Thanksgiving is in the books, and I am looking toward Christmas. I am planning to decorate my house this weekend, before things get too hectic. Last year I bought a silver tree and decorated it with glass Shiny Brite ornaments. I just loved the retro look it brought to my 1940s house and cannot wait [...]
Category: Design & Style
Printable Mid-Century Modern Art
In 1948, Charles and Ray Eames entered the design for the molded plastic rocker in MoMA's competition for low cost furniture design. A classic was born. This free printable poster honors that design with a black and white silhouette. If you need a printing recommendation, the companies I use the most are: Adorama: The luster [...]
Printable Modern Nursery Art
One of my 'faking it fabulous' decorating hacks is do-it-yourself art using printables. Printing at home or online is so much less expensive than buying art, and there are many more options. I am excited to share these new drawings of mid-century modern chicks with you. I created them with a baby nursery in mind, [...]
Easy Fall Planter Arrangements You Can Make in 10 Minutes
We had a wet summer here in Washington D.C. And before that we had a wet spring. While my roses and most of the bed plants loved it, my container plants not so much. To put it succinctly, they drowned. A year ago I found these wonderful modern concrete planters at Target. They were fantastic [...]
My Favorite Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps
When I moved into my house, I knew I wanted to mix mid-century pieces throughout the space. I especially love mcm lamps, with their clean lines and elegant shapes. The West Elm lamp I found is of my favorite pieces. The teal blue is perfect for my ocean inspired living room, and texture reminds me [...]
My Modern Kitchen Corner
Anyone who steps in my house figures out within about 3 seconds that I love retro and modern designs. When I moved into my home, my old dining set didn't match at all—and I was thrilled about this. It gave me a chance to search out some wonderful new pieces, and create a space where [...]
Do you Carry Your Shoes in Your Purse?
I just googled variations of "shoes in purse" and found a surprising dearth of blogs that discussed this urban habit. I always carry shoes in my purse. I have to. I walk everywhere in Washington D.C. I walk to work, to the subway, to run errands after work, to the gym and to meet friends [...]
The Best Collections Don’t Start with the Word Collectible
Hummels, Precious Moments, Pokémon cards, Thomas Kinkade prints and, of course, Beanie Babies. All of us who lived through the late 20th century remember being told, and told again, that they were going to be mega valuable someday. Us scoffers who didn't collect them would be left wishing we had. In the 1990s, I was [...]
Wrapping Up the Wraparound Porch
So my parents just moved into a new house they had designed and built. I am way excited for them. I am a military brat (more on that in a future post) and we moved many times during my childhood, then they kept moving for 10 years beyond that. Building a house was never a [...]