home design ideas: March 2011

Picnic mood..

It is warm in California today and I am so in the mood for a good

picnic.

Do you picnic?

My most memorable was a late evening on the

Seine watching the Eiffel Tower light up...

What's yours?

image via pinterest

The Non-Emergency Design Emergency

Tomorrow is our final installation day for the DC Design Showhouse. We have almost everything installed except for the custom concrete parsons table (which I've just been informed is non-existent due to it breaking into pieces). SO my assistant and I are off to the design center today in a mad dash to find a replacement table.

Wish us luck that a showroom manager takes pity on us, because we need this piece TOMORROW!

Ps. I truly stand by the belief that there is no such thing as a design emergency. (That is, unless I come home tonight emptyhanded ;)

We'll be twittering during our search today!

xoxo, Lauren

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Only in France..

I have seen these images here and there over the past couple of months and they are so dreamy! As I dream about the fun we are going to have on our trip to Paris and Normandy in May I am so excited! We are going to rent a little apartment and have the pleasure of staying with a wonderful fellow blogger. I am trying to make the time to create a post that is worthy of our plans!!!

For now you can enjoy this little bit of France and maybe just maybe some day you can stay here..

Little Victims... Photoshoot Prep

Since Spring isn't really doing its thing quickly enough for me, I am seriously craving green:

I love what plants do for rooms. Sometimes when I look at magazine rooms and cover up the plants/ flowers in them, they seem pretty lifeless. There's something about a pretty explosion of green (no matter how small) that I just love.

Our house looks like a greenhouse right now because I picked up a ton of plants for the DC Design House and some upcoming photoshoots I'm doing with my good friend & photographer, Helen Norman next week. This little orange tree will sit in a kitchen I recently finished with a vintage-styled green subway tile backsplash & dark walnut cabinets:

I found this cool pot at Merrifield Garden Center and filled it with this pretty little guy (I already forgot his name) for my room in the showhouse:

Love these moss pots:

And this gardenia is staying in my office for a while because it just smells like Heaven:

I picked up a bunch of herbs & topiaries for another kitchen:

I truly love plants. But I'm not very good with them. They tend to die here. My house is sort of like a plant hospice.

...BUT... the other day my assistant Meghan said I had a "green thumb."

I have played this compliment over and over in my head since then and even relayed it to my husband who argues she must have been being sarcastic.

I'm hoping I can change. I'm really trying.

There are plants in my house that have been here since September. Yay.

ps- loved all the comments from yesterday about vines. It's so fun to see that dialogue between the "romantics" and the "practicals." I definitely fall on the romantic side, but it's sort of like eating cookie dough... I'm sure once I got my first case of salmonella, I'd be done with cookie dough.

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

mcalpine tankersley architecture and the entry way

Your entryway speaks volumes about your home.

I think that McAlpine and Tankersley have some of the

best entryways that I have ever seen!

Don't you agree?

Climbing Vines

I've always wanted climbing vines on my house. I remember reading a book when I was a little girl that pictured a red brick house covered in ivy and how I wanted it. Yeah, I know, it's bad for the house, but I love it anyway. There's something so incredible about a wall of green and vines growing up a home. It blurs the line between the home and the land, which is something that the houses I truly love all have in common.

{Betsy Burnham}

I attemped to grow jasmine vines up a trellis in front of our house last year but they died in a harsh winter storm.

{image from 123rf.com}

Now I'm holding out for an evergreen clematis, which I grew up all over a fence in our old townhome and really took a beating. I'm having a hard time finding it again though. The last garden center I stopped at asking for it looked at me like I was nuts. :(

{image by Cassie Lee}

I would go nutty for this on my front walkway steps:

{image from bigstockphoto.com}

I might try it although I'm not sure if the treads on my stairs are deep enough.

{Image by Galen Frysinger}

Climbing vines give buildings a sense of permanance.

{image from 123rf.com}

I love it when they completely take over like this:

{image from trendr.tv}

And I cannot get over this ivy-covered turret:

{image via ehow.com}

And, finally, here's a secret garden:

{image by Gap Photos}

What I wouldn't give for a secret garden.

If I could completely wall in my backyard with hedges & vines, I would. I'm a pretty social person but I do love private outdoor spaces.

I am soo ready for March's lion to give way to the lamb.

It's time.

Come on Spring!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Lovely shades of cream

Simply love the layers of creams and whites to keep it interesting in these spaces.

The doors they make it!

images via

greige fairytale...

Love this dress..

so simple!

Advertise with greige

Interested in advertising on greige? I am now accepting sponsors for April.

For more information on advertising please check here.

image via maison marie claire

Rainbows in Paris

I just fell in love with these pictures -

they are from Oh Happy Day

and I have been visiting a lot over there lately.

Jordan has moved with her family to Paris for a year and

is blogging all about it!

I adore the little sofa that she just got and I am thinking that something

like that would look so great in just about any space!

Happy Saturday!

Herringbone wood floors...

The herringbone floors are to die for and the wall of windows..

yes please..

image via brown dress with white dots

The Mad Hatter & a question

The Mad Hatters arrived today for my room in the DC Design House and I am in love:

{My first Mad Hatter Wing Chair with a taupe velvet in front.. remember flash makes furniture look bad but people look better ;) }

I had recently seen pictures sent from the factory of the chairs and knew that they looked exactly as planned but didn't know until I sat in them that they'd be exactly what I wanted. They are sooooooo comfortable... And they're big and they surround you and make you feel seriously cozy. (Can you see how tall the back is?? And I'm a tall person.) You can sit in normally and really easily snuggle up with a kid or pet, or you can turn sideways & pull up your feet and it's perfect.

Here's the side view which shows off the insanely gorgeous Michael Smith / Jasper Fabric called Grace (in Willow). (Available through John Rosselli in DC)

I could take a nap in this chair:

Our curtains & pillows will come in on Monday and I cannot wait to see the Peter Dunham fabrics!! I'm also mixing in a few of my own along with some others so it should be pretty collected-feeling.

We hung art work today and I've been looking at the photos, wondering if what I selected is too disjointed? I approached the room as I would have a room in my own home, so instead of choosing pieces that work perfectly together, I went from my gut with pieces that I loved. Looking over the photos tonight, I can't tell if it looks like a totally crazy person did it or if it has that only-slightly-crazy Alice-in-Wonderland-feel that I love... I am toying with the idea of swapping out some of the more random pieces for ones that fit a little better (it is a showhouse after all)... or keeping it real and a bit off the way I typically do in my more personal spaces.

Any thoughts???

xoxo, Lauren

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.

Move-in Day!

We move into our room at the DC Decsign House today!! I CANNOT WAIT to see the Madhatter chairs from my new line in person. (They're covered in the most beautiful Michael Smith floral.) They arrived at our shipping warehouse this morning at 6:45 AM, just in time. They are our first prototypes.

{sooo excited}

Our Stark rug is arriving along with the chairs and we're hanging the paintings & prints today. The custom concrete piece I'm having made BROKE last night when it was being moved at the factory so we're in a bit of a pinch to get it finished in time. eeeksters!!

We'll be doing twitter updates today- first time ever so we'll see how it goes- on the process. To follow, go here.

Wish us luck that nothing else breaks & have a great day!!

If you'd like help creating a home you absolutely love, contact me about our design services.