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Oh Baby! | Inspiration, RH style

I must admit that I have never been one for “buying it all in one place,” whatever “it” happens to be. I love a space that feels like it has been curated over time {thus the name of this blog}. But I have been so surprised and delighted with the new RH Baby & Child collection that I thought I would experiment a bit and design a mood board using exclusively RH Baby & Child furnishings.

Before I share that with you, though, you have to take a good look at these images from the stunning RH Baby & Child Gallery in Corte Madera, California. No doubt these photographs will give you some idea as to why I felt that playing with an all-in-one solution might just work.

Pretty much totally gorgeous, right? And these images really are just a taste of the full collection.

There were about a dozen or more directions I could have gone with this mood board design, but I decided to start with what will be the most important piece of furniture in the space for me. No, not the crib…any guesses? Well, since I need to keep writing this post before you can answer, I will tell you. It’s the chair. This mama knows from experience that many, many an hour will be spent gently rocking in this room, and so the chair will be my throne of comfort and peace, so to speak. Translation? It needs to be seriously, unquestionably comfortable. I have yet to do the “tushie test,” but I’d say this RH Baby & Child chair is already written in ink on my wish list.

Here’s what I  l – o – v – e  about it:

* It’s a modern classic – a wingback with clean lines and no stuffiness in it’s simplicity, and yet a gentle formality that feels very welcoming.

* It is slipcovered. Even better, you can choose to have it slipcovered in the Perennials Textured Linen Weave  {as above in Sand} which is an indoor/outdoor fabric. Translation: if the babe spits up or the diaper fails as an adequate containment unit for a Bangkok blow-out, this chair can be cleaned. Easily. And the indoor/outdoor fabric will be more likely to repel moisture and stains. When you take “pretty,” add comfortable, and up the ante with practical and functional, I’m totally in!

* You have the option of ordering the seat cushion as down filled. When I think about the many bleary-eyed nights ahead that will be spent sitting up and feeding the little bean, the idea of a down pillow for my tush sounds about right.

* This chair is interesting enough that it can transition into another room of the house quite easily, making it a sensible investment.

* It swivels and glides. So when I drop {or, more than likely, when the little cherub throws} that board book just a bit behind me while we are reading, I won’t totally put my back out when I turn around to get it! I’ll just gently swivel the chair and voilà! As we were.

So working from the chair out {my version of “from the ground up” for this nursery} here is the RH Baby & Child inspired room I’ve pulled together.

I chose to go with a very soothing and gender neutral colour palette when I pulled this together, and have since found out that we are having…. {drum roll please} ….a BOY!!! I truly feel that this nursery could work just as well for a girl with a few touches of blush and lace and loveliness thrown in for good measure, but that said, I find it interesting that this design plan does work particularly well for a boy. Perhaps my instincts were already pointing me in that direction before we knew for sure? It’s fun to think so.

I have to point out the details on one more piece of furniture from this design plan that I really do love, and that is the crib. Not only does it look beautiful in its original state, but it converts into a very classic and – dare I say handsome – toddler day bed for when the comes.

I do so love it when form and function meet like this! In an age of waste, I am increasingly passionate about seeing furniture pieces designed to be adaptable such that they get a lot more life lived in them before they get passed on. Well done, RH. Well done.

There you have it! My take on a gender-neutral, totally RH Baby & Child nursery design. It will be fund to see where inspiration take us as I hear from more friends on their take on the dream nursery. What pieces from this collection do you love the most?

xo
s.

By |August 21st, 2013|3 Comments

The Curated Collection | Oliver Jeffers

My first introduction to today’s artists was in fact not through his fine art, but actually through a beautifully illustrated and imaginatively written children’s book. As a mother who is passionately interested in feeding my son’s expanding imagination, I am always on the hunt for quirky, humorous and beautifully illustrated books. One of our favourite and most memorable books thus far is a delightfully unusual story from Oliver Jeffers.

Having read this book to Noah many a night before bed, I knew the unusual and engaging story was thoroughly lodged in his happy little head. But what I didn’t know was that he had also taken note of the author’s memorable name and {at the age of 3 or 4} had tucked it away for future reference.

One day, while sitting on a lovely sofa in an Anthropologie store waiting with his dad while I tried on some clothes in the fitting room, Noah announced “Dad, do you know who designed this piece of furniture we’re sitting on?” “No, I don’t, Noah! Who?” replied Graham. “It was designed by Olifer Jeffer Clelands.” Graham and I both laughed to the point of tears with delight at our little boy’s imagination in that moment.

Yes, Noah’s toddler-esque divergent thinking had elaborated on Oliver Jeffers’ name just slightly, but I think even more wonderful than that was the fact that he realized there are creative people in the world who design wonderful things, and Oliver Jeffers was most certainly one of them.

Not only an author and illustrator of wonderful children’s books {which I hope to collect in full!}, Oliver Jeffers is also a daringly quirky and fascinating visual artist. His paintings feel like a secret passageway into his imagination, a place where I find myself smiling broadly and wondering greatly at the world through Jeffers‘ lens.

There is, of course, an illustrative quality that threads throughout all of his work, and it is one of the things I most adore about Oliver’s art. The illustrative details {such as the measurements in his “Measuring Land and Sea” series} add to my interest in understanding just how Jeffers sees the world.
 

I hope Oliver’s humourous, quirky and delightful sensibilities have become an invitation for you to view the world around you with wider, more child-like eyes. And I hope his work {and Noah’s little story} put a smile on your face today.

xo
s.

By |August 19th, 2013|0 Comments

Design Find | Kelly Wearstler Fabrics + Wallcoverings for Groundworks

I have a confession to make. I have a girl-designer-crush on Kelly Wearstler. It’s been a real thing for a few years now. Why? She’s fierce, she’s sexy, she’s bold, she’s the embodiment of luxurious, maximalist chic, and she’s taken both the interior design and fashion worlds by storm.

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With that confession out of the way, it should come as no surprise that I am head-over-stiletto-heels in love with Wearstler’s new collection for Groundworks.

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An international tastemaker and famed interior designer, Wearstler has a remarkable gift for reclaiming a vintage aesthetic and reinventing it with such an overdose of modern, rock star glamour that it becomes completely fashion-forward, fiercely sexy and utterly drool-worthy. Take the stunning wallpaper pictured above, for example. Reminiscent of the 60’s? Yes. Totally bleeding-edge gorgeous? {bites palm} Yes.

In creating her first collection of wall coverings and second collection of trims for Groundworks, Wearstler references environmental elements {both natural and urban} including street art, brushstrokes, gradient colouring, water and wood. Her lavishly modern aesthetic reinterprets these references into a collection that is nothing short of stunning.

Kelly Wearstler’s work has been featured in international publications including: Vogue, Elle Décor, Harper’s Bazaar, Architectural Digest, InStyle, Conde Nast Traveler and The New York Times, among many others. In an extensive 2009 profile, The New Yorker called Wearstler “the presiding grande dame of West Coast interior design.” 

If this little amuse-bouche of Wearstler’s aesthetic has whetted your appetite, you can get a regular fix by following her blog, My Vibe, My Life.

Better yet, go get your interior designer to pull all the memos he or she can find from Wearstler’s collections of fabrics, wall coverings and trims for Groundworks and infuse your home with some of her unapologetically over-the-top glamour.

xo
s.

By |August 15th, 2013|0 Comments