keeping our heads on straight...three minute cleanup

 

one of the things that never fails to make me pleased with myself rather quickly is the three minute cleanup. i just made that name up, but that pretty much says it in a nutshell. take this morning for example. as i stood in the bathroom getting ready for the day, i found myself annoyed by how cluttered the sink area was. where did all this come from? long-ago-finished magazines, clothing that - though once probably fine to be put away - now needs to be washed from makeup residue falling on it day after day...wrappers and packages everywhere - how does this happen??

if i were being as perfect as martha, this wouldn't ever happen, but luckily it doesn't take very long to gather up all the mess and put each thing in its rightful place. a quick swipe of the counter with a nice smelling wipe and it's over. done. the dawn of a new day, with even a place to put my coffee. such a nicer way to start the day.

a sweet farewell

i'm sad to see peony season come to a close...are you? it's too short! this year, i bought one bunch of them and kept them in my bathroom in little blue and white porecelain cups. i added some sprigs of fresh lavender from my balcony and enjoyed the little bunches' sweet presence for almost a month. 

i know people say that all good things end and i know that's part of what makes them special, but i think peonies would still be special, even if they stuck around just a little while longer...


alas, we know they'll be back next year no matter how things in life might change. there's a certain comfort in that, don't you think? still, i'm sad to see them go.

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above the line

 

today, i'm loving this bathroom i spotted on absolutely beautiful things. isn't it great the way the wallpaper doesn't start until well above the eyeline? i love that it draws the eye up, and also that it provides an interesting visual perspective even when you're seated in the room...because we mostly are seated in bathrooms, us ladies, right?

i'll share again a concept i shared a while back told to me by a reader...that bathrooms are some of the only places we're ever alone, so they should be beautiful. don't you agree?

some more bathrooms...and more still, with stripes.

keeping our heads on straight...sunday best

do you have any sunday rituals? mitchell and i always try to get home early, if we go out at all, and we each prep our work bags for the week and do whatever else we can to get centered and organized to start the week.

all those routines are good, and they make a huge difference, but i love discovering little things that take a minute or two each that also have a big impact. for example, i have two baskets in my bathroom - one on the back of the toilet and one on the floor, and like any basket does, they can easily become catchalls on busy days. in our bathroom, a weekend that involves a few showers, makeup applications, shaves and hair dryings means catchall, and that just becomes stressful to look at.


last night, i thought to take a couple quick pictures right before i straightened them out because i knew it would be visually satisfying what a big difference a few minutes can make. i timed it - 3 minutes flat for both baskets, and i can't tell you what a big difference it made to see them both looking good and neat. then i lit a candle and turned off the light behind me.


they're not perfect - i'm really not much into perfection - but they're good, and that everything- in-its-place feeling is better than good.

i'd love to hear about the rituals that keep your head on straight.

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fully lined

so i have this kind of weird, kind of awesome idea. i want to line the back of my medicine cabinet with scrapbook paper. why scrapbook paper, of all things? because it's cheap, and because it comes in so many great prints and colors. i love the idea of creating a beautiful little place you open up to each day. nice bathrooms are so important to the psyche, and this is just a honing in on that concept.

so, the bathroom in question has a mild tropical thing going on art-wise, so i thought about doing it in a pool blue or a bright coral. as you can see above, i've slid in a piece of the only scrapbook paper i have at the moment and i'm liking it, in theory, though not in color given said artwork and pool blue towels.

should i go for this kind of weird, kind of awesome project? thoughts?

tiny treasures...plug it in

okay, so i had to do an emergency tiny treasure post because today is the very last day for $5 wallflowers at bath and body works (online and in-store). the starter sets and the refills are $5 each, marked down from $12.50.

last time i bought garbage bags, i accidentally got the "odor-shield" kind, which smell outrageously disgusting, and i literally got depressed every time i walked into the kitchen and smelled them (i have a sickly good sense of smell). eventually, i broke down and just bought a fresh box, even though i felt bad about wasting. i just can not deal with bad smelling things. can you relate? my point is this: scents are powerful, and can affect our moods in serious ways, don't you agree? and since tiny treasures is all about bringing happiness and luxury into our lives for $5 or less, nothing could be more perfect or appropriate than this.

moving on...i always love things like this in a small space like a bathroom or closet because you get the most bang for your buck...and at only $5, that's a lot of bang for not a lot of bucks. and although TT is very much about indulging yourself when you can, it's not a bad idea to stock up now on stocking stuffers or office gifts, right? in the long run, it's your treasure anyway when you don't have to run around doing last minute shopping.

my personal favorites of the scents available in wallflowers are coconut lime verbena (you might remember my obsession from last summer), lavender vanilla (another perennial obsession of mine), and warm vanilla sugar, especially for the cooler months, which are admittedly hard to think about at this hot, sticky moment.

and i'm totally swinging by to smell eucalyptus spearmint! find your local store here.

some honey living you might have missed:

catch up on tiny treasures ($5 luxuries to give yourself)
my coconut obsession from last summer
if you looooove the smell of lavender...
and if you love the smell of eucalyptus

photo from womans day

earning our stripes

what are your thoughts on striped walls? i kind of love them! i think it's easy for a striped room to go horribly awry, but here are some images i've been collecting that i think get it right. what i notice that they all have in common is that the stripes are the same width in each color, rather than having one of the colors thicker.

in the case of the photo above, the stripes are two different shades in the same color family, which totally works and gives the room a soothing feel, despite its many colors and potentially busy stripe. another idea i've heard is to do the same exact color, just do one matte and one eggshell or glossy...that's a cool idea, isn't it?

the room below is also really soothing- i love the stripes in muted oatmeal and white, especially with the robin's egg blue in there too, and the use of the toile fabric against the graphic stripe.

this orange striped entryway makes me feel like i'm on vacation - love it. rather than using a contrasting pattern like the toile above, i sort of love how the couch is upholstered in a matching awning stripe to the wall. it's playful and fun.

here are a few in yellow, which i think is a great way to use such a vibrant color without overdoing it or having to wear sunglasses inside. the light totally bounces off these walls, but the interplay of the white and yellow tempers it just enough.

and look how unexpected and cool the ceiling here is. impossibly cool baby's room, btw (of course it's in the home of the painfully stylish jenna lyons).

here, in a more traditionally appointed nursery, turquoise and white stripes make an appearance and totally wake up the space. i love all the other punches of color mixed in here and how they play with the stripe.

and of course, black and white is always a classic combination in anything. check out the ceiling on the last picture here!

our downstairs powder room is screaming out to be spruced up but i don't want to paint it a solid color...i toyed with wallpaper, and i'm still considering it. but these stripes look pretty good...

photos from mrs. jones painted finishes, materialgirlsblog, hgtv, house to home uk, darling savage, in my house, apartment therapy, annechovie, lonny, apartment therapy

writing on the wall

isn't this such a special, different idea? it's an inscribed glass shower enclosure, found in a home by swiss architects felber szèlpal architekten. yes please!

if i were to have a shower like this, i know exactly what i'd want inscribed. it's an apache blessing that i first discovered through the jewelry of jeanine payer, which you might remember from a post i did a while back. here is what it says:

may the sun bring you new energy by day
may the moon softly restore you by night
may the rain wash away your worries
may the breeze blow new strength into your being
may you walk gently through the world and know its beauty all the days of your life

wouldn't that be a nice sentiment to begin and end your days with? in connection to the idea of beautiful bathrooms, to me this tops the list. what would yours say?

photo from www.apartmenttherapy.com

pour me

i love the idea of a simple water carafe for the bedside. it can also be such a nice touch in a guest room, a bathroom, an office, even to have by your side as you relax through the evening. it's easy to get into using and reusing crunchy, noisy, cheap plastic water bottles, but carafes are such a greener and more elegant option.

these are some of my favorites from pottery barn (above), and pier 1 (both below). starting at $7, they're a luxury worth splurging on, don't you think?

photos from linked sites

do not disturb

one of my readers forever changed the way i look at bathrooms (thank you ester!) by telling me something her grandmother said - that bathrooms should be beautiful because people are in there alone. isn't that such a nice sentiment? it's so true - it's one of the only places you are utterly alone, hearing and seeing things that surround only you at that very moment. it's so intimate, and yet it's an easy place to overlook when decorating a home.




i love seeing interesting light fixtures, mirrors and art in bathrooms - why not, right? and of course, flowers! these are details that anyone can do - you don't need a new bathroom or a renovation, or even much of a budget. taking things from other spots in your home and incorporating them into your bath's decor could bring a whole new life to the space.








for so many of us, our bathrooms are where we begin and end our days in so many ways...they should be gorgeous!

photo 1 from www.thedailygreen.com, photos 2, 3 8, 9, 10 from www.houseofturquoise.com, photo 4 from www.flickr.com, photo 5 from www.filfreshbathrooms.com, photo 6 from www.decorpad.com, photo 7 from www.casacaudill.typepad.com, photo 11 from www.marthastewart.com, photo 12 from www.absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com, photo 13 from www.kitchenbathideas.com

how much is that flower bowl in the window?

yesterday, we talked about some pottery barn bedding that's on-sale, and today, i have to share with you some other great sale items (no, i don't get paid by PB, i just know a good sale when i see it and am vicariously living through honey living readers with shopping money to burn...anyone? anyone?)

spring is like gift season...babies, weddings, and all the celebrations and gifting that go along with them. registries are always handy, sometimes something unexpected and pretty is just the thing. i think pb has some on-sale offerings that totally fit this bill. i love the silver plated bowl above - so lovely for a vanity, a bathroom shelf, or a nightstand. it just looks special.

i think you know how i feel about the surevolution flower bowl because i've mentioned it several times (i reeeeeaaaaalllly like it), and now it's half-price. this is another one that would look good pretty much anywhere. plus it's made in a sustainably managed studio in india by local artisans, so there's that.

i also love the velvet ribbon napkins which i find to be casual and elegant at once, and would brighten any table in an instant. there's also a runner to match. i can say, having switched to cloth napkins this year, it's a really nice change to make both for the earth and for the home - it feels very classed up, even on chili night.

and the set of 12 monthly notebooks is charming and pretty, but would be an equally striking gift for a man or a woman. though it might be a funny mid-year gift, the holidays will be back before we know it, and at half-price, it's a great deal.

on the furniture front, i can't believe i've never seen these chairs before! they're made of recycled aluminum and they're terrific looking, aren't they? i love the mix of influences - the rough industrial look of the aluminum (particularly because it's so matte), and the farmhouse style of the classic napoleon chair. one of these would be perfection at a desk, don't you think? i might even add a really flowery seat cushion to further amp up the contrast.

so often we find ourselves looking for a hard-working piece of furniture that isn't overly this or that, and i really like the metropolitan console table and cubes for these kinds of pursuits. they're classic in shape and finish, but not too modern or too old-fashioned and can be taken in many directions based on other choices within the room. the cubes are so functional and i love that they are easy to move around and play with for different uses. with two, you have two squares or one rectangle, and they can be flexible and fluid, and morph as your needs change, even many times in the same day.


i love the celadon bath accessories...their crackle glaze is so rich even though the cool green color is beachy and spa-like. not all the pieces are still available, but i like that better since i think it's nicer to have one or two items from a collection like this rather than the whole matchy-matchy set.

and lastly, i love the french wire urn for so many uses (loved it as a chandelier, love it like this). it's great as a receptacle for dried flowers and botanicals, but also for candles, and even mundane things like remote controls and small umbrellas - what an unexpected way to find very ho-hum items! even empty, it's very lovely looking.

okay, so go forth and shop! or not! i think it's fun to window shop, even online. sure, it makes for a healthy wish list, but also helps me to imagine new uses for things i already have, and for me, it encourages me to shuffle things around and try out new ideas. what's old can be new again, i've found.

how do you feel? do you find window shopping fun or frustrating?

all photos from www.potterybarn.com