I’m still scouting around for art for my friend M’s brooklyn apartment.  I’ve seen these staghorn ferns out and about for a few years, but, only when I saw these photos against white walls did I see them as sort of abstract art.  Maybe two on either side of her television?  These two are from Terrain but a similar one is cheaper at Wind and Weather.

[click to continue…]

{ 2 comments }

Cloud Study (Early Evening) Simon Denis  (Flemish, Antwerp 1755–1813 Naples)

I had a few minutes before picking up Alex from school today, so with just 10 minutes until closing I streaked through The Path of Nature exhibition now up in the Robert Lehman Wing at the Metropolitan Museum.   All of these paintings were made outdoors and this evening as I was cooking dinner I couldn’t stop thinking about these artists under the sky, painting what they saw. [click to continue…]

{ 3 comments }

These cyanotypes made by photographer Rinne Allen ($168 at Terrain) are painterly, naturalistic, abstract and graphic all rolled into one. I see these in a bedroom with some cloud paintings from Etsy, don’t you?  I like them all, but the Japanese maple is the front runner, in my mind. [click to continue…]

{ 2 comments }

If I could go back in time and talk to my 24 year old self (besides offering some prescient stock tips!) here is what I would say:  be prepared for your taste to change.  Because I think personal taste is always evolving and at least for me, it can be a little disorienting since it makes me doubt all my other decisions — ie “if I was wrong about this, what else have I been wrong about”  type of thinking.  It takes a lot of confidence to just accept that your taste changes, just as you change (everything changes) and that is probably a good thing.

A perfect example is the shower curtain on the right.  I bought it five years ago and loved it. I thought it was the height of sophistication. Today, the shower curtain on the left is perfectly my speed (for now).  They are pretty different, right? Almost scarily so.

Other things I would have told myself:

Enjoy your skin, thighs, hair, boobs as they are right this minute.  (Aging is a long, slow, horrifying process).

Get a library card and use it (seriously, this is probably the first thing I should have said to my book-hoarding 24 year old self).

What would you tell yourself 10 year younger self?

{ 14 comments }

One of my best friends from college is settling into her Brooklyn apartment and I’ve been keeping an eye out for some paintings to round out her own collection of prints and posters.   I spent the evening browsing Etsy and really liked the color palette I inadvertently selected of soft blues, greens and purple-pinks.  Looking for art for other people can be tough and we’ll see how I did. I just looked for pieces that made me think of my friend; I also kept in mind that her style is both ladylike and edgy-downtown in a perfect mash up.  So I was sort of looking for beautiful paintings that were a little unfinished or otherwise almost loose in their feel.  She had sent me some oceanscapes in the past which in my searching morphed into cloudscapes.  I think that she’ll like the bird collage, the more abstract cloudscapes and maybe the geranium block print.  I’m excited to hear what she thinks.  You can find all the paintings in my Etsy favorites.

PS:  Here is my search history from this evening:  I started out with “original landscape oil paintings” and then sorted by price (and limited the price to $250).  Whenever I came across a painting I liked, I opened in a new tab and then scrolled through the rest of that artist’s work.  That is how I found some of my favorites.   PPS: I saw marbalized enamel “graniteware” EVERYWHERE in Brooklyn last weekend.  A trend, for sure.

{ 7 comments }

When I look around at my friends, I see their gifts so clearly — a fierce and focused editor, a talented and generous healer, a loving and creative mother, and more than a few who are blogging professionally  – which is writing, producing and running your own business all rolled into one.   Recently,  a friend was lamenting how hard it was to find good stuff on Etsy, Ebay, Craigslist and the internet more generally and I almost choked on my coffee. It made me realize that one of the things I do best is look.  Indeed, Etsy, Ebay, Craigslist, these are three of my favorite sites to just look at things.  I said something to that effect and the response was “Why aren’t you blogging about that!!!”  So, without further ado, here are eight of my recent Etsy “favorites”.

1. I’m doing a post on vintage display cases and kiddos (sometime soon, I promise) so this one caught my eye.

2. The Japanese red glass vase is haunting me (that color, that shape).

3. This set of Danish plates would look amazing hung above my bookcase.

4. The bust of a man with glasses reminds me of Steve Martin (possibly my first crush) and also of the Great Gatsby – which was definitely my first book crush.

5. The earrings are elegantly hand made and just a perfect amount of sparkle.

6. The beaded Galaxy necklace is hankering to be worn to the office under my favorite Zara black blazer.

7. The rattan side table seems so practical and unexpected (I get tired of legs — does that make sense? Sometimes I look around my living room and all I see are the legs — of the tables, chairs, couch, desks, stools etc) so this just felt fresh to me.

8. The lines of this chair are so clean and neat.  I am half heartedly looking for new desk chairs and the price was right ($87) but the condition isn’t great (sad).

Some of these (those earrings!) come from the Etsy Finds emails which I highly recommend.   They are a great jumping off point for finding awesome sellers and items on the site and are my favorite marketing email to get (along with the Heath Ceramic newsletter).

{ 6 comments }

Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading up a storm over the holidays, or maybe because I love design that is more than meets the eye, or maybe it’s just because who doesn’t like a secret passage bookcase, but this round up of bookcases on Book Riot made my night.  Click on over for even more bookcases and photo credits.

PS: Here’s what I’ve been reading in no particular order:

1. The Graceling Series by Kristin Cashore (thanks for the recommendation Faith!)

2. Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth

3. Yours Until Dawn by Teresa Medeiros (found via Smart Bitches, Trashy Novels, one of my few daily read websites!)

{ 6 comments }

Wishing you all a wonderful christmas full of love and light (and chocolate cake and elf hats).  PS wrapping paper by Rodarte for Target ($3.99 for 4 sheets)

{ 3 comments }