Wednesday Wallpaper - A True Story

I'm going to take you on a brief trip back through time today...bare with me...we're heading to October 2010.

It was then that I met the lovely Dean from the uber fabulous blog....

I'd been enjoying her blog and then was pleased as punch when I opened my email one cool fall evening to find a little request.

Like me, Dean had found herself a wee bit obsessed with a particular wallpaper...and in a fabulous twist of fate, it turned out to be a pattern I had also been seriously lusting over.

We both fell in love with said design when this spread hit the pages of Elle Decor...way back in April of last year.

Remember this home belonging to the very fabulous Christine D'Ornano...aka...my forever dream home...aka style heaven...???

Well it was her bedroom, bedroom and dressing room that had both Dean and I spinning for answers...

Le sigh...perhaps one of the most divine patterns ever produced if you ask me...anyhoo...back to the story...

The problem Dean and I were facing was that this pattern seemed very illusive.

Try as we might, neither of us had been able to track that beauty down.

And believe me, we tried.

When I first got Dean's email, I had already spent ALOT of time trying to source it out.

So when I read her request, I decided to give it the old college try again...why not...perhaps a new purpose would help lead us both to the motherland of wallpaper genius.

Only it didn't.

Instead I spend hours and hours finding look a likes that might pass and perhaps could produce the same brilliant mix of brash and subdude...

Only they didn't...not really...not quite the 'real' paper you can see on the bottom left...the others were surely similar but not quite the same...though that deer discovery made me VERY happy...you might see those showing up in my little guy's room...quite adore the palate/pattern.

Anyhoo...I sent an email to Dean with these alternatives, after my search for the real juice had turned up empty.

She was lovely enough to post about it HERE.

The two of us took a collective sigh of disappointment and moved on to other things...until....almost a year later and the magic of Twitter!!!

I was taking a few minutes to go through my newest followers and happened upon the website of the design house....

At first, I was blown away with their portfolio...

And then I started reading their blog posts...and then it happened...holy dangely balls...there it was...

I almost died...on the spot...I kept staring and staring, unable to believe that right there in front of my eyes was THE paper...and it had a name...sweet Jangala Rose/Osborne and Little.

Understandably, my fingers practically couldn't type fast enough as I emailed Dean with the crazy fabulous news...her response went something like...omg...omg....omg....omg...omg...so yeah, we were both a little excited about this...that was a week ago.

And now? 

What came of this tale you might ask?

Well...a joint blog adventure of course...duh.

Me and the lovely Dean are going to order up some of that fabulous....she'll also be posting about this today btw...you can click HERE to see that divinity.

In a small but rather disappointing twist of fate, the original colourway is no longer available...nor is the pattern on the O&L website...hence why I had trouble finding it in the first place...but, samples of the three current colourways can be found {I located these at Tangletree...one of my fave resources for wallpaper samples}...

and the two of us will be ordering one of each.

And in the future...sometime down the road...both of us will be plastering this gorgeous on a a few walls and when that happens, we'll be posting the shit out of it...promise!!!!!

So there ends this tale...a very happy ending that found two humble bloggers pleased as raspberry punch.

Thank you Twitter...you never cease to amaze me!!!

xo

Giveaway - The Meghan Method !!!!

I have something fabuloso to tell you about today...it involves this gorgeous book...

I'm in it...well not really but on page #82, I'm listed as one of her favourite inspiration blogs...holy balls...this sort of thing makes this girl, BEYOND happy...I'm actually in all serious so honoured to be included...especially because The Meghan Method rocks...truly...it's a book that can actually help learn how to decorate...I generally think that some people just know how to do this and some people...well don't...but after reading this book cover to cover, I'm convinced anyone can make their space better, more livable, and more beautiful...and I'm not just saying this because the author etc. appears to like me...it's the god's rainbow truth.

I asked Meghan herself { and PS, I was able to do that because since she mentioned me in her book, I've now become her new BFF...we even talk on Twitter...bamn...I'm friends with an author/amazesauce decorator...don't you just LOVE blogging/Twitter???} to tell me her inspiration behind writing this manual for decorating success and this is what she said...

See...don't you already like her?

I do...but you know that already...she listed me in her book remember...I LOVE her!!

Here's a little peak at what you'll see inside...

See...you NEED this book!!!

And for those of  you like me who judge a book by an inside/no jacket cover like I do, it will look fantastic on your table...white with graphic red letters...tres bien!

The Meghan Method can be ordered HERE and can also be found at Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc.

Purchasing through her website directly will ensure you get an autographed copy so do that or....

ENTER MY GIVEAWAY!!!

Yes, that's right.

You could win an autographed copy of the book right here...you can start dancing around the room...I understand.

To enter:

Simply leave a comment below and you'll be automatically enterered to win

For extra entries {and please leave a SEPERATE comment for each}

1. Follow Meghan Carter on Twitter

2. Like Meghan Carter on Facebook

3. Sign up for Meghan's weekly newsletter and/or videos

4. Tweet the giveaway

{enter to win an autographed copy of The Meghan Method from @bijouandboheme and @MeghanCarter http://bijouandboheme.blogspot.com/2011/08/giveaway-meghan-method.html}

And that's it....a copy could be yours, yours, yours...I already have mine on my coffee table...with a brass bull and a piece of urchin on top...it looks purrrrty.

I wanted to close this little giveaway gabb with another quote from Meghan...I think it sums up why you really want/need this book...

Fabulous!!!

Now enter away and I'll draw for the winner on Saturday.

xo

Curtain Call

You know what the old downside is to having a new fabulously pretty space (i.e. #PKG)? Turns out it shines a glaring light on the little imperfections in the rest of house...I woke up a few days ago thinking that there are certain things about my home that now, apres kitchen gorgeous, look like a monkey's armpit.

For one, the kitchen is tres sparkly...I can't show you this now but you can imagine...tons of reflective marble combined with 3 chandeliers and brand new pot lights means light...lots of light...and PS, it's glamorous light...my living room on the other hand, in a weird twist of design fate, is looking kind of dull...it needs a little sparkle of its own...don't get me wrong, I still love it and nothing at all major is going to happen in there...it just needs a few small sparkle tweaks.

And the big one is going to involve this area....

You see those curtains...well they kind of hold a little DIY dirty secret...when I bought them a few years back I had no effing idea how to plaster them up there...I didn't know Meredith back then you see...custom curtain rods...had no idea how/where to go about that and because it's a 25 foot or so span of windows, there was no finding a store bought rod...so...cover your eyes if you're squeemish...I did the only thing a girl in my position could do...this...

I bought some u-hooks and cut down wood dowel and managed to get them up...sort of...yes they hang there and they skim the floor nicely BUT ideally, and in a pretty/good world, they'd go to the ceiling and I'd have a rod that spanned the whole wall.

Well boys and girls, I believe in thinking positively (most of the time) and I want a damn rod...a pretty one.

It could be brass...

or white or chrome/nickel...

{and PS on the above, those kelly green curtains make me weak...divine}

or black...

{that dining room on the right is one of my favourite spaces EVER!!}

{all pictures via HERE}

or...best of all perhaps...it could be LUCITE!!!

Hello yumminess from The Paris Apartment...don't you just adore everything from there?

And then there's this recent heavenly discovery....

Gretchen Everett Hardware....I heart you in a laaaarge way.

What do you think would be the best choice pour moi?
And just to help you narrow it down, I won't be choosing white, black or chrome...so that leaves you two to pick from:)

Happy Monday beauties.

xo

Friday Fabrics - A Lux for Less Find etc.

I was doing some blog reading the other day and happened upon one of my favourite reads, Kelly Market.

She did a post called Fabrics for Less and one of her pics literally gave me a brief heart attack.

Remember this....

aka the little design I put together for my daughter's big girl room.

Well the plan has kind of changed for two reasons...one I've decided she needs a red upholstered bed with pink piping, which means the green sofa is likely out...and two, that wallpaper would cost more than my new kitchen so let's just say it's a no go.

I've been searching endlessly for an alternative with zero luck...which brings me back to that post I mentioned.

Voila...

And the best news...it rings in at a whopping $8/yard...which means the whole room could be plastered in the stuff for less than $500...thank you Jesus.

So what do you think?

Doable?

Would you ever cover walls in fabric?

Has anyone tried it out there?

In other news, my kitchen backsplash of sorts went in yesterday and let me just say, it's heavenly...amazing how much more finished a kitchen looks once there's some stone/tile/something on the walls.

My last kitchen had zip zero in this regard...one of the reasons I wanted a new one.

So now we're just waiting on appliances and a few finishing touches...hooray!!!!

Oh and it's Friday...thank god...sooooo ready for the weekend...my day yesterday (aside from seeing the wonderlust back splash go in) can be summed up with this...

{photos via here}

The husband didn't get home until after the kids were in bed and PS, we were stuck in the house almost the entire day and my son had a 2 hour epic meltdown...oh and no nap...oh and the same son managed to start my day by peeing on every square inch of my bedroom floor...oh and the one outing we had was when I walked the kids over to the liquor store across the street so I could buy some of that pretty stuff I was talking about yesterday....see...

too bad I ran into all my daughter's teachers while on my way out (they were in a car on their way to lunch...don't worry...the teachers weren't in the booze store mid-day) ...with three bottles in my stroller...good times my friends, good times.

{Edit...in response to some comments I need to explain a few little things....my neighbourhood plaza is a 5 minute walk from my house and in that plaza is a very high end/mecca LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario.) Liquor isn't sold here in corner stores/independent shops etc...instead we have one chain of government run stores...and the one around the bend from me is a flagship...they have a wine tasting bar, chef prepared food matchings etc. etc...it's actually kind of glorious and I'm pleased as punch that it's so close.

In addition to the LCBO this amazeballs plaza also has a Whole Foods...my daughter's pre-school/kdg is two blocks away so the teachers were heading there for lunch...hence why running into them while at the liquor store wasn't so crazy afterall:}

xo

A Mixed Bag...and a #PKG update

Be forewarned, this post is going to be all over the place.

First...a little pink, orange and blue pretty I put together after seeing this shot....

I simply adore that bright palate...actually I'm kind of obsessed it....how the neon pink and blue look against the orange and yellow...I'm really almost dead over it.

So here...more examples...

{photos via HERE}

Doesn't all that bright colour just make your knees weak?  It does mine.

Ok...next thing...this will come as a huge shock to you I'm sure but there's a couple of little things I want for the kitchen...

The lovely Lindsey forwarded me those BHLDN glasses this morning- have you ever?  She's a smarty pants...more proof of this...just in case you missed the #PKG tour chatter the other day, the kitchen is open for viewings and Lindsey came up with the brilliant coinage...#boozynostainpkg tour to denote that when there's a party, there must be no drinkies poos that could stain the marble...see...she came up with that and sent me those glasses...smart.
Oh and an Edit thanks to smart Lindsey...I forgot that the whole tour was originally Meredith's idea so I must mention her brilliance as well...not that I haven't done that 1 or 1000 times before so you get the idea on that one:)

Anyhoo...I want/need both of those things- like I can't own a gold coffee pot? 

Tooth Fairy/Santa/mom/hubster are you reading this?

And on the same subject, I also need a booze overhaul.

After seeing Meredith's sneak peek the other day it dawned on my that my liquor cabinet is fugly...I never thought about it before because all the bottles were hidden in my old kitchen but now they're not...

and it's a sea of orange, black and red...um no.

So, I need a shopping list of booze to by.

I turned to Twitter the other night with a shopping list request and got this back...

I found that Pinky Vodka a while back and let's just say, it WILL be in that bar area...so what if I have to order it from BC?

The rest is still on the table...loving all of it...and thank you to Ashley, Lindsey, Meredith, Melissa, Carolyn, and Exotic Floral Design, for the amaze suggestions...don't you just love Twitter???

Edit...the always fabulous Alex just tweeted a new suggestion for me...hellooooo gorgeous....

So what say you...what pretty bottles would you buy if you were me?

Oh and almost forgot...it's a big day here...backsplash is being installed...and PS, it's not really a backsplash at all...Meredith and I have another little surprise up our sleeves...think vintage...marble...feminine.

Have a gorgeous Thursday everyone!!

xo

Wednesday Wallpaperish - Payton Cosell Turner

I opened my October issue of Elle Decor (to page 74) and seriously almost went into instant convulsions...happy ones that is...when saw the work of Payton Cosell Turner.

She so had me at hello with her opening website page (above) but it gets better...this girl {who is PS 25..hate her...well not really} is kind of a genius...why you ask?  

Well your mind might just explode when I tell you the reason...mine almost did....it turns out that the wallpaper she designs is....wait for it....entirely made of dime store stickers.

OK I know what you're thinking...tack-o-riffic...only trust me....it's SO not...it's divinely pretty...perfectly feminine...solidly sophisticated and delightfully cheeky.

You don't believe me....

Here....see this....

Well close up it's made up of  things like this...

This is one of those thinks that makes me angry at myself for not thinking of it it first...so irreverent...adore!!

Oh and Ms. Turner does other kind of things too...like hand drawn wallpaper....

And just because this kind of talent usually never ends...she also does amazeballs drawings...

 And with that brilliance, I have to run.

I'm having a bunch of lady friends over this morning for coffee/chat/kid craziness...oh and they're all itching to see my kitchen so it will be my first grande tour...I've got two hours to get food, put myself together and make sure the house is all spic and span...and go!!

xo