01/31/13

Idea to Steal: {3}

If you love Julia Child, then you’re going to love this week’s Idea to Steal. If you’ve seen Julie and Julia or visited Miss Child’s actual kitchen {now enshrined in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and totally worth the visit I must say} then you know what I’m talking about…

The power of the peg board.

This home in Melbourne has installed a peg board all along their kitchen wall. But instead of hanging pots and pans, like Julia did, it’s being used as the repository for art – including a graphic print sweater. Swoon.

Not only does the wall give you easy hanging storage with endless interchangeability, it’s a decorative textural element in and of itself. It makes a statement before you even hang a single item.

I for one, am loving it. I’d even considering doing a scaled down version of this in the loft – hanging a cut out peg board on the wall like a large canvas and then hanging additional things from it.

So meta. So happening.

What do you think? Would you steal this idea?

photos by Sean Fennessy via here

12 Comments

01/30/13

It’s An All-New Rue!

I’m sure you already know and love Rue Magazine, as we pretty much all do, but have you heard the news?! This week Rue launched a whole new website, Rue Daily. The gorgeous digest will be your new go-to for lifestyle and design inspiration, filling the gap as you eagerly await the next issue.

Just like the magazine, Rue Daily touches on more than just interiors. The site extends Rue’s approachable take on designing a beautiful life, featuring everything from home tours and design trends to fashion, entertaining and beauty.

Here’s an exclusive sneak peek of one of their new columns, that just so happens to fit perfectly into today’s art-focused theme! I’m loving the Professor Rue feature.

This example focuses on getting design inspiration from the work of Matisse, but Rue is giving us insight into everything, from the birth of the LBD, to the history of wall coverings. I call it perfect did-you-know fodder. Cool right?

Rue Daily is going to be the perfect place to get fresh ideas and useful tips to reflect your personal style in everything you do. Because that’s what living a styled, a.k.a intentional, life is all about: making choices for yourself rather than having them made for you.

I don’t know about you, but I’m already hooked. With brand new stories being published to Rue Daily, well, daily(!), it’s going straight to the top of my must-read list. I hope you check it out too.

Congrats Rue on a job very well done!!

3 Comments

01/30/13

Let’s Get Artsy

Isn’t it funny how old trends come back around? Growing up in what I like to call a “Brady Bunch inspired” (read harvest gold and avocado green) home, our walls were dotted with a variety of woven wall hangings. If you’re a child of the 70′s, you might know of what I speak. I loved them then but they certainly were a nod to a certain era in time.

Maybe that’s why I was immediately smitten with the new art objects from long-admired line Brook & Lyn. Designer Mimi Jung has branched out from her original jewelry collection and is now making these architectural, saturated weavings. She calls them textural sculptures. I call them stunning. They’re a totally modern interpretation of my childhood!

And then I stumbled upon Etsy artist Clare Elsaesser. Her shop, Tastes Orangey, sells her stunning acrylic paintings. These paintings, most often of women, stopped me dead in my tracks. And when I combined the two together they suddenly were a match made in color-coordinated heaven.

While completely outside of my aesthetic comfort zone there is something about both works that keep me coming back. Looking again. Seeing more each time. And that’s really how you should pick art, right?

Find something you never want to stop looking at.

I think my work here is done!