Stencilling is Hip

Does anyone else have fond memories of watching Debbie Travis' The Painted House? That was back in the day, when overalls were cool. Well, overalls are not cool again (yet!), but stenciling is making a comeback.

Decorative painter, Deirdre Newman, emailed me recently with pictures from her portfolio. She does beautiful work in the NYC metropolitan area. She designs most of her stencils and has them custom made using a company online. Here are some of my favorites from her portfolio:



If you live in the NYC area and have the funds, you should definitely consider hiring Deirdre. If you're a little more adventurous, consider trying a little stenciling yourself. It's a great way to get the look of wallpaper without breaking the bank and without making a semi-permanent change to your walls.

Did you see Lauren's AMAZING living room? Yup - a stencil.


Whitewall & Co. is a great resource for easy to use stencils.

images via Southern Living

I won a giveaway from Whitewall on the Haven and Home blog, and I can't wait to use my stencil in a future project.

image via Tracery Interiors

Stencil Library is another amazing vendor that I've mentioned before. If you have some serious artistic ability, you might want to try their chinoiserie stencil line.


Have you used stencils in the past couple years? Tips for fellow readers?

Billowy

Today I'm dreaming of curtains made from miles of sumptuous fabric...

photo via Paul Costello

Pearl Street - The Next Generation

We were in Arizona a few months ago for my brother's wedding. I helped with a lot of decorating while we were there (my sister's home, a shower and the reception).

While we were at the reception one of my extended family members asked my oldest daughter what she wanted to be when she grew up. She normally says "a cowgirl" or "a doctor like granddaddy" but that night she said "a Becorator like my mommy."

{queue my heart breaking}

Here we are at Home Depot a few days ago getting some wood cut for that client install in NYC. I watched in awe as my somewhat shy girl, on her own, asked the Home Depot employee all about the saw and the measurements, etc. And then she asked if she could wear a pair of safety goggles too.



I think we would make a pretty good mommy-daughter 'becorating' team.

Leaf Prints

Remember this INCREDIBLE home from Night Owl Paper Goods featured on design*sponge?

I just rediscovered the links to the botanical posters featured above, here and here.

{P.S. check here for coupons. Art.com is always having at least a 20% off sale}

Skirted Pedestal Sinks

We have the cutest little corner sink in our downstairs bath. It is screaming for a DIY skirt in some fabulous fabric. And I just might have to oblige...

Kristen Buckingham

Eddie Ross. His tutorial here.

Canadian House and Home

image via Real Simple

image via Visual Vamp

Renovating a House in the City

I'm coveting this book, found via the awesomely talented and ever-creative Katy Elliott.

Who, incidentally, tweeted about the song that first plays when you click here. Both Evelyn and I love it, even and especially at 3:00 am.

hugs,
jenny

NYC Chic

Another reason why 2010 will be a big year for me and my family? This is the year that we move to New York City. We have been going back and forth between living in the city and living in the suburbs. Right now we are thinking city, mostly for commute reasons. {Well, mostly because the city is AWESOME, but secondly because an hour+ commute for my husband after a 14 hour work day is no good for him or me}

This NYC apartment was featured in September's Martha Stewart Living and has already been posted about a few times, but I LOVE it. I think if we end up in the city, this sort of decorating is the way to go. Spare and clean, but lived-in looking and real. Jennifer Chused owns this Brooklyn apartment with her son and husband. She is one of the head designers at Dwell Studio.

First up, the foyer. Check out the antiqued mirror! Who really wants to see a wrinkles-and-all-reflection every time they walk in or out of the house? Here's a great tutorial for turning any plain-jane mirror into an "antique."

I think this is an awesome kitchen for a city apartment - butcher block counters and subway tiles all the way to the ceiling. The rug is from Madeline Weinrib and the bull's head is from a flea market.

Here's Jennifer in her stunning dining room. I love the yellow rug and all the pretty wood furniture. Noticing a trend with the creamy white walls? So fresh! And I like that she opted for simple cream fabric shades on the windows. Not at all fussy.

The linens are from Dwell (naturally). They look great paired with the peacock dinnerware from Anthropologie.

Jennifer's son's play room is absolutely adorable. The rug is from Dwell Studio, as are the fabric shades. The red rocker in the back corner is such a fun punch of color! It is Ron Arad's design for Vitra, called the Tom Rock chair. I could only find the straight leg version online, at Unica Home. Craigslist sometimes produces this chair or similar rockers.

Jennifer made the soft storage bins shown here, but there are some available for purchase from the Dwell brown dots collection. The red toy bridges are available here.
And don't you just LOVE the framed series? Yup, you guessed it. The prints are pages from a book about vintage airplanes (I wish they had shared the title of that book!! Anyone know?).

The vintage pronunciation chart, also in the playroom, is absolutely adorable!

You can purchase similar vintage educational charts on eBay and etsy. I like this one


and this one is very cute (especially if your child's name begins with R!).


There is a whole series of these adorable charts. Love the black and yellow! Someone should snatch these up ASAP.

Jennifer and her husband's bedroom is probably my favorite room in the apartment. I love the subtle gray-green wall color, the chandelier, that mirror!, THOSE PRINTS!!, and the chest (purchased on eBay). I also spy Dwell's Pearl Chinoiserie bedding. Very pretty!

So here's my question for you readers - would you rather live a little on the spare side in the city? Or are you more inclined to the urban sprawl with lots of room for lots of stuff?

Here's my problem: I have lots of stuff and I love the city. Boo.