Pottery Jones

Here's your fix for today, dear readers.  Nothing makes a room like a beautiful collection of vases.  Here are some beautiful vases for your viewing enjoyment.  Hope you enjoy!

Ferm Living.  These are teaser if you live in the U.S.  Only available in Europe.

Private collection.  Beautifully collected and displayed.  Risa and Nick's Modern Architectural Rehab House Tour via Apartment Therapy.

 

 

Beautiful spinners by Romi Ceramics.  One of each, please.

Suite One Studio.

 I love Teco pottery!  Available at Room and Board.

I love this beauty!  Formally available at Anthropologie.  I forgot the name of the artist.  If you know this artist, please contact me.  Wish I had ordered when it was still available. 

4/8/11 update:  Anthropologie has more of these available.   The artist is Judy Jackson.

I would guess that these beautiful vases - which I have previously featured - are by the same artist.  Image via Design Sponge.

 

Photo taken by Peggy at Anthropologie store.

What I didn't buy... but am still thinking about

I mentioned below that my sister-in-law and I went to West Elm in Columbus, Ohio last week.  I bought a couple of pretty things that I had been coveting for a while, delighting in the fact that I didn't have to pay shipping and handling.  (Even though gas is $3.59 a gallon and Columbus is 142 miles one way - go figure.)  I thought I had the West Elm catalog memorized, but I didn't remember these lovely, simply designed tea pots and cups.

I hemmed and hawed over that teapot.  It wasn't expensive, but I had already stretched my limited budget.  Now I'm regretting it.  These pieces remind me of Paige Russell's work, which I dearly love.

I'd love to have one of her vessels.  But the West Elm tea pot is more in line with my budget.

Color Inspiration: sun drenched colors

Like you, dear reader, I am tired of Winter and can't wait for Spring.  I miss the sun and can't wait for it to drench my apartment.  I am craving sun drenched colors. Pink, of course, and lots of orange and yellow.  And turquoise, in a beautiful washed out shade.  Here's some inspiration.  Hope you enjoy.

Have you ever noticed some magazine ads are beautiful enough to frame?  I'd love to enlarge this image.  Beautiful colors.  I love the 70s influence.  Image via Casapinka.

I love the colors in these ads from Talbots.  The campaign, by Mert & Marcus, is one of the most beautiful ad campaigns I've seen this Spring.  Julianne Moore looks exquisite, and the colors are - ahem - exquisite.  More of the campaign can be see at Fashion Gone Rogue. 

 Camilla Akrans via Solid Frog.

 sfgirlbybay.

Michelle Ghio via Creature Comforts.

I think these colors look happy.  I was so inspired by these colors, I decided to try processing some photos to look like they've been sun-drenched.  Image by Peggy.  See more of my sun-drenched photos here.

Note:  I apologize that I'm not able to link properly.  I am away from home and working on a Mac, and it is driving me crazy.  As soon as I'm able to get to a PC, I'll fix the links.  Thanks for your patience.

A trip to Columbus

My sister-in-law and I went to a mall in Columbus, Ohio last week.  You may recall that I visited a mall in Troy, Michigan recently.  Again, I am mystified as to why Cleveland has nothing like these malls.    Cleveland has many strip clubs and is supposed to get a new casino.  But no where to buy a beautiful sofa for your industrial loft.  Maybe I should run for Mayor.  I apologize for the political digression.  Here are some pretty things I saw at the mall in Columbus.

I was thrilled to see the West Elm store!  I've only shopped West Elm via the internet, so it was great to experience its tactile reality.  I love this little staged dining area,  Display can be so inspirational.  The white-washed wood on the wall makes a great installation piece.

Here are some of their beautiful vases in my favorite finish, matte white.  Seeing them in person really puts them in perspective for me.  These are very large, too large for my place.  I have trouble visualizing sizes from the online stores.

I love these tables!  I took these two photos at a shoe store.  I tend to marvel over fixtures more than I do merchandise.  I love these tables.  There was a lot more beautiful furniture, a large wrap around ottoman-like sofa in a beautiful turquoise color.  A beautiful armoire.  But the sales woman passionately chased me out of the store.  I thought she was going to take my camera!  She accused me of being a paparazzi.  Hmm.  Never really thought about it, but I guess I am.  But I have no intention of stealing designs, merely showing them off.

These two photos were taken at Crate and Barrel.  The sofa is such a beautiful color.  I love this modern white lacquered dresser.  I'd love to have this dresser for my flat screen TV.

Moroccan Influences

I've been dreaming of adding Moroccan influences to my place.  I am thinking of moving my sleeping area to the living room (so I can turn my bedroom into a studio).  I'd like to incorporate fabric.  I think this look would be great.  I really don't like my low ceilings, so by hanging fabric I think I'd be turning a liability into an asset.

I absolutely adore this ethereal image.  The fabrics are so light and airy, and I love the lanterns.  Image Chele Mckee via Desire to Inspire.

I'd add some beautifully patterned pillows, with lots of pink.  I saw this beautiful pillow at Pier One.

This beautiful fabric was spotted in a little boutique window.  Unfortunately, they weren't open.  I definitely need to scope out this shop.  I will, of course, report back.

I would also make use of occasional tables and ottomans.  This Moroccan-inspired table, and Chinese-inspired ceramic stool were spotted at Burlington Coat Factory and were reasonably priced.  I'd like to have them both.

The influence of a snow storm

Okay.  I'm over it.  Friday morning I was astonished upon awakening to see that outside looked like this, once again.  I've been obsessing about the color gray.  I've been seeing it everywhere in decor.  But Friday morning, I was decidedly over the obsession within seconds of looking out the window.  My obsessions are fickle like that.  I didn't want to get out of bed.  As I looked around my bedroom, with its black curtains, I decided it was too gloomy.  I want the glorious sun to shine in the room and make jumping out of bed a delight.  I just can't wait for Spring.  I decided to make my bedroom a little happier, but had no money and even if I did, it was impossible to get out of my driveway.  So I just moved things around.  It's surprising how many different looks you can achieve by simply moving things around.

I started with the curtains.  The living room had pink curtains and the bedroom had black curtains.  I swapped them.

 

Here's the alcove in the front of the apartment.  I'm still not sure how I'm going to use this area.  Either as a yoga/meditation area or as a studio for painting.  It gets great light so would make a fine studio.  If I decide to turn the space into a studio, I'd like to curtain it off to hide the mess.  This might actually help solve the problem of my awkwardly shaped living room.  It's shaped like a L.

Living area.  I think the black curtain actually looks a little more sophisticated, and goes well with my genie vase.  The yellow pillow is new.  I love the pop of color it provides.

 Bedroom.  The light in the morning is glorious.  Now if it would just stop raining.

More shots of the bedroom.  I love my new lamp!  I just put some odds and ends on the little bookcase.  Funny how you can add miscellaneous objects together and they will work, as long as you think they are beautiful, just be careful not to over do it.  Clutter just won't do.  I know I owe you a full tour of my place, dear readers.  I hope to publish a tour on Monday, as my plans are to do a thorough cleaning over the weekend.

Bedroom color inspiration - pink, gray and violet

Dear readers, you know how it is.  Obsession.  Sometimes an idea can grab hold and it won't let go.  Such are the thoughts of my bedroom decor.  Should I turn it into a restful oasis or should I turn it into a studio?  For now I'm thinking restful oasis, but that could change any minute.  

 

Of course I am obsessing about color.  As you know, color occupies my mind most of the day.  And needless to say, any color scheme I contemplate will include pink.  I am loving pink combined with gray and violet.  And maybe a splash of turquoise - my second favorite color.  Here are some photos from my inspiration file.

Monochrome can be very restful.  I'd like to paint my walls violet.  Here's an idea to steal from Living etc magazine, March 2011.  They've painted the wall and the frame of the mirror the same color.  I love it.   By  having this ornate piece blend rather than pop, they've made it appear simpler.  Monochrome is a great trick if you are trying to unify disparate objects.

Here are some beautiful pillows I saw at Pier One.  I know I'm guilty of one of the biggest design mistakes - too many pillows.  I can't help it.  I love them (along with pottery and lamps).  I didn't buy these, though they were tempting.  The three would've cost around $90.  Too steep for my budget, but they are gorgeous.

Beautiful room by the Designers Guild.  Wish I could paint my floors white!

Beautiful, romantic room.  Image Collect, the Rug Company blog.

I love this room!  Gray day bed.  Pink curtains and turquoise provided by the artwork.  Sorry, I don't remember its source.  I promise to get better at that, I'm not sure why I'm so disorganized lately.  If you know the source, please contact me.  And what about you, dear readers, are you planning any changes in your decor for Spring?  Are you planning to go lighter?  Have you started your Spring cleaning?  I'd love to hear from you!  xxoo

Need more?  Click here to see an unforgettably beautiful pink, gray and silver bedroom from Chiasso featured in a previous post.

Pink dining room

Below I listed some beautiful dining rooms that are part of my inspiration file.  Those rooms featured rustic tables.  I adore this room, so I had to include it as well, even though the table is modern.  This is one of my favorite dining rooms.  The pink on the walls is a scrumptious shade and proves that pink can be used in a modern way.  I adore the pink armoire.  This room would make a great office, and the armoire would provide tons of storage.  Image Alcro via Emmas Design Blog.

Office inspiration from dining rooms

Today I was obsessing about how to make my office space more beautiful.  This is a concern for more people everyday, as our home increasing becomes a work/live space.  For me, the answer to my office dilemma seems to come from dining room inspiration.  I don't need a dining room, but do need an office.  I need a very large table to spread out, and a buffet is the perfect solution for beautiful storage.  I especially love the look of a light rustic table in reclaimed wood, or pickled pine, combined with modern chairs, lighting and art.  Here are some photos from my inspiration file.  I think any of these could be turned into a fine office.

This is one of my favorite dining rooms of all times.  I've featured it before on this blog.  See previous post here.

Rustic table, modern chairs and modern art.  Adds up to pure beauty.  Image source unknown.  Bad blogger.  I think I got this image from sfgirlbybay, but not sure.  Please contact me if you know the source of this image.

I prefer wood in light or natural colors.  I love this image.  Love the art.  Make sure to check out the rest of this beautifully simple home tour.  Dante's Simple & Sophisticated Style via Apartment Therapy.

These pink modern chairs look fabulous with this table, and work well in this industrial loft.  The rustic theme of the column is repeated in table and is balanced nicely by the more feminine chandelier.  I'd love a work space like this.  I'm sure abundant creativity would flow from this space.  Image Fritz Hansen.

Making a home

It takes a while to make a new place feel like home.  I loved my humble studio apartment so much, that I feared I could never love another place.  And while it's true that my new place is quirkier than I would prefer - I am starting to fall in love with it.  I am doing a lot of experimenting with layering of color and it is making me happy.

I saw this image on Apartment Therapy, and couldn't stop thinking about it.  I'm not a pattern person, but the colors here are absolutely fascinating to me.  I think you can tell by the sunny pictures I've been showing lately, that I can't wait for Spring!  After seeing this picture, I knew I needed a pop of yellow in my living room.

Here's some new things I bought.  A new yellow pillow for my living room!  I got it for $3.99 at Old Time Pottery.  I think it's perfect with the hot pink cover.  I wish I could paint my walls pink.  While I was at Old Time Pottery, I was astounded to find this pink lamp.  Since it's hard to find pink objects in modern shapes, I knew I had to have it.  I adore the shade.  This was a steal at $29.99.  The shade is worth more than that!  It's a beautiful satin fabric, and casts the most scrumptious glow.  I have it in my bedroom.  I also got a new tchotchke at the Salvation Army.  The lovely little geisha girl planter.  Only $1.99.  Not my usual taste, for some reason she spoke to me.  I love her.  I won't be putting plants in her, I think it looks funny when plants grow out of figurines heads.  But I might be spray painting her.  Turquoise maybe.  Next week I'm planning a full tour of my apartment.  Stay tuned.

New Painting

 

Untitled, 18" x 30", acrylic and marker on canvas.  This painting was an exercise in frustrated perfectionism.   The shapes weren't turning out the way I wanted them. I've been wanting to do more minimal paintings, and I keep seeing strange shapes in my head.  I want this work to look sort of mid-century but in very current colors.  I can't stop thinking about Barbara Novak's apartment in Down with Love, and I want to create art that would live very comfortably there.  I'll need to break down and buy an easel soon.  I can't quite get the precision I want while painting on the floor.

Want.....

I'm not sure why I was perusing the Ikea catalog today.  I have a love/hate relationship with them.  There's no Ikea locally and they don't sell online.  Still.  Here's a few things I found beautiful and I would love to have.

The bigarra vase and the figgjo mirror.  Fab.  Love the shapes.  They are affordably priced, except for when you figure in that the closest Ikea to me is in Pittsburgh and gas is $3.50 a gallon.  Ikea, will you please come into the 21st century?