Wrap It Up!

With Mother's Day, Birthdays and Anniversaries on the way, it's time to look at new wrapping paper. Really, the gift wrap is just as important as the gift, and I always appreciate a beautiful package, heightening the anticipation of what's inside. These papers caught my eye:
The XO Wrap at Rose and Radish is so cute, and it's in one of my favorite color combinations- pink and yellow. It's the perfect wrap for my husband's anniversary gift.The French Paper Company always has a fabulous selection, available online at Pop Ink. Here are a few of my favorites:
I have a co-worker with a birthday coming up soon, and can hardly wait to wrap her gift in this :
Finally, I love all the double-sided paper from Whimsy Press (via Paper Mojo). I recently selected prints for my brother's wedding gift and for holiday gifts to my loved ones.

Wall Art

Due to the "skills" of our contractor, there is a large portion of the living room wall that was badly taped and textured after the panelling came down. Too late to start over, the best alternative is wall art. Our Tuuli Wall Art arrived today from CB2. Let's hope it does the trick!

Mid-Century Credenza

I know, I know, everybody wants one. If I had been a smart girl I would have purchased mine years ago before they became all the rage. I still keep looking on EBay, but with the added shipping costs, I should really just keep hitting the antique shops here in Albuquerque until I find the perfect one to bring home.

Sitting Area

Our Momeni New Wave Rug is super soft, 100% hand-tufted wool. It pulls together many elements from Art Deco and Abstract Expressionism. The muted reds are a nice accent, also present in our reproduction of Tamara de Lempika's La Bella Rafaela.

When we saw this painting at an Art Deco exhibit while on our honeymoon in San Francisco, we knew we wanted to have a reproduction in our home.

With our deep brown leather club chair and sofa, the sitting area has been nicknamed the Cub Room in homage to the famous scene in "All About Eve." All that's missing is the cigarette smoke, but we will have to live without that!

New for the Office

While my husband was out at the local rock star, CD launch party last night, I tackled our office. We just threw everything together during the remodel to get things working (my husband telecommutes, so a functioning network was priority number one). Since the office must also double as a guest bedroom now that we have downsized to our cool little ranch house, much needs to be done. Our first house guests arrive at the end of May, so it was time to get serious. I'll leave the wiring and network configuration up to my husband. For my part I've got to make two desks and chairs, filing cabinets, shelving and our futon sofa work in the 12'x12' space.

Instead of reinstalling the 70's sliding closet doors (those things always come off the tracks) we went with heavy duty draperies. The closet contains the usual coats and clothes, but also shelving for our printers and one computer. We went with the Ogee panels in Natural/Green.

Things on wheels will be critical when it comes time to transform the office into livable guest quarters. I finally found a file cabinet on wheels that was affordable and fits with the overall design of the room. I also got a new chair for my desk, again- small profile and wheels.
To hide the large eyesore that is the electrical panel box, we went with an Inhabit Wall Slat in Summer Grass. Because it runs almost the entire length of the wall, it doesn't look like we're trying to hide something, and it still allows easy access if we need to trip the breaker.And while we're at Inhabit, let's add a couple of pillows for the futon to help pull the entire look together:

Bookshelf

All of these titles have been extremely helpful as a design resource, and are necessary from an historical perspective. I pull one or more off of the bookshelf at least once a week, sometimes just for the entertainment value alone (and because I'm still dreaming of things for our home).

SFMOMA

Today as I was working on plans for my husband's birthday and our wedding anniversary (June 8th and 12th, respectively), I thought about our wedding in Northern California. One thing lead to another and I found myself wanting to visit SFMOMA again. Since that trip isn't in the cards just now, I'll have to settle for a visit to the SFMOMA online shop! Maybe I can make a list for my husband and convince him to stop by on his next business trip to the Bay Area....These darling SFMOMA compacts are just the thing that every lady needs. I need one for my purse, one to keep in the glove compartment of the car, one for my desk at work, and so on.

I love the elemental nature of the Bubbles collection by Susan Kinzig. The jewelry in this series manages to be both whimsical and mechanical at the same time.
It might take some getting used to, but I like the idea presented by the Reveal Watch: you are always in the present.The Supernatural Chair would be perfect for the screen house: lightweight, stackable and comfortable. The pale green color is a plus.Not much to look at, right? But seriously, this would be about the most useful thing I could ever own. This HOLD cookbook page holder would be used almost every day, and is something I wish I had every time I lay one of my cookbooks on the counter and have to hold it down with my elbow to avoid a horrid, floury mess.

What's new @CB2?

What I could really use more than anything in the office is a filing cabinet on wheels! The Trig File Cabinet is perfectly affordable, and I like that it has two smaller drawers in addition to the larger one for hanging files. The powder blue softens the overall industrial look.

Who wants to carry heavy plates down to the screen house? Why throw away paper plates every evening? These Taro Plates illustrate why melamine is all the rage again. At these prices you can stock up for your biggest summer party.

This Latvassa Korkealla wall hanging by Marimekko would brighten things up this spring. The crisp, vivid green reflects the new leaves sprouting outside. Secured by brushed aluminum rails, this piece is interchangeable with other Marimekko wall hangings.

Athought I'd probably never use this Bicycle Basket on my bike, it would be a great way to show off all my organization in the office.

Underfoot

When we bought our home in July it was hard to overlook the 25 year-old shag carpet. In fact, the entire interior of the home was a case study in visualization. The entire home, floor to ceiling, was completely gutted. The good news, our marriage survived! Let's start with what replaced all of that disgusting old carpet. With the exception of our two bathrooms, we chose to floor the entire house in bamboo:This Bamboo from IFloor will hold up as good or better than most hardwoods and really gives the open house a clean, light feel. There are plenty of natural variations in the bamboo for depth and texture. We couldn't be more pleased with this affordable, sustainable floor. For sound absorption and color accent we chose FLOR modular carpet tiles. Why wasn't this invented sooner? With three dogs running in and out, the FLOR tiles are perfect for easy cleaning and quick changes. If we get tired of a color choice or design, they are easily swapped out for another tile. We chose the Fedora tiles for their felt softness and rich colors.For our two bathrooms we chose interlocking Mosaic Tiles. We love the varied surface of these natural stones from Indonesia. Here are some examples of the choices available:With the exception of the FLOR carpet tiles we had already picked out our flooring prior to moving in and beginning the remodel. We were able to get free samples of both the bamboo and mosaic tiles, and ordered them online once we made our choices. We both feel that being able to order online is much more stress-free than spending the day at a big box retail store, and much more affordable than visiting a custom flooring center. Once we moved everything into place we were able to order the appropriate FLOR carpet tiles to pull the entire space together. In every case, dealing with an online retailer was very successful during our remodel. To contrast, in almost every case, dealing with Home Depot and Lowe's was a nightmare. But that's another story. We absolutely love our flooring and look forward to many, many years in our "new" home.

Outdoor Living

The flowers are blooming, the hummingbirds are gathering at the feeders, and spring yard clean up is underway. We've been dining out in the screen house a few times already, and this has me thinking about new outdoor furniture. What we have is just fine, but in a perfect world, I'd love to be dining and lounging on these:

Graphic Tee's

Here are some great graphic T-shirts I've gotten for my husband in the past few months. Being nearly 40, wearing them makes him feel like a kid again (which he really is at heart).

Horse Skeleton Tee
Stingray T-Shirt
Signature Owl T-Shirt

New at Elsewares

Just got an email from Elswares highlighting lots of new items for Spring. What looks good?

Sun Jars

Tulip Coasters

PXR-5 EL Watch

Clocky