Too Much of a Good Thing?

One of my favorite smells in the world is "New Book - circa 1968". Uh - oh! Did I just reveal a clue to tightly guarded secret? Will people think my POV is less relevant when they know I could read in 1968?

I digress...

All my life I have loved books. My first book from my school library was about a forest fire. I really didn't want it but I ran out time by my indecisiveness. So it was a dream come true when we bought a house with a library - not a family room. Over the years books like

  

have graced the shelves. Many memories are stored on these shelves. Golden Books have been replaced with mostly heavy design books and recently this happened

The enormous weight of all my design books finally took a toll. The last book on the right is where the shelf used to be. So a minor revamp was necessary. I perused all my saved favorites for inspiration 

I am so envious of Joni Webb's new library, sigh.

So, I am really not ready for full overhaul but clearly need to do something.

 Here are my bookcases with a mini face lift, botoxed, booktoxed?

Only 5 more to go!

Will post when rest are finished but please don't hold your breathe!

Good Eggs..

Things rarely end up where you think they will at the start; inspiration is no different... there is inspiration, imitation and pastiche - but, inspiration is where it all starts. When doing an arrangement, I always start out with an inspiring image or flower - I rarely have a fully formed design in mind when i start.   It ALWAYS starts with inspiration..

the elegant egg arrangement above is from justsomethingimade.com and is where this year's easter table arrangement gathered it's spring inspiration.  All those beautiful eggs needed was a nest.... hmmm, now where did i just look at something that reminded me of a nest?...

oh, right that ginormous wreath hanging on my front door... ok, they'd have to be ostrich eggs (hmmm, i wonder where i could get - nevermind..), but that wreath (or as my dad always liked to joke - wreaf!!) had promise.  yes, indeed..

so here it is, wait, what did you say? did you just say, "really?"

well, i agree, from this distance, you might just say, really, but..............

but look closer......

closer...

closer....

there, see them nestled in there, those beautiful blue eggs and that lovely spring green...

Over the years, by commission, I have done everything from weddings, to showers, holidays, to birthdays, anniversaries and proms with the occasional holy communion crown sprinkled in...  Lo, that I had actually bothered to take pictures, but I didn't... who knew this internet thing would actually take off.  That Al Gore, he really got it right with that one... didn't he? Who knew that in the bluster and whirlwind of creating, there might actually be a reason to take a few photos... live and learn. Don't get me wrong, I have a few photos, but I never thought I was taking them for anyone but myself, so I didn't do a great job documenting for posterity - or, let's be honest, original blog content.   So from here on out, I promise, to be a better... what.... better historian, documentarian, photographer (sigh),.... blogger? How about just better...  So, like i said, things (and people for that matter) rarely wind up where you think, but that's what keeps life interesting isn't it?..

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A Ten O'Clock Scholar...

a diller, a dollar a ten o'clock scholar... a dollar is about all this desk was worth when we started.  a sad cast-off likely relegated to the street in lieu of some flashy particle filled euro-desk...  and in all fairness, what scholar would want to spend any time dreaming about his future at a sorry looking desk like this....

no matter the time or the angle of the sun, it just would not do...

so once again, Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to the rescue!!!

a little ASCP Paris Gray, 

some soft dark wax, 

a little elbow grease, 

a little time with some 220 grit sandpaper up top,

a smidge of inspiring trinkets, and

what dreamer couldn't spend the afternoon studying 

to his hearts

delight...?

there will be no more starting at noon for this lucky scholar...

class dismissed...

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thanks, lauren!

What I Thought Before...

For a number of years I thought writing a blog would be

I think about design stuff around the

Honestly though, it feels a little like this...

Scary - but the good kind.

Please be patient - there really will be something here worth your time.

It won't be a 

 Promise.

....making new friends

...what's your favorite color?  as a kid, it was one of the first questions i'd ask when meeting someone new - it was my way of starting a conversation, making a friend.  it was and still is a quick way to get a sense of how someone sees the world - sunny side or dark side, etc, etc... so, taking into account that we are new to each other here, i thought i'd go first.... and let you know that my answer to that proust-esque question is, was, and always will be...

when i was five years old, and we were moving to our new home, my mom asked - "what color do you want to paint your room?" - it was a silly question even then.  looking back, i realize now, i have never not had a pink bedroom - ever.  my husband, thankfully, cares about things like clean sheets and placement of air conditioning ducts - not colors..  when i decorate my house, any new additions are always assessed from the the (silent) viewpoint of "does that work with pink?"  now, all that being said, i am not a head-to-toe, double-dipped literal devotee - i am more of an all-in-all believer that things are happier, friendlier, sweeter with a touch of pink... and, i ask you, who doesn't want a life that's happier, friendlier and sweeter...?  with that in mind, i offer for your consideration, the humble - pink....

so, what is your favorite color?...

......links to the original photos can be found on 

the "pink" board of the tenohnine pinterest page