an october moment

colder weather has finally happened here in north carolina, and, predictably, caroline and teddy have been busy this week after school rummaging recklessly under-the-eaves for our gigantic stash of halloween stuff, as well as debating the relative attributes of pirate, ghost, and viking costumes . . . . and every day, they've begged for me to get everything out to decorate the house for halloween . .  . .  but i just haven't been able to do it.  it's madness, really, boxes and boxes of faux crows and black candles, and all that sort of thing -- and i will get there, but not till this weekend, at the very earliest.  so, in the end, i relented a bit, bought a pumpkin or two, and found a couple of stone ones from africa in my work room.  so this is it so far for fall; more to come, i guess.

so where are you on the big halloween deco question?  all the boxes, or just a few?  i'm not sure yet.  stay tuned . . . :)


ps: what do you think of that bright, bright blue chair?  i brought it home from the shop  -- it's one of a pair.  i really like it.  some brave soul 'redid' it around 1970, i think -- painted it, and upholstered it in white-ish pleather with brass tacks.  let me know!

x lynn-anne

just in case you didn't know: about houzz.com, a treasure trove of design inspiration

i got a message today from becky, who i know from her work on hatch, the design public blog, about Houzz, a site stuffed full of amazing pics of inspiring rooms, with quite a few clever little gadgets besides (try the Buzz. it's fun.)  i'm sort of ashamed to say that i had no idea about Houzz -- how did i miss it?! weird! but, i'm pretty well addicted at this point.  love finding cool stuff that other people so sweetly share.  and i'm sharing some of my stuff, like the recent shots here . . .

okay, maybe not that last one.  you've heard of trendy designers and their 'pop-up' stores, like whats-her-name's at Montauk?  well, this is teddy's pop up art studio.  seriously, i was busy making globe mobiles out of recycled cloth string and old globes, and stringing these flags into a garland, and this table had migrated out of the living room to make room for something else, and it just seemed like the ideal place for a kindergartner artist to ply his craft.  fun.

a new old chair

a new old chair
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

a new old chair

i spent my sunday afternoon painting this old chair (used up a bunch of little paint pot samples from farrow & ball -- mixed together, the paint became a pretty swedish blue-grey) . . . then, we covered the seat in an old piece of quilt top -- it's pretty, i think.

it was a lovely day here in north carolina; perfect weather to revamp an old chair outside on the driveway ~

i hope your weekend was just as lovely.

x lynn-anne

new look

i'm a little under the weather (curse those back-to-school diseases!) so i'm not up to much beyond sitting on the sofa . . . and that invariably leads to messing around and tinkering (as much as a person who is not particularly computer literate can) with the blog, etsy, twitter, twitpic, and everything else.


i like this, i think.  what do you think?

thanks!


x lynn-anne

fairy tale bunny, taken with my favorite iphone app, hipstamatic on Twitpic

fairy tale bunny, taken with my favorite iphone app, hipstamatic on Twitpic

marine screen in the living room

marine screen in the living room
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme
i'm an unabashed lover of the sea and all that goes along with it, and i adore old things, so i'm always so happy to find something really special that reflects both these mild obsessions . . . so when i wandered in to my favorite secondhand shop the other day and spied this amazing old screen, i had to bring it home. and it inspired a quick restyling in the living room -- since my workroom is jammed full of samples and fabrics and tile and treasures, i've put my desk here in our otherwise slightly underused living room -- and i'm always happy to have a fresh, new, and inspiring look in here. i shop like mad for myself and design clients in consignment stores, antique shops, and flea-market-y places; they're where you'll find the unique, the spectacular, the downright divine pieces that will make your spaces shine - and the price and environmental impact are minimal, too.
all good news :)

happy secondhand shopping!

x lynn-anne

A flock of cranes

A flock of cranes
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

caroline's newest cranes.

she's flogging them at our etsy store -- i kind of think she's saving up for something big. (hmm, possibly i should investigate what that might be? a new ipod? a bell for her bike? a penguin???) -- she was inspired by the sale of some of her crane mobiles (thanks so much lovely buyers -- you made her twelve year old day, and i so love that she's getting positive reinforcement for her industry and creativity) . . .

but back to the cranes. . . they are really pretty and kind of uplifting (pun intended :-) and they seem to be super popular now (witness caroline's room going a bit viral on the web). and the legend goes something like this: IF you make a thousand cranes, you'll get your dearest wish . . . . wonderful idea, huh?

So,

really, you don't have to buy any . . . . maybe we could have a giveaway?? tell you what: let's see what happens -- we'll do a random drawing (names in a hat, i think) for fifteen equally randomly chosen cranes from the flock in this photo. all *you* have to do is comment on this post, and let me know your fave crane color. we'll see that you get that one if you win :-)

oh, and put your email address so we can let you know if your name is drawn. fun!

it's an experiment.

x lynn-anne

today's uber-cool thing at our house: the ball chair, shortly after its arrival

ball chair, shortly after its arrival
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

at our house, because of my work, you could say we're on a first name basis with the ups guy and the fed ex lady, not to mention the conway trucking guys and the webb company, and our foyer often looks more like a shipping department than a pretty house entryway . . .

SO . . . anyway, today's new arrival in said shipping dept./entryway was this child-sized ball chair, very 'mork-from-ork' (my kids said "who??" when i made that comment!), which may or may not ever make it to our little shop, as everyone here thinks it's adorable, especially teddy, who's helpfully demonstrating the chair in this snap.

did i mention that the chair twirls, delightfully ?! also, it has that shiny, sleek, space-agey white exterior, not to mention a brightly blue, comfy interior (complete with pillows which are obviously suitable for throwing on the floor, to be used as actual pillows for a passing teenager, as usual, exhausted . . . )

SO, back to the chair: it's adorable and total cool all wrapped up in a round little ball. check back for actual pics. SO sorry about the hipstamatic iphone app thing: i should be over it soon.

x lynn-anne

iphone hipstamatic

iphone hipstamatic
Originally uploaded by lakbdesign/fergusandme

i admit that i am a bit mad about photography in general (pretty much never without some sort of a camera!) and i take a lot of quickie iphone shots (and my three iphone equipped kids are almost as obsessed -only teddy is without one, and he can't see the reasoning behind my 'five year olds don't get iphones' explanation !) so i was very excited to find out about and immediately download the histamatic app for iphone -- it randomly (you shake it) sets up a shot using a software-generated combination of effects you'd get using old school lenses, film, and developing techniques, et voila!

magic! it is fun.

artists we love: studio tuesday

image via studiotuesday

caroline and i are loving the perfect watercolor-and-ink art of maryland artist david scheirer, sold via his etsy shop, studiotuesday, which you can find here.

david's blog, with more of his work, is here.

david writes that he's inspired by his walks along the seashore, and we really love his work, maybe because the sea's a very special place for us, too.

we can't decide which one is the one that's meant for us.  these four are our favorites. 

what do you think?

 

 

image via studiotuesday

 

image via studiotuesday

 

image via studiotuesday

oh, and ps. ~ i first saw david's work on artist amy perrotti's lovely blog, which is here. apparently, david donated a print of the hot air balloon piece above to the (oxfam and world wildlife fund approved) gulf coast fundraising etsy store, which is here.

thanks, amy and david, and other generous etsy people.

x lynn-anne

just in case you didn't know: about papier mache, a lovely online mag

 image via papier mache

just in case you didn't know, i thought i'd get back into writing by sharing one of my favorite online mags devoted to children and family life, the lovely australian papier mache. it's full of stunningly pretty scenes and ideas, like this ~

all images via papier mache

and there's lots more.

and, btw, i'm sorry for my complete lack of postings for the last week or two . . . life has been full and busy, and super fun with our country living photo shoot  . .  . more to follow on that!

happy sunday

x lynn-anne

WolfDreamer: Despicable Minion

WolfDreamer: Despicable Minion: "Minion army anyone? I just had to. I've not seen the movie yet, but the little guys are just so charming. This is only one of them . . ."

okay, this little guy might be just the thing to persuade me to try crochet . . . every kid in our house wants one. LOVED despicable me, and the minions were eternally cute and quotable.