Decor

Current Obsession: Nipomo Hand-Woven Blankets

October 19, 2018

Hi I love you

I discovered Nipomo's blankets at the MTHR retreat in Sonoma last weekend...and now I want to fill my house (and my Christmas gift lists) with them. They're gorgeous. And hand-woven. And come with (also hand-made) leather carrying straps, in case you love yours so much you feel the need to take it with you everywhere.

The woman who designs the patterns and color ways, Liz Clark, was one of the vendors during the Makers Pop-Up Shop on Sunday, and...you've heard the term "flying off the racks"? These blankets flew. (Liz's mom is the one who makes the leather straps, which is obviously wonderful.) I bought one as a gift for a friend, but am kiiiiind of wishing I'd picked up a couple more, because not only are they spectacularly pretty and unique, they're also crazy-versatile - you can pop them on top of a rug pad and layer them on your floor, use them as beach blankets or picnic blankets, toss them over your bed or the back of a couch...whatever.

Decor

The Problem With Perfection

October 11, 2018

The problems with getting to check out this year’s Sunset Magazine Silicon Valley Idea House are the following:

a) It is actually, literally perfect, and the ideal blend of design and function.

b) It makes you want to pack up your current house and move into this one immediately.

Decor

You Need To Know About Lorena Canals’ Washable (!) Rugs

September 28, 2018

Relevant to yesterday's post, here is yet another example of why women (and moms, specifically) are set to just go ahead and run the world: Because we come up with genius inventions not just "because" (or just because our egos need a little stroking; ahem, Elon Musk, love you but dude, the "kid-sized" submarine?)...but because they are needed.

You've heard me whine and whine and whine here for yearrrrrs about my simultaneous love of throw rugs and total rug-related phobias and/or catastrophes. I love the way rugs look; I love the way rugs feel. I do not love that they specialize in attracting dogs that want to pee on them and babies that want to throw up on them, because any rug that lives in my house must be pristine, or the aforementioned phobias come out and I have to sidestep around its borders like a weirdo.

I've bought cowhide rugs. Tossed them. Fluffy rugs. Sacrificed them on the altar of Virgil. Gorgeous woven rugs. Moved them to a "cleaner" spot, then to another, and then gave them away. And now I've landed on a semipermanent solution, using outdoor rugs indoors...except a) that seems wasteful, given that I have to replace them once a season, and b) that still does not solve my sidestepping-around-the-borders-after-a-pee-speck-touches-them problem.

Before & After Renovations

How I Turned My Creepy, Claustrophobic Bathroom Into…This.

August 21, 2018

Wait until you see inside.

Awhile back, a reader wrote in to ask me an interesting question: How, she wondered, did I get past the intimidation factor of a redesign? How in the world was I confident enough in my vision to actually...you know...pull the trigger, and make it happen?

The short answer is, unfortunately, that I maintain a (possibly unfounded) belief that if something goes amiss, you can fix it. In other words: it's just a house. And it's just decor. And while obviously you should put a lot of thought into a major renovation before kicking it off, the worst thing that can happen is that you don't like it, and then you either do something else, or you live with it.

Before & After Renovations

A (Bittersweet) House Tour

August 16, 2018

You've seen most of my house at one point or another over the years, but as I do not own a wide-angle lens, it's been tough for me to get shots that really show you what the spaces look like as a whole, and how they fit together.

The photographer who came over to shoot the house for the listing did have a wide-angle lens, though, and so I now present to you: A bittersweet little house tour. The only room missing is the master bath, which I'll be photographing myself tomorrow after I put a few finishing touches on it. (As a recap, here's what the house looked like on move-in day three years ago.)

I didn't include product info because there's just so much, but you can click through to the links below for details on each room, or just ask away in the comments.

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