Stoking the Fire

We've been busy stoking the fire. For the shop. And for home. Will has been getting the fire pits ready for Halloween. He's also been gathering wood and kindling. It's supposed to be cold, so he's going to be a pyro for halloween. Not really, I just kinda made that up...

Bamboo and Antler sculpture made by Will {for the shop}. He harvested the bamboo himself and is also building an old english looking fence in our back yard out of these pretty little honey colored sticks.

Orglamic Garland made by me. I cut up some straw doilies from the flea market and tied them to some silver rope. Loads of other industrial + frillies at the shop. I hope you'll visit. Also, Just In: A queen and king chair purchased from England. They're classic french antiques and worth the visit from far and wide!

I almost forgot to announce the giveaway. Congratulations to Dana V!!

A Lifestyle Thing Giveaway

Just a reminder to all of you to be sure and sign up as a follower of a lifestyle thing. Last chance to enter is @ 5pm tomorrow. You'll be in the drawing for those quirky silhouette birds I posted.

I've been busy putting out more fall goods around the neighborhood. It's therapeutic to be outside. Get out there and store yourself up on some good vitamin D before the cold season shuts you in.

Did you know 86 % of American households decorate for Halloween?

Pumpkins and Gourds courtesy of Fassnight Farms.

Taylor-Made Tips for a Dream Headboard

Just a little something I had the upholsterer pick up today from the flea market for a client. It {i kid you not} was tagged with the title "hooker-chic" by the vendor. I might rephrase that tag-line for the sold tag to say, Pretty Woman, just to humor the silly vendor. This vendor does in fact, bring in THE most killer pieces on a continual basis.

The flea market owner told me today that the bed could've sold a ca-gillian times in between the time I purchased it and when I picked it up. This news didn't really surprise me.

The headboard is going to be dressed in a warm grey fabric and the wood trim is going to be lacquered in a high-gloss white.

Taylor-Made Head Board Tips:

1. The headboard is full-size, but we'll be using it with a queen size mattress. It will be exactly the width of the mattresses and will look just fine since we will be elevating the headboard to give it a bigger look.

2. Bed mattresses are so much taller/thicker now then in the sixties, which means I'll saw off these short legs and then hang the headboard from the 8' high ceiling. Elevating it to this level will place it where the stackage of mattresses + pillow tops are just below the beautiful tufting, making the buttons look as if they are the sixteenth notes from a masterful Tchaikovsky musical score. As added reinforcement, I'll have it screwed in to wall studs thru several concealed button holes.

I'll be posting the finished piece once it is complete in a couple of weeks.

A REAL SIMPLE sunday edition

My niece, Mabel Irene, is inside the November issue of REAL SIMPLE Magazine. {sorry for the poorly scanned and small copy} photography by Julie Blackmon.

I thought it pretty fitting to post this on a cold, fall Sunday. Family and Home Made Sunday Suppers gently warm the soul.

Bird Giveaway + Friday's eat, play, love list

Bird Give-Away {No, it's not FOR the birds, & no, it's not a butterball turkey from the office, which might be next month's}

For all the followers who are deeply interested in a lifestyle thing (my blog), listen up! I'm hosting my first give away. I have made a set of three Taylor-Made silhouettes for your home or office window display (each one is different + a bit quirky...see the large one above). Here's the drill and it's not an impossible chore...Sign up to follow me and you'll be in the running. deadline: we'll see.

The Friday eat, play, love list:

I love black and white decor, and usually always incorporate this color scheme into my halloween decor...doilies repurposed in black are sheer eddie ross genius. A little more silhouette love too.

{images via curious sofa, a lifestyle thing, eddie ross, apartment therapy, bliss}

May your Happy-Nest be feathered this weekend!

Sneak Peak of Mod Gypsy Blitz

This just in: Deeply. in love. with Sesha's painterly photography as seen here. I have more gypsy jewels from this shoot to share with all of you, but am keeping them in their jewel box for a special segment that will appear very soon...{to be announced}

This photo shoot was a huge amount of work for Sesha and me. Several mini meetings {in between our normal work days}, scouting drives, phone calls, prop and fashion sourcing, all day set-up, light testing, night shooting, breakdown, and drop-offs, and for sesha all the editing that goes with this as well.

...SO well worth all the effort! And with the large crew of people, I'm still amazed that we all somehow managed to dodge the masses of heavy walnuts that were dropping all around us due to heavy winds.

A huge thank you to Cyndy and John Platz and family for most graciously sharing their home, beautiful property, their handmade 15th Century Reproduction German tent, and one of the most gorgeous trees you'll ever see in your life. The branches must span 75 feet outwardly and parallel to the ground.

Also, thank you to the amazingly beautiful group of Sesha's friends who volunteered their time and fun! Great people!!

Thank you to my family for all their help at the shoot as well. Will, Charlie and Eleanor. And baby Sylvie too.

Thanks Sesha!!

I'll post a bit later about a give away.

Go for Color! + Classic Cuteness

One more of my fave costumes from last year... Pinocchio {before his nose grew}. His real life name is Georgie. He's wearing a very smart {handmade} hat and tie. I'm loving the color combo that he's wearing.

This is a Hot color scheme for interior/exterior decor inspiration = Teal + White + Candy Apple Red + Terra Cotta + Mustard + Avocado Green + Grey (A New Orleans Courtyard, source unknown).

Today I'm loading up more industrial + frilly goods to take to Staxx. Think wheels + Grandma style...not Grandma in a wheelchair.

Baby Syl will be going flea marketing with me a bit later to hunt down treasures for a new client's bedroom. Let's hope I don't get stuck with Syl clamoring all over obscene plastic stuff, and let's hope I don't get stuck in the booth w/newly arriving frye boots (never been worn).

Also, sneak peak of the Mod Gypsy Blitz coming very, very soon!

THE. Coolest. Spiderweb. EVER!!

I don't even know where to begin....I'll start with what I can't get out of my eyeballs....the spiderweb. Is it not the most genius Halloween decor you've ever seen???!!! When my cousin Rachel, who lives just a few hops away, put this massive doily tablecloth up on her house last year for Halloween, I nearly fainted. No understatement. Coolest. Ever!!!

Isn't the owl wall art perfect for door decor too? 70's tweedy-straw stuff is really cropping up in a lot of cool decor magazines. Urban Outfitters has an amazing section dedicated to this era.

Next up, the local Halloween parade in our Rountree neighborhood always leaves us with the impossible chore of trying to out-do one another's costumes...I've given up. We've discussed having contests on best homemade costumes, but if I were judge, I don't think there could be one winner. Here are a few of my all time faves (thank you Millie, Donna, and Missy!)...Marie Antoinette, Baby Nun, Munchkin, Hansel and Gretel, Vintage Clown, Indian Babe, Dorothy and Pinochio). For some reason pinocchio will not post today...I'll post him all on his own...(he's that precious).

We are THE place to be on Halloween! We had over 300 trick-or-treaters come to our door last year. Our streets are lined with some pretty gorgeous Maples. That's it for now. Happy Costuming and Deco--rotten!

See all you locals at the parade.

butterfly kisses (black moth kisses)

sharon

100 Layer Cake {Bits and Pieces}

100 Layer Cake kills me with their darling inspiration boards. Yumminess posted daily, plus their bits and pieces posted on Fridays ALWAYS fill me to the brim!

On another note: I've got some pretty amazing industrial pieces headed to the shop this week. Think science lab + frills.

1st giveaway starts this week.

Hope you have a lovely Monday!!

Taylor-Made Funky Silhouettes {Wall Art/Party Decor}

One of my clients asked me to come up with an idea for a dressing room wall. Taylor-Made Idea=Modern Silhouettes. I still have a few more to make for her before full installation, but in the mean time, I've photographed them as a DIY party idea. How do you like the "hot" coffee cup...I thought it would be fun to use this for a fall party drink station sign,.I'll post instructions a bit later.

sharon

Ruin: Vanishing America

I'm glad Brian Vanden Brink is giving some permanence to these lost beauties with his book Ruin: Photographs of Vanishing America.

My friend, Sesha, called me yesterday to tell me that she's making a trip to Marshfield today to capture a one room school house before it is to be torn down today.

This house is just four blocks away from my house and when I called to inquire about the property, the landlord who owns a long strip of houses much like this one, told me that it was slated to be torn down very soon.

I'm hoping to at least recover the clothesline that was ripped up out of the back yard. Those are vanishing pieces too.

xo to you vanishing beauties!

sharon