Interior Design: White Interiors with Lively Details

It's summer, it's sunny, and the plants are coming in. There's nothing more warming for your decor in the summer time than house plants. Do they have to be over-abundant and difficult to care for? Absolutely not. Just like this minimalist home demonstrates with them scattered delicately throughout for a little touch of life.

Rustic, Country-Chic Cottage

My love of rustic, country style is not a secret. I am not ashamed - not anymore anyway. I blame my mother and her love of the outdoors paired with her love of Country Living magazine for my love of Country Living magazine. I remember growing up and thumbing through it's pages in the small cabin home we have in Wisconsin that my mom decorated with the most well-edited collection of thrift store finds. Now I find myself flipping through slideshows of perfectly placed milk jugs and reclaimed wood walls on their website. Damn you Country Living, you make living in the country see so much more glamorous to a city girl.

Anyway, enough reminiscing. I stumbled across this cottage revival on the website and had to share because it caught my eye with all the things I love - reclaimed wood, teal, vintage charm.

Interior Design: Rustic and Modern Swedish Apartment

If anyone knows how to style a living space, it's the Swedes. It's not a secret, I'm sure, but when it come to interior design the Swedish always have their finger right on the pulse There is a reason that people flock to IKEA every weekend, right? This apartment in Gothenburg is no exception, but usually when I think of Swedish design I think of a very modern look. This apartment has a beautiful combination of modern and rustic, just like I love!

Interior Design: Modern Luxury in Glass and Cement

As is evidenced by most of the interior design posts on this blog, I am not a big fan of modern or simple or clean. Generally, the more cluttered...er...cozy, the better. I just always seem to gravitate towards bay windows and decorative crown molding. I can't help it. It's a disease. This home in São Paulo, however, may have just converted me.

Monday Design: Holy Skylights, Batman!

I've been kicking myself for not writing more lately and nothing keeps me motivated like a challenge, so thank you to everyone that's doubted me. This post is for you. Without further ado, I bring you this week's edition of Monday Design: Holy Skylights, Batman!

Let's talk about how much I love light for a little bit, shall we? I LOVE light. Like, a LOT. I lived in a basement for about 4 years, so nothing is more precious to me now than daylight. It's the main reason I have a tough time deciding to leave my current apartment because I have windows in every room and a skylight in the bathroom! Can I just tell you that going to pee with the morning sun filtering in through the ceiling is a magical experience. It's really brought on a new love of skylights, which is why this property caught my eye.

Monday Design: Barn Renovation

Phew. It's been a long time since I've been sitting here typing on this blog. Life likes to take your plans and spin them out of control, huh? I'm settling into a new job and summer is winding down, so I think now is a good time to come back to blogging.

With life spinning faster and faster, I often want to take the time to step back for a little bit and enjoy the simple things. Not that I actually get to do that often, but thinking about it is nice. That's why I think this renovated barn house caught my eye.

Monday Design: The Makers

I love studio tours. Seeing how creative people have crafted the space that they work in give me odd amounts of joy. I think mostly because it give me the opportunity to dream up what my ideal work space will look like one day. That's why I was so happy to discover The Makers. I really can't believe in all my internet hunting I didn't discover this site before, but it's sole purpose is to showcase (beautifully) the work spaces of creative people! There is so much studio envy happening in me right now.

Monday Design: Lovely Sunshine

I love sunshine. Like most people, that vitamin D makes me feel so much better so I try to soak up as much of it as possible. When you work in an office with terrible florescent lighting 45 hours a week sunlight becomes very important. I'm lucky to have a bright, sunny apartment with a back deck so I've definitely been taking advantage of that as much as I can. What I don't have is an amazing sun room in my backyard like this home.

Monday Design: Breakfast Nook Designs

All my life I've wanted a breakfast nook in the kitchen. Yes, you read that right - all my life. I was a weird kid. I have always been interested by home design and breakfast nooks are one of those interior design elements I remember begging my mom for. Yes, begging. Especially once we actually had the space. You see, my mom owns her own cleaning service and has some pretty fancy houses on her client list. When I was younger, we couldn't afford day car in the summers so I would go to work with my mom. Ok so mostly I would play while she worked, but I got to go inside these crazy huge houses - most of which had breakfast nooks. I'm assuming this is where my obsession began considering it was before internet (Right?! I know. When was that?).

Despite my darnedest efforts, we never did end up getting the breakfast nook of my dreams, but you better believe that when this little lady owns a house it will have a big squishy, sunny place designated for breakfast and tea. In the meantime, let's get inspired.

Monday Design: Escape By The Water

This pretty little home is such a gem if you're looking for a space that's quiet or just a getaway location. Even though this home is obviously surrounded by other homes and docks, something about the space still seems serene.

What I Wore: The Long Skirts Edition

So I have to apologize, mostly to myself but some to anyone who's noticed. I've been in a blogging slump these last few months and I just haven't been able to shake off these blogging blues (cue the acoustic guitar and raspy voice). I've been ignoring my Etsy stores too even though I have been collecting cute vintage clothes and making jewelry again. Still, I somehow could not get myself motivated. But now that warm weather is here and the trees have finally started to bloom, I feel refreshed! 

So here's to getting my lazy butt back in gear and not being a disappointment of a blogger anymore! 

Monday Design: Country Home

I think I might secretly be a small town girl at heart. Although I wouldn't really know since I've only ever lived in big cities. I probably would get bored if I moved out to some town where the downtown consisted of 6 city blocks. Unless of course I could live in a little country home like this one.

Monday Design: Gorgeous Garden Designs

Seriously? Spring is still not here yet? I made the huge mistake of putting all my winter coats into hiding when I was over at my parents' on Easter. And, naturally, the temperature dropped to the 30s the next day. That's what I get for not having the foresight to check the weather. Anyway, enough bitching (although a good bitching is always necessary). Instead, I'll daydream. Thank you.

Monday Design: Cozy and Chic Guest Cottage

New interior designer obsession: Angela Free. I have already been through the whole website and now I can't wait until it's updated with the latest projects. Creepy, yes I know. But I can't help it! Free's decorating skills are so soft and feminine, but fun and playful at the same time. Particularly I fell in love with this guest cottage she designed. Doesn't it make you feel like you're in a dream?

Monday Design: New Blog Obsession

I'm on here all the time chatting about my design obsessions and my photography obsessions and my fashion obsessions, but never do I really talk about where I pull a lot of this inspiration from. I am a blog hound and I'm sure many of you can understand that. Working in online media makes it really easy to "stumble" across new blogs and awesome content curators. I can say I have favorite blogs, but I probably can't count them on two hands. Today though, I wanted to share a new interior design blog I found that I cannot stop browsing through.

Monday Design: New York Ranches

I'm typing this from California today where it is actually freezing, but I thought it would be appropriate to have a real California style home tour up, except I fell in love with the ranch in New York instead. Oh well. It totally reminds me of something I would imagine being a California home so that counts right? P.s. sorry for the weird formatting today. Blogger is not cooperating on iPad. The challenges of being a blogger on the go, I guess.

Monday Design: Floor Plans

As drawn as I am to rustic designs and styles, lately I've found myself being really pulled in my more modern and quirky interior designs. Maybe it's because I've been going through the painfully slow process of redesigning my apartment and there is nothing rustic about it so I have to look at more modern interiors for inspiration. Well, this awesomely modern and bright apartment is nothing if not inspiring.

Monday Design: A Dream Come True

I often talk about my versions of a dream home on this blog, in fact I also have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to finding drool worthy homes, so I spend a lot of free time looking at gorgeous homes. However, this one takes the cake for me. Open rolling hills and lots of outdoor sitting areas, a warmth within the interior design of the home cluttered with rustic elements, but lacking no modern amenities. Perfection.

Monday Design: Rustic Mill in Southern France

Will I ever get tired of these rustic homes in Southern France? I think not. This one is a 15th century  mill house converted into a million dollar modern property. Yea, it's pricey. As much as I love real estate stalking, it is also kind of heart breaking sometimes. Anyway, back to oogling this gorgeous villa. The rich warm color scheme and heavily ornate wall paper throughout the house are the perfect design touches for this rustic abode. And would you believe you can rent this lovely villa in Southern France for only $15,700 to $31,400 per week (insert heart breaking eye-roll here).

Monday Design: A Mediterranean Getaway

I guess I'm secretly dreaming about living by the Mediterranean with all this heat because this makes the third post in a row about gorgeous homes in sunny Mediterranean climates (the other two are here and here). But can you blame me? If I'm going to have to be dealing with intense heat, I'd at least rather be dealing with dry heat in insanely gorgeous locations. Well, who wouldn't right? Anyway, this little getaway is another Italian retreat surrounded by mountains, the sea, and nothing but breathtaking views. Forget taking a vacation here, can I just live in this fantastically designed home forever?

What struck me most about the Monaci Delle Terre Nere is how they combined the design elements to keep the interior of the home completely try to that rustic Mediterranean style, yet updated it at the same time to make it feel entirely fresh, modern, and luxurious. The incorporation or sleek modern furniture and the addition of glass walls really makes the home feel expensive. Leaving the walls bare and rough keeps the history of the building and adds a touch of that Mediterranean charm. Perfect for anyone looking to experience that charm without sacrificing even the slightest luxuries. Now I don't mind sacrificing some luxuries to live near the Mediterranean, but this place is definitely a dream.