TGIF! My Holiday Gift Picks For The Person That's Hard To Buy For

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I know what you're thinking, blogging twice in one week!? I know, I know...but I'm just going to act like this is normal and not that I didn't blog for a whole two months.


I've been doing a lot of internet shopping this year because of three reasons:

1. I drive a truck and it gives me anxiety to try and park it in the inevitably crowded parking lots during the holiday season.

2. I'm more of a last minute shopper with no idea of what to buy anyone, and it's my goal to change that this year with careful planning.

3. I feel like everyone is difficult to buy for this year.

For these reasons I have been like a warrior on the internet, hunting the most unique items without mercy.

Without further adieu, here is my version of a holiday gift guide for the person in your life that's difficult to buy for.



For the book lover:

 This book goes through the bookshelves of famous people and what their favorites are.

 For the hipster girl:

Vintage Suzani pillowcase or throw. There are tons of them on Ebay in all price ranges.

 For the man that loves taking pictures, or is accident prone when it comes to water and his phone:

This phone case is so cool. Water resistant, you can take pictures underwater or listen to music while swimming laps in the pool.

For the Organizer: 

Weck canning jars. I recently saw an image where someone used these jars to organize there open shelves in their pantry.

For kids:

Native shoes, all the rage, affordable, and so adorable.

For the apartment inhabitant:

Indoor s'more maker for ovens.

For the quirky "big kid": 

Bill Murray coloring book. Hilarious! 

For the designer:

Beautiful pillows by Caitlin Wilson Textiles.

The bacon lover:

Fou Lard silk bacon scarf. OMG!

For kids:

This shirt is so adorable and the site where I pulled this from has lots of cute gifts with funny sayings on them.

For Mom: 

Gorgeous handmade paper flowers. I want some myself, they are the best looking paper flowers I have found.

The photographer:

Chic and glamorous camera straps from Bloom Theory. 

For anyone that owns an Iphone: 

This site sells  phone cases with very cool images on them. 

 For the shopper on a budget:

 Mason jar salads easy to make and fun for kids. These are also great to pack lunches with. A few of these in a cute basket or wrapped in some tissue paper would really be a sweet gift no matter what occasion.

 For the newlyweds: Ombre salad spoons. I smell a DIY project...but if you don't feel like making them you can buy them here.

For the fashionista:

Geo rings.

Guys, this is a great gift for the special lady in your life:

Eberjay Lady Godiva robe. Made with silky soft jersey and lace its comfy and sexy.

For the person that works in a cubicle:

Cool poster art from 20X200 for them to hang in their office. My favorite things to do is buy unwanted frames from thrift stores and frame unusual prints in them. Looks expensive, but it's not.

For the woman that has everything:

State pillows from Cat Studio come in almost every state, are down filled and hand embroidered.

For kids, or adults:

DIY magnet wall, I could even use this in my kitchen, can be used as a type of bulletin board.

For the macho man: 

Classic Stanley Thermos.

For little girls:

Giggle Moon girls clothing. Pretty much the cutest clothes out there for girls, and very well made.

Happy Friday!!

Thursday Thoughts

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I've been repainting the cabinets in my kitchen over the last week which has turned into an organize and banish clutter blitz around here. I ordered some new hardware to go on my tired cabinets turned fresh, and I'm still waiting for the new pulls to come in the mail. This is the look I'm going for.

I have the raised panel like these on my cabinets and I love this color; Down Pipe by Farrow and Ball. They really know how to do colors well but their prices are just a little high for me. So, I hoped over to Ace Hardware and the helpful staff over there brainstormed with me to combine three Benjamin Moore colors for an exact match. The data is saved in their computer if you would like to purchase the same color. As for the hardware, you guys know I love brass so I found these at a great price. My plan is to drill them in the middle of the raised panel just like the pic above. They are a beautiful unfinished brass not that cheap 80s brass I've been working to get rid of in my house over the last five years.


A couple of additional project ideas I've been swirling around in my head now that I'm on a roll:


Funny how you start painting one thing and then you notice everything needs to be repainted. There is just something about fresh paint that makes walls look so much cleaner.  I was thinking of doing an accent wall, possibly the wall with the entertainment center in a bold color...Purple?

 Oh how I love purple.

Or how about blue...

 

This teal color is to die for! I love the combination of red with the teal.

This is actually the Down Pipe color again. Love that pink coffee table.

More Purple...

Andy and myself have decided to try and buy each other a new TV for Christmas. TVs have changed a lot over the last five years so as you can imagine ours looks like something out of the stone-age compared to what everyone we know owns. This means that the entertainment center we have will no longer fit. I still love the idea of bookshelves since we have so many books.

I've always been a fan of the cubes shelves and they have some awesome ones at Ikea that I could paint any color I wanted.
I love the added lighting at the top of these, easy to do and it gives it the look of built ins.

Ikea also has a red version that could look similar to this.

My Visit To the Furniture Market - Design Trends

Pin It  Highpoint Furniture Market is a showcase of all the latest and greatest in design trends. It comes twice a year and is probably one of my favorite perks as a designer. I took a couple pictures on my last visit of my favorite concepts.


I want to go ahead and apologize for the photo quality. Some of the vendors don't like you taking a bunch of pictures so I had to take a few of them in stealth mode.


I saw a whole lot of gilded mirrors in all sizes at almost every booth I visited. This particular display was going up a set of stairs which I thought was a very clever and whimsical use of space.

This was one area of the show that had original vintage items. I thought this splatter look was very interesting. Now, I remember when splatter was really big back in the late 90s and I loved it then but it was more of a neon color scheme. Once I had noticed these lamps I felt like I was seeing quite a lot of fabrics with the splatter pattern on them but this time in chic hues like maroon and bell flower blue. I thought this would be a fun DIY for an office or a kids room if you are trying to jazz up a space.

I cannot tell you how many floral fabrics I must have seen. I especially liked the mixture of florals on a  modern sofa or florals on a vintage or antique chair. Gave me some ideas for the loveseat in my living room that needs to be recovered.
This one was my favorite, can anyone guess why?

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for many things but two of them in particular are;

1. That antlers in all sizes are back and cooler than ever. I love the little carved wooden plaques that some of them come on. I have seen this trend hint around for the last year or so but be ready for a huge amount of them to pop into the market and local stores soon.

2. Many of them are coming in resins that look so real you would never know the difference  There is a mixture in this photo of vintage pieces and resin ones.

On another note this is not the first collection of items paired all together that I saw, remember the mirrors above? Collections of all kinds of things like plates, keys, teacups, buttons, or mirrors all put together on a mantle or a wall is a definite trend.

Now go hit those flea markets and find yourself some vintage antlers.

I was really tickled when I saw this up on the wall and pretty impressed with the creativity. I had one of those "why didn't I think of that" moments. This is a nice option if you want to save money, you can find unfinished wood plaques similar to this at Home Depot then just find some antler looking sticks and glue them on the plaque or drill some holes and attach with a strip of leather. Most fabric stores have scrap leather in a bin you can choose from for super cheap. Notice again, it's a collection of stick antlers...I'm tellin ya collections are huge.

This picture has a lot going on but I wanted you guys to see these crazy lights.

 Velvet curtains..Notice the rope that ties them back. Industrial concepts are adding more plush elements lately.

I love Ralph Lauren's lighting. Medium to high on the price scale but oh so gorgeous.

This was the outside facade of a building I saw in Highpoint. The man that owned the building had been collecting these shutters and adding to them for years to cover the outside. He just recently finished his project. I think this would be so cute on a pool house or a shed, a kids playhouse, even a doghouse. There are so many shutters at a local Restore or Habitat for Humanity location that could be used.

Those of you that know me in person have heard me rant about recycling oyster shells, well here is a good excuse to start doing it. Check out this light fixture, also saw it on mirror frames (DIY project maybe?)

Another industrial use of a pulley and rope to tie back a curtain.