This morning I must share with you some inspiring imagery from my Interior Styling Group on Flickr which currently has over 2,580 members worldwide! It’s quite a dynamic group of talented decorators, that’s for share. Don’t believe me, well see for yourself some views of homes from just a handful of the submissions I’ve seen this week! I’d love for you to play the “spot toilet paper rolls” game with me for a moment. When you look at the images below, spot the toilet paper rolls and tell me what you think of them – you’ll “get” what I mean in a moment. This is the best DIY project ever!
See any ideas for your home? Will you be decorating this weekend at all? I am unpacking now that I’m back from Africa and Turkey, I have been traveling so much since I moved in on October 1 that nothing has been done in my house! Tomorrow our kitchen will finally be installed so I will be able to whip up meals now and enjoy morning breakfast in my kitchen — I am so excited about this because it’s truly the little things — tea by the window with toast and honey — that make me often the happiest. I miss having breakfast in a normal breakfast space, I miss having a kitchen sink, I miss having cabinets and places to store and I miss being able to make a pot of tea and drink it from a ceramic mug vs. a Styrofoam cup! I feel like I’ve been on a really long camping trip and tomorrow it will officially end! Plus, last night, I finally decided on the arrangement of my front rooms – where I will put the living, dining and my work room — which is a huge relief because I’ve been turning this over in my head for weeks and now I’ve made a decision so I can start to furnish them and work on a floor plan. Yay!
What about you? Anything new? I have missed you guys so much! I’m not going to be traveling this month or next month, with the exception of maybe Hamburg and Berlin but those are weekend trips that won’t disrupt my work schedule so you can count on seeing me each day. In January I will go to Maison & Objet in Paris for a week to post on decor8 and I’ll be at Domotex, the big rug fair in Hannover, but I’ll be online and blogging daily as usual so you can expect me around during normal business hours going forward. :) I am happy about this because I’ve missed being here daily – I have so much to talk to you about! Oh and next week Leslie will be back with her November edition of Color Me Pretty. Yay! I can’t wait. And a big P.S. — she’s going to be continuing her column here for 2011 too, so you have more Leslie in the new year! Yay for us!
(images: linked to their sources above.)
Australian textiles designer, Nicola Cerini, contacted me this morning to share her line of products and textiles and so I thought I’d share the link to her site and a quick peek of her gorgeous fabrics (and rugs). I put her fabrics together in an inspiring mosaic below, can’t you see how well so many of these prints and patterns could live together in a single room? I spot a few that would look great together, especially the pinks and blacks on a patio or guest bedroom. I also think the folk print with the orange and pink would be fantastic in a mid century style living room or even a kid’s room. Lovely!
Nicola Cerini Australia was established 15 years ago by textile designer Nicola Cerini. She is dedicated to Australian design and textiles and built her brand using high quality eco-friendly materials that reflect her natural surroundings — Australia’s flora and wildlife. She produces a range of rugs, fashion, handbags, accessories and designer homewares but also many prints are also available to purchase by the meter for a home decorating project so email them if you see anything above that you like!
P.S. I am obsessed with floor rugs lately! What are you obsessed with?
(images: nicola cerini)
Okay you guys, now I’m really doing flips because I just saw the cover of Decorate in the US on the Chronicle website thanks to Laura Lee for sending it to me. This is very exciting! Wow, what a day this has been – a very emotional one! It’s all so real to me now. On this cover is the home of a friend of mine who is a stylist — I can’t wait to show you more in the book.
I hope you like the US cover! I do, Chronicle did a nice job on it! :) I feel so shy all of sudden — like I want to run and hide under the blankets! It’s all becoming very real for me, this project I’ve had to keep more or less quiet for since the beginning of the year. I can’t wait to see it in stores and get your opinion of the text and photos inside.
If you would like to pre-order the US version you can do so now though it won’t ship until after April 20th — but again you can pre-order it here on the Chronicle website.
(image: chronicle books)
Well here it is!!! I am so pleased to share with you the UK cover of the book that I’ve been working on since the beginning of this year called Decorate! My wonderful co-author Joanna Copestick and I have been working on this title alongside of our fabulous team and the result is a beautiful mix of styles and tastes sharing homes and apartments from both the U.S. and Europe that will no doubt inspire you to Decorate. In addition to the homeowners, we have some amazing contributors that I was able to interview — their decorating advice is shared throughout the book.
Tah-dah!
I was able to meet the homeowners, interview them, style their spaces and work with the sought-after leading interiors photographer, Debi Treloar. We traveled all over to capture the way so many different people live so it’s a very special project to me because working “behind the scenes” on location was a completely new experience for me. I remember styling the first home, feeling a bit fish out of water, but I quickly got the hang of it and as we traveled I felt like I’d been doing it for years. I am so happy that I went for it!
To see the cover (I found out in my hotel room in Istanbul and did the happy dance!) is so exciting! I love that near my name they put “founder of decor8″. This is such an honor! This opportunity fell into my lap so recently, it still feels quite surreal and I’m frankly shocked that we were able to pull together this 302 page hardbound book in less than a year — and I can’t wait until it’s published because it’s my gift to you and I hope you will love it because I know so many have been cheering me on and encouraging a book all along so this one’s for you. :)
In the UK, Decorate will be published in London by Jacqui Small in March just a few days after my birthday (yay!) and in May it will be published in American English with a different jacket by Chronicle Books. I am excited to report that a large German publisher will translate it and publish it in the German market as well in the Fall of 2011 — a dream come true because I have wanted to contribute to the design scene here in Europe for a long time and to have a book in German will mean so much to my large network of German-speaking friends and family.
If you are in the UK or Europe, you can sign up to be notified as soon as it is available here.
So here it is… the UK version of the jacket. I hope that you like it! Our book designer did a nice job and if you are curious about the home on the cover, well you have to wait for more sneak peeks coming up in the future! :)
I AM SO HAPPY and I hope that you are too! Group hug you guys – together we all made this possible because I have my readers to thank for so much!!!!
(image: amazon)
I was so surprised during my visit to Istanbul to fall head first into a shop that featured one of the biggest up-and-coming trends in floor rugs – the over-dyed vintage carpet! While shopping for a rug at Dhoku (and bought a huge collage/patchwork vintage rug that has been over-dyed in beige with spots of bright pink), I got to speak to a man who was very knowledgeable about rugs and he started to tell me about some of his clients and the stores that he was selling to and my ears perked up because I immediately felt a trend coming on!
When I got home, I googled and found that ABC Carpet & Home has identified this as a trend already and launched their “Color Reform” collection. Check out these rugs, stunning! Brilliant! I want a pink one now…
About the collection, each vintage rug was put through a process to neutralize the original colors while still retaining the essence of its design and then each rug was over-dyed to create a solid color with dimension.
“The Color Reform Collection by ABC Carpet began as a vision to salvage imperfect, vintage carpets and resulted in a revolutionary movement of color. Inconsistencies are the nature of this product and make each piece unique. A carpet once traditional is now a contemporary work of art.”
What do you think of these carpets? I LOVE them.
(images: abc carpet & home)
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