Chocolate and Turquoise revisted- Etsy shopping

My chocolate and turquoise post was one of my most popular in the last few months. So, I thought I would revisit the color combo with new Etsy shopping items!


~pin this~

Clockwise from the top:
Fern pillow ($16.99 +SH), Hand painted platter ($145.00 +SH), Flower pillow ($34.99 +SH), Woven basket ($58.00 +SH), Hand turned wood vessel ($195.00 +SH), Alligator embossed leather ($5.99 +SH), Mosaic mirror ($200 +SH), Vintage sugar bowl ($12.95 +SH)

The alligator leather would be great added to a picture frame, the base of a tray, or to re-line a wood box!

fretwork - recycling great pieces

Fretwork is an easy item to recycle into the home. It is lightweight, decorative, and adds depth to a space from the age or patina of the pieces. Below are some great uses for fretwork that has been re-imagined into more modern spaces.



hotel room screen screens bath from bed



Fretwork as "shutters" from Elle Decor

Fretwork mirror from http://circawho.com/category/mythoughts/

Aluminium of the 1960's- in full color

Vintage aluminium clothespins from
LittleBeach Designs on Etsy- already sold. See more below.

       Though the buzz word with the business men was "plastic" in the 1960's, the hot item for women was anodized aluminum.  The home was still the woman's domain and she was exercising her rights to choose. She choose color, crisp primary colors like only anodized aluminium can offer! Anodizing is an electro-chemical process that took the light weight silvery material and transformed it into vivid color. And because of the shine of the aluminum the colors were metallic in a way. And, though not as strong as steel, stronger than ceramic and much liht weight than both. It was the perfect material for partyware and came if an array of party colors.

These vintage clothes pins reminded me of my childhood and going to a neighbor Eva Mae's house, who has grandchildren my age, to play and she would pull out her multi-colored tumblers and fill them with liquid that seemed exotic in those glasses, but was probably just Kool-aid.

Here are some great 1960's anodized aluminum item from Etsy. Please click on the link in the caption to take you to the item.

clothes pins from Avericia

buttons for Fagin's Daughter

Mid Century Modern tumbers from Glamour Girl Antiques

Bowls from Soogees

expanding files from HabitusVA

Coasters from Four Proffitts Vintage

Neutral no more- adding color to your home interiors, part one

I recently had the pleasure of teaching a community school class on adding color to your home. I would love to share some of the information from my research here in a multi-part series.

With the help of my new best friend Olioboard.com, I was able to create this mood board to add color to a neutral room. Neutral spaces seem to be all the rage on home design TV shows, but they lack some zip in real life. In fact, studies show that your brain has a hard time distinguishing edges in a space where the colors are close together. By adding color to a space, you can break up the larger areas of the same color with visual interesting pieces.

Cool greys and creams can create a soothing space, but too much of a good thing it not always good! I have chosen a taupe, cream and teal color palette for this living room and created additional visual interest by adding elements in a lighter version of the teal. I choose to layer natural elements over room with the addition on tree form based table, faux bois drum table, sconces with a limb look, and bamboo look to the shelving as well as a floral pillow and pillow with nests printed on them. The formal sofa with the french lines is made fresh with the fabric and painted wood in a similar color. And though the space reads a modern due to the light teal pieces and the lines of the West Elm wing back chair, the space has classic elements with the sofa, patterned wall paper and classic lines of the storage piece. Because I love some sparkle on a space, I have add the Bourgie lamp from Design Within Reach. Want in item from this board or want to know more about it, just drop me a line at laurlself@gmail.com and we can chat!