today: sconces

because why not?

my least favorite thing about sconces is how they have to be installed in the wall with electricity, and that requires an electrician, which requires time and money and planning ahead, and what if you change your mind or need to move them? complicated. my favorite thing about sconces is how they look awesome.

they can go so many places. sconces look great flanking a mirror over a console in the entryway, a painting over a buffet in the dining room, a mirror in the powder room, a doorway, windows, a bed, probably some other stuff.

i don't think i'll bother installing sconces in our current house (other than the pair with candles in my dining room, because guess what, no electricity), but for our someday house, these would do in various applications:

for a living room:

for a little girl's bathroom:
for a dramatic hallway:

all via lighting showplace

for a guest bathroom:

for a dining or living room:
for a kitchen or family room:
for a study (grasscloth included, please):

all via shades of light

for a hallway, dining room or powder room:

for an entryway:

for a bedroom:

all via circa lighting

for a master bathroom:

via restoration hardware

any other ideas of other sconceable places in the home? great sources for these lovely little lights? love or hate any of my picks?

hostess with the mostest

we are officially grown-ups. on sunday, team stone hosted both sets of parents for a mother's day lunch, then had the aunts/cousins/grandma on dad's side of the family over for the afternoon. i even have photographic proof of the grown-upness of it all. thanks to my dad. because i didn't take any pictures. because i'm not grown-up enough to host a gathering AND photograph it. yet.

i bought and arranged flowers from the fresh market. even created a table centerpiece out of small vases for all the lady guests to take home as a mother's day party favor. grown-up!

we used fine china, silver and crystal. and sat at the heads of the table. and remembered to light the candles. grown-up!

(please ignore the un-grown-up lack of decor above the makeshift buffet...i do have a plan)

we cooked food! and it was all ready at the same time! (but no pictures...too busy eating)

i put flowers in the hallway:

and on the coffee table (next to our fabulous wedding album, shout out to josh malahy):

and even in the bathroom:

grown-up!

the leftover table arrangements have been beautifying our lives all week in various spots about the house:


we even hung and hastily styled the plate rack:

and i finished sewing a pair of throw pillows for the living room couch. by hand. because the fringe was too thick for my sewing machine. ugh.

here is one with some fabric i found at calico corners to reupholster a stool from my grandma's old house:


on the flip side to all the grown-uppery, this evening we'll begin a long weekend of revelry with our team at the memphis in may world championship bbq contest:

where in years past we have done this:
and this:

and this:


aaaand this:

and where i will be the only vegetarian. with a purse full of luna bars for sustenance. good times!

xoxo

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

TO THE BEST MOM IN THE WORLD

I LOVE YOU

xoxo la

twinsies

remember these guys?


i scored a pair of side tables at an antique mall a while back for $idon'trememberhowmuchbutnotalot$. this was also before i learned that photographs are best taken sans flash. obviously.

i hope you're not getting all excited on me, thinking that i've actually done something to them. but i'm pretty sure you know me well enough to realize that they still look exactly the same.

anyhoo, i purchased them because i was able to overlook their dated finish and hardware out of love for the detailed corners of the tabletops:


i knew something could be done!

....just not exactly what.

i've always been certain of two things:

1) paint

2)
but that's about it. creamy white paint and distressed edges? a shiny coat of lacquer? stripes on the front of the drawers? too many options. my brain shut down and nothing was done.

but, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? it is the east, and high heeled foot in the door is the sun. check out what a little spray paint and leftover grass cloth wallpaper did to a set of nesting tables bound for the curb at her clients' home:


inspired by oomph's ungodly-expensive-yet-adorable 'tini tables. which, i then recalled, also come in a fabulous quatrefoil design:

do we see the resemblance?


yes, i meant to post the pictures twice. as if i were holding up a picture in front of your face, then swapping it for another picture, then bringing back the original picture, then switching again. to make a point. that they look similar.

and....AND?

i just so happen to possess a roll of leftover grass cloth wallpaper from my parents former den (hung circa 1981 mind you, because remember how they are ahead of the times).

BOOtotheYA

i think we all know what happens next.

dining room chizzairs

so my dining room. it needs some chairs. actually, it needs a lot of things right now, arm chairs being just two of those things. but i'm trying to focus here, people.

we are lucky enough to have a great dining table and set of shield-back chairs that my in-laws previously had in their dining room. the table needs refinishing, but the side chairs are in pretty good shape and have already been recovered in my fabric of choice, thusly:


the problem is that only one of the arm chairs still exists. ergo, we need to procure host/hostess chairs for the heads of the table.

now. do you ever see a trend, like pointy-toed shoes or skinny jeans, and you're all "that is heinous. i'd never do that." and then like a month later you own a pair in every color? that happens to me. it also happens to me decor-wise. for example: mismatched chairs at the heads of the table. read about it on design blogs. gagged. hated it. swore never to do it. changed my mind a week later. decided to do it in my own dining room.

i'm nothing if not open-minded.

then the other day i was waxing poetic to my father about how fancy and on-trend i am in my interior design plans and he's all, "your mother and i have used different chairs at the head of our dining table since before you were born." right...totally forgot that. mkay, so apparently my awesome taste is genetic. noted.

here are some examples from my inspiration files:

windsor smith

zoldan interiors

sara tuttle

via coco + kelly

horchow

horchow

and here are some examples of chair styles i think would be pretty neat in contrast to the shield-backs chez stone:

lee industries

calico corners


lee industries (but 'cept not orange)

zgallerie

z gallerie

or even, for an unexpected casual twist:

ikea


crate & barrel

what do you think? anybody rocking the mismatched chairs?