The Big Pink Bow

I had the pleasure of viewing the Balenciaga and Spain exhibit at the De Young museum last week and I was particularly inspired by his use of black and pink. The black velvet dress with large pink bow caught my eye, but I wasn't sure why until I got home and opened one of my bridal magazine. The same dress with a few minor changes is part of Oscar de la Renta's current bridal collection and was also copied by Yves Saint Laurent. It just goes to show that what goes around comes around in fashion! I love Oscar's take on the dress and if I hadn't already purchased my dress or had any interest in wearing pink this would be at the top of my list.

Love is Sweet like Baked Goods...

I had this sign made for Ian over the holidays because he is always telling me I smell like baked goods when I get home from culinary school. Since I have a HUGE love of Cupcakes I thought it only fair to admit that I love Ian even more. When designing the sign I managed to squeeze in a nod to our Love is Sweet wedding theme. The sign turned out perfect and it currently resides in our kitchen, which actually makes a lot of sense. If you were going to make a custom sign what would it say?

Vintage Posters

I absolutely love the look of these vintage posters found over at A Vintage Poster, the only problem is that they have 50 different posters to choose from and each comes with 25 color options; I can't even begin to narrow it down. I may end up designing a completely custom poster, which is also an option. I clearly have no reason for the animal prints, but I am totally in love with the dotted giraffe (no big surprise given my obsession with yellow and dots).

Flowers, Flowers, and more Flowers

{Monochromatic and Unstructured}

{Colorful and Whimsical}

{Organic and Bright}

{Simple and Sweet}

{Muted and Understated}

When envisioning our wedding we knew that flowers would play a large part, but that's about it. I had been putting off researching flowers and florists for quite some time because it was so overwhelming, with so many varieties and styles of flowers I couldn't begin to narrow them down. As we approached the 7 month mark I decided it was time to stop avoiding it and finally embrace the ever daunting world of flowers. I quickly realized that I would be happy with almost any flowers as long as they were yellow and just like that another wedding hurdle was crossed!

Colorful Kitchen

I envy the owner of all this colorful kitchen. I wish I had both the space and the colorful ceramics to fill it with. This image via Design Sponge has inspired me to start collecting more serveware in a variety of colors. Ian will probably not agree with this plan because our kitchen is already overflowing, but maybe someday I'll have a kitchen big enough to display it!

Black and White Rugs

We have been searching for a new rug for our dining room for quite some time. It all started when we removed our old rug in order to vacuum after we finished construction (seen here) and then we decided not to move the old rug back inside. It sat in the hallway for way too long before we finally dragged it to the street for someone else to adopt. I'm sick of hearing Sierra's claws on the hardwood floors and decided it was time to take matters into my own hands. I fell in love with the idea of black and white and now I need to convince Ian of my vision, or maybe I should just buy one and convince him when it arrives.

Ikea rug via GlamLamb

Black and White Stripe Rug via Decor Pad

Kite Kilim Rug from West Elm

Books

{Inspiration via books}

{Before: Our mismatched bookshelf}

{The paper I used to recover our books - primarily cream, taupe and brown to match our living room}

{After: Our books recovered - what a difference a little bit of paper makes}

I saw the inspiration picture a few weeks ago and instantly knew that it would only be a matter of time until I recovered all the books on our bookshelf. The inspiration picture used hardcover antique books, which lends itself to a more 3-dimensional display, however, I chose to recover the ones we already own due to lack of storage space in our 1 bedroom apartment. I love how the paper easily transforms a mismatched and cluttered bookshelf into a beautiful and cohesive story. Now I need to figure out which books are which so that we can actually read them at some point.

Print and Pattern

Our condo has been in construction mode the last few weeks and now we are down to the final redecorating details. This chair does not fit the style of our house, but I absolutely love the pattern...wishing I could buy a throw pillow instead!

Louisa Settee $2498 at Anthropologie

Tile Transformation

After a month of searching, Ian and I finally found (and agreed upon) the tile for our kitchen backsplash! The process of selecting tile was much more complicated than I originally imagined, which is why I'm so excited that it's finally over. Now I can't wait for the finished product to be on the wall.