My back is jacked

I feel like such an old lady typing this - but somehow I messed up my back this week and it hurts bad. :( Like, back labor 24 hours a day. Not fun. I have a big deadline on Friday so I'm focusing every bit of my energy on that - I feel bad that I won't be around here much this week. I'm hoping to be back in action soon. All next week, starting Monday, I have a seriously amazing house tour to share with you. (Remember my friend Emily? It's her whole house!) TONS of tips and inspiration!

Speaking of inspiration, here are some images that I keep coming back to lately. The colors!!

Mario Buatta




Arch Digest






Melanie Acevedo

Hoping to be able to post again here this week, but if I can't, don't forget to enter my favorite things give away! I've been reading all the comments and I love seeing your choices!

Kohler Contest - SPONSORED POST

Hi friends! This is a sponsored post written by someone else. Thanks for being supportive of the sponsors that help me keep things running here at LGN, especially the great ones like Kohler! Lots of love. xx

PS This looks like a cool contest! If you win and make it to NYC, I would love to meet up with you!








Classic Meets Modern in a Fun Contest by Kohler

We’re all multi-taskers these days, and when it comes to the look and feel of our homes, it’s always great when our décor can multitask, too. Kohler’s Tresham collection is both classic Americana and eclectically modern, offering handcrafted fixtures that turn the bathroom area into a sensibly stunning area of your home. This mixing of past and present has even inspired Kohler’s Tresham Keepsake Contest on Facebook, which asks fans to share a photo and description of their most treasured heirloom.

Just head over and upload a photo of that beautiful locket from your mom or the gorgeous grandfather clock that adorns your dining room. Then give a brief backstory on your chosen vintage item. A panel of judges will choose one grand prize winner to win a trip for two to New York City, a professional design consultation, and stunning Kohler products. Three first prize winners will score Kohler products as well.

The contest ends on October 31st. Head to Facebook.com/kohler to enter.

Super Awesome Give Away

You guys, I've been blogging here for almost FOUR YEARS! It simultaneously feels much shorter and much, much longer than that. :) Thank you for all the love and support you've shown me. I have the sweetest, most respectful and encouraging readers. I really love you all - you make it easy to want to show up here every weekday.

As a thank you, I'm going to be putting together some give-aways over the next couple of months called Jenny's Favorite Things. Are you excited? You should be. Check it all out here. (comments on this post closed)

HAPPY MONDAY, FRIENDS!! xoxo

How to Destroy Your Customer Base and Investor Confidence

Netflix used to have a charmed life.

This year, however, poorly thought out strategy and lurching decisions are stripping away many of its advantages and making it vulnerable to competitors.

Established in 1997, its founders saw opportunities in creating an Internet-based DVD-by-mail distribution system. It was designed to be a competitor to physical video stores, making it more attractive by offering a larger selection and using a unique IT driven distribution system that combined distribution centers across the country to serve customers within 24 hours at highly attractive prices.

The DVD-by-mail service became a hit, ultimately devastating the market of physical stores such as Blockbuster. By 2007 it had delivered more than 1 billion DVDs to customers. That same year it launched on-demand video streaming service so customers could also select a video and stream it to a PC (and later other platforms) for immediate viewing. The company allowed viewers a highly popular choice of physical DVDs or streamed video for the same price.

Effective marketing and the enviable distribution system led the company to became the largest video subscription service in the U.S., with 24 million customers

Despite--and because of the investments required for--its growth, the company was losing money on its $10 per month price for the joint service, so it suddenly increased it price to $16 dollars (a 60% increase) in July. That significant price change and the poor way it was introduced to customers—especially in the midst of poor economic times, angered customers and created price resistance that led a least a half million to drop the service.

Then, in September, the firm announced it would spin off its DVD-by-mail service and rebrand it Qwickster, leaving Netflix with the digital streaming business. Customers were furious to learn they would now have to pay separately for both services. By downplaying its DVD-by-mail business, the company hopes to reduce distirbution costs and its costs for content by moving content from a per rental basis to per subscriber basis that is more beneficial for the firm.

Netflix's decisions were not made with a customer focus, but a focus on stemming losses that worried some investors. That strategy is dubious, however, and share prices have fallen from nearly $300 per share in mid-summer to $140 per share.

The lurching changes have also made the company’s position seem vulnerable, leading to new competitors to enter the market. Dish Network, which bought Blockbuster out of bankruptcy, is now using it to introduce a competing DVD-by-mail and digital delivery services at competitive prices and Hula and Amazon are reportedly looking a ways to exploit consumer dissatisfaction.

The entire episode is a classic example of why companies should never take customers for granted and why company decisions need to be driven by creating--rather than subtracting--value for consumers.

Style Me Pretty

Happy weekend, friends! What do you have going on? It's pretty drizzly here in New York, but I'm feeling good and productive (which, isn't that the best way to feel?).

I hope you have a fun-filled, exciting (and maybe productive?) weekend! See you back here Monday. Lots of exciting things to share next week!

Oh, and in case you're one of the five people in the world that doesn't read Style Me Pretty, head on over and check out my Buying Guide HERE, which was inspired by this beautiful Napa wedding.

Side note: Who else wants to have a redo on their wedding? Same guy. Different reception venue/photographer/flowers, etc, etc. I've talked to my friends who were married 8-10 years ago like I was (ie before blogs and Pinterest) and we all feel the same way :)

Can you guess what I've got up my sleeve?

This week is insanely busy (what's new), but I've got a project of my own on the brain. Can you guess what it is? Here's a hint...

PS Are you looking for a duvet cover? I was looking for a fun and cheap duvet for a client and thought you'd like to see what caught my eye.

I'm a Giant! Dollhouse Challenge!

We used to have this really huge, amazing doll house last year that we sold when we moved to New York for space reasons. I didn't realize how much they would miss the dollhouse! They ask about it often and Grace even asked for a dollhouse for her birthday. They're a little older now and super into imaginative play, so I'm feeling like we should make room for a dollhouse again.

When Emily (who is so hilarious and nice) invited me to participate in her Dollhouse Challenge I felt like it was a great chance to spend more time with my girls. Especially now that the weather is cooling down (sad!!) and the parks are getting to be a lot less fun. Both Grace and Claire are really into crafty projects, so I thought it might be fun to work on this together.

Last weekend I found this big old dollhouse at a junk shop. It is in horrible shape. I mean, really BAD shape. Which is *just* how I like my houses to start with!

Also, it was a good excuse to finally buy a Dremel! Boy oh boy.

I'm excited. My kids are excited. And other bloggers are excited about their projects. It's going to be a fun group challenge (you can learn all about it here). There's even talk about displaying the finished doll houses in December in California. Cool, right?

Here are some of the fabulous friends in on the challenge:

Emily Henderson from www.stylebyemilyhenderson.com

Nicole from www.makingitlovely.com

Morgan from www.the-brick-house.com

Erin from www.designformankind.com

Orlando from www.hommemaker.com

Corbett from www.girl-domestic.com

and Kirsten from www.simplygrove.com

And anyone else who wants in on the fun. Feel free to join! In the meantime, I'm trolling eBay and etsy looking for amazing vintage doll furniture, looking through my fabrics and wallpapers for small scale prints and digging through my craft bins for trinkets to repurpose. I can't wait til the girls get home from school this afternoon. They're always telling me how they're decorators too, so this will be fun to come up with mini design plans together.

PS the Lonny team did a dollhouse last year. Love it all - especially that Christmas-ornament-turned-light-fixture in the entry. Pretty!

Chloe Redmond Warner in MSL

Remember this great spread in the May 2011 Martha Stewart Living? Chloe Redmond Warner hits it out of the park (again) with all her layers of pattern:

This mural wall is completely genius. The black parts are magnetic paint!

Such a pretty living room:

I think it's nice to have a little desk in almost every room. Just a little place to sit down and make a list or write a note. This little desk nook is in the living room, it looks like.

Gorgeous, warm den:

LOVE this dining room!!

And of course I am crazy over the bedroom:

Check out that beautiful Pierre Frey wallpaper! It's the Nakai pattern in Tobacco.

There are lots of colorways available including one with a black background. I want to do a powder room in this!

images via MSL and the Redmond Aldrich site

Make it Blue

When I asked my girls what color they wanted in their bedroom Claire's answer was "pink" and Gracie's was "purple," so naturally like any good mother would do, I'm painting their walls blue.

The room gets hardly any natural light so I'm feeling like we need a really cool color (cool as in opposite of warm) on the walls. Plus blue looks great with pinks and purples, so we'll be sure to incorporate their favorite colors too.

There's just something about the color blue in a feminine room. I really like it:

I left all my paint decks at a client's house, so I just picked up some paint samples when I was at Home Depot a couple days ago. I want a really clear blue - not a lot of brown or gray undertones.

Once the paint goes up, I'm thinking about getting artsy/crafty and doing a little mural. Something simple and only in white. I'm not going for a Chinoiserie look, but the idea is the same. White design on a colorful wall.

Mrs Blandings did an AMAZING job in her dining room. Did you see?

I'm thinking something charming and scenic. Flowers, trees, stars, maybe an NYC skyline.

When I asked Grace what she wanted her room to look like she said, "Just...hmmm...(sigh)...magical." :) love that girl.

PS Speaking of magical girls rooms: I answered a Dear Jenny question on Babble today. Ideas on how to recreate this darling hot pink starred canopy bed:

Hanging Chair?

Things are getting d.o.n.e. around here, friends. The navy chairs are gone, I ended up getting that pretty yellow settee off craigslist (it's GORGEOUS - I'll post about it later) and the gray sofa is getting donated to Housing Works today or Monday. Painting and moving projects will most likely happen this weekend. Awesome all around!

With the new seating arrangement there will be room for one biggish chair in the space. For about 2.5 seconds today I contemplated a hanging chair. I mean, look how cool and unexpected these are. I especially like them mixed with more traditional furnishings.

Jonathan Adler


Lonny


Domino


(j/k. I couldn't pull this off in my space but I think this looks really cool in here)


Ilse Crawford




Jonathan Adler




Patricia Halpin

It's obviously not a perfect option for most homes, but I think it could be great in our loft. I also really like them in bedrooms. And of course a porch or a sun room would be an amazing place for these fun chairs.

Have any of you owned one of these hanging chairs? Here's what I'd like to know:
1) Do you have children?
2) Did said children break any bones as a direct result of the chair?
3) Did the ceiling hooks fall out? We have concrete rafters, so I think we could get a hook in there pretty securely, but still.

I'm keeping my options open, but in the meantime, I found a handful of these hanging chairs that would all be good options HERE. I think I'm partial to the rattan varieties.

HAPPY WEEKEND!!! xoxo