Dramatic Floral...

So my sister is getting married in February and I have been looking around for floral ideas. Here are a few that I love...these are a bit more dramatic than what she wants, but I think they are fabulous!marthastewart.com

veranda.com

real simple

skonahem.com

Friday Art - A Little Change...

So I have decided to change up Friday Art a little bit. As much as I love to simply show off great works of art, I think showing off art that you can actually purchase for you home will be a little more useful.

So this week I am going to highlight a site that Janell from Isabella & Max Rooms showed us earlier this week. It is Better Wall. This site sells authentic street banners from museums around the world. And if that is not cool enough, a percentage of the proceeds goes back to the museum!

I think these are such great way to add a little character to a room.

Its a Wrap...

Okay, let's wrap up my Mom's beautiful house with a few of her vignettes and decorated corners.Thanks Mom for letting me show off your beautiful home! I love you lots.

Mom's Garden...

So today I will show you a few shots from my Mom's garden. Her yard is amazing, her pots are fabulous, it just always looks beautiful.

My Mom's House...

I recently took a bunch of photos at my Mom's house. Here is part one -

More to come...

Cabin for the Weekend!

We headed off to the cabin this past weekend. It was fabulous...We started off having a great adventure on Vashon Island with my Mom and kiddos - that also means 2 ferries - I love ferry rides. Then we headed to the cabin and had a very relaxing weekend. My darling hubby joined us and we were lucky to have his Dad and our niece spend a couple days just having a great time. As always the kiddos are ready to head back!

Friday Art - Japanese Mandala...

14th-15th C., Hanging scroll, color on silk
138.5 x 122.2

Today I thought we would travel to a different time period. This is one of two mandalas that make up Ryokai Mandala or Two World Mandala. This one is the Taizokai Mandala or Womb World Mandala. The mandala is a graphic depiction of the spiritual universe and its myraid realms and deities. Much later the mandala was adopted as a powerful aid to meditation and concentration. It is believed that the oldest color mandala was brought to Japan in 859 AD.

In the Mandala artform five elements are considered inanimate - Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Space. Only by adding the sixth element -- mind, perception, or spiritual consciousness -- do the five become animate. Phrased differently, there is “unity” only when the sixth element is added. Without the sixth element, ordinary eyes see only the differentiated forms or appearances.

image and description from here.

Living Room to Dining Room & Vice Versa...

So yesterday I posted our "Reading Room" on Nester's Price my Space that used to be our dining room. And I thought today I would show our swapped rooms.

So here is our Reading Room/Living Room which used to be our Dining room -

the staircase between the rooms -

and our dining room (used to be living room) - We arranged this room a ton of different ways, and this seems to be the most asethically pleasing as well as most functional. We shrunk the table down by removing the leaves and turned it on an angle.

And we happen to be the lucky recepients of my grandparents piano. It is currently on loan while my Anut and Uncle are out exploring the waters on their new boat. It has history and we are lucky to have it for now!

This is a piece of art my Mom and I created a few years ago -

Before the swap, we truly only used the dining room twice a year and I think the only lovin' the living room received was when great grandpa and grandma would visit. So as you can see, I am a firm believer in making the rooms in your house fit your family. Take a living room for instance...hey that can be a dining room, a den, a playroom...the possibilities are whatever fits your house and your family best!