Welp. My interior decorating obsession du mois has elevated to a whole new level thanks to Grace Bonney’s fabulous Design Sponge at Home book.
You probably already know about the blog Design Sponge — ah-mazing eye-candy, home decorating ideas + DIY projects, and sneak peeks into the fab homes of various style and design afficionados. (My only gripe with the site — its design. Which is ironic, because it’s a blog about, well, design. But it’s so cluttered with ads, side banners, “click here for more,” etc., that I’m left feeling frustrated and overwhelmed, like I’m going to click on the wrong thing and suddenly pop ups will consume my screen. Ack.) The book is beyond. I spent the entire weekend poring over it, page by page, a veritable well-spring of inspiration and home design genius. This in turn led me down the rabbit hole of googling nearly every single homeowner featured in the book, and then into their respective design collectives, home goods shops, nurseries, etc. By Sunday afternoon (just before the Super Bowl), I was practically buzzing with inspiration and itching to buy about 349898 different items. Some key items I’m absolutely dying over…
I love the look above — the gold base adds a cool glamor and sophistication to the crisp white room. I’ve source my own affordable pair at none other than Lowe’s ($158):
I think this design would look fabulous in the navy, aqua, and coral guest room we’ve been slowly updating — it looks nautical/symmetric in a way that would play nicely with navy and would offset the feminine accent colors and fabrics we have going in there. Circa Lighting has a stunning collection of sconces, including these puppies (holy MOLY), which I’ve already imagined hanging on the walls of my future lavender personal office, whenever I get one.
I am imagining it as the cushion on a pair of cane chairs or even just framed in huge gilded frames, triptych style, along one wall. I’m in love — the perfect balance of whimsy and sophistication. And it would look divine offset by one of these amazing cloud paintings by Tara Andris ($700). Dreamy.
But back to the matter at hand. Let me tell you — Rubie Green’s entire line is absolutely genius, y’all.
(All of the photos above are from Rubie Green’s actual home. Do you not DIE over the headboard?! Sheeeeesh.)
Don’t you just the love?! So simple and yet such a great way to introduce or echo color elsewhere. The interest in / curiosity about the four poster bed look is not yet quenched, but these are sufficiently satisfying my furniture lust list.
The only hiccup is that Mr. Magpie and I have an aversion to displaying wine/booze — we keep ours in “the booze basket” (an oversized, lidded rectangular chest) or in our pantry. I think that we’re both still reeling from college, when displaying liquor felt like a design accomplishment. I know that the whole “bar cart” design trend is huge right now, but it does not speak to us. So, we’d need to accept that wine would be part of our interior decor for this to work.
There were tons of unique art objects / home decor accents featured in these spectacular pads, and though Mr. Magpie complains that I “only like white” when I decorate, I couldn’t help but daydream about adding these animal oddities to bookshelves and accent tables in our pad: first, this unique porcelain-and-gold skull from Beetle + Flor (exact style below available at Michele Varian’s e-boutique for $348); second, these darling measuring hedgehog measuring cups ($36), which are far too pretty to live in a cupboard. I’d figure out a way to display them — or maybe would separate one of the sizes and use it as a little jewelry dish or something.
And, am loving the idea of adding some more antlers to our digs (Mr. Magpie has a wall with three sets of antlers installed, staggered), perhaps to decorate a coffee table. (Gold — $79; white — $60).
Need/covet/die/want now.
I’m convinced I need a set and have read good things about the line Frette ($65+).
I’ve been dying to own a cow-hide rug for centuries (this one is my JAM, but here’s an affordable style I’d also consider), but a new idea occurred to me — maybe I can get the look less obtrusively with cowhide pillows! {Hi option below — $129 each; lo option below — $25.}
While we’re talking outdoorsy/West (and I’m just realizing a trend between the antlers, cowhide, and now — portrait below), I’ve been bothering Mr. Magpie to let me buy an Eadward Muybridge photographic print of horses in motion. I want the biggest size possible (we’re talking 6 feet) to hang above our leather couch for an upscale Ralph Lauren look.
Pleeeease can I get it?! I want.
And, finally…just something I want — a set of lacquer boxes ($86) to stack on top of each other in handsome Hermes orange.
What are you coveting?