A Touch of Nautical

About this time of year, the stripes start to send signals...

...that spring is coming!

I love a touch of nautical in my wardrobe, but I've always been a bit of sucker for it in my home too.  Remember this post?

Last fall, I went to the Brimfield Antique Show with my friend Cheri, and I fell in love with this guy...

Cheri didn't get my crush on him, and frankly, I couldn't explain it.  I just knew I had to have him.  It's not like I come from a family of sea captains, or grew up in Gloucester, or particularly like Salty Dogs, but I loved the idea of looking at his grumpy eyes every day.  So now he lives in my downstairs bathroom, freaking the crap out of people when they walk down the hall.

A touch of nautical?  It makes my captain feel right at home.

Image credits: J.Crew; EmersonMade.; Tea Accessories; Oh Captain, My Captain and his close up taken by Paige Lewin's iPhone; Dash & Albert; Uncommon Goods; L.L. Bean; Wisteria; Anthropologie

Catalog Living

Logic quiz: Poor self-image is to fashion magazines as WHAT is to home decor catalogs?

I don't know either, but sometimes I feel like I have it, whatever IT is.  Occasionally I get sort of taken over by staging my house...rolling up the throw blankets and storing them just-so in a gorgeous basket (you're cold? grab one of these!), propping the white ceramic fish platter in a plate holder on my kitchen counter (look, it's art!), stacking up a pretty set of books by my bedside (who has time to read?).  Maybe it's some form of OCD, or maybe it comes from buying and selling multiple houses in the past five years (never know when you're gonna have to put it on the market!), but I suspect that some of the obsession comes from looking through too many home design catalogs and shelter pubs.

Luckily, my little brother pointed me to a hilarious site that reminds me how idiotic some of those scenes from Pottery Barn (and others) are.  Catalog Living follows the fictional life of Gary and Elaine, the passive-aggressive, accessory-obsessed couple who live in your catalogs.  Created by actor and Tufts graduate Molly Erdman, Catalog Living now serves as my daily reminder that I shouldn't worry if my throws aren't just-so.

{But really, a little staging never hurt anyone.}

Image credit: Catalog Living, January 20, 2011

Wordless Wednesday: A Sneak Peek

A few weeks ago, I noticed that one of the blogs I follow started doing something called "Wordless Wednesday."  Then a few weeks later, another.  Call me slow, but apparently this wordless business is sweeping the blogosphere, and as a working mom of two who is attempting to set up house, keep up a blog she loves and do some design work on the side, all without moving to Crazyville, I'm totally for it.  So here's my contribution to Wordless Wednesday...a sneak peek of our new-to-us house. 

Then (a mere 4 weeks ago)...

...and now

How to Charm a Chain-Link

Fence FabricJust a couple of months after my husband and moved into our first home, giant metal fence posts showed up on the side property line separating our house from our neighbor.  First, we were concerned -- had we done something wrong?  Had we offended him?  But then we got annoyed.  We were first time homeowners, so we didn't really know any better, but it just felt wrong that a neighbor would but up a giant, u-g-l-y, chain-link fence in the front of our property without, at the very least, leaving a note on our door.   So we gathered up our joint gusto and headed next door, trying to convince him that the chain-link monstrosity was not the way to go.  How about a natural barrier of shrubs? Um, no, the decision has already been made to have a fence.  Then how about a nice extension of our beautiful backyard cedar fence...our treat? Sorry, the posts are already in and my mother is paying for it. (hmmm...) 

We'll never really know why he (or his mother, I suppose) wanted to put up that dang thing, but we sure wish we had known about Fence Fabric at the time, because a faux stone wall, some everlasting foliage, or heck, even a cow pasture would've been better looking than that thing he put up.

{Thanks, Rochelle of Studio G, for the great resource!}

Photo credit: "Brent Wood Wall" by Fence Fabric