New Pottery Barn Catalog

I normally throw the Pottery Barn catalog in the recycling bin before I have a chance to look through it because their cookie-cutter traditional pieces don't do it for me. The cover of the catalog I received today, however, caught my eye with it's fresh colors and interesting lines. Here are my favorite pieces:

Architect's Task Floor Lamp ($229). I love the scale!



Bridget Rug ($99 - $599 depending on size). Love the colors and the bold, graphic floral pattern!



Indigo Pillow Covers ($25 - $39 depending on size). Blue and white is a crowd favorite color combo. These pillows could be used easily anywhere in a blue and white room.



Manchester Pendant ($199 - $249). I adore polished nickel, and I think that the small scale with an industrial feel is a fun juxtaposition.



Milk Glass Lamp ($90). Fun curves in great colors!

Modern Bedding on Sale at West Elm

I'm searching for some new bedding, and in my searches I came across the Octagon Jacquard Duvet Cover and Shams from West Elm:



A set of 2 shams is only $9.99 and the comforter is $103 - $127, depending on the size. That's a pretty good deal for such cool bedding. I absolutely love the bright, bold, graphic pattern. It's very Jonathan Adler-esque, and waking up in that bed would make me very happy. Sadly, the color does not go with our room so I have to find something more subdued. But I can imagine a lovely bedroom (in a house near the beach perhaps?) with a fun orange and white theme (I'm not wild about the bedding with the dark wood headboard shown above; a glossy white bed frame would be better, in my opinion) that would keep a smile on your face.

Rug Deal

Ballard Designs has some real hits and some serious misses. Today I found one of the best pieces I've seen from them in a while - the Sahar Rug. The Sahar rug comes in three colorways (seen below) and for only $339 for an 8' x 10', it is an insane deal! (It also comes in 3' x 5', 4' x 6', 6' x 9', 8' round, and 2'6" x 10'.) We're contemplating buying the brown and white for our living room...







If you want to accent the Moroccan design of the rug in another part of the room, check out the Moorish Arches shades from Delia Shades (below).

Kitchen Appliances - Refrigerator and Range

We only have 4 or 5 weeks until our kitchen renovation begins, so yesterday I went and bought a refrigerator and range. My hubby stayed home with our daughter, and I went down to Gringer & Sons on 1st Avenue and 1st street. Javier was very nice and helpful - it was a great experience overall.

Refrigerator:

It was no contest. The Liebherr 24" refrigerator and freezer won hands down. Not only does it have all of the bells and whistles one could want from a 24" compact refrigerator, but it even looks cool when it is closed



and when it is open.




Range:

Javier asked me if I wanted a slide-in or a freestanding range and I assumed a slide-in because I want it to slide in between the wall and the sink. But slide-ins cost more than freestanding ranges and the main difference is that the slide-ins have a little lip (that was pretty ugly, if you ask me) that goes over the countertop around it. So, after all of that, I decided on the Bosch freestanding range:



It was one of the least expensive options, and it also wasn't as massive-looking as some of the other (especially GE) ranges. To me, it was the most aesthetically-pleasing range available.

Fabric Sources

A neighbor asked me for some fabric sources today, so I want to pass along some of my favorites to you, too. It's refreshing to know that you don't need a designer and a trip to the D & D Building to get great-looking fabrics at amazing deals!

www.fabric.com fabric below $7.95 per yard



www.moodfabrics.com



www.purlsoho.com fabric below $13 per yard



www.reprodepot.com fabric below $8.75 yard



And if you live in NYC, you can also visit B and J Fabrics at 525 7th Avenue (2nd floor).

Can you tell I was in my daughter's room a lot today? All of the fabric photos I included above would be great in a child's room, but these sources have tons of other fabrics too!

Room and Board Desk

I hope you all had a great weekend! We were all over the place this weekend, and one of our stops yesterday was the Room and Board store in Soho. We went to check out this desk that we're saving up for:



Our trip confirmed that we do love the desk, and we can't wait to have it in our home to hide all of the clutter that is currently sitting on top of our existing desk.

I must say, I was very impressed with Room and Board. They had quite a nice collection, and the only thing I wouldn't buy there is a sleep sofa. "Why?" you may be wondering. Well, they have two different types of mattresses. The first type is a very thin and uncomfortable-looking mattress which would surely cause some muscle damage. And the second type was a mattress with an inflatable part inside of it. I don't know about anyone else, but we're getting a sofa bed so that we no longer have to deal with our inflatable mattress and the holes that eventually appear.

New Side Table from CB2

Hi everyone.

I hope the warm weather (to those of you in the NYC area, especially) is bringing a smile to your face!

Check out this new Alchemy side table from CB2:




At $249 it's not dirt cheap, but it's pretty reasonable for such a cool-looking piece!

New Sofa!

I have some very exciting news: we purchased a new sofa! Yes, I am thrilled and I can't wait for it to arrive. It's a sleeper, so no more Aerobed sleeping for our guests - hooray!

Here it is:



It is the Fred Sofa from Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams, and we're having it upholstered in a very child-friendly dark brown microsuede. I was really tempted to go for the chocolate brown velvet (or was it mohair? I can't remember now), but the ease of care of the microsuede convinced me in the end.

What do you think?

Kitchen Renovation Update

Now that 2008 is upon us, we have decided to get moving on our kitchen renovation. Today we chose floor and backsplash tiles, so I'm very excited. Here's what we have so far:

Cabinets from IKEA



Porcelain floor tiles from Ann Sacks




Glass tiles for backsplash, also from Ann Sacks

This is the design:



These are the colors:







These colors look a little gray here, but in person they are creamier and go nicely with both the cabinets and the floor tiles. Oh, and to add a little depth and texture to the backsplash, we're going to use a mix of glossy and matte finishes. It sounds weird, I know, but the sample at the showroom was gorgeous!


Cabinet pulls from Restoration Hardware (which are on sale now - hooray!)




Slim refrigerator from Compact Appliance




Possible faucet set from National Faucet Warehouse




We still need to chose a range and countertop material, but that's about it. I'm leaning towards doing a Corian countertop with an integreated sink so that there are no seems and it just all flows easily. I'm so excited I can't stand it. I love when it all comes together and you're just chomping at the bit to get started.

So, what do you think?

Meet Vik Muniz

Happy 2008!

To ring in the new year, I thought I'd write about one of my favorite artists - Vik Muniz. Muniz was born in Brazil in 1961 and is now based here in NYC. He uses different media (including chocolate syrup, sugar, thread, and garbage to name a few) to create incredibly detailed photographs of known or recognizable images. Here are some of my favorites:

Medusa Marinara


Valentine, The Fastest from "The Sugar Children" series


Jackson Pollack in chocolate syrup


Self Portrait of the artist in dirt


I hope you love his work as much as I do!