Raised by Design

Month: March 2014

In Like With: Home Fragrance

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You guys. Did you know that this Friday is National Fragrance Day?! Welp, it is. And I know I was hating on March earlier, but it turns out this week has been pretty sweet. First St. Paddy’s, then the first day of Spring (tomorrow!), and then this fragrance biz! Yippee skippy! 

in-like-with---home-fragrance

In all design blogging seriousness though, there best be a National Fragrance Day. Fragrance is a major part of living, in all aspects. Can you imagine if you couldn’t breath in the scent of freshly cut grass in  summer, or bacon sizzling on the stovetop on a Sunday morning? What about never catching a whiff of a campfire at dusk or a squeeze of fresh lemon in your drink? No thank you to that life! (I know, #snobproblems)

I happen to have a very sensitive sense of smell (AKA a big nose) and include choosing scents for your space as one of the most important elements of styling. Every beautiful space should smell as distinguished and handsome as it looks. Don’t you agree? The key is to be subtle about it (no gagging on ‘fresh’ pine spray from the cleaning products aisle) and to stick to one fragrance per space (too many pretty smells at a time = same as a giant barf bag). You want to be like a wild fig and patchouli ninja. I recommend sneaking a scented candle in near the front door, putting out bar soap in the bathroom or tucking a reed diffuser behind a stack of books on your shelf. And for those that are styling au natural, opening the windows for a few hours, simmering a pot of water with some kitchen aromatics (I like lemon peel and bay leaves) or baking a little something (for guests, or not) will do the trick. 

Pictured above and listed below are eight home fragrances that I’m in like with:

  1. Shea Moisture Coconut and Hibiscus Shea Butter Soap – $4.99
  2. Antica Farmacista Lemon, Verbena & Cedar Reed Diffuser – $26
  3. Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Bar Soap in Basil – $3.99
  4. Archipelago Bergamot Tobacco Soy Candle – $24.50
  5. Sabon Liquid Hand Soap in Lavender Apple – $14
  6. Astier de Villatte Aoyama Incense Box – $50
  7. Buckler’s Camp Blend Soy Candle – $38
  8. Seda France Japanese Quince Travel Tin Candle – $9.95

How will you celebrate National Fragrance Day this Friday?

Loveyoubye, Maggie

/ let's link up / 3 Comments

3.14.14

It’s Friday! And time for Happy Hour. So Let’s Link Up.

We’re still getting to know each other so I thought this would be a good time to share some of the things I’m creepin’ on lately:

  • St. Paddy’s is Monday, everyone! Irish lineage runs deep on both sides of my family and I’d love to make these babies this weekend!
  • Gorillas are my all-time favorite animal – this week Radiolab beautifully tackles the paradox of zoos.
  • This should find its way into your baby boy’s nursery, I think.
  • Since we’re on the topic of St. Paddy’s – we should make everything GOLD!
  • Did you say St. Paddy’s?  That’s what I thought you said.
  • Everybody LERVES SJP right?! If you think you don’t…you will. Best interview format ever, btw.

Ok time for that drink!

Loveyoubye, Mags

Small Luxuries – My Dresser and Vanity

/ small luxuries / 6 Comments

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Ok, first off, I want to clear the air. I have absolutely nothing against poor Keanu Reeves. Except for his nasty facial hair, he’s a perfectly charming guy and plus, he was awesome in Bill and Ted’s.

Moving right along, this week I found it a little tough to set aside time for blogging, as you may have probably barely noticed. I struggled to allow myself enough time to even throw on some mascara before I got out the door. And that’s unfortunate, since someone, at some point in my life said, “a lady should never leave the house without at least putting on mascara – you never know who you’re going to bump into.”  Which reminds me…a couple of years ago, while recovering from having my appendix out, I left the house without getting dressed OR putting on mascara and guess who I bumped into on my quiet nobody famous ever comes here Main Street? Keanu Reeves. And guess what? He was pretty hot. And I looked like a homeless gym teacher. So, listen everyone…put on your mascara! (btw, he was filming this movie, which I never saw – was it any good?)

In a time when we seem to be in a constant state of running out the door, I like the idea of carving out one space in the house and an extra ten minutes in our schedules for some good old fashioned primping. It’s a small luxury that can be worked into any space with a little creativity.

When we were rethinking the floor plan at Lil’ Spot we decided to take the smallest room as our master bedroom. Consequently, my “dresser” is actually a built-in bookshelf that we designed into the space when we redid the adjoining bathroom.

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The built-in unit is about 10″ deep and has adjustable MDF shelves that we painted white. The unit handily houses my shoes, jeans, scarves, jewelry boxes, makeup, perfume collection, a baseball hat and a few things I like to look at.  Although having open storage means that everything has to be kept neat and tidy, it’s fun to get dressed when your things are displayed as if they’re in a fancy boutique. I rotate shoes and scarves seasonally and bring forgotten pieces out of my jewelry box to remind me to wear them more often.

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My ‘vanity’ space occupies one of the shelves hung at eye level with a thrifted mirror leaning against the back. I keep it from looking too cluttered with a variety of trays, cups, bowls and dishes. This is one of the all-time best and easiest styling tricks! Plus it justifies my totally unchecked hoarding of new and vintage dish ware. I keep my perfume collection on a vintage beaded glass tray.

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My makeup is tossed in a vintage African bread basket (big enough for me to rummage around in) and my makeup brushes are in a gold-trimmed glass.  There are also some thrifted elephants that might be ivory (?) but they were probably just found on the floor under some dirt and junk mail so I’m not contributing to the demand for illegal ivory, I swear.

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I drape favorite necklaces over the mirror or hang them on a pair of brass scallop shell hooks. My scarves are kept in another vintage African basket. Baskets all up in here.

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Sure, it’s a standing room only situation in a tiny room with a basket of laundry that I haven’t put away yet. But it’s a space just for me, that is entirely dedicated to getting pretty for dinner. It’s a small luxury. And we like those!

March Madness

/ Uncategorized / 1 Comment

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It’s March. Which to some folks means St. Paddy’s Day shenanigans and the NCAA Tournament are upon us and they’re pumped. Which is awesome for them. For me, March is just a long ass month that’s Mother Nature’s last bitter six miles in the marathon of winter. It ba-lows.

My husband loves winter, which is totally weird but has actually started to rub off on me. It’s so nice to be around someone who doesn’t complain every time it snows…in the Northeast…in January…when it’s supposed to snow. But still, this time of year I long for Spring like every other human who endures New York (or Chicago, Boston or Minneapolis) because they thought they could overlook the crappy winters.

Today it’s 50 degrees and everyone’s running around in shorts because their brains are self destructing. Here are a couple things I’m doing today to get a little Spring in my life without looking too crazy. 

1. I’m burning a fancy scented candle with a fresh herbal or grassy scent to make it smell like it’s 70 out. I like this one today: PaddyWax New Mown Hay 

2. I made a smoothie for breakfast instead of wintery porridge. Here’s a quick recipe for two peeps: 

Blend until smooth:

  • 1 cup ice cubes
  • 1 1/2 cups OJ (you can add more to adjust consistency)
  • 1 avocado (yup)
  • 1 banana
  • 1 cup frozen or fresh hulled strawberries 
  • 1 cup frozen or fresh cubed canteloupe 

3.  I’m doing some garden planning. We have a pretty big yard (because our house is so dang small) and I’ve been chipping away at a total landscaping overhaul since we bought Lil’ Spot in 2010. Gardening is HARD! Mostly because it takes a lot of research if you don’t want to waste a whole bunch of money planting things that aren’t meant to thrive in your area. People who pull that shit are probably the same ones who expect it not to snow in January. Oh, and it takes a whole bunch of money too. Anyway, this is the time of year to think about what you’re going to add, move, yank out, etc. This is when gardeners who know what they’re doing pre-order stuff from the local nursery. I’ve made a lot of progress, but still have some big problems to fix. Like our grass, which looks like Keanu Reeve’s pathetic attempt to grow a beard. More on gardening issues later though.

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We’re almost there!

Loveyoubye, Maggie

 

 

Geometric Pillow Cover

/ lil' spot, projects / 3 Comments

geometric pillow

Hi. Last week I made a pair of pillow covers out of fabric scraps. I’m sure that doesn’t sound awesome to a lot of people, but here’s why it is. These fabric scraps are stored in a small pile in my studio that’s part of a bigger pile in my basement that’s becoming a mountain of half-baked craft projects. You know, “I really think I should start needle felting all my friends’ baby gifts. Hm, maybe I’ll take up oil painting en plain air and buy a stupid beret while I’m at it. Those mittens are totes adorbs – I can probably make them myself I just need 8 skeins of alpaca wool.”

Said pile has been growing for at least the last three years and making my husband worry about me. The new rule is that if I’m not going to use it, out it goes.

So I made these pillow covers out of some old samples from a design job and a random piece of cute vintage green tomato fabric from my Mom. Green Tomatoes!! It was super easy and I’m NOT an expert at sewing. I have a beginner machine that my Mom and I picked out together in college from the local Kmart. It’s a  Brother LS-1217, which they don’t make anymore but is probably most comparable to this guy. It’s bare bones but it gets the job done.

So here’s how I did it. After perusing the internets for inspiration, I decided on a simple geometric pattern.

pillow-pattern

Here’s what you need:

pillow-supplies

1. 20″ SQUARE PILLOW INSERT  (LIKE this one FROM IKEA)

2. THREE PIECES OF CONTRASTING FABRIC FOR YOUR GEOMETRIC PATTERN (I used a neutral woven, a black textured microsuede and a blue-gray wool)

3. ABOUT ONE YARD FABRIC FOR YOUR BACKING

4. PINS

5. GOOD FABRIC SCISSORS

6. IRON (optional)

7. SEWING MACHINE AND THREAD

step-by-step2

STEPS:

1. Cut your triangles for the front – one large and two small as the pattern shows. I find it easiest to just drape the fabric over the pillow insert to see how much I need to cut. When you’re sewing anything, you always want about one inch of extra fabric all the way around so keep that in mind when you’re cutting your pattern.

2. Cut two rectangles from your backing fabric and set aside. Each rectangle should be bigger than half of your 20″ square…so that they will overlap by a good six inches (see pattern above). That would mean your rectangles would EACH be about 17″ x 22″. For this pillow, instead of using a zipper (too hard) or sewing the entire cover shut (too permanent), we’re going the easy/non-committal route. We’re making an overlapping fold so the pillow insert can be removed easily but won’t peek through. Like this:

back

3. Iron all of your pieces. This step is optional but highly recommended.

4. Back to your triangles. Take your two SMALL triangles and align the edges so the hypotenuse edges face outwards (what, you didn’t think a GEOMETRIC pillow cover would involve GEOMETRY?).  You should now have two triangles that, together, are roughly the same size as your LARGE triangle. Capisce? If you have to read this step a couple times I won’t judge. I had to write it nine times so we’ll be even.

4. Now fold those two SMALL triangles onto each other so that the good sides FACE INWARDS. Muy importante! Pin along the middle edge and sew along this line. Yay.

5.  I like to iron the new piece so that the seam sits flat and doesn’t cause any problems. Also optional.

6. OK OK OK. Take your two big triangles and lay them down, hypotenuses facing IN this time, to make a square! Fold those two pieces onto each other along that line, good sides IN again. Pin…and sew. Easy peasy!

7. BOOYAKASHA geometric square.

step-by-step

Let’s make the back now!

1. Lay your two rectangle pieces down so that they overlap by about 6″. Just check yourself here to make sure you have a square big enough to cover your whole pillow. This would be the time to adjust if you need to…

2. Hem one (22″) edge of each rectangle. This hem will be VISIBLE so use a thread color and stitch you don’t mind looking at. I have exactly two stitches available on my machine…so I chose zig-zag and used black thread. You could be super fun and use hot pink thread and a fancy pants stitch.

3. Now lay your overlapping rectangles down over your geometric square…good sides what? GOOD SIDES IN. Pin all the way around that bad boy and trim wherever you have extra fabric. You should have a nice 1″ border around a 20″ square to fit your pillow.

4. Sew all the way around…inevitably run out of bobbin thread and struggle to remember how to reload and thread a bobbin. Curse, get up and go eat something, come back and calmly finish sewing.

5. DONE! Turn it right-side out, stuff your pillow inside, and give your cat a brand new thing to shed on.

futon

Loveyoubye, Maggie