Pulling Together Mismatched Chairs

I came across these decorative decals on This Old House website (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/) What a clever idea for pulling together a bunch of mismatched chairs.

Love hosting dinner parties and big holiday gatherings, but hate hauling out your collection of mismatched chairs? Before the event arrives, give orphaned chairs with flat backs a cohesive look with a coat of paint and decorative decals in dressed-up furniture styles. The decals go on in a few simple steps (just make sure the surface is clean and smooth before transferring the design) and peel off easily when the look wears thin. 

Blik's Classic Chair Backs; about $30 for a set of six; whatisblik.com

 The decals, I think, are very economical but of course it has my head spinning with ideas! Anyone have some chairs I can experiment on?!

Michelle

Top 10 Rooms With Black Walls

decorpad.com

 Black walls can be sophisticated, elegant, dramatic, or high tech and edgy. 

http://www.ruemag.com/gallery/dining-spaces/

Ultimately, achieving a certain style will depend on the accent colors and materials that you use in the room. Traditional furnishings and wainscot painted white is a classic look in a black room. In the photo above, the dark floors anchor the seating arrangement.

apartmenttherapy.com

Modern furnishings and art create a crisp, serene space.

http://www.ruthiesommers.com/

 Black walls are a superb back drop for artwork. 

Elle Decor

For large group of photos, it's like having a border around the grouping, pulling it all together and...

decorpad.com

A single piece of art will just pop off the wall. Aren't the chairs gorgeous?!

http://www.flairhomecollection.com/

Lighting is so important in all interiors but especially in a room with dark walls.

http://www.flairhomecollection.com/

A sconce becomes a highlighted  piece of art casting light around itself.

Ralph Lauren Home

How glamorous! Always consider how one room flows into the next. I chose this room because of the 

all white adjacent room. It makes the space that much better. 

My son's room.
(Check out the entire mural and others  HERE)

 Personally, I have two rooms with black walls (my sons bedroom, above, and in the family room, below). Then again, practically every piece of clothing I own is black or white, oh wait, I have some gray pieces as well.  I want to say black is my favorite color, but I can't, because after taking Color Theory 101 I know that black isn't a color, technically, it's the absence of color. 

Black accent walls.

So, What do you think, love it or hate it? It takes some confidence rolling out black paint on your walls but if it's something you were considering I hope these rooms have inspired you to take the next step. Do you have a room with black walls? Leave a comment or send me a picture I'd love to hear from you! 

Have a great weekend,

Michelle

Happy New Year, Felice Anno Nuovo and Ein glückliches neues Jahr!

From the name of my blog, you may have deduced that I'm partial to Italian. I've taken a couple of classes and I'm teaching myself even more with the help of Rosseta Stone. In the post title, I included a German greeting though because this post is about my German cupboard. I found this old baking cupboard at an antique show. The dealer said that he brings one of these back from Germany every year but they hardly ever have all of the drawers intact (at least that's what the story was). I instantly fell in love with it!

 I felt compelled to take pictures of it today because tomorrow the Christmas decorations get packed away. I have decorated it the same every year for a couple of years now. I love my old raggedy Santa perched in front of a sleigh filled with moss and nut covered topiary balls and the beautiful apple decorations hanging from the doors. About ten years ago, when I started painting some of my antiques (I know, I know -purists are cringing), I painted this a color called Thomas Everard Coffee a Williamsburg Historical color by Martin Senour Paint.

 It holds a collection of polish pottery and serves more as a china cabinet than a baking cabinet. The porcelain drawers have the names of various spices and baking staples like flour and sugar. 

Every month House Beautiful has a feature called "Send Us A Picture" and when they did one asking for pictures of china cabinets I considered sending in a photo of my old cupboard but just never got around to it.  Below are eight of the photos from their featured designers:

  

More like a china room than a cabinet! Wouldn't this be nice?

Are you proud of your china cabinet? Send me a picture I'll show it off! Send it to michellesamoraj@gmail.com.

Hope you enjoyed your visit. Please let me know you stopped by and tell me what you think! I would love to hear from you! Again, Happy New Year, hope it's an inspiring one! Michelle

My Design Files

The new year is almost here and January 1st is the goal I set for myself to get everything on this blog up and running so that I can actually invite people to take a look. I have been basically blogging into oblivion since I have told only a few people about this blog. I figured I would post a few blogs for practice and figure out what my blog style was going to be. Should I be funny, sarcastic, witty, philosophical (all a part of who I am ....in my own mind) or what should I do.?! In the end, I realized that the easiest method is to just be myself but therein lies another problem! I am such a private person. So, my plan is to always speak in the third person, no -just kidding, my plan is to loosen up a little, it's a new year, I can make changes after --years (see what I mean I can't even tell you how old I am argh! this is not going to be easy! However, the reason I am doing this blog is because I love, love, love inspiring people to do things and that will be my motivation!

With the last few days that I have left before launching this baby, I am going to upload my files of design inspiration. I use Microsoft One Note all the time when I'm browsing the internet. When I see something I like, I "clip it" and file it in one of my One Note Notebooks. Also, I scan in pictures from magazines and organize them there as well. Now that I have this blog I am careful to make sure I note where the pictures originated from and who the photographers and designers are but with many of the older pictures, I'm sorry,  I just don't know. Let me know if you know who the designers are or if I snagged something from someone else's blog. I always want to give credit where credit is due! These are obviously photographs that truly inspired me!

At some point I will go back and explain what it is that I love about these rooms and spaces but for now I just want to get them up for your viewing pleasure. Time's ticking...

Thanks for stopping by,
Michelle.

PS. Please, please let me know you were here! Leave comments/suggestions, become a follower, sign up for the email, ask questions...if I don't know I will figure it out!

Classic white picket fence entrance!

[Pottery Barn Catalog] I love everything about this front entrance! Elegant and understated!

The home office my husband swoons over. (he will not be happy that I said "swoons"- just testing to see if he reads my posts)

Atypical office space- works for me!

A game room not relegated to the basement! How nice, all that natural light! Although, the reason I have this in my file, is the wall display. I like how the television just blends with adjacent black framed artwork.

Fun Friday Find: Teaspoons & Tea Towels

Bee's knees logo tea towel.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/macherefinery

Another Fun Friday Find straight from Etsy. For those not familiar with Etsy, it's an online community (store if you will) for buying and selling handmade items. Their mission is to enable people to make a living making things, and to reconnect makers with buyers. That is something I whole-heartedly support! 

Fun retro flower design. Illustration by artist Brandi Powell. 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetharvey

Tea with a twist!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/giftzbykaren

Moka Express

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mengseldesign

Custom coffee and espresso spoons.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sycamorehill

Whimsical peacock design!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/currykaydesigns

Vintage silver spoon garden markers.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/magpiedesignz

If you have the time check out Etsy. I have an Etsy store but I am not selling anything there... yet. I'll let you know when its up and running. First things first! 

Have a great weekend! 

Michelle

Three Design-Related Books That I Adore

LOVING FRANK By Nancy Horan 

 Advance praise for Loving Frank: “Loving Frank is one of those novels that takes over your life. It’s mesmerizing and fascinating–filled with complex characters, deep passions, tactile descriptions of astonishing architecture, and the colorful immediacy of daily life a hundred years ago–all gathered into a story that unfolds with riveting urgency.”–Lauren Belfer, author of City of Light.

“I admire this novel, adore this novel, for so many reasons: The intelligence and lyricism of the prose. The attention to period detail. The epic proportions of this most fascinating love story. Mamah Cheney has been in my head and heart and soul since reading this book; I doubt she’ll ever leave.”–Elizabeth Berg

GREEN THOUGHTS By Eleanor Perenyi 

You do not have to be a good gardener to fall in love with Green Thoughts. It reads with the intrepid assurance of a classic. Mary McCarthy, The New York Review of Books

Unlike any other gardening book I know, with its Old World charm, its down-to-earth practicality, its whimsy and sophistication. Brooke Astor, The New York Times Book Review

One of those dangerous reference works that you reach for at a moment of horticultural crisis or indecision only to find yourself an hour later browsing far beyond the page where you began. The New Yorker -- Review

THE ARCHITECTURE OF HAPPINESS By Alain de Botton

From the back cover: The Architecture of Happiness is a dazzling and generously illustrated journey through the philosophy and psychology of architecture and the indelible connection between our identities and our locations. One of the great but often unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential. 

Fun Friday Find

I'm not sure why, but I just love these vinyl decals by Popwall. The trees, the branches and the birds can be configured however you want them. I love them so much I bought one for someone on my Christmas list! There are many patterns to choose from but I guess it's the linear pattern that these create that I find so appealing.

To add a touch of whimsy to one of your rooms visit: http://www.etsy.com/shop/NouWall?ref=top_trail
for all of the details, these are about $70.

Have a great Weekend,
Michelle