Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Product love

I love Philosophy products:


Such cute and simple packaging.  Such quality product.  Looks so good on the shelf.  They have recipes on the sides of their food-named shower gels, like cinnamon buns and blackberry sauce.  



















And the shower gels double--no, triple--as shampoos and bubble baths, so in summer, when I don't need serious moisturizing shower gel, I only need one beautiful bottle for all three.

Philosophy products ftw.*


*If you only buy products not tested on animals, however, you're S.O.L.  This is the one thing that keeps Philosophy from being perfect.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Mood Board 2


Another attempt, this time at a "contemporary luxe" look inspired in part by my boyfriend's sister, who loves Crate and Barrel.  It's not exactly my style and it's a bit pricey for my college-student income, but I could probably live with it.

The upholstered winged bed is from Crate and Barrel, and is probably the thing I personally like best, followed by the mirrored nightstand from Pier 1.  I love a little bit of mirroring, for the sense of luxury and the light it bounces around the room.  I balanced the nightstands on one side of the room with a big silver-framed mirror from target, and one or two silver-toned lamps from Pier 1, atop a cherry-stained dresser.  The rich brown of the wood is echoed in the bedside lamps, also from Pier 1, and the Pottery Barn bedding.  The chunky cable knit throw, also from Pottery Barn, is an item I would personally love to own--so cuddly.  It's like your favorite sweater in the world, only you can wrap yourself up in it.  The curtains are from Target (even in a luxe-type room, I can't avoid Target) and I forget where I found the old-fashioned wallpaper to accent one wall, the rest painted a matching powder blue.

Looking at all this stuff, I was aiming for soft color, with highlights of the darker, stronger brown to keep it from looking washed out, and nice textures to touch.

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Mood Board Attempt #1


I've been thinking the "moodboards" I see here and there on design blogs are pretty nifty, so I attempted to make my own.  There it is, over to the left: the Aqua mood board of Stuff I Like Now for a living room/office space.  The bookshelf in the top left corner was my jumping-off point for the whole thing, hence the non-matching white wood.

In May I will (hopefully) be leaving the dorms behind for my first ever teeny tiny apartment.  If I got everything I really want for it, regardless of my teeny tiny budget, it would have a lot of elements from the mood board, plus one.  See the space I left in the right hand corner?  That's for one thing I don't have a picture of, an old hand-me-down chair I love.  It's a really schlumpy deep blue chair with big gold fleur-de-lis and daisies all over it, with matching ottoman.  It's a thing of beauty, it is, and it's why the deep blue and gold ended up in the color scheme.

The various items of furniture and decor are from Target (ladder desk, baskets, paper lantern floor lamp, green silk pillow), Pier 1 (ruffly aqua pillow, tulip side table, papasan chair), World Market (capiz shell chandelier, funky paper lantern, white bookcase, houndstooth pillow), and Ikea (Karlstad sofa, Lack TV stand, PS rocker).

Overall, this was a fun little thing to make, though my technique could definitely use refining.  I didn't arrange the elements very well, and I didn't spread enough of the deep blue and gold colors through the rest of the room, though that could easily be accomplished through art, blankets, tchochkes, and other things I didn't add to the board, which would have brightened the whole thing up as well.  It's pretty spiffy to see all these things I've been admiring in one place, though.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

New Blog! Woo!

My other blog is personal and political/philosophical/feminist.

This one?  Is about design!  Interior design, art, architecture, even a little crafting here and there. 

Do enjoy.