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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Rooms with a view.

Do you know what makes me truly happy in life?

Chocolate.  Obviously!

But after that?  Home decor.  Hands-down.

My mother earned her degree in interior design, and not too long ago, I wrote a letter to Joel Mozersky asking if I could be his intern.  In fact, I almost posted it on this blog.  Then I figured maybe not.

Anyway, now that Ross and I are settling into the new house, I go back and forth between viewing our rooms as:

A) Haphazardly arranged with previous owners' paint choices on the wall and a mystifying lack of shelving (true)

B) A clean slate, ready for us to make our mark! (potentially true)

I'm focusing on B.  Fortunately, our new house is what I like to refer to as "petite" so decorating shouldn't be a HUGE challenge.  Right? 

At our last house, Ross and I lived with a roommate named Caleb, who we miss very much.  We also lived with Caleb's grandmother's paintings, quilt, grandfather clock, "Fun Machine" (a pre-programmed electronic organ, fun!), and globe of the world.  Somehow, I like to think it all came together: Caleb's (grandmother's) style and mine.  Here is a story the Statesman wrote about it.


This is me, "working from home."  For which I typically wear sweat pants and a tank top a tailored dress, tights, and special yellow heels.  Oh absolutely.

Anyway, I guess you could call our home decor style Granny Chic.  I like vintage.  And Caleb's grandmother's stuff was about as vintage as you could get.  But now in our new place, what do we want to do? 

I'm putting together an "inspiration board" of sorts to help me figure it out.  PEOPLE.  Have you been to Pinterest yet?  I discovered it via my design hero, i.e. the girl who made over this blog, Kelly Ann Mount of The Flowerchild Dwelling.  Everything you see here comes from Pinterest.



This kitchen is ever-so-slightly "we just retired in Boca Raton!"  But, I adore the clever pops of color.



Yes.



I enjoy shabby chic when it's less overtly estrogen-y.  And has a weirdly cool edge, like this one.  Doesn't the 19th century portrait make it?



Totally practical.


Whee!  These prints are fantastic.  Our house currently has stained concrete floors (that kind of look like wood) as well as a green couch, so maybe this could happen?  Yes? 

If I get really brave, I'll do a before / after photo shoot of the house.  The "before" will probably include a photo of Claudia, our cat.  With the move, she was just turning into a lunatic, but I'm happy to say we've now sedated her with copious amounts of catnip.  This is what she looks like when she's on it.

Are you insane for home decor, too?  Where do you go for decor inspiration?


UPDATE: My friend Lani just shared this poster with me, AND I LOVE IT.  Little deer, you have a future home at Chez Moseley-Carnes!



UPDATE #2: Poor Blogger! They went through hard times this week and lost some data. Which is being restored this weekend.  If you left a comment and don't see it on this post, it should be coming back soon.  I mean we were having such a fun time and all down there in the comments section.

16 comments:

Stephanie said...

As you read on my blog, I'm tackling decorating a blah builder beige home. We must be kindred spirits because I have some of those same images you chose bookmarked. I haven't used Pinterest but think I might start. I have been dragging images into a folder on my desktop and I have over 260 beauties in there now. I follow these blogs religiously: House of Turquoise, Vintage Revivals, DecorChick!, 6th Street Design School, Centsational Girl, Little Green Notebook, Isabella & Max Rooms, Copy Cat Chic, and of course Apartment Therapy and Design*Sponge. Tons of inspiration in House Beautiful magazine also.

Unknown said...

I can't remember if we discussed my obsession with Pinterest or not...I'm with ya. I'm pinning every day all day. Absolutely love it!

I *heart* Claudia. Your descriptions of her make me smile.

Nicole Mlakar said...

Tolly! I want to come take pictures of you, your place, your Ross and your Claudia when you get everything settled. Let's do it! What's your Pinterest account name? I'm http://pinterest.com/nicolemlakar/

Lacy said...

Here's a few places I go for home decor inspiration:

The Lettered Cottage (http://theletteredcottage.net/)
Curbly (http://curbly.com/)
Ohdeedoh (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/)

And I get the Pottery Barn catalog for room ideas b/c it's FREE. Have fun making over your sweet, petite home!

Cathy Benavides said...

When you finish with your house, can you pleas do mine? I don't know the first thing about decorating. We are awash in neutrals and have about 8 Buddhas. PLEASE HELP!!!

Unknown said...

Love the upside down tea cups and the mosaic hallway!

Dad said...

My first house was like .... nothing. I didn't even want to decorate it or paint it or anything. It was so plain. But I had a few friends who saw my first house as a canvas. Sooooo.....
My one bathroom morphed into the inside of a Finnish hot spa. Visually. Not temperature-wise. Cedar shake walls dont'cha know.
And my carpenter friend who hails from Maine turned the entry way from the living room to the dining room into an arch of triumph (apologies to the Arc du Triomphe) created a masterpiece.
Voila! The ugly duckling turns into the majestic swan!
Get real. It was still kind of plain, but for a house, and a first attempt at decorating one it was pretty good.

bsimms8907 said...

I have waisted so much time on pinterest now! Thanks a lot Tolly... geeze. :)

Berg said...

Tolly, these are the most beautiful interior pics! I just want to recreate all of them... especially the stained glass archways!

Laura

Olivia Grace said...

What great inspiration! I love the beautiful porch!

amy said...

Love the interiors you've posted here! I nearly went into interior design, and i happen to love it plus we're on overload with the new house stuff as well... suffice it to say that I can relate. Can't wait to see what you guys put together in your new home.
P.S. Are those yellow heels Seychelles? Because I might own the very same ones.

TheLovelyHunter said...

i love every single space! i am addicted to rearranging my apt. and i am constantly on the lookout for new additions for decoration. glad we share this in common:)

sofia

Austin Eavesdropper said...

Hi you guys!!

Y'ALL. I finally had the time / $ to do some interior decorating this weekend -- or rather, embark on the process. Amy, you are going to have so much fun when you get there yourself with the new house ... allow yourself the first week / few weeks to just unpack and get settled in, though. Totally normal.

Olivia Grace, I AM SO IN LOVE WITH THAT PORCH! I want it for my very own! Ditto on the upside-down teacup lights, Jane Ko. Aren't they marvelous. Somewhere, an Anthropologie window designer is reading this comments section, vowing to themselves to recreate those teacup lights.

BSimms and Berg -- Pinterest is the best!! Could seriously get lost in there for hours. It is my new favorite discovery, especially for design inspiration.

Daddy, I NEVER KNEW THIS! Who were these gifted friends of yours, that painted beautiful canvases all over your walls? I had an idea to paint a deer canvas on one of our walls, but that might be a little ambitious. The only portrait I can actually paint is that of a circle. Which I guess isn't a portrait really. More of a ... shape.

Anonymous said...

Haha, I was just about to say there's no way you wear that to work in your home. Also, working in your bedroom is so not feng shui. (I write that as I type this from my desk in my bedroom.)

Melissa said...

All of these photos make me want to weep. I love home decor.

Mai said...

I love all these looks. I frequent apartment therapy, designsponge, decor8 allllll the time for inspiration. seeing before and afters really inspire me! i loove all the looks you've put together, so fab. If anyone can do it you can! A lot of my pieces are from west elm, but I mix and match with Ikea, anthropologie. My sectional is the most expensive thing in my place, it's a custom fuchsia sofa that i love so much.