"What We've Learned" at Velvet and Linen

It's Monday already and time seems to just be flying by!! We had a perfect chill weekend - just what we needed and now I cannot wait until school's out for the summer!!  (My husband, Dave, teaches...  and it's quite possible that teachers love summer vacation even more than the students.) 

{Brooke & Steve Giannetti's dreamy treehouse-like bedroom}

Today I'm guest blogging over at one of my favorite places, Velvet and Linen, for Brooke's new series "What We've Learned." 

{Brooke Giannetti}

I'm a huge fan of Brooke's.  I love her style and a project of hers never fails to drop my jaw.   She and her husband- renowned architect Steve Giannetti- have been featured in numerous publications/ magazines and are amazing.  They are such an incredible team and seriously every project they do is perefection.  Check out one of the latest-  the family's kitchen garden:

Is that not awesome???!!   ahhhhhh love it! Anyway, head on over to Velvet & Linen to read my post on "what we've learned."

Hope your weekend was fun and I'll be posting the finished shed/ playhouse pics this week!
xoxo,
lauren

In New York...

It was our first time out together (alone) since having baby Justin!  We hopped into the car...

... and headed into the city to see Eddie's window it in person (even better!):

Then we headed over to Buck House for a champagne toast ...

...to meet one of Eddie's best friends, Deborah Buck, below:  (images are Deborah's via The Peak of Chic.)

Deborah could not have been more fun.  She's got an amazing eye & is such a strong, determined woman.    And then we meet these 2 beautiful & sweet longtime friends of Eddie's, Debora & Ronny (below).  They both had this genuine way of making you feel incredibly special just by talking to you:

Above, you can see Eddie & Jaithan's good friend Austin in the background talking to Jaithan, and then Patricia AKA Mrs.Blandings showed up and I did not get a pic of her either of until later!  (I also missed Kay, who works with Deborah at Buck House---  I was so bad with taking pics!!)  Next we headed over to the cocktail party at Bloomingdales to celebrate Eddie's WIN!!.  (Below, me, Eddie & Dave!)  The dj played fun music and I was having trouble not dancing since it's been almost a year since I last went out & danced!

...Finally we headed out to an amazing Italian Restaurant with Margaret Russell & Matthew Talomie of Elle Decor Magazine.   Matthew is awesome & just so full of ideas.  He's incredibly creative & I can't wait to see all he comes up with.  Below is a pic of Matthew & Jaithan who we all know: 

And below, here I am with Deborah & Margaret, who was as poised & gorgeous as she always looks, and also very warm & open.  She's got a lot cooking in the next coming months with Elle Decor.  It was so much fun to see her & Eddie together after Top Design.  To say I admire her is an understatement.  I was actually really nervous to even meet her but she was so down-to-earth and nice that it went away quickly.  She was really interested in what everyone had to say and is very charistmatic.  (Like Eddie, but in a more subdued way.)   We all had some really interesting conversations but one that I wanted to pass on was about blogland rumors/ questions, etc.  As we all know, there are always crazy rumors going around in blogland about how much photo shoots cost, how advertising may or may not affect magazine content, etc. and Margaret would surely be happier to set the record straight than have us bloggers idly speculate.  If anyone ever has any questions about anything going on at Elle Decor or want information or photos for a post, I think she'd gladly answer them in an email.  As she also mentioned on The Skirted Round Table, when we use magazine photos for our posts, we should look for the watermarked images and make sure to credit the magazine and photographer. 

 

Here's the whole group below, & there's the famous Mrs.Blandings right next to Eddie up front:

And we closed up the restaurant and stayed way too long without realizing it...  I tried to convince Deborah & Patricia & Margaret to head out with us afterwards but it was LATE and I'm sure my plea of  "Let's go dance!" was not exactly enticing. 

I had so much fun & it was totally worth the drive!  Thanks so much to everyone for the experience & congratulations Eddie on winning the Big Window Challenge for Elle Decor!!

xoxo,

lauren

Eddie Ross's Elle Decor BIG WINDOW

Voting has started for the Big Window Challenge & I'm sure you can guess who's getting my vote.  ;)    In case you haven't heard, the Big Window Challenge is a competition between Bloomingdale's, Apartment Therapy and Elle Decor to see who can make the best Bloomingdale's window display using a piece from their new furniture line.  Eddie Ross (for Elle Decor) designed & finished installing his window, "The Modern Woman" Wednesday afternoon at Bloomingdale's.    (All subsequent photos by Addie Juell)

The window is the living room of an imaginary woman with a husband & 2 boys.  She's a hard-edged media mogul by day and a loving mom/ wife who loves to entertain by night & weekends ;)   She's treated herself to  this room and has taken a fairly traditional color palette of white & blues & injected it with bright pinks & oranges.  She 's not afraid to mix old and new. She displays her collections without apology and has surrounded herself with the things she loves.  I'd say the room is a bold modern take on traditional, but she'd say she doesn't care what it's "called," only that she loves it & it's very "her."  (She's a very confident woman.)  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

I think my favorite area of the space just might be the bar that Eddie created on the shelf.  (below) It's such a beautiful display and I am IN LOVE with those brass flowers!!!   (Brass is back baby! ;) The mix of brass, blue & glass throughout the room gives it a sparkly glow...  Imagine seeing it from the street at night! 

And of course the cocktail table is set to perfection:

Loving the lamps!  (below) The French man statue with his basket of pink candy is awesome.  Filled with chocolate or standard  mints it would have been fine, but filled with bright pink balls, it's funny & quirky.  It's the details like this that make me love a space & make it feel personal. 

And this woman is"real."  Here's the evidence in her cast off shoes, the comfy throw and a pile of magazines:

So now that you've seen the space, if you have the time, please go & vote for it!!!  You can also vote by texting "1" to 898-00.

The competition is fierce and Eddie needs our votes.  (The voting is set up at Apartment Therapy where you have to login to vote, but I promise it's really easy & they never send you emails bugging you.  It takes 2 seconds. )  We're allowed to vote twice/ day - once via AT and the other via texting- so I'm going to keep bugging you until they announce the winner on Friday, January 28th.  ;)  Anyway,  head on over here & vote and leave a comment if you can.  (I know Eddie would love your support.)

Dave & I will be heading up to NYC next week to see the BIG WINDOWS in person at Bloomingdale's.  We're so excited & hope we'll be celebrating Eddie's BIG WIN!!!


xoxo,
lauren


ps- Make sure to check out Maria Killam of Colour Me Happy's Before & After in the previous post

Thank you!!! Virtual Baby Shower!!

Yesterday morning I woke up to an email in my inbox from my friend Michele of My Notting Hill informing me that she'd hosted a "virtual baby shower!" She gathered a group of special blogger friends (I have more who weren't able to attend of course! ;) and they all picked out "virtual gifts" for "Baby Pure Style" (as some wrote- cracking me up!) & explained why they were giving them. Christian & I read the post in bed & it was so much fun! It was such an awesome surprise & I'm truly touched by everyone's thoughtfulness. Thank you so much Michele & everyone for joining her!! (I also started immediately following links to shop & can't wait to get the baby owl onesie from Michele, below. There are so many more things I'm thinking of getting too- it's amazing how well they nailed me- I loved everything!)

Jonie from Cote de Texas also wrote a very sweet (so complimentary she made me blush!) and hysterical baby shower post to join in the party. She "gave" me a new set of beakers for the baby's room so I don't have to steal the baby's beakers for photo shoots!!! hahahaha (The even funnier part is that I would love more beakers!! )

And here's the photo (below) of Betsy Brown's entry demilune that first sparked my beaker-love a couple of years ago:

I just feel so lucky to have met such amazing friends over this past year. I didn't even know what blogging was before I started & now I just can't imagine what it would be like without knowing all of you. Thanks so much for making me feel so special & for all the sweet comments. You all are the best & I'm just so thankful to have you.

I'll keep you posted on baby news- just a couple of weeks left!! And we'll be cranking out the projects until then!!

xoxo,

lauren

Here are links to the posts:

Michele's Baby Shower

Joni's post

Unbelievable: Jackie VonTobel

I can't contain my excitement: Jackie VonTobel (of Jackie VonTobel Home ) just launched her new fabric line & online store today!!!!! You HAVE to check it out -oh my gosh her things are SO BEAUTIFUL!! http://www.jackievontobel.com/



Her designs are too pretty for words... But I'll try of course! ;)




Everything is so fresh & energetic& happy!!!:
Lots of them are whimsical takes on the classics: enlarged florals & toile-like patterns (The design below is just perfection... It reminds me of a modern version of one of my Grandma's plates... Oh how I need it!)...



...chinoiserie in unexpected colors...



beautiful peacocks, huge paisleys with an enormous amount of white space ...



...Cheerful graphic patterns that are still curvy enough to be super-pretty. (Sometimes graphic patterns can be a bit too much for me & feel a bit trendy but not these!)



I could seriously find a spot for every one of her fabrics & pillows in my house. (I would love a closet full of her pillows to switch in & out seasonally. Just one of these would make a room!) You can choose to go with organic cotton or eco-friendly linen, depending upon the look & feel you're after.


She uses so many different color palettes & here are images of just a few:

.... had to share the greens & grays of course!!! But this blue too (below) - oh my goodness!!!

Anyway, you've got to check it out!! I am in love and cannot wait to use some of these for projects!!!

xoxo,

lauren

all images from jackievontobel.com

A GREAT bloggy DAY!!!

Thanks so much to the design gurus at The Skirted Roundtable for mentioning me in their discussion of high-low decorating! I think a lot of young designers & DIYers would love this podcast because it's all about getting the "look" for less. They mentioned the huge blow-up of the Durer print I did in my DR as an example:

Also, thanks so much to Terri Sapienza of the Washington Post for including me in this week's Blogwatch!!

Our Weekend With Eddie & Jaithan

We all know how good of an incentive having guests can be for getting house projects done... Well, Eddie & Jaithan coming to visit was the incentive of incentives!!! Dave & I basically agreed that this would be our deadline to "finish" the house. (We have so many more projects to do & we all know you're never really "done" but we did get to most major things.) I can't tell you how good it feels to be "done" (mostly) and to be able to share it with friends who know & understand what kind of hardwork/ creativity / rear-busting it took to get it done. Eddie & Jaithan couldn't have been sweeter when we took them around our house & proudly showed off our (Dave's) handiwork...


We all met about a year ago at the very first flea market tour they did when there less than 10 of us. We hit it off instantly (and I totally frightened Jaithan as he reminded me that within 5 minute of meeting him at the flea market I told him I had a dream we'd met & were friends.. hahaha Can you say low self-monitor???!) and it's just so nice to know such thoughtful, creative, fun people. (you know how great this blogworld is!! :)

Saturday morning I went to the Big DC Flea and got to see the end of Eddie's tour & was wowed again by all the valuable info & tips Eddie shared with the group. It's really developed into a fleamarketing class... where you learn to see things the way Eddie does... you see things for what they could be not for what they are. I also got to see a bunch of the bloggers from the party the night before & here's a pic that the lovely Leila from In the Tweeds sent me of us:

I also got really attached to this beautiful oil painting that I couldn't afford... The pic just doesn't do it justice. Maybe it was pregnancy hormones but I loved it so much that looking at it made me teary! hahaha I love that it's a young mother & baby... One day we'll collect art...


After the flea market we went out to eat with my friends Amy & Greg (the ones who helped so much with our garden/ yard!!) and E & J and their good friend Caroline who was a neighbor at their apartment in the city. Yummy bbq but I have no pics!



Then, we headed into Georgetown to take Caroline to her mother's (gorgeous!!) townhome. On the way we made a stop at one of my favorite thrift stores, UNIQUE in Falls Church and had quite an adventure there that deserves a post of its own one day! When we finally got back to our place, Dave was waiting and did a really casual antipasto of salami, prosciutto, sopressata, peppers, cheeses & apples along with a apple cider & prosecco... (Actually Eddie helped Dave put it together... Jaithan & I SAT. :) Sitting felt so good at this point and it was really sweet of Eddie to handle it. ahhhhh He is such a whiz and in two minutes flat layed it all out perfectly. Should we have even been surprised???



Then we just hung out all night & relaxed & of course had a blast. (You can't not have fun with them.) Since I forgot to take pics the afternoon before (shocker!) I remembered int he morning & here is Dave making some bacon & eggs for breakfast:



And here's some pics of the table... Eddie's pics are so much better so hopefully he will post. He made out super-easy breakfast look like a magazine spread!!! These are my Grandma Maestranzi's "wild clover" china:



Some pretty bread with my dad's knife from his company, Illinois Cutlery Works:



And I had to take a pic of the beautiful little silver ladle they got for me at the silver flea market. When I first arrived at the flea market Eddie asked me what I was looking for and I said a pretty ladle (I only have the big rubber-handled kind) and a little while later he handed me a ladle! They're both just so generous & thoughtful and when we got home Eddie showed me how to polish it with toothpaste! (I don't own silver polish- but after seeing how quickly polishing transformed the ladle, it's something I could get into... )




And here's everyone at the breakfast table... How did that Dole OJ container get on there?!!! oops! ;)





And one last pic before they had to leave for another day of flea marketing... (You can tell it's AM by my eyes-eesh! ;)




We had such a fun weekend & enjoyed a nice relaxing day at home on Sunday. It was even warm enough for Christian to take a romp through the sprinkler:

I can't tell you how great it feels to have had such a fun weekend with awesome friends & to be "done" with our house. (besides little projects) Both Dave & I just have this awesome feeling of accomplishment about the house and have already started to relax & enjoy Fall. (as much as people like us relax ;) thanks to everyone we met for an awesome weekend & of course to Eddie & Jaithan for letting us steal you for a day!

xoxox,

lauren

ps- I'll be posting pics of the house asap. Eddie took some too & his are WAY better so be sure to keep your eyes peeled on his blog!