MONDAY PRESENTS...FOR MOTHER'S DAY

Mother's Day is May 13th this year, here's a little design inspired gift ideas!

1. Lavender Flower Wreath from Terrain- $58.00
This wreath is made of dried lavender, yarrow, echinops, wheat and larkspur, it's a great alternative to the traditional Mother's Day bouquet.


2. Sea Salt Southern Artisan Chocolate by Olive and Sinclair Chocolate- $5.99
Chocolates are always a safe way to go for Mother's Day. I love this Chocolate Company out of Nashville, TN for their beautiful packaging and unique flavors (Salt & Pepper, Mexican Cinn-Chili, Buttermilk White).


3. Call Your Mother Pillow by Alexandra Ferguson- $99.00 
I first found this pillow on Fab.com and I love the idea of a Mother giving this pillow to her Daughter as she becomes a new Mom. I think it's a phrase we've all heard once or twice from our own Moms.
An added bonus is that the pillow is made with felt made out of 100% recycled water bottles!


4. Core Sample Stopper from Anthropologie- $58.00
These beautiful glass bottle stoppers are topped with aquamarine, raw emerald, smoky quartz and lepidolite. They would make a great gift accompanied by a bottle of wine or olive oil.


5. Market Backpack from Brook Farm General Store- $65.00
This Farmer's Market Basket doubles as a backpack; perfect for Mother/Daughter weekend outings.


6. Savon De Marseille from Old Faithful Shop- $10.50
This giant block of hand-crafted soap is from France would look great in my Mom's soap dish :)


7. Honeycomb Votive Holder from Jason Home and Garden- $22.00


8. Early April Dishtowel from Anthropologie- $16.00
I'm not sure there's a Mom out there who doesn't love a pretty dishtowel!

DAY GLOW

I hope everyone had a good week, I know I'm ready for the weekend! The Howell Mill Food Truck Park & Market just opened, the Inman Park Festival and Tour of Homes is this weekend and I'm seeing Regina Spector and Tom Petty on Sunday! I send you off with this electric color board. Obviously, I love everything on this board (or I wouldn't have made it) but the coolest thing by far is the neon duct tape! I bought some at Lowe's to hang up signage outdoors for an art show and now I use it all the time- I've wrapped my tool handles with it, made labels, drawn on my office wall :)  Another notable item is the canopy bed, it's a very common Ikea bed (I think it's discontinued now) that some genius painted day glow green/yellow.

1. Ikea's Edland painted neon via. Apartment Therapy  2. Green Apple Duct Tape by 3M  3. Feather Kuma Pillow from Areaware for $24.00  4. Neon wedding invitations by Kate Gabriel via. Oh So Beautiful Paper  5. Neon Shoes via. melaniexeinalem on pinterest 6. Bow Bin from Areaware for $45.00

SECONDS PLEASE!

 I stumbled across this Flatware Collection, "Seconds", by Jason Miller at Areaware. I love the  juxtaposition between the formal china patterns and the contemporary birds! I would love to see these dinner plates, dessert plates and teacups in action; I think they would fit well in a formal dining room, a modern loft or in a casual kitchen. Love, love, love them!

Check out some of these gorgeous rooms below that are saying "come home Seconds Flatware, come home!"

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AQUA AND GOLD

After checking out the new summer accessories at Kate Spade, I developed a new color obsession- aqua and gold! It's a winning combo that's plastered all over their summer line and once it was stuck in my head I started seeing it everywhere. Oh what a bright and cheerful look as the weather gets warmer!

1. Aqua Door from Pinterest from MySweetCreations via Erin Olsen  2. Raskog Kitchen Cart from Ikea 3. Carousel Bangle Watch by Kate Spade  4. Enjoy Cupcakes Vintage Cupcake Camper  5. Loom Pattern by New Ravenna Mosaics  6. Barrow Street Anabel Baby Bag by Kate Spade  7. Serenity Stone Drops by Stella and Dot

SMOOTH TO THE TOUCH

I read about Mineheart at one of my favorite blogs, The Designer Pad. This UK based company produces a line of wallpaper that features realistic patterns on high-quality paper. Their wallpaper can be used residentially and commercially- I love the idea of using the tufted Chesterfield pattern in a lounge or a nightclub! The stone fresco and wood paneling patterns are really interesting too because they're such traditional images used in an untraditionally way. It must be a little trippy running your fingers against these images with so much depth and antiquity only to find a smooth (and washable) wall. When I browsed through the Mineheart website I was reminded of a couple other wallpaper companies that have similar collections, check them out below.

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Wall & Deco is a crazy cool wallpaper company with a lot of unique patterns. They have graphic patterns, large scale artwork, custom paper and photo realistic wallpaper. These beautiful images below are another example of realistic wallpaper; it's such a sexy way to add texture and grit to a room!

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Concrete Wall is a collection of  wallpaper made by manipulating high-res photographs of concrete, cinder block, brick and wood. All the images are from Norway and no pattern is ever repeated.

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SPRING IS IN THE AIR

If you are in Atlanta this weekend, you should definitely stop by The Dogwood Festival at Piedmont Park. It's a great way to welcome Spring and get some fresh air- enjoy the Farmer's Market, check out some local art and live music! 

Here are some pretty little Spring things to pump you up for the weekend!

1. Watercolor Peony Wallpaper from Anthropologie

2. Domaine Triennes- this light Rose is perfect for Spring weekends outside and you can find it at most wine shops for $14 - $16. 

3. This sweet bowl is made by Artist Jeff Campana. His work is on the pricy side for me but it is so precious and Spring-y. 

4. These Herb Garden Labels by Paulova come in a pack of 4 for $32.00, pick and choose your herbs and the color of the glaze.

5. This Reclaimed Row Home Birdhouse is one of 5 for sale from Anthropologie.

6. These beautiful Spring nail polish colors from Chanel look like Spring flowers blooming!

7. Seed Bombs are small clay and soil balls full of regional Wildflower Seeds. To do some "Gorilla Gardening" this Spring, throw a bomb in a vacant lot, or nearby field! Get 2 bags for $14 at Uncommon Goods.

8. Felix Doolittle is a printing company from Massachusetts that makes note cards, stationary, labels and custom gifts. They are a great go-to for Birthdays and Mother's Day, and  their newest watercolor designs are spring and summer inspired.

INSTAGRAM YOUR HOME

Instagram is camera app for taking pictures, editing and sharing with your friends. It's super popular with over 15 million users and it was just sold to Facebook for a whopping $1 billion! I love this app, I use it all the time to add filters and focal points to my amateur iphone picts, you can follow me @kaytedesigns. Today on Fab.com there is a sale for Instagram collage pillows by Stitchtagram, two for $145.00. What a great personalized gift! Forget about a photo album- you could capture your favorite vacation, wedding memories, adventures with your best friend, I could even see using these when decorating a teenage girls room!

photos via fab.com

While we are on the subject, check out some other Instagram products that have popped up over time. The albums and poster below are from a company called Printstagram. Theses printing products are a great value; the tinybook is $10, the minibook is $12, the poster is $25. They also sale individual prints and stickers. 

photos via printsagram

Canvaspop is a great site for printing any photos on canvas and their canvas ranges from 8"x10" to 24"x72", rolled or framed. Recently, they launched an Instagram section where you can sign in with Instagram and upload your favorite photos. The standard size 12"x12" is on sale right now for $39.95. 

photos via cavaspop

URBAN HERBS

Last weekend I finished up a little home project inspired by a photo I found on Pinterest via a post from Apartment Therapy. I have a coffee table on my patio that has seen better days; the wood slat top is rotting but the metal base is in great condition. The image inspired me to transform my table into an rustic herb garden. For my pallet garden to fit on the table I had to cut down one end, this gave me an extra board that I used to create a small drink ledge so the planter would also function as a side table. 

Below is a real simple step-by-step to help you create your own "urban garden" with a pallet. Pallets are really easy to find; ask your local hardware store or grocery store if you can take some or keep an eye out for them by commercial dumpsters (no shame in dumpster diving people). The lumber is great for small crafty projects because in most cases it's already distressed and the components are small enough for most people to manage. 

When you get ahold of a pallet make sure you remove any splinters and loose nails and sand down the edges. I wrapped the back and exposed sides of the planter with weed barrier fabric and then stapled it in place starting from the middle and working my way out. When you are trying to figure out where to place your fabulous new garden, make sure you consider drainage. My existing table was a great option because the top was loosely slated wood and would allow for rain water drain out, in my inspiration photo on Pinterest they rested their planted against the wall. When your planter is sealed tight fill it with potting soil plant your desired herbs or flowers. It took me close to 2 bags of soil to fill the pallet and I based the amount of herbs I planted on the distance required by each plant. When the pallet was full and planted I hosed it off and added my final board that would make up my drink ledge!

 Here are a few other creative uses for recycled pallets...

pinterest via Amber Mccardle

pinterest via Elena Frances Nava

by Katrin Arens

pallet chair by Studiomama via Color By Numbers

BUCKHEAD RESIDENCE

Often I work with interior designer Patti Krohngold. One of our clients moved to Atlanta from Miami, and due to his needs he purchased a large traditional home in Buckhead. When we walked thru the house he told Patti and me how much he loved his Ultra-modern home in Miami. A lot of the furniture he brought with him was modern and reminiscent of the Miami flavor. Our challenge would be to find a way to blend it with the style and architectural features of his new house. How do you work with the architecture of your home if it's not your personal style? The most important things to keep in mind are, you can't ignore it and you can't cover it up so do your best to embrace it. The house was many shades of warm and creamy yellows and beige when we started (a great background for oil paintings in gilded frames and antique wood furniture) and as you can still see the iron work and details are very traditional and swirly. The first step was to cool down the palette with shades of grey, black and white - no more butter yellow! The client didn't want to deal with removing the iron or changing many light fixtures so we had to include these traditional form and materials when furnishing the rooms; this keeps things in balance so no feature sticks out like a sore thumb. You need to work with the foundation you have; by mixing eras, styles and artwork you will personalize any home.

One of my favorite things about this project is the silver leaf entry! We were working with very high ceiling and wanting to create a statement upon entry. Because the railing, light fixture and door were not up for negotiation, we decided to customize the walls. Tommy Taylor, a talented Atlanta artist, created a large scale pattern that he painted with adhesive and then silver leafed. It's subtle on the grey wall until it hits the light and shines! The dining room directly off the entry was a great opportunity to spread the traditional and formal elements by selecting furniture with classic curves and antique finishes. The cool color palette and pop of a unique materials (goat-skin end chairs) brought the room back to this century.

In the living room we paired the home-owners modern sofa set with some more eclectic pieces like this hand-painted city landscape and rugged cocktail table. We especially love this table because its a replication of an elephant stand (from the circus), the rubber and leather materials are incredibly durrable - perfect for the two little boys who live here to climb all over! The built-in media storage is simple and modern; a great juxtaposition against the existing cast stone mantle. 

The master suite needed to be black-out ready, so we darkened it and added heavy-weight custom drapery. The clients already started a distinct theme in this room with his previous furniture, it was fun and very easy tying it all together. That included custom bedding for the extra large mega-bed.

KIWI!

The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind of new projects and lots of site visits and weekend gardening, sorry I've been off the raider! The weather these last few days has me in an exceptionally cheerful mood but sadly I believe Atlanta has rain on the way. I thought I would try to keep the sunshine going "virtually" with this Kiwi inspired color board. 

1. Ministry of Deco Blog 2. Cashmere Two-tone Sweater from J. Crew 3. Philippe Starck Parrot Speakers 4. Eames Molded Plastic Side Chair from DWR 5. Kiwi Colada from Cooking Light