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I may have mentioned a couple of times that we’re off for a much anticipated vacation. I’m off to London to meet Daniel, and from there we’ll head off to Lagos! That means no posts for the next week, but I’ll be back, refreshed and with pictures! So don’t forget to check back here a week from Monday
Below is a little round up of all you need for a week long beach vacation!
You should really listen to this song while you read this post
I have been slightly obsessed with swimming pools and all that they entail lately, (In my mind I’m pretty much already at the pool on vacation) and I love the Southern California vibe of David Hockney’s swimming pool paintings. I wanted this post to bring a little pool-spiration to us all for the coming summer. Is it masochistic to be obsessed with swimming pools when you live in the land of the 60 degree summer? Or just a natural progression? Here’s some pretty photos that we should all try and emulate throughout the summer. Especially the lady on the swan!
I saw this on Cup of Jo the other day, and love it! It’s the recently redone cabin kitchen of blogger Sarah from Smitten Studio. It really shows what you can do with a tiny kitchen and a little DIY spirit. Look at this before and after!
And here’s the after:
I really love the sink and faucet, clean white feel (especially the subway tile backsplash) and how open and airy the space is compared to those before photos! It makes me feel a little better about our house hunting adventures. Coming across tiny kitchens that are stuck in the 70′s is less daunting when I see a cute little kitch like this one! So far, we’ve only actually gone to see one house in person, and while it’s not for us, it’s definitely fun to have a look around, and see what’s out there in our price range. I’ll update here more as we go! We’re hoping to move by September, so we’ve got a few months time to look and find the perfect place.
In a short week and a half, Daniel and I will be here! It’s our first real vacation since our honeymoon, and man am I excited for 9 days of soaking up the sun and seeing the sights of Lagos, Portugal. In honor of our trip I’ve collected a few of my favorite pics for beach photography, as well as some outdoor stay-cation inspiration. Enjoy!
I love this one with these pink chairs!
Now for when you’re not on vacation, why not turn your back yard into the perfect stay-cation oasis?
Check out my new clock y’all! It’s so starburst-y and fun. I am still trying to decide about the actual clock face and finish… I may or may not spray paint it, or metal leaf it. But for now, I’m leaving it be, because there’s nothing worse than making a snap decision about spray paint and regretting it later.. (see my bathroom mirror).
I have been after this clock for a while, first I saw it for €70, came back a few weeks later and it was marked down to €40, came back a few weeks later and it was marked down to €25! I’m going to not translate that into thinking that nobody but me likes this clock. Or if that’s true, then I don’t care! We decided to put it on our big blank wall in the bedroom, and I’m really liking it in there.
So I was reading through the May issue of Elle Decoration yesterday and came across this color palette inspired by a photo of waves on a red rock beach. I think it’s really pretty and relaxing, loved the copper accents, and also think it’s a great palette for a Dublin home. Also I love all the patterns! I didn’t really like how they put it together in the room example though:
so I decided to make my own right here. I think the only changes that I would make would be to add some warmth from wood accents, and possibly a little pop of color here and there. Peach is a perfect color to go with copper so would be great to see in the home as well.
This is my photoshop-tastic example of how these colors could be really good together. I think it would benefit from even more pattern, but I like the crisp white walls, and the wood floors. I’d also really like to see a deep emerald console in there, and the green lamp in the foreground replaced with either white or copper. I think this could be a great overall color palette for a home, with each room getting different patterns and different accent colors. What do you think? Would you do grey, green and copper in your home?
Just a quick little update to our bedding that I did yesterday. I have gotten really bored with what I we threw together when we first moved in. We weren’t planning on being in the apartment too long (we thought 6 months max) so we didn’t put a whole ton of effort or money into our room. I basically just slapped up that fabric on the wall and called it a day. Now that we know we’re staying (even though we probably won’t be in this apartment too much longer) I decided to put a little more effort into what we got goin on.
First, our house is full of furniture that it came with, all of which is functional, but none of which is something I would choose. So to start with, I decided to cover up that headboard with an extra navy velvet curtain panel that matches the one we have hanging. I used little brass upholstery tacks. Since we are planning on moving, and I may want to make this a more permanent headboard solution in the future, I just used a few tacks, and didn’t actually properly reupholster the headboard.
We replaced all our bedding with lovely super high threadcount bedding I got in a home sale, and went with white with a dash of pink. I plan on making some more pillows in the near future to add some more interest, but for now, this is what we got!
I’m still thinking I may take down that feature fabric, and put up a cool piece of art (I would love a huge sea related print like this one from Max Wanger)
I’d also really like to add wall mounted reading lights like these from West Elm:
or even this one from John Lewis:
So anyways, there’s definitely a lot to do, but i was happy with a small step!
It’s my 100th Post! The last 99 went by very quickly, and I can’t wait to bring out the next 100. I have some hard work ahead of me, with the continued efforts on my list. I recently completed numbers 92 (see all the movies nominated for an oscar in Best Picture one year) and 57 (go to a design conference), with plans for numbers 27 and 28 booked in for next month–hellloooo Portugal! I’m also planning on numbers 1, 51 and 52 in the very near future.
I’ve also slowed down my posting schedule a bit, as you may have noticed, from five posts per week to three. This isn’t necessarily a permanent change, it’s just something that I’m doing now in order to accomodate my brain space being taken over by other things. I want my posts to stay interesting and engaging, with quality content, and I hope to bring that back in to a five/week schedule again soon!
In other news, Spring seems to have finally arrived- thank tha lawd- and with it comes the arrival of ranunculus!! Oh how I love thee, ranunculus. They were one of our main wedding flowers, and they are just so happy and fun. They are so easy to arrange, just pop one or two in a bud vase and call it a day, or add a bunch to some rangy greens and it looks like you went flower picking in the back yard!
It’s so warm outside, Daniel and I actually found ourselves eating sandwiches on the grass in Stephen’s Green last Saturday. What?! It was fantastic. It really has me looking forward to a summer full of activities- Dublin really comes alive in the summertime, and I can’t wait for all the gigs, events, and outdoor activities that will be coming our way soon.
Happy 100th post everyone, thanks for reading and commenting, I love this little blog, and it makes me so happy when I hear that others are enjoying it as well! xo
One of the things that I loved about living in California was the ready access to lots of farmer’s markets full of fresh fruit and vegetables. Because of the weather, they run almost year round, and are great for getting local organic veggies. I was also part of a C.S.A., which stands for community supported agriculture. As a member, you receive a weekly box of produce fresh from the farm. I pretty much didn’t have to buy fruit or veg from the store, ever. Since spring is upon us, I found myself wondering if the same type of thing exists in Ireland, and low and behold, after a little google searching, I discovered the Urban Farm. It’s a C.S.A. that’s growing all it’s crops on a rooftop here in Dublin 1! Unfortunately, memberships for 2013 are all booked up, but you better believe I’m going to be watching like a hawk for the 2014 memberships. I even found the perfect bag to tote around all my lovely fresh veggies:
It’s from a company called Apolis, which partners with women in Bangladesh to handcraft these bags. Lovely!
Some Spring pinspiration for you all. I’m really loving the look of real patterns made out of flowers! Floral patterns are making their springy comeback anyways, and I really like the idea of translating that in new and unexpected ways!
