You wouldn't feel like blogging today either...

...if you could just snuggle this chubby little angel instead.

photo by my very talented friend, Terese. If you live in Boston, you should hire her.

Calling in sick today, friends. Be back tomorrow with lots of design goodness.

hugs,
j.

Ramblings of a Sick Woman

Today there will be a blizzard and I don't care if we get snowed in.

We wouldn't have left the house anyway because I'm sick. I will be bundled up in my soft and warm bed all day, snuggling with my little ones (who are also under the weather).

Do your worst, blizzard! I have stacks of magazines and catalogs to read, plenty of shows to catch up on (LOST!!), and blogs, blogs, blogs! I swear it feels like I find three great new blogs every single day.

Here are some of the things on my mind and my desktop:

1. This image is free for download. FREE, I tell you! I'm printing it out for my bedroom because I love the colors that much. I love that it's moody and happy at the same time. And who doesn't love umbrellas?

image available on Oh Brooke!; saw it on Making it Lovely

2. Michael is a big steak sandwich fan. This is our favorite version to make at home and we will be partaking on Super Bowl Sunday. We like to add mushrooms to the mix, cause we're crazy like that.


3. I like the shape of this cork board from Vanessa at Turquoise LA. I don't know if she made it herself or not, but it would be easy to add your own cork to a non-square/rectangular frame. They sell rolls of cork at Target, Walmart and craft stores.

4. This apartment came up on NYC's craigslist and I freaked out. It's in our price range, two blocks to G's school and a five minute walk to Michael's firm. Of course it had already been leased by the time I called the management company, and I don't know what I expected to do anyway. We don't need a place for a few more months. It's probably not healthy for me to look at apartments until we are closer to the move. Can't you just see me living here? I can see me living here.

5. I would of course need a cool house key if I lived in a loft.

saw it on Glam Lamb

6. Style at Home has been knocking it out of the park for me lately. This entry is my OBSESSION. It sings to me. The leopard runner next to that antique oriental rug. The b/w ginger jar on top of the armoire. The frames stacked to the ceiling. The transom windows. The front door. The checkered entry floor. That lantern!!! Love it all.

7. From the same spread, a porcelain junky's dream:

8. Also, they had this clever idea for disguising a TV - use a dark wallpaper to make the screen less obvious. So pretty! And I love the green chairs.

So, what's on your mind today? Any fun plans for the weekend? If I get feeling better, there are some house projects that have been sitting on my to do list for far too long.

Happy Friday!

WINNER: Restoring a House in the City

The winner of a copy of Restoring a House in the City, chosen from random.org, is Annmarie. Congratulations!


Please contact me with your address when you have a minute, Annmarie.

a gorgeous entry from a home on Beacon Hill,
featured in 'Restoring a House in the City'

And, of course, many thanks to Artisan and Ingrid Abramovitch!

Contact Paper "Wallpaper"

Another temporary wallpaper material? Contact paper!

I loved this project featured on Design*Sponge, and had planned on posting about it. And then Stephanie emailed me about my happy tape wall. She is so nice and has a lovely blog.

Check out her chevron wall tutorial here.

{Please note that Stephanie suggests using/removing the contact paper with a lot of caution on drywall. She says it works like a dream on plaster walls though. Good to know!}

Does anyone else have any experience with using contact paper as wallpaper? What are your tips?

Just to see what it would look like, I cut some strips of white contact paper for the backs of my bookshelves before they were relegated to the basement. Sort of fun, I think. And such an easy project because of the cutting guidelines on the paper backing.

Picture Rails

I am obsessed with the idea of using picture rails as a new/old twist on the ubiquitous gallery wall. I think I just like the extra visual layer with the hardware.

Martha Stewart was the reigning queen of picture rails:

But Phoebe Howard is making a move. Look at all this picture rail goodness. No moulding necessary.

{PS If you're not already, you should be following the updates on Phoebe's stores and recent client work here.}

I'm thinking of taking a trip to HD's plumbing department to see what I can scrounge up for a brass picture rail on the cheap. For those of you not interested in a DIY version, there are companies online that sell the hardware for picture rails ready made.

DIY Folding Screen

Lots of us have a window above our beds - and lots of us hate it.

There are two basic ways to deal with the situation - embrace it and put up some pretty window treatment or just hide the window. A folding screen is an easy way to hide an awkward window.

I bought one large blue sheet of insulation board for $15 at Home Depot and asked the guy in the cutting department to cut the sheet in 16" lengths (there ended up being six pieces).


Then I sketched a template for the shape I wanted at the top of each piece of the screen


And traced the shape on to each of my five folding screen pieces, but a different heights. The highest piece was cut to be three inches taller than the window.



After cutting out the top shape, I upholstered each folding screen piece with a layer of thin quilting batting and some fabric.


I ran out of staples halfway through the project and resorted to duct tape, which I thought worked even better than the staples!


After all the fabric and batting was attached to the insulation boards, my sweet husband put all the screens together for me while I made dinner. Team work!


We used a couple boxes of brass plated decorative hinges from Home Depot, extra long screws and some nuts to assemble it all together.

What with all the cheesy components - insulation board! duct tape! decorative hinges! - I thought the screen would be a little on the fragile side, but no. The screen is very sturdy and it folds well, for the record.


The final step was trimming out the front of the screens with some cream woven 1/4" flat tape from the fabric store. Just used a bit of Fabritac here to glue on the trim.

The screen blocks out the light from the window, so it's not obvious there is a window there. Which is the point.

note: while these pictures were taken in my bedroom, this screen is destined for another room. I just wanted to share the idea with you all, since I get many questions about how to address the "window-above-the-bed" issue. I threw together the styling here with basement stuff (lamps, tables, pillows, etc) just to give you a quick sense of what could be done with a folding screen in a bedroom. Pictures of my newly finished bedroom are on the way, complete with a different idea for addressing the same window issue.

GIVE AWAY: Restoring a House in the City

Thanks to author Ingrid Abramovitch and the lovely people at Artisan Publishing, we have a copy of the amazing book, Restoring A House in the City, up for grabs!

Whether you are currently renovating an old home, or plan to someday take on a huge renovation (me!), or even if you just have an appreciation of beautiful old homes (and amazing decor!!), this book is a great read. Pure eye candy from start to finish, and loads of useful information.

To enter to win your own copy of this big, beautiful coffee table book, please leave a comment here about your dream home. A new build with classic details? A centuries-old townhouse in the city? A charming farmhouse in the country?

After finishing Restoring A House in the City, I definitely would chose a grand brownstone in the metropolis. I'm completely in love with the Greek Revival style especially.

Commenting closes Thursday, February 4 at midnight. Good luck!