Trend Spotting: Orange Front Doors

In previous 'trend spotting' posts (here and here) I went with less obvious trends, but this trend is pretty easy to spot. Brightly colored front doors are nothing new but bright orange doors have been popping up everywhere these days. And I have to say, I'm a big fan! All images via my 'Outdoor Spaces' board on Pinterest here.

It is very possible that I love this trend so much because I can't paint my front door. I know what you are thinking, why can't you paint your front door? It is because I live in a historical home in a historical neighborhood and we are strongly encouraged to leave any original exterior elements as is. My front door is lovely so I shouldn't complain...

but wouldn't my door looks so nice painted a bright orange??? I think it would look amazing, but alas it is not meant to be. So for now I will just dream of orange doors and encourage others to go big and bold with their exterior paint colors. 

'Melting Flora' by Nick Knight

There have been a few times in my life where I find a piece of art that speaks to me so deeply that I can't stop thinking about it. That happen a few months ago when I saw a series of photographs that look like melted paintings. They were created by Nick Knight a fashion photographer who spent 10 years taking the photographs to create these prints. I'm not sure I can explain why I love these pieces so much, but I don't think you have to put into words why art speaks to you, so I won't try. I'll just let the art speak for itself.

via Trendland

via Honestly WTF

via Styllure

via Honestly WTF

via Honestly WTF

via Honestly WTF

via Trendland

via Beautiful Decay

Unfortunately, these pieces are only showing in London and there are no prints available at this time. But maybe some day they will offer prints and I will buy one and my life will be complete. Just kidding. Sort of.

Bookshelf Be Gone

I mentioned in my last craigslist post that I recently sold three things, I sold the red chair and glass coffee table from the living room but I've kept mum about the third thing until now... I sold the black bookcase in my bedroom!

I'm actually really sad about it because I loved that bookcase. I've said it like a hundred times but this bookcase sort of changed my life (more on my books obsession here). Now that I know the glories of having glass doors on bookshelves I can never go back (no more dusting book pages!). So why did I sell it? Well, that's a bit of a long answer. 

I'm at that point in my home decorating where things get weird. My house looks done and most people would be content to leave it where it is, but not me. I have a big vision for this house. Which means, I am now starting to replace the 'place holder' furniture. Unfortunately, that includes this black bookcase. While I loved this bookcase, it did not go well with the paint color in my bedroom (it was too dark against the blue wall) and I there wasn't another place for it my house. Plus, I have plans for a bigger and better bookcase. I've literally been talking about my dream bookcase for like nine months (here) now but selling this bookcase gets me one step closer to actually buying it. 

For a refresher, this is the bookcase I want:

via IKEA

It will go in the dining room on the big blank wall:

That big wall to the right (it's bigger than it looks, from the end of the frames to the corner of the room is about 8') is where the new bookcase will go. So the bottom line is this: I sold the black bookcase so I can use the money to help buy the bigger white bookcase for the dining room. 

But, I haven't purchased the white bookcase just yet so for the time being this is what's going on in my room. First it was a blank wall (I took the silver shelf to the basement to use for laundry and cleaning supplies):

The other side of my room was cray. I own a lot of books.

What you may not be able to see is that there are three large tubs hidden under there full of books. Yeah... I have a lot of books.

Since I haven't planned my trip to IKEA yet and I don't want to leave my books like this any longer (it was sort of suffocating in there) I came up with a temporary solution.

I'm going for a sort of 80-year-old-professor-of-English-Lit-who-has-traveled-the-world-and-been-married-seven-times vibe. Are you feeling it? Now that I think about it, said woman would probably have more Proust and less young adult fiction... ah, well. 

I started by stacking the big books first, mostly photo albums and yearbooks (why do I keep those?). 

Then I gradually added books.

Here is the view from the doorway. It feels so open in there now! I'm sort of loving it. I don't have plans for that wall yet. My goal is the get the bookcase for the dining room, move these books onto the dining room shelves, and then deal with this wall. 

I stacked these up yesterday and so far Bob hasn't bothered them. The likelihood of one of these stacks falling over is high, I mean it is just books stacked up like three feet high so yeah, not foolproof or anything, but so far so good. 

The overflow is still in the corner, but it is much cleaner now! 

I also added a little stack by my nightstand of the books I haven't read yet. 

Also, I got rid of two huge tubs of books! Yep, I'm pretty proud of that. I was super selective with what I kept. I know I'm about to buy a huge bookcase, but I have so so many books that even getting rid of two tubs means I still have all these books left over. If you are curious as to what I kept and what I got rid of here was my criteria:

1) Will I read it again? The answer was 'yes' a surprising amount of times. There are about 30-ish books that I re-read regularly, as in either once a year or bi-annually.
2) Is it pretty? A shallow question, but some books are just so pretty that I had to keep them. I have a lot of very beautiful books that I probably won't ever read again, but they are pretty enough to keep around (to use for styling).
3) Is it sentimental? A lot of my books have sentimental value. Either they were gifts from loved ones, books from my childhood, or they remind of a specific time in my life. People are sentimental about all kinds of things and I am sentimental about books.

So that is my 'in progress' update on the bookcase situation. I'll keep you posted!

Trend Spotting: The Swiss Cross

Do you ever look at Pinterest and see reoccurring trends? Over the past few months I've noticed several pins featuring the Swiss cross. Famous for being on the flag of Switzerland and the symbol for the Red Cross, the Swiss cross is a clean and bold symbol. I love patterns that are strong and simple (like chevron or thick stripes) so the Swiss cross fits right into my aesthetic. Bonus points for it being most often in black and white, my favorite color combination.

Let's have a look, shall we?

via EmmasDesignBlogg

via Pinterest

via Tokyo Jinja

I can't tell if this backsplash is paint or tile, but either way I like it.

via Tokyo Jinja

via mthree design

This garland would be a cute and simple way to incorporate this trend.

via Vart Nya Hem

This is the image that got me thinking about this trend. I love the bright yellow. This would be a basically free project (you could use whatever paint you have on hand) and it would have such a big impact.

via Design Sponge

This is actually chalkboard paint and they just made little Swiss crosses all over it to give it a wallpaper look. Love it!

via Love Life

I'm not sure if that back wall is wallpaper or a stencil but either way I like it. Double like for it being mixed with the bold stripes.

via SF Girl By Bay

This is actually an IKEA hack. The medicine cabinet came plain white and they painted a Swiss cross on it. Since this cross is an international symbol of health care it's funny that it's on a medicine cabinet.

via Houzz

via Houzz

via Emily Henderson

This is one of my favorite interior designs ever.

via Elsie Marley

What do you think? Are you into the Swiss cross? I love it! I'm going to keep my eye out for something with the symbol on it or maybe just I'll make something that features the cross... or maybe I'll just go to Switzerland. Anything could happen!