My Creative Blog:
design

Nathan Turner
'that worn rug in orange and hot pink is genius with all that white....'

kml design
Yum.
happy weekend...

Jill Brinson's kitchen design sponge?

domino via two tall blondes
I adore this mix....

katy elliott

katy elliott
It might be because I'm currently obsessed with glass containers.
Or it might be that I want to bring a little more greenery inside this winter.
either way...
I want to put together a few terrariums...

I am loving silver leaf frames right now...

I received my new copy of Atlanta Homes & Life Styles magazine in the mail this week and about flipped when I saw the cover. Pictured on the cover was this amazing dining room but what I was most after were the circa 1780 urns in iron armatures on the pedestals. They're from Bobby McAlpine's shop called AD Antiquity in Birmingham that I was told is now closed. The designer of this room is the very talented Susan Ferrier.

image via House Beautiful
I'm in love with these urns! Armature simply means a framework, in this case the iron, serving as a supporting core for the material used to make, in this case the URNS! There are actually a pair of these used in that dining room....FABULOUS!

image via A. Tyner Antiques
I came upon these 19th century painted Swedish grotto chairs offered by A. Tyner Antiques when I was looking at Swedish benches. Aren't the scallop shell backs amazing? I thought the chairs were very reasonably priced too at $820 per chair.

One of the chairs was shown in Atlanta Home magazine this month as well in a bedroom designed by Liz Williams. The chair looks even better in a room just look at that detail!

I love anything with scallops as evidenced by this architectural piece above that suits in my studio.

Or how about this chair in my studio....

It has a small lovely sort of scallop shell on top too.
There are scallops on the underside of those urns, scallops on the chairs and scallops on several things in my studio. I'm quite taken with anything that has a smooth sculpted flow. So what sort of architectural detail rocks your boat?

It's official, we have just enough snow and ice to build one of these'an igloo! We now have over three feet of ice-covered snow down since yesterday and it's still snowing. We were lucky and received a half inch of ice on top of our snow last night. So if we can't beat it might as well see if we could do something with this mess. Igloo hotel anyone?

First stop is the igloo lobby!

After checking in how about a cocktail at the igloo bar?

You could sit on this igloo bar stool to rest your weary bones.

This is the honeymoon suite, doesn't all that snow and ice make you want to rip your clothes off? I don't care how much champagne I've had I'm so not going there!

This is called the big room in the igloo. Look at that you can make your own furniture in a nice neutral color.
Believe it or not but a lot of engineering skills go into creating an igloo although that igloo, there on the right looks a little scary, the blocks look to be coming down.

Or how about a dip in the igloo jacuzzi? I think the heat of the water is melting the ceiling.
Actually igloo villages and hotels do exist in Switzerland and Germany for those who are willing to give it a try but book quickly because come April they're closed for obvious reasons.

I'm freezing! We woke up to our thermometer outside flat lining it was ZERO degrees! So visions on warmth wafted through my head. Just look at that image, tropical breeze, sun, surf and sand!

Last week we had a snowstorm that dumped nearly two feet of snow on us. See those sticks sticking up out of the snow that would be our Forsythia shrubs. Buried right up to the tops and look at that sky, could it get any grayer? (Actually I wish I could copy that gray color for my dining room walls.)

We had to snow blow paths just so Dylan dog could get out and unfortunately tomorrow isn't going to be any better for us. They're predicting another foot of snow and to make it even more fun Mother Nature is tossing in a little sleet. HELP! I hope you're enjoying some warmth! ?

I like how the folks at Tracery Interiors placed a mirror over this nightstand. Makes me want to try it...
?

sexy! via bien cuit

one of my antique wallpaper panels
You might remember that I love umber, a deep burnt orange tone. Especially when paired with gray.

So I was crazy happy when I found out I won this lovely glass tray with those awesome colors. Sherry from Design Indulgence featured the give-away and I felt so luck to have won.

perfect for me...

Be sure to visit Sherry at Design Indulgence, not only is she very talented, she is hysterical!
Thanks so much, Sherry!

image via cote de texas
I love settings such as these there's something about them that draws me into them. These rooms look so calm, so relaxed, so perfect''.

image via a perfect gray
I noticed something about these settings, notice the high ceilings, not just the ceilings but notice the details....

image via ?
The amazing flooring, the perfect European furniture....

image via greige

image via voorhaven 7

image via Italian Style ? Without architectural elements you would simply have a room devoid of personally. I love how these rooms don't have a lot of furniture but they lead your eye around the room, they say look at me. What do you think, do you like rooms that are simple but elegant?

Wishing each and every one of you the very best for the coming year! May life give you everything you dream!
Happy 2011 my friends!

Wow, I feel so special! I want to say thank you to Joy over at Savvy City Farmer who was kind enough to feature my blog for the month of January.
THANK YOU JOY!

Joy is one busy lady, she's a free-lance designer, fellow blogger who has not one but two blogs, Savvy City Farmer and Stuff. in the. Burbs

As if that wasn't enough she also runs a home-based business from her potting shed along with her husband Don. Twice a year they throw open the doors for a selling event in their backyard. Luckily if you don't want to wait for one of her sales you can always pop on over to her Etsy shop.

So thank you Joy and I hope when you find time everyone pops on over to Savvy City Farmer and tell Joy, Debra sent you!

Hi there and sorry for not blogging since forever! Christmas has taken all my energy and also, after posting uncountable Christmas posts I got a bit fed up. So now I'm about done with that. Spring is coming, you know (!) although it's half a meter of snow here. I'm being optimistic.

I sincerely hope that you all have had a very happy Christmas!

/Back soon. ;)

J ust a quick note... F OOD & WINE magazine included a picture of our kitchen in a piece entitled, Food Bloggers' Best Kitchen Design Ideas (page 56) in their January 2011 issue. It came out while Trina was in the hospital, so we've just picked up a copy ourselves. Here's the digital version as shown on their web site.
Wishing you all the happiest holiday season.
All the best, Mike

^{This is our Christmas tree this year. In fact, it's our first tree together what so ever and we love it! There's no gifts underneath it yet, but that will change this morning. We were a bit afraid that the cats would go nuts about them, not to mention the tree itself. I actually notice in the photo that one of the decorations already has landed on the floor. But other than that they have been surprisingly well behaved. I catch Maja now and the boxing on them and she looks at me with irritation when I tell her no. Cute.}

I wish you all a merry, merry Christmas and thank you so much for following my blog this year, and for all the nice comments!

'Chestnuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack Frost nipping on your nose,
Yuletide carols being sung by a choir,
And folks dressed up like Eskimos. 

Everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe,
Help to make the season bright.
Tiny tots with their eyes all aglow,
Will find it hard to sleep tonight. 

They know that Santa's on his way;
He's loaded lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh.
And every mother's child is going to spy,
To see if reindeer really know how to fly.

And so I'm offering this simple phrase,
To kids from one to ninety-two,
Although its been said many times, many ways,
A very Merry Christmas to you '

Greetings, Bettina.

Check out this absolutely amazing apartment! And it's for sale. In MY town. And. I. Want. It. Badly!!

Don't miss the beautiful fireplace. Fireplaces in cast iron is normal to see in Swedish homes but this one is so special. I've never seen one like it. I could buy this home only based on this object.

The prize tag is SEK 2 350 000, which isn't to bad for a renovated two story apartment with French balcony in the best area of the city!

The apartment building is a so called Governor's House, named after Albert Ehrensv'rd. The story behind it was that in the 19th century it was only allowed to build two stories high houses in wood and so one crossed the red tape and built the first floor in stone.

This way of building is typical for Gothenburg but can also be found in other places of Sweden.

Most of these homes were built for the working class and usually they had one room and a kitchen where up to 15 people lived together. Today the apartments are very popular amongst small families and it's hard to find one to buy.

Enjoy the photos!

Source: Stadshem