Category Archives for decorating

wardrobe colors = decorating colors

I keep thinking about this blog post over on Emily Henderson’s blog.  Basically, she suggests that the way to figure out a color palette with which to decorate your home is to look at your wardrobe.  What colors do you wear the most?  Don’t include black and white.  The colors I gravitate towards are neutrals — dusty grays and oatmeals.  Don’t get me wrong — I love a good pop of color or even a loud pattern occasionally, but for day-to-day wear I tend towards calming neutrals. Like these:

oatmeal-and-gray-wardrobe

And when decorating I like the “base coat” for everything to be a soothing gray or creamy oatmeal. These like:

the-backdrop-to-decorating

This wardrobe to decorating palette thing even translates for accent colors.  When I wear an accent color it is usually a vintage pumpkin, avocado or mustard.  I also do this when decorating.

vintage-color-accents

Are your wardrobe and decorating color palettes the same?

All the images in this post are on my pinterest boards.

Do you know who Emily Henderson is? She won Design Star a while back and then she had her own show on HGTV called Secrets of a Stylist. I didn’t watch either of those when they aired but I have since watched some of the SOAS videos posted online.   My favorite episode is the one where she redecorates the living space for a young family into a Mad Men Bohemian style. So fun and chic.  Her blog is great too.

pojagi

Lately, I keep seeing this certain kind of window cover that looks like a transparent linen quilt.  I love it.  Apparently it is the Korean art of pojagi.

Bojagi or bo for short (also pojagi or bojaki) is a traditional Korean wrapping cloth. Bojagi are square and can be made from a variety of materials, though silk is common. Embroidered bojagi are known as subo.

Here is a video I found on the interwebs about a pojagi class at RISD.  I especially love the white pojagi dress that is put on like a hospital johnny.  It would be a lovely nontraditional wedding dress.

Below are more examples. Click on the images to be taken to the source.

I love the irregular angular shapes.

Below is a close-up of a curtain I made using vintage linen napkins.  I’d like to keep experimenting with this idea.  I’d like to create a larger curtain that is more pieced, like the examples above.

1160 South Street, Portsmouth NH 03801

My husband and I have a country mouse/city mouse problem.  I would love to live in the city and he would love to live in the country.  When we were on vacation up north this past weekend my husband really enjoyed being in a house that was on several acres, surrounded by trees with a river running in the back of the property.  We are happy in our present home but I wanted to see if there was a house that could fit both our needs.  I found one! This house is on South Street in Portsmouth, NH.  I could walk into town and my husband could be surrounded by trees.  Now if I only I had another half a mil.

I do love this house.  So quiet and not updated.  Sure, the carpet needs to come up but I would change very little about the place.  I would undecorate it.

daydreaming about ….. a vintage camper park

Today I returned home from a family reunion that was held up in northern New Hampshire.  I had a really good time but I can’t say I loved the place we stayed. . It was very …. ski lodge-y — overbuilt and over decorated.   It got me to daydreaming about creating a place to hold family reunions that would be aesthetically pleasing to my eye.  I started daydreaming out loud with my husband about running a yurt camp.  He came up with an even better idea.  He suggested we make a little village of vintage campers.   I realize this has been done before.  The images above are from El Cosmico in Marfa, Texas.  I absolutely love the look of this place and hope that I will be able to visit it one day.  I would love to recreate something this cool on Old Post Road in Kittery, Maine.  We could buy up vintage campers that don’t run anymore.  We could add porches,  outdoor showers, a clothes line and  vintage or up-cycled outdoor furniture.  It would need a common area with a grill for family gatherings.  It would be simple and clean and lovely.  Imagine the D.I.Y weddings you could hold at a place like this.

My uncle has a saying — “You know how to create a million dollar business?” — Start with two million.

I need two million. xo

salvage sisters, continued…..

I found them!  Urgh.  I’m so mad I missed this vintage market pop-up shop.  The quality of their selections is remarkable.  I’m following them on FB now so if they have another one I’ll be sure to try and go.  You can follow them too, just click here. Pop-up shops are such a great idea.  Don’t you think?

salvage sisters – dover, nh

I found this on Craigslist:

Vintage Market- Boutique-style barn sale (338 Washington Street Dover, NH)

“Opening for one weekend only Vintage Market is not your average yard sale. The Salvage Sisters have put together a collection of one-of-a-kind items with your house in mind. Using our eye and talent for painting, sewing and styling we have up-cycled, re-cycled, re-vamped and re-imagined a collection of pieces including furniture, home accessories and accents, chalk boards, table top serving pieces, mirrors, frames, stoneware, trays and one of a kind items. Come by and check us out Saturday June 23 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday June 24 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. 338 Washington Street Dover, NH. Cash sales only. “

I can’t find anything about them online.  I’d like to follow them on Facebook so I don’t miss the next pop-up shop.  Does anyone know anything about them?