Hey guys, I’m still in New York for NSS (and flying back today) but I wanted to check in with you all. Anks for the tweets and messags asking if my family is okay. Yes, we all are, thank The Lord, but many of our friends and relatives have lost much. I fly back to OKC today, my heart is heavy for my fellow Oklahomans.

I can’t wait to share all the fun things I saw and learned at NSS. More later this week when I can wrap my head around it all.

Xoxo,
Rachel
 

Remember a few months ago when I made my list of things to accomplish this year? Number 7 was attending the National Stationery Show and now it’s finally here. Saturday I’m hopping a plane to go stay with my Stationery Academy roomie Caroline Hull (who is KILLIN’ it this year!) and check out all the fabulous paper action happening at NSS and Surtex. It’s almost an Alt Summit/Stationery Academy reunion; I can’t wait to catch up with Amber Housley, Whitney English, the Ampersand Design Studio girls, Jessica Bishop, Libbylane Press , Jenn Sprinkle… the list goes on and on!

I haven’t been to Manhattan a few years (remember this trip?) and while I won’t have a ton of time for buzzing around town, I will for sure be hitting up the following new-to-me picks –

• C. Wonder
• Kate Spade flagship
• M&J Trimming (I need some trim for our drapes and I can’t wait to ogle all the selections!)
• DreamDry
• Safavieh

And of course I might sneak in a visit to ABC Carpet & Home and Jonathan Adler. But we’ll see.  And hopefully some of my paper peeps will want to go out to Eataly. And Shake Shack. And … well, the list could potentially be endless.

Got any suggestions for new must-sees? And of course some must-eats?

Ok, so the title of this post may be a bit deceiving, as I haven’t quite mastered the picking of the wallpapers. BUT! IT’s fun to look, right?  Oh, by the way, I love all the feedback coming in about the Saarinen tulip table and matching chair roundup I did yesterday! Hearing everyone’s input is always so fun.

We were having lunch w/ my brother and his wife (remember this fab kitchen before & after?) when Simon asked them if they went through the “We Might As Wells” during their reno. You know what I mean — the whole “Well, we’ve gone ahead and painted everything, we might as well redo the backsplash…”  Or, “We might as well rewallpaper the dining room while we’re on a roll…. (no pun intended – ha! wallpaper! rolls!).

And so that’s where we’re at. There’s a definitive laundry list of All The Things We Want to Do To The House that’s now on a shared Google doc between Simon and I. We’ve been in our home now for five years this summer, and we’re starting to get to the things that have been bugging us, like the frou-frou wallpaper in the dining room, or the overly rococo-style wallpaper in the bathroom. Getting the kitchen done was a HUGE item crossed off the list, and now we’re snowballing into other projects along the way.

Here’s the checklist of things we’re working on, and then we’ll chat about wallpaper a bit.

• Hardware for the kitchen cabinets
• Wallpaper in the dining room redone
• Wallpaper in the master bath redone
• Wallpaper in the powder bath redone
• Pippin & Pearl painting for the kitchen
• Wood floors in the front living room and formal dining room
• Order some Fermob outdoor furniture
• Pick out a new sofa for the family room and maybe a couple of chairs (like these from True North Living)

Can I be honest? All of this has been fun! But — kind of overwhelming. And I consider myself a pretty decisive person, but having to make a ton of decisions on things like hardware, paint color, etc., is a brain-challenging experience. Plus it’s expensive, no matter how you slice it. So there can feel like a lot of pressure there to choose the Right Things.  The conclusion? I can almost definitely say that we will NEVER build a house! All that decision making might send me over the edge!

Going to look at wallpaper books is like sending me to my happy place. A friend of mine told me about Kasa, a super cool wallpaper studio in Nichols HIlls Plaza here in Oklahoma City. So I hopped on over to check out the findings, and I was not disappointed. I came away with an armful of samples to bring home and check out. The wallpaper will not be going in the space shown – as fab as it would be –  only the dining room, powder, and master baths. It might totally bankrupt us otherwise, because let me tell you – there are some utterly fantastic findings.

For the dining room, I want a navy or colorful grasscloth of some kind. But the bathrooms are where we could have a little bit more fun. My absolute favorites come from The Designer’s Guild (OF COURSE) but I don’t know that it’ll be practical for the long haul. But aren’t these colorful florals delicious?

And of course there are oodles of metallics, stripes, geometrics – a pattern lover could go absolutely insane!

What do you think? Are you into wallpaper or is it too much of a commitment for you?

I started noticing a recurring theme in my Pinterest boards when it came to inspiration for my breakfast nook in the kitchen redo, and that came in the form of the midcentury classic Saarinen tulip table.  This was kind of surprising to me as I’ve never been into super-retro furniture, but the more I thought about it and analyzed the photos I was collecting, I realized what a versatile piece it really can be.

Originally designed in the 1950s, Saarinen’s goal was to get rid of all the unnecessary clutter of table legs. Thus, the super-sleek, almost Jetsons-like appearance of the base was born. It comes in a variety of finishes and tabletop surfaces, including marble, wood, and white laminate.  Its simple design makes it surprisingly versatile even in more traditional interiors where you wouldn’t expect the presence of something so crisp — but that’s always the fun of design, isn’t it? The unexpected! And the chairs you could pair with it? OH THE CHAIRS! The never-ending parade of chairs!

Now, the real deal will set you back at least a cool $1800. And that’s just for starters. But if you’re lucky, you can come across Burke reproductions from the 1960s and 70s, or you can go with a modern knockoff. Companies like CB2 and Ikea also have pretty great options, although the size is on the small side.  For us, we needed something closer to the 48″ size because we like being able to seat up to 6 people in our kitchen – we got really used to having the flexibility with our previous dining set.

Speaking of the nook, check out my inspiration for the space. While not all of these include the actual tulip table,  I specifically looked for images of all-white spaces with pops of color and I LOVE the direction that it’s heading. I am itching to show you the finished product!

Clockwise from top left: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5

So. Now that you’ve got your fabulous Saarinen table (whether it be knockoff or not – no judgment here!), what chairs will you pair with them? From the photos above, it’s evident that it can mesh very easily with practically any style from traditional with a twist to more modern. But, whatever you do, I can’t say that I recommend pairing them with the matchy-matchy tulip chairs — if so, you’ll head directly into Jetsons territory.

Here for your viewing pleasure, I’ve put together my handy dandy guide to Chairs That Play Well With Tulip Tables.

The Moderns: BERTOIA // EMECO NAVY
The Colorful: TOLIX (SIMILAR) // EAMES
The Updated Classic: BUNGALOW 5  // JONATHAN ADLER
The Glamour Girl: WORLDS AWAY  //  DIAMOND CHIAVARI
The Woodsy Option: INDUSTRY WEST   //  WEST ELM

Ok, there you have it — which one would you pick? Are you into the more modern feel of the tulip tables?

The painting is (nearly) completed and I’m happy at how everything is coming together. Next week we’ll chat about tile, wallpaper, DIY projects, and other fun stuff.

Simon has been laughing at me because of my tag sale – he keeps referring to it as the furniture liquidation sale (EVERYTHING MUST GO!). Ok, it isn’t quite that extreme – but I *have* turned over a lot of stuff.

Next Saturday I’ll be leaving on a jet plane to NYC for the National Stationery Show. It’s something I’ve wanted to go to for a long time, and it’s finally happening. Now to just catch up on my sleep deficit before I go. Because I am TIRED, you guys. All this moving everything out of the kitchen, and then back INTO the kitchen – the touching of everything we own – the rearranging, re-imagining. I. Am. Exhausted. But happily so.

In other news, we’re down to the final two weeks (!) of school. I’m suddenly feeling bereft – Jude’s preschool year is gone. Gone in a flash. And I feel motivated to be even more present next year – I can’t believe he’ll be a kindergartener next year. Precious boy. Please don’t grow up so fast next year, ok? Okay.

The thing that cracks me up about Jude is how observant he is. The other morning I complained that it was hot in our room as I was getting out of bed (oh, did I mention that our A/C died while the house was getting painted? AWESOME.). Jude says matter-of-factly, “Well, then, you need a Chillow!” HA! The power of advertising, right there. Gotta love a good informercial.

Have a great weekend, lovelies! See you next week.

Can I tell you the truth? I’ve never really been into blog feed readers (!). I tried Google Reader (RIP) for awhile, but frankly I love the experience of a blog’s design. So I’ve ignored all of the readers. But that being said, I’ve finally made the leap over to Bloglovin. Won’t you join me?

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

But! They also come in a dazzling array of colors – enough to make any Crayola box jealous. My personal favorite is the Luxembourg low armchair. They’re surprisingly comfy, and I have happy memories of burning time in between classes these as an art student in Paris.  Even better, these are built to last. You can find older versions in the flea markets in Paris, and they still look pretty amazing despite their age.

There’s a pretty wide variety of styles – the tables and chairs are particularly French and fabulous.  Oh, and look how cute the kids’ table and chairs are! The hardest part? Picking which color…

Love to spruce up your home decor? So do I! But before I can do that, I have to move out some of the old to bring in the new. Check out my home decor tag sale happening over on Instagram.  While the furniture items will be for local OKC peeps only, I’m happy to provide flat-rate shipping on any other item. You can leave your email address over on IG in the comments — or you can email me if you’d feel better about that.

And keep checking back! I keep adding stuff all the time –

This week marked my 32nd birthday. And all I can say is, if this is what 32 is, it looks pretty darn good to me.  Simon spoiled me rotten with Loren Hope earrings, gorgeous flowers, and a ridiculously fab Jill Rosenwald bowl. I even treated myself to a blowout at the Lush Blow Dry Bar (gorgeous site – designed by Cooper House who also designed mine!). All in all, a fabulous start to 32.

I can’t believe how quickly the guys got the family room and kitchen all painted! Stupidly I said “nah, don’t worry about painting the trim – it should all work fine.” And now I’m regretting not having them go ahead and paint it too. It definitely looks cream against the white walls. Boo. But! All in all it looks fab. I purchased some fun accessories with birthday money from my parents and things will be arriving over the next week. Can’t wait to show you guys the finished product – and! We’ll also have a fun giveaway from Spectrum Paint who graciously sponsored the makeover.

Got any big plans for the weekend? I’ll be reassembling my kitchen – what a mess! – and having brunch with some girlfriends.

Here’s some fun stuff to take you into the weekend –

Gorgeous handmade furniture at a fantastic price.

My favorite t-shirt from Anthropologie now comes in shortsleeve and v-neck.

Um, I really want to make these. So cute.

I had a great conversation with Danielle earlier this week on the state of blogging. I loved her post on this.

Right before spring break, I was contacted to do some photo styling for an upcoming brand overhaul. The client, an etiquette expert,  needed a series of photos depicting tablescapes to match her new brand identity (designed by Emily McCarthy and Whitney English). They recommended me to shoot a series of photographs for the new website to be launched in the near future.

I was thrilled to get to help out, and the minute I saw the brand mood board, I knew that this was right up my alley. With loads of nautical stripes, gold accents, and contrasting patterns, we planned a series of 3 shoots: a tablescape (worst word EVER), a social scene w/ teenage kids at a party, and a series of stationery/product photography images. I immediately threw together a Pinterest board of the vision I had for the shoots, especially the table settings.

Despite this being for an etiquette expert, I wanted this to read as fresh and clean – nothing too old-fashioned or stodgy. We went for bold gold flatware (I DIE) and fun modern linens. The white placemats were Chilewich, courtesy of Bebe’s (and come in a bunch of amazing colors – seriously, the most perfect modern placemat ever); the napkins were a mix from Serena & Lily and Anthropologie.

Setting up the party shoot was a little more complicated than shooting the tabletop setup. I knew we needed a fantastic location, so I talked to the sweet girls at Green Goodies (remember this post?) and they happily agreed to loan us their space to shoot in.  Minted graciously provided all the paper products and two dozen Green Goodies cupcakes later, we were in business. We had a handful of really fabulous teenage models for the shoot, and these kids were the best. We had a blast in our own little party – check it out!

Bowties courtesy of Plenty Mercantile.

All the paper details from Minted were so cute; those pinwheels were super easy to assemble. I used them as thank-yous along with some flowers for the vendors who provided goodies for the shoot.  Minted also sent some super cute paper crowns, which unfortunately we didn’t get to use since we ended up shooting teenagers instead of little kids as I had originally anticipated.

All in all, it was such a fantastic experience to get to style this whole series!  Special thanks to Whitney English, Emily McCarthy, Green Goodies,  Bebe’s in Nichols Hills Plaza, Plenty Mercantile, and Minted.