housemartin

roots

More beauty from H&G...this serene photo of the "Acorn Vase" from Svenskt Tenn.

what's your favorite color?

Once again it is time to sing the praises of green. Loved this article in H&G about textile designer C. J. Dellatore's house decorated in a monochromatic green theme.
Again a graceful combination of modern + nature.

orange

Have you seen this gorgeous spread of orange flowers in Martha Stewart Living? It is so moody and eclectic. Also love the rusted steel boxes they are photographed on.

glowing orbs

I am in love with this lamp (series of lamps?) by designer Tom Dixon (mentioned in the last post). Grace at Design*Sponge blogged about his gorgeous woodgrain metal table so I went to look at his work and became even more enamored with this lamp. It is modern but feels organic with its random spacing of the globes and warm copper tone...clustered together like other things in nature - mussels or seedpods.

swoon

Habitat is one of my favorite home decor stores. I almost swooned when I first visited the shop at High Street-Kensington in London about 8 years ago. It touched a nerve for sure...my ears were buzzing. Many minutes were spent calculating out the cost of shipping stone pots home to the U.S.
Terence Conran opened the brand and the first store in 1964 and Tom Dixon (see next post) was brought in as Design Director to re-invigorate the brand in 1997. What I love equally as much as  their home decor is the photo-styling they do for their catalogs. Here are some snaps from their spring 2007 catalog...please no drooling.

bandwagon

There has been a lot of blog love out there for Sarah Kaye Representation in London posted by Decor8, OhJoy!, Frolic!, and many more I am sure. I just couldn't help jumping on the bandwagon...when it's THAT good.They represent so many talented photographers and stylists - Jo Tyler, Emma Cassi,Polly Wreford, Kate French, Rose Hammick - just some of them shown below. Here are a few pics maybe you haven't seen yet. Jaw dropping...

treasure

My loot from this Saturday's early morning rise... a vintage wooden gear and a metal possibly light casing? (sold separately)

This well-worn arithmetic book with lovely scrollwork and "practical grammar" book
and this precious child's chair with chartreuse seat and green wood box. a set of philosophy books in German - great numbers on the binding - nice for display colorful vintage garden spades, industrial stool, wood painted pedestal, and metal bulb boxes

serious

You know you are serious about opening a retail store when...

1. You rent not 1 but 2 storage spaces to hold all the display furniture you will be buying in the upcoming months
2. You can longer get into your garage without a spelunking helmet
3. You reach your 100th post on the blog that you "thought you would try just to see how it goes"
4. You wake up thinking about it at 3 a.m.
5. You have embraced the Excel spreadsheet
6. You enlist your talented sister to work for you as a "picker" at antique shows where you are not even slightly embarrased to use a walkie-talkie

Yes, even though the store is a year off, there will be alot of planning that will go into it this year. I am still as passionate about it as the day I first conjured it.

Thanks for all the support from everyone reading this blog - I can't wait to post 100 more...what a great audience!

perfect sunday

Happy Earth Day to everyone. Trying to enjoy the day even though Google's logo today was melting polar ice caps. We had a perfectly marvy day with breakfast of German apple pancake at Zell's, a bike ride (on my brand new bike), and a walk in our neighborhood. We need to remember to bring $1 on our little bike rides - the neighbor kids were selling lemonade.....ah spring!

Well not to get too much off topic from design and floral, but just wanted to pop in and show you the 3 baby squirrels living in our weeping cherry tree. We enjoyed their antics while lounging on a blanket in the yard.

precious and calming

This is the work of Alena Hennessy, an artist living in North Carolina. I like her simplicity in form - inspired by nature.

They have a magical quality, precious and calming.
You can buy her paintings right here.