I’ve been anti-blog for a while now but decided I would post randomly to see if my 2 readers (thanks mom and Mike) are paying attention. In the time I’ve been away, I’ve celebrated my birth (yes, 29) and made some progress on the ‘ol house.

To summarize: kitchen remodel is done. construction workers, biffy and large dumpster in front of the house are gone. grass under said biffy is slowly growing back after being squished with poo for months (kidding). stuff inside is cleaned up and happening.

first up: kitchen nook banquette. cushions have been made, a few pillows have been purchased and some more pillow friends are on their way to join. I enlisted the help of Jamie Meares (Furbish gangster), and as you can see, Chiang Mai, leaf and flamestitch are getting along very well. I’ll post more once it’s all full and cozy.

lucite bamboos got a face lift with some pads

Proof of Jamie’s gangster abilities: the vintage kilim rug she found coordinates perfectly with it’s Chiang Mai pillow buddies. Now let’s just hope Mike and I don’t make any major spills

I turned 29. drinks were necessary. My mama, my bro, my sister-in-law and my sweet, little niece were all in town to celebrate. I prepped the bar and of course left the pretty decanter my mom got me empty for the shot. doh. oh well, you get the idea. I got the snakeskin tray and bowl from Furbish. The antique, ship captain’s chest turned bar was given to us by my Aunt.

Another shot of the bar with a vintage bowl from Society Social that I filled with limes along with a brass ‘dillo from Furbish. He guards the drinks and keeps things in order. The brass skull candle snuffer is a gift from my sister-in-law.

My sweet, 91 year old grandma birthday-gifted me this beauty from City Market on Etsy. I promptly stuffed it with puffy flowers.

Next up on the ‘ol house docket: convincing Mike to assemble a console for the TV room. dun dun dunnnn…

I’ve been gone so long from blogging that I forgot my log in and password. spank! spank! bad.

A lot has gone on in the last few months: moving the week before Christmas, frantically unpacking and repacking to head to Dallas for Christmas, unpacking and trying to tidy up before my mama came for New Years, figuring out that old toilets clog like whoa, more unpacking, busy projects at Target, kitchen remodel (about to begin construction), sitting on the floor under sleeping bags to watch the tube since we have no furniture yet (ghetto), eating a lot of frozen burritos since all we have is a mini fridge and a microwave, spending no cheese on clothes since house shit costs too much, blah blah blah, I’ll stop boring you and making lame excuses. bottom line: I’ve been a busy bee.

So what’s this random mood board you say? Why, it’s my plan for our entryway.

WhiIe we’re bracing ourselves for the kitchen construction bids, I thought I’d start decorating the entryway since it’s the first place you see when you walk in and it sets the tone for what’s next. Long story short, Mike has agreed to let me put in a cheetah carpet runner on our stairs. At first he thought I was nuts but now he has accepted it and it’s goin’ in. This was my inspiration pic—Real Simple’s editor in chief Kristin van Ogtrop. hot runner, right?

A runner wasn’t all we needed. We had to get rid of the sad beige wall colors. We decided to have the entire entryway painted in Benjamin Moore’s Wickham Gray. It’s a lovely, fresh, happy gray that’s subtle, light and has a touch of blue in it.

Next up: replacing the light fixture that looks like it’s from a bad 70s salon. Since we’re going a little wild with the cheetah, I wanted to keep the fixture classic and period appropriate for the 1926 house. This basil flush mount has been in my dreams for a while so I think we’re gonna go for it. Our ceilings are low so it’ll make a statement without knocking anyone out.

And what guest wouldn’t wanna check out their backside in that blue, lacquered pagoda mirror? That’s going up to the right of the cheetah stairs.

We had to find a rug to keep our toesies warm. I knew I wanted something funky classic to go with the cheetah and the pagoda mirror. I was searching for a colorful tribal/turkish/oriental something and knew I could trust in the pattern mixing genius, Jamie Meares, to help me. I sent her a photo of cheetah and pagoda, she sent me a photo of this baby. I was smitten. sold! It’ll be perfect next to its cheetah runner friend.

Here’s a picture of me taking a picture of the sample cheetah and the pagoda.

I’ll post a pic of the completed entryway once it’s all pretty. xo

P.S. If you wanna see all the other stuff I heart but don’t have time to photoshop into mood boards, follow me on Pinterest!

Post By: Quinn Risdall

It’s been a busy couple of months. We finally sold our condo and bought a house! I couldn’t be happier. I’m so sick of having to prop, style and vacuum myself out the door everyday just so a random can walk through and take a brochure. Now we’re anxiously waiting to close so we can take our little brown boxes and move ‘em on into the new abode. Despite the stressy moments, we’ve had fun talking about all the grand plans we have for renovating and decorating. I think Mike is ready to slap me silly because I will admit, I’ve been interneting like mad lately looking for fun things for the house. I swear I spent 7 hours on the ‘puter the other day oogling at pretty things.

Speaking of pretty things: there are two shops in particular that win my heart and keep me glued to the interwebs. Chic Shop LA and Furbish Studio.

Chic Shop LA is owned by the lovely Hillary Thomas, an interior designer based in Santa Monica. She effortlessly mixes high end with vintage resulting in an eclectic mix that’s unique and thoughtful. Some of my favorite things from Chic Shop: the stone finials—the perfect accessory to pump up your lamp’s style. the foo dogs—put them on a shelf with books or wherever. They’re sure to stir up conversation. the chinese dragon door knocker: I just purchased this for our new home. I can’t wait to hang it on our door and knock knock away.

Furbish Studio is another must see shop. It’s owned by the colorful and cool designer, Jamie Meares (another pretty blonde). I swear she’s the goddess of pattern and color. I love the way she glams up a room and mixes patterns and colors you’d never think to put together. Her interior design business and shop is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Jamie makes a room look so happy, hip and chic. Her ability to mix traditional with modern. old with new, high with low amazes me. If you haven’t checked out her blog: DO IT! Some of my favorite things from Furbish Studio: the snakeskin trays My sister-in-law, Sarah has one of these babies and believe me, it’s great. Put one on your Santa list. They’re affordable and cool. the custom dog beds: as soon as I get my Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier pup, Cookie, she’s getting one of these beds. You can mix and match the fabrics and piping and make it your own. the asian-inspired lighting: these are an easy way to add some global flair to a room and they fit in a traditional or modern space.

Now that I’ve talked your ear off, check out more items I heart from both shops (featured above). Then go buy them as Christmas prezzies. Someone deserves a chic bauble.

one Chinese Dragon Door Knocker two & three Get Off My Cloud finial & Orange Crush finial four Palm Beach earrings five My Boyfriend’s Back Initial Pillow six La Florentina Pillow seven Cane Glasses eight Chiang Mai Tray nine Large Turquoise Foo Dogs Post By: Quinn Risdall

spank. spank. SPANK. That’s the sound of me punishing myself for neglecting my blog for nearly 2 weeks—a new record that I’m not proud of. I won’t bore you with too many excuses but I will say that life has been busy (in a good way) with the new job, summer weather, family visits and Mikey’s birthday. So, I’m baaack and happy to be blogging again.

You’re probably wondering who the hell Cortney and Bob are. Well my dearies, these two are gonna have a show on HGTV that you must tune into. The show, called Home By Novogratz, will air July 28th and will follow around Cortney and Bob (Novogratz) of Sixx Design as they decorate and redesign residential spaces. ummm…yes, please. I saw the promo for the show and decided to look them up and check out their work. I was led to these fab pictures of their home (taken from mommyish) and I knew what my next blog would be about. So, here you have it. A fabulous, cool, stylish couple with a great career and great taste…and the twist: they’re parents of 7! kids. No, that’s not a typo—SEVEN kiddies running around that gorgeous home. insane and amazing. This gives me hope that parents can in fact be hot and maintain a sense of style.

I’ve picked out a few of my favorites from their home. I love the famous brands light box installation by Heidi Cody that spells out “family” and I’m obsessed with the color and texture of their wood floors. I might have to copy them.

P.S. They also have a nifty book called Downtown Chic that I’m gonna order. A book to add to the collection with helpful hints on tackling renovations and mixing styles. get it!

I’m obsessed with the clean and simple design of this lovely Minneapolis home from Hive Modular. Who knew a modular home could be so neato? It’s like playing with sophisticated legos. I want one.

I wish I had the balls to decorate with this much color and pattern. I’m in love with the way Jamie Meares effortlessly combines so many textures, colors and patterns to create a cozy, happy room. Meares is an interior designer and owner of Furbish Studio in Raleigh, North Carolina.

There’s nothing worse than scrubbing a toilet or a tub, especially when the products you’re using are ugly and make you feel like you lost some brain cells.

J.R. Watkins is just the opposite of those nasty, brightly colored, chemical cleaners. Watkins cleaning products are all natural, beautifully designed and fun to use. I never thought I would describe toilets as fun but at least you can carry around a hot little accessory like one of these bottles while doing the dirty work.

J.R. Watkins is based in Winona, MN (yay for the ‘sota!) and has been doing it natural since 1868. I found these at Target so hopefully it’ll be easy for you to get your hands on. I added a few other nifty cleaning tools to this post for fun!

Check out Black Retail (another great MPLS company) the design geniuses behind this pretty packaging and more.

happy scrubbing. xoxo

(The stuff: ONE: Lemon Toilet Bowl Cleanser, TWO: Laundry Detergent, THREE: Fog Linen Towel, FOUR (L): Lavender Window Cleaner, FOUR (R): Orange Citrus Liquid Soap, FIVE: Table Brush and Dustpan)