Friendly Friday 3.29.13

I calls this my High Alertz face.  I iz waiting for Daddys to come home.  It is not to be confusedz with my Super Cute face.

Have a Happy Easter everybodyz!

Hello Hue! { Florence, Italy }

Lemon Drops

Pan for Gold

Parakeet

Dark Celery

Gold Rush

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these colors.  Our living room tries to be in this palette, but I think it has too many black and white accessories to succeed. This is just so warm and inviting and Florentine...don't you want to sit down at a lovely outdoor table with a bottle of wine and some bread and olive oil and soak in the sun? 

{butcherblock server}{amber glasses}{dinnerware}{plate}

{bowl}{candlesticks}{serveware}{placemats}

You are practically relaxing in beautiful Tuscany. 

Friendly Friday 3.22.13

I hadz a busy week, guys. I played in the snows, I barked at the tree service men, and I dragged an empty Popov vodka bottle out of the neighborsez trash and brought it home.  Mommy said bad words when she saw it.  And then she yelled something about being real classy.  I don't think she was sewious.

I am really very tired.  Thank goodness for this patch of sunshine.

Friendly Friday 3.15.13

Oooh...the Ides of March!  

While we were in San Francisco last month, Oliver turned 1! (We didn't even get him a present - I know...worst dog parents ever.) For today's post, I found a picture from the day we brought him home in the back of Ye Olde Corolla.  So small...he has gained 60 pounds since then!

Happy Weekend, all!

Mediterranean Vacation { Florence, Italy }

Our last full day in Italy was spent in Florence.  Next time, we will spend MUCH more time there...it was magical.  What they say about the light in Tuscany is true; even on a cloudy, drizzly day, the city seemed to glow. 

We spent a glorious hour at Il Duomo, necks craned backwards at the beautiful interior of Brunelleschi's dome, trying not to bump into too many people as we walked around. At this point of the trip, we kind of had a "It's Tuesday, this must be Belgium" feeling.  Another European city, another stunning ceiling. 

On the excellent recommendation of a friend, we visited the small museum behind the Duomo, which contains the original Ghiberti bronze doors and an unfinished Michelangelo.  It was a lovely little gallery, uncrowded and full of treasures.  As we were in Florence on a Monday and the Uffizi was closed, we had the opportunity to explore without feeling like we needed to hurry off to something bigger and better.

Then a stroll across the Ponte Vecchio and around the Oltrano.  We scoped out some great places to shop (colorful leather gloves!) and eat dinner, then returned to our hotel for a quick nap.  I was so exhausted after a solid week of travel that I walked back up the Via Calzaiuoli without setting foot in a shop. 

And for our last dinner in Italy, we walked back down to the Oltrano, finally deciding on a small bistro near the Pitti Palace.  We ate a tasty, light meal, drank a great bottle of wine, and capped off our vacation with a gelato eaten while strolling around Il Duomo under the stars.  *sigh.  Such an elegant, accessible city. 

Florence is a whole vacation unto itself.  Plan to take a week - a day just didn't cut it. 

all photos, mine

 

Hello Hue! { Back to Venice }

So of all the beautiful, vibrant colors of Venice, I chose a photo that is practically black and white.  Yep.  I think I was scared of a crazy-clown color scheme.  And Venice by night is a totally different beast than Venice-by-day.  Most of the tourists have gone, the streets are quieter, the alleyways more mysterious.  Plus I love gray and yellow.  I have ever since Sarah did that farmhouse bath.

But lately, gray-and-yellow have been everywhere.  Weddings, nurseries, prints, sheets, fabrics, outfits, dinnerware, and don't even get me started on the chevrons.  It can so easily skew...Pinterest-twee.

{via, with apologies}

So how to capture the dark, secret, aged elegant feel of Venice-by-night in a budget-friendly grown-up bathroom kind of way?  First, paint the walls gray.

 

{Charlie and Co.}

But add a nice dark vanity with a gray and white Carrara marble top. Pottery Barn sells similar styles for over $2500 - without the marble top.  I hate the whole 'buy it for less' deal, because unless it is the actual item you are looking for and you find it at a discount store, it really isn't the same thing.  And it probably doesn't have any of the features you liked about the original (e.g. heft, durability, construction, finish).  So... you'll likely be buying a new one.  Soon.  Which doesn't add up to 'less'.

However, this is not a cheap vanity - just fewer bucks than PB.  It imagine it will be serviceable.  Plus the carved detail is a little Venetian. I don't hate the mirror, but it looks a little top-heavy.  I don't want to worry about a concussion while I'm brushing my teeth.

{vanity}

And add in some carrara mosiac tile (maybe this is a small bathroom, and you can splurge on $10/sf), some aged brass fixtures and, since I apparently have to buy something for every room from PB, some towels. 

{sconce}{fixture}{tile}{towels}

You're practically brushing your teeth in romantic, moonlit Venice!

Friendly Friday 3.8.13

Must....Get....Squeaker...Out!!

Mediterranean Vacation { Back to Venice! }

After disembarking our home on the high seas, we had a couple extra days to spend in Italy and decided to stay in Venice for the night before catching a train to Florence the next day.  And extra day in Venice is never a bad idea...plus there was time to get our land legs back so we wouldn't be tripping all over ourselves in Fashionable Florence. 

It rained, of course, so luggage was hauled through the soggy streets...not for the first time, we were insanely happy about our decision to only bring carry-ons.  Watching people struggle over the cobblestoned Piazzale Roma with GIANT suitcases full of cruise-wear (in the rain) was a little horrifying.  

We actually took a vaporetto from the train station - and listened to the fabulous Rick Steves audiotour I'd downloaded in the States.  We loved every second of our trip down the Grand Canal, but the water seemed...kind of high. What's that?  Record-breaking floods all across Italy while we were gone?  People swimming across St. Mark's? 

Yeah.  Our vacations and Natural Disasters.  A match made in heaven. 

 

Our hotel was in the Rialto area - we'd decided to try one night in a tourist hub, and...it was fine.  We much preferred Hotel Dalla Mora and the Dosudoro, but the shopping couldn't be beat in the Rialto.  We found some real gems amongst the tourist kitsch.

Then a walk to a very soggy Saint Mark's.  At this point of the trip my poor feet had walked all over the eastern Mediterranean (having never recovered from our first day in Venice!), so I decided to just wear my Keens and go for it - everybody's feet were wet that day.  And a pair of cheap wellies cost about $25 on the street!

We shopped our way back to the hotel and then took ourselves on a walkabout before dinner.  Saint Mark's had dried out, so we were able to see it in all its glory.  We found a small restaurant near our hotel and, after having a pre-dinner cocktail (awesomely leaning against a stand-up bar in the alleyway outside), decided this was The Place.  We had to wait about 45 minutes for a table, but the staff were very friendly and accomodating, and the whole place felt very...local.  We had such a great time just sipping our cocktails and people-watching. 

 Venice was even nicer when we had time to relax and enjoy it.  Un jet-lagged.  With time to eat copious amounts of seafood pasta.  And drink lots of wine.  *sigh. 

all photos, mine

Friendly Friday 3.1.13

What?  This duvet covers isn't for me eithers?!  Seriously, Mummy, get it together.  You knows I look good in da stripes. 

Hello Hue! { Dubrovnik, Croatia }

My main impressions of old Dubrovnik were stone, stone and more stone.  This was the gate we entered and exited from, and looking through the colors, I realized that the stone itself is so multicolored, it could be a whole hue-board all on its own.  I ultimately decided to include the lemon tree because a) it's cute and b) I love, love, LOVE gray and green together.  If I could paint my house (vinyl siding, boo), it would be gray.  With a green door.  *sigh.  Let's take a look...

 Springview Green

Nantucket Gray

Mountain Moss

Luau Green

Scotland Isle

With all the greenery and gray stone (and since we had SUCH a good time at the outdoor bar), I figured a patio would be best suited to the Dubrovnik color scheme.  Something simple and classic, surrounded by tons of leafy greens.  (Leafy greens...is that only to do with salads?) 

Something like this:

{via}

Target has some great options for patio sets - even better if you can catch them on sale (especially if it is Smith and Hawken). Here's a completely Tar-jay-sourced patio set.  Nothing too overboard, and similar enough to my (almost certainly) splurge-y inspiration picture.

{lanterns}{pillows}{planter}{chaise}

What do we think?  Are you practically sipping warm beer at a cliffside bar in Croatia?  

*Sorry for the lack of posting recently - it took us a solid week to recover from the jet-lag.  So ridiculous...we didn't even leave our own country!  But the Pacific Coast was heavenly...posts to come soon!

Friendly Friday 2.22.13

Cottage Color

Growing up in Maine, summers were a precious commodity.  Every spare second was spent out at camp - about 15 minutes away on a small pond.  My grandparents had an old cottage there that has since been replaced by my parents' modern house, but I vividly remember the colors of the old camp.  Everything was a cast-off from somewhere else, usually covered in a hand-crocheted afghan, an explosion of mismatched colors that somehow all coordinated. 

A few years ago, I found Maine Cottage in a magazine, and have been hooked on their colors and furniture and fabric ever since.  Of course, nobody who actually lives in Maine can afford them, but still, it's nice to look.  And it all reminds me somehow of the old camp.  Worn out wicker, creaky wooden chairs, painted furniture.  All put together with a glass of lemonade on a warm summer's afternoon. I mean, who wouldn't want to live here?

 {via}

 {via}

{via}

So, when I inherited a small side table from my mom's friend, I decided to try and give it a 'maine cottage' look.  I had the local paint store color-match a swatch I printed out from online and went for it.  This is the look I wanted...

 ...and this is the table before. 

Cute, but water-stained and had seen better days.  So I bundled up and took it outside for a good sanding.  I knew I would paint the legs, so I didn't bother with them (phew!).  The top was a different story. I wanted to get to the original wood and then do a paste-wax finish.   I sanded for about half an hour just to get all the water-marks out, and then spent another half hour on the curved sides and drop-leaf joints.  My hands were numb by the end.  Not really a project for the dead of winter in Maine. 

 

 Close enough.  Then came the fun part - staining, sanding, and then a coat of smelly paste-wax. 

(Note the super-professional Nylabone prop.  Because that's how we roll in this house.  Whatever is handy...)

I didn't prime, so it took a couple coats.  But I was inside, toasty by the fire, so it was okay.  Here's the before-and-after.  Not exactly Maine Cottage, but it cost me $3.00 in supplies (sample jar of paint).  Whee!

What do you think?