A Touch of Paint

Clay that is heated, shaped, cooled, painted, and glazed become lovely ceramics that add a touch of artistry to even the most ordinary household objects. Lately, I've spotted quite a few household items that have incorporated pretty painted ceramic designs and it's super cute! Amazing what a splash of colors and patterns can do to transform everyday pieces into something eye catching!

Travel Planning: Copenhagen's Modern Aesthetic

Copenhagen is a very hip and modern city. Paris is timelessly romantic and Venice is a world heritage site with history etched into every stone laid along its century old canals; but Copenhagen in the last half-century has melded the old with the new, Renaissance castles and neoclassical churches share the cityscape with modern housing complexes and contemporary urban design.

Copenhagen will be the second destination on our summer Europe trip and it is also the city I was the least familiar with at the onset of travel planning. I learned that in the last decade, thanks to tremendous investments into city infrastructural and culture, Copenhagen has become home to a fresh wave of extremely successful architects, designers, and chefs. Perhaps this is why Denmark has been topping the charts for the U.N.'s  "World's Happiest Country" in recent years (I mean, great food and great design has always made me pretty happy). Scandinavian design (popularized by Ikea; simple, functional,  affordable) has been integrated into many aspects of the Danish urban lifestyle. 

We will be staying at the Bella Sky Comwell and I am super excited about this unique, modish hotel! Bella Sky is the largest hotel in northern Europe with 812 rooms and one entire floor designed exclusively for women (the Bella Donna floor, no boys allowed!). Bella Sky's double curving towers, geometric facade, clean lines, pops of colors, and stylish furnishings are all reminiscent of Copenhagen's modern aesthetic. Will's research conference will be held at the adjacent Bella Convention Center so this leg of our trip will be a work-cation but I am so glad it has landed us at such a landmark venue!

source

This hotel definitely wants to be the cool kid on the block, and I dare say from the pictures it looks pretty fabulous, but I will substantiate in person come August! I love that so much of the building is made from glass; the floor-to-ceiling windows let in so much wonderful natural light and a fantastic view of the city! When traveling, I think it is such a treat to find accommodations that have a touch of uniqueness reflecting the local culture and lifestyle; Bella Sky certainly embodies the stylish and modern aesthetic of Denmark! 

Snowball Viburnum

I spotted these pretty little puffs the other day at Trader Joe's. I love flowers at Trader Joe's by the way, blooms are budget friendly (earlier this month I picked up 20 yellow daffodils for under $3!) and there is always a fair seasonal variety (other markets seem to just carry the same plain 'ol dozen roses, daisies, and such). These lovely round clusters caught my eye, especially their gorgeous colors, a bright citron green fading to a softer cream. 

I later learned that these little darlings are called snowball viburnum, a large flowering shrub that can produce snowball flowers as large as 8 inches across! The bunch I brought home from Trader Joe's aren't nearly as large-- they are about the size of large button mums, but they were a perfect fit for my new bottle vase. Soon they will be shedding all over our house (much like a snowball, poof! dissolving into flurry of tiny petals), but in the meantime they have been bringing quite a bit of springtime cheer to our home.

Dining Lighting Dilemma

Do you have that one project around the house that you always think about and talk about doing but just never get around to actually starting it? For me, that's our dining room lighting situation (well... there's a few others too but this is the main one).

Our home is very open concept so we don't have a formal dining room but I've always wanted a pretty light fixture over our dining table. Since last year I have been eyeing the capiz pendant from West Elm; I love its shape and the shimmering capiz shells. Then more recently I saw the firefly pendant from CB2. It has a bit more of a modern and industrial feel than the capiz pendant but I love how the glass globes look like big floating bubbles of light. I really like both so I've been putting off making a decision.

Every time Will catches me staring thoughtfully over at our dining table he asks, why don't you just call an electrician? Our recess lighting would need to be re-wired to allow for a lighting fixture to be installed in our dining area, so that task alone has left me to further procrastinate on the project...

Another idea for a dining fixture is hanging mini globe terrariums. I recently got a set of hanging glass bubbles from West Elm's Shane Powers "bringing the outdoors in" collection. I was planning to fill them with pebbles and air plants but I've been debating where to hang and display them in the house. Grouping them as a cluster over the dining table would be a cute alternative to a lighting fixture, and no electrician needed!

source

Those have been the ideas that have been floating around my head since last year...hopefully sometime this year we will finally be able to make up our mind and actually make our idea come true! 

Society6

I recently discovered Society6, an online shop where artists sell their unique designs as a variety of products. I wanted to share about Society6 because often times as a consumer, I come across beautiful and inspiring works of art and design online, but finding a way to own a version of the piece and support the original creator of the work can be pretty elusive. Society6 fosters support for the creative community by making it easier for artists to market their original works and admirers to purchase their favorite designs in a very practical form. I've been finding lots of fabulous decorative graphic prints, unique iphone cases, and even a handful of pretty throw pillows!

I'm really loving that "Up" inspired graphic print by Derek Temple! I am thinking about ordering one for our bedroom. The woodland creatures series by Teagan White is also super adorable and would be really cute for a baby's room (for future reference?) or on a tote bag. And those throw pillows with colorful artwork by Garima Dhawan-- whimsical and playful, I love them all.

Let's pretty up the office!

It occurred to me that my office space at work is a bit drab. I have a brand new bulletin board with nothing on it and just a few basic office accessories that look rather lonely on my large desk (when it's not covered in piles of paper). So, I've been on the lookout for some cute little accessories that will brighten things up a bit.

Test Tube Office Supply | Fabric Thumbtacks | Wood Shuffle Desktop Calendar |
CB2 Tps Mint Filing Cabinet | White Air Plant Pod | Pack the Trunk Paperclips 
| Sand Timer with Compass | Wood Spool Tape Stand

The test tubes office supply set is absolutely adorable and perfect for my line of work! The pretty little potted air plant is low maintenance and doesn't require daily watering; instead a short soak every few weeks in a small bowl of water is plenty for these little guys.

I also found a few items that would look fantastic in our home office. We don't have a dedicated work space at home, but since we have a rather open and spacious living room, we organized one side of the room with a pair of desks, wall shelves, and wall-mounted organizers to create a makeshift home office. In particular, I was absolutely in love with that turquoise filing cabinet from CB2. It would have looked so pretty under our simple white desks and give our space a lovely pop of color. But then I took a closer look and realized that there was extra support built in beneath our desks so the filing cabinet wouldn't be able to fit underneath quite the way I had envisioned.... I was so bummed. So, I'm still on the lookout for a pretty filing cabinet or I suppose we shall resort to a simply functional one and hide it away in the closet...

A pleasant work space can make all the difference and sometimes all it takes is a few lovely little accessories!

Spring Vases

I feel like springtime weather in LA has been playing peek-a-boo. It has been vacillating between warm and sunny to cold and rainy every few weeks. I hope spring weather will finally be here to stay soon! One of my favorite things about spring is flowers!

I hope someday I can experience cherry blossom season in Washington DC or Japan, but locally we are lucky to be not too far from gorgeous poppy fields that burst into colorful bloom in late spring as well. But this year I have been checking the bloom status on the website for the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve, and sadly it seems like it may be a very sparse season... so for now I will be content with having more fresh flowers in the house.

Here's a few pretty vases I've spotted. They would be lovely for bringing springs blooms into the home!

1) Pure white ceramic vase by West Elm. 
2) Interlocking trio vase by Anthropologie. Such a unique design! Would make a great centerpiece.
3) Flower series by Anthropologie. Love the colors and looks plenty pretty even without fresh blooms.
4) Bud vase garland by Urban Outfitters. So cute! Would make a pretty backdrop for a party or shower
5) Laboratory flower vases by Urban Outfitters. Because I love science. and it's rustic, but pretty.
6) 4-some bud vase by CB2. Unique modern design and a great price too!

Sometimes I miss my "flower girl days" (when I worked part-time at a flower shop during college), because I just got to arrange flowers all day long. Some days just don't get much better than that! 

Freshing up our home for spring: Ikea Wish List

I think we will probably be taking a trip to Ikea in the near future. Ikea is a lot like Costco for us-- it's touted to be the budget friendly option but actually we always end up spending a lot of money there, often more than we had anticipated. It's probably because we always end up buying a lot more in volume, so it should still end up being a good value...in theory.

Early last year, when we were still furnishing and organizing our new home, it felt like we were going to Ikea almost every other weekend. Sometimes we would be driving down the freeway on our way to somewhere else and just happen to pass by an Ikea....and we would of course detour to just make a "quick stop". It was a theme in the 2012 catalog to utilize space-saving furnishings and accessories in tight spaces, which gave us great ideas for our city condo.

Then came the 2013 catalog. I had anticipated for it to come in the mail for weeks and when we finally got it I was so disappointed. I flipped through the whole thing in maybe 5 minutes and nothing stood out to me, nothing seemed new and exciting, it was very uninspiring. The trips to Ikea tapered off fairly quickly and now its been over 7 months since we last stepped foot in the store.

This past week I have been browsing their items online again and I actually found quite a few things I loved. Just in time for freshening up our home up for spring! Here's my spring Ikea wish list (best of all, every item is under $15!)

1) Pretty graphic print with hearts and skyscrapers! $8

2) Butterfly cutouts give this piece of art a little dimension $12.99

3) This pillow would go perfectly with our brown chaise and world map hanging in our reading nook/library area $12.99

4) Hanging planters by the window saves counter/table space and brightens the house with a little fresh greenery $9.99-$12.99

5) Picture ledges make it easy to create a gallery wall and display photos and art without having to put a bunch of holes in the wall $9.99-$14.99

6) A brightly colored watering can for our houseplants $9.99

It was hard loosing an hour last weekend for spring forward but I'm so happy about having more daylight now in the afternoon and early evenings. Happy Friday!

Succulents

I've recently discovered just how beautiful succulents are~ They have a modern and simple geometric beauty, like neatly folded origami. I also just love the soft and earthy hues of succulents. I am thinking of all kinds of ways to incorporate succulents  (aka "fat plants" according to wikipedia, how adorable) into our soon-to-be home. Beautiful color, low maintenance, a clean cut modern look...perfect!

via erinheartscourt

Just love how these succulent details add a wonderfully whimsical feel to weddings

via livewhatyoulove and jerryyoonphotographers

via erinheartscourt

via camillestyles

Will once received a nice pot of succulents as a gift but they fell victim too much love (watering). I have been reading up on how to take care of succulents (or how to abstain from too much care rather) so perhaps our next batch of juicy fat plants will fare better.