o...otomi

every day i learn something new about texas, i have to say, the mexican food has, so far, been my biggest vice....but there is also so much more of the culture that i am loving to explore - and one of my favorites is certainly the beautiful, bold, hand embroidered otomi textiles.  they are really more than just fabric, they are works of art.  so far, only a table runner has fit in the budget, but i see lots of more of this in my future!

anne spiro

laviva home

marshall watson

cooking magazine

design sponge

table tonic

i...ikat

my latest obsession is certainly ikat.  there are so many different versions of this ethnic, bold weaving style that is likely one of the oldest patterns in existence.  the look is actually achieved by applying bindings, which resist dye penetration, to the threads before they are actually dyed - hence no two patterns are ever exactly alike. i just can't get enough.

sig bergmans apartment

architectural digest

bhg

domino

elle décor

elle décor

house beautiful

niche interior design

bhg

ballard

diy thursday....bookshelves

now that we own a house and haven't won the lottery, you will be seeing a lot more home improvement projects as the diy thursday posts....get ready. i figure some will look great and others may fail, but i will share our experience non-the-less.  my husband is starting medical school so he needed a place to study and relax at home, so we are using our future nursery? third bedroom as just that - his "man cave", and he got to do whatever he wanted in it (well...sorta, he married a designer and knew what he was getting into...).  he is bummed his 9' marlin from our honeymoon didn't fit in there, oh darn. anyways, he needed some bookshelves for the days ahead of studying and textbooks, so being the resourceful guy wanting to play with his new tools he is, we decided to make them ourselves.

it was a nice little saturday, oh how times have changed.....

c...chippendale

so i am on the hunt for new dining chairs - i love the mix and match idea (see november's post), so want something to pair with my upholstered ikat parsons chairs.  i have been eyeing the jonathan adler contemporary chinese inspired chippendale chair for a while and think i am going to go in this direction! so many fun colors and the style works so well with both a traditional or a contemporary design scheme

jonathan adler

jonathan adler

jonathan adler

hollywood regency faux bambou chair

jeff herr photography

jonh jacob interiors

jonathan adler

sarah richardson design

elle décor

elle décor

via pink wallpaper

the coral house on grace bay

christina murphy interiors

windsor smith home

and some look-alikes:

bungalow 5

lilly pulitzer

annechovie

t...texas

...and i am back! i can't even remember how long it has been since i posted last, but its been a crazy spring - as we have moved to san antonio, texas! but the most exciting part of that is that we bought our first house.....and what a project home ownership has already been.  we are in a cute, little, old bungalow that has a lot of charm and has needed a lot of work.  

i will post some of our projects in the coming weeks, but the first major one was redoing the guest bathroom.  it was in terrible shape, as you can see from the pictures - the pipes were completely corroded and leaking everywhere, the tiles were falling off the walls, and well...it was just plain gross.  it is a teensy tinsy little bathroom, so i kept it simple and used all white so it felt bigger and then played with different shapes and textures of the tile to give it visual interest. not to mention, the guest bedroom is navy with bright orange accents, so i already had enough going on.  here are the before, during, and after pics!

our first home!

before.....

during....

(the walls aren't purple...thats just the gyp board)

and after.... (the pictures aren't that great, they are from my iPhone)

z...zebra

one of our most favorite wedding gifts was a zebra rug - i have been eyeing them for a while now, and cannot wait to finally have it in our home! they are so stately and bold, yet so much fun and classic. i have heard that no two zebras have the same stripes....which makes for quite a unique statement in a room.

martyn lawrence bullard

belle maison

bhg

elle decor

elle decor

elle decor

elle decor

house beautiful

mary mcdonald

plush palate

todd romano

thibaut