Colorful Chalkboard Paint

In August, I came across this absolutely amazing chalkboard paint by Hudson Paint via DesignSponge. I've always liked the IDEA of chalkboard paint, but was never in favor of painting a wall, or large area of my house black. The inventor of Hudson Paints felt the same way, and came up with 24 bright colors to choose from. With names like, "Star Supernova," and "Bon Bonbon" narrowing down a favorite will be tough! I think it would be fun to frame an area on a wall with molding, and paint one of these colors inside and let kids go nuts!

The paint is 100% acrylic and has a washable finish. Low odor, and easy to use...the smoother the surface, the easier it is to clean!

If you walked into school on the first day and found that your new teacher painted a wall "Army Boy"...wouldn't you KNOW you were off to a good start!?!?!?

Hello Again!

Through a stroke of good scheduling fortune, I've managed to spend a good portion of the summer on Cape Cod...which is the only place I really want to be when July hits. I've been scheduling posts in advance, and trying to keep up with my little blog in between gaps in my busy summer, working, and generally trying to keep up with life. After being robbed last year, I thought it was best not to announce my departures each time I went away.

We came home today, after a fantastic 10 days of playing with Jake and my family. Having spent my summers there as a child, it's such a blessing to begin to share it all with Jake and to see him discover it all for himself! And my good baby? He did not cry once on the five hour car ride home!

One fun highlight was that we splurged and bought bikes...and the best part? Mine has a child seat attached to the back! It's not the bike I posted about here...but it's pretty great! I'm looking forward to family bike rides this fall with Jake singing merrily on the back!

Two nights ago, Ricardo and I had a great date night at Mac's Shack in Wellfleet. Cute logo, don't you think? Has anyone else been having a tough time keeping up with their blogs this summer?

Russian Dolls

A couple years ago at the National Stationery and Surtex Show, I started noticing a trend of Russian Dolls. While I've seen it here and there, I can't say it has ever become as trendy as people would have hoped. I'm not a huge, huge fan of it, but some of these examples are pretty cute!

1. Notebook from Go Stationery; 2. Necklace from Betty Blue Boutique; 3. Fabric by Heather Ross; 4. Stationery by Smythson of Bond Street; 5. Necklace by Smitten Kitten

A little something extra

Particularly trendy right now in the stationery market is any pop-up/add-on/die-cut/glittery thing possible. I love the extra touches that the sisters of Someday Designs add to their special card designs. They've won the prestigious Louie award for excellence in the stationery industry...you can see why!

Peacock Pride

I've come across more and more peacock related product lately. I've been noticing the theme on anything from home accessories, to fashion, to stationery and gift. Quite regal, don't you think?

1. Peacock print from Freshline; 2. Pillow from Sew Lucky Girl, 3. Clutch from Clutch That, 4. Sticky notes by Michelle Brusegaard; 5. Earrings from August Nine Designs; 6. Preening pen from Anthropologie; 7. Fabric from Dena Fishbein's Monaco collection at JCaroline Creative.

Peace Baby!

This week, I'm thinking of trends...notice all the peace around? Here are a few fun new takes on the theme.

As a product designer/creative director, I'm always on the look out for what's "out there" in the marketplace. What trends I think are just starting, what will stick around, and what won't last. I also look for trends that I consider to have popularity in a number of markets...home, fashion, gift, etc. Also, I look for which trends will have the most cross-generational appeal. In order to design a successful product, I need to try to pick up on themes early in the game because our product lead times are typically a year from idea conception to hitting the shelves. If I just noticed the PEACE trend today, I'd be way behind the selling curve!

Have you incorporated any peace into your life?

1. Pillow by Jonathan Adler; 2. Necklace by Dogeared; 3. PEACE of cake mold; 4. Onesie by Lucky Brand; 5. Journal by Peter Pauper Press.

Step right in!

When we first moved into our house, I purchased a couple great doormats at Anthropologie. Unfortunately, they're starting to look a little faded. I love the idea of the rock doormat from Chiasso (top image), but came across these others I wanted to share!

From top: 1&2 from Chiasso; 3. from The Maine Float-Rope Co.; 4. from Knotically Inclined, 5. from Damn Good Doormats, 6&7 from Williams-Sonoma

To find out what others are hooked on...join the fun!

We're moving?

Well, not really, but ever since we found a bat (and slugs) in the house, my husband has been looking up all sorts of real estate on-line...mostly condos (new ones), but he came across this lovely home in the Hollywood Hills which he thinks we should move to once he sells one of his screenplays that he's been writing as a hobby. Nice, right? Too bad it's been sold.

Tried and true

I've had my heart set on bamboo-esque roman shades for the living room since I was inspired by some of the interiors I saw at Alys Beach that I posted about back in April. I've finally found the perfect, and INEXPENSIVE solution! JC Penny is having a sale on these simple, clean-looking roman shades. I ordered one (in Provincial) to test then out, and it looks great, and is super easy to put up. And as a bonus? As low as $26.99 per shade! My only drawback is that in our front bay window, the two side windows are smaller than the available sizes, so I'll have to get a little creative and see if I can cut them down somehow. Nothing is simple, right?

Here is one of the photos from Alys Beach that inspired this search:

Happy baby on the go...

I love these Sticker Activity Totes from Peaceable Kingdom, and would have loved to play with them when I was little (ok, maybe I still would!) I would seriously consider getting one of these for Jake for our upcoming car trip to Cape Cod, but I purchased some stickers for him today, and he ate about half of them, so I may have to wait until he's a little older.

A friend of mine recently asked me how I keep him happy on our fairly frequent 4-5 hours drives to the Cape. My trick is to leave about an hour before nap time, give him a sippy cup of milk, and put on his favorite CD (which has recently been narrowed down to his favorite song!). Then, I hold my breath, and if I'm lucky, he'll take a two hour nap. After he wakes up, I periodically pass him new toys to play with. These work great:

(Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn: Storybook Rhymes)

(Fisher-Price See 'N Say Farmer Says)

Then, we tend to stop once to eat, pray for no traffic, listen to our song about 100 more times, and we're there!

Stripes

I have to say, that I really dislike Calico Corners. I go because I don't know of any other easily accessible options in my neck of the uptight suburbs. Although their selection is pretty good, every time I go, I end up feeling like a dorky 13-year old. I wandered in today, looking for a bit of inspiration for some window treatments for my office, and came up w/ this fabric. I thought it might be fun/trendy to create horizontal stripes as some sort of Roman shades (and since I only know how to sew Roman shades, or regular curtains, it had to be one of the two options!). 

I suggested my idea to the saleswoman who almost had a heart attack. "No! You must make them vertical! Horizontal will not work." 

"OK, I guess you're right," I mumbled, knowing like any sulky, dorky 13 year old, I'd do whatever I wanted anyway. Then, she proceeded to try to sell me some awful polyester looking, ornate fringe for the bottom.

I told her I was going for more of a fun, funky look. "How about pom poms?" I suggested.

"No! Pom poms are for children's rooms. You will not want that in your office," she decreed.

Here are some examples that I think prove her wrong...

(Image from Domino via xJavierx's Flickr stream)

What do you think? Straight? Horizontal? Pom poms just for kids? I must add, that it was only $12.00 a yard, so if it doesn't work out, I'm not going to be heartbroken...it's just an experiment!