Tag: teal

The Sara Chandelier
This was one of four turquoise chandeliers in yesterday’s post, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It’s stunning — the kind of light that makes the room.

I think the craze for this light can be traced back to Sarah Jessica Parker’s home featured in Elle Decor back in 2010. It was designed by Eric Hughes and featured an Egyptian hand-blown glass chandelier from Liza Sherman Antiques. The light is still sold through them for $7800.

There is another version available from Canopy Designs: the Sara Chandelier. They sell to the trade only, but I was able to find it on several sites retailing for about $2500.
The frame color can be customized and the glass shades come in various colors (Aruba Blue, Twilight Blue, Antique, White, Garnet, Coral, Lavender, BK Green, Pink). Clearly people are into the blue options though; they are by far the most popular.

It’s new and old at the same time, and it isn’t style specific so it’s versatile enough to work in a variety of homes. Modern? Victorian? Country? Industrial? A builder-grade suburban home lacking in architectural details? Add this chandelier. It will work.

Raise your hand if you’re dreaming of adding this light to your home now. * hand shoots up *

Image Sources: Wendy Resin Interiors • Elle Decor • LDa Architecture & Interiors • Rachel Reider Interiors • One Kings Lane • Lynn Morgan Design • House Beautiful • Bear Hill Interiors • Amber Interiors • House Beautiful
March 10, 2016
4 Turquoise Chandeliers for a Dining Room
My entryway and dining room are both in need of new lighting fixtures, and I’m thinking one of the spaces is either going to get something in pink or turquoise. I’ve already shared some of my favorite pink lights, and today I thought I’d have a little fun with the blue ones.

How would you mix and match to put together a dining room from the pieces below?
1. Vetrai Teal and Clear Chandelier, Lmaps Plus
2. Regina Andrew Bubbles Chandelier by Regina Andrew, Candelabra
3. Sara Chandelier, Maison Luxe
4. Wood Beaded Blue Chandelier, Target
5. Apex Round Dining Room Table, Crate & Barrel
6. Rogue Round Dining Table, Rejuvenation
7. Mid-Century Upholstered Dining Chairs, West Elm
8. Alfi High-Back Chair, Design Within Reach
9. Muuto Nerd Dining Chair, YLiving
10. Threshold Modern Dining Chair, Target
11. Moonstone Rim Salad Plate, Tartine and Heath Ceramics
12. Shell Bisque Dinner Plate in Blue, Canvas Home
13. Ring Dish in Aegean Blue with Gold Rim, Suite One Studio
14. Organic Shaped Blue Crackle Dinnerware, West Elm
15. Marin Blue Dinner Plate, Crate & Barrel
These are my picks. I have to say, I’m a bit obsessed with that chandelier.

p.s. Those West elm chairs (#7) came in pink not too long ago! Lovely, lovely.
March 9, 2016
Look for Less: English Roll Arm Sofa

Let’s consider this a public service announcement, shall we? Questions about my sofa come up constantly, and now there’s a good way to get the look for less.

I love our teal Winifred sofa from Anthropologie. The size and scale is great, the quality excellent (super sturdy, super comfortable), and it’s pretty darn cute… but it’s also the most expensive piece of furniture we’ve ever owned. It was listed at $3300, and I bought it when it went on sale for $2300. I feel like it was worth the price, but it was definitely a big chunk of change to put down.

Fast forward to a few years later, and it’s no longer available. If you love the look though (and not the price), IKEA now sells a reasonable facsimile: the Stocksund 3-1/2 seater sofa in ljungen blue.

Why the difference in price? The stores play a part, of course, but there are a few differences in quality too. The Anthro sofa is 98″ long with cotton/linen upholstery, a kiln-dried hardwood frame, down and polyfill cushions with eight-way hand-tied seat construction (and that cute button tufting), handcrafted in USA. IKEA’s sofa is 90″ long with a polyester cover, a frame made of particleboard, plywood, and fiberboard, with polyurethane foam cushions that have inner springs. The overall styling is slightly different as well, along with simpler turned legs and no castors on IKEA’s version.

I would expect my sofa to have a longer lifespan, perhaps needing reupholstering eventually rather than replacing, but the less expensive option is still a great choice! (We own an IKEA couch too — the Kivik — no complaints.) Throw a few pillows on there, style it up, and bam.

February 3, 2016
Styling Anastasia

This post is sponsored by Loloi.

You remember the blue Journey rug from Loloi that I styled a while back, right? I love the chance to play dress-up with my house, so I was excited about switching things up with another room.

And guess what — this is a competition.

To celebrate the line’s release, Loloi invited eight design bloggers to participate in a styling contest. Super fun, but the best part is that the winner will get a $1000 donation made on his or her behalf to the charity of their choice! A win for me would be a win for Rebuilding Together. They work with low-income homeowners, bettering their houses and their communities at the same time.

The Anastasia collection features traditional rug design elements made modern in scale and in the patterns’ distressing. There are bold colors (indigo, ochre, teal), but they’re tempered by creams and cool silvers. Our library has a whole lot of wood in it, especially from this angle, and the rug adds visual and tactile softness to the room.

Like last time, this rug is not a permanent addition (alas!). Nor are the chairs, which I added to echo the blues in the rug and pick up on the color of the sofa in the next room over. And since it’s a bit of a fiction, I set the table in our home library for dining — even though you guys know we really eat our meals in the dining room.

You have until midnight, October 14 to vote for your favorite room. Hopefully it’s mine (hint, hint) because I’d love the win for my charity, but everyone did an amazing job and chose equally worthy causes. Go check them out!

The Anastasia Rug (AF-07 in Sand/Lt Blue)is available from Wayfair and RugsDirect.

September 30, 2015
The Double Parlors, Shortly After Moving in

A lot of our furniture is working well in the new house. I’m OK with furnishing slowly and taking my time to find just the right piece, but I sort of went nuts with new stuff in the living/family rooms, double parlors, whatchamacalits.

I ordered the much-waffled-about teal sofa before we moved in. No regrets there.

The child-sized wooden rocking chair belonged to Brandon’s mom when she was a kid, and she gave it to us for the new house. Yay for good hand-me-downs!

I feel like that second parlor is coming together pretty well, even though there’s still a lot to do.

The first parlor wasn’t looking so hot though. So here’s where I’m all “I’m a blogger! I must document everything!” These look awful, and I know it.

Welcome to brown and gray town. We had that rug in our bedroom at the old house, but it’s probably going to go in August’s room soon. It’s a little small for the front room, and the color isn’t working for me.

I tried arranging the couch along the window wall, but thought it would be weird to see two sofas aligned. Confirmed.

The TV stand was a little dinky on that wall. I also tried it on the adjacent wall, but it didn’t look any better. I put it on my ‘replace eventually’ list, and I had in mind a faux printmaker’s cabinet (something like this or this).

I wasn’t in a hurry to buy, but when I went out to the Land of Nod outlet to pick up a bed rail for August, I stopped in the Crate & Barrel outlet next door and found the Blake Media Console for half-off.

The outlet box underneath needs to be hidden better and I want to stack some nice big art books up top, but I think it looks great so far. But then I also ordered a new rug — the one I asked about on Facebook. Buy all the things! That’s my new motto! (I’ma need to stop buying all the things.)

Hello, new rug! I’m not sure about you yet.

It works with the blue sofa in the next room, and I like having that visual connection, but it does not work as well with the crazy floral chair. And I like my crazy floral chair.

(The cats and the dog do approve though.)

Elsewhere, I seem to have a lot of this going on.

I feel like the stripes may not go all that well with the rug either. And I like my stripes.

It was on sale, and I used my Anthro birthday-month discount for a further 15% off, but it still wasn’t cheap. I think it would look great upstairs in our bedroom, but then we would still need a rug downstairs, and I’m not planning to buy many more big-ticket items for a while. What do you think? Keep the rug where it is, move it up to the bedroom, or just return it?

This might be a whole lot of crazy right here, even for me.

September 19, 2013