growing up

Castles in the Sand

Since Emma Wilson and Graham Carter moved to Morocco, they have been renovating old Moroccan homes and making them available to the public. This house above is for sale! That kitchen is incredible with the original columns and the new built-in stone island. Below is the Dar Beida available for tourists to rent out. I'm a sucker for homes with the soft plaster finish, built-in shelving and cubbies.

found via designtripper

Los Angeles

Around Memorial Day weekend I spent three days in Los Angeles with my college roommate who lives in Redondo Beach. The landscape was full of bizarre Seussian trees. We spent the first day around Redondo Beach, and West Hollywood.

Highlights:The Pacific Design Center**** This place is massive and expanding. The first two floors are dedicated to interior design showrooms.

Melrose shopping was prohibitively fancy, but I'm not the target market anyway. (pictured above) Signage along Melrose Avenue.
Eats: Urth Cafe*** Good, but too expensive for cafe food

The Melrose Project**** Amazing antique furniture displayed beautifully

On the second day after a long drive to Santa Monica we stopped at The Misfit for lunch (pictured above). We had the surf and turf sliders and the stuffed piquillo peppers. Beautiful presentation, the peppers were pretty good. The buns on the sliders were buttery and delicious but I guess I'm not a big fan of lobster. We rode bikes from Santa Monica pier to Venice Beach, and then further inland to Abbot Kinney. Abbot Kinney had some cute little shops and is definitely worth a visit.
Eats: The Misfit ***
N'Ice cream ** great sorbet, flavorless gelato

Fred Shand

Anthropologie has been highlighting artists and selling one of a kind pieces on their website here. I can't get enough of textile artist Fred Shand's an amazing sense of color, shape and texture. You can purchase her one of a kind or limited edition textiles at Anthropologie.

Pictures from Anthropologie and Fred Shand's website.

mapping

My new favorite mapper Lotta Neiman. Thanks to Sarah L for the link.

Lena Corwin, check out her Maps compilation book. You can also see her maps in Elle Decor Magazine.


Rifle Paper Co.

I was working on a map for my latest invitation and I used these for inspiration.
This is a great photography project, Back to the Future.

Egg-site-ing

Is this not the most adorable website ever?

recent invitations

Moody blues

I have been craving a dreamy blue living room for a while now. Still havent found the perfect rug and coffee table. I want this Masai rug in the Ikea rug colors! Which table & rug pair do you like?

Image from Living Etc. sourced via poppytalk.

Sneak peak at design*sponge.

image source unknown

Masai Rug - West Elm

Stockholm Triangle rug - Ikea

Crocodile rug

Monarch coffee table - Anthropologie

Plank house coffee table - Anthropologie

Aiden coffee table - World Market

Headboard

I finally finished my upholstered headboard! This was a beast of a project and I don't recommend it for the faint-hearted or for your first upholstery project. I mostly followed directions from this youtube series. It was extremely informative despite the silly music that is permanently ingrained in my head. The project ended up costing around $250 and I have a new appreciation for a perfectly upholstered piece of furniture.

A few recommendations -
Home Depot can cut your wood down for you.
An electric staple gun may be worthwhile (by the third layer of material I was having issues with the staples securing)
I wouldn't wash your material first, it just put in more wrinkles than before.
Wear ear protection when stapling.

Modern Moroccan Palace

Liz Bruce's home in Morocco featured in Elle Decor reminds me of Malene's home that has the traditional art and furniture paired with the boldly colored walls.