design crush: aidan gray

do you ever come across an item you love on a blog, then visit the website of the maker of that item only to be all "are you [expletive] kidding me?" and drop jaw and skip a few heartbeats? in a good way?


what am i talking about. you read blogs. of course you do this.

that's how i felt the other day when one post on the layla grace blog led me down the interweb rabbit hole to an exhilarating array of aidan gray products. i'll take one of each, please. two of some. please put a rush on the gothic arched window and spiral topiary in the above photo. nevermind that they don't appear to actually sell those.

their lighting? is fabulous.


i'm in the process of transforming a pair of lamps with a great shape but unfortunate finish into something more like this (and perhaps i have found the perfect lampshade solution?):


had i a breakfast room, this would live there:

and who wouldn't love to sit in chairs like these:




a great coffee table slash ottoman, grand in scale:

a whole array of fabulously finished furnishings:


and decorative accessories (i'm a sucker for a wire urn. obviously.):




currently petitioning captain fantastic to make something inspired by this out of some old pallet wood stacked behind the guyrage:

also in the process of stripping and (majorly) repairing a pair of cabinets rescued from the in-laws' garage that are quite similar to and hopefully will eventually look like this:


aidan gray? is totally my jam. from the website, it looks to me like these people know what they're doing in the finish department, though i can't speak for the quality in real life. for more goodness, check out the aidan gray website. do you feel me on this?

design crush: mix art + interiors

i can't keep not blogging because i am busy working on this bathroom and wanting it to be all complete and perfect before sharing. so i will share some other people's projects that ARE complete and perfect. how 'bout?

today, i discovered mix art + interiors in saint simons island, georgia, via one of my faves, high heeled foot in the door. they are: "a collaboration of two designers eager to bring a fresh perspective on design to the southeast. we believe that every interior should incorporate a good mix of color, light, pattern, and styles. mix is a full service interior design firm and gallery founded by Adrian Pressley Johnson and Bethany Cassell." and also fabulous.

i love mix interiors precisely for their namesake quality - the mix. that is totally my jam. mixing things.

for example...

a dining room with light walls, a dark rug, manly shelves of books & duck decoys and girly scalloped slips on the chairs:


another dining room with a mix of more masculine dark wood and straight lines with soft colors and feminine touches:


plaids + florals, wood + white, fringe + tufting:


dark + light. traditional furnishings + imperial trellis fabric du jour:


i mean, are we all just dying over the architectural details in these spaces? another amazing ceiling, accented by a great chandelier:

herringbone. brick. floors.

hoping to build a wine rack similar to this for above the fridge when we spruce up our kitchen. notsomuch for it's wine-holding capabilities as its aesthetic pleasingness (as we all know how long wine lasts around here...):


love this kitchen banquette too, with its frilly pillows + industrial pendant:


they're also all about the mix of patterns, like in this den:


i am loving the pillows, the striped walls, and the mini shelves that look almost like sconces (but without the wiring issues i bemoan - sold!):


this room feels so accessible to me, like my future kids are hanging out playing games on the ottoman and watching cartoons, and i come over from the kitchen that i'm imagining to open up behind that couch there to bring them some snacks (captain fantastic. please note.):


i love a lamp in the bathroom. it adds such a great and unexpected coziness to the space. perfect for a powder room, where you don't want harsh lighting to break the spell of the dining table's candlelit ambiance for your dinner guests:


and of course, the way to my heart = starburst mirror. i could put one in every room:

all images via mix art + interiors

i'm looking forward to what camilla has to say in her upcoming piece about mixing styles. i have a feeling it'll be right up my alley. you?

design crush: annie selke

say it with me now:

annie selke is bananas, b-a-n-a-n-a-s.

buh-nanas. seriously.

and here is why:

you guys. the legs. look like ropes. gilded ropes.

geometric antiqued gilded accents like this are such my jam these days.

this is a dining table:

and it can come with these demilune pieces for the ends:
genius!

awesome coffee table. bam:

festive etagere. done:


spindly chair. indeed:

and mirror. you're welcome:
this bed is like a building. like your own fabulous greenhouse gazebo trellis room-within-a-room:
and this upholstered headboard makes me want to bust out some plywood and a jigsaw for a little diy action:

this bench SLAYS me. slays me dead:


even this couch. which is just a couch. i want:

there's the furniture line. the pinecone hill bedding line, which i can't even begin to get into right now. or until someone is all "i'm having a baby, decorate me a nursery slash child's room."

and also, dash & albert rugs. are. my. fave.

especially these specimens:

dear annie selke,

i want to be you when i grow up.

sincerely,

me

design crush: elizabeth dinkel

y'all. seriously.

when i look through the portfolio of a talented interior designer, the feelings i experience can only be equated to a teenage girl at a beatles concert in the 1960s. or a teenage girl at a twilight movie in 2009. or a teenage boy seeing a victoria's secret catalog for the first time.

like, i might hyperventilate.

today i came across a new-to-me designer portfolio that had me drooling on my keyboard. elizabeth dinkel design associates, inc.

this was the first image i saw:


speaks to my southern mentality - this reminds me of a lot of well-decorated homes in my neck of the woods. those walls are fabulous. and those chairs...THIS is EXACTLY why we're holding on to those old chairs of my parents that you insist are taking up too much room in your precious guyrage, captain fantastic. because some day when our living room is larger than a postage stamp, i will recover them to be awesome like this. I WIN.

consolation prize for c-fan:


she'd like your beloved ram too. she'd even approve of it in our blue and green living room, apparently. score one for you, babe.

this room also jives with our current color scheme:


except with way awesomer ceilings and a nice neutral sofa and no dog hair.

here is another fab living space:

the desk chair! the shiny velvety striped poufs! the pendant lamp! i can't even think of anything clever to say! only to use exclamation marks!

i would love to have a black and white checkerboard floor in our someday house:

the black lacquer door, pendant and hand-painted green wallpaper can come too.

this couch speaks to me:


it says, "reupholster something to look like me." well, if you insist.

check out this fabulous window seat:

the pelmet box. i die.

and you KNOW i'm all up on this paisley powder room:

love the mirror too. filing this in my hopefully-soon bathroom makeover file, as my shower curtain (which i adore and intend to keep) is very similar to these walls.

what gives c-fan a nervous tick even faster than the chairs filling up his precious guyrage space? BABIES. so let's look at some of elizabeth dinkel's gorgeous kids' rooms, k?

youthful-yet-sophisticated for a wee lad (look babe, what if we have twins!):


i love a daybed for a little girl:

just try not to have a seizure over the fabulous detailing on the curtains in this room. JUST. TRY.

super love these beds too:


i mean seriously. have you not passed out yet? elizabeth dinkel, i heart you.

time for a cold shower.