style board: a touch of Christmas {glam}

I happened to pop into a dear friends surprising new boutique, whilst in Durango last week...

Nectar of Durango, a new happy place brought to life by the stylishly brilliant Tracy Campbell, nectarofdurango.com. She happened to have a few lovely white feather trees, which inspired today's post, among her lounge wear and intimates.

Mom has an incredible Santa collection and I currently have a small Nutcracker collection, but I believe I am going to have to start a Christmas tree collection this year. Collections are so personal and joyous, and the Holiday's offer endless collecting possibilities.

This style board leans more on a neutral glam side, yet still comfortable. I couldn't help but repeat the tiger rug from the previous "camel style board", it is truly a fave, and the hide chair from jaysonhomeandgarden.com, love, love, love it!

fab find: seaside Christmas

Yep, you can take the girl off the beach, but you can't take the beach out of the girl...


so lucky for me, SeasideInspired.com exists! I am loving the driftwood goodies; reindeer, trees, wreaths and seashell decor, to beautify and stylize the home not only at Christmas, but year round.

I have never seen Christmas trees on the beach, but I would imagine these are what they would look like =)

I decorate a south of the border fiesta tree for Mom every Christmas. I myself have always wanted to do a beachy tree along with my traditional tree, but I just don't have the space, yet. Hmmm, perhaps next year will be the year...

out of office: Thanksgiving Week

Holiday greetings everyone...

I am with family this week as well as working on accessorizing the new Conrad home. Being that it is a new home and in the country, my Internet access is not readily available, so I will take the remainder of the week off.

Back on Monday :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

TC

fab find...bad day band-aid

I was on the road headed home for the holiday when the transmission light came on in my car...

needless to say, I'm not with my family, but I am with friends. "Ciabatta", this is my friend "Wine". "Wine", this is my friend "Ciabatta".

Now, what car rental do you prefer?

food for thought: big salad

I know it is now officially Winter, but I love BIG SALADS for dinner!


My latest salad obsession came from my renewed love of Thousand Island dressing. Thousand Island was my dressing of choice as a child, Ranch hadn't been invented yet.

This weeks salad has been a mix of Romaine, avocado, grape tomatoes, beets (a super veggie), hard boiled egg and Thousand Island. Hearts of Palm is also fantastic in this salad. I found a great recipe on foodnetwork.com for the dressing and I of course tweaked it a bit.

Thousand Island Dressing

• Clove of garlic, minced
• 3/4 C mayo
• 1/4 C bottled chili sauce
• 2 T ketchup
• 1 1/2 T minced red onion
• 2 tsp. sweet pickle relish
• Squirt of lemon
• 2 dashes of Worcestershire
• S & P

Mix together, add to salad.

Enjoy!

wednesday's interior(s): bachelor pads

A true bachelor pad has style...




because a bachelor wants company ;)

style board: in progress

Still working on the "bachelor" style board...

possible choices to start with :) Rustic meets modern industrial.

• paint: Sherwin Williams, Dorian Gray
• victory pendant lamp, cb2.com
• cody dining chair: westelm.com
• mango dining table: cb2.com

fab find: paper mache bird

I actually discovered this lil guy a couple of weeks ago...

while accessory shopping for a client. He/she, or a sibling, now has a new home and I think I need one for myself ;) Great object to play with vases and books.

Available at westelm.com

friday musings...

Another weekend, another stack of magazines...finishing up October and starting November, hopefully I'll be caught up before I start receiving the stack for December. And to think, today I subscribed to another! "I have an addiction sir"...and a few paper cuts.

Have a great weekend!

TC

food for thought: high today, 33

Personal furnace in a cup...

hand and tummy warmer =)

Enjoy!

photo, the20somethingsociety.com

wednesday's interior: church home

What lucky people Mark and Laurie Ann Dvorak are, great location and great home, a former church with great bones...the great room is just that, GREAT! The ceilings may be high, but the architectural details make a fantastic frame for the low and loungey furniture. I absolutely love the coffee tables made from Chinese ink stones.
Their mix of furniture truly is "timeless". The pairing of this French Chesterfield sofa and antique Indian bed as a coffee table is pure perfection. Throw in the modern table lamps behind, and you have a mix that is spot on.
I prefer beds with simple bedding as to beds with foofy, matchy, matchy bedding. I think there should be more to a bedroom than the bed as the main focal point, and both of these rooms accomplish the simple bed as part of an amazingly furnished room meant to spend time in.

Anybody have a church they want to sell?

photos: Country Home

style board: glam cabin

Winter has finally arrived which makes me think of a cabin with a fabulous fire roaring in the background and even though I am a Colorado Native, I'm not really a cabin kinda gal, unless... the cabin has a bam of glam! Cabins are most certainly cozy, but why can't they have a bit of glitz?

My cabin would be a fabulous balance of both, cozy with the help of the "Bridal Rug" sofa, felt petal pillows, worn leather chair, rustic table and fabulous lantern with warm, exposed light. The glitz n glam would come from the gilded "stump", exquisite rug, lovely pouf and the creme de la creme, mirrored screen (to hide my work stuff). Bring on the wine and fondue!

Would this cabin suit you?

Items used in this style board:

• Stephen Antique Mirror Room Screen, Spruce Pouf, Subin Coffee Stump, all from arteriorshome.com
• Sofa with Bridal Rug, Industrial French Table, both from wisteria.com
• Belle Isle Lantern, obstradingroup.com
• Hugo Chair, jaysonhomeandgarden.com
• Color Reform Rug, abccarpet.com
• Thomas Paul Pillows, various sites

fab find: Coop Tower

I have thoroughly enjoyed studying the latest CB2 catalog. So for this weeks fab find I went with the Coop Tower...
there is something so industrial and French about the Coop Tower. www.CB2.com featured it in a bathroom, but it would be fabulous in many other settings as well. I especially see it in a kitchen with some of my favorite cookbooks, my mortar and pestle collection, various salts in cool jars and stacks and stacks of cloth napkins!

friday musings

It is shaping up to be a busy weekend. Out with friends tonight, hiking tomorrow (taking complete advantage of this marvelous weather we are having), fundraising for the horses on Sunday and ending the weekend with dinner at the neighbors. While yes, we are having one of the most beautifully mild Falls, there is still that slight chill in the air...

which makes this sweater from Anthropologie a perfect addition to the weekend.

For those of you in the Denver area, I just wanted to mention the Featured Event this weekend at Tagawa Gardens, Holiday Gifts for Pets and their People. I will be there on Sunday running the gift wrap table and accepting donations for the Colorado Horse Rescue. Stop by and say hi! tagawagardens.com/tgevents.htm

Have a great weekend!

TC

food for thought: "baby lobster" corn chowda

One of the best things about Fall is soup..

this week's soup was super delish! I had "baby lobster" (aka, craw fish) on hand, so I figured it would be a tasty substitute for crab. I was not mistaken. The following recipe came from an old Country Home, September 2001. I of course tweaked the recipe a bit :)

• 1 small onion, finely chopped


• 1 T butter


• 1/2 lb. potatoes, of your liking. I used fingerling, unpeeled.


• 3 C frozen corn


• 1 large clove garlic, minced


• 1/4 tsp. dried thyme


• 1/4 C dry white wine


• 4 C chicken broth


• 1 bay leaf


• 2 C "baby lobster", lobster or crab


• 1/2 C half n half


• 1/2 C roasted green chilies or poblanos

In large saucepan, melt butter and saute onions over med. heat until tender. Add potatoes, corn, garlic, thyme and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Add wine; bring to a boil. Cook and stir over med. heat until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add broth and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 20 min. or until potatoes are just tender. Remove from heat; allow soup to cool slightly.

Remove and discard bay leaf. Using a hand blender, partially blend the soup for about 30 seconds or blend half the soup in a blender and return to saucepan. Add the meat, cream and chilies. Cook and stir over med. heat until heated through, about 3 min. Season to taste with S & P. Can also top with cilantro.

Enjoy!

wednesday's interior: "treehouse" bedroom

This is the bedroom I was obsessing about a couple of months ago... not sure what to say, other than I love it =)

Photo from "Better Homes and Gardens, New Decorating Book".

style board: ETSY pillow obsession

Yes, I'm an ETSY newbie. As I said yesterday, I have glanced at ETSY once or twice, until now... I am absolutely in awe of the talented people selling their goods on etsy.com, in the Decorative Accent Pillow section alone. I love pillows, they are one of the most amazing accessories in a room.

When I saw the orange Greek key pillow, I just had to use it for this weeks style board. Being that the pillow is orange, I wanted a neutral room that could take that pop of orange. The furniture is mid-century mod, hello, "Petrie" chair. One of my favorite mid-century icons is Frank Sinatra,and it just so happens that his favorite color was orange ;) I brought in some texture, because I love texture and it adds a level of comfort to such clean lines.

I'd like to think that Frank would have enjoyed lounging in this room...I know I would, how about you?

work in progress...

While I have occasionally browsed ETSY, I now can't get enough! This week's "style board" was inspired by some fabulous pillows I found. I had a busy day, well, I had to see Fabulous Cameron at Blondies, to get some much needed love for my hair. I will have the "style board" ready to post in the morning. Hint, it's a neutral story with POP!

fab find: amazing chair

I may be out of my mind with Monday delirium to share this chair, due to the fact that I LOVE IT AND WANT IT...and by featuring it, somebody may snatch it out from under me. But I came across it today on etsy.com, and I think it to be oh so FABULOUS! A Louis XV style chair with snazzy zebra upholstery. This chair would would play nicely in a contempo glam room with any number of color schemes.

You like?