SHUT THE FRONT DOOR
Apologies to my hubby, my lone follower right now:), for keeping you in suspense of my latest design obsessions over the past few months. I know you were very upset. Working mom issues!
On to my post about front doors. We tried unsuccessfully to buy what was my ‘dream’ house last month- it’s pictured in the first photo of the set (I know, I know- no emotional attachment to real estate! Blah, blah, blah). It has impossible curb appeal which starts at the mint green, french-style front doors which seem to scream, ‘come on in!’
They’re hard to stack up against, but here are a few other great options I’ll keep in mind as the search continues…
HOUSTON PRODUCE MARKET ON AIRLINE
The other weekend we hit-up a little known gem in Houston- the Mexican farmer’s market on Airline. (“Mexican” may not be official or PC, but essentially that’s what it is. There is about 1 “Gringo” to every 100 Mexicans).
Anyway, it is about 2 or 3 football fields worth of stands- by far bigger than any market I’ve been to in NYC- and full of every amazing fruit and veggie imaginable.
Molly loved it- lots of colors and things for her to try to shove in her mouth. Thankfully- and surprisingly- she didn’t reach for any of the crazy peppers they had out- phew:) As a bonus, there are a couple of great taco trucks as well as a famed Mexican Bakery- El Bolillo- across the street.
MONOGRAMMED BEDDING
On a mission to replace our fancy Hotel-style bedding from BB&B- kidding, but they are fine Frette knock-offs- I stumbled upon some photos of my favorite monogrammed bedding that I would love to splurge on some day soon. In the order shown above, here are a few of my favorites:
NON-WHITE KITCHENS
After posting about White Kitchens, I have to show some love to the contrary too! When I used to think of kitchens that aren’t white, the first thing that came to mind are those cookie-cutter dark mahogany or cherry cabinets that can be seen in virtually any suburban episode of House Hunters. But lately I’ve been on the prowl for non-white cabinet inspiration and I’ve found tons! Two of my favorites above are kitchens by Ron Radziner and John Saladino (first and second pics). I’ll write more on Ron’s work later!
CLOSET FREAK
When we moved to Houston from NYC we went from a 700 or so square-foot apartment to a 2 bedroom bungalow that I never thought we could possibly fill-up, despite the fact that it only had 1 large closet in our master bedroom. Forward to two years + 1 child later and all I can think about in our next house is STORAGE.
Other girls dream of Louboutins and Chanel bags, and I dream of some very deep closets and attractive shelving units! What a dork! But I’ve never, ever liked clutter so this should come to a surprise to mostly no one- except for maybe my sister who will probably tell you I can still be a slob:) Anyway, here are some fun favorites from lately…
WHITE KITCHENS
I have a somewhat annoying obsession with white kitchens. I love color in most scenarios but for whatever reason the Kitchens I always gravitate to and find myself saving photos of are of white, white, and more white. Above are a few favorites…
HOUSTON LIVESTOCK SHOW & RODEO
I promised that I was going to focus this blog on my design musings but last weekend we had a real Texas weekend, so I have to share a few pics from Molly’s first trip to the Houston LiveStock Show & Rodeo.
We have only been to the Rodeo once before when we first moved to Houston and saw Keith Urban thanks to good friends who invited us- he was amazing! Anyway, this year was a totally different ballgame but equally fun, bringing Molly to see all of the animals up for sale at the LiveStock show. A huge auditorium full of cows, bulls, pigs, sheep dogs, tractors, you name it. If it’s on a farm, it was there and Molly was in heaven!
She wasn’t a very cooperative subject, but the photos above at least are a few snapshots to remember it by. The first photo is of Molly and me in front of the world’s most expensive pig (I know there is a more technical name- right? A sow or something?). Anyway, she was $121,000 worth of bacon. (Who knew!)
ANN CARRINGTON
Ever since watching Nine by Design on Bravo a couple of years ago I’ve been intrigued by the Novogratz family’s amazingly talented artist-friend, Ann Carrington, who somehow manages to craft incredible pieces of art out of seemingly everyday objects. (For example, the ‘animal skin’ in one of the photos above is made entirely out of beanie-babies!!! What?!?!) The Novogratz’s blog has a few more photos of these one-of-a-kind pieces hanging in their houses (lucky!!!).
I was pretty thrilled to find out on her site today that you can actually buy limited edition prints of some of her work- signed, dated, even framed- for what I imagine is a teeny-tiny fraction of what the original would cost (about $470 US dollars unframed, or $700 framed). Yeah, still a lot of money but the Manhattan Mettle and Stars and Stripes are definitely being added to my ever-growing home wish list:)
Love, love, love this needlepoint sampler I found on A Bloomsbury Life (Could be super fun mounted in a modern frame, too). Actually I love her blog, period… Very interesting lady with great stories to tell. Something to aspire to for now!
HIGH RENT DISTRICT
This is the San Francisco home of Alison Pincus, co-owner of One Kings Lane. Sounds like it was listed for $8.9M and is now under contract. Not too shabby!
