Random Obsessions

I'm totally feeling exotic textiles at the moment...

Turkish Towels...as beach towels.

Beni Ourain rugs...in the bedroom.

Moroccan wedding blanket...draped across the foot of the bed.

Silver Baskets

I love this idea from Martha Stewart!  I will be spray-painting some old baskets of mine and giving them new life!

image via Martha Stewart

Lath Feature Wall

I have been obsessed with doing a feature wall somewhere in my house using reclaimed lath. Turns out that a lot of free lath is available from demolitions. I'm still trying to convince Darren to let me drive into a slightly sketchy neighborhood in Baltimore to pick some up!

image via Erin Martin Design

image via Remodelista

image via Parliamentology's flickr

For a totally easy, step-by-step tutorial of making a feature wall from lath, see Remodelista's post here.

Calm and Bright

image via Elle Decor

I'm a believer in Feng Shui, and if I had this bedroom I'm sure I'd be a lot more relaxed.

Baby Animals Nursery Art

Have you seen the baby animal prints from Sharon Montrose? They are so adorbs! So simple and graphic...perfect for a kids' playroom, bedroom, or nursery. She also carries prints of adult animals for the rest of the house.

all images via The Animal Print Shop

Cozy Ski Lodge

What do I love about Aerin Lauder's Aspen home? The white palette mirrors the crisp snow outside.  The wood throughout adds warmth.  The spare use of accessories doesn't compete with gorgeous views.  I've never skied before, but if I could stay in a place like this I'd definitely take it up!

images via Vogue

Haynes-Roberts

I just discovered the work of Haynes-Roberts, an NYC interior design firm. Being the slightly obsessive person I am when it comes to decluttering, I really appreciate their classic/modern/minimalist aesthetic.

all images via Haynes-Roberts

Black Nursery

Forget the pinks and blues and the predictable-baby-name-on-the-wall. I am in love with this chic nursery.

image via ohdeedoh

Santa Barbara Style

This past weekend's excursion to Santa Barbara was truly inspirational.  You know the feeling you get when you are drawn to something immediately?  You just know you love it without knowing the exact reasons.  That's how I feel when I'm strolling along the Santa Barbara streets in the midst of all the beautiful architecture.  It's a mix of Spanish Colonial Revival, Mediterranean and California styles, everything melding gorgeously together.

images via Traditional Home, Martha Stewart, and Canary Hotel

Black and white staircase

I recently spotted this black and white staircase over at the Land of Nod catalogue. I love the aesthetic...neither too modern or too traditional. But replacing my current builder's-grade colonial-style staircase would be too expensive. Maybe just sand it down and paint it black and white?

Fiddle Leaf Fig

Yesterday was my five-year wedding anniversary.  People always say "time flies", and in my case, I feel it's so true!  It feels like last year when I was graduating from law school and preparing for my wedding during the summer of 2006...and now, five short years later we've made our first real home together, changed jobs, and completed our family with two great girls.  It's been a wonderful journey so far...

On our honeymoon in Carmel, CA.

...but the real point of this post is about my other passion.  Decorating.  I've been lusting over a fiddle leaf fig tree for at least two of those years, but haven't been able to pull the trigger on one because of its price.  Well, to my surprise, Darren went out and bought me one as an anniversary present!  Other women might desire jewelry, handbags, clothes...I got my perfect present...my fiddle leaf tree!

My new fiddle leaf tree...it's in a gorgeous terra cotta pot that I bought today.  I'll also pick up some moss to cover the roots.

Here were some inspirational images I obsessed over before I got my tree...

images via Elle Decor and House Beautiful

Rustic Serenity Bathroom

Look at this gorgeous bathroom remodel, spotted over at Design*Sponge. All the elements were thoughtfully chosen by the owners. I love the white brick wall, the reclaimed wood shelves, and the dresser-turned-vanity. This is totally my inspiration for my master bath one day!

all images via Design*Sponge

Homemade Linen Pinboard and Photo Display

Remember a while ago, I posted about a DIY Photo Display? Well, it's something that I've been wanting to do for a long time, but I wanted to cover an entire wall and couldn't find anyplace that sold bulletin boards in the large size that I needed. Pottery Barn sells big linen pinboards, but at $150 each, it would easily cost me over $1000 to cover my wall. Soooo...I made a wall-to-wall linen pinboard myself for about $100!

Darren and I are not handy people (we wish we were!). So, the fact that we were able to do this project speaks to how simple it really is. The only downside is that the boards are so huge and unwieldy that it's really a 2-person job. Other than that, it was a breeze! I'm thrilled with the results and am excited to share my tutorial with you:

Before: my little photo ledge looked a bit pathetic against that big blank wall.

1. Start off with a big sheet of Homasote.  This is compressed recycled paper that is commonly used for soundproofing.  It's the same size as a sheet of drywall (4 feet by 8 feet) and can be found at Home Depot or lumberyards for about $25 per sheet.  It's not heavy, but it is very big.  Because my wall was so large, I used two entire sheets.

2. Drape your homasote with the fabric of your choice.  You will need 3 yards of fabric to cover an entire sheet of homasote.  I chose white linen and this was the most expensive part of this whole project. It cost me about $65 for all of my fabric.  I've seen people do this with patterned fabric too and that can be very pretty, but it's hard to line up the pattern with the edge of the board.

3. Using a staple gun, staple the fabric to the board.  I used binder clips to hold my fabric up as I stapled.  When I got close to the binder clip, I would remove it and stretch the fabric with my free hand while stapling with my other hand.  Make sure you are pulling the fabric as you go, to ensure a smooth surface.

4. Once the fabric is all stapled, trim off the excess fabric so that you don't have a bunch of loose fabric in the back.  Then, flip the homasote board over and pre-drill holes where you want the screws to be.  I made three holes along the top and three on the bottom.

5. Line up the board against the wall exactly where you want it to go.  This can be very hard if you are using a huge board, like I am.  To manage this, I decided to use my dining table to hold up my board and pushed the board flush up against the wall.  Using the drill again, drill through the holes on the homasote right into the wall.  You are marking the wall where the drywall anchors will go (sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this).  Put the homasote board back down and install drywall anchors.

6. Put the homasote board back up, right back in the exact spot where you had it last against the wall.  All the holes should now line up with the drywall anchors.  Screw the board in using drywall anchors and finishing washers (optional).  Once you line up one hole, all the other ones should be a breeze.

Drywall anchor and finishing washer.  I intend to cover these up with photos.

Voila!  Here's the finished project!  I love how it easy it will be to add and change pictures.  Plus, I won't need to spend money on frames every time I want to print out new pictures.  We often have guests over and I think it will be fun for people to look through our family photos and see how we've changed over the years.  I'm looking forward to making new memories to add to our new photo wall!