decorating

So my parents are getting all new flooring in their house this week, and have suddenly been inspired to redo their bedroom and the guest bedroom. Since all I do is lay around in my room and do nothing, I have been shopping to help them figure out what would look good. I created this inspiration page in Polyvore and thought it looked good.

Plate search

So, I am a clutzy mess which means I drop things occasionally (see below post for a sad example). Most of the plates that my husband and I received as wedding presents have broken because I have dropped them, so I have decided to replace them with a random assortment of plates.

At first I thought I would just want plates that are either red or white with red in it... but then after looking on countless websites I haven't had the best luck. So I have decided to go with a new eclectic theme to fit in with my kitchen ware--- white dinner plates with either red, light green, or tealish-tiffany blue designs on them. I am going to start with the needed plates first, then hopefully start to collect bowls and dessert plates as well. Here are some examples:

Ikea Plates:


Anthropologie Plates:


Pier1 plate:

Day 19 of herniated disc

Updates:
Today I went to go to the pool with a friend I rarely see. It was great to catch up and talk. I'm getting TAN people.

I am still crossing my fingers at the possibility of winning the decor8 inspiration contest where I'd win tons of amazing fabric and cool stationary paper. Ohh, just the thought of winning gets my sewing gears turning.
Speaking of, I have appliqued vintage fabric onto two shirts in this past week. One for my hubby and one for my brother-in-law. I am also currently working on sewing the ends of the fabulous bathmat I bought from CB2 that was too big for our tiny bathroom. I can hand-sew from my bed in the lying down position, which has helped me mentally to handle all of this... it gives me something to do that I love. I tried to post pics I took but they were awful, I didn't have enough stamina to take a good shot so I'll post them later when I can get my husband to.

Also, I started on my research paper (well, barely) yesterday. That was a very good thing. Starting I think can be the hardest part on big projects like that.

Anyway, continue to stop by and check on me. I love hearing people tell me they read my facebook notes or my blog. It makes me feel more connected to the world since all I can do is lie in this bed.

Oh, and PS: here are some pics from the other night when Mara brought her dog Leia over (the king charles) and a little miniature yorkie she's dog sitting named Peanut.

I had a good idea...

So I saw this about a month ago but thought I'd comment about it. Last year I got these great placemats from a flea market and decided to make pillows out of them:



Then I notice that Urban Outfitters apprarently has copied my brilliance. Guess I should have sold the idea to them a year ago and could have made the big bucks. Oh well.

Decor8 contest

Everyone cross your fingers for me... Decor 8 is hosting a contest for someone to win amazing paper stacks and fabric stacks. Do you KNOW what I could do with all of that right now?!? I am laying flat on my back for most of my life these days and would LOVE to be able to hand-sew more items with all this time I have, I just cannot go out and buy fabric because I'm bedridden for the most part. There have already been, like, 400 people who have entered, so I am setting my hopes high, but what a blessing that would be for me in this depressing situation of boredom.

ETSY favorties

I originally set out this morning to find some folders I can take with me to classes in the fall. I always need something to put my handouts in, and cannot find any folders outside of Wally-World or Target. There aren't any online! I veered my search to Etsy and started finding all sorts of fun shops and items I thought I'd highlight here.

These are the closest I got to finding folders with pockets in them. If I cannot find what I'm really looking for these may be a good option from Lemon Tree Studio . I mean, Amy Butler paper? Who can go wrong? From looking at Miss Lemon's blog, she may love Owls more than I do


The second is from a pottery maker I stumbled upon this morning called VesselsandWares. What a wonderful, pretty site.

This site, called Olive Vintage, I came across with a bunch of vintage finds. I love this olive oil and vinegar duel bottle, such a neat design!

Finally, I love anything by Pego:

still laying flat...

Well, here I am, five days into my injury and still laying flat on my back in a lot of pain. Trying to stay positive. Trying to get out into the world through cyberspace and continue to call and talk to people. Its been a huge test of faith and my need to control everything-- I surely can't right now. Its hard to even get up to go to the bathroom. honestly, I'm starting to get depressed.

So, wanna see some cool stuff I've been looking at when I am bored and no one is around?

I got the new CB2 catalog in the mail yesterday, and although a lot of it is way modern for me, I like to so much of it! I am the type who wants to mix modern decor with old grandma-y stuff, so I thought some of it was way neat and am coveting a lot of it. I can't get some of the pics to come up on my blog, but you should check out the website and the new catalog.

These are some hanging vases I am coveting from CB2. On sale even, super cheap, but what a great idea! I think I may order a couple.





These plates I found are on sale at Pier 1. Not that I can run out and buy them or anything, but I thinking I want to start mixing and matching my dinner wear in reds and whites so these would be perfect.


I have been super into gardening this year and am really into doing anything that spruces up the yard. Isn't this little birdie house cute?


Another covet of mine: Tom's Shoes. Ever heard of them? Its an AMAIZING company with an amazing mission. I love these red polka dot shoes. Before I post the pic, I sort of have a beef with Tom's shoes, not the company, but my husband. I bought him some last year and they were too small, he NEVER returned them so I'm sure they're way beyond the point of being able to. They're still sitting in our utility room for whenever he feels up to calling them to figure it out. We'll see. But here is my fave:

design website junkie

after surviving one of the most hellacious weeks I've ever had (god i love grad school) I decided to give myself a break tonight... Took a nap this afternoon/evening, ate like a pig, put my new duvet cover on my bed, (pictures to come!) and started sewing a blanket I am making out of the old quilt from anthropologie we had on our bed. I did this all while watching one of the prettiest movies ever-- marie antionette with kristen dunst and jason schwartzman.

Oh, also-- it was a freakin' monsoon outside today! I came home from work and had to park across the street because my driveway was impassible with water. The fenced in garden area was completely washed out too-- all the weed barrier was wiped away along with the mulch covering it. I waded around out there tonight to make a makeshift-creek to get the water to run to the ditch in front of the house. crazy.

To get back to my break though-- I have been laying on my couch this past hours parusing through endless design websites and admiring others' work. Thought I'd post some pretties for you to enjoy. so, enjoy!

Of course I started with design sponge (see link to right) and found tons of goodies! This is from a website called fawn&forest by a designer named "KLT works". My womb has been itching so I found this ADORABLE!



Lighting by Offi & Company:



Let me take this opportunity to say that when it comes this time of year I get really excited about looking at new things because its my birthday and I like to find off-the wall crazy stuff to ask for. This would go perfectly in my room:
found this on fawn&forest too... decoylab... from KC, MO!



Journal by Nantaka Joy off threepotatofourshop.com website


notebook on threepotatofour.com


art by bird nerd from viatmindesignshop.com

Renewed Interest in Design

In the few moments I've had to bask in my in-between-classes glory (didn't last but like, 2 seconds, I was done with my final last night I started to work on a paper this morning) I've had some time to think about design. This was prompted by some bad behavior of two dogs-- mugshots below:


Morris- aka "new guy." Love him. needs a home though.


Lucy-- aka "first born."


The other night while Jeff and I were watching (and getting very excited) Obama give his awesome democratic nominee speech these two hooligans tore the quilt on top of the bed to shreds. I LOVED that thing. It was a gift from the Fowlers and Dockerys-- a quilt from Anthropologie that I basically designed our whole bedroom around. Since then I've been frantically looking for a replacement to much disappointment. I think I might have found two candidates that would work with our two primary goals: #1-Budget. #2-color scheme of orange, pink, purple, and cream. Here are the two candidates, both from Ikea. Votes?

Number one:


Number two:



In other news I took pictures of the house today. I have updated a few things here and there and wanted to share the goodness on my flickr site. Thought someone who stops by the blog might wanna take a gander as well. Enjoy!