happy living Design

Amy Ruppel at Schoolhouse Electric

I'd love to have this for Kheri's room.

Amy Ruppel light fixture for Schoolhouse Electric

purging and giveaway

My books needed some room to breath so I made a large pile to be donated.  But I have several of Martha Stewart's decorating books (the thinner paperbacks) that might be of good use to one of you 'out there'.  So I am giving away a lot of four books, one magazine and a few mini good things magazines.

They are all in very good condition, some like new.  Leave a comment below by December 20th at 12 noon and I'll pick one random person to get the whole lot.  I'll try to send them out before Christmas but they probably won't arrive until after depending on where you live.

Jennifer Squires Productions

Support independent artists or crafters this season.

Jennifer Squires is selling beautiful framable holiday cards.

See here for the holiday shipping guideline.

terrain: Wicker Tree Skirt

via shopterrain.com

I just love this.

keep calm : the Thanksgiving edition

so cute.

Free printables from Tatertots and Jello via Ohdeedoh

The Green Garmento

We used to frequent the drycleaners quite a bit especially for the boy's work shirts.  Now that I am not working full-time outside of the home and the boy has since switched to wash-and-wear suit shirts we make less trips to the cleaners and environmentally I think it's proabably best.  I still have my work and wool pants dry cleaned occasionaly and I use Dryel in between to freshen them up.  And there are just some things the drycleaners do much better than I do such as pressing (boy do they get those pant creases sharp!) and hemming.  And we always like to say hello to our friendly drycleaning lady.

I had the opportunity to try out The Green Garmento 4-in-1 reuseable garment bag for our last trip to the drycleaners.

We hung it on the back of our bedroom door and filled it up as items needed to be cleaned.  It has a pretty heavy duty hook on the back. 

Once we were ready to drop the clothes off the carrying strap came in handy as I had the bag across my shoulder and carried Kheri at the same time to and from the car.  It has a drawstring on the open end to keep all the clothes inside.

And when I picked up my clothes, the drycleaner returned them to me in the bag.  No plastic!

There's even a little pouch in the front for the slip or receipt.

The Green Garmento retails for $9.99 and if you make multiple trips to the drycleaners each year it would really cut down on the amount of plastic going into a landfill (like those reuseable shopping bags do for your grocery store visits!).  And I liked having an out of the way place to put the drycleaning as it was piling up.  Check with your local cleaners to see if they'd be willing to use them.

Full Disclosure (so I don't get sued):  This item was given to me for free to try out.  I may from time to time review items that I think I or my readers would like.  I won't give a good review to something I don't think deserves it.  That's not helpful to anyone, especially to you guys (the readers).  In general I don't make money from this blog and I don't make money whether or not you buy this item.  Reviews are just a way to show you something new.  Any questions, email me.

not giving up

Lots of starts and stops here.  But still staying in the game.  I'm just spending a lot of time learning how to balance it all.  And loving every minute of it.

Last week (7 months old) watching the front end loader take away our leaves

I just love those stray curls on the top.

I can't live without: Peugeot pepper mill

 

 

This is probably one of the best things I've spent my money on for the kitchen.  I consider it a great investment.  It works as beautifully as it looks.

Peugeot Curry-Lacquer Paris U'Select Pepper Mill

American Modern By Thomas OBrien

I've already looked at this book from cover to cover a half dozen times.  I am about to dive in again.  Thomas O'Brien is brilliant.

American Modern By Thomas O'Brien with Lisa Light; Photographs by Laura Resen

a little design for everyone (in a bag)

A few years back Target did that ad campaign they called 'Design for All" which I loved in concept and I hope in some way I am able to bring that idea to the architecture world (that everyone, not just the rich, should have access to well-designed homes).  The interior design industry I think is bringing it to us in a big way these days.  Yes, you can go hire Bunny Williams for a bazillion dollars per hour (she is that amazing!) or now you can work with a talented designer via phone or email room-by-room for much much much less.  And these designers have all come up with ingenious way to deliver their goods (floor plans, samples, etc.) to your doorstep.

design in a bag is a design service by Rebekah Zaveloff (of HGTV and Chicago's KitchenLab) that "puts professionally coordinated kitchen and bath designs in your hands" for around $100.  It includes cabinet, countertop, tile and paint samples, a shopping list and hand-drawn renderings.

The finish and material options these days for kitchens and baths are endless and overwhelming.  If you don't have time or just don't feel like spending hours going from showroom to showroom, you can pick from dozens of pre-selected palettes either by color (cool, warm or neutral) or collection (modern, classic or vintage).

I am actually considering this one for our kitchen (if we ever get to that project!).  Check out the site.  Find them on Facebook and Twitter too!