COCKTAIL AREA**

Remember that cocktail area I said I was working on? Well, it's finished! It's actually been finished for a while. But I'm REALLY behind on posting. And I hate that. And so does my mom. So I'm gonna try to be better about it. Let me start by finally posting a picture of this...

I found all of the crates and the wooden wine rack at Zaborski's Emporium (A must-see if you are ever in the Kingston area. Four floors of salvaged junk piled ceiling-high. One of my FAVORITE places to get lost for an afternoon.)

Weathered wood! Chipped paint! Rusty Metal! LOVE. IT. ALL.

And look! I found a home for some of my new prize ribbons.

The table came from a local yard sale ($7!).

I dressed it up with a coat of dark paint, a little bit of sanding, and a custom cut beveled mirror for the top. (Fancy!)

The makeshift artwork is a couple of vintage tea towels that I stretched on boards and framed with some old moulding I picked up at a barn sale.

More chipped paint. YESSSS!

Here's the wide angle...and a teeny, tiny sneak peek at what's been happening in the living room. That's our new couch! More pictures soon.

** I keep calling this a cocktail area. Is that weird? I'd call it a bar...but that doesn't seem right. I mean...there is no bar...or real table...or a place to sit. It's kinda just like a deconstructed liquor cabinet. Hmm...maybe that's what I should call it. Deconstructed liquor cabinet. Sounds avant garde.

MORE PICTURES OF FLOWERS

Ugh. I seriously forgot how rainy spring can be. I really want to share some pictures of my recent home improvements with you...I swear. But the weather isn't cooperating. Gray days are no good for taking photos indoors. So I'm holding out for the sun to break through these clouds.

In the meantime, I'm trying to remind myself that rain isn't ALL bad. Sure, it ruins hiking plans, and canoe trips, and picnics (in other words EVERYTHING I planned on doing last weekend). But it does make flowers grow. So I'm not gonna hold a grudge.

Instead, I'm going to stare at these pictures of the tulip fields in Holland. It's like the ultimate rainy day therapy. I mean...how crazy is it that this cuckoo bananas technicolor dreamcoat of flowers exists? On planet earth. I love it! It's like a giant, living abstract color field painting! Eat your heart out, Mark Rothko.

HELLO AGAIN

I haven't posted anything in a SHAMEFULLY long time. After my long winter's nap, the sunny days inspired me to take on a zillion new house projects. Some that are now completed...some that are well underway...and some that have just begun. I plan to share all of them with you in the coming weeks.

Here's the teaser:

My dream of wall-to-wall, over-the-door bookcases in the living room has become a reality.

We're almost done rearranging the studio and putting up those shelves in the attic.

We got a new couch and some artwork.

The bar area is completed and fully functional. (Margarita anyone?)

We have been attempting to make our yard a little less Grey Gardens.

We leveled out our patio and had some stonework done.

And I've started tackling the upstairs bathroom.

I will post about all of this in detail soon. Until then, here are some pictures of our big beautiful lilac bush. It's a little gangly and untamed, but it has the most beautiful deep purple blooms. And our neighbor, who is basically the plant whisperer, assured me that with a little bit of seasonal trimming it will grow out instead of up and will be even more breathtaking.

YARD SALING

Spring is here. The weather is getting warmer. And yard sale season is finally upon us. Here are some of my new acquisitions from the past couple of weekends:

Some beautiful hand-carved antique frames...

A slew of covered glass vessels. (Terrarium crafternoon, anyone?)...

A rather impressive shell collection...

Some old prize ribbons...

A pair of wicker handbags. (Perfect for summertime outfits!)...

And a set of seriously adorable vintage childrens books...

NEW LISTING!

When Justin and I decided we were going to move upstate, we fantasized about getting a little cabin in the woods. You know...something tiny and rustic with a stone fireplace and maybe a stream in the back? Sadly, I am WAY too much of a hoarder to ever pull it off...but I know there are plenty of people out there who can totally do it.

So can one of you please buy this guy that just came on the market? It's exactly what I used to dream about. A sweet little cottage nestled in the woods. Trees out every window. Stone fireplace. On almost 2 acres. With a creek running through the backyard. And this one has a guest house! Which ALSO has a fireplace. And it's in a really sweet little area in Woodstock. Where you will be surrounded by good vibes and good restaurants. It's listed at $199,000. Details are here.

P.S. The street name? MOONLIGHT WAY. Magical. Right?

TWO SHOWS

I went down to NYC on Friday to spend some time with my bestie of a zillion years, Tina, and see a couple shows I didn't want to miss: Sonia Delaunay at the Cooper-Hewitt and Maira Kalman at the Jewish Museum. Both were fantastic.

I'm super into pattern, color theory, and textile design right now and Sonia Delaunay has been a recurring source of inspiration. I admire how confident her work is...and the fact that her textile designs are just as painterly and kinetic as her larger abstracts.

And Maira Kalman? LOVE her. She is basically my mom's spirit guide. And I totally support that. She's smart, observant, funny, and completely unpretentious. And she makes art look FUN. Seeing all of her illustrations in person really made me want to break out my gouache and paint again. I haven't felt that way in a long time. Since I've got decorating on the brain I'm currently finding her renderings of interiors particularly inspiring. Here's a few from her NY Times blog turned book: And the Pursuit of Happiness:

EASEL AS TV STAND

I have completely fallen in love with this easel-as-tv-stand idea that I spotted in my February issue of The World of Interiors.

When Justin and I moved, we kinda wanted to get a sweet flat screen tv...but we realized there was really no good place to put one in our bedroom OR living room. There are so many windows and doors...and the way the furniture was oriented would make any of the available wall space a really awkward spot for a tv. So we stuck our hideous old one in the guest room and hid it behind a folding screen. Which meant we NEVER watched it. We eventually canceled our cable subscription and the tv got relocated to the attic. Now we exclusively watch things on Justin's laptop while lounging in bed (yay for hulu, netflix, and itunes!). This works well until you have guests over. Three people trying to watch something on a small computer screen is NOT ideal. And forget foreign films. Reading those tiny subtitles is headache inducing.

But putting a tv on a moveable easel opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. And it does a lot to warm up the look of cold, cold technology. So, I'm in. I want a tv again.

via Unplggd

via House Beautiful

via Remodelista