Can We Talk About Banana Republic?

They have hired a new creative director. Who is BRINGING IT. I haven't thought about BR in probably 5 years (because, let's face it, it sucked). It was all silky tank tops, cardigans, and business lady skirts. And not in the good way. I want boss lady skirts. Remember what happened to J. Crew when Jenna Lyons came on board and resurrected it from the brink of death? And made it awesome? It's happening again. I had that black popover dress in my cart in 5 seconds. I can't wait to see what's in store.

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New House Files: The Master

Things are sort of at a weird in-between stage on the house. Kind of a calm before the storm. Plans are being permitted and things are getting priced. I'm picking out things like brick, doors, and windows. I'm designing built-ins and fielding calls from the contractor husband about 5 times a day. I've had a few people ask me if building a house is hard. It's not hard for me. I always ask them "Can you handle making 5 decisions at one time and not changing your mind?" Or, "Do you care about things like gutters and grout lines?" If you can and do, building a house should be pretty easy for you. If you can't and don't, you can still build a house, but it will take you about 3 years…or you can hire someone to make all the decisions for you while you drink sangria on a beach. Or something like that.

Because gutters are not exciting at all, I've been dreaming up a master bedroom design board. I really had no idea what I wanted to do until the genius that is Biscuit launched their Spring collection. I fell hard and fast for the Bloomsbury in green and ordered the duvet in about 30 seconds. So naturally everything is falling into place now. I'm pretty sure I'm going to reupholster our bed in a light blue to make it pop off the Schumacher linen wallpaper. I also want to do a chaise in front of the windows. I love this slipcovered version, but with a pink tape trim added to the bottom.

I'm also carpeting our bedroom this time. Last house we did hardwoods and it never felt cozy and inviting. I'm hoping to find something with a subtle animal print sort of like the one on the board. A few accent fabrics for pillows and the such and voila!

Duvet / Wallpaper / Chaise / Trim / Dresser / Mirror

New House Files: The Powder Room

I live for a good wallpaper. Especially in a powder room or bathroom. I'm planning on wallpapering the powder room on the first floor of the house. They are great places do something dramatic and fun. They are like little jewels boxes where you can play with color and pattern and lighting. Usually only guests see it so why not go for a wow moment.

Here are a few on my Pinterest Board…

Obviously there is a theme here. Dark, moody, with lots of brass.

Here are some of the papers I have narrowed down from the millions of beautiful options. Seriously, wallpaper is bringing it these days.

Wanderlust

It's freakin' freezing here. Let's all pretend we are laying by the pool here, at Round Hill in Jamaica. This is definitely on the short list of places I want to visit next.

I want to go to there.

New House Files: The Dining Room

So now that things are in gear with the new house, I have to get my game face on and start figuring out what this place is going to look like. How I want it to feel. It makes me excited and super anxious at the same time. We have a fast completion time, we hope to be in by end of August/early September. I'll obviously post actual photos of the house as it comes along, but now it's just a dirt pile and no one really wants to see that.

BUT I have pretty much nailed down the dining room. Again, it makes me excited and super anxious at the same time. This baby is going dark green. With a wall of built-in bookcases. And black cane chairs with velvet leopard seats. And a crystal chandelier. It's bringing the drama with a capital D.

Here are my inspiration images….

I have been obsessed with Tory Burch's living room since I saw it in House Beautiful a few years ago. I love how her blue and white porcelain sings against those green walls. I think my little collection of blue and white (obviously not Ming, because, well, I'm not Tory Burch) will be right at home in a green dining room.

The dining room at Mount Vernon. Martha had great taste.


And here is the design board I put together.

The marble floor is a maybe. It would be a continuation from the entry. The pattern is pretty straightforward, it's just 12x12 white tiles and 6x6 black tiles laid out in a semi checkerboard. I don't know…too much marble? Should I just go wood like the rest of the downstairs and throw in a badass rug? Is there such a thing as too much marble? Do I even have enough in the budget to do it? Is this too many questions?

France and Other Things

Happy 2015 everyone! I'll just cover all the bases...I hope all of you had a fantastic Halloween/Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years. Last time I left off we were on our way to Europe. Well, that happened. Unfortunately London didn't happen (stuff about tube threats and general terrorism things kept us away. Remember all that?)... but Paris did. And it delivered. The weather was amazing 90% of the time, we ate A LOT, we walked A LOT, we drank A LOT of wine, we rode bikes through the streets which was surprisingly not deadly. I won't bore you with a huge blog post about the ins and outs of the whole thing, so here are some photos. Because that's all people care about anyway.

The last few photos are from Chateau Fontainebleau which was flat out amazing. Unlike Versailles, this whole place is furnished and all the fabrics and rugs are either exact reproductions or the original thing. Napolean's pattern mixing was on point. The photos can't do it justice. Just go see it.

Oh, and we have broken ground on the house! Plans are being finished and retaining walls are being built…you know, the fun stuff.

Random Bits

Sometimes I just have a bunch of things that don't necessarily deserve an blog post alone, but put it all together and it's a hot mess of random.

Booked this tour for Paris. It came highly recommended and 

I'm shocked we actually got a spot so close to our trip. 

www.thepariskitchen.com

Bought some art.

One Kings Lane is having a killer photography sale.

Find it here.

Stepped up my earring game.

Shop it here.

Remember this post? It's more fantastic in person. 

Binge watching this show. What did we do before Netflix?

That's all. Told you it was random.