You Make Me Feel Like a Grown-up

Rob and I recently bought our first piece of adult furniture. I was so excited that I just stared at it for a couple days. Then I progressed to taking a lot of pictures of it -- a reaction more appropriate to the birth of one's child.

The baby

It really tied the room together

White vinyl venetian blinds have no place outside of a heroin den, but they've been in our bedroom for seven months.

I prefer that my windows and the light that was intended to come through them are left unviolated even if it creates some awkward moments with the old guy next door who's always outside smoking on his porch. But I can deal with the knowledge that my neighbors see me naked on a regular basis -- it's the price I'm willing to pay for maximum natural light.

In the past, the first thing I did in a new apartment was to get rid of the dreaded mini blinds, but Rob values privacy more than I do and also needs a dark room to hibernate, so I've had to compromise a bit. I'd gotten away with hiding the blinds in almost every room but the bedroom, where they continued to assault the finer senses.

Well, we found these awesome curtains last weekend, so the problem is solved. And they really do tie the room together.

Ann Sacks' latest lovelies

Man, am I ever loving tiempo, the new hand-painted terra cotta at Ann Sacks.

gitanos 3 in robin's egg, ochre, off white and antique green

moroccan field in banana

la spezia 2 in off white and royal blue

gitanos 5 in paprika, vanilla and honey

gitanos 7 in off white and dark stain

Life as I know it right now

The Royal Order is in the midst of refreshing CB2.com, which currently needs a little tender love and care. Consequently, I've been knee-deep in the Crate&Barrel and CB2 product catalogs for the past couple weeks and I'm starting to know product names and prices by heart (which came in pretty handy when having to register last weekend).

CB2 has a lot of gems. Here are some of my favorites right now:

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overnight table lamp

The NPR map

halogen credenza

grid pillow

alchemy stool

Like Christmas, but even more spoilier

Rob and I went to Crate&Barrel's registry event on Sunday. There were many reasons why this was cool. To name a few: the mini quiches on the buffet table, mimosas, the product demos (wow, this $120 knife really is more awesome than this $60 one... we'll scan it), another mimosa, let's scan this $2300 hutch...

So there's a lot of editing to do, but we did manage to find a lot of practical items that we really need and are excited about. I've never cared before, but I'll admit that I'm slightly excited to have matching dishes and flatware. This is what spending three hours in Crate&Barrel will do to you:

Stockton placesettings

Acacia platter

Slate cheese board

Shun chef's knife

Bialleti cappuccino maker

Trendy birds

Our family Christmas tree growing up was pretty motley. My parents have an old TV box full of mismatching ornaments, which is a lot considering this box originated from the era when TVs were still designed as if it were a piece of heirloom furniture. Half of these ornaments were broken, but all were required to hang on the tree. This rule even applied to the clay or melted wax ornaments we would make in school every year.

When we were younger, my brother and I would seek out all of the gaudiest family ornaments and place them at the front of the Christmas tree to irritate the mama bear. There was a lot of competition for this mantle of honor, but we would usually pass over my respectable collection of unicorn ornaments in favor of the birds. All of these birds were crafted from elaborate plumes, laboriously sought after by our dog, and needed several branches for support apiece.

Over the years, my mom has started gifting us bird ornaments in retaliation. I have a healthy collection that's growth rate has escalated ever since they've become a commodity in the Target Holiday department.

So why are birds so trendy? I have no idea. They're on every piece of stationary I see now.

Here's the really sick part: now I think birds are cool. And I think this bird mobile is the coolest.

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via Spool Sewing

A makeover story (Part II)

OK, so the first pillow I made for the bench was ugly -- really, really ugly. I'm not going to show it, but it was the wrong size and the fabric wasn't doing much for me.

But, I found much cooler fabric and I'm more excited about attempt numero dos. It's from Art Gallery Fabrics, which is decidedly more awesome than the deep discount bin at JoAnn Fabrics.

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A makeover story (Before)

I continue my enterprise of craftiness with the bench by our front door. At the moment, it serves as a storage place for a basket of mittens and a sock monkey; so while very necessary, it's safe to say that this area isn't living up to its full potential.

To help spruce it up, I'm constructing a pillow for the top to make it more of a bench that someone might use instead of throw miscellaneous decor (gourds?). This will hopefully come in handy when it comes time to pull out the Sorels for snow season.

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The Offender

The Pattern (Amy Butler's Stiches)

The Material (cotton-linen blend)

Ready to baste to the muslin

DIY + a trained electrician

I have only a rough idea of what we're going to do for our reception centerpieces, but this much is known: it will involve putting some untamed-looking floral arrangement into vintage blue mason jars. My mom and aunt have hunted down about 30 of these things, which leads me to wonder what I'm going to do with them afterward. Here's a really awesome idea via Design Sponge:

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This takes care of 4 out of 30...

If I were a homeowner

Here's some pretty sweet vintage wallpaper from Second Hand Rose. They have paper dating back to the 1860s, which is fascinating to see. Most of what I find interesting would only be tolerated in small chucks of wall space:









It's good form to give credit to the blog on which one has found something... but I can't remember where. Sorry :)

Things I can't afford

This mat is constructed out of recycled leather belts by Ting, a small company invested in making fashion and home goods from salvaged materials like belts, ties, seat belts. Pretty cool, but also pretty expensive.

Trivial Pursuit

Some pretty quilts I found on Toast:

Mougin's Quilt

Sanganer Quilt

Llandeilo Blanket

Crocheted Throw

Their product shots are gorgeous. It makes me think bathing outside in a rusty washbasin and dining on field stone is charming and a lifestyle I should strive to obtain. Well done.

Canadians need upmarket housewares at attainable prices, too

The Royal Order has been working with Crate & Barrel on crateandbarrel.ca to generate interest in careers at the soon-to-arrive Toronto and Calgary stores. The site has just launched and looks awesome. But I wasn't on the project, so I sadly can't take any credit.

Ann Sacks

The Royal Order does a lot of work for The Kohler Company and all their brands: McGuire, Ann Sacks, Kallista, etc. There was a reception for K/BIS (Kitchen and Bath Industry Show) at the Merchandise Mart last night. This is when they debut a lot of their new products. Busy, busy time of year for us.

I was blown away by some of Ann Sacks' new tile. Sadly, my favorite mesquite wood tile is not up online yet. But, here are Paccha concrete flooring and Iznik ceramic art tile.

Paccha concrete flooring

Perennial Mosaic

Iznik ceramic art tile