Vintage Moroccan Rag Rug

Speaking of new rug purchases, I've started doing work again on the girls' room lately. About a month or so ago I ran in to West Elm to pick up some things in the Market section (so good) and I saw two or three of these vintage Moroccan rag rugs from across the store.  Moroccan rugs of all varieties are always so expensive so I was thrilled to see these marked way, way down.

I love the texture to these rugs. You can often find them on eBay, but I loved that these had been completely cleaned. Not a speck of dust or a trace of musty odor on these.

I was really taken with this one with the smaller pattern, but the size was too long for my girls room.

So I ended up getting the wider, shorter rug with the bigger pattern, which turns out is perfect for impromptu games of hopscotch.

I layered it on top of the Madeline Weinrib dhurrie I picked up two years ago (that probably is due for a professional cleaning - I spy a crayon mark here!), and I kind of like how the shapes in the two rugs play off each other. 

The off-white color is actually a metallic silver. Love it :)

I feel like this type of rug was just meant to be in a kids room, don't you think? It's soft and casual and charming. Also, when we forget to put Linus in his crate at night, he chooses to sleep here on the rug in front of the girls' bunk beds. What a guy! Protects babies and enjoys a good Moroccan rug.

Two's a Collection

I found this vintage gouache painting a year or two ago at an antique store called Granny's Attic in New Jersey (the same trip I picked up those bergeres that I did an upholstery series on).

I wanted to hang it in or around the girls room, but it just always felt lonely or something (can art look lonely??), so it stayed tucked up on a shelf for a while. Until I found another vintage gouache at the flea market. This one is by a different artist, and obviously the subject matter is completely different (fish!), but I LOVE how they work together. Harmony in the busy-ness of the patterns.

They are living in the hallway right in front of the girls' bathroom/bedroom. I think it's fun for the art to get a little more child-like in the common areas where the kids spend a lot of time.

Evie calls the fish painting her "Quardium" (aquarium). Sad and cute :)

   
Thanks again for your vote in the Homies!

Roll On Wallpaper

My friend Grace from A Storied Style (who posted the cutest room reveal today), tweeted me a link to this company recently.

I think I got a PR email from them or something once and was intrigued with the idea. Do any of you have any experience with patterned paint rollers? I wonder how hard it is to line up the patterns perfectly and to get the paint on the wall in a consistent layer? I suspect you'd have to get okay with the idea of there being a lot of variation in the color shades. Could look cool though?

I'd be tempted to try something like this neon pink in a kid's room, or a closet or the backs of a bookshelf. A stencil would work just as well, though I wonder if the roller application would be much faster?

domino

Happy weekend, friends! Let's make it a great one! xx

Gems at Urban Outfitters

In the past I've not always been an easy style fit for most of the home offerings at Urban Outfitters, so I don't check out their website regularly. But I popped over last week and ended up buying a bunch of things. (A lot of it was on sale, too. Bonus!). I can't believe all the cool lighting they have right now. Floor lamps galore.

Ikat door mat  //  Brass floor lamp  //  Mint hanging shelf  //  Tiered brass chandelier  //  Faceted terrarium  //  Tripod coat rack  //  Constellation globe

The robot bank below is really cute in person and the girls love it (are your kids obsessed with piggy banks like mine are?).  I'm also so excited about those cute brass sconces. I bought a pair for Heather's room redo - they were only $29! Total steal.

Sequin pillow  //  Italian style floor lamp  //  NYC poster  //  Telephone  //  Brass wall sconce  //  Knob door hanger  //  Robot piggy bank

Framing Baby and Vintage Clothing

Not to get all TMI on you all, but we're in the thick of some big family planning decisions around here. I would love to have more babies I think, but we're trying to be thoughtful about the timing and about what makes the most sense for us and for our future.

Me Oh My

Before we moved this summer, I donated, gifted and tossed basically all of our baby clothes. Truthfully, it was a little heart-breaking. I'm the kind of person that can remember what I was wearing at every single important (and semi-important) event in my life. Isn't that weird? There's a similar memory attachment to my kids clothes too.

Both images above from Eddie Ross

But, after three girls in a row, most of the clothes had been passed down once or twice (poor Evie!) and they were just done. It made sense to not waste precious storage space any more. I did keep a couple of really special pieces - blessing dresses and some of the really teeny tiny clothes from the newborn days. And I love to have one or two of those items framed - maybe in the hallway to the girls bathroom?

SCW Interiors

I also love all the vintage bathing suit ideas that have been floating around for the past couple years. Shoes, purses, wallets, jewelry, glasses - all of these would look great for those heirlooms you'd like to be able to enjoy, but that need protecting (like my grandmother's buttons).

KD Hamptons

Jeffrey Bilhuber design

Camila from Effortless Style recently framed her son's going home outfit in a standard acrylic frame from the craft store. It was a really cute and easy DIY that I might just have to copy! Check it out here.

Room Tour: Lauren Leonard Interiors

Lauren emailed to share photos of her daughter Ellie's room. I hope it's not too ridiculous for me to be jealous of a six year-old's bedroom, because I totally am. I would swipe that gold + KWID chair from her so fast! :)

Lauren said the John Robshaw fabric on the bed was her starting point but was also her budget-buster (SO worth it I say!), so she had to get creative with the other elements in the room, like framing prints from a $6 calendar and painting the pattern on a simple IKEA rug (here's a similar project).

For all the details on this lovely bedroom, check out Lauren's post.

Thanks for sharing, Lauren! If you'd like to share a space or project with LGN readers, feel free to submit here.

Stocking Stuffers for Kids

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When I was growing up in Arizona, we got an orange at the bottom of our Christmas stocking every year. There are lots of great traditional stories about giving and receiving fruit for Christmas and I love the simple, sweet sentiment behind it. Last year, I was fed up of having candy in the house (I was still trying to get rid of the Halloween candy stash), so the only treats I put in the girls' stockings were nuts and an orange. I thought I was being sneaking and figured they were still too young to know what they were missing. Not so! "MOM. Santa forgot to put candy in our stockings!" and "Why did he put Fuh-RUIT in there?" Busted.

This year, I'll put a just a little bit of candy in the stockings, but I think I'll keep the oranges and nuts in too. We're not doing a ton of big presents this year (feels like lots of people are moving toward this model - are you?), just a handful of carefully chosen gifts and some fun stocking items. Here are some kid items that I'm thinking about giving or that we already have and love.

1. Oranges remind me of home. :) Also, I remember hearing this story when I was young.

2. We are in desperate need of new water bottles this year. These are BPA-free.

3. I am normally a fan of boar-bristle hair brushes - but they hurt my kids' heads. A stylist here recommended these super-cheap brushes to me for my girls and for even brushing my own hair out in the shower (it's actually called a Wet Brush). I am a super-loyal fan now - they're amazing.

4. My kids ask for frozen treats a lot. We're shooting to make more low-sugar smoothie pops this year. I was with my stylish friend Jessie at a work thing last night and she mentioned that putting vitamin-packed Chia seeds in smoothies helps to thicken them up a little? Good to know!

5. Christmas and the Fourth of July are usually when we set dentist appointments and buy new toothbrushes (we try to replace those every quarter though). These are my favorite. The bristles are soft and the brush itself lights up for about two minutes so my kids know how long to be brushing.

6. To encourage healthier lunches at school, we're going to pick up a couple of these bento lunch boxes. There is a cute frog too, but I love the panda.

7. Now that Evie is getting a little older, I think it's about time we added Pick Up Sticks to our game cabinet. I loved Pick Up Sticks when I was Gracie's age.

8. Plan Toys are my favorite - really beautiful, high-quality wooden toys. I'd love to give Evie this pretty set of Memory.

9. Remember this Potholder weaving kit?! I totally did this as a kid!

10. We have this Origami book and my girls love it. In fact, it's time to buy some more paper.

11. Another favorite from my childhood (don't worry, POGS did not make the list :) - string games! I loved Jacob's ladder the best.

12. These headphones are parent and kid life-savers on flights and long car rides. They have a soft padding around the ear, and they seem to be comfortable for little ones. And they're pretty darn cute too.
13. Bubbles that are guarenteed to not drip or spill or make a mess are my kind of bubbles!
14. We've been reading the Boxcar Children books at night (we're starting book five this week), and Grace and Claire are as in love with the story as I was. I used to have dreams about finding perfect little pink teacups and dishes in the dump with Jessie and Violet. Guess I liked vintage china and bargain finds even back then. :)
15. This series of simple mechanical machine toys from Kikkerland is all the rage at parks in Brooklyn. They're super cool, and cool-looking too. Shelf-friendly toys, for sure.
16. Evelyn needs a camera of her own I think so she can photograph my projects with me.
17. This balloon-making kit might be more for me than my kids. I've always wanted to have this talent in my arsenal. You never know when a situation calls for a balloon animal!
18. How cool is this family of wooden peg dolls? The dolls come to you completely blank and you customize them to match your family. So fun if you're giving your child a dollhouse this year.

What are you giving the littles in your life for the holidays this year?

Chalkboard Kids Table

We've had a framed chalkboard in the girls' room for years (I showed the project here). They loved it a lot, but there wasn't really a good place for the frame in the new room at the brownstone, so we figured out a new way to have a chalkboard in the room.

Here's what the board and table (which I picked up at Homegoods a long time ago) used to look like in the loft. The table looked okay from the side but top was pretty trashed from years of arts and crafts. It was time for a makeover for sure. Plus, I thought the wood table on wood floor look would not be so cute.

I cleaned and hand-sanded the table down to smooth out the worst of the surface bumps.

Then I rolled out about three or four coats of chalkboard paint. The nice thing about this paint is it dries very fast - which makes it super easy to work with.

I paired the table with chairs found here and here. We keep the chalk sticks in a neon pink acrylic box I picked up at the flea market. I bought the rug at the Madeline Weinrib sample sale in the ABC clearance basement (I think they just had another sale, actually and I'm sad I missed it! Might be worth a call to see if they have any left-overs...)

We've been using the chalkboard table for a few weeks and it's actually working better than I expected even. I think part of that reason is my older girls are able to wipe it down themselves if they want a chalk-free surface. I was also a little concerned that chalk dust would get everywhere, but I haven't noticed any. Success!

PS There's another chalkboard project in my future. So, so excited!

Art for the Girls' Room

Thanks to Art.com for sponsoring this post series. In the next few days, there will be a $500 give away on the Art.com Pinterest page. Follow them here, where all the details will be announced!

When I was shopping for art for the room my girls share here at the brownstone, I knew I wanted something feminine, but modern. And I wanted it BIG! Something to work with this vintage french poster from their last room.

Art.com has a ton of Warhol prints, several from his Flower series. I thought this color way would be perfect on the pale lilac walls. And the black background helps keep things from going too sweet.

Then I used their "View In Room" program to see the actual scale of this huge print.

I uploaded a couple photos of different walls in the room, which ended up being really helpful, because it looked horrible in the first place I had in mind. I loved how it looked next to the windows where I planned to put the play table.

The other cool part of the View In Room program is you can do multiple prints on one wall (in your saved gallery, use their room photos, or upload your own like I did). It's a SUPER easy way to map out a gallery wall! The hardest part is figuring out your favorite prints - there are so many good ones to choose from. You can see my saved galleries here, here and here. (And I just noticed they are having a 20% off sale this weekend! Awesome - I've been saving a special print in my cart.)

Here's the Warhol print hanging in the girls' room. It feels so bright and happy in there! They love it.

PS The frame truly looks like something I would have paid $500 for here in Manhattan. Want to know what it cost to frame this 40x40" piece? Just $150 - a complete steal for something this large. You can tell the work was done by craftsmen (I sort of choke up in their videos! This one is awesome too. Man, art is so cool.)