little birthday present for myself...

Yesterday I bought myself a little pre-birthday present! Notice what it is? Yes, that is the 3rd lamp to sit on this table in a matter of 2 months....

$30 at TJ Maxx......yes please! It's the perfect cream color for my living room. The lamp with the black shade will eventually go into my bedroom when it's painted....yes, I still haven't painted it. I still have that gray blotch on my wall that reminds me every day that "maybe I should paint my room sometime".
Another glamour shot...okay not really, I took these very quickly this morning before work.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I will be "celebrating" my 23rd birthday at work by setting up for Dining by Design, after all, what says a little birthday fun other than a little manual labor?

i love working for a designer...

...especially when I get free furniture. On Friday I was getting ready to paint some wooden screens for Dining by Design when my boss asked me if I wanted this cute little table that had been sitting in her garage. Ummm, yes please!

It's the cutest little table, vintage from the 1940s, with wood inlay on the top. The top opens like a lid, and it has a really cute little key that goes with it. Is this not an adorable table or what?
Other small projects in my home...

On Saturday I finally got around to hanging those cute gilt sconces (bought at a garage sale) in my living room...

I also hung some pictures. The two in the middle were already there, but the wall needed more so I added 2 smaller ones. Oh and I know the lamp is blocking the sconces. The lamp will go in my room when it's painted, the lamp that I usually have here is much smaller and will look great with the sconces.

Below is probably the tiniest project ever hehe. I hung that tiny little picture above the TV, and yes it took about 2 seconds to hang and is probably not worth sharing with everyone, but I wanted to show the cabinet that my TV is on...
I don't think I've ever put a picture of it on my blog before. It's a family heirloom (like a lot of my furniture), from my maternal grandfathers parents. We think it's from the 1920s or 30s when they built their home in Forest Hill Gardens in Long Island. I love the funky geometric shapes, and it reminds me of my childhood when it used to be in my parents bedroom. I used to lay on the carpet and trace the shapes with my fingers, somehow this seemed to entertain me for quite a while...

By the way, you've probably notice a lot of electrical cords in my house. We seem to have a little problem with outlets in my home. There are absolutely zero outlets down the center of my house. Therefore any lamps or electronics in those places need extension cords. The one for the TV had to be run around the door frame and stapled to the wall, but I guess that's the price for choosing style over function...
As you can see in my home, I kind of a have a mish mash of decor. I would love to have a house with an ongoing color theme, but it just doesn't work for me. I have a lot of family heirlooms in many different colors, and to me having things that are special and mean something to me is better than having a house full of perfectly matching decor. I think it shows my personality more. I decorate with what I have, and I think it all seems to work out nicely. People come over and tell me that my house really feels like a home, and I think that is the best compliment ever. It's a little bit quirky, fun, colorful, and most of all it's me!

What do you think? How do you tend to decorate? Do family heirlooms make an impact on your decorating style?

i have started my bedroom transformation...

The painting has begun...

...a splotch that is, now I have to finish.

I can't wait for my room to go from baby yellow....

desire to inspire

...to gorgeous charcoal! (can I have the dogs too?)

Original inspiration board here.

new lamp and an anniversary...

I promised I would show you a picture of my new lamp...

I love it so much! I will eventually put it in my bedroom when I paint it, but for now it's out in the living room. Doesn't really match the room decor, but it's okay with its black shade for Halloween.

And yes, that is a black cat tealight holder. I love Halloween decorations.

I actually meant to share this with you a while ago, but never got around to taking a picture. I bought those nesting tables from Ikea for $50! The set of three was on sale for 3 days in September and I had to have them. They're a little too big for this nook (I think it looks a little busy) but for now this is their place. This area tends to be my catch-all for miscellaneous decor that I move from other places in the house so it's kind of a mish-mash, but whatever. Notice the obvious "dorm style" lamp....what can I say, I think I can still use being "a recent college grad" as an excuse (even though I haven't lived in a dorm for 2 years)! Actually, the new lamp in the previous pictures is my first "adult" buy because it's not a Target lamp, dorm left-over, or hand-me-down.

If you were wondering what this nook looked like before, here it is above in all its boring glory. Even though it's a bit more cluttered now, I think it really makes this space look and feel warmer, not to mention feel like an actual space.

On to other things...

Today was a beautiful day here in San Francisco...

Perfect day for a picnic in Golden Gate Park...

My boyfriend and I actually planned this over a week ago, so we were lucky that the weather was so nice, because we had a monsoon on Monday :)

The occasion for our picnic was our 5 year anniversary, which was actually last Friday the 16th. His parents were in town last weekend so we held off our little celebration. Obviously from the pictures you can see that we had tacos! I love Mexican food, makes me happy. I made the easiest taco meat for it too. Crockpot is my savior. Tri-tip steak with a jar of spicy salsa in the crockpot, cook on low for 10-12 hours, shred the meat when it's done and you have the perfect tender and juicy taco meat. I cooked it while I slept and woke up to the smell of cooked meat, yum? (but I knew it would taste so good later so I didn't mind!).

For a light and healthy dessert we ate some fresh pomegranate. Mmmm.

Last but not least, the person I celebrated 5 years with! Isn't he a cutie?

And just for fun, below is a picture of us at our senior prom in 2005....

back in action...

Dismissed from jury duty! Yay!

Now back to the real world...

It's been an exhausting week and I haven't felt very creative or inspired, that is until I came home yesterday to 2 packages on my front stoop!

Remember the lamp I ordered from One Kings Lane (my very first purchase)?

Now it's mine! I have it temporarily set up in my living room until I paint my bedroom. I wanted to take a picture of it but I left my camera at my boyfriends house, so that will have to wait for Friday. I think the lamp has inspired me to get started with the painting.

I got another sign about painting my room yesterday when I bought the November issue of House Beautiful. I was looking at the section where they show a series of peoples favorite paint colors and how people use them, when I saw a picture of a lovely dark gray room. I read the little quote, and the color was Kendall Charcoal from Benjamin Moore, the same color I chose for my bedroom! I'll just take that as a sign that it's the perfect color for my room!

While I was looking at the House Beautiful website--trying to find the Kendall Gray bedroom, which I never found--I found some nice photos in the gallery section. I haven't looked at it in a while, so these pictures are new to me, but maybe not to you. So maybe this post is more to re-inspire myself to get myself going on my room!

I think the unintentional theme here is pretty ethnic patterns (got my suzani on my mind--I swear, when my room is done I will stop talking about suzanis)...

house beautiful

fall decor close-ups...

I couldn't help it, I needed to update some of my decor to become more "fall-like". I won't let the Halloween stuff come out until October 1st though :)

Dining room table--I don't really use my dining room table very often so I can keep a pretty table-scape on it without it being impractical. I wanted to update the look for fall by using more neutral colors, I really like the combination of the orange candle with the grayish-lavender flowers. The retro gilded glasses also add a nice warmth to the table, I put candles in them so they cast a really nice glow at night. Oh, and yes, that is a pumpkin in the back! My mom gave it to me for Christmas last year and I've been waiting all year to put it on my table! I think it adds a subtle "this is my fall decor" statement to the table, without being too themed for Halloween.
It is actually very convenient that my window is a golden topaz color, makes my fall decorating easy! Anyways, the reason I posted this picture isn't because it's extremely fall-like, but because I've been seeing a lot of designers using groupings of branches in a vase on console tables or buffets. I know this is nothing new, but I think it is very appropriate for fall, not to mention I seem to kill flowers and branches require zero upkeep. While I could have found my own branches outside I actually bought these. I went to this really cool store called Scraps in SF and bought 4 architectural prints, some small bottles and these branches all for $2! My friend bought like 5 frames and some other little things for only $7. Pretty awesome.
I also updated my mantle a little bit. Not the greatest picture, especially because you can't see the rest of the fireplace, but I have a friend staying in my living room so there is an air mattress in front of the fireplace right now. I have a small collection of little creamers and bottle from my grandma and I wanted to show them on the mantle instead of keeping them in a cabinet. The artwork in the middle was actually made by my mom in the 70s when she lived in Japan, it's needlepoint, and it just happened to match the colors in my living room--30 years later--with the lavender and green.
These glasses, I LOVE them. Definitely from the 60s! I bought them at a garage sale as a set of 7 for $1. Pretty good deal!
Last but not least, not related to fall decor at all, my suzani came! This is the suzani that I bought in Istanbul last year. I love the bold embroidery on the yellow background, I'm thinking about putting it on my bed, when the walls are gray instead of yellow (I think I would be overwhelmed by the brightness of yellow walls with a bright yellow suzani).
Close up of the writing in the center of the suzani. I think the date when it was made is on the right side, 21/11/82. Very ironic because I never even noticed the date until today, and it just happens to be 4 days under 4 years before my birthday. I'm not sure what the date inside the purple-blue flower means, but it says 1922. I really don't think the suzani was made then so the date will be a mystery.

thinking about my suzani...

When I was in Istanbul last year I bought a beautiful yellow Turkish suzani, at the time I had no idea what I would do with it, but it was too pretty to resist! So now, a year and a half later, I have finally figured out what I'm going to do with it. I have also seen some beautiful pictures on other blogs of what people have used their suzani's for, which has inspired me!

I've decided to paint my bedroom, I hate the baby yellow that it is right now and I want something much cooler and relaxing. I'm thinking about a very light gray that would give off the feeling of white, but still wouldn't look washed out. I also want to get rid of my turquoise dresser and replace it with a more contemporary dresser from Ikea, maybe in a dark brown-black. I'm probably going to make these changes very slowly over time, but at least I can use my suzani as a bed cover immediately!...well, after I have my mom send it up.

source: yurdan

source: style court

source: little green notebook

source: katy elliot

sneak preview and some little changes in my home...

In the last post I promised that I would post pictures of my sisters re-done bedrooms.....well, I didn't have enough time to finish taking pictures before I went back up to San Francisco so for now I just have a little sneak preview!

(my sister is going to take some more pictures of the room before she moves back up to school this weekend across the bay...soooo, next week I will reveal both rooms)

anyways, here are a few preview shots...

The two shots above are from Catherine's room, the top is her nightstand and the bottom is her dresser. She also has an awesome bookshelf that we picked up when I went shopping with here at a home consignment store...pictures to come.

Julia's room is probably the most dramatic change....her room used to be green! Now it's a much cooler and calm gray, way more grown up for the 17-year-old that she is. How awesome is that lamp? I found it on craigslist for $30! It's huge, but I love it! I think it adds some much needed drama on top of her dresser. Next week I will show you the drapes on the other side of her room....sooo pretty!

What else have I been up to? Well, I came back up to San Francisco a little over a week ago and finally got around to cleaning my entire house. I also did some minor redecorating because I get bored easily and like to switch things up every few months. After re-doing both my sisters bedrooms I decided that I wanted to re-decorate my bedroom in SF as well. Right now the walls are a baby yellow that I am totally sick of and I'm going to paint them a nice gray (I'm kind of in a gray phase, if you haven't noticed). I also want to give my bedroom a much more contemporary, and most importantly less girly, look. I am so over shabby chic right now! I also want to get rid of the clutter of accessories...which was the first task that I tackled over the weekend...

I'm going to get rid of this dresser, so this is just a temporary set-up, but I like it. Less stuff and less fussy so it will be easy to move stuff when I paint.

Remember this table? It used to be in my bedroom, but I decided to put it in the living room for now while I re-do my bedroom. I might leave it in the living room or eventually sell it because I don't want it in my bedroom. I really like having a table and a lamp in this corner of my living room. Before it was just dead space, now the living room looks finished and the lamp adds a nice glow at night.

...and there you have it. I hope you have enjoyed all the little projects I've been working on. I will definitely try to blog more often....I've been such a bad blogger this summer!

my dining room and hallway...

I haven't posted any pictures of my dining room and hallway yet, so here it is...I found the table and chairs on craigslist. The chairs were originally stained a strange brown color that clashed with the table so I painted them a creamy off-white.

The chandelier is old and ugly, not to mention hung too high, but this is a rental and I didn't want to put too much time and money into changing it.

The buffet is a built-in and original to the 1922 house. It looks goo far away, but the buffet really needs to be sanded down and re-stained. It has been painted one too many times, the wood grain isn't even the real grain, it's faux wood grain....along with the rest of the "wood" molding, trim, and doors in the house.

I needed a place to drop my keys when I walk up the stairs into my apartment so I made this cute little vignette. The artwork is from my grandparents house, I love it. They're old framed prints for "Godey's Fashion"....old clothing is totally my thing by the way. I was the dress-up queen.

Another view of my "key drop-off area". I love my hardwood floors, so pretty. They just don't make hardwood floors like they used to.

and now for the boring corner. Behind that awkwardly short half wall is the entry staircase where I have yet to put any artwork on the walls. I did build this replica of a Rietveld chair though....a few years ago for an architecture project. Yes, I am quite crafty...

This is the view from the back of the house to the front living room in the hallway.

and here is the opposite view from the living room to the back of the house.