I have such an exciting bit of news to share and it’s about the blog of the week, Double Exposure. You see, my friend Debi Treloar launched a blog and I am so excited because I just love Debi and can’t wait to read every word and see everything she sees… following her will be such a treat for me as I admire her so…
I imagine her visits to favorite places, inspiring shops and her travels will be such a nice thing to peek in on. And while she’s a busy lady with a career in interiors photography and has children and a lot going on, I know that when she does post it will be a very sweet glimpse into her life and a way for me to keep up with her so I’m so looking forward to it. And I’m sure that you will enjoy it to.
Debi is such an inspiration to me, she is a really special lady and I have her to thank for making Decorate such a hit because her wonderful photos make it such a special book. Debi, I’m so happy you are blogging! xo
Have a lovely weekend everyone, I’ll see you on Monday.
(image: an iphone snapshot from debi treloar)
Hello! For those of you just tuning in, I asked London-based author/stylist Sania Pell to drop in today to share some inspiring DIY projects for your next party, wedding, or really any decorating scenario because all of these beautiful things could be used in so many different parts of the home from a kid’s room to a kitchen. I hope that you have enjoyed meeting Sania today and that if you haven’t seen her posts yet that you will visit them, as shown in order from the first to the last, below.
Spring Flower Garlands (shown in examples b and f above).
Liberty Flower Napkin Rings (e and d), How To Button Covers (d) and Sequin Glamour (a).
Little House Mobile (c).
Thank you again Sania for joining me today on decor8 and I wish you loads of luck on your new blog and on everything else you do going forward with all of your creative energy and cheerful can-do attitude. You made my launch party in London such a success thanks to your enthusiasm, friendship, support and hard work and I’d like to thank you for all of it — including your hospitality, good laughs, and endless bottles of wine and yummy treats in your kitchen. You are such a doll!
Readers: Can you do me a favor? Can you visit Sania’s blog and leave a comment for her over there, she is working in her craft loft all day and I want her to return to her computer with a big, warm surprise waiting from her with your comments! Thank you so much. I remember how it felt to start blogging, how scary it was, so your comments will make her day! I’m going over there now to do the same so please join me.
(images: sania pell)
Good morning everyone! I hope that you had a delightful weekend. I must apologize for not giving you much notice last week but I left quickly on Thursday to travel to Hamburg, Germany for a consulting job at a huge magazine and was pretty busy or a few days. I spent a full day in their offices — first I gave a morning lecture followed by a Q&A about blogging and an afternoon “mini” version of the Blogging Your Way workshops that I typically do online with Leslie and Thorsten only tailored for a magazine staff. It was a lot of fun to take BYW offline and teach in a corporate setting… as most of you know, I come from a corporate background and spent years teaching workshops to employees so it felt a bit like deja vu. This time, I was able to teach about something that I truly have a passion for, it wasn’t that way in the past when some of my workshops centered around sexual harassment, new employee orientation and immigration law! Blogging was a topic that was fun and energizing! I had a nice time (the weather was amazing) and yes, I even fit in a little shopping which I’ll share more on tomorrow.
To get started today and with a new week of blogging, I thought I’d first welcome my friend, stylist and author Sania Pell in London, to the world of blogging! I know I’ve talked about her a million times on decor8 since she helped me so much to prepare things for the launch party for my book (details here), Decorate: 1,000 Inspirational Design Ideas For Every Room In Your Home, at Liberty last month… But did you know that before today Sania didn’t have a blog? Oh yes, that’s right. In fact, she just launched her new blog this very day and I’m so proud of her! That’s why we have to give her a big round of applause for jumping in and getting started. She first found out that blogs even existed a year ago and has been plotting her “entrance” into blogging ever since and so today she rolls out her super shiny new blog called At Home that, thanks to her husband Mark and his amazing design skills over at his company MWA Design in London, it came out just beautifully. I do hope that you’ll visit.
Speaking of Ms. Pell, she has prepared a few DIY projects for you taken directly from the table styling demonstration that we dreamed up for Liberty. She’ll be back in a moment to visit us today with all of her gorgeous DIY photos and how-to instructions – you’ll love it.
In addition to her posts coming up, I have lots of other great things to share and our monthly guest columnist, Anna-Malin Lindgren from Sweden is back with her monthly post too so stay tuned, Monday is going to be a great one.
(images: penny wincer, styled by Sania pell)
Don’t you love how spoiled we are? We can sit before our screens and travel to faraway places in seconds, free of charge, to peek in on the life and decorating styles of others. I mean, it’s amazing and whenever I start feeling sick of the internet I remind myself of how valuable it really is and how I really couldn’t live or work without it.
I’m fascinated by trends in other parts of the world and love to see how people decorate and thanks to blogs, there is no end to the inspiration that exists online. In fact, I spend most of my time on blogs that I cannot even read because they are in French, Swedish and Danish for example. Today I came across a beautiful blog called Rosaliga (which seems to translate into English to mean Pink League) in Norway and wow, it’s so pretty!
Blogger, passionate decorator and jewelry designer Randi Andreassen (her things are sold in her Epla shop — Epla is like a Scandinavia Etsy.) created her inspiring blog and on it, she shows many photos from her home, travels and of her interests from the magazines that she reads to the decorating projects she undertakes.
Love this wall color and these trees-as-coat hangers designed by Swedish design firm Swedese.
Randi has such a great eye and I spot lots of things in her home from some of my favorite designers like Tine K Home and Rie Elise Larsen.
Amazing, right!? So many ideas to use from this gorgeous home from the handmade wooden headboard to the wooden coffee table on wheels and the hints of pink here and there to be girly and still grown up. She has many of the same things that I have – like the IKEA natural rug in her dining room and the white metal chairs around her table, so it’s fun to see how she is using them differently in her space vs. how I use them in mine. Do you do that? Look for similar pieces in your favorite rooms to see if you could try taking something from one room to use in another to create a new “inspired by” look based on your favorite image? Try it sometime, it’s fun!
(images: randi andreassen)
Are you a fan of IKEA and currently toying with the idea to personalize some of your favorite pieces? I have good news for you! IKEA launched an inspiring blog in Sweden called Livet Hemma, or in English, Life at Home. If you open the page in Google Chrome you can translate the Swedish text into English so that you can read it. At Livet Hemma, they style and create inspiring images to inspire customers who shop IKEA to look at their products in a fresh, new way.I love the first image below because it looks so welcoming and not at all staged or like a catalog. And that is really the goal of Livet Hemma, to show how their products can look in a normal home mixed with other non-IKEA things. Lovely!
They also give pieces a different look by painting them, applying stencils, etc. to promote creativity. The idea is to think outside of the big blue box, I guess. :) Their REIDAR chair and RAST drawers above look just great. I think the only thing that can be potentially difficult to get your head around is that you cannot find all of the items in the photo at your local store. Lots of them appear to be vintage or from other sources so it’s a little frustrating but I still like the approach and think it’s quite fresh and even a bit daring for a huge chain store. It is a nice tie-in to the IKEA Family Life magazine though, so I think it works brilliantly.
(images: livet hemma)
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