Hump Day: Kendall Wilkinson

I have stumbled upon the luxurious San Francisco-based Kendall Wilkinson Design & Home Web site a few times now. This studio really excels in designing upscale and inspirational spaces. "We share a passion for the sophisticated, the delightfully unexpected, and making the old new again," the design studio states in its "About" section. So go check out a few sweet interiors from Kendall Wilkinson Design's featured Web portfolio to help you get over hump day!

via Kendall Wilkinson


You can find Kendall Wilkinson Design & Home on Twitter at @KWDH.

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Eclectic Living

I love the look and feel of orderly chaos. I hope that one day I'll be able to design a comfortable calm space with some life in it. I have never been very good at matching, my younger sister always used to tell me my outfit clashed! I think that in good design, vitality can come from bringing together eclectic, colorful pieces that may not traditionally appear to match, but when put together they just seem to fit.

Eclectic Cutlery Set from The Contemporary Home

Living room via Ninainvorm

Love Frisson-Design

Peek at Go Green With Jeanne

Follow Friday

I love #FollowFriday on Twitter because it's so great to see who other people are following! There are always more blogs and bloggers out there that I want to know and read about!

Here are a few blogs I have come across recently that I want to share with you! Lovely!

Eline Pellinkhof's Designer Journal
You can find her at @elinepellinkhof on Twitter!

Adyta and Co Interior Design Blog
You can find her at @EDYTAANDCO on Twitter!

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Fresh Flower Fix

Fresh flowers can do wonders in bringing life and color to a shabby decor. I know spring is just around the corner, but I am getting impatient! I want to be able to pick flowers off the trees and admire the roses in the Boston Public Garden! I just keep telling myself it is coming soon.

To hold me over till springtime, I have been looking for flowers across the hundreds of blogs I read on the daily.

Simply Me
Completely Coastal

Ada and Darcy



I like that idea from Completely Coastal to place flowers alongside some driftwood for a beachy theme. Well that's my flower fix for the day! More to come, I'm sure.

Because I'm Adorable

It's Thursday! You know what that means. Yup the beginning of my weekend. All my friends know I like to make moves on Thursday evening and work remote on Friday. This weekend I am finally going to visit Mike in Vermont, yay! I haven't seen him in a month since I've been traveling so much. I went to Florida last weekend, Baltimore + Philly the weekend before that and New York City before that! So finally I get to make my way back up to the old Green Mountain State.

Since Mike and I are so often apart, I like to send him letters and cards from time to time, and he even sends some back! And that is why I titled this blog post, 'Because I'm Adorable.' Yah, it's because I'm adorable.

I made him this card the other day! Ha I'm the cutest.

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My Study Nook

My bedroom has a nice nook for my desk. As I was redecorating my room to fit my New England beach theme, it took me and my mother a few months to finally find the perfect desk. I needed something that fit in the nook, and it had to have ample storage.

[before]

This is what my desk corner looked like during my college years. I liked to stick things up on the wall whenever I was inspired, but once I graduated I wanted a more simple, de-cluttered fresh space.

[after]

I finally achieved the look I was going for, but it took a number of months of hunting for each and every piece. The desk was the first purchase we made. My mom found it at a garage sale in New York, and had to load it into her van and drive it up to Boston for me. It's heavy, so luckily my roommate was in the mood for a workout once it got here. We lugged it up the stairs and were excited to find that it fit perfectly! I'll leave all you tag sale hunters with a bit of advice: measure every space when going to find furniture. You may see something you love but when you get it back to the house your heart will break if you realize it don't fit!

Make it Good

Mondays can be rough. Here is some eye candy to start your day and your week off right! I pinned this pic on my Pinterest Homebody Board too. Follow me on Pinterest and I'll follow you!!

House to Home: Blue Living Room


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You Are Loved

I am staying with my sister Rachel and her husband Nathan in Pompano Beach, Florida with my sister Katie. Right now I am off to the beach then heading into Miami when Rach gets back from work around 1! Spring break 2011 grownup style! I love it.

I wanted to share some of my favorite word blurbs with you. 'You Are Loved' is actually the title of one of my favorite inspirational Josh Groban song.

And this, my friends, is my favorite quote EVER. Seriously. Check my facebook info page. haha! I originally heard it in my favorite MOVIE ever, 'Moulin Rouge.' Do yourself a favor. Watch it. (and don't fall asleep in the middle of it... Mike.)

Have a lovely Saturday!

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Beachy Shelf Trinkets

In a previous post I featured a picture of my blue shelf, and I bragged about finding in on Craigslist for a mere $20 buckaroos. It was obviously a wooden shelf painted whitish bluish, but it works perfectly in my room.

As you can see the shelf has several items, arranged meticulously in their special spots. Just kidding, kind of.

I like to brag about deals, so let me tell you about the cheap pieces I found to display on this sweet bookshelf.

Pictures frames: Each $1 at a tag sale. They originally had small rope with beads spelling out 'it's a boy,' but I replaced it with some random straw stuff I had, and put images of beachy magazine cutouts.

Candle: $1 at the same tag sale, score!

The sand dollars were my biggest splurge. I found them for $1 each at an awesome overflowing shell shop in Sag Harbor.

Jewelry box: Free. I found this in the basement in my mom's house. I then pasted, or decoupaged if you will, that decorative paper to the front of the drawers. Not sure how I like it, but it's there until something better comes along and ousts it. How do you like my attempt at beach themed trinketry? 

Mystic Seaport

I gathered a lot of inspiration from Mystic Seaport, a quaint beach town in the New London area of Conn., when decorating my bedroom on my tight QuarDecor budget.

Photo from TLC courtesy Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT

When I was tag saleing (pronounced sailing obviously) I came across 2 paintings of the seaport. I snagged them for $10 in total and put them up on the wall where I used to hang a hideously large and overly adorned bulletin board.

These pictures don't do them justice at all. They complete the space and every time I see them I think about that calm, relaxed feeling you get when you're wandering around a small, cozy beach town, waiting for a table at the local oyster house!

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Inspirational Study Space

I've lived in a cramped Beacon Hill apartment for over 2 years now. Most of the time my personal space is limited to my bedroom. That room has become my living room, dining room, dressing room, tv room and office. I rarely sit at the computer at my desk, not because it's impractical, but because my bed is just so darn comfortable!

lefabean's Pinterest


Hopefully I'll have a separate office one day. And by office I mean craft room. The color turquoise is so beachy. This could also work in a country or shabby chic home perhaps without the very bright, harsh turquoise from the trash bin and the lamp. How inspiring! This lifts my spirits after reporting on the tragedy in Japan. Today I crafted a slideshow of the vast destruction after the country was slammed with a 9.0-magnitude earthquake last week.

Japan Rocked by Earthquake: In Pictures

Hopefully tomorrow the universe will give me a happy topic to report on.

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Furniture Layout

I love Debbie Talianko's traditional bedroom design. It has the same layout as the master bedroom in Mike's house. I want to keep this furniture arrangement in mind when he starts to redecorate upstairs.

It's funny because the TV room in Talianko's home has the same layout as Mike's too. But I don't know if I like the design she has going on here, but that is the corner that he has his TV in. This is probably the best way to arrange the furniture, but I'll keep my eye out for ideas on how to decorate this room.

The best part about his TV room is the view out the large back window. Hehe you can kind of see my reflection in this picture that I snapped with his phone last weekend.

Kelley Time

I am heading down to Baltimore this Thursday to spend some time with my soul mate, Kelley! Here is a quick recap of our 2009 summer vacation in VT.

Here is one of the farms we got to house sit that week. There was a chicken coup just past the garden, so we enjoyed fresh eggs in the morning.

I love to take photos. She loves to braid hair.

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Perfection

This space is exactly what I picture as my perfect living room. A white fireplace as the focal point, white comfy couches with light blue in the mix, large built-in bookshelves next to the fireplace and an underlying nautical theme. So great.

Well, the entire house is basically my dream come true.

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Fabulous Foyers

I love entryways. They set the tone for the rest of your house. I was watching the most recent episode of Parks and Recreation. Here is the dialogue that I really appreciated:

Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler): Look at your foyer! It’s like a spa in here.
Chris Traeger (Rob Lowe): Exactly! The entranceway to your house sends a message to the world about who you are. And the door provides energy flow and opportunity – you cannot limit that.

See Roger Davies Photography

Donna's awesome entryway makeover at Our Extreme Home Makeover Experience Blog. Yay! I also love how she repurposed the horse gate as a hook rack.

I love tiles, brighten up the space because they are so beachy, fresh, colorful and exotic! Easy to clean too for the area where you put on and take off your shoes. Everyday.

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I Honestly Like the Rain

I spent the weekend in New York City with my sister Katie and best friend Maria! It was so great. I slept in really late on Sunday. It was pouring for the entire day as I trekked through the city and made my way back up to Boston on the Bolt Bus, but I didn't mind.

I don't know why but rain always makes me smile. A lot of people don't like the rain, and I understand that. Sometimes when getting into work at 8 am soaked head to toe from my 20 minute walk to the office, I walk past my coworker upon entering and say "it's miserable out there!"

I happened upon a compilation of Awesome Rain Photography when I was searching for a desktop background. And these were my favorites.

This won picture of the week for Time Magazine in August 2008. The picture shows a woman sheltering herself during an approaching hurricane in Havana, Cuba.

Puddle

Oh but I didn't use one of these as my backgrounds. I used another one that now I can't find. I'd like to take a great picture in the rain but I am afraid to get my camera wet!

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Looney Goons

My Aunt Margaret emailed me today to tell me she has decided on the house she, Uncle Eric and my cousin Brendan will be moving to in Connecticut. They currently live in a beautiful home in Westport, CT in Fairfield County, but they have decided to change locations!

I am so excited for her to have the chance redecorate a new home. She has an excellent sense of style. Aunt Margaret is obviously my favorite aunt. I go to her when Rita (my momma) is dishing out her usual tough love. But that's not to say my mom hates fun. She is cool like me! Here is proof...

Here is a picture of me, in pink feetsie pajamas, and my Aunt Margaret, just a feewwww years ago. I am always cheesing at the camera, and I have to admit, I still strike this pose today.

And here, hilariously, is a picture of some of the McGrath kiddies, including Margaret and my mother. Can you guess which cheeseball is my mom? Yep, it would be the one making my pose. Hehe, I guess looniness runs in the family.

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Bears in Thoughtful Repose

I was at sfgirlbybay's blog and she was featuring the shelf of artwork in her friends home. One of the pieces was 'obama prez dispenser' from Eric Rewitzer.

Clicking the link brought me to 3 Fish Studios, which brought me to a wide variety of print artwork and a cute little story about an artistic couple! What a pleasant surprise. "Welcome to 3 Fish Studios, the artistic home of Annie Galvin and Eric Rewitzer, painters and printmakers, husband and wife, and creators of original and affordable art."

This 6.5" x 10" print just illustrates Annie Galvin's excellent elegant skillful art. She does a great job with these 'Bears in Thought Repose,' as she labels the category this piece falls under.

And I cannot believe they have a furniture artwork category. Absolutely brilliant. This piece is based on Saarinen’s Womb chair design, Rewitzer writes in its description. I absolutely love prints, I am definitely interested in learning how typography and printmaking works. 3 Fish Studios, located in San Francisco, offers Linocut Printmaking classes on the weekends! I hope I get the chance to learn this skill someday.

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