Oh Pretty Paisley

I think it's safe to say that this was the house seen 'round the (blog) world:

Many of us fell hard for it.  Jill Brinson's home feautured in House Beautiful is definitely one of my favorite homes to date.  I love everything about it.  But one of the touches that hit closest to home for me was the blockprint paisley. 

(Les Indiennes, above)  I've always had a soft spot for paisley.  Some people can't stand it (I've had clients who "hate" it) but I'll never forget the purple blockprint matching paisley outfits my mom made for us when I was around 4 years old...  I thought mine  was the prettiest thing ever...  I wonder if we still have it somewhere??  And then she had intentions of making us yellow paisley flannel nightgowns but didn't get around to it, but I still remember the fabric, which was always around in the sewing bin.  When I was in college I found a similar pink paisley fabric and immediately bought it and made drawstring pajama pants for myself.  I still love them:

A few years ago -  gosh, probably more like 4 or 5(?)-  Pottery  Barn came out with these amazing blockprint paisley quilts.  Does anyone remember them?  My favorite was a white quilt with bright beautiful green paisley.  I wanted it so badly.  But we'd just gotten married & had already purchased our bedding.  (This was before the concept of switching things out seasonally had occured to me or that quilt would be mine!!)  Anyway, they don't make them any more & I couldn't find a picture of it, but I still want that quilt. When I saw these quilts in the catalogs & in the store, I can't explain it, but I was almost upset...   Upset because I felt like they just took something right out of my mind & stole it.  Not like I was ever going to manufacture quilts or anything, but because I sort of felt like paisley was mine.  Especially that perfect green blockprint.  This was before I read blogs or design magazines, and so pretty much what showed up in stores & in catalogues was the extent of what I saw, so when I saw paisley making a comeback - probably way later than it did in design or blog world- I was a little harrumphed.  (Sort of like when Restoration picked up Bobo...  I was thrilled to see it & have it be accessible but secretly a little disappointed it was now mainstream.)   

Anyway, pasiley's in my heart & since it's making an appearance in so many beautiful rooms these days I thought I'd share some of my favorites.  Do you remember this insanley beautiful bedroom (below) by Tom Scheerer? (House Beautiful)  Love the rough hewn beams against the curvey bed.  The duvet cover is by Les Indiennes and now I want one. 

How fun is the wallpaper in this dining room by Alessandra Branca below? (via Girl Meets Glamour)

 

Check out the little blue pasiley pillow on the sofa(HB):

This bedroom below is just a perfect paisley cocoon!  It's by Cathy Kincaid (featured in House Beautiful & photographed by Reed Davis.)  The paisley on the walls & curtains is called Kashmir & is by Michael Smith. 

The quilted coverlet is by Aleta.  Here's another of their gorgeous fabrics:

 

Tom Scheerer uses lots of blockprints in his work.  The next series of rooms were designed by him.  How amazing is this canopy below?

A pretty little paisley chair: 

How awesome is this chair? (below)

 More paisley pillows: 

And seeing all these canopies has me itching to do one:

 Below is a happy paisley headboard.  Notice it's in the same fabric as the chair a few pics up?

You might remember from my post on Tom Scheerer that I'm apey for this fabric below:

Below is another gorgeous print from Les Indiennes and it reminds me a bit of my beloved Pottery Barn quilt. 

And finally we've got some rooms & fabrics by Peter Dunham.   

Below, the pillow on the chair is Kashmir Paisley by Peter Dunham. 

More blockprint on the walls, below.  From afar it looks like paisley but it's actually just another blockprint:

Here's a close-up of a Peter Dunham blockprint:

 

Loving this:

Now let's go back to Jill Brinson's to-die-for living room:

Did you see the Vamp's post here or Joni's post here in which she challenges us to create Brinson's look in our own homes like Valorie did?  Valorie (aka the Vamp) found these great inexpensive pillows here at Amazon ($22 something) to replicate the look of Jill Brinson's home in her own.:

I thought I'd share a few more.  I LOVE Jackie Von Tobel's designs and her paisley pillow cover(below, $95) is perfection.  Jackie is one of the nicest, most generous bloggers out there.  (And to say she's talented is an understatement.) 

Here is a Pacific & Rose paisley pillow ($20): 

And this version from Saffron Marigold ($22.99):

Anyway, wishing for a pretty green (inexpenve) version for my own home!  What about you on paisley?  Yay or nay?

xoxo,

lauren

ps- also check out Haven & Home's post on blockprints. 

and Thank you to Jennifer Sergeant for doing an article on our Better Homes & Gardens feature on her new blog, DC by Design!

The Owl Trend: "I like it."

("I like it" is what my two year old says when he sees something he wants like the bulldozers at work on the highways.)

For the past couple of years or so, owls have been popping up all over the place. (fabric above found on southlandtopology.com) Maybe it's Harry Potter bringing on the resurgence of an old 60s trend, or maybe it's just the usual trend cycles at work, but whatever it is, "I like it" & I have a soft spot for them. My family's always had this vintage owl stapler (below) and I remember playing "office" with it as a little girl:

As most of us know, owls symboize wisdom & knowledge. So it really is interesting (and odd) to me that they pop up everywhere in such "cute" contexts. Don't get me wrong, there is definitely something special about owls. They're beautiful & a bit mysterious... But we've taken this night-hunting bird and plastered it all over fabric, household items, pillows, toys, and anything else we can think of and portrayed it in a very "adorable" way. (Collage by Helen Musselwhite below from here )

I'm starting to think about Baby #2's nursery (2.5 months away from arriving) and so of course, I'm drawn to all the adorable owls everywhere!!! I love these sheets from pottery Barn Kids:

And even better are these adorable stuffed owls they're selling:

I'm also crazy for this PERFECT little owl pillow:

The thing is, we don't know if we're having a boy or a girl and these are definitely on the girlie side. (Although let's be honest here, after already having 1 child, I know that the nurseries are for the parents, not the babies. Babies straight up don't care. Give them something fun to look at and they're happy.) BUT still, it's more the principle I guess... So, loving the little owls and wanting some more options I've started looking around online and have found some great ones! I love this little guy found on sewmamasew.com below. But it's a pattern & you have to make him... ehhhhh and I haven't been feeling too crafty lately:

I also love these (found at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5199545) by Retro Mama. Totally could be ina baby boy's room!

And there are so many great prints out there too! How cute is this mam & baby owl print below? (found SOLD --argg- on etsy by popartcafe):

Loving this collage by Linda Solovic found here:

And this one has such a great vintage feel to me:

Getting a little more sophisticated (and girlie again) but I LOVE this fabric designer, Tula Pink found on Trueup.net:

And I can't even handle this little vintage guy found here:

I bought a weekly planner last night with owls on it. That's when my husband said to me "You're really into owls lately" and made me think to write this post. Check out these pretty journals found here:

How cool is this painting "Vintagse Owls" by Kendra Baird?:

Here's a beautiful owl pillow found on House Beautiful:

A great brass owl:

A little stone owl (found on Kaboodle) who'd be perfect tucked on a shelf somewhere:

And now onto the owls I WANT. I've been lusting after this owl drawing by Albrecht Durer for a year or so now... (He's the Medieval artist whose drawing I had blown up on canvas in our dining room.)

I really really want this pillow for my living room (from penhollows.com) but just can't spend that much on a pillow:

And this letter opener is just SO BEAUTIFUL:

And finally, I'd love one of these rings from Kris Nations:

I love it in both white & black & there are other gorgeous colors too. ONly $28!!! I think they'd make great Christmas gifts..

Anyway, I think it's pretty clear that I'm hooked on owls so I'll be joining Julia at Hooked on Houses for her VERY LAST HOOKED ON FRIDAYS BLOG PARTY!! Have an awesome weekend and thank you so much to everyone for all the touching comments yesterday!! Congratulations to a few of you who are celebrating anniversaries right around now too!!!

xoxo,

lauren