I'm no longer an IKEA virgin

A while ago I mentioned that I finally made my maiden voyage to Ikea. Now for those of you design professionals who live in your big fancy cities where you're practically tripping over shops with fabulous with cutting edge design, this might not be very meaningful to you. In fact, you might not even be that impressed with Ikea at all. But for those of us living in third world countries, such as Columbia, SC, relatively devoid of all fashion and style, it is a BIG deal to finally have an Ikea within close driving distance.

So, on my last trip though Charlotte, I dragged my loving husband with me to experience the wonderland of Scandanavian design. And let me tell you--it did not disappoint! Just driving up to the big blue and yellow building was an awe-inspiring event.

I knew that good, affordable design was finally within reach. Walking through the doors was an exhilirating sensation, although I was slightly disoriented by the enormity of the building. We headed upstairs to the showroom (other friends had made the pilgrimage before us and brought back tales of the expansive display of home delight and perfection) where let me tell you, I was NOT disappointed. I began to skip and dance through the rooms as an unspeakable joy coursed through my veins. (I really did dance through the rooms until I ran into a stranger who didn't seem quite as entranced as I, and in fact thought it was odd to see a 30 year old woman skipping about like a small child at FAO Schwarz).

As I made my way through room after perfect room, sitting on every hip, cool, mod, fabulous chair, opening drawer after drawer of slick modern storage compartments on super cool wheelie thingies, I realized that my entire home needs redecorating. I mean, why not? It's so affordable!

After about 30 minutes of wandering through the maze of modern, fabulous chicness, my husband said to me, "You've got about 20 more minutes til I'm done with this." What? I've only just begun! I could stay here another 3 hours! How could he not understand that this was the happiest I've felt in weeks.

And so, I raced through the rest of the showroom breathless with wonder and delight (also because I really was practically running), so as not to miss a single thing. I was patting myself on the back as I headed down the escalator because at least I'd managed to see everything, only to be confronted by another whole level with millions of other must-have items that would make my life so much better! And so, I swore to myself that I would be back soon when no one could stop me from soaking in every drop of the marvel that is Ikea.

I came out with only this set of curtains, which I love! I'm putting them in our office and wondering what accent color I'm going to use since they are so neutral. Right now I'm thinking a deep purplish red, the color of my red shamrocks. What do you guys think?

Brain Dead

image via anne nauman photography

Just in case anyone is wondering why I haven't posted in a while, it's because I will never catch up on all of my reading for classes long enough to have a creative thought!!! Someone please inspire me and give me a good idea for a post.

I'd like to post on the fact that I finally made my maiden voyage to IKEA, but I don't think I can do it justice right now. So, maybe if I can finish one of the 3 books and 5 million journal articles I have to read by next Saturday, I'll attempt it. (I'm sorry if this is sounding too whiny.)

The books I'm reading aren't quite this picturesque, but you get the idea. Someone, please inspire me!

image via mary ruffle via samantha lamb

Unique Style

Once again, my turquoise friend (okay, we've never met, but I really like her blog, so I think of her as my friend) has introduced me to someone cool. On a recent post she featured some photography of Joanna Henderson, but true to her obsession, she only posted the aqua elements. So I followed her link to Joanna Henderson, and was intrigued by some of her other rooms. And being the equal opportunity color appreciator that I am, I thought I'd feature them here.

What style would you call this? It's such a nice mix of styles that it's a little hard to classify. Maybe some of you real designers could enlighten me. Any thoughts?

Any Phoebe Howard Fans?

Thanks to some fabulous blog out there, I'm sorry I don't remember which one, I was turned on to the designs of Phoebe Howard. I checked out her website and found her style to be beautiful, yet also versatile. The ones I've featured here have some definite similarities in color and style, because those are the ones that appealed to me. But I really liked how she is able to create many varied looks, some bold, graphic, fresh and new. Others more classic and traditional. Still others very simple and/or artsy. Ms. Howard's got something for everyone. How do you like these?


Here I'm drawn to the softness of the pink.


The symmetry in this room is fantastic.


Of course I'm always drawn to textiles.


And once again, the pink just does it for me!

The Blogosphere Made me Feel Better

When I saw this picture, I thought, "It must have been taken before everything happened! She looks way too happy and carefree." But it's true. Everything that happens does make us stronger if we let it. And today this made me feel a little bit better.

image via jolie marie

And something that made me feel a lot better were all the belly laughs I got while scrolling through and reading Mabel's House. It started with "Tyler Florence Nearly Made Me Barf." As I laughed out loud my husband had to come in to the office to see what I was laughing about. Then I came across this picture...



...and the belly laughed turned into a guffaw.

And by the time I got to "Sleeping With the Enemy" I had erupted into furious giggles so that I could hardly read the post out loud to Ben who was also giggling along with me.

Anyway, if you haven't read her blog, you should!