Joanna...

Joanna Goddard's mom posted this beautiful photo of Joanna on Facebook! I can't wait to hear all about the wedding. While Joanna's away on her honeymoon, she's been having a fantastic group of guest bloggers writing about the secrets to a happy marriage. So romantic...I love her blog, A Cup of Jo , which now has nearly 5,000 Google followers!

A Charming Swedish Cottage

With brightly painted furniture and doors, wide, tall windows, and a greenhouse with a crystal chandelier, I have fallen completely in love with Persilija's old house and gardens in the North of Sweden. You can see more on her charming flickr photostream, here. And also on her blog, fyrabarnsmamman. Hope you're having a lovely Sunday!

xo

Which Do You Prefer?

Marie Claire Maison poses this question:
Would you rather have a feminine but minimalist salon?


The salon of a voyager?


Or one filled with mismatched pillows and chairs?


It's hard to choose! I definitely love the first one, so clean and chic. But the third one seems warmer....Which would you pick?

Hope you're having a nice weekend!

--Julia

Yellow House, Blue Sea

Hello — Lori from automatism here, with the perfect summer getaway for you today. The design of this charming Swedish summer home — by the architects Thomas Sandell and Anders Landstrom — was based on the classic wooden house of Scandinavian architecture. Built according to traditional methods of construction, its roughly squared logs were slotted together by tenon and mortise joints -- not a nail or screw was used in the entire house. Because this was the prototype house of a firm of architects, Nils Tunebjer, the proud owner of this house, actually bought it at auction! He then had to dismantle and store it (a feature of these traditional wood houses is that they can be dismantled and lifted easily) while he searched for an appropriate piece of land to install his new home. Now settled happily into its permanent locale overlooking the sea, this lovely home is a relaxed place to while away the long Swedish summers. Via Marie Claire Maison.

Beds, A Haven of Comfort

Hello, it's Micaela. Since I was a little girl, beds have always been my haven of comfort. Waking up to the pitter-patter of rain rhythmically playing melodies against my roof on lazy Sunday mornings, when nightfall is upon me, snuggled up in my cocoon of covers, curling up beneath the little patch of sunlight that hits the corner of my bed, my bed will always be my sanctuary.

I love how not everything is perfectly in place. The messiness is what I find beautiful about all these. The covers and pillows are wrinkled and some of the beds aren't even made, but that makes it all the more pretty to me.

Which is YOUR favorite?


Also, I forgot to introduce Aubrey in my "about me" post.



She says "hi."

Tumblr Treasures

One of the most inspiring Tumblrs my eyes have ever encountered.
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Pretty Foods is solely devoted to foods that are, well, just too pretty to eat! 
How adorable is that?
Click here to be whisked away into a world of sweets






Hello, Romantic is the photo blog of Megan Kathleen McIsaac. I do believe the first photo is the cover of the current Antler magazine
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I've gone a little Tumblr crazy lately...I just created a Tumblr myself this morning, serving as an inspiration gallery for my blog.
{Click here for my Tumblr}

I'm crushing over End Of March's gorgeous mosaic photo collages in her tumblr.

Which is YOUR favorite?
Have YOU found any recent Tumblr treasures?

Home Sweet Home

Hello, this is Micaela of the blog the Drifter and the Gypsy. I'm guest posting today. What can you do with a budget of $10,000 and a little cottage? Christina Salway and John Moskowitz show the world their first home purchase.

The couple flocked to the quaint little suburb, Sparrow Bush, NY due to the outrageously priced real estate in New York City (who can blame them?). They spent weekends, from October to May renovating their 700-square-foot 1920s cottage, turning it into a real dream.
Christina, an interior desginer and John, a former television script coordinator closed on their little place last September for $95,000.

They did all of the necessary reconstruction themselves. Most of their furnishings, appliances, and artwork were bought on Craigslist, yard sales, thrift shops, and even found on the streets.


With a good eye, and a bit of creativity, you can sure do a lot. The inexpensive vintage furniture and decorations spotted on the street, purchased on Craigslist, and various other places make the house look all the cozier, homier. I'm not sure it would have the same mood if everything was bought brand new.

To read the whole article from the NY Times, click here.

Have you ever tackled a task or known someone who tackled a task like this?

Inspiring Interiors

Hi Everyone! It's Crystal from Plush Palate again. Thanks so much for all your lovely comments on my last post. Though we all miss Tina dearly, I appreciate you making me feel so welcome here in the meantime! 

I spend a lot of time thumbing through interior design images each day. Most of the time they are perfectly composed, brilliantly staged, and impossibly pristine. As a perfectionist, that speaks to me and is what I strive for in my own place. But every once in a while, I crave to see those spaces that take me out of my comfort zone. I want to be floored and energized by something messy, something unexpected, or something creatively genius. That's when I turned to the The Selby, where the homes they shoot are refreshingly lived in and always overflow with personality. 

Isabelle McNally, Actress; at home in Greenwich Village NYC

Sofia Achaval, Stylist; at home in Paris

Ryan Korban, Interior Designer; at home in the West Village NYC

Frederic Beigbeder, Author; at home in Paris