Leslie Graff: Artist, Mother, and More.

October 5, 2011 Tess & Ted

When I first heard about Boston-based artist Leslie Graff from Design Mom, I instantly fell in love with her work. Tuesday night, while at Pivot Boston (an amazing event that brought together women who want to make or have made a change in their careers that bring them more joy/fulfillment/peace of mind/etc.), I squealed a little when I realized she was a panelist (actually it was more of loud WOOT! followed by a burst of clapping). After hearing her speak about the journey to her "pivot," owning an original Leslie Graff shot to the top of my wish list. I'm particularly fond of Leslie's Domestic Series, a collection of paintings that features an unidentified woman (turns out they're self-portraits) in fabulous heels running her household and raising her children. While the scenes could be straight out of the 50s or 60s, the clothes are just modern and sexy enough that I feel like Leslie has captured today's working mom and honored her in acrylic.

Learn more about Leslie's background, see her portfolio, and buy her notecards and prints here.

Image credits: Leslie painting from her blog Smart Mama; "Ironing it out" notecard from the Pivot Boston goodie bag

Kate Spade at Bed Bath & Beyond

July 28, 2011 Tess & Ted

Does it annoy anyone else that "Bed Bath & Beyond" isn't "Bed, Bath and Beyond"? Just me?

Okey dokey.

Anyhoo...in case you haven't heard, Kate Spade has made her way to BB&B. Maybe this is old news, but since I had a temporary absence from the design blogosphere, I missed the announcement until about three weeks ago. She's got some VERY cute stuff including dinnerware, crystal, and linens. But my very favorite piece in the entire collection is this little number...

One hundred percent cotton bedskirt perfection.

Love.

{And yes, I promise my next post won't be about stripes. Perhaps I should add "stripe-obsessed" to my profile?}

Photo credit: Kate Spade Heirloom Roses Bed Skirt, Bed Bath &Beyond

Because life is too short not to surround yourself with beautiful things.

January 24, 2011 Tess & Ted

{For those of you thinking you were going to get a post on some great product or DIY project today, please forgive this brief indulgence...we'll be back tomorrow with our regularly scheduled programming.} For four days last week, I indulged in my ultimate personal (not to be confused with family) vacation.

For four days last week, I caught up with an old friend, met at least thirty new ones, and basked in the warm glow of humor, creativity, entrepreneurship, inspiration, artistry, and seriously great fashion.

For four days last week, I attended the Altitude Design Summit, a not-to-be-missed bringing-together of social media and design professionals to hear from some of the Greats, learn new skills (screen-printing, tabletop photography, Illustrator, oh my!) and forge new relationships that will last beyond Twitter.

For anyone interested in the content of the panels, you can find summaries and commentary all over the blogosphere. Since I know many of my readers are not bloggers or designers and The Mudroom is not what one would characterize as a personal blog, I won't recount every life-changing detail. But I will tell you this...for me, the final keynote session of the conference, led by Swiss Miss Tina Roth Eisenberg, summed up my reason for starting this blog, and in some ways, my reason for being. During her address, she said many things that struck a chord for me ("don't start a blog unless you're passionate about the subject," "nobody can tell you what's best for you," "enthusiasm and integrity are your biggest assets," and so on), but it was when she was talking about her upbringing in Switzerland that she said the magic words:

"Life is too short not to surround yourself with beautiful things."

And that, in 15 words or less, is exactly why I started writing this blog.

Life is too short.

We probably all have some experience with that phenomenon, and maybe someday I'll write about mine. My life-is-too-short experience led my soul-searching husband to ask me three years ago "what is your passion...your reason for being?" to which I answered, my home and my family and my belief that everyone can live in a beautiful space that incorporates all the messiness of real life.

Some people may feel that's trite. But the architects and artists and designers of the world -- the ones that Switzerland celebrates on its bank notes -- would tell you otherwise.

And I'm assuming you guys and gals out there who occasionally stop by my little Mudroom here might feel the same, and that's why you keep coming back. So thank you...thanks for making my day every time one of you leaves a comment, or sends a nice e-mail my way to let me know that you look to surround yourself with beauty too.

Keep 'em coming, and I'll do the same.

xo Paige

P.S. - Thank you, thank you to the brilliant ladies of Kirtsy and the amazing sponsors for putting on this conference.

P.P.S. - That whole sponsorship thing really works. Haven't stopped thinking about the Honda Accord Crosstour since our chaffeured lift to Lamb's on Thursday night.

Photo credit: the super-sweet Grand America courtyard in Salt Lake City; photo taken by Paige Lewin

Inspiration for an Unexpected Home Office

August 11, 2010 Tess & Ted

Best laid plans.

I don't know about you, but when I move into a new space (which is more often than I'd like), I try to have it all planned out before the big day. The furniture, the wall colors, where the lamps will go. Everything.

But sometimes things don't turn out exactly like you expect. There's enough space for the couch on that wall, but looks terrible. Your pots and pans don't actually fit in the cabinets. The TV is perfect right there, but the deck door allows a little beam of the neighbor's outdoor light in exactly when you want to watch The Real Housewives airkiss and then rip each other to shreds. You get the picture.

Anyhoo, it turns out that one of the AWESOME things we didn't count on was that our fabulous extra-narrow cherry farm table that used to be in our dining room fit perfectly in our new kitchen, so we didn't have to buy a kitchen table and it freed up a whole room. Frankly, I've always thought formal dining rooms were sort of a waste of space, so rather than doing a home office/guest room combo (our original plan), we have the unexpected opportunity to have an entire room dedicated to an office (can you hear the chorus of angels?). I'd like our space to be:

Peaceful, with lots of work space,