Lulu DK Spring/Summer Collection

Right now I'd like to sail away on one of these boats featuring the new Lulu DK Sunburst fabric. Love! The miracle of Photoshop brings two of my favorite things together, being on the water and design.

Here's a look at the Sunburst fabric up close. What I love so much about Lulu DK is that they always nail the colors so well. I just want to soak them all up.

The Colors fabric reminds me of my seaglass collection that I've been gathering on the shores of our beach house since I was a toddler. This would make a great roman shade or shower curtain in a bathroom or draperies in a bedroom.

And not to be forgotten, the new collection of Lulu DK wallpaper is equally as fabulous. I love this coral and shell themed Sunshine wallpaper. Check out the complete collection at www.luludk.com.

Lobster Quadrille Wallpaper

If I had to choose one product in the world of design that exemplifies my design style, I think this would be it. Georgia Horton's hand printed Lobster Quadrille wallpaper has a classic, refined look with a sense of humor. I love products that look great, but also put a big smile on people's faces, and I can equally envision this in a multi-million dollar home just as easily as in a beach bungalow. The way the lobster tentacles join to make a trellis pattern is just genius.

The wallpaper comes in four different colorways, including black on white and white on black which have a very cool x-ray effect to them, but I am partial to the blues for this pattern. There are many other great patterns in Horton's collection that are also worth checking out.

Turner Pocock Cazalet Wallpaper

Tennis anyone? Bunny Turner and Emma Pocock of the U.K.'s interior design firm Turner Pocock have teamed up with artist Catherine Cazalet to create a fun and funky line of wallpaper. My favorite is the Tennis wallpaper in the kelly green. While it would be perfect in a clubhouse, it would also be incredibly unexpected and fun in a bathroom, bedroom, entry or mudroom.

If tennis isn't your game there are plenty of other fun patterns to choose from including Zebras (above) and Polar Bear, Ostrich, Ibis and Cricket. I hope they have a line of fabrics to match in the works because I would love a chair in one of these too!

Brightening Up Beige

The folks over at Ohdeedoh, Apartment Therapy's kids blog, always have great posts of people's before & after's in their homes. I came across this nursery this week, and was very impressed. On the surface, it looks like a cute well designed nursery, but what's so impressive about it is that upon a closer look, you can see that it is a room with beige painted walls and beige carpet. This is a rental that looks like anything but! So many people get stumped by what to do with a rental and how to infuse their own personality into them. Here, the homeowner put a bright colorful area rug over the beige wall to wall carpet, and added a scalloped wallpaper border that she made from contact paper. To find out how, you can check her blog, IS*LY. While this was done for a child's room, you can easily use these ideas for an adult's room too. So go on, and brighten up those beige rentals.

Trompe l'Oeil Wallpaper at Couture Deco

You would think that with all the wallpaper posts I've done that my house would be filled with it or would at least have a drop of it, but no, I still don't have a single room in my house with wallpaper. I think I'm getting close to reaching my breaking point and we'll be seeing it soon, although I have been contemplating a wallpaper stencil (never thought I would say stencil and my house in the same paragraph). Here is yet another group of wallpaper gems from Couture Deco. There is just something so fun about tromp l'oeil (trick the eye) wallpaper that will have all of your house guests talking. The Kapyton Leather wallpaper (above) even has the texture of leather even though it is made of paper.

With winter just around the corner, why not curl up in your cozy knit papered room.

I've always loved the idea of having a library filled with beautiful books, and while I love to read, with two little kids I'd be lying if I said the last book I read was anything but Brown Bear, Brown Bear. No offense to Eric Carl. I do love his books, but they aren't exactly what I have in mind for my dream library that makes me look really intelligent. Anyhow, now anyone can have a beautiful, expensive looking library with the XIXe Century Biblioteque wallpaper. Of course, there won't actually be any books in it.

And if you've always wanted beautiful hand carved French doors, you can have the look of those now too with the Louis XV Old French Door wallpaper. All of these papers install with regular wallpaper paste and are sure to be a conversation starter. There are many more great trompe l'oeil wallpapers are Couture Deco so be sure to check them out.

18th Century Colonial Renovation: Part VI

I can hardly believe that it's been over two months since my last update on the 18th Century Colonial Renovation we've been following! The good news is that progress has not stopped. The bad news is that it is moving a lot slower than expected, and that is largely due to the fact that this is the hard part, picking paint and tile. But since we've last checked in, all of the baseboard molding has been put in, light fixtures have been installed in several rooms, the kitchen cabinets have been assembled, but not installed, and the kitchen floor has been laid.

But, back to picking paint colors. We found some amazing grass cloth wallpaper (above) in cream for the living room and blue for a yet to be determined place at LooLoo Design for an equally amazing price. The cream will go above a chair rail in the living room and we've found a few shades of creamy white for the trim throughout the house that we think will work great with it. In the dining room (top) the color choices are in the colonial blue range which look really lovely with the grass cloth in the living room.

The 2nd bath which will be for a little boy and guests is going to be a soft, but rich blue. At the moment, we're leaning towards the one on the far left top.

The master bedroom is proving to be the most difficult at the moment. The goal is a gray with a hint of lavender, but at the moment everything is looking a little too lavender. Unfortunately, this picture doesn't quite do the colors justice.

And for the little boy's room, a fireman theme it is. There will be a chair rail in this room so that the entire room is not bright red. The debate is how red is too red and will it be over-stimulating. I say if you go red, go all the way and am pushing for the bottom one, a nice deep, rich red.

A few things that have worked well here for helping pick colors. Always write the name of the color in pencil on the wall next to its swatch. We found that the paint samples we put on the wall really dried to exactly the same color as the paint chip from the store so if you don't feel like you need to see it in a larger swatch, save the money and don't buy the sample paint.

Another thing that my sister has done is gone around and taken pictures of the items in her current house and started storyboards for each room so that she can look at the items with the paint chips. It doesn't have to be fancy. She just printed them out on copy paper and cut and pasted them onto another sheet of copy paper, but she has a sense of how all the primary pieces in the room are going to look tonally together and with the paint colors.

Once these paint colors are finalized, things should start moving a bit faster.

Jill Malek Wallpaper

I was recently introduced to the amazing wallpapers of Jill Malek by Michael Valvo of Design Newport (I sat down with he and his business partner, Stella Martin, this past weekend for an interview for Newport Patch which I'll be sharing with you soon). Malek is a talented artist who creates staitionery, packaging, and textiles as well as hand-screened wallpaper, my personal favorite of her works. The gold fish on a red background, also known as the Betta print, is stunning both graphically and texturally. It would be fabulous in an entry or a dining room.

I also love the Anemone Wallpaper which has a subtle quality to it, but is still so visually exciting. I would love this in a living room or bedroom.

And there is something calming about the use of gingko leaves for the Maidenhair Wallpaper even though they are placed in a somewhat chaotic fashion. This screams bedroom to me. It seems that people of my generation still think wallpaper is so stuffy and something our grandmothers did or our mothers did when they were in a phase. I'd say that I used to think that way too, but there are so many unbelievably gorgeous wallpapers out there. We have become such a society of needing instant gratification, and while paint is easy to re-do when you get bored of the color, these great wallpapers show that you can commit to your style and I don't think you'll regret it. If you still have cold feet, you can even send Malek an image of your room, and they'll do a rendering of what it will look like in your space for only $15. Go on, take the plunge!

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.

Etsy Pick of the Week: Vintage Wallpaper Lampshades

These stunning lampshades are handmade in Florence, Italy from vintage Italian wallpaper, circa the 1970's. Is there really anything else to say? Oh yeah, for only $137! Shipping is a little pricey, but for under $200 you could have one of these amazing shades delivered right to your door to use on a table lamp, floor lamp, or on its own as a pendant lamp (my personal preference). Check out Etsy store Drawflowers for information and additional patterns as well as other vintage wallpaper products.

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?

Whale of a Wallpaper

I am in love....with a wallpaper. The Little Whales wallpaper designed by Geoff McFetridge is completely smile inducing. I would like to put in my son's room, a bathroom, or just about anywhere else I could find. It is modern and traditional at the same time and couldn't make me any happier. Available at Walnut Wallpaper.

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.

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.

Knot Nice

As I am sure most of you have noticed, there is no shortage of nautical rope and knots on the pages of your favorite catalogs and web sites this spring. From headbands, necklaces and belts to shirts with rope prints, it is everywhere. While it may be trendy to wear, and while nautical knots and rope aren't exactly commonplace in most house, they are still a pretty classic element in coastal decor. Here are a few of my favorite items to incorporate it into your decor whether you are living in the city or sitting by the seaside.
If you are ready to make a commitment to this style, you can't go wrong with Jonathan Adler's Rope Wallpaper .

Or you can go for a more subtle look with the Ralph Lauren Lautrec Silver Rope Frame .

This pillow from Dransfield & Ross' Flagship Collection is always there to help when you forgot how to tie that essential knot.

Add just a small touch of knotwork or transform a dresser or cabinet by changing out the existing knobs with Anthropologie's Coiled Rope Knobs .

This Rope Towel Ring from Stonk Knots in the UK is a perfect touch for a nautical loo.

Let the sea breezes in with the Marseille Knot Door Stopper from Two's Company.

Or protect your table with these Rope Coasters by Shelling Sailfish on Etsy.

Nothing makes me happier than uncommon uses for common products, and I love these hanging beds featured in Coastal Living .

Another great ucommon use is as a banister railing like this installation by Outhwaite Ropemakers...I'm thinking of doing this one in my house.

They make a great tieback as well like this application from Stonk Knots .

Or you can do it yourself like I did here in with the curtains in my son's room. I simply went to my local nautical supply store and bought two cleats and the appropriate amount of rope (very inexpensive, by the way), ran the rope through the rod pocket and looped around the cleat to hold it securely. I also plan to put rope up as molding in this room.