Who Knew?

Sy sewing machine @ IKEA - $59.

I work at the big blue box (aka IKEA) and it never ceases to amaze me how you can walk around a random corner and find something totally unexpected, yet utterly delightful. And that is exactly how I felt when I saw the SY sewing machine. It is a cute little thing with the IKEA blue and yellow for accents and would be great for a beginner… like me! I’ve got a vintage machine that my Aunt Connie gave me but it needs servicing and it never hurts to have a backup sewing machine, right?

A Spring Thing

Caslon Racerback Maxi Dress, $68 at Nordstroms, Resplendent Statement necklace, $28 at Threadsence, Tingo T-Strap sandals, $78 at Anthropologie

I shared my book find from the thrift store earlier this week but I went there to find black pants for work. I succeeded in my questioning for a pair of nice, inexpensive pants and discovered a brand I’d never heard of as well: Caslon. It is sold at Nordstroms (which explains why I haven’t heard of it, Nordies is out of my price range) and features some nice staple pieces.

Anyway, I decided to check out more about them online and discovered the maxi dress above. I thought it’d be cute with some little added punches of color. I think I’d also throw a yellow boyfriend blazer over it to dress it up a little (I couldn’t find a picture of one that I liked to share here).

So, that’s my attempt at fashion for the week! I truly hope I’m getting better at it. Until next time!

Lemony Goodness

Clockwise from top left: Threadsence necklace – $24, Old Navy plaid gauze shirt – $25, Anthropologie dress – $398, Anthropologie clutch – $100, Asos sandals – $600.

I haven’t always been a fan of the color yellow. In fact, at one point I was all about neutrals and all other colors be darned! Thankfully, I’m way more open to color now. Good thing too; there are some awesome products in some really amazing hues these days. This part lemony, part yolky bright yellow is adorning a lot of cool things from clothes to interiors. So yeah, I’m a bit obsessed with yellow right now. How about you? What colors are you craving?

Have a great weekend everyone, I’ll see you next time.

They Call Me Mellow Yellow…

Quite rightly! Seriously this chair was kind of fugly when I bought it but it was comfortable and looked like it’d be easy to update. OK, also it was dirt cheap. In fact, it might have been cheaper than dirt! Anyway, you all (patient, lovely people aren’t you?) know how long it has taken me to get this chair together but there is an AFTER (at last) for this BEFORE.

You can see my progress report here. I broke down and bought a staple gun. I spray painted the frame yesterday in Krylon’s Satin Nickel. It’s really pretty. Stapling the fabric was a two man job (thanks Kirsten Marino-DeShields!) but it got done. I forgot to staple the fabric from the back on the outside pieces so you can see the wonky staples. I decided I’m going to hot glue some yellow ribbon over it.

Whooo! I’m so glad that I got this project finished. It has been a longer process than expected… but a rewarding one!

Have a great Wednesday everyone and enjoy Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Totally Inspiring Room

Could a room be any room be sunnier looking than this ode to yellow? It’s a nice shot of happiness during this season of cold, gray, rainy and snowy weather. This is the kind of room that cheers the spirit no matter what the season.

Some standout points of interest for me: the hits of black throughout that keep the room grounded, little bits of shine, and the flame orange art on the far wall. The whole space looks comfortable, happy, and pulled together. It’s definitely a totally inspiring room!

On a side note: the office chair has a fresh coat of Krylon’s Satin Nickel spray paint on it’s frame. In a bit I’m going to head over to Walmart to get a staple gun so I can get the fabric on… hopefully today!

Totally Inspiring Room

This guest room is by Elizabeth Dinkel and was designed for a show house at the Greystone Estate, an (at the time) unoccupied mansion.  The colors: aqua, gold, white with little hints of chocolate brown. The vibe is feminine and elegant. I imagine any guest would be happy to stay in the soft and pretty room.

Happy Tuesday, all! I’m on the mend. Really! I’m so glad to be able to breathe through my nose again. It’s the little things, right? Until tomorrow!

Watercolor Summer Wear

This has been a weird day! A window in my bedroom got mysteriously broken. It scared me pretty badly. And I’m still not sure how it happened exactly. All I know is after that trauma, I needed something fun to distract me from being distraught.

I decided to see if I could find find some pieces to make an outfit out of this skirt I just bought from Ashley Stewart (plus size clothes):

Camera phone pic alert!<<

It’s a dirndl type skirt that buttons down the front and has cute little side pockets and a sash tie belt. I couldn’t find a pic of it online but Old Navy has some similar skirts (in regular women’s sizes, you’d need a belt though).

I flipped through some of my catalogs to see if I could find inspiration there and… I did! Spiegel has this cute cami and matching cardi in a beatuiful blue, green, yellow, and white watercolor print. Super summery, right? Here’s the look I pulled together:

Clockwise from top left: Floral Print Tunic Cardigan $49 ($54+) – Speigel.com, Floral Print Tunic Cami $34 ($39+) – Spiegel.com, “Ananta” earrings $98 – Anthropologie.com, green and yellow flower bracelet $21.95 – Braceletgirl.com, Kate Spade “Felice” tote in citron $295 – Zappos.com, “Strung Packages” sandals $98 – Anthropologie.com.

The cardigan has such a strong mix of colors that I really wanted the accessories to pop and be fun. I love those yellow sandals with their green beads and the texture on the Kate Spade bag keeps the mix fresh. I know it’s a little matchy but… I like that!

Anyway, that’s my attempt at fashion for the time being. Think I did OK?

A Favorite Room

It is funny how, sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. This is a room that I clipped out of magazine a few years ago, back when I was still in my more modern, minimalist phase. Back then if it wasn’t black and white, I didn’t usually care… at that time, this was too much color for me but I couldn’t stop looking at it.

I realize now that it’s because even with all the color the room is clean, uncluttered, and lived in looking. A beautiful combination in my book. The beautiful harmony of colors, which I didn’t appreciate once upon a time, are wonderfully delicious icing.

Happy (super late!) Thursday!

Mr. Telephone Man…

Not sure what it is with the song and (fictional) band references lately but it’s working for me! Today As Is goes back to a time before the instantaneous communication provided by cell phones. Yes, back to a time when you had to go to a specific room in the house and sit down next to a telephone that was connected to a jack in the wall. You could only get so far too; receiver cords had a finite length.

But for all their limitations, some of them had a certain amount of style. These days, when the usefulness of your phone is quantified by how much you can do with it that doesn’t involve talking and they all sort of look generally alike (iPhone and clones), the retro simplicity of older, pre-cellular models, built for talking, stand out.

Vintage Rotary – Anthropologie
Sculptura – Ericofon.com
Scandifone – Velocity Art & Design
Princess – (try Etsy.com > Vintage > type in “vintage princess telephone”)

Happy talking and I hope you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day yesterday!

Not so mellow yellow.

Once upon a time if you looked at my wardrobe all you’d find was black, white, and blue. Yes, sadly, I dressed for years in third day bruise colors. Then at some point I decided that I kinda liked pink. Then purple. For a while every article of clothing I bought was some brilliant shade of green. Eventually, I even succumbed to the mother of all bold colors, that femme fatale, red. Now, I can’t get enough of anything gray… All this to say, that I’m a fairly recent fan of color.

A couple of colors that I’d never thought I’d ever have a jones for, no matter how deeply enmeshed in the color wheel I became, are orange and yellow. They just never did anything for me. They kind seemed a little too much color (this is comimg from a girl who swore she’d never be caught in red!). Orange still doesn’t do a thing for me… But yellow? I’m definitely coming around.

Don’t worry, Orange, I’m sure I’ll come around.

Inspiration photos from:
cococozy
Belle Madison
Anthropologie
Florence Broadhurst
Volume Twenty Five on Etsy