Wake-up: Bed on the Floor

I moved to DC with no furniture, thus am still sleeping on a mattress on the floor. We mistakenly bought off craigslist the wrong size mattress so even that is not going to stay.

As always craigslist is touch and go - we bought a large table and four chairs for only 80$ but then the mattress was advertised as a queen but when we got home it clearly was a full size (our fault really, seller was foreign). A mirror we purchased at IKEA was cracked along the edge hidden by the cardboard packaging. And we are still searching for an inexpensive couch.

I wish my floor bed was as serene as the one above with the Swedish Crux blanket by Pia Wallen. Buy from Pia Wallen website (~800$ USD).

photo credit: Pia Wallen Crux blanket found via Door Sixteen blog

Wake-up: Summer + Winter Stripes

It would have been great to have a cozy, lazy morning in my bed, but alas today is Monday. I actually also wish that my bed looked like this with the horizontal stripes of the DwellStudio Draper stripe ash sheet set.

After much debate I ordered the West Elm version, stripe print sheet set in white/feather gray. With shipping and tax the knock-off was half the price.

I have been admiring Making it Lovely's new bedroom makeover with her newly painted walls (color "zinc"), West Elm striped sheets, and Crate and Barrel Abigail green paisley duvet cover (on sale right now).

I think the paisley works with the wide stripes because the paisley is a much smaller print so it offsets the dramatic stripes. I think it is going to work perfectly with my Ph.D. quilt that my mother made.

While on a quest for striped sheets I also considered the pureDKNY pure comfort sheets in thunder and custom made linen sheets from LinenMe. I have used both of these brands and they have held up perfectly after 2+ years of use.

photo credit: DwellStudio Draper Duvet Set, see website; Making it Lovely's bedroom now and read more about the transformation here

Celebrate: Walnut Wood Bed Frame

Finally, there is an end to the bed saga. I had sorta given up on finding a bed, until of course I found the perfect bed. Within 3 days the new bed frame was installed in our bedroom.

The new bed frame with evening sun coming through the window.

Now lets get into some of the specs on this wonderful bed. It was made by a local (Long Beach, CA) craftsman named Peter and I feel truly lucky to own one of his pieces. The bed is perfect: solid walnut wood, low profile, small footprint, industrial strength brackets to hold it together with easy deconstruction for moving. Peter designs and builds simple, modern furniture that is very versatile.

Check out the square post legs (similar to the Anders bed from Room & Board) and the swirling grain of the headboard.

My home is a bit of eclectic mid century modern and the bed fits right in. Check out Peter's blog, Pete's Furniture, for a peek into his wood working world. I personally fell in love with the teak booster seat, as I am part of the 1% of the population who will issue a ban on any neon colored plastic junk from entering the house.I really could not be happier about our new bed. Now off to get some zzz's!

photo credit: Cayenne 09.26.09

Inspiration: DIY Bed

Grace of Design*Sponge's DIY fabric headboard

After being very dissatisfied with the particle board beds in our price range and swooning over budget busting, but beautiful hardwood bed frame pieces, we moved onto brainstorming how we could DIY a new bed.

We started at the cheapest price point and thought we could scavenge some used wood pallets, sand them down, and repaint them for a little bit of shabby chic. Sounds good in theory but we quickly realized that we did not have the space to do a full on sanding job for some 8+ pallets. We also have a relatively small bedroom (think room for just the bed and nightstands) and there is NO WAY to configure pallets so that they are the same footprint as a queen mattress (trust me on this, we spent hours adding numbers). Pallets were out.


Then we thought we could hire a local wood craftsman(woman) to make us a super simple bed frame from reclaimed wood. We sourced wood from Reclaimed Wood Products in LA and contemplated using wood flooring or counter tops for the headboard. Really it would have been easy for my dad to make but he was all the way in Alaska.

Once I had pretty much given up on finding a bed, Apartment Therapy LA scavenger posted their favorite picks, I saw exactly what we were looking for. Coming up next, the big reveal and the first time I show you a room in my house.

Images from the new online magazine Lonny!

Inspiration: Muir bed + Plus Petit Platform Bed

Plus Petit Platform bed from Andre Joyau (NYC)

Muir Bed from Amenity: Modern Organic Living (LA, CA)

Follow my quest for a low profile platform-ish, solid wood bed with inspiration from the pallet bed and the hull bed. Yes, I will reveal our new bed later this week!

Weekend: Summer Laundry

One of my favorite things about summer is being able to dry my laundry outside. TEB rigged up a clothes line so that it zigzags across our porch. Today I have my linen napkins (made from Lotta Jansdotter remnants) and towels (purchased on Etsy from LinenMe, now selling here) drying out there - so pretty.

photo credit: Cayenne 08.16.09

Inspiration: The Ideal Bed Frame {UPDATED}

Jeremy Levine's Eagle Rock bedroom, seen in last month's Dwell. Really it is the bed frame that we admire for its sleek design and what we think are drawers underneath (but hard to tell).

{UPDATE: heard directly from J. Levine that those are drawers underneath the bed! The bed is made as a collaborative project between his firm and Workshop Neirman-Smith. See full details of the HULL bed here} After scouring the internet, I've come to the conclusion that most beds are crap -- made from particle board, are ornately decorated, or have a footprint that far exceeds its queen-size mattress. I did find a few alternatives in case I just cannot track down a J. Levine replica.

San Francisco, CA:
First up are the beds by Ohio Design, which I saw on an AT post for Good Hotel in SF (side note - next time I'm in SF, I'm staying here).

Christiane and the LW

Los Angeles:
Cliff Spencer makes a beautiful adult bed. But their bamboo children's beds are more my speed. If only they did not have foot-boards...Portland, OR:
Back up north we go to check out Delia Furniture, etsy store here. Can you believe this bed is entirely made of steel. The headboard looks like wood or leather to me and each affordable bed is oxidized making no two beds alike.photo credit: Jeremy Levine Design bedroom inside and outside

Inspiration: Julia Child's Kitchen Peg Board

Julia Child's kitchen, as I saw it in the Julie & Julia movie, might be enough to convince TEB that peg boards in the kitchen are cool. I've been wanting a peg board in my kitchen ever since we moved into our coastal apartment, complete with limited cabinet space, 2 years ago.I hope this post seals the deal. I see painting peg boards in my future!

photo credit: dark green peg board, white on white peg board

Inspiration: Yellow Coffee Table

I have been thinking that our living room needs a new fall look. I like the yellow table above and it would definitely be a change from our current red coffee table. Now that just might be the cheeriness that I need to come home too. I can always paint it another color later. Also considering a bright turquoise for a little punch of color.

photo credit: view towards living room and living room coffee table by tobiasmilk

Small Living: Linen Towels

Recently, my bath towels have had an odd smell to them even right after washing them. The most reasonable explanation is that our bathroom does not get enough ventilation causing the terry towels to remain damp throughout the day. I figured that they must be growing mold. Since we rent and our bathroom has no windows we cannot get more ventilation in there.My solution: linen towels inspired by the Toast UK Clothing & Home Company's catalog pages. The Toast towels were not in my price range (though now some styles are on sale right here) so I ordered similar linen herringbone pattern towels from LinenMe. Been using them a few weeks and I love them. They dry in only a few hours and are easy to throw in the washer. We don't even use the dryer making our new linen towels a bit greener than our old ones.
LinenMe organic linen towels are made in Lithuania and shipping to the U.S. was relatively inexpensive and quick. I was even able to pick colors and patterns not posted in the store - white and charcoal grey herringbone.

photo credit: women+towel and hanging towels from Toast; LinenMe towels from Etsy

Inspiration: Hidden Closet Desks

office closet from 100 decorating ideas magazine 2007 via darth cena

I tracked down these beautiful space-saving, office-in-a-closet pictures for my sister. She has a guest room that is small and currently the office and craft room. I think moving the desk or building one in the closet would free up some space for over-night guests (that's me) or make room for more sewing projects.

photo found via AT and from decorology

A bright yellow with some frills. Love the desk chair!

photo found via decor8 and from Country Living home tours

This mostly white built-in style is my favorite. I love the pops of blue against the white background and classic hardwood floors.

tiny closet from here

The first three images are highly styled and from magazines. Now if I was to actually build an office-in-a-closet myself, I think it would look more like these two pictures. Above is a small cozy nook desk and below is a bright multi-purpose space. I do like the idea of keeping the closet doors or adding curtains to close off the space when used as a guest room.

AT's Final Frame

Wake-Up: Target

Need to inject a little change or color into your home, check out some of my favorite stuff at Target. This is the one store that Fairbanks (AK) needs. Forget the Walmat, give us Target!

This cream colored metal stool that matches my french bistro chairs (more about my obsession with these metal chairs here)at our double desk would be perfect on my patio as small table to set drinks. The Dwell Studio Peony pillow caught my eye as my favorite color combo is yellow +gray.

Dror lookbook: Stack bookcase goes from single tower to full-size bookcase with the addition of 2 more towers (not available yet but coming soon).
It looks to me like an update on the EXPEDIT bookcase from IKEA (see various incarnations here). Or if you are more into the classic midcentury look, try the Thomas O'Brien bookcase. I own the first edition (love it) that is slightly larger than the one they are currently selling in the Target stores, see Decor8's review and update of the o'brien bi-fold bookcase.

photo credit: Target website

Weekend: Garage Sale-ing Treasures

Garage saling is in my genes! My mom is an expert saler and so are my aunties. I went out to a few neighborhood sales every saturday morning while I was in Alaska. Only for an hour or so each week but after 3 weekends I found the perfect vintage espresso maker. This shiny thing cost me only a 1.50$ and now we don't have to lug our Bialetti with us when we visit.

I passed up the old trunk below because I was too lazy to ask the price. I regret that now because it would have been the perfect dress-up trunk for the stash of 0.25$ princess dresses I snagged for my niece the following weekend.Garage sales are the best right when they open. The good stuff goes fast. I am not an experienced garage saler in San Diego but my guess that La Jolla (my own neighborhood) is a great place to start. See this weekend's craigslist for your closest treasure trove.

photo credit: Cayenne

What is in your fridge?

What is in your fridge? Mine is full of fruit from Henry's Market double coupon Wednesday. The fruit is so pretty that I have a close up for you below: cherries, red grapes, kiwi, yellow peaches, white peaches, mangoes, watermelon, and strawberries. I am trying to work up the courage to post my fridge on Fridgewatcher. Maybe when I get a shot of the freezer, but there is no freezer light so I need another person to help me.

photo credit: Cayenne 05.30.09

Wake-up: Stig Linberg

I am waking up to my morning coffee from a beautiful Stig Lindberg designed cup and saucer. This blue dotted favorite was a present from TEB's mom. Thank you! In addition to my morning coffee ritual I use it for my bedtime tea.

photo credit: TEB 05.28.09

Inspiration: Dansk Kobenstyle

Dansk stockpot and small sauce pan sitting on the stove (pictured above).

Pitcher from the same Apartment Therapy house tour here.

The paella pan is certainly unique in its original use or as a fruit bowl from this house tour here.

Dansk dishware can be found by searching for "dansk kobenstyle" on ebay. See the results from my search today here. Learn more about the history of dansk kobenstyle dishware from The Kitchn's impressive research here.

My wishlist includes the square baking pan and the butter melter or gravy pan with the wood handle.

Indoor/Outdoor Lighting: Sunlight

The sunlight from Urban Outfitters looks neat. You can use it indoors or outdoors by leaving it to recharge in the sun and when it gets dark you have a "soft" battery-free glow. They are quite pricey but I like how "green" it is since it does not use electricity or produce pollution, like candles. Seems perfect for an outdoor party too.
Buy from ThinkGeek in colors Sun (yellow) or Moon (blue) and even Pink Moon!

photo credit: images from Urban Outfitters website

Craft(y): Mitered Corners

You may have noticed this napkin that was pictured with my fresh bread post a few weeks ago. It is actually a linen remnant from Lotta Jansdotter's, buy here. Thanks to help from TAB and GKC (my mama), I was able to make my own cloth napkins. Here are the step-by-step instructions.

How to: miter corners for cloth napkins and curtains
1. Carefully fold down fabric edge 1/2 inch and press with a hot iron. Fold down another 1/2 inch and press. Now your press lines look like this:2. Cut off the corner, as illustrated above. 3. See the square made by the dashed lines on the previous picture: fold the corner down at the line that bisects the bottom corner of that square, press.4. Fold your edges once and press. 5. Fold edges again, press, and pin.

6. Run a seam all the way around the hem. Double-back when you hit your starting point. All done! The actual sewing does not take much time but the pressing and folding surely does. I find it helpful to have the metal sliding ruler seen in step 4.

Tonight at craft night, I am attempting this process with heavy weight fabric for a curtain to cover one of our closets. I'll let you know how it goes - fingers-crossed that I can manage without mama's help.

photo credit: Cayenne 11.22.08

Bedroom: Removable Wall Decals

All the walls in my bedroom are blank. With the recent switch to white curtains to match the white duvet, the entire room is a bit too white. Since we are renting, painting is not an option so I was thinking about wall decals. These were a big hit in recent years and come in a number of different styles, are removable, and even sometimes re-stickable.

Ferm Living has a couple organic, natural images that I think would be calming in the bedroom. My favorite is "branches." Above is the "powerbirds" also from Ferm.

Wall Candy Art makes neat stick-on chalkboard that I was thinking about for the front of the fridge.Holly of Decor8 has a great roundup here. Most seem pretty pricey but check out these DIY wall decal instructions at CasaSugar. Or find an etsy seller. There are many but check out ShaNickers and EllyNelly.