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

IKEA Hack: DIGNITET as Inspiration Board

A recent exchange with my friend Christine -- who's currently redoing her office -- reminded me of something I meant to post long ago.  I'm also in the (endless) process of updating my home office into a lovely creative zone, and I needed to find a solution for a long wall that my desk faces.  I thought about shelving (too heavy, visually and literally), a mirror (up at 5:30 a.m. to write? no thanks), and a series of prints (I've done that little trick in three other spaces in the house)...but nothing seemed right.  Then as I was cruising IKEA one afternoon, I came across the DIGNITET system in the Textiles department.  Meant to be used as a curtain wire in lieu of a rod, the DIGNITET system had all the right qualities for my wall.  It was super long (up to 197 inches), could be hung from the wall or the ceiling, was lightweight, and was easy on the wallet ($14.99 + $4.99 for each package of clips).  I snagged a kit plus two boxes of clips and a couple of days later (when I finally got around to installing it) I had the foundation for an ever-changing inspiration board.  Love it.

Image credits: IKEA; Paige Lewin and her slammin' photography skills (I'm working on it)

Shaker Peg Window Treatments

After two years, we're finally hitting our decorating stride and beginning to make our house feel like a home.  Next project on the list?  Our youngest son's room, woefully ignored up until this point, except for a quick trip to IKEA for a big-kid bed when we started to worry he was going to crack his head open from jumping out of his crib.  As I said, woefully ignored. 

I'm not quite sure where we're going to go with his room, but I'm definitely going to integrate this super-simple (and budget!) window treatment idea:

[scribd id=20442123 key=key-1w8ga5uxgrom9eulodli]

Grommet panels hung on a shaker peg board -- brilliant, right?  Easy-to-install and totally sophisticated. Love it.   Image credit: Coastal Living

No-Sew Custom Window Treatments

I believe that window treatments are like mascara for rooms – you don’t have to have them, but when you do the room looks finished.  I’ve had a long, sordid history with window treatments – not really loving most inexpensive pre-made ones and having limited ability to make more unique ones because of sub-par sewing skills and (cue the standard motherhood excuse) a lack of time.  However, my latest affair with window treatments ended beautifully, both for the wallet and the creative ego.  The key?  A shower curtain.  The cotton beauty came from eBay (for under $20 including shipping), and with a pen, a pair of scissors, some fusable webbing (it’s like permanent tape for fabric), an iron/ironing board, straight pins, drapery clip rings and a rod, I had new curtain panels in under two hours.  Shower curtains make it easy because they already have finished hems and you don’t need to go through the process of pre-washing the fabric because it’s already done.  Here’s how I made mine:

• Hang the drapery rod where desired (I chose to hang mine right across the top of the window molding)
• Place clip rings on the rod (I used 10 for each panel)
• Mark the center of the shower curtain by folding it lengthwise and making a small pen mark at the top
• Hang shower curtain from the rod, spacing clip rings evenly across both halves
• Determine how long you would like the panels to be by folding the bottom of the curtain and pinning
• With hem marked, take curtain down and lay flat on the floor or a table
• Make one long straight cut where you want the desired hem PLUS 2 inches.  For example, if it turns out you want 60 inches between the top and bottom hems, you should cut a straight line at 62 inches.  A yardstick or ability to follow a line in the fabric pattern helps in cutting a straight line
• Once the bottom hem is cut, make a straight cut from the mark at the top all the way to the bottom hem; now you have two panels
• Take one panel, and working the long side first, fold the edge over ½ an inch and iron all the way down.  Then, following the directions on the fusible webbing, make another ½ inch fold over the webbing and iron the seam shut
• Following the same directions as above, iron the bottom seam, except this time make the first fold ½ an inch and the second fold 1½ inches (it looks more finished when you have a wider hem at the bottom)
• Repeat for the side and bottom hem on the other panel
• Hang them up and enjoy the satisfied feeling you’ll have from making one-of-a-kind window treatments for your home!