Virtual vacation: Guest blogging

While the snow put a damper on my little weekend getaway I was able to virtually get away this Friday.

The lovely Morgan from Pepper Design Blog asked yours truly a couple design questions. Head on over and check it out!

Also I decided to jump on the bandwagon and set up a formspring account so now you can ask me all!

I’m nosey so I love random information about people and thought you might enjoy it as well!

Ask me anything here!

Highs & Lows of the week

So you already know that one of my low points this was heading back to the thrift store and finding my lamps missing.

 

Yesterday I decided to head out to another Thrift store that has everything 25% off on Thursdays. So happy I did, because high point of the week was picking up these following items:

 

This pillow reminded me of Jonathan Adler so in the cart it went. Normally I don’t pick up pillows at thrift stores, but it’s zippered so I can get a new pillow form for it and wash the cover! Only $6 bucks!

I wish there had been two of these guys below, but alas I only found one for $3. It just needs a new coat of spraypaint and it will be brand new!

Doesn’t it remind you of these?

 

Have no clue what I’m going to do with this mirror, but at $6.99 it also went in the cart. Perhaps a lucky client will get it!

 

Another completely random purchase were these curtain panels for $10. I don’t need them at the moment, but I loved all of the colors and know they will look great in a stylish gals apt. Now I just need a client to fit the bill!

3 lovely roomies will be enjoying my last thrift store find. These amazing bamboo chairs will be getting a coat of kelly green paint and moving on up to the Upper East Side.

Another high of the week was coming home later that day and packing for my trip.

But a huge LOW came this morning when we checked our flight on DELTA and saw that it had been CANCELLED, because of this:

I’m beyond upset. I was all set to fly into DC tonight and spend some time with Daniela and Lauren along with a detour to Baltimore to hit up De Bois and see Meg.

 

So sad!

The one that got away…

Throughout the years I’ve started to collect elephants. I don’t know what it is about them, but it’s rare to see me pass up purchasing a new one.

 

Now don’t worry my house does not look like a safari, but throughout my spaces you’ll see one, or two or three.

 

I’ve now started to pick them from places were I have visited. This way I have a memento from a trip that does scream, “You were here.”

 

I don’t share my love for elephants with everyone, because I don’t want have it be the token gift for me, but family members know and remember me on their travels, which leads me have a rather larger elephant family in my living room.

Now I like most of my elephants to have some sort of story, but at times I can’t pass up a pair from a home decor store, which is where these guys came from:

Other times they come from Thrift stores so even though I don’t their story I know they have one.

Two days ago I was out at one of my go-to thrift shops and what should stop me in my tracks, but a pair of elephant lamps.

Don’t worry I wasn’t going to jam them in my living room. I wanted them to live in my bedroom.

I was in love! I didn’t however love the $58 dollar price tag for each. They even a greek key pattern in between the two elephants.

 

I sadly walked away. I didn’t need new lamps. I went home and just kept thinking of them. When Jon got home that night I was going on and on about them and even though he gawked at the price for thrift store lamps I decided I would go back the next day and buy them.

 

I should have gone bright and early and picked them up, but I figured I was the only crazy nut in love with elephants and that most people would pass them by.

 

So after lunch I went out to pick them up. What should happen when I arrive? They were gone. Fingers crossed I hoped they had just been moved  so I went up and down the aisles in the hopes that I would see them.

 

Nope. Nothing. My mom frantic to get answers started asking around and we found out that they been purchased about an hour ago from an Antique dealer who mentioned he would probably get around $300 for them and oh yea didn’t you know they were 30% off!!!!

 

I could have died right there. I know they were just lamps, but I’m kicking myself for second guessing my decision to pick them up the first day. Never again!

 

Has this ever happened to any of you? Please share misery loves company!

A game of chance….

When I was little many hours were spent playing Loteria.

 

Playing loteria is very similar to playing a game of Bingo. Main difference is that loteria uses images on a deck of cards instead of numbers on ping-pong balls.

 

The playing cards look like this:

 

 

The person running the game picks cards out of a deck. If you have the card that has been called you place a pinto bean on it. The first person to have a full line whether it be vertically, horizontally, or diagonally wins!

 

I haven’t played the games in years, but recently I thought of them, because they would make for perfect inexpensive artwork!

 

They come in a variety of sizes and can be easily picked up online.

 

This set below only costs $3.95

 

 

To make a bigger statement these 9” x 12” card sheets are only $4.50

 

A large set of 20 is only $10 via Amazon

 

 

 

You could frame all 20 and make a massive statement on a wall or simply just frame 1 or 2 and them to a gallery wall.

 

The colors are rich and vibrant and a touch of whimsy to a room with the folk art drawings on each card. Plus you can practice your conversational Spanish, because under each image there is the name of item.

 

Loteria Grill restaurants in California even have blown up playing cards used as artwork!

 

 

Please tell me I’m not the only one that has played this game?

 

Anyone else remember winning the Mexican lottery?

Lusting after Laura Ashley

Never thought I would use the words Laura Ashley and Lust in the same sentence, but alas it’s true.

 

To be honest when I hear the words Laura Ashley I think of florals and matching outfits. When I was little I grew up in Manhattan and right near our apt was the  South Street Seaport, which had a Laura Ashley store. I always remember seeing the matching mother/daughter outfits with the matching window treatments and wallpaper in the windows and thinking I’ll never want a thing from in there.

 

Eating my words now. Don’t get me wrong I’m not running out with my mom to pick out outfits, but I wouldn’t mind  bringing a little Laura Ashley into my life.

 

Tilbury Lapis to be exact.

 

It works nicely in a texture filled, rustic home full of neutrals by Healing Barsanti via House Beautiful.

 

 

Used as a headboard in A Single Man the ikat fabric just oozes glam.

 

One of my favorite uses of this fabric is in a Domino favorite room. The room is a bit preppy, a bit modern and a bit global with the same touch of Tilbury in Lapis.

 

While it is a to the trade fabric I was able to find it online here for only $42.98 a yard.

 

 

I searched high and low for a look alike. While I couldn’t find an exact one this one from LS FABRICS had the same shape IKAT and similar colorings just in different places. Plus it’s only $12.98 a yard!

 

 

What’s currently on your must have list? Any Laura Ashley prints making a reappearance in your home?

Weekend Recap: peeps, hats & artwork!

Hi Loves,

 

Happy Monday! Again another weekend has come and gone way too quickly. I realized that it’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done a weekend recap and I’ve missed them. So here we go again!

 

Saturday night we had a surprise 30th Birthday party to go to! It was a crazy hat party, which meant we needed to go out and gather supplies. After dropping $15 at our local dollar tree we were in business.

 

I decided to go with a spring time theme and picked up peeps, a cowboy hat as my base and butterfly wings.

 

I wanted to dangle something from the wings, but I couldn’t find anything in time.

 

Jon’s hat was a HUGE hit! He went with an army hat, army men, planes and night vision!

He had a great time getting the planes to fly and setting up all the army men so it looked like the dark green guys were against the little green guys.

 

Sunday was spent getting up bright and early, heading to the diner for breakfast, taking the pups to a state park for a long walk and a project of course!

 

Our basic half bath on our first floor got a bit of a re-vamp when we first moved in. Beadboard walls went up, a fresh coat of paint on trim and a tin ceiling was added. It stayed as is for a while.

Jon thought I was “finished” with it. Ah poor, stupid man. I’m never finished. I had slowly been collecting artwork to go into the space. This Sunday I made some headway with the project!

 

Sneak peek of bath:

I still need to get some more accessories, fill in some blank frames on the walls and update the window treatment. So a full blown reveal will have to wait a little bit, but I was dying to share.

 

Sunday night I had a massive breakdown due to web design. Ah it’s all so stressful. I’m the kind of person that wants something done yesterday so have this whole process take so long makes me want to pull my hair out. Last night I practically did that while scaring my poor husband with a way ugly cry. Not my proudest moment.

 

What talked me off the ledge?

 

Wouldn’t it be amazing if I said Jon bought me a plane! Ah close second he purchased some tickets for a little get-away. We leave this Friday and I get to spend my weekend with TWO bloggers!

 

How did you spend your weekend?

 

Any guesses on where I’m going this weekend and who I’m going to see?

 

xo,

 

Camila

IN HER SHOES: Julia Walsh

 

While the name Julia Walsh may not ring an immediate bell in your head I can guarantee that you are reading her work a couple of times a week.

 

You see Ms. Walsh is an editor for one of my daily reads, Casa Sugar.  Casa Sugar is a go to source for before & afters, DIY projects, designer trends, round-ups of the weeks best design posts and of course design inspiration.

 

Now we normally see the editors of Sugar Inc like this:

They always have the chicest outfits, perfect accessories and not a hair out of place. Ok so yes, being a digital image probably helps with keeping ones hair in place.

 

I wanted to get a peek at a look at the person behind the curtain so after a couple of emails with Julia we were set to go.

 

Sugar Inc is headquarters in San Francisco and after reading thru Julia’s day I was filled with envy. San Fran is one of my favorite cities and seeing all her pictures has me itching to buy a plane ticket and stay with hubby’s family*!

 

* Brian/Nina make some room for us we want to visit!

 

____________________________________________

 

Thursdays are usually busy days for me and I need my energy.

So when I wake up at 8am today, the first things I do are boil water for my French press Blue Bottle coffee, scramble some eggs, and toast an English muffin. I make my coffee, but rushed, forget altogether to drink it!

 

Around 8:30am, I'm getting dressed. My back has been bothering me, so I go with flats today.

 

At 9am, I stroll out of my apartment, a 2-bedroom in San Francisco I share with a friend, and head to my bus stop a block away. I'm eager to see whether my bus is arriving, but the air is thick with fog and I can't see anything more than a block away!

 

I'm at by desk by 9:30, reading my mail and sending a few marketing emails for the next hour. Then until noon, I spend my time writing posts for Casa Sugar and reading through all of the design blogs (I literally follow 222 feeds!) to see what's new in the wonderful world of interiors. Every hour or so I update our CasaSugar Twitter and Facebook accounts and see what other design-centric writers are tweeting about!

 

At this point, I realize I need a caffeine boost. To the nearest coffee shop I go. The barista starts whipping up my order (a grande latte) once she sees me walk in the door.

 

On Thursdays, the galleria next door hosts a farmer's market, so I stroll through dreaming of vegetable dishes. I end up walking away with just a Pink Lady apple and a scrumptious blueberry danish.

 

I head back to the office, and work on writing a few more posts. One of them is a decorating post inspired by Marchesa's Fall 2010 collection, so I have fun poring through Fashion Week photography. Dreamy! Then, I thumb through the latest issue of Living Etc for a few minutes.

 

At 1:30pm at the Sugar Inc headquarters, we have our weekly editorial meeting. I get a peek at some great posts my fellow editors have written, hear some company news and editorial tips, and then a guest speaker enlightens us about search engine optimization. Oh, the power of Google!

 

Immediately afterwards, around 2:30pm, I have another meeting ( a conference call). The other Editor of CasaSugar is on the brink of taking her maternity leave, and another wonderful scribe (who used to write for lil sugar ) has offered to help out in her absence. My Editorial Director and I enroll her in CasaSugar 101. It's exciting to have new blood on the site; she has fresh perspective and a lot of fun post ideas.

 

As we speak, she admits she has paint on her hands, and I know she's the perfect DIY lady for Casa!

 

It's 3:30pm when I'm back to my desk again, and boy does time fly! At this point, it's time to write Pop Sugar Daily , the pop culture newsletter that I also write for the network.

 

Miraculously, it's been edited, signed, sealed, and scheduled by 5pm and then I am ready to head out for the evening.

 

I take the bus back to my neighborhood, Russian Hill, and stop by FLIPP , a local design shop I love. I swoon over a Moroccan-inspired pouf.

I nearly buy a entry table/planter, but I resist and tell myself it's a DIY waiting to happen.

The shop's gorgeously lit back patio gives me a serious pang of real estate envy.

 

 

Next, I do some errands in the 'hood (shopping for plants!), and take a few pictures for the neighborhood blog I also write, Polk Sheet.

I haven't eaten lunch (notice that?), so dinner can't come soon enough, and I meet a friend for some vino and pizza at a nearby trattoria. Yum!!

 

Next I head home and am reminded that my Christmas wreath has yet to come down. The to-do list is growing.

I practice my dart game a bit, concoct a delicious Nutella s'more (with supplies leftover from camping last weekend), and then pop in an oldie but a goodie: The Man in the Moon. Good night!

Thanks so much Camila for inviting me to participate! I always love to read what the other "IN HER SHOES" ladies are up to.

___________________________________________

 

A big thank you to Julia! So nice to get a peek into your world and after reading about all the posting you do I will never complain when I feel like I’m running on empty for a blog post!

 

I can’t wait to share with you next weeks IN HER SHOES feature. Not only is she a fab decorator, diy queen, and blogger, but she’s my pal and so to be neighbor as well.

Modern Day Willy Wonka’s

A couple of months ago I jotted down the name  Mast Brothers Chocolate while I was flipping through Elle magazine.

 

Why you may ask? Well, because I saw a sampling of their amazingly chic chocolate bars. No need to even taste them I knew they would be delicious.

 

 

These bars of heaven are handmade in Brooklyn, NY. I think I may just need to take a little trip out to their factory this weekend!

 

Here is a peek at what I will be seeing:

 

The factory open up during the weekends so you can go in and eat the yummy goodness till your hearts content.

I love all the rich wood tones throughout the factory and who doesn’t love a guy with a beard!

 

Looks like a great little spot to sit down and enjoy your bars of chocolate.

If you are not lucky enough to be in the NY area and able to pick one up you can order them online here.

 

All images via The Selby.

Artist Crush: David Adickes

I don’t actually remember where I first saw David Adickes works I just remember jotting it down in one of many blog idea notebooks and noting that some of his works reminded me of the colors in Chiang Mai Dragon.

 

 

Take a peek and see if you agree with me:

 

Bright trees with bike:

 

Spring Trees, 4 chairs

 

Spring Trees, three bikes

I can’t pin point exactly what I love about them, but they simply make me happy. I love the vibrant colors and wish I could hop on into the painting and take a lovely bike ride.

 

Mr. Adickes originally studied math and physics so I’m super happy that he took a trip to France after college and studied with Fernand Leger.  Upon his return to the states he began painting full time and many of works are housed in museums. Not only is he talented with a brush, but his artistic skills also include sculpturing.

 

Here are a couple more of my favorite pieces that would I would be happy to give a nice home to!

 

From his ladies of style series this has to be my favorite:

It looks like Emily makes another appearance in this work:

 

It’s hard to pick a favorite from his Wild Hair series, but this lady caught my eye right away.

Any other artists that I should keep on my radar? I always find artwork to be of the hardest things to pick out for a client. I really feel like it’s such a personal decision and that a piece should really speak to you. I always like to make selecting artwork a joint effort with clients.

 

How do you go about picking pieces for your home? What’s your favorite piece in your home?

 

Image 1. via F.Schumacher, Images 2-7 via David Adickes