potential

dining room chandelier?

Everyone who sees the dining room table loves it. It's nice to feel like you made the right choice.

kind of blue.

We got creative (read: cheap) with the (much, much needed) desk and it turned out just fine. Custom tinted stain from Home Depot made a plain Jane IKEA pine top work out pretty great for the blue-on-blue color scheme going on in the room.




The Caper chair looks like a good companion piece. Ergonomic enough for actually doing work, but not too big.

Now, the last decision is at hand: Baltic Blue, or Blue Fog?

Our new dining table. It's solid and sturdy and the strips of wood seem to shimmer in the light and I've been visiting it at the store as long as I can remember, and it's finally ours.

Unfortunately, it was acquired on the eve of Bluehouse's demise. I'm really going to miss our local little green eco-store.

Living in a 110 year old rowhouse that is a work-in-progress is still a new experience for me...one that takes my normal everyday level of anxiety to dizzying new heights. I'm trying to get over that for the sake of just Getting. Things. Done. It's not easy, though, when you're picky.

Here's a sampling of the things I'd like to get accomplished this year:

*dining room table and chairs
*dining room lighting fixture
*library hallway bookshelves, lighting and new carpeting
*frame more artwork (and get it up on the walls!)
*work desk and chair
*paint ceilings/fix previous painting boo-boos
*re-do laundry/utility/powder room

One of these things just got moved up the priority list, and I'm sure will be the subject of several posts to come.

inspiration

The most beautiful dining room...

Just done in aubergine, instead.

wild card

Really want this limited edition print from Binth.

The Queen of Hearts is a close second:

Dreaming of desks

I think I'm in need of a desk. Yes, I've gone without since moving to Baltimore. There's something inspiring about a proper work space that I am really craving now.

First, a couple of dream desks:

Skram - Wishbone Slab Desk


Anthropologie's Intelligentsia Desk

And I will never forget my true love, my very favorite:

A George Nelson leather home office desk, spotted long ago at Oakenshawe in Hampden. If anything it was better than the pic above - the leather was a stunning greenish grey that contrasted perfectly with the warm wood and metal. I climbed the stairs to the store's second floor and my heart skipped a beat at first glimpse. Alas, it was not meant to be.


And now on to some more practical choices:


West Elm's Sawhorse Worktable
has such nice simple lines.

West Elm's tapered frame desk...in my favorite color.


But check out this Parsons in silver. I haven't seen that before (it's a new color), and I think it looks sharp.

Very cool print from Stern & Faye Letterpress.

"1. Object: Find the still center. 2. Key: Use those circumstances which cause unexpected gaps & pauses to occur, as guide posts & stepping stones. 3. Clue: Although things appear to be fixed & solid, are they? 4. To Win: Enter the still center point. Expand it. 5. Advanced Instructions: Begin now."

Finally - *finally* - have found a little side table for the guest room. This one was luckily on sale, right when we needed it.

It's the smaller version shown here:



I am already so fond of it. More fond than you'd think for a table (but then you haven't seen me with a DWR catalog...) The wood is reclaimed Douglas fir. It's handmade by a woman in Seattle.

Previous candidates included a glazed garden stool and a tiny table made completely of wire. These were vetoed, and now I'm glad they were.



Quite charming, no?

(edited Sunday to add): In fact, I loved it so much there was a return trip for its twin. Good thing that lovely big sale ran until today.

grey room

Although you sit in a room that is gray,
Except for the silver
Of the straw-paper,
And pick
At your pale white gown;
Or lift one of the green beads
Of your necklace,
To let it fall;
Or gaze at your green fan
Printed with the red branches of a red willow;
Or, with one finger,
Move the leaf in the bowl--
The leaf that has fallen from the branches of the forsythia
Beside you...
What is all this?
I know how furiously your heart is beating.

-Wallace Stevens

Ork!

I dig these maps. You might too. From Ork Posters.

on the case

Timely: Domino Magazine's gallery on bookshelves.

My three favorites: