Ange de Design

Fashion, two ways.

2010-10-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

Two favorites:

They're both very young, but old for their ages. They both have killer style.

Fleurette has a very French approach--an extremely pared-down, minimalist wardrobe of beautiful neutral pieces, carefully selected for color and fit and saved-up for.

Tavi sees fashion as play and art, with an apparently huge wardrobe of thrift finds, designer freebies, neon brights, frumpy grandma shoes, and things that don't fit "right" and she likes it that way.

And here's me--wanting to look so polished and classic and fine. And wanting to just have fun with ridiculous colors and crazy makeup.

I suppose I lean more towards Tavi's end--clothes, beyond the immediate function of protection from the elements and covering parts of one's body not considered acceptable in public, are a frivolous pursuit. Why spend a giant chunk of change on a beautiful designer bag that is utterly and in all ways perfect, when I could put a fraction of that into an equally functional bag that I like pretty darned well, and the rest can go to a nice dinner out, a trip to somewhere fun, rent, fixing my car, an electric mixer, a gift for my boyfriend, a ton of great second-hand books, or a video game that will provide hours of entertainment? Granted, some of said other things are just as frivolous, if not more so. And that cheaper bag might fall apart after a year or so, or even a few weeks, and could have been made in a horrible sweatshop, and I'll probably hate it before it even manages to fall apart because cheap items are also often fearfully trendy.

THIS IS WHY I WANT TO MAKE MY OWN CLOTHES, DAMMIT.

My mother gave me her sewing machine. Why spend $80 (US) on the perfect t-shirt, when a few dollars worth of lovely organic cotton and a few hours can earn me a replica or better, and I can say "oh this thing? I just whipped it up the other day" when anyone asks.

Granted, some things I definitely can't make. Shoes and chunky sweaters spring to mind. But I don't mind so much spending money on nice versions of those things, which I usually don't grow as bored with.

Now if I can train myself out of buying beautiful cheap stilettos, though, THAT will be something :-\

Woah, do I never update this thing or what?

2010-06-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

Also, Blogger changed their layout system to something new and super-fancy! If only I could put my own images in the background easily, I'd totally switch.

Another new layout

2009-12-21T19:00:00.000-08:00

I don't know a thing about web design. Well, I can tell a bad design, but I can't make one--even a bad one. So Blogger layouts it is.

I like this one. I like narrow formats because a full widescreen of text is difficult to read (my laptop is widescreen). I like the gray-on-gray. I need to crop my header down and spruce it up a bit, but other than that I think this may be the one.

Long time, no see.

2009-12-21T18:41:00.000-08:00

I should share comics on this blog too-fits in with the art-and-design thing.

So, A Softer World breaks my heart, regularly.

Friend love

2009-07-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

One of my bestest friends, and a fantastic artist, has opened an Etsy shop:

hFlowers on Etsy

She focuses mainly on graphic and detailed original linocuts, often of dreamscapes and scenes, but also assembles beautiful bead jewelry--I'm loving the pearl strand and moon necklaces. I also own "Gifts" framed, and lemme tell ya, her prints are even more fantastic in person. I've watched her grow as an artist for the last four years, and she's improved in leaps and bounds with art that consistently delight and surprise me.

And she has no clue that I've just written this, so you can be sure this isn't an advertisement--I just believe she deserves a lot of love (and sales) for her work!

The Comforter.

2009-06-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

Must. Have. This. Comforter.

After the past two-and-a-half years with a black comforter on my dorm bed, I've come to like it--black comforters are warm, dark, and soothing. But this one POPS as well. Picture it on a slightly shabby white iron bed. My Manly Man boyfriend won't like it, but I don't care--I need this in my apartment.

Pictures of said apartment are still pending, but beware: it's MESSY, and the bathroom is WEIRD.

Comforter is from Target, here.

Beach Houses

2009-05-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

As promised, a thrown-together post on beach style, inspired by This Young House.

John and Sherry's moodboards often include elements that scream "BEACH!" at me--natural, textured neutrals, light and airy colors and fabrics, and touches of beachy blue. Their latest Design Dilemma moodboard especially got me thinking: Shelly's Design Dilemma, based in part on Shelly's Floridian love of ocean colors.

So I threw together (really, in about five minutes) a little collection of beachy things on polyvore:

Beach by shadowofaseraph on Polyvore.com

The Ikea Ektorp couch has always reminded me of beach-type furniture: poofy, traditional, and utterly neutral (so that none of the possible renters of your beach house will be offended by your furniture). Hang a beach-scape print over that poofy couch, add an ottoman with those seagrass baskets with seashells in them. The side-tables don't match--ideally, they'd be castoffs from your actual house, and at least one of them should be wicker. Ditto the lamps, but for a little extra flair you might add in a new one in a beachy blue, or a capiz chandelier.

I actually spent some time this spring in a particularly interesting beach house in South Carolina--it was over 100 years old and furnished mostly with things the owners had gotten rid of over the years--with the exception of big matching lamps on the nightstands, and matching white iron beds in the attic:

I loved the light in that space, and the great view of the ocean. Note, again, the slightly tacky (and redundant--the beach was right outside the window) beach painting on the wall. The porch was even better--huge, right on the beach, white with black shutters, lots of rocking chairs and daybeds and a hammock--but I'm keeping that one to myself. It's too good to share right now.

Apartment Therapy had a post on beach house style about this time last year: Beach House Inspiration. Their inspiration photos are more modern and less thrown-together than my idea of a beach house, but the focus on neutrals and sunlight keeps it beachy, with the occasional piece of driftwood thrown in for good measure.

I found a post from Desire to Inspire as well that features a decidedly beachy design: Jodi Macklin. Most of the photos are from a Macklin-designed summer house with all sorts of coastal accents. I especially love this shot:

The white floor! The huge porch! The poofy cushions! The seagrass chair! It's probably not hurricane-proof, but it's b-e-a-utiful.

And this one:

This would be the little girls' room in the beach house, decorated more extravagantly than the adult quarters. Turquose and bright pink are so Florida.

I think that's all I've got today--I probably won't get to the beach this summer, so I've got to dream somehow.

Coming soon on Ange de Design...

2009-05-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

Beachy decor.

Before-ish photos of the new apartment (still very in progress).

Possibly pictures of newly-painted lawn chairs.

And maybe, a post "planning" an ideal house.

ETA: And I'm futzing with the way the blog itself looks. Not being knowledgeable about html, am going about this kind of half-assedly.

Girly Room

2009-04-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

Girly Room by shadowofaseraph on Polyvore.com

After making the manliest manly man room I could last time, I decided to go for "girl" here. And oddly enough, Wulfy said he kind of liked it *facepalm* I think he's just not picky as long as he's not really involved in the process. I also really liked this when I made it (that tufted gray chair is so cool) but now I think it's kind of lacking. Maybe too semetrical? Maybe the walls need more color? I was trying to go for a "collected over time" look with the art, but maybe it didn't succeed or the scale is off or something. It's hard to get things on scale, that's one advantage of the true mood-board as opposed to the mockup.

And I will probably be spending time in my apartment-to-be this weekend, so I may take "before" pictures to share. If I'm not attacked by the many pointy Christmas ornaments in storage down there first.

Compromise, + ohmigod apartment

2009-03-30T16:39:00.000-07:00

I figured out how to use polyvore.com for interior design purposes. The results aren't quite as crisp as photoshop, but it took half the time:

Boyfriend Room - by shadowofaseraph on Polyvore.com

My boyfriend, Wulfy, is a manly manly man who vetoes a lot of my favorite things as "too girly" to live with. This room he thinks is still girly, but livable. I think if it got much more manly, it would be a cave furnished with antlers and animal pelts.

But at least we both like the couch, and especially the Andy Warhol print. He likes the green chair, I have a thing for wicker. I wanted a zebra stripe rug, he didn't. I wanted a paper lantern, he picked the style. I picked those tables without him though, because I love them oh so dearly. That stripey wood is so pretty to me right now.

And in bigger, better news: I may have found an apartment! No more dorm for me! I couldn't stay on campus next semester anyway, and I wanted to stay in town over summer because this place comes alive in warm weather, it's a great place. So an older relative who lives in town offered to let me live in the apartment in her basement if I help fix it up. My family are all packrats, so cleaning out her basement is no small task, but it will definitely be nice to have a place even marginally my own. She might even fix up the bathroom down there, and will likely fix dinner for the two of us on a regular basis. Oh joy oh joy!

Red, Gray, Turquoise

2009-03-23T21:24:00.000-07:00

Hey, another mood board! I find making these things fun to unwind with when I have enough time to do them.

This time, I looked mostly at color--red and gray (my favorite combo), with turquoise (another favorite) thrown in for variety. And some beige slipped in too, oddly enough.

The couch, desk, and desk chair are IKEA; the side table (which I love), the coffee table, the rug, and the slipper chair are Target. The art is from art.com. The throw pillow and paper lamp are World Maret, and the table lamp is Pier1. You can really tell which stores I favor from this blog, no?

In other news, More Ways to Waste Time just featured two posts on steampunk aesthetic, an example which I featured without naming it as such in my last moodboard. I've always found it an interesting style, intriguing if not exactly livable to me right now. I have always liked the Victorian library look though, so we'll see where that takes me once I have the means to buy the heavy furniture it needs--though I do already have an Oakley display case, which I adore and have no idea how to use. It's good for keeping dvds in right now though, because it locks.

Meanwhile, design*sponge recently sneak-peeked a beautiful home that also reminded me of the Curry moodboard, with "world" influences and beautiful heavy furniture (that bed is -beautiful-) tossed together without looking pretentious or stuffy, something I'm not sure I could do in real life.

Mood Board: Curry

2009-03-01T19:42:00.001-08:00

I just finished reading S.M. Stirling's The Peshawar Lancers. It has its problems, but it was entertaining, and damn, does that man love his food and his interior design. I approve.

I haven't managed to go out for Indian cuisine yet, but I did throw together this curry-tastic moodboard. I tried to keep the color palette warm, but I want the whole set of those throw pillows. I provided a low daybed couch for those who don't want to sit on the floor, even though I forgot to put in a rug (darn). The gods Ganesha (the statue) and Krishna (in the painting) are mentioned frequently in the book, the bead curtains are similar to ones described in Elias's house, Princess Sita is given a fine illustrated copy of the Kama Sutra, and the globe is inspired by the gemstone map of airship routes. And they drink a lot of tea.

As to where I found all these lovely products:

throw pillows and daybed: world market

bead curtain, morrocan lamp: shopwildthings.com

clock, coffee table, bookshelf: pier 1

banana fiber floor cushion: ikea

orange sari curtains: www.indianselections.com

Ganesha statue: buddhadecor.com

Krishna print: allposters.com

leatherbound Kama Sutra: amazon.com

gemstone globe: onlyglobes.com

antique silver tea service: ebay.com

And I have to say, this is about my favorite mood board yet. Why did I not notice the magic wand tool before now? The richness and brightness of a British India inspired room also appeals to me right now, as I eagerly await the end of gray winter, and the flexibility of floor-based seating would be nice for a small space.

Product love

2009-01-27T15:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Mood Board 2

2009-01-14T14:48:00.000-08:00

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.

Mood Board Attempt #1

2009-01-11T14:17:00.001-08:00

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.

New Blog! Woo!

2009-01-06T18:49:00.000-08:00

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.