Making it Lovely

Tag: florals

  • Style: Stripes and Florals

    Style: Stripes and Florals

    Stripes and Florals and Polka Dots, Oh My!I’ve been getting a lot of wear out of an old floral skirt I’ve had for years. I would have told you it was about five years old, but a woman spotted me wearing it and exclaimed “I have the same skirt! Ann Taylor, 2004!” So there you go. She said it with conviction, and I’m inclined to believe her.

    I pair it with stripes a lot lately — a look that I’ll admit I shamelessly based on a J.Crew window display. That’s probably a lame thing to admit (aren’t bloggers supposed to perpetuate the idea that we pluck our ideas out of the ether?), but a good idea is a good idea no matter the origin. Plus I crazy it up a little by adding polka dots. Or big flowery poof things. And plastic-framed glasses, because I am a typical blogger after all.

    Below is a pretty fantastic substitute for my floral skirt. I even picked one up for myself because it’s on sale, and I figured I could use another flowery option to get me through the next eight years.

    * photo of me and Jordan by Maia McDonald; all others from my Instagram feed

    Style: Stripes and Florals (and a Few Polka Dots Too!)

    1. Sailor Boatneck Tee

    2. Kate Spade ‘Cooper’ Bracelet Watch

    3. Interlock Link Bracelet

    4. Black Glasses

    5. Perfect Canvas Flats

    6. Trafa Shopper

    7. Polka Dot Scarf

    8. Painterly Floral Pencil Skirt

  • Scientific Botanical Prints

    Scientific Botanical Prints

    Would it really be surprising that someone as fond of pink as I am would also be fond of flowers? Even the less girly among us can appreciate a good bloom, no?

    A few people, in writing about my keynote at BlogPodium, noted that I had dressed to match my blog. My branding. The truth is that I’m just consistent in what I like. My blog matches my clothes, my home… even down to some of the book on my shelves. For example, here are two of my favorites.

    The Rose: An Illustrated History, and more recently, The Art of Instruction. My dog rose print is the same one featured on the latter’s cover.

    I designed two themes for Making it Lovely, and if you’re on the default “Lovely” theme, you’ll see an abundance of flowers in the background. Even if you choose to view the blog in “Minimal” mode, you’ll still see my custom floral illustrations in the header. As much as I love a good, clean site with a true minimal aesthetic, it’s just not me. The flowers (and colors and patterns) I use aren’t part of a larger, calculated move on my part to reflect my branding (though it works as one), I just like them. Simple as that.

    I saw that a flash shopping site was selling framed botanical prints a few weeks ago. I had enough credits to cover the cost, so I bought one. They’re no longer available on that site, but they can be found (unframed) at The Evolution Store.

    I would have loved to hang two prints over the sofa (like this), but the picture rail in my living room doesn’t leave enough clearance.

    These prints are huge. I love the scale of mine, but I don’t know if that corner of my living room is interesting enough to warrant art of that size. Something feels a bit off too, between the print, the plant, and the vase on the other side of the TV. I’m going to leave things as they are for a while to see if I get used to the print’s (rather commanding) presence, but I may play around with the placement. It’s beautiful though; I’m glad to have it.