Ice dyeing- mink and robin's egg blue

http://instagram.com/p/eRATTKSeco/

Florentine accessories- all the rage for the holiday season

Florentine home accessories are perfect for the holiday season. They are in lovely colors and offer the sparkle of gilt wood to catch the candlelight of the holiday season. Here are some great Florentine items from Porch and Parlor on Etsy.


Florentine tissue box in mossy blue and gold.

Cream and gold diamond top box.



Three candle wall sconce in black and gold.

The next furniture flips! the tables

First, I was TOTALLY into chairs, now it's tables. By the end of this weekend, I plan to refinish and paint two side tables purchased from Scott's in Atlanta and finish my make-under project. As well as dwell on a table for a client.

Here's the line up!

 

This pair is going from medium wood tone with a gold finish to...

 

 

Or maybe a blue like this...

Then there is this treat of a bedside table... maybe a stain, maybe a paint job, maybe both! How cool would this be with the interior of the shelves painting a contracting color!

Warding off evil at home- haint blue, jack-o-lanterns and bottle trees

Great Haint Blue porch from franklinpainting.com

Tis the season to to protect the home and hearth from ghosts, ghouls and goblins. Historically, keeping out spirits was a year around battle. The best protections was to keep them from entering the home through windows and doors, scare them away or to capturing them in the yard.

Common to the Southern United States is a shade of blue that was painted on porch ceilings and inside window frames. This color was intended to prevent ghosts, commonly called "haints" a derivation of haunts, from entering the home through the openings. It is a lovely shade of sky blue that rather extends the sky onto the porch. Perhaps that is how it ward off evil spirits, at night the porch looks like day and everyone know spirits called haunt you during the day. Haint Blue on the porch gives even the most modern home a historic context and feels like a cool drink of water on a hot day.

Carving ghoulish faces in fall vegetables are common in many parts of the world. Typically the indigenous vegetables are placed outside the home to scare away the local goblins! Of course pumpkins are common in the States, however, in Europe, large turnips and rutabagas are used. Pumpkins are not just for Autumn, the color is flattering to all skin tones and makes a lovely color for gathering places like family rooms and dining rooms.

From Walterreeves.com

Capturing spirits before they get to your house and are warded off by your haint blue. Bottletrees were originally designed to capture spirits by hanging bottles from trees or by placing the bottles on ends branches. With so many colors of bottles available, the bottletrees create a stain glass effect in your lawn. Driving in the country, often the bottles are blue. Perhaps there in a correlation between the haint blue and the blue bottles Or maybe, people in the country use a lot of Phillips milk of magnesia.

Eco-Chic at Home- The Boy's Nursery

Boy's are all about being on the move. So, today I am looking at decorating a nursery for a boy with the concept of movement. Layering on the component of green design, we will be looking at buying local, handmade and recycled. Maybe people think about being green as simply recycling, however when you think about green in a holistic way you see that it is about the conservation of thing. Buying items that have a longer "shelf-life"maybe as a conversion item, buying items that do not cost a lot in fuel to get to you, and buying items that come from something that can be grown again easily or that used to be something else are all ways to look at the concept of green. So, antiques are green, and so are items made by local artisans! Here are a few great designs that follow some of these ideas!

All items can be found of Etsy! The first items in the list is from a member of one of the Etsy teams I am a part of and called Alabama Accents. This team is doing a promotions drive and featuring one team member a day

BronstarDesigns on Etsy brings us this great growth chart all about easy modes of transportation! I love the clear color palette of blue and red!

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Movement can also be about the air and unseen forces! This Modern Mobile- The Supernova in Deep Red by The Wonderland Studio is a great contemporary design that adds color and movement into the nursery.

What a great vintage scooter from LilAndLou! Not only would this be a great early mode of transportation, but it also brings some history to the nursery. Because of the narrow profile, under 6 inches, it would also make a great wall piece. So, you have a recycled piece that is wall art and functional once your little mover gets moving! What a great way to celebrate green design.

These fun little bicycle pillow can add repetition into a space. Repetition is a great way to add pattern without creating visual clutter. Soft artwork is great for little hand and chewing mouths! These organic bicycle pillows comes from BirdMafia on Etsy.

I love mixing moderns with vintage, especially when the larger piece can grow with the child. This Bamboo storage cabinet would be great for storing books and toys now and a TV later. Because the piece is made of bamboo plywood the piece is strong and from renewable materials! This piece is from MaddoxStreetStudios and the only problem with getting this piece home if that you might want to keep it for yourself!