Just for Fun

For those of you who know me well, you know that I'm obsessed with photography and Instagram. I've often referred to myself as a frustrated photographer. I've joked that maybe in a previous life, I was a photographer (or a florist, but that's for another blog post!). 

There are a few big walls left in le petit townhome that are just calling for some fun framed photography. Particularly the hallways. And in the spirit of saving money and keeping in mind our current home is just a rental, (although I think art is a wonderful investment that can work in any home you may move to if you truly love it!) I had the idea of doing a gallery wall of my favorite Instagram prints, like you see in the inspo pic above. 

I like the layout of nine prints. Since our walls are beige, I'm thinking maybe white frames will look best.

Ikea Ribba Frame in White

Or maybe even a classic darker wood for some sophisticated contrast. 

Ridge Distressed Gallery Frames from Pottery Barn

Thoughts?

And for the nine pics, I'm thinking these:

The Chicago Bean

Coit Tower Palm

Sausalito Rocks

Grand Central Hustle

Golden Gate Glory

BPL

Paia, Maui

Columbus Circle

Grand Army Plaza

These were all taken by Yours Truly in my travels across the US, and just every day life living and working back in NYC. By looking back at my Instagram feeds, it's obvious that I am inspired by travel, city architecture and colorful culture. I wanted to do a little sampling that shows that and selected photos with some meaning and memory to always remind us where we came from and where we may be heading. 

Don't worry - there's more where this came from! Just for fun, I've added a little photography portfolio on the website. You can view it here.  

Sooo, what do you think? Should I use the nine I've listed above, or should I switch some out? Light or dark frames? Tell me tell me! By far the hardest project is always decorating for myself. 

~L.S.

I've Got the Blues Part 1: A Boho Blue Big Girl Room

I've got it bad - for the blues! In the next few posts, I'll be doing a little series on how almost all of the rooms at Project Gearyed Up (aka le petite townhome) are sprinkled with some variation of blue. Because, who doesn't like blue, right? Blue is the Switzerland of colors. It's a color that both spouses often agree on during the design phase of a project. It commonly acts as as neutral. For example - navy. Totally a neutral. (So is leopard, but that's another story).

Blue is calming and cooling. And since that is the theme of our new lifestyle in Cali - to try to chilllllll outtttt - I found it fitting for our new place. But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let's start back where it all began, back in the 11238-  In the heights of BK.

Since Avery's gender was a surprise (no, it wasn't hard not knowing and yes, we would totally do it again!), we wanted to do a neutral gray. If you know me at all, I love a good gray. Both in the wardrobe and the home. My belly was quickly growing into bowling ball status, and we needed to figure out the nursery. After pouring over about 452 gray paint swatches, we finally picked one and had it painted. I believe it was a color called Silver Ice, but don't quote me on that, because I blocked it out.

When I waddled home and opened the door to the freshly painted nursery in excitement, I basically burst into tears. What was supposed to be an ethereal gray was instead a sad, flat ivory. I just couldn't bear to spend hours and hours of our future life with our future bundle of joy in a joyless nursery with "whomp whomp" walls! So, Eric spent the entire next weekend repainting. (I know, I know. Husband and Dad of the Year Award).

After a nauseating amount of Pinterest research, we went with Benjamin Moore Stonington Gray the second time around. Home run! Totally recommend if you are one who is stumped by the bucketloads of grays on the market. It's enough of a color to make a statement, but it's not too dark if you're a little afraid of something dramatic.

Fast forward 2+ years to Ms. Avery Etta's second birthday and the purchase of this play kitchen whose color I can only describe as a "retro robin's egg":

Since it took me going on ten hours (and 10 glasses of wine) to put it together, she is keeping it in her room until she goes to college. In fact, she will be forced to play with it until she marries and moves into a house of her own, at which time I will still keep it in tact for my future grandchildren.  Good thing I actually really love the color, because this thing is here to stay.

After I lost a day of my life assembling it (some of the hinges are still questionable), I stood back and admired my work.  In my tortured decorator's brain, it bothered me that this tied to nothing else in the rest of her pink and gray room. Thus, as you'll soon see, it acted as the #inspo for her new "boho blue big girl room". 

Here are some shots of her old nursery in Brooklyn from over the years, so you can see some of the pieces that journeyed along with us to the bay.  

The Oeuf Sparrow Crib, Grey Pedestal Table by Safavieh and the crystal lamp (Homegoods!) all came with us to SF. Oh yeah, and the baby! 

The owl lamp and "love" bin (both Homegoods steals!) came with as well.

Sadly the Sputnik fixture by Shades of Light and the roman shade (made on Etsy) were sold as "fixtures" along with the apartment. But the white bookshelf and gray and white bins came with, so I wanted to work them into the new design.

The West Elm dresser, changing pad, mirror and basket all came with.

For our Cali house, I was ready to have a little fun and go with something different. I wanted Avery's Big Girl room to feel calm and relaxed, with a playful touch of whimsy-boho. Here is my original mood board for her room (and bath), complete with shop-able links below:

Grey Patterned Roman Shades // Burlap Ceiling Light // Benjamin Moore Polar Ice // Play Kitchen // Glider // Existing Pillow (Land of Nod, discontinued) // Crib // Shower Curtain // Pouf Ottoman // Area Rug // Pom Pom Bath Mat

I chose an iced out aqua (Benjamin Moore Polar Ice 1660) to bring in the tones of the play kitchen and complement the wool area rug that I fell in love with. It was a little tough picking out paint colors from across the country with access to neither the house nor the rug. So, all things considered I would really like to toot my own horn here and say that I am super happy with the result. Toot toot!

Mirrors are old, from TJMaxx. The shag and sequin pouf is from Homegoods!

I also dug these capiz shell mirrors out of the archives. They were a TJMaxx find back in the day when Eric and I first moved in together in Manhattan! #Memories. They've been in and out of rotation over the years, but I thought they looked great with the cream tones in the rug and brought in a little touch of a natural material.

Since this pic was taken, we've had some major, groundbreaking developments, i.e. a toddler bed and swivel glider. Turns out our little genius was planning her escape from jail and piling up stuffed animals in the crib to build an exit ladder. So, before she succeeded in her prison break we promptly converted to the crib into a toddler bed. I'd say it's going relatively well. In toddlerhood, it's all relative, right? Right?!  Someone please answer me! 

Here is an updated pic:

Drum light is from Shades of Light, and the swivel glider is by Bassett

A little late to the game with the swivel glider, but we love having a place to cozy up and read/nod off. And it's done in a soft neutral linen, so if and when baby #2 comes along, it remains gender neutral. It could even go in a living room down the line. Who says a swivel glider needs to stay in a nursery?

You can see a little hint of the famous blue play kitchen here on the left.

You may recognize this bookcase from the old nursery. We flipped it horizontally to provide easier access for Av to her toys and books, and now the top is more accessible for us adults. We also had the blue glass lamp from wayyy back in the day when the Brooklyn nursery was a man cave/office. #repurposing.

Decided to switch it up and do a gallery wall over the changing table instead of the mirror this go round. Couldn't resist the bear print from Pillowfort by Target. Also featured in this lovely gallery wall is a wooden A from Marshalls, a framed sonogram pic, and a collage handmade for Avery's by her grandmother Mimi. The hamper basket is by West Elm.

And here is that famous play kitchen. It ended up fitting perfectly under the window. Not a great pic because the sun didn't have a cloud to go behind for the shot (#caliproblems), but you get the idea. And it looks like Peppa Pig is ready for some dinner!

So, hope you enjoyed the tour, and Part 1 of the "I've Got the Blues" series. Feel free to drop a note in the comments section below! Do you love it? Do you hate it? To each their own. And don't worry, there are many more blues to explore yet. Stay cool-(toned)!

~L.S.

Right at Home: Decor with a Lighter, Softer Look

Still working on getting le petite townhome up and running, but in the meantime, I wanted to share a fun feature I received today on Yahoo News! It's all about decorating with lighter, "whispier" forms and materials, such as lucite and faux furs. You can read the article in it's entirety here. 

And don't forget, I Love Lucite !

~L.S.