Hello from the lake!

We flew to Arizona earlier this week and we've been busy in full-blown vacation mode since.

Today's our last day at the lake. We are all sore and even a little sunburned (that AZ sun means business!), but we are all happy and feeling excited to be here.

Happy weekend! See you on Monday. 

don't y'all wish summer would never end!!  we're heading to beaufort for the water festival, which means lots of boats tied together, fun music, sand bar, boat drinks, and hanging w/ good friends!  a perfect way to enjoy the summer!

*images courtesy of anna wolf, denise at home, a life's design, birch & lily 

Give Away: Abstract Painting by Jessie Mackay

Michael and I have a goal of bringing more art into our home over the next couple of years. I've mentioned before how it can be a little daunting to know where to start looking for artists. But have you ever been searching, and then all at once an artist's collection or piece of art just sings to you? Your heart is doing backflips and your mind is racing? That happens to me a lot in museums, where I feel a connection with an artist, but it's (obviously!) harder to find that in the art market in a real and affordable way.

I'm so, so thrilled to share today's (HUGE) give away from acclaimed artist and philanthropist, Jessie Mackay, and artist who makes my heart sing. Her work has been praised by NYT art critics and hangs in celebrity homes (check out her paintings in James Carville and Mary Matalin's home featured in Architectural Digest). Here are a few of my favorites currently available on Jessie's site.

Today she is generously offering up this 24x30 gallery-wrapped abstract painting called 'Soft Thoughts.'

Here are some close ups of this lovely painting, just sitting in my loft, waiting to be shipped to your home!

I love the bits of bright, almost neon paint peeking through the soft grays and creams.

Lucky you, there are a couple of ways to enter your name into the pot.  
1) Simply leave a comment on this post sharing where you would hang 'Soft Thoughts' in your home. 2) Like Jessie Mackay Art on Facebook and leave a comment on this post saying so.
3) Pin your favorite Jessie Mackay art from her site and leave a comment on this post saying so.

The winner will be chosen at random from the comments here on July 25 at midnight. Good luck!

****CONGRATS TO WINNER JAMIE LUNT! THANK YOU ALL FOR ENTERING****

i am working on two houses at the beach and both are using super calming color palettes- mostly variations of white.  usually, i'm all about color but right now i am loving this!

 be kind...it's monday.

DIY Agate Trash Bin

I fell in love with this $190 trash bin featured in the June 2012 Elle Decor, but I figured I could make my own. I finally got around to doing the project this weekend using a $3 Target plastic trash bin that I randomly saw at a thrift store.

I actually had bought a round bin for this project a few weeks ago, but realized after the fact that the project really only works on bins with squared off sides, or else there's no fooling anyone that that marbleized paper could be real sheets of agate.

I bought the paper from Paper Mojo for about $5 ages ago and used it in a frame for a while, which was pretty, but I was fine with giving it up for this project.

When you're ready to get started, look at your piece of marbled paper (I only needed one sheet for my whole trash bin), and figure out which pieces of the pattern you want to feature. Keep in mind that it looks best if you can alternate the direction of the swirl on each side of the bin.

 

Use just a pencil to trace out the sides while holding the bin perfectly still. Cut out the pattern directly on the pencil line. Your cut pieces will end up being a hair to big, which is just what you want - a little overhang.

Use a soft brush to put down a layer of Mod Podge (no need to prime or sand first - just a clean surface) and then carefully lay the paper piece down. The top edge of the paper should be perfectly flush with the top edge of the trash bin, but the three other sides should have a little overhang.

When the top edge is perfectly centered, use your hand to smooth out the paper. Make sure there are no air bubbles. It's okay if there is a little mod podge spillage on the sides, that actually helps the extra paper on the side lay flat.

 

Don't forget to crease the bottom edge under too. 

I let the pieces dry for an hour or two and then I sealed it all with a top coat of mod podge.

One lesson I learned for next time: use a light or white trash bin. The paper is pretty thin, so my finished project is a little blotchy with the black base peeking through. A white base would have been clear and bright though. Bummer.

Still love it though and am glad I tried the DIY route and saved the $190! Plenty of other places to spend that money these days. :)

PS If you love marbleized paper as much as I do...

Thinking about my home office

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Do you work from home like I do? A ton of my friends and their spouses do, too. And here's another question: Do you work from home... on the couch? Be honest! I do sometimes even though we have an office space here at the loft. Sometimes I even work from bed when the kids are playing loudly and I need some quiet. I used to work really long hours in a more traditional office setting, so I know how lucky I am to get to answer emails in a sea of feather down and soft cotton (that is, until one of my arms falls asleep and my back starts rebelling!).

For the first time in almost seven years of working from home, when we move to Brooklyn I will have an office space that is very separate from our living and sleeping spaces (on it's own level, and in a room with a DOOR!). While there are trade offs there too, it will probably be better for my mental health and productivity levels to have more separate work space. It's just time, I think. Working in the loft's office for the past two years has been great, though. It's pretty and functional and I like that the look of the space compliments the living room and rest of the house, which is all open to each other.

Anyway, all this to say, I've been thinking a lot about the idea of home offices, or maybe, more like a home base, where you can keep all your office stuff and maybe even sit down at when you really need to get things done.  One of my consulting clients has an adorable, but teeny apartment in the cutest neighborhood. She sometimes works from home, so we had to carve out a niche for a desk/console table that also functions as a dining table. That's a hard-working table! And it looks great! It really is possible to fit in a work space into even the smallest city apartment. I'd love to share some ideas, but first, I'll lay out some completely-biased-and-probably-not-fair-to-all-of-you personal opinions.

What I think you need in a home office:
- A pretty desk, with a place to put away your computer
- A cool-looking filing cabinet or other storage piece with large drawers (love the look of this one)
- An armoire or cupboard for storing your printer/scanner (vintage preferred - scour your craigslist!)
- A comfortable chair that provides good support (if you must have an "office chair", invest in something good with a name like Miller/Eames)
- At least one lovely and interesting table lamp (sort of obsessing over this one)
- A rug to keep things soft underfoot
- Inspiring art

via

What I think you don't necessarily need in a home office:
- A boxy, cubicle feeling computer desk unit with a million drawers and cubbies
- A cheesy, gooseneck "desk lamp"
- A rolling office chair
- A rolling chair plastic mat thing
- An inspiration board.

I can feel your eyebrows raising over the inspiration board comment. :) I think inspiration boards are cool. I even put up a couple cork boards in our old office. Here's what I discovered though. It was just one more thing to keep up with. I never ended up changing or adding to the things on the board and I never really used them for work ideas. Looking back, some beautiful, inspiring art would have been a way better choice for me. Also, there's this thing called Pinterest... :)

So, here are some options for you, depending on your space constraints.

via

If you have no floor space to dedicate to your home office, you can use your dining table to work on during the day. This wall-mounted laptop storage unit would be really helpful for putting everything away at night and keeping organized, and it requires absolutely zero floor space. I would paint the wall unit the same color as your walls so it blends in nicely.

IKEA also makes this great little laptop desk with a drop down, perforated bottom drawer. Cute as is in gray, or would paint up fabulously like any of the colorful options above or maybe try the DIY inlay painting?

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If you have even just a little bit of floor space, try using a secretary desk!

 
Elle Decor/Carrier and Co

I am a huge, huge fan of the secretary. Especially for us laptop users that like to roam around the house. Write a blog post during Conan and then shut that laptop away for the night. Out of sight, out of mind. 

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Hopefully, you also have space to keep a comfortable, upholstered side chair next to the secretary when not in use.

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I also like what Jordan and I came up with for her SF apartment.

If you do have room for a desk in your living room or bedroom, try adding a beautiful, leggy writing desk with just a couple drawers for lighter storage.

Sara Tuttle in High Gloss

Style at Home

Make the desk a focal piece instead of an eyesore. I would opt for a vintage or antique desk, something like these:

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Also don't forget the bedroom as an office option! Try using a desk as a nightstand, just make sure you have a place to tuck away your work at the end of the day. It would be miserable sleeping next to a big pile of stress-inducers!

House and Home

And if you have an extra closet, by all means, have the hardware store cut you a piece of thick MDF to size and make a desk nook! This is an especially good idea for less-organized people. Just shut those doors when you want the mess gone.

Elle Decor

Domino

What's your home office set up? Did I miss any small space/home office tips?

If you work from home, do you feel like it's necessary to actually have a home office? Or are you more relaxed about your set up? One of my blogger friends technically works from home but she goes to a cafe everyday for a few hours to get her writing done and for a little change of scenery. What do you do?