Doors with Real Wild Color

Posted on June 16, 2013 by | Leave a comment

The doors to our house are painted Farrow & Ball Mouse’s Back. Yup, you read that right, Mouse’s Back:

Farrow-and-Ball-Mouse's-Back-Paint

It’s a beautiful sophisticated color. It’s also safe. It doesn’t stick its neck out and scream “HEY! Come here! Look at me! You come up here NOW! You must see what’s here!” Veins strainin’, eyes buggin’, a real wild color.

These wild screamin’ doors will not be overlooked, and that’s what I like about them even if I couldn’t put these colors on my house …

From flickr user biphop, a door in Lyon, France:

Door-in-Lyon-France-by-flickr-biphop

Now we’re off to Warsaw, Poland where you can find this door captured by Sebastian Partyka:

Warsaw-Poland-Doors-by-Sebastian-Partyka

Anyone know the original source of this gate? I was unable to track it down, and whoever found this deserves a mention:

Blue-Gate

Oh the mix of colors here. Captured gloriously in Morocco by L F Ramos-Reyes:

Moroccan-Door-by-L-F-Ramos-Reyes

Wow, I just scrolled through his flickr. World travels, nearly all continents, photos so good they make your heart beat faster. Check it out!

From Oman, found at Gus Men along with a story of wandering around Oman’s doors:

Oman-Doors

This is a place of joy! Does anyone know the original source?

Fearless-Color

This is at Neal’s Yard Deli in Covent Garden, London. So you see, wild color is everywhere (except on my front doors). By Andrea Kennard:

Colorful Funky Door by Andrea Kennard

All these doors make me want to do this to our Mouse’s Back:

Take-That-Mouse's-Back

There, take that!

If someone gave you a brush, and a pail of wild paint, and offered you a dare, what would you do?

You can find many more exotic doors on my Doors Pinterest Board. Enjoy!

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Posted in Color

Cuff Me

Posted on June 15, 2013 by | Leave a comment

I’ve been wearing more bold jewelry lately. It feels like you get more style bang for the buck. How can you miss noticing really bold baubles? Cuffs really draw my eye. Here’s a few attention-getting ones …

You can get a vintage version of this cuff from India or Yemen. Or I guess you can get a new one from Lucky Brand:

Lucky-Brand-Tribal-Cuff

Love that hinge and pin closure!

A 19th century silver wedding cuff from Rajasthan at Rabari in the UK:

Silver Rajasthani Wedding Cuff via Rabari

Antique cuffs from Uzbekistan at Maison Halter Ethnics:

Antique-Cuffs-from-Uzbekistan-at-Maison-Halter-Ethnics

A 1960s Navajo turquoise cuff, now sold, was at 1st dibs:

1960s-Navajo-Turquoise-Cuff-2st-dibs

You don’t have to go antique or high end to find cool choices. This was from Piperlime. Piperlime isn’t there anymore, so this cuff isn’t there anymore, but you can find similar wide stretch bracelets:

Stretch-Cuff

I have a set of gold stretch cuffs very similar to the above one. I like to wear them with a black and gold kimono jacket (called haori) for dressy events and people always comment about the combination.

To wrap this up, I like this ancient looking style from Evocatuer, India-inspired elephant cuff:

Evocatuer-Voyages-Elephant-Cuff

I think all of these would look great with black clothes I like to wear.

This could go on and on. Really, I could post so many cuffs you could keep scrolling down for five miles. But this is a taste, like an appetizer. Just a few ideas to get you thinking about going bigger and bolder!

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Posted in Jewelry

Perfectly Placed and Patina’d Garden Pots

Posted on June 14, 2013 by | 1 Comment

In Chicago the summer weather season is shorter than so many other places in the world. So at this time I spend many hours outdoors in our gardens. I love unusual pots and vessels for plants. One of our neighbors has an enormous Vietnamese lentil pot tucked by a pond in her gardens, and it’s meaningful because her husband was in the business of importing foods from Southeast Asia.

These pretty pots were at Jayson Home:

Planters-at-Jayson-Home

Jayson Home is in Chicago but so much of their style is MY style, I fear I’ll go bankrupt in there! I once cut through their gardens on the way to FLOR next door. Closest I got to Jayson Home in person. Need to go back and linger longer.

If you want a privacy screen near a patio or deck, this is a nice way to do it. This article says boxwoods are okay for planters, although it is Southern Living and I don’t know the long-term impact of keeping boxwoods in pots in northern climates. These are generous 36″ planters:

Boxwood in Planters via Southern Living

I love the ivy climbing this rustic pot and the Japanese Hakonechloa grass spilling over beneath, from Pam Pennick’s blog Digging:

Garden-Pot-via-Pam-Pennick

This obelisk trellis is a different shape than the usual and goes great with this pot:

Obelisk-and-Square-Pot

Beautiful mix of proportions in this little garden scene. Planters from Italian Terrace in the UK:

Terra-Cotta-via-Italian-Terrace

And this pot with patina from the same source, beautiful:

Patina-Pot-from-Italian-Terrace

If you don’t have a garden, you can still have beautiful pots. Like in the bathroom. Why not? See, like this stunning bathroom scene here via Cyndy Aldred of The Creativity Exchange:

Rustic Pots in Bathroom via Cyndy Aldred

Beautiful, right? Looking back over these, as some women have a “type” with men, I clearly have a “type” with garden pots! And men too, but definitely not crusty and good grief certainly not mossy as I like my pots, but that’s another post for another day …

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Posted in Garden

Culture Blend

Posted on June 12, 2013 by | 4 Comments

I like when people push things, and put things together that are not usually together. Like things from different worlds, different cultures. In ways you might not expect. It’s not a culture clash. It’s a blend of the various cultures of our world.

Like “Montauk Moroccan” as in this image from Currey and Company at High Point Spring 2013:

Montauk Moroccan

Currey and Company has a Pinterest board showing some pieces from their Montauk Moroccan collection, such as these:

Currey-and-Company-Montauk-Moroccan

I discovered, thanks to the AphroChic blog, “Japanese Africa” textiles from WAFRICA. Check out Japanese kimono with African patterns:

WAFRICA-Kimono-with-African-Patterns

WAFRICA-Kimono-with-African-Patterns-2

WAFRICA-Kimono-with-African-Patterns-3

I’ve collected kimono, haori and obi in the past, plus vintage silk and wool kimono fabrics. I’ve never seen anything like these!

I previously posted about Southwest Adobe + Asian style that we saw in Santa Fe at a store called Asian Adobe. Here’s a look from that post:

Asian-Adobe-in-Santa-Fe

I have some Chinese chairs with leopard print suede seats – definitely a blend of things you might not normally put together. Gotta post about those!

But I think this idea of a “culture blend” is more than a collection of things in a room from different places. If you travel and collect souvenirs, and decorate your home with them, you have a collection of things from different places. I do that – in the room where I sit right now, I’m surrounded by objects that remind me of places we’ve been and cultures we’ve learned about. Instead what I’m showing here is a deliberate and consistent blending of elements and objects representing two cultures, maybe three at the most, throughout a room so it becomes a distinctive new style.

As an example, I recently posted about Scandinavian-Indian style - mixing the patterns of India in light Scandinavian-feeling rooms. Here’s a sample from that post, from Maisons du Monde:

Scandinavian-Indian Style via Maisons du Monde

What are some styles that you like that mix cultures? Share some links in the comments and show us!

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Posted in Home Decor