Design

Inspiration Overload

August 5, 2018 by Michelle Leave a Comment

Whenever I find myself at Northpark Mall in Dallas, I make it a point to step in Arhaus for design inspiration. I thought I’d share a few of the things that caught my eye, like these stamps used for batiks – both form and function. They had them displayed in a large basket and also hung on a wall.

Eric’s been looking for inspiration for his nightstand/bedside table and finding that this seems to be a somewhat overlooked space. Either it is your typical lamp and clock combo or it’s some sort of docking/charging station for all devices. None of that was appealing to him. But, we both loved the look of these leather accessories. Definitely something we will keep an eye out for.

I have a strange weakness for decorative boxes and these are gorgeous. And look at that coordinating tray too. Yes, please.

One of the things I like about Arhaus is that they have some eclectic things that fit our world travel/collected over time aesthetic in our home.

And look at that piece they’ve used as a focal point behind the bed. Amazing.

I’ve also been trying to find the perfect inspiration for a window shelf in our bedroom but failing miserably. I like the look of the rolled pages in the large cylinder vases.

In addition to the more eclectic, travel-inspired pieces they also had an area devoted to Hollywood Regency style, which I love but sadly can’t seem to work it into my own home. That pink sofa, black rug, and chandeliers. Oh my.

This is a bit too modern for my taste, but I loved the idea of layering rugs to add more texture and interest.

More rolled pages that add some interest.

Or sheet music as artwork?

I liked the textural neutrals of the unbound books here too.

I loved the color of the three vases and the combination of the vases as centerpiece under that gorgeous light fixture. It’s beautiful and industrial all at the same time.

A close up of the light fixture.

I thought these mirrors were interesting with the huge grommets and the rope – hung or displayed more like a tray, both add interest.

I have to admit, this is my dream sofa. I absolutely adore the tufted back and I have been jonesing after a worn tobacco brown leather sofa for our living room or even a smaller cigar room/den.

Love the pop of red on this cabinet.

Patterned pillows with large black tassels on the corners.

This fountain gave me dreams of a beautiful solarium or courtyard full to the brim with greenery and the meditative sound of the fountain.

That table top. I can’t even…

Look at the interesting shutters – layered they add so much interest to a wall.

Hope you found some things that inspired you as well. I look forward to going back soon to see what new things have been acquired!

Things I Love Thursday: Catching My Eye

April 18, 2013 by Michelle Leave a Comment

Today’s TILT post is going to be rather a mishmash of things that are making my heart beat a little faster this week. Last night the photo above of the Crescent Hotel in Beverly Hills stopped me in my tracks. I’m so completely in love with the hummingbird painting/print above the bed – such an amazing statement piece. And the pendants on either side of the bed are beautiful as well. They actually remind me of the lamp I have next to my bed. Anyway, Eric and I have been working on some changes around the house and desperately need a focal piece over our bed. I think we’ve settled on one of the photos he took in Rome, but now we need the perfect frame.

I’ve also been looking for a new wallet. Mine is starting to look a little worse for wear. I’m loving this patent LV – bringing a little bit of sexy back to my purse.

I’ve been looking at the pave link bracelet trend that I’m seeing everywhere. Especially fun in colors like pink, teal, emerald! Lately I’m finding myself drawn to wearing bracelets, so I’m thinking I may need to add a little sparkle into the mix too.

I’m obsessed with Moroccan style, as you know, particularly the dramatic rugs. This one from West Elm was recently featured in Bri Emery’s office makeover.

I just love this rug so much.

And, per usual, I am way behind on my DVRed shows (still need to watch the Oscars, in fact). I’ve had a couple of evenings at home and I’ve been catching up on The Carrie Diaries. Have you seen this show? Of course, Sex and the City was always near and dear to my heart – particularly as a single girl. I was skeptical about Carrie Diaries (and still mourning the ending of Gossip Girl), but I’ve been pleasantly surprised! It’s fun, it’s young, and OMG it’s taking me right back to highschool. The music, the clothes, my subscription to Interview magazine…so much win.

If you haven’t been watching, you should definitely check it out.

So, that’s just a quick little look into what I’m loving this week. I’m glad that tomorrow’s Friday and I’m hoping to get some time this weekend to make a little progress on a few projects I’m working on around the house. I still need to blog about some of the design changes that have been going on at the house too – we’re nearing completion on most of the rooms in the house, which is really satisfying. So, more to come on that. Until next time, what’s catching your eye lately?

Honoring Her

April 4, 2013 by Michelle Leave a Comment

Easter never used to be more than a holiday for me. As I mentioned in my last post, over the past few years it has been made more special by spending our honeymoon in Rome for Easter. Eric’s love of family and traditions has also changed my perception of it, and we celebrate with a special meal and his special cake. But, this year things seemed to all fall into place to change me at some deep level, to focus on the true meaning of the days leading up to Easter.

On Good Friday, Eric’s grandmother passed away. And suddenly, we were faced with mourning this amazing woman who had helped to shape Eric into the man he is today. The past few years have been so full of loss, but somehow this was different. In the midst of our sadness and grief, we were presented with the message of Easter and for me at least, it brought some comfort.

While I had intended to make Eric’s special cassata cake for him, because of the tradition his Grandmother started, once we got the news on Friday I knew that making Easter special this year was something we both needed. When I did my last post and posted the photo of my dining room table decorated for the holiday, it reminded me that other than Christmas, I have done zero holiday decorating in several years. So, I decided that I wanted to make this Easter as special as possible for both of us. So, on Saturday, while Eric was gone I dug through my holiday decorations and did a little decorating around the house. Just a few touches, since I knew it wouldn’t be up for very long. I was so happy to see our dining room all dressed up for Spring.

I especially love my little glass bunnies. I think I got them from Williams Sonoma years and years ago. But, aren’t they cute?

And I’m glad I managed to get a photo of how pretty everything looked before the hoodlums got up on the table and ran off with an egg ornament in their mouths and proceeded to bat them around the house.

After I got the decorating finished, I got started on making the cassata cake. My recipe reminded me that it’s good to make the pound cake a day ahead so that it is completely cooled before I try to put the filling between the layers and frosting it.

On Sunday morning, I got started on finishing the cake. I made the filling and popped it in the fridge to chill so that it was easier to spread. Then I got started on making the whipped cream frosting. Homemade whipped cream is just the best, isn’t it? Reminded me of my chocolate bread pudding – I need to make that sometime soon.

Once I had my filling and frosting made, I cut my poundcake into layers and then brushed them with rum. I have actually forgotten this step before, so this time I made sure that I noted it on my recipe ingredients.

Once I had the cake assembled, into the fridge it went so that the ricotta filling and the whipped cream frosting could set up. Then it was time to make dinner. Eric made the fabulous Moroccan lamb burgers we’d agreed on for Easter dinner, from a recipe courtesy of our friends in Rhode Island. We opened a bottle of Barefoot Moscato for dinner and it was a delicious counterpoint to the spices in the burgers. Everything was so good!

And after dinner we dove into dessert. I sprinkled the top of the cake with some semi-sweet chocolate shavings. I loved the finishing touch it added.

Here’s a little view of the cake once we’d sliced into it. So so good! And don’t you love the little bees on the table runner?

It was a beautiful Easter Sunday, made all the more special because I felt like we were honoring Grandma’s life by celebrating with a wonderful meal, a beautiful table, and time with each other. She will be truly missed.

Preparing for Easter

March 27, 2013 by Michelle 1 Comment

This time of year is always special for Eric and I. Our wedding anniversary is at the beginning of April and we spent our honeymoon in Rome over that Easter weekend. It was the first Easter Mass for Pope Benedict XVI. With this Easter being the first for the newly elected Pope, it brings back some memories for us. Eric and I have also been watching The Bible on The History Channel, and it’s been an excellent conversation topic for us in these weeks leading up to Passover and Easter.

I haven’t been very inspired to do any holiday decorating around the house since Christmas, and the two boys with their kitten antics make me think twice about what I put out. But, after looking through some old photos, I found the one above of our Easter table and decided I would really like to have a special table setting for our Easter dinner.

And one of the traditions that we have is preparing a special Italian cake for Easter. Eric’s grandmother used to bring a cassata cake from the Italian bakery for Easter every year when he was growing up. When Eric and I got married, I decided that I wanted to recreate this cake from Eric’s past for him. Not as easy as it sounds. Cassata cake, I’ve found, can be interpreted in several different ways. So, over a series of Easters and birthdays, I tried out a number of recipes.

One of the first I tried was for a Sicilian cake that seemed to be similar to a cassata cake.

It was a two layer sponge cake with ladyfingers around the edges, and topped with walnuts, chocolate chips and candied cherries. Pretty good, but not anywhere close to Eric’s memories. Plus, with the ladyfingers and the topping, it was a rather labor intensive cake to make.

So, we refined our definition of what he remembered and I ended up cobbling several recipes together to try for my next attempt. Eric had told me that the cake of his dreams was a loaf cake, like a pound cake. So, I took a Martha Stewart pound cake recipe and started with that.

Notice the yummy vanilla that Eric’s mom brought us from Mexico? Love that stuff! Anyway, the Martha recipe was a total bust. There was so much butter in this batter that when it was cooking, you could see the cake swimming in a sea of butter. I’m all for butter, but this was ridiculous. And the cake itself was not soft and moist, but surprisingly crunchy.

Eric also remembered that the filling between the layers was a lot like cannoli filling. So, I borrowed a recipe for cannoli filling (ricotta, chocolate chips, etc.). That, at least, was pretty straightforward. I used the mini chocolate chips and mixed them in with the ricotta filling.

And then we got to the frosting for the cake. Eric said it was pretty close to the frosting his mom uses on his usual birthday cake, which is a whipped cream frosting (icing?). I hit her up again for her recipe and this also was pretty straightforward. I think it’s just heavy cream, sugar, cream of tartar. And it makes a ton!

And the final product Eric deemed pretty darn close to his memory. So, I made several notes, including a note to self to try a different pound cake recipe because the Martha recipe was a big yuck.

And when I made that very first Sicilian cake, it called for brushing the layers of spongecake with rum. So I added that in this attempt as well. It adds a little extra depth of flavor in the cake.

I’ve made the cake a couple more times since this initial try and refined it over the last few years. I’ve changed to a pound cake recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, which is very good. And I’ve started making the cake itself the day before, and it makes it a little easier to assemble the next day. I’ve also cut the filling and frosting recipes in half, because I seriously ended up with enough for a second cake. I’ll be making cassata cake for Easter Sunday this weekend, and I’m looking forward to it since I haven’t made it in a while. I’ll be sure to share how it turns out!

We’re also planning on having our Moroccan Lamb Burgers on Easter as well, because Eric knows that’s about the only way I will eat lamb. So, I’m looking forward to those – something else we haven’t had in awhile. Sounds like I’ll have a busy next few days getting everything ready for Easter, but I’m looking forward to it. And as always, it’s such a special time for us as a precursor to our anniversary, so it deserves to be done right!

Things I Love Thursday: Marrakesh Decor

August 10, 2012 by Michelle Leave a Comment

Well, I’m a day late for my TILT post this week, but wanted to post anyway. As I mentioned in my last post, there’s been some redecorating and rearranging going on at my house. Well, I’ve always wanted to have a Moroccan-inspired living room, at least as long as I remember. I even blogged about it in this post. And we’ve made a lot of changes to the living room since then, but nothing like the changes we’ve made in the last couple of weeks.

I’m really loving the way the room is coming together, and I can’t wait to show you the changes. You can also see what the room looked like after its most recent “tweaking”. You may see in that post that I was really pushing toward the Havana-look. Ultimately, I’d really love a room that has a global feel – things collected from all over the world and incorporated into our design. Which is one reason why we’re focusing a bit right now on the Moroccan pieces. And for inspiration, I decided to order Maryam’s new book. I absolutely love her blog and could not pass up all the inspiration she offers in this book.

The book arrived last night and I’ve already thumbed through it several times. Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. I can’t wait to sit down and read it cover to cover. I love that there are also beautiful photos of her gorgeous Peacock Pavilions too!

I have the creativity and inspiration flowing right now, which is so exciting. And I feel like one of the most-used rooms in my home is finally getting the facelift it’s been needing, which is making me happy happy. Now we just need to pull in some other things from other cultures and I think we’ll be good. I have some great pieces in storage that I think will help!

It’s been a really hard week to stay positive and be grateful, but always important to refocus on the good stuff. So, here’s what I’ve been grateful for this week:

My book on Marrakesh as well as my books for book club arrived
Taking an afternoon off work
Sharing nail polish photos with friends
Ice Road Truckers – I love that show!
A delicious meal of butter chicken, naan, rice and mango juice that Eric made

Things I Love Thursday: Light-Filled Rooms

July 19, 2012 by Michelle Leave a Comment

Recently, I’ve been feeling very frustrated about my home (see also number 3 on this list). I feel so overwhelmed with the clutter and just sheer amount of “stuff” that it’s making me crazy. We had a great team over to the house this week to check our house for energy efficiency and where we may need to replace weather stripping, etc. I was so glad they were there, but my comment to Eric was “I hope they don’t call Hoarders on my ass”. I know I’m painting a horrible picture here of my house, but it’s really only two rooms that are serious problem rooms. The addition of two very curious kittens into the mix has left us just shutting the doors to both rooms. I wouldn’t want 1) them to get hurt 2) lose them in there. So, Eric and I are working on trying to deal with the issues in those rooms. But, like I said, I’m frustrated with my home. And I know that this is supposed to be my TILT post, and instead it’s become a what’s wrong with my house post. But, stick with me…I’m getting to the point.

I think part of what’s bugging the hell out of me is the lack of light in my house. It’s Texas. It’s July. We have not cracked open a drape or a blind in months. Plus add to that my husband likes to exist in some sort of weird batcave-like existence. The darker the better. We once had a stand off that lasted three weeks over a burned out lightbulb because he simply “liked it better without that extra light”. Seriously.

And I am all for batcave darkness when it comes to watching a movie, or trying to sleep. But the rest of the time? I want light-filled rooms!!! My favorite places in the house are the ones that let in a lot of light (via skylight in one case so there’s nothing he can do about it bwahaha).

So, today for TILT, I thought I’d focus on something I love, something I’ve been missing, something I want to reintroduce to my home. Light!

Bringing light into a room, just gives it so much more energy. And since I tend to decorate with dark colors and dark woods, you need that light to balance it out.

I think the clutter too adds to that sense of feeling closed in, and when you couple that with having all the blinds closed/drapes drawn, I feel like a shut in. Especially at this time of year when the days are longer, I want to soak up every bit of it.

And adding energy to a light-filled room by bringing in the colors of the sea or living green plants, even rocks and wood – it just brings me a happiness that I can’t begin to describe. I am a creature of light and color, and I need to be surrounded by it in my home.

So, I think I have some things to look at in the way of a compromise to see how I can let more light and energy in while still keeping the house cool and not forcing my husband to wear sunglasses in the living room. Any suggestions?

And since I spent so much time whining on this post, I think it’s only fitting to balance it out with what I’m grateful for this week: