Popham Design Tiles

One of my other favorite blogs, Design Sponge, came out with their list of their top 15 tile resources yesterday. And while I've fallen in love with many of them before, I was so excited to learn about Popham Design. This is my kind of tile! These graphic patterned tiles are available in multiple sizes and colors so that you can truly create your own unique look.

Here are just a few of my favorites. The Zig Zag tiles (top) can become a chevron pattern, diamond pattern and much more, and can even be done in multiple colors. A great way to create the permanent look of popular rugs in high traffic areas. I also love the Moroc tiles (above) for a more subdued but still graphic look.

And the more intricate Fretwork tiles can create a truly elaborately detailed look in bold or muted colors. I love these tiles for backsplashes, but they would also be really fun on the floor too. Check out their web site and play with the different layout and color options to find your favorites too.

Every Girl Every Boy

This past weekend, I was reminded of just how different my two kids are from each other while catching a rare moment of snuggling with my daughter. My 4 year old son wants to be a fireman and a parachuter, but loves to set the table, help me cook and gives hugs and kisses followed by "I love you Mommy" all day long. My almost 18 month old daughter spends most of her time trying on shoes and making sure everyone else is also wearing theirs. But when not worrying about that, she is climbing stools to get on the counter, climbing ladders to the slide, or jumping from the ottomans to the couch. She has no fear, is happy to go off on her own at the park, the beach, etc. and I'm hard pressed to get a hug or a kiss out of her. Their differences aren't gender specific, but I think people often like to explain "reasons" for differences by focusing on gender. A few years ago, when I walked into a new job, this poster was hanging in one of the office's. It is used in a lot of classroom settings. My first thought when I read it was if I ever have a daughter (in addition to my son who was already born) I would hang this poster in between their rooms. I have the perfect spot where our hallway ends and to one side is my daughter's room and the other side is my son's room. There is a lovely sailboat print their now, but I think the message here is much more important than the beauty of anything else, and it makes the space more personal in a way and hopefully reminds them that everyone is unique and they don't have to be like anyone else. Kids, and even adults, are under so much pressure these days that sometimes it's nice to have a reminder that we should just be ourselves and accept others as they are too.

Serena and Lily's New Fall Catalog

Belgian Club Chair
Serena & Lily's Fall catalog is out and there are some truly fabulous pieces in it. I've been a fan of theirs for several years, and I just love that they keep expanding into home furnishings while continuing on with their bedding collections. Here are a few pieces from the fall catalog that I just can't get enough of. I think the Belgian Club Chair could easily be used in any room of the house, but is probably the perfect bedroom chair. It's not too large so it would be really great for a kids room too because it would carry them right through their teens and into adulthood.

Senegalese Storage Baskets
The Senegalese Storage Baskets might just be the perfect place to store those items you use every day, but don't want to look at all the time. Think extra blankets, toys, etc. Suddenly storage is looking fun and interesting. Also available in pink and a navy/green combo.

Chakki Ottomans
I'm really loving the Chakki Ottomans which are available in both white and dark walnut. The details in the wood add interest and it's nice to see a round ottoman instead of the rectangular ones we are so used to seeing. Great as a coffee table too!

Lucky Lacquered Table
We've talked about the Lucky Lacquered Table before, but now it is available in Black and White. Tres chic!

"The Coast Is Clear"
This "The Coast is Clear" wall art may not be new, but it was too fun not too include. I love the pink and orange combo. For boys, check out the "Save Our Ship" wall art which is equally as cool. If you haven't checked out Serena & Lily in the past, be sure to add it to your must see list!

Tempaper: Temporary Wallpaper

Based on the amount of traffic I've seen on the Byrdie Graphics Wall Decals, it appears that there are a lot of people out there looking for temporary wallpaper or decals that can look like wallpaper. So when I came across the booth for Tempaper at the New York International Gift Fair last week, I knew there would be a lot of people out there who would love it.

Edie (top) and Damsel Tempaper

Tempaper is temporary wallpaper that is self adhesive and repositionable. And while we've seen lots of options in the area of wall decals that have these features, this is full on rolls of wallpaper that come 20 1/2" wide x 11 yards long.

Edie Tempaper

Apartment and dorm room dwellers no longer have to fear a lack of color or interest on their walls. Tempaper offers sophisticated patterns in pleasant color palettes, creating a look that is more chic than most of the other wall decals I've seen.

Damsel Tempaper

In addition to these grown up patterns, a line for Tempaper Tots is also available which includes the adorable Tusk and Currents patterns. Tempaper was founded in 2008 by set designers who were frustrated by not being able to find a repositionable wall covering. This was their solution which just so happens to be great for home decorating as well. This was their first NY Gift Show, and I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of them in the future.

Modwalls Tile

ModDotz in Palm Beach Blend

Wow, this back to work thing is really causing me to neglect my little blog here. I was so excited last weekend because I had so many things to share with you all this week, and here it is Thursday, and my first chance to sit down and finally do it. Never mind the fact that I need to remember what it I had to share in the first place. Luckily, there was no chance I could forget Modwalls tile. I absolutely love it! They have subway tile, penny tile and more at reasonable prices and in fabulous colors and color blends.

Lush in New Leaf Blend

There is literally something for everyone on this site whether you want to bold and boisterous or calm and collected. And perhaps the most amazing thing they offer is custom color blends for their 3/4" Brio tiles so that you can create exactly the color combination you want and with a minimum order of only 20 square feet.

Lush in Hamptons Blend
However, what lead me to the Modwalls site was the tile designs by Henry Road which are just lovely. From simple circles to modern blooms, it's unlikely anyone else on your block will have these wonderful tiles.

Henry Road Lush Circles in Dune/Cloud

So if you are dabbling in the idea of re-tiling a space, definitely check out Modwalls.

Etsy Pick of the Week: Wallpaper or Wall Decal?

Vintage Flower Blooms

By now, everyone has probably seen the craze of using vinyl wall decals in rooms. I have mixed feelings about them. On the one hand, they certainly are easy to install and add a new dimension to a room, particularly in a rental or somewhere you can't paint, but on the other hand, I feel like everyone and their mother has jumped on the vinyl wall decal bandwagon and most of them are pretty similar to the next. I have a giraffe wallpaper cutout on my daughter's wall and feel like it somehow has a bit of a different effect because it's wallpaper and not a decal, but really it's a fairly similar look. In any event, I was pleasantly surprised to find a vinyl wall decal that was refreshingly different than the rest of what's out there on Etsy this week.

Paisley Doilies

Etsy store, Byrdie Graphics' one of kind larger scale decals are available in sets (quantity per set varies depending on size of the design) so that you can create the look of wallpaper. Each design is available in several colors and because they are going on your wall, your wall color adds another dimension making the design truly custom to only you.

Bloom

I think this concept is really great for anyone who wants to try wallpaper but is afraid too. I happen to LOVE wallpaper, but it is definitely not a simple decision in choosing which one to go with. This takes a little bit of that stress away and is WAY easier to install. Shabby Floral Flock Damask

I also like that you can vary the direction of the decals to create and even more unique pattern and you can adjust the distance between decals for the perfect ration to fit your space.

Mod Squares

So if you like wallpaper, but aren't allowed to hang it or don't want to make the commitment, I'd say give this a shot. The designs are appealing, the installation is simple, and you'll have an entirely new look to your space. What do you have to lose?

Etsy Pick of the Week: Shell Mirror

I am a complete beachaholic. Admitting it is the first step, right? I could literally spend all day, every day at the beach and never get bored with it, and because I've grown up on the rocky and beachy coastline of Rhode Island, I've got a pretty good collection of shells and seaglass. Naturally, it would make sense for me to incorporate some aspects of the beach into my home and I know a lot of you would like to do the same. Sounds easy, right? Well, actually it is, but for some reason I constantly see people who love the beach crossing the line when bringing it into their homes. Sorry, but flip flop coasters are not the way to do it. If you happen to have them, it's not too late. Just slowly go pick them up and bring them to your closest trash can. I think the best way to do it and still be completely chic is to just pick one bold piece such as a shell mirror- the bigger the better- like this one from Etsy shop Beach Grass Cottage. The nice thing about this shop is that they has a variety of sizes and shapes available and can make it to order. They also have a variety of colors and shells available, but I would suggest sticking to all white for a more sophisticated look. It would look great over a nice entry table in a foyer that isn't too cluttered. If you want to display those treasures from your beach jaunts find a few nice glass jars where you can put them. You also can't go wrong by adding a few large scale shells like starfish or coral branches to your decor, but just remember to keep it simple and you can have a very chic but beachy space.

Vintage Printable

I am always drawn to vintage style botanical and curiosity prints, but they are generally a bit of an investment. However, now you can get the look for a lot less, at least on a small scale. Vintage Printable is a web site where you can download and print vintage images mostly from rare books whose copyrights have lapsed as well as newer images uploaded by their artists that are available for free. There are images of just about every plant and animal species you can imagine and a whole lot of other topics as well. Here are a few of my favorites.

Keep in mind that you'll only be able to print them to about an 8" x 10" size or else the quality of the image will not be very good. Also, some of the images are much better quality than others to begin with so you'll want to look carefully at each one as your making your selections. But these would be great in a series of 4 or 6 prints on a wall or if you just need something small to fill an empty spot on a wall in a bathroom, bedroom or hallway then this is a great, inexpensive option to get the look of something more expensive.

Message Center

I still have some touching up to do, but I wanted to share my new kitchen message center with you all. This is another one of those vast walls like the one where I just did the Family Photo Gallery Wall which I've had a hard time figuring out what to put here. I wanted to do a giant chalkboard, but because it's such a large space I thought it might look like a black hole. I also knew that I wanted to have my wooden whale that my husband had a woodworker friend of ours make for me years ago hang on this wall. So I decided that I would do a series of frames with a variety surfaces in them that we could use to keep our family organized and then hang them like a gallery wall.
I had been looking for inexpensive frames for a while and finally found some that I could use at a tag sale a few weeks ago. I think the 4 frames cost me all of $6 plus the cans of spray primer and paint I bought to paint them. I went to Home Depot to buy chalkboard paint and was pleasantly surprised to find that you can now get Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint tinted to 12 different colors. It seemed wrong to not take advantage of this and so I had mine tinted to chocolate brown which works nicely with the barn red color of my kitchen. I was also going to pick up a can of magnetic primer so that I could make the chalkboard magnetic when I saw that they had Rustoleum Dry Erase Paint! The man told me it was a brand new item and seeing as I had just done a post on IdeaPaint last week, I couldn't help myself and had to try it. And since both the magnetic primer and the dry erase paint were about $20 per can, and I was trying to keep it inexpensive I nixed the magnetic primer. I bought a piece of MDF that my husband cut to fit each frame and painted onto those instead of directly onto the wall. This worked fine for the chalkboard paint and the dry erase paint took fine to it, but I think the next time I would use a piece of plexiglass or something smoother for a better finish for the dry erase paint. The cork came from an old corkboard that my husband cut down to fit the frame, but you can also buy sheets of it at most superstores. I may end up rearranging it a little bit. I feel like it's a little crowded and maybe a little too low, but I also wanted my kids to be able to reach it so for now I'm going to live with it like this for a while. Overall, I'm quite happy with how it turned out.

Family Photo Gallery Wall

I was so ridiculously excited yesterday when we FINALLY hung the photos behind our couch. This has been VERY long process in picking out what to put in this 8' wide by 6' tall space behind our 9' long couch. I have a basement full of photos and artwork, but none of them seemed right and so for the past 3 years I have agonized over what I could put here that would achieve the look I wanted and fit my budget. I have contemplated everything from a giant canvas to a decorative iron grate but kept coming back to wanting a series of square frames. Then last November we had a great set of family photos done by Maaike Bernstrom Photography so I decided I definitely wanted to use those and create a gallery wall. I found the Lee Gallery Frames in an oversized 8 x 10 at Pottery Barn which I loved, but at $129 apiece and since I would need 6 of them, that idea was quickly dropped by this unemployed blogger. Then, to my surprise, I found the Ribba frame at Ikea which at about 20" square was only slightly smaller and way less expensive. I was able to get all 6 frames for less than the cost of one of the Pottery Barn ones. Score!

Oh, but not so fast (I bought them last November). Now I had two new issues, the first being that the opening of the picture mat was 12" x 12". This is only a problem because it is nearly impossible to get a photo to fit this size. Your options are 11" x 14" or 16" x 20" so you will be just a tad too short or quite a bit too large even if you zoom out and trim down. I decided that since I liked the square thing I had going on that I would have 8" x 10" photos printed and then trim them down to 8" x 8". Great, right?

Problem number two, I now needed to find an additional mat to make up for the gap between the 12" x 12" mat and the 8" x 8" picture. I didn't want to use anything white because the mat was already white and I needed something that would match my wall color which is Ocean Air by Benjamin Moore. I looked at everything from different colored papers, fabrics, wallpaper and more, but nothing seemed right. I thought about having pieces of mirror custom cut to fit the frames which I actually think would have been very cool, but the thought of bringing two toddlers into the glass shop with me was daunting, and now I think it probably would have looked a little more formal than the rest of our house is these days. And then it hit me, I had nautical charts sitting in a closet waiting to be wallpapered onto my downstairs bathroom wall, but that project wasn't ready to be done. The blues in the charts would pick up the wall color perfectly and the charts would add more interest to the frames while still being subtle enough not to compete with the photos. Plus, the charts are of Rhode Island and include a lot of the beaches and bays that are near and dear to our hearts. I am completely thrilled with the result! Now I am on a roll and am doing another gallery wall message center in my kitchen which I hope to share with you by the end of the week.

IdeaPaint

We've all seen the many wonderful uses of chalkboard paint, but now you can do similar things with dry erase board paint by IdeaPaint. I think this is a fabulous product because, while I love chalkboard paint, sometimes we don't want a big black mass on one of our walls, especially if our space is already dimly lit. The IdeaPaint is white so you can create a nice bright space and if you don't have anything written on it, your walls still look nice and fresh and bright. And you can do cool things like the the tree featured above and it looks hip and modern. Don't give up completely on chalkboard paint. It still has it's purpose (and I'm actually working on a project with it at the moment), but now you have even more options when developing a creative space whether it be at work, home or school.

Image: IdeaPaint

Studio Ditte Wallpapers

Ok, these wallpapers by Studio Ditte are two of the coolest wallpapers I've ever seen. Talk about making a fabulous look that would be painstakingly tedious to achieve into a super simple project. The Scrapwood Wallpaper translates the unique beauty of each piece of scrapwood into wallpaper, and below the Ribbon Wallpaper is literally individual pieces of ribbon sewn together and then the image is transferred onto wallpaper. A-MAZ-ING! There really just aren't enough words so take your time soaking up the images.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

Miles Redd

Walls of mirrors have often had strong connotations of either opulance (think Hall of Mirrors at Versailles) or outdatedness (think 70's closet doors), but when done right neither word applies. Mirrors are actually one of the greatest tools a designer has and canvasing an entire wall with them makes a truly bold statement. They can add the illusion of greater volume in a small space or add light to a dark room. And they can make an otherwise drab space seem very glamorous. I particularly like them being used in a monotone room. Here are a few examples of mirrors being used to their fullest potential. Architectural Digest
Southern Living
Apartment Therapy

Vintage Wallpaper

I am a big fan of vintage anything, and I have been dying to get myself down to New York for a visit to Secondhand Rose (on 5th Ave between 26th and 27th) , but I never seem to make it. Luckily, they have a fabulous web site that features dozens of their vintage wallpaper and linoleum collections. Here I've picked a few of my favorite wallpapers from their site.
The bold geometrics and bright colors are really fun. I feel like these would make a bathroom with old colored tiles much more livable or they'd be a fabulous accent wall in a large room.

They also have a great collection of Chinoiserie wallpapers in both muted and bold colors.

This green damask print could go in just about any room in the house.

Channeling my grandmother's vintage skirts...in a good way with the floral wallpaper below.

When we were looking for houses a few years ago one of them had a kitchen that this vintage red apple paper would have been perfect for! It still had the original appliances from the 50's, but if you love the look you could find reproduction appliances in a candy apple red that would look amazing with this paper. All I can think of is a Maine vacation cottage with this paper, vintage appliances, and white lower cabinets with open shelving on top in it.

This bright orchard print would be a great accent wall in a little girls room.

I don't know where I'd put this tennis wallpaper-maybe a mudroom of a tennis enthusiast-but it was too fun not to throw in.

These and the other wallpapers at Secondhand Rose originate between the 1860's and 1970's and prices begin at $70/double roll. If you want something truly unique, love vintage, or are searching for that original Frank Lloyd Wright paper definitely check it out.

Hands On

I have never generally been one to capture my children's handprints, footprints or any other prints on a particularly regular basis, but lately I've been getting all sentimental about the idea that they will never be this little again. Maybe it's because my baby is turning one in a few short weeks and this MAY mean that the baby days in our house are over, but whatever the reason it's hard to find ways to capture these things that aren't overly cheesy. I actually really like this customizable canvas from Wisteria. It's colorful and big and at $39 you can't really go wrong. Even if you don't have any little hand or foot prints you want to preserve until the end of time, you could easily purchase it and make your very own masterpiece via grade school art project ideas (i.e. stamping apples, starfruit or any other object you love).

Etsy Pick of the Week: Nature's Rigid Beauty

I have to admit that when I started this "Etsy Pick of the Week" feature I thought it was going to be a breeze. There are so many cool things on Etsy, right? Well that's true, but there are SO many things that sometimes it's overwhelming to weed through it all to find something that really strikes me as incredible. Just as I thought to myself, "Man, what did I get myself into here?" I literally had my breath taken away as I laid my eyes on the tiles by Element Clay Studio. The detail in each wall tile is incredible and the artist's ability to create the illusion of nature in motion out of a rigid form is truly beautiful. These are wall tiles that come in two sizes and are meant to be hung as art. They come in patterns such as Reef (above), Magnolia (below), Hydrangea, Fungi, Barnacle and other beautiful textures of nature. I think it would be absolutely amazing to hang an entire wall of them (or at least a good 3' x 5' space) really tightly in an entryway.

And the talent here doesn't just lie in tiles, but also in bowls (like the Tiny Scallop ones below) and other serving pieces.

Even if you aren't in the market for this sort of thing, I encourage you to check out this Etsy shop just to experience and appreciate the talent of the artist.