happy living Design

happy living design is now Brandywine Studio

You can now find me here at Brandywine Studio dot com.  I'd love if you popped on over to say hi sometime.

local fare : paper source in philly

My favorite stationer has come to Philly.  Paper Source is now open.  Their grand opening is on March 5th.

This past Christmas I stocked up on a couple of things to give to my favorite ladies.

Mini Desk Calendar (they are currently 50% off!)

 

Kitchen Sticky Notes

 

I love this White Pom Pom Scarf

I am looking forward to checking out the store on Walnut Street.

dansko : is it spring yet?

So I can buy and wear these shoes.

from Dansko's new Sanibel Collection, called Volley

They are vegan.

as see in Whole Living

buy here

(Philly people) Did you know?  Dansko's Office and Retail Center is in West Grove, PA.  It was designed by a firm I used to work for.

welcome february (and my 3rd love)

I love the snow.  I really do.  But I am done with winter.  So. Done. 

Thanks Bethany for the cute wallpaper!

And my 3rd love, that would be my Kindle.  I somehow can never read one book at a time and having a Kindle just exacerbates that 'problem', but I love it.  I especially enjoy that I can read samples of books before buying.  At first I was against them.  I just couldn't imagine not holding an actual book in my hand.  But I've been won over.  There are of course some books that I would still want physical copies of but the Kindle is really going to keep the number of books that we need to store at home to a minimum I think.

What I'm reading (an incomlete list):

Rescue by Anita Shreve

Steady Days by Jamie Martin

Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider

 

 

Farrow & Ball's new 2011 colours

Lovely.  See them here.

dad project no. 2

We have one large wall in our 'TV room'.  I didn't want to hang artwork or pictures on it but wanted something to hang there to break up the wall and possibly reflect the light from the windows on the opposite wall.  I looked around at mirrors but I never found anything I liked (or that was low budget). 

I had a co-worker salvage a few window sashes from a barn he was renovating and my dad pulled a few more out of the trash and we came up with this configuration.  Dad replaced the panes of glass in the barn sash (center) with mirror.  The sashes were left in their natural state and just cleaned up and he hung them on the wall with Z-bar hangers.  I seriously would NOT get anything done like this around our house if it wasn't for my dad.

ps.  The pillows are by Kalla.

dare to dream : Grateful: Day 10

I've lived in homes, apartments, dormitories.  Sometimes owned, sometimes rented.  On occasion, beautifully appointed.  Some of the memories are happy, some not.  The details change.

But one thing has not.

Every day of my life, I have shelter.

via daretodream.typepad.com

dad project no. 1

There is seriously nothing better than a retired parent(s).  My dad retired a couple of years ago and in between breaking up old concrete in his basement, caring for Kheri a few hours each week and reading the paper while sipping coffee at Panera Bread he made this wonderful coat rack for us.  On the other side of the wall is our back door (the one we use most frequently) so this area here is our makeshift mudroom.  The coat hooks are old glass doorknobs.

thirsty : Pokal tumblers

We have a these glasses and as they have broken I haven't been replacing them.  They have these giant 'dimples' on the bottom that collect a ridiculous amount of water in the dishwasher and I have been on the hunt for new tumblers (w/o dimples).  I love these from Ikea and how much more affordable can you get than $1.99?  I sense an Ikea outing in my future so that I can inspect the dimples.

ps.  I guess when we registered for our wedding we requested a set of each size glass: juice glass, cooler glass and double old-fashioned.  We rarely use the juice glasses and could live without the DOF's since we have a set of crystal DOF's.  I think the Pokal tumblers would serve all of our needs and we'd only need to store ONE SET of everyday glasses instead of THREE.

fancy packing tape : TapeSwell

I love this decorative packing tape from TapeSwell.  Check out the ideas!

burlap

We covered the base of our Christmas tree in burlap (I purchased a roll of it from Terrain) and now I have a thing for burlap.  It's so utilitarian - like those old grain sacks - yet so pretty used in a new way.  I stumbled upon these burlap buckets.  These would be great all over the house.

from The Nest

I also love this apron.

from Terrain

365 and one of those days

I decided to try a 365 project this year (take one photo each day).  So far so good, except that the last time I uploaded my photos (the first four) I 'lost' them (and all my drives are now different letters???).  So it's more of a 360 project.  #5 is here.

Today's been one of those days that Kheri needs a bit more attention.  She must be fighting off some kind of bug (evidence in her extraordinary poos).  It's exhausting, but I'm grateful for some extra cuddle time.  The big kid (my husband) is sick too but he seems to be taking care of himself ok.  We were playing by our sliding glass doors that go out onto the screened-in-porch.  The tricycle out there (kindly given to us by a friend) made me wistful for spring and a time when Kheri might walk and go for rides in the alley.

happy new year (belated)

I think that was a long enough break.  And I took an extra couple of days this week to handle some things that I was procrastinating about.

We had an extra sweet holiday and New Year.  How about you?

at the Brandywine Conservancy

HGTV Design Star: Now Casting in Philadelphia

What they are looking for:

• Extensive design knowledge
• Personality that pops
• Passion for design
• Lots of energy and enthusiasm
• A  clear and unique design perspective  

Date: Monday, January 10, 2011

Time: 10am - 1pm

Location: Embassy Suites Hotel

1776 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19103

Download DesignStarFlyerPHL.pdf (207.0K)

a visit to terrain

with my assistant.  It was her first time and I think she loves it as much as I do.

They had the sweetest tree trimming decorations.  This was my favorite.

If you go to their homepage, they are offering 20% off and 3 day delivery.