This image from Martha Stewart Weddings has been on my mind recently — I love love love the chalk chandelier and am thinking of drawing something similar in our kitchen, since we have a loooooong wall (below) that just needs something . And a chalk drawing would be basically free.
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Today marks what I consider the one year anniversary of Abbey Goes Design Scouting! I’ve loved every single day and every single post, every single comment, and getting to know so many of you in the process. Thank you, thank you, thank you for visiting, reading and returning month after month. It’s a wonderful blog world we’re a part of, isn’t it?
As I think about the coming year a quote has been on my mind “When you don’t create things, you become defined by your tastes rather than ability. Your tastes only narrow & exclude people. So create.”
My favorite blog posts (and I hope yours too) are ones where I’ve created something — a bouquet of fresh flowers, a water garden, a pretty trash can. Creativity seems to be like a muscle, the more you use it, the stronger it is. So, while I always post about vintage finds and beautiful homes [my obsessions!] this next year my goal is to share more of my own creativity which I hope will keep this blog fresh and fun to visit. And hopefully strengthen my own creativity in the process.
Since there is no time like the present, I thought (while feeling shy) that I’d kick year two off with some landscape collages I made in Montana last month.
Everyone loved the silhouette cookies so much I looked into it a bit more. The very nice folks at Victor Trading Co. will create custom cookie cutters using your silhouette (from a photo you provide) for $30. They also do custom pet cookies which even though we don’t have a pet, I think would be a great gift for someone.
Cookie Silhouettes! Scanned from Martha Stewart Weddings.
The husband found this image via Terramia. Not only does it have my fantasy sink (that appears at least 10 times in my inspiration journals in various pictures) but it also has those fabulous prints.
I’ve come across some great new blogs recently and wanted to share with you too.
Party Perfect : Who found these delicious Hermes scarves!
Katy Elliott : Who wrote the $1 design finds over at Domino (genius!)
Even Cleveland : Loving these awesome space photos
So, just as I hit “post” on my gallery wall round up I get an marketing email from West Elm touting their gallery frames. They’ve made the whole hanging process seemingly idiot proof which is just what I needed because I have to admit that the measuring-to- get-the-right-amount-of-space-between-each-frame part of the whole gallery wall thing is part of why I haven’t just done one already. They have a easy step by step process that has figured out all of the measuring (if you use their frames, of course). It seems so easy that it feels a little bit like cheating.
Now, of course I sort of feel that this means that gallery walls have been co-opted by the big boxes… but I guess that if you use personal items, it would still be authentic.
Let’s get real for a moment: Framing anything is expensive. I calculated the cost of making the gallery wall above at West Elm as around $300. Seems a little pricey until you consider that I’ve had to pay $300 just to frame one 8×10 painting. So, while $300 is not insubstantial, it’s not much for 10 frames given the going rate at my local frame shop. However, just for giggles I priced out the same size frames as above at IKEA (in unpainted wood, with plastic instead of glass) and it cost a whooping $30 dollars. If you use the IKEA “Ribba” line which is a brown frame with real glass, 10 frames of various sizes costs $118. I guess that leaves us at no matter your budget, you could do a gallery wall. God bless Ikea.
I’ve been thinking about gallery walls… and seeing them everywhere recently. Here are 28 in fact! The top three are my favorites. I’m thinking about putting a gallery wall above my desk. I have some egg prints, some sheets of old stamps and some art that will be a beginning!
Anything without a hyperlink was scanned from my inspiration files.
via Desire to Inspire, Ann Linberg
Marie Claire Home, French Edition
via Domino
via Remodelista (best blog name ever!)
Elle Decor
via Habitually Chic
Elle Decor
via Decorno, via Michelle Adams
via Martha Stewart Living
via Habitually Chic
via Habitually Chic
via Martha Stewart Living
via Elle Decor
via Cookie Magazine
via Elle Decor
Boligtorvet - Kort, via Desire to Inspire
Have I mentioned the Tina Fey makes me proud to be a woman? I heart her and can’t wait for 30 Rock to come back! And how awesome is this ad and her sweet daughter?
This image just stopped me in my tracks today — found on new-to-me blog Indian By Design. Which I found via Swiss Miss. What do I love here — the orange, the wood, the matching banquet and table. The random pipe. The light. I guess kind of everything but the temperature controls.
I love these Ingo Maurer designed cocktail napkins…. They say “We are all angels with one wing — only if we embrace one another can we fly.”
Wine and cheese at my house, girls!
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