book signing

Last night I got a chance to meet Gabrielle Blair (Design Mom) at her book signing in Boston. I've never had a book signed before and I wasn't really clear on the point of it but I'm so very glad that I went. 

I enjoyed hearing Gabby and Christine Koh (Boston Mamas) do a Q&A - we got to hear a few behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the book writing process. And when it came time for the signing I was thrilled to have a chance to talk to Gabby.

She is just as delightfully warm in person as she is online. It was a great experience! (Special thanks to Laura L who insisted on taking a photo!)

If you don't already have it, you should buy her book!

If you need a creative designer to improve your graphic identity, contact me for a consultation.

framing

I was so inspired by Design Mom recently. I took photographs of some of my artwork and got two pieces beautifully framed at Framebridge.

They turned out so perfectly, I am kicking myself that it took me this long! Do you have things lying around that you would like to frame? Do it! They will help you mail in original artwork or work with photographs to get a beautiful, professional, finished look.

And a hand-written thank you note. Amazing!

If you need a creative designer to improve your graphic identity, contact me for a consultation.

the good

The art of photographing interior spaces to help sell a home is a very difficult one. Lighting is key. Composition is key. Color is key. Hiding most (but not all!) of your stuff is key.

I already highlighted the bad and the ugly. Please enjoy the good.

Beautiful, right? I can't wait to find our future home. 

If you need a creative designer to improve your graphic identity, contact me for a consultation.

the bad and the ugly

Right now I am fully immersed in the house-selling and house-buying process and when I think of things to blog about, all I can think about is how hard it is to nicely photograph a home for sale. I have seen it all - good, bad, and ugly. The photos we posted when our apartment was listed were somewhere in the middle - certainly not award-winning but hopefully not distractingly bad. Here are some that are, in fact, distractingly bad.

Usually it's a problem of having too much stuff. Furniture can be hard to move for a photo but a miscellaneous empty fish tank and a plant? Also, please don't use flash. Find a way to use natural lighting.

Here we have a situation where the sellers were very good about removing a lot of their stuff. And they used natural lighting. However, all I see in this photo is the place where they stored all their junk piles so the pictures would look uncluttered. Oh wait.

And, if at all possible, please don't zoom in to show close-ups. Do I need to see the ceiling here? No. If you could show the whole room I bet I would understand that there is natural light coming from skylights.

These are all from houses we looked at - online or in person. It's amazing what an effect photos can have on a buyer's perception of a home. Sometimes we found places that were so well staged and photographed that they were disappointing in person. I will follow up shortly with beautiful photographs so you can scrub these out of your mind.

If you need a creative designer to improve your graphic identity, contact me for a consultation.

happy May!

I'm unusually happy that it's May. Something about having leaves on the trees again and having warm weather more consistently makes me feel great. I will put aside, for the moment, that it's currently 47° and raining.

In case you're interested, I found this beautiful image on pinterest and I was curious about where it came from. I love pinterest but it can be hard to give credit to the original artist. So I used google's amazing drag-and-drop image search. It blew my mind.

Here's a screenshot of what I got:

Amazing! And I found out, based on the 9th image, that this was originally published in Better Homes and Gardens. Thank you google! 

If you need a creative designer to improve your graphic identity, contact me for a consultation.

rugs for kids

I adore these rugs by Haba. They are such a great combination of rug and play mat.

Fun and functional!

(I saw them on Ohdeedoh. You can buy them from Moolka.)

If you need a creative designer to improve your graphic identity, contact me for a consultation.

zoo plates

I love finding beautifully designed everyday items for kids. These zoo plates and bowls from Skip Hop are adorable! I love the simplicity of the illustrations and the colors.


So much fun!

If you need a creative designer to improve your graphic identity, contact me for a consultation.

dinnerware

I've been thinking a lot about the design of everyday objects. I've been finding a lot of seemingly everyday things that are so well designed as to be superbly inspiring. Included in that is a line of dinnerware from Lorena Barrezueta called Burst.


I'm not sure I'd be able to use these. I would just want to display them somewhere in my house. They are so intricate, modern, and elegant.


Gorgeous!

If you need a creative designer to improve your graphic identity, contact me for a consultation.

whimsical paintings

During a recent trip to Rockport, MA I ran across some fun and colorful paintings by the talented Lauri Kaihlanen.







I wanted to buy a whole bunch of these small prints and cover my daughter's wall with them. I had my heart set on the lion or the giraffes until I saw the funky penguin and the bicycling turtles. So much fun! In the end I decided to some day bring my daughter to the studio and let her pick out a few of her favorites. Maybe when we have more space and she has her own room!

decorating with type

I know I'm a type dork but seriously, how cool are these typographic decorations?

Here are some letterpress letters from Jessica Hische that I'm just a little bit obsessed with.


I couldn't even decide which letters to show. Check out the H and the Z too. They are all so interesting individually but go so well together. She mentions on her site that a great wedding present would be 2 letters and an ampersand. Brilliant!


And can you imagine a cooler set of drawers?


These are from Kent and London and are solid oak. I want them for my office.

apples

In the spirit of the season, here are some beautiful apple-inspired objects.


Studded Brass Apple - This one reminds me of my grandmother who had a collection of various studded fruits in glass.



Apple Pot - So simple and elegant.



Wooden Apple Box - I really like the pattern on this one and the use of color.

Happy Fall! (It's my favorite season, can you tell?)

colorful wall decals

Here are some of my favorite colorful wall decals. I think these are a brilliant design solution, especially in a child's bedroom as they are easy to switch as the child grows.

Tree with Birds from Couture Deco. I love their single-color decals. I think it would be really easy to plan a room around just one color.


Noah's African Circus from Pop & Lolli. On a neutral wall, these colorful animals would make anyone happy.



Big Blowing Cherry Blossom Tree from Surface Inspired. This one looks very elegant and would work for a girl at almost any age.

I've never used these but they are supposed to be easy to apply and easy to remove. Such a great way to spice up a room!

small spaces

It can be hard to fit all of your stuff into a small apartment but when it's done well, it's inspiring. Here are a few ideas to make it easier to live in a small space.


The porch-size grill. OK, so this is a European product and is probably against every condo association's by-laws but how cute is that?! I adore it.



The stroller door handle. Brilliant and easy. My only concern is the stroller wheel dirt getting on the door. My door is a dark stained wood so no problem there!



The tiny shared bedroom. This is a problem I will be facing next year! I love the ideas found on this blog. I can only hope our solution will be so elegant!