Fall Home Catalogs

Love, love, love these Aviator Chairs from Restoration Hardware!

But the price point is a tad wee bit over the yard-sale-paint-diy chair redo.

Would die for this down-stuffed, almost ten foot long sofa...

Le sigh...

This bed {except for as styled in the fall Pottery Barn catalog with white curtains tied to the wood frame with semi-transparent ribbons}

And oh hey, did you see the Mason Jar lighting fixture on page 127? I believe that may have been inspired by this blog or perhaps this one too. But maybe its like the chicken and the egg... which one came first? I love that you can find how to do almost anything via the amazing skills of people out there in the blogosphere. Thank you DIY Bloggers! Perhaps I'll be able to contribute some day...

As for me, I am currently brooding and hunting for the right pendant light for our side door area/dining area/hallway. There is currently a stock brass chandelier that makes me cringe and since we just repainted the dining area Marmalade {Benjamin Moore} it makes the walls look fluorescent at night.

P. Allen Smith

I really enjoyed this NY Times Article on P. Allen Smith. As terrible as I feel saying this, I really did not have any idea who P. Allen Smith was before stumbling across the article. As an avid subscriber of Martha Stewart, she is my go-to gal for project inspiration, recipes and etiquette advice. I like to read her Monthly calendar so I know when the appropriate times for me might be to say, air out my duvet's, prune my roses and start baking that Christmas cake. Do I follow her advice to the T? Sorry Martha! I'm not nearly as prudent as you are... It helps that she has branded herself so well and has been able to apply the Martha Stewart name to so many everyday goods and objects. Whether you like her designs all of the time, or not, you know you are getting an aesthetically minded object when you purchase her goods. Okay, enough of Martha- for now. P. Allen Smith's gardens are beautiful, his home is really the "everyman's" home, and can I tell you how much I just love fans on a porch? Of course you can really only have that in the South... I've always felt a Southerner at heart. I am absolutely drooling over his outdoor bathing area.

{photo credits: Robert Rausch for The New York Times}

Spending a good amount of time on the shoreline I understand perfectly the concept of the outdoor shower, but an outdoor bath to soak, relax and (privately!) enjoy the out of doors just seems like a dream.

And I love the lighting in this kitchen... has me giddy.

{photo credits: Robert Rausch for The New York Times}

By the way, did anyone else think that the September issue of Martha Stewart Living was lackluster? Martha looked A-mazing on the cover (maybe too good?) but the rest seemed kind of... meh. I did appreciate that Swans Island Blankets, beautiful, homespun wool blankets from an island I grew up going to off the coast of Maine and one which my family still frequents, got a nod on page 46 but the rest was kind of dull and maybe a bit redundant? 

Happy Monday

It's a dreary day here in New England so I thought I'd leave you with a beautiful day in England...

{copyright a kiss on the cheek}

John Derian for Target

I 'm loving these silhouette plates by John Derian for Target collection.

Images via {nitrolicious}

They could serve nicely as special plates for the bride and groom at their table during the reception or they could just be a fun wedding present! The collection goes on sale on September 5th and I'm loving the Target price tag.

Pretty Things

I wish I had all of the pretty things that French Larkspur has...

Aren't her pictures just so refreshing? 

     

         {all pictures via frenchlarkspur}

I want all of it in my home. If I came home to these beautiful rooms everyday I would feel so at peace. 

HAVE I BITTEN OFF MORE THAN I CAN CHEW?

The other day, I suddenly felt so unbelievably overwhelmed that I didn't know what to do. So I sat down and started making a list and I started an excel spreadsheet for, you guessed it, my wedding. Quite by surprise, I started to feel better. I started to think that "No, I don't actually need to hire that wedding planner who is so awesomely fantastically perfect that I haven't even inquired how much they cost because I so much want to have them help me group all of my silly insane ideas for a wedding into one cohesive unit that makes sense." I did- I started to feel that way.
I also started to feel that way because the wedding dress that so far looks the best of any I have yet to try on is *gulp* $2000 more expensive than I was thinking I was going to spend. And with alterations running another *BIG GULP* $300 to $500 dollars, I really have no room for hiring people to do anything- not even a plumber to fix my leaky kitchen sink. I started to feel almost as good as when Paul McCartney calls you up to headline for him on your tour. Okay, maybe not that good.
But then, the next day, and frankly today, while staring at the shingle-style cupboard door that I was attempting to strip from the decades of people not caring and simply layering paint upon paint upon paint, I felt like perhaps I actually have bitten off more than I can chew.
I have a dream of attending some important graduate school that will help me achieve all the career and family goals in my life and for which I am trying to study for my entrance exams, I have a new-to-me house that is currently undergoing some aesthetic and superficial changes and I have a wonderful fiance with whom I am trying to plan a wedding. And we're doing all of this on a shoestring budget- like, a 2008 Recession era budget. I try to not get too overwhelmed but sometimes I just can't help it. As many spreadsheets as there are that I can create, I just can't create one that will create a lovely pivot table of my emotions. Not possible.
This doesn't happen that often to me. I'm always "if there's a way, I'll find it." Rarely does it happen that twice in less than a week I start to think that perhaps I've really taken upon myself too many tasks. So I don't know world, you tell me.