Merry Christmas!

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

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Christmas Eve Clam Chowder

To get the full story hop on over to Recycled Design.  Super talented and adorable Amanda is doing Twelve Days of Christmas Traditions and I'm sharing my favorite tradition today!

project: attorney at play

I've been working with a client who has just finished installing wood floors in his home office and is ready to 'fill it with stuff' as he put it.  He came in looking for a drafting table. The surprise for me is that he is an attorney, but likes the idea of being able to tilt his work towards him.  Very cool.  I'm completely on board.  I love my drafting table, although I use mine as a raised flat work surface.

We got to talking about what else I would put in his room.  I love when a walk in customer becomes a design client by surprise.  This is just a quick round up of a few things I thought would go with what he described as his personal style.  Next time he comes in, I'll show him.  I especially like the bold rug from the Kathyrn Doherty Collection by Chandra.

{products from my sources along the sidebar with the exception of the art: zgallery}

wish list: new pillows

 I've been playing with the idea of having some pillows made for my bed someday really soon.  The problem is I'm a bit of a wandering soul these days and maybe it isn't the smartest thing to have anything made when who knows where I'll be next and what I'll want then?   

Rational me says, "You're just fine with your mishmash of bedding and sad pathetic flat pillows that feel more like rocks than pillows." The Designer me says "But grey will always be your favorite color, and mixing it with that green you love can never be a bad thing, and you'll love having fluffy new pillows..."

Ladies, ladies!  Please.

So to help with the decision, I made this {above} last night to go above my bed using all those colors to see if I really do love them.

That was silly.  Of course I do.  And I love the geometric pattern with the velvet coral...

Sweet dreams.

Blogging Social at Alice Lane

 Kirsten {6th Street Design}had a fantastic idea to have a party for the design bloggers in Utah.  Along with Alice Lane she hosted a fabulous event last Friday night.  To me it felt like rubbing shoulders with some of my favorite celebrities.  Some people may go crazy for movie stars, I go crazy for great designers, and these talented ladies are making waves for sure.

Wonderful people, yummy treats, and a beautiful store made for a really great time.

Sometimes this creative outlet of mine {the blog} feels like a silly thing for me to do with my time, but chatting with these talented women I realized again that it is so much more than that.  It's my way of staying current and connecting with other people who share my passion.

Amanda {recycled consign and design}, Autumn {design*dump} and me {yes, I'm a giant}

{images from Meikel}

Thank you Kirsten and Alice Lane!

nook

Today I've been hunting for tiny kitchen nook ideas.  I have one with all kinds of great morning sunshine and all it is doing right now is serving as a halfway house for a few plants vying for sunshine as they try to make it through the winter alive.

When I'm browsing for inspiration images I hardly slow down to find the link to the images that I'm hording.  This one above got me to slow down because it screamed Jonathan Alder and so I stopped to check out the blog I borrowed it from.  You should check her out too, she's very talented. {I know, I know.  I should always give credit, but it's not like I'm not pretending like I did the rooms myself.}

I'd love the kind of nook that I could spend some real time in. {think rummycube showdown}

This is so obviously not a nook, I snagged it for no other reason than I love the watering can very much.

My ocd tendencies would probably never allow lose photographs in a space where they could jump onto people sitting below them, but I love the mix of mid modern furniture and built-in bench with plenty of storage.

So after my treasure hunt, I'm undecided on whether I'd prefer built in or having some great Eames molded chairs nestled around a sleek Saarinen Tulip marble table or a beat up butcher block number, but I do know this: the nook is not going to stay a plant refuge if I have anything to do with it.

Alice Lane Giveaway

Hop on over to the Alice Lane blog and enter to win this fantastic pillow. 

{and since I told you about it, if you win you can thank me by letting me borrow it because I have just the place for it...}

paper flakes

 I got in the mood to cut out some paper snowflakes.  I completed my one and only snowflake and quickly lost interest.  Maybe I'll revisit this project, maybe not.  In the meantime, I'll just enjoy others hard earned paper flurries.

 Ladies with more patience than me here, here and here.

 Etsy snowflakes in random order: fa la la la la la la laaaa.

fresh approach

I was outside on my porch this morning enjoying the sunshine {in short sleeves even} and started dreaming about great ways to spread some holiday cheer to the porch.  Filling empty pots with cut greenery would be fresh and understated.  And pine cones!   An easy score around here.  I loaded up a bag from the park behind Noble House earlier today to take home with me.

I would also love a wreath like this one made of protea.  It reminds me of beautiful Cape Town, South Africa.

 Here's to enjoying the simple joys of the holiday season.

entry bliss

As I mentioned, I moved last week. And I'm glad to be on this side of that project.

 I was very happy in my tiny little place {lovingly known on the blog as 'square inches'} so when I stopped by a friend's on the way home and found out they had a spare room available, I only checked it out because I was curious what the rest of the house looked like and this was the perfect excuse to poke around.

About 5 minutes later we were deep into the details of what it'd take for me to move in.  Snap decisions have a way of sneaking into my life at random and this definitely can be counted as one of those.  This was Tuesday night, I was all moved in by Saturday.

The great thing about this house is that I've doubled my personal space, have a giant room for storing my goods and the biggest development - I now have my bed back and gone are the days of sleeping on my {albeit comfortable} fold down sofa.

The rest of the house is a treasure chest of lovely details, but mostly the kind go unnoticed because it'd take some work to really make the place shine.

The entry is just such a spot.  Right now there isn't much to it, but if I had it my way it'd be fresh, inviting and since the house is occupied by three women, feminine in a naturally inspired way.

I'd buy this house if I could.  There is endless potential from the coffered ceiling to the giant backyard to the large picture windows overlooking downtown.

chunky and cozy

 In my client's own words, her style is "Chunky, cozy, like a Park City lodge."

Her new home has the bones to back this style up with lots of river rock and natural color schemes throughout.  It would be easy to load the place with over sized chairs, weathered leather, thick wool blankets and oil landscapes... but she wants to take a feminine approach to the look with lots of pretty details.

 So with the usual furniture styles you might find in a cabin, I chose a chesterfield sofa and wing back chairs for her living room but stayed with a lighter color pallet with lush velvets and leathers to allow the chunky furniture to give her the look without over powering the space with their large scale. 

 She loves red and black and bold patterns.  I'm balancing that love with lighter tones and glass so the place doesn't turn into a cave.

 Her dining room is pretty small so when she told me she'd like a table that could seat nine, a round table was the best option with a slender chair to allow for more elbow room.

More to come after we get underway!

herding cats

That was an unexpected vacation from the blog.  I didn't mean for it to happen.

It was a combination of things that kept me away.  Most of all, I just needed a breather.

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of activity.  Like 'herding cats' is the best way to describe trying to stay on top of it all lately.

So now that life is settling down again after a couple major changes {parents moving to Africa and my unexpected move a few blocks east of my old place over the weekend} maybe I can get back to sharing things on the designsparrow again.

Missed you!