dizzy lizzy

Wow - for the past five days I have had post traumatic vertigo - for two of those days I could not even get out of bed! This pic from the Oly Studios showroom a couple of years ago. It was all over the blogosphere then and I loved it then, but now that I have been stuck in bed for several days I think how wonderful it would have been to be surrounded by that lush green wallpaper. Delicious, right?
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blessed

Two weeks ago I was in a horrifying car accident. Swerving to avoid a falling garbage can on the freeway, I hit the median wall head-on and then flipped my little car six to eight times. Witnesses said it was worse than a movie and everyone from passersby to the fireman who broke my door off to get me out all have said it was unsurviverable and that they fully expected me to be dead.

I am far from it, however. With the love and support of my family and friends I am already back up and around, and getting back into the swing of life. LIFE. I love life! So look for me soon, my friends - I will be back to blogging and designing and figuring out my next steps on this crazy journey. I have missed you.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and puts itself into our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." - John Wayne

xoxo
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beach bound

I know I have been obsessively posting on fashion the last couple of weeks instead of furniture and interiors, but many times where my closet goes, my interiors follow. For a while now my closet has been transitioning from jewel tones to nudes, grays, black and white. Now my entire cottage is in pale neutrals with hits of black.

For the summer and especially for my mama's birthday trip to Monaco and Barcelona this July, I am really craving these pieces. Metallic blush and nude, soft suede fringe and dress, pale and tactile. My bedroom redesign is following with cream and white with shiny brass accents!

Anthropologie cuff

H&M Fringe Suede Clutch

Anthropologie Suede Sheath

Triangl Metallic Bikini

I also hope to get a great underwater or beach shot on this vacay to blow up huge like this gorgeous shot:

Hope you are having a great week!
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of a kind

Have you guys been to the website Of A Kind? It is chock full of awesome clothes, jewelry, baby stuff, etc... I get into phases where I wear the same jewelry for months on end. This spring and summer I am wearing stacks of gold bangles and rings. Heading into fall though, I can imagine wearing these stud earrings and sharp necklace every single day. Love!
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on the fringe

I already have a fringe purse that I never carry. But these bags from Zara are making me crazy with lust! I want one for my summer trip to Monte Carlo/Barcelona...
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Why am I always?

...on a wild lamp hunt? I know I just posted on three or four options for bedside lamps a few weeks ago, and sconce options last year, but I have a friend who is looking for lamps, and it lead me to these two brass beauties.

Both are by Worlds Away. I like the white lacquer one on top best. I love lamps!
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my tv room

Have you guys seen the wonderful online mag ROCO? It is run by the talented Rachael - she used to have a blog called Roco Rennie.
She asked me to talk about my fave room this week - my tv room. Head over and check it out!
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custom designed dining table

Oh my gosh, I am thrilled to show you my custom-designed dining table. If I ever get a furniture line going, this will be the first piece I take to market. I designed this table based on a vintage piece:

But I wanted mine to have six sides instead of eight, and to be in solid cerused oak. I had the most wonderful artisan make it for me, and it is on its way to my house now! Here is a pic of my finished table:

I can't release any other photos or info because I hope to have it published and put the table into production, but I am so excited I couldn't help myself! What do you think?
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my friend kat

My friend Kat has the most amazing house in New Orleans. These photos were not styled or prepped at all - I simply love her house and took a bunch of photos last time I was there. I hope she styles it up and gets it professionally photographed. And if you need a decorator in New Orleans, she is the bomb!
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Faux snakeskin she found on Ebay and gorgeous art

She got this abandoned desk off the street!

The stained it herself to look like wood inlay

She covered this chair in an old zebra hide

And got this gorgeous grasscloth credenza on Ebay for so cheap

detail of brass and grasscloth

She also got this Slim Aarons print on Ebay

my painting arrived

So thrilled! My painting arrived from Susan Dory and my bestie Leslie at Guthrie Contemporary. They conspired together to give me a painting for Christmas and I adore it! Susan has invented a new way of painting that looks like melted candy poured out. Some of the shapes are sheer and some are opaque. Photos do not do it justice. Also it is strong enough to be in a bathroom, which I love, because it makes the whole room!
Thank you so much Leslie and Susan - you have made my whole year!
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About Time - Cornwall is awesome

Not many people saw the movie About Time that was out a couple of months ago. I think it was in theaters only one weekend and probably didn't get the best reviews. But I tell you, my bestie and I saw it and sobbed the whole time. The movie was so beautiful, the scenery of London and Cornwall stunning, and the emotions from funny romance to heartbreaking sadness just had us crying the whole time. The music was great, too!

The best part of the entire movie (aside from the father/son relationship), was the house the family had in Cornwall. It was stunning inside and out, and they could walk down to the beach every day for tea. I am going to have to watch it again on On Demand so I can take pictures of the inside of the house - for now, these stills will have to do. I hope I can stay in Cornwall someday.

Everyone rent this movie - and get the tissues ready!
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light it up

I am so obsessed with these lamps right now. Hopefully a pair will make it into the bedroom redo - just have to decide which will go best with the Mouille style ceiling light...what do you think?
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This is a snakeskin texture

Love the handmade quality of this yellow one

This black one is the front runner for me right now....love!

I love the wood and black geometric of this one but I think it is too small for bedsides...

what will be will be

I have been thinking a lot about resolutions. I usually do something really huge every year, like earn a degree or move across the country. Those things are never resolutions, it is just the way my life has been. Last year I decided to move in March and moved August 1st! So this month I am thinking about just writing down the main things that WILL happen this year. That way they are not resolutions that may be forgotten or set aside, but actual plans that I will follow through on.

1. Become a great cook. I have started cooking with my mom (via phone or skype) on a weekly basis and I really love it. She is an amazing professional cook and I get freaked out boiling water. I am going to become a confident, accomplished cook this year with all the tools I need to create great meals.

2. Learn CAD, and some Italian. I took CAD in design school but I have never used it and have completely forgotten it. I will take online classes this year and get great at it. Also, my fluency in Spanish makes Italian both easy and confusing, so I will study up on it for my trip in July (see #3).

3. Travel. This is easy since my mom plans and executes this one every year. Last year was the Dominican Republic, which was amazing, but my sister has never been to Europe. So this year we are going to Barcelona, Monte Carlo, and maybe a few towns in Italy and France. I am always the translator for Spanish, so I need to break out the Italian and French study guides!

4. Finish decorating the cottage and get it photographed/published. I am so happy and proud of my little cottage. I just need a few more touches to get it where I want it and it will be ready for professional pics and hopefully publishing!

5. Of course I have to decorate my mom's house, too, and work on our coffee table book with her. I have major spending coming up this year as my wisdom teeth have to come out and my brakes need to be fixed. I really loved 36 and I hear that 38 is the best year, but 37 has definitely been weird. I have been adjusting to life in California and I just want 2014 to be a happy time with no major stresses. More time with friends and family is the most important thing.

What are you going to accomplish this year? I hope every year you grow and get better....love!
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What I have been up to

Hi, guys - it has been a crazy work week. Things are going great at the new job and so much else is going on...

These awesome Nate Berkus pillows landed in my house. They are so textural and boho - and only $30!

I have been cooking like crazy! I am 37 this year and that is the age at which Julia Child started cooking...I keep telling myself that in hopes I will be a good cook! I have made pork chops with mushroom sauce and dirty rice, sausage and green chile quiche, and shortrib cassoulet. This week I am going to do pesto burgers and fries. I just need to take prettier pictures of my results!

My client and friend got the Mouille knockoff that I have been wanting, but in white. It looks amazing over her dining table - excuse the dark photo! I recommend this light to everyone I know. It absolutely works EVERYWHERE!

Finally, I painted my bathroom in anticipation of the Susan Dory painting I got for Christmas! My bestie Leslie, who owns an art gallery, gave me this amazing painting by Susan, and Susan agreed to gift it to me. It looks like poured melted candy - photos do not do it justice! I will post before and after pics of the bathroom when I get the painting hung... it is the one on the right in this pic.

Hope you are having as great a week as I am! Talk soon...
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Kourtney's house

The best (and only) reason to watch Keeping Up with the Kardashians is to look at Kourtney's house. All the other's homes are way over the top glamorous, but hers is mostly gray and absolutely gorgeous. They all work with Jeff Andrews, who is amazing all the time. She is about to sell, so here is the first time photos have been published. I really love the living room best, and I have always wanted to do a neon art piece. Enjoy!
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Bold is beautiful

I am in a holding pattern regarding my bedroom. Finishing this room will allow me to photograph my cottage and post it or hopefully get it published. What's holding me back is fear - I want to put a crazy falling cubes pattern on the bed. I know I will hate it in a year and have to recover, but for the sake of doing something interesting and different, I just have to.

Classic is wonderful, but not if you want the room to be wow, to get noticed. Classic is for my family and clients, something they can live with for years because they will not change things up every year like I do. Bold is best for me.

When I get scared of bold, I look at some of my favorite unforgettable spaces. These people went for the gusto and I love it! And of course they were published and talked about.
BE BOLD.
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New Year, new house

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year with your friends and family. I traveled to New Orleans and Mississippi to see my loved ones and it was amazing. Except that my sister and brother in law were sick the entire time! My mom and I went out to look at a house that she had been eyeing online. We never met a piece of real estate we didn't like! She is really wanting to do a clean white farmhouse look, but this property is more adobe style. We loved it at first sight but I honestly never thought my stepdad would move on something over the holidays, or at all so quickly. We thought we were just looking for fun.

The day I left, she took him to see the house and they made an offer on it the next day. They got the house and close on Valentine's Day! I can't believe it but I am so thrilled for them. It is so unique for Mississippi, and though it needs a lot of work, we are going to make it a stunner! I have not designed anything in the modern adobe or hacienda style, so I cannot wait!

The best part of this house is the interior courtyard with the covered walkways going all the way around the house. I am in love!

Isn't it amazing? I will keep you posted on the changes we make. My stepdad is not a fan of painting wood or pulling out rustic elements, but I would love to clean it up and pare it down even more. Happy hump day!
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