Home inspiration: Welcome mat

A welcome mat is the first thing you see when you come home. It truly welcomes you! This one is really sweet, don't you think? (Anyone know where to find something similar?)

P.S. Another funny welcome mat.

(Photo by Love Made Me Do It)

Do-it-yourself cloud artwork

Since Alex and I are giving our bedroom a makeover, we've been thinking about new artwork. Well, this is genius: Amber took her a snapshot of clouds and then blew it up on glossy poster paper for $30. Then she framed it in an IKEA Ribba frame. The whole project cost less than $60, and it's gorgeous! Double thumbs up! I'm super inspired.

(Photos by Amber Interiors, via Little Green Notebook)

Home inspiration: Hanging bulb

Oh my goodness, I'm in love with this beautiful room. Everything from the vintage frames to the topiary to the flickering candles are just gorgeous, don't you think? But most of all, I adore that hanging bulb. Any idea where you might find one?

Update: Here's the rest of the house. It's from a real-estate listing in Sweden, believe it or not!

(Photo by Alvhem, via Abbey)

Home inspiration: Black and white

Loving this print and crib sheet. They both pack such a punch!

(Photos by Mia Linnman and Kjerstis Lykke, via The Boo and the Boy)

Home inspiration: Brooklyn brownstone

My friends Mike and Emma shared photos of their Brooklyn brownstone on Design*Sponge this week, and it's as quirky and fun as they are. The coolest part? They have an actual Alex Katz painting in their living room. They found it on eBay for a deal, since it had a small tear in the corner. ("I could care less," Emma says.) Incredible.

And on their perfect paint color: "When we bought the house, the walls were orange—sherbet orange—it was very Santa Fe," says Emma. "We knew we had to get rid of the orange. We spent a lot of time thinking about blues and greys, and this is Wedgewood Blue."

P.S. Their awesome Manhattan wedding.

(Photos by David Land)

Natural nursery

Textile designer Lena Corwin is putting together the loveliest nursery for her little boy. She pays great attention to natural materials (which she talks about on her wonderful new baby blog.) What a lucky little man!

P.S. The crib sheet is from Garnet Hill; the blue blanket is from Pendleton, and the fish mobile is by Flensted.

Home inspiration: Patchwork quilt

This bedroom looks so cozy! I'd love to have (or make!) a patchwork quilt one day. They can brighten up an entire room and give an instant sense of history.

(Via Design*Sponge)

Home inspiration: Towering bed

Doesn't this bed look straight out of a fairytale? Brooklyn designer Evan Haslegrave lofted his bed and draped it in sheets because he "liked the romance." (Also, he adds, "I didn’t want Jake, my dog, to jump in.")

Home Inspiration: Hanging family photos

One of the coolest things is when people blow up everyday family photos into enormous pieces of art. The new issue of Lonny Magazine has a house tour of Lulu de Kwiatkowski's fabulous Los Angeles home. I LOVE the photo of the man and child swimming. Doesn't it make you want to hang some huge family snapshots?

(Update: Lulu says the photo--of her husband and his nephew--was taken underwater with a disposable Kodak camera and blown up onto Plexi glass by Duggal Photo in New York City. Good to know!)

Home inspiration: Trapeze!

My friend Sophie (of the amazing children's brand Oeuf) has a wooden trapeze in her Brooklyn living room. She used to go to trapeze school in California, and now she has taught her kids a bunch of tricks. "They do knee hangs and swing quite high," she says. "They think I look like a big whale, but I do it to amuse them. We thought they'd use it for five minutes and never again, but it's completely part of their daily life. We call them monkeys."

(Photo from Milk Magazine)

Dream room

What a beautiful room, don't you think? I'd love to spend an afternoon in that chair.

(Photo credit unknown, via Lost)

Home Inspiration: Dog portrait

Isn't this dog portrait awesome? He looks hilariously regal! What a playful and surprising touch in a home.

P.S. Happy Menocal paints pet portraits.
P. P.S. Two more cute portraits.

(Photo from Living Etc, via Design is Mine)

Daydreaming

At the start of this beautiful weekend, I hurt my foot, and the doctor ordered me to sit inside with my leg up for both days. It was such a bummer! On the bright side, I finally had time to read the entire Domino book, and a couple friends came over on Saturday night to play games. (I had to wear a giant orthopedic sandal. Nothing cooler than a limping pregnant woman, let me tell you.) Anyway, hope you all had great weekends, and, to kick off a new week, here are a few images I thought you might like...
Lovely San Francisco.
Lavender lemonade.
Julia Rothman's amazing New York subway poster.
This gorgeous bedroom is actually in an English hotel. I adore the black-and-white photograph in a white frame. It makes me want to shop for a fine-art photo (or frame pages of a book).

P.S. Past inspiration photos.

Nursery inspiration photos

These days, nurseries are looking so amazing! I've been flagging inspirational images, such as the nursery of J. Crew creative director Jenna Lyon's baby, above. Aren't the yellow stripes amazing, and who would think to paint a nursery wall black? (Classic crib from Oeuf; and orange Junior Panton chair from DWR.)
A polaroid heart from a grown-up bedroom in Paris...
And sweet details, like the knit blocks in the fireplace, love pillow and teeny yellow boots!
The giant giraffe is amazing, but my eye was immediately drawn to those red frames. What a great way to showcase artwork.
Decorating with maps = inexpensive and inspiring.
This photo is from Moomah's playspace. The white frames mimic a gallery wall, and that friendly bear print is totally amazing. (Does anyone know where to find it? Update: The Moomah bear print is by Jacqueline Schmidt of Screech Owl Design. Thank you, Sarah!)
The shades of blue in this room are lovely and calming, and the Tord Boontje hanging lamp looks magical. What nursery colors or special touches do you like? I'd love to hear... xoxo

(Photos from Domino Magazine, Cookie Magazine, Living Etc., Moomah, and others)

Home Inspiration: Decorated bookcases

All bookcases are wonderful (even the messiest!), but my jaw dropped this morning when I saw the shelves of Fitzhugh Karol and Lyndsay Caleo. They've made their bookcases a work of art by mixing in rocks, photos and a round mirror. (And a sweet toy truck!) Have you ever decorated your bookcases?

(Photos by Emily Gilbert, via Design*Sponge)

Nursery ideas

Alex and I have been brainstorming ideas for the nursery, which is really exciting. One idea we had is to frame Sharon Montrose's baby deer photo above a white crib with Dwell's chocolate dots sheets. And then, inspired by Jenny, we'd paint a vintage dresser red. (Do you think the color red would be too energizing? We could also go with baby blue.)

P.S. Oh, those chubby legs! I want to eat them!

Home Inspiration: Flowers

I'd love to have more plants at home, and Juliet Totten's New York apartment is really inspiring. She grows lavender, rosemary, lemons, ferns and mosses next to the windows, and this summer she plans to grow tomatoes and strawberries (in a NYC apartment--awesome). And see the small red-and-yellow bouquet next to the mirrors? They're actually paper decoupage flowers attached to wires! Genius.

P.S. A plant table.

(Via Design*Sponge)

Home inspiration

Lonny Magazine featured the homes of sisters Antonia and Victoria Thompson, and I loved some of their little touches. Above, to make her own bar cart, Victoria put a wooden tray on a vintage suitcase...
The round mirror above her fireplace looks beautiful (and I love that bike figurine)...
This book wallpaper is amazing in the kitchen...
And this Cole & Son wallpaper transforms the teeny bathroom!

(Photos by Patrick Cline)

Home Inspiration: Striped walls

Stephanie joked yesterday that striped shirts are the official blogger's uniform (haha, that rang true), so how about striped walls? These two rooms look beautiful, especially with the round mirrors. The first is Tori Mellott's living room, and the second is (you'll never guess)...a bathroom in a J. Crew store!

P.S. Jordan's stripe round-up.

(Top photo from Domino; bottom photo from Lonny)

Home inspiration: Bookcases

You can learn so much about someone from their books, don't you think? My sister's husband says he first realized that he loved her when he looked through her bookcase. In any event, this Danish room is really nice. :)

P.S. Thank you for the birthday wishes!

(Photo from FPN, via You Are My Fave)