the haystack needle

anniversary gift guide

Happy Friday and cheers to 11/11/11! Recently, I was asked to curate an anniversary gift guide for TheNest. It was so fun to pull together, and I was thrilled to be included among a stellar crew of bloggers. My focus year was the 9 year anniversary, when by tradition you give a pottery gift. If you're looking for some inspiration on what to give your love, check out my 9 year anniversary gift guide (above, a peek at one of my favorites) and the complete anniversary gift guide on TheNest. Many thanks to Sarah and the TheNest for having me!

Image: Palomas Nest

you can also find me at houzz

If you come here through a Reader or email subscription, you may have missed the Houzz widget on the side of my blog. I'm also writing for Houzz.com these days, and I'm having so much fun being a contributor. Have you checked out their site? Their database of photos featuring home interiors is so extensive (something like a few hundred thousand images!), which is great when you're looking for inspiration for a project. I love the organization of ideabooks on the site — and anyone can create their own ideabooks. The ideabooks are basically like collages of inspiration (and the photos are all carefully sourced and credited, which is a nice change of pace from what you often find on the web.)

Here's a recap of what I've been sharing over at Houzz:

+ The colors from this ice cream shop mural (above) inspired a color board of finds in ombre corals and turquoise. 

+ How I organize all of our DVDs.

+ A peek at our bedroom curtains.

+ I can't get enough of neon pops of color. 

+ Art inspired by the movement to eat fresh, local produce. 

+ How I turned a vintage crate into storage for the bathroom. 

+ And turning vintage crates into shelving.

+ Still going strong — chevron patterns everywhere. Love those zigzags. 

+ A color palette inspired by flowers. 

 

Photograph by me. 

houzz + summer drinkware finds

I'm happy to share that I'm now a contributor to the site Houzz! I'll be creating ideabooks of favorite finds for the home based on different themes. Truth be told, scouting the home market for cool stuff is one of my favorite things to do, so I'm thrilled to be working with Houzz. You may have noticed I now have a link to Houzz on my left sidebar, which links you to my most recent ideabook. My first ideabook is a roundup of 20 summer drinkware essentials. ps. I bought that mason jar drink dispenser and love it (especially the pricetag — just $15!). 

Images from original sources: Anthropologie, BHLDN, World Market, and Coterie.

guest post on unruly things

I'm thrilled to be guest posting today over on one of my longtime favorite blogs, Unruly Things, while Alyson takes some time off with her little cutie Wolf. Hop on over to Unruly Things to see what I did with this antique dresser (it's the same dresser where I found those amazing love letters.) 

loving these baby blogs

One cool surprise I discovered after sharing the news of my pregnancy — there's a whole bunch of you (and acquaintance friends of mine) that are pregnant as well! When I was sick in the beginning, I had a hard time focusing on anything — including reading blogs. I also felt super alone and isolated during that time, since it was a struggle to even leave the apartment. So it's such a relief now to feel better and have the energy to read again, which has opened me up to a whole world of baby blogs. Here are a few of my daily reads:

+ Unruly Little Things:  Unruly Things has been one of my favorite blogs for a long time, so when designer Alyson got pregnant and started Unruly Little Things (she's just a few weeks ahead of me), her baby blog instantly became one of my daily must-reads. I absolutely adore all the baby style finds she discovers, and she shares a nice mix of personal posts that have resonated with me. Check out those gingham crib sheets she had custom made from an Etsy shop!

+ Wee Textile: Another designer I admire is Lena Corwin, and her blog Wee Textile has given me loads of textile eye candy to pore over. I really hope to bring natural materials and handmade knits into the nursery as much as possible, as well as sweet vintage finds to give a second life. (What I haven't figured out is how you send that bulletin out to friends and family to avoid the inevitable plastic/synthetic onslaught of gifts that I'm most fearing.) I'm also planning to use cloth diapers, so I found Lena's post on cloth diapers to be super helpful (check out how adorable those diapers are on Lena's baby Eli!). This weekend, we're picking up the baby's crib (from IKEA) — I was definitely inspired by the simplicity of the nursery Lena created. 

+ Bloesem Kids: This design blog is one I'm sure I'll be reading long after baby L's arrival for inspiration. So many crafty ideas, including these dinosaur pillows she made!

+ Making it Lovely: A fellow blogger turned me onto Nicole's blog (thank you, Alison) and I got sucked into reading the pregnancy archives. I'm also loving the idea of doing a monthly photograph of the baby (in the same spot every time) once he or she is here. 

As for other reads, my favorite book that I've read is Ina May's Guide to Childbirth. I learned so much from reading the book, and it's given me this incredible new perspective looking down the road to the delivery. I'll probably read through it again closer to my due date as the birth stories really gave me a great sense of courage and comfort. 

Hope you all have a fun weekend! Dan's dad is coming into town on Sunday for a week. I'm excited to show him around New York (his first visit!), and I'm thrilled to have his help with some projects around the apartment. The list is long!

Photographs: Unruly Little Things, Wee Textile, Bloesem Kids, Making it Lovely

gifted magazine

It seems that this is the year of the online magazine. While I still find the reading format of online magazines rather hard to dive into and relish like a glossy, it's refreshing to see some truly quality content out there. I spent most of my evening last night going through Gifted Magazine. Ez of Creature Comforts is the creator behind this lovely online publication, and I have to say it is simply impressive. There's a mix of interesting interviews with creatives, DIY projects (I want to make the paper mache sailboat!), and a gorgeous gift guide that opened me up to a bunch of new sources and finds (including the shop Redefine Home and their antiqued silver recycled beer bottles, below, that are reborn as votive holders.) I liked the clean layout of the pages, and the photography is fantastic. There's so much to take away from Gifted — I highly recommend a read.

Images: Gifted Magazine

 

guest post: summer entertaining with hooray design

I'm so excited to have Alli Michelle of Hooray Design on board today and tomorrow as a guest blogger! Alli shares so many simple + pretty designs and entertaining ideas on her blog (a daily read of mine.) And really, summer for me is all about spontaneous, laid-back entertaining. Thanks, Alli!

I'm thrilled that Jen asked me to do a few posts about summer entertaining — it's such a fun time of year to entertain because fresh produce is in season, and decorating can be simple and casual. Ever since our apartment days, I've tried to stock our kitchen and decorate our home with items that have a dual purpose for entertaining, and below I've shared a few things on my list...

[photo 1]

+ bottles, containers, trays, etc: I keep a cupboard shelf full of them (recycled or store-bought) to use for everything from serving drinks to displaying flowers.

+ napkins and table linens: A few drawer fulls of these, even mismatched finds from thrift shops, makes it fun to dress a table. Plus cloth napkins look fancier, save on paper waste, and can be tossed in the wash.

+ string lights, lanterns and candles: As soon as it's warm enough each season, we put up strings of lantern lights in our outdoor space. Having it already decorated means we're always ready for a party (or just a romantic dinner for two.)

 

[photo 2]

+ accessories, thrift finds, fun serving pieces: Using plain tableware makes it easy to add in different accessories to change the style or mood.

+ flowers and fresh produce: We make a list and stock up at our local farmer's market each week (and gather what we can from our parents' gardens, too). Definitely the best part of summer!

So that's my ideal list for keeping our home ready for summer entertaining. What's on your list?

sources, board 1: photo 1 + 2, bottle, table linens, lantern, string lights

sources, board 2: photos 1, 2, 3, 4