy...  I loved the title of the article because "Christmas present" applies to living in the present moment which we really try to do and also to our baby Justin who was born on December 22nd just 3 days before Christmas... Go Joanna! }

{I'm always walking into the house carrying beautiful flowers with my cutie sitting there waiting on the stairs for me;) ;)  .. hee hee I wish.  I've gotten lots of emails/ calls about my bag & boots.  The bag is by UGG and the boots I'm wearing are MUDD... both from a few years ago.}

{You might notice they brought in a new coffee table by Wisteria to replace our lucite one & my cow hide rug wasn't in the shot.  We filled one of my glass lamps with glass ornaments. } 

Here's a photo to compare: 

{A year later at our house means changes...  Obviously I've rearranged the floorplan since then.  (This happens a lot.)  I've also replaced the Arteriors glass table lamp with the Arteriors glass floor lamp.  (It actually took over 4 months to get to me and was once of the first things I ordered for our living room but wasn't here in time for the shoot.)  I've also moved our cow hide into our bedroom and reaplaced it with an antiqued wool rug.}

{I love how beautifully these gifts were wrapped and I love that they were able to use so many of our own things in the shoot.}

{Isn't it funny to read your own quotes???   hahaha  I think I meant that nothing's really set in stone around here, that we're picking thigns up and adding traditions as we go each year.  I took the photo of Dave & Christian making the showman last January during one of the snowstorms before the photo shoot in February.  }

{looooooove this pic...  On the shelves, they brought in some copper to add to my white ware which was so pretty & warm.  Of course now I want some.  We borrowed the ironstone platters & cakestand from my friend Donna at On a Whim Antiques in Lucketts, VA for the shoot. The rest of the pieces are mine and I found the ceiling medallion I propped up on the shelves for only $1 at Goodwill five or so years ago.}

{and they were able to sneak an extra little page in at the end which I love...  Christian had such a blast opening the bulldozer toy over & over.  what a champ.  The food was beautiful and we used a milk glass urn turned upside down with a plate above & below for a makeshift cakestand.}

And here's a close-up of the beautiful table Jessica Thomas did:

She used my silverware & china over my Pottery Barn plates and little polar bear Christmas ornaments for name tags.  - my handwriting on them- yay! ha    The vintage fabric draped over the parsons chairs really added something.  I found it at Goodwill years ago as a set of curtains and it's gotten a lot of use.  I even made a blanket out of some of it for Justin's room. 

And, I was also picked as the blogger of the month which was such a nice surprise:

The funniest thing is that I was at an antique store this Fall & almost bought that exact little squirrel nutcracker (old, not new of course)  for Christian.  He was $32 and I didn't buy him- what is wrong with me?- and had regretted it since.  When I saw it on the page I wanted to kick myself! :)

Thank you so much again to the team at Better Homes & Gardens: editor & writer Joanna Linberg, stylist/producer Jessica Thomas, and photographer Helen Norman  & her assistant F.J. Hughes. and all of the in-house people like Shelley Caldwell who put the story together and to field scout Bonnie Broten...  You guys are truly the BEST.  Thank you, thank you. 




ps- I'm really trying to take a break & stay off of the computer this week so you won't see much of me until Monday!! :)

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

*The caged lantern in our entryway is by Minka Lavery...  I have gotten tons of phonecalls & emails about it and I think may have been discontinued.  The wallpaper in our breakfast nook is also discontinued.  Our front door is "maple leaf" by Behr and our kitchen cabinets are "witch hazel" by Behr.  I used the book Leonardo's Notebooks for the sketches in the entry. More Info

Merry Christmas!

More Info

Countdown & treats

{3 more days!!!}

{The Better Homes & Gardens team made the adorable glittered construction paper chain garland over the chalkboard for us & I love it!!  It's one of those things I'd planned on making more of but didn't.  Glad we saved it.}

Yesterday our babysitter. Lizzie, surprised us with a box full of homemade cookies.  Her mother is a friend of ours and teaches at the high school with Dave -and has brought cookies in for the family before from Lizzie- which mysteriously never seem to make it home. 

So this time Lizzie brought 'em home to mama.  ahhhhhh yessss...  I was all alone when she dropped them off and got to work on them immediately:

But, unlike my husband, I didn't eat them all and saved some for my family. 

(I tried... there were too many.)

I also have a neighbor who is one of those people who seems to do it all.  (Melissa, if you're reading, this proves my point because -somehow- you even  have time to pop in here!!)  She & her daughter Claire dropped off some pumpkin bread the other week and I didn't get a picture of it because it was gobbled up too quickly but it looked like this and it was Heaven:

{photo from allrecipes.com}

I'm always so touched (and thrilled to be the recipient!) when people bake for the holidays and share it with others.  It's just one of those fun things that I try to do every year but don't always get to.  (like this year...  although there's still time??  maybe tomorrow??  There's always Tollhouse break'n bake.)  

Do you have any special pre-holiday tradtions?

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

Glittered Jingle Bells

How fun would this be to DIY with beautiful fine glitters from Martha Stewart?

I found this garland for sale at Sweet Charity last week.  Oh what fun it is.... More Info

So Close!!

Sorry for the lack of posts - as you probably know, work's always nutty right before the holidays!  I just wanted to drop in with a little recap of what we've been up to.

{our front door}

This year we got a bit further as far as outside Christmas decorating goes than last...  We got lights up outside, but Christian wasn't happy with them because they're not the "pretty" colored lights. 

{image via mrlimodenver.com}

I feel his pain... I remember thinking that way back when.  I could possibly be swayed to the colorful side...  There's something wonderful about terrible Christmas decorations.  It's definitely got to be better than the dying leyland cypresses I strung up with pretty white lights...  It's a process.  (We planted them too close to our house so the roof overhang kept rain from getting them.. ehhhhhhh.)  Maybe next year we can have alive shrubs strung with lights.   I'm also kind of craving the big vintage colored lights my grandparents have on their house. 

We got a second tree this year for our family room.  It's artificial but I'm really into it because it's flocked:

I'll attempt to take better pics later!  Dave & I camped out in the family room this weekend because I love being near the tree so much.  I wish I had one in our bedroom too.

And, whenever we can squeeze it in, we've been playing Christmas music & dancing:

{I have really big hands}

In my area it's 97.1 that plays nonstop Christmas music.  love it.  I think they probably stay in business just because of their month of Christmas music. 

Delilah anyone???

More Info

A Window Wonderland

I love Illy coffee and I'm in awe over this Barneys New York window display.

Barneys New York teamed up with the Food Network, the Cooking Channel, and Illy to deck their Madison Avenue windows in a “Have a Foodie Holiday!” theme. A papier-mâché Mario Batali head sits on a platter, while a mannequin wearing a dress made of foil coffee bags and disposable cups sports an Illy espresso machine as a headdress. Simon Doonan and his madcap team have created a campy homage to the well-known foodies of today.

Elle Decor More Info

Rejoice! Bay Hill Design

If you have never window shopped at this design shop/ design studio in 26 Doors, it's worth a looksy. 

http://www.bayhilldesign.com/

More Info

Inspiration

You know when you see something ordinary that's just so beautiful?  You get excited about it, maybe take a picture if you can & file it away for the future.   This succulent I came across was one of them.  It was massive and composed of the most luminous shades of green.  It seemed to glow in the sunlight.

I love the feeling of this plant and realized it's often the mood I go for in my own house, particularly our living room.  Fresh & happy with a calmness about it.  It almost looks like a velvet.  It also reminds me a bit of a rug I found that woke up my living room when I brought it in.  Or an old oil painting...  It's that perfect blurring of color.  Ah just love it!! 

Anyway, I'm thinking I want to be better in the new year about collecting my inspiration photos & ideas.  Maybe a massive board in my office that's ever-growing??

{image via apartment therapy}

Or since I have no free walls in my office, maybe down the lonely hallway off of my office???  I might have to go start right now...  The walls are peeling anyway in there.  (One of our future projects! ;)

And...  we got snow here yesterday and so it's really starting to feel like Christmas- yay!!!  Have a great weekend!!





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


...** UPDATE*** 
......Ok, I'm back (10:15 :)  and my new inspiration wall has begun!! yay!!  It's small but it's a start:

{Thoughts I'd been collecting for a new project I'm working on}

More Info

Vintage Santa

These sweet vintage images make me so happy.  I'm going to use them for gift tags. More Info

Houston Home Adorned for the Holidays

a little greenery in the master on the chandy

Even the library gets garland

Is that a real peacock by the pool?  What an accent!

Traditional Home

More Info