Spring Sleep

With the days getting longer, brighter, and warmer, our thoughts are definitely turning to the outdoors, activities, and taking advantage of the lovely weather. But as much as we love venturing out of the house, the fact remains every night we come home and head to bed for a good (we hope) night's sleep. So here are our favorite Spring/Summer bed linens from West Elm. They are crisp, bright, and clean, and make us think sweet dreams will be right around the corner.

Island Ikat bedding

Greek Key bedding

Eyelet bedding

Hand-Blocked Mosaic bedding

*Credits: All photography from West Elm

One Love: The Balancing Barn

Elle Decoration

How cool is this house?! The Balancing Barn was designed by a Dutch company, MVRDV and sits balanced on a hill in Suffolk, England. Visit the MVRDV website for more photos of this project and a bunch of other really interesting projects that they have worked on. Of course, I'm dying to know what happens when you put a bunch of people in the room at the very end and tell them all to jump at the same time...I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Happy Earth Day!

Here's some special Earth Day inspiration for you of rooftop gardens in urban settings. There are so many environmental, social, and psychological benefits of rooftop gardens: they reduce the heat island effect, they create community spaces, and they break up the monotonous concrete landscape of a major metropolitan area. Of course, nothing is better than getting yourself out into nature, breathing in that fresh, clean air, feeling the dirt under your feet, and having nothing but trees, land, and sky for as far as the eye can see. This planet we live on is the most incredible place, full of amazing natural wonders. Wherever you happen to be, take a moment today to appreciate it and reflect on the ways you can and do make it a better place.

*Credits: All images from Elle Decoration

Undecorate

We just got this book and have been enjoying perusing its pages full of new takes on the idea of what it means to decorate a home. Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach to Interior Design is a look at how people are setting aside the conventional rules traditionally applied to decorating and allowing their own sense of style and personality take the lead in creating their space. It's a nice idea, and we think there's some great sources of inspiration and innovation highlighted here. Take a peek and see for yourself...

*Credits: All photos from Undecorate: The No-Rules Approach to Interior Design by Christiane Lemieux, published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers

One Love: The Eames Molded Plastic Chair

The New York Times Style Magazine

This chair hardly needs an introduction or description. It's a classic with clean, simple lines, a plethora of wonderful colors, and a shape you could probably recognize with your eyes closed and one arm tied behind your back. We love it, and most everyone we know (and don't know) loves it too.

A Day at the Museum

This week we are going off the record to strongly encourage you to play hokey for a day and go to two fantastic Bay Area museums to see two fabulous exhibits. After a long, hard winter you deserve a little treat! Just tell them it was an assignment from your stylist...

BALENCIAGA AND SPAIN at the de Young

For info on Balenciaga and Spain visit the deYoung Museum website.
 
PULP FASHION at the Leigon of Honor 

 For info on Pulp Fashion: The Art of Isabelle de Borchgrave visit the Legion of Honor website.

One Love: Meklit Hadero

The jazzy, soulful, singer-songwriter sounds of Ethiopian-born and San Francisco-based artist Meklit Hadero are perfect for the bright, crisp, sunny-but-not-yet-hot-and-lazy spring days we've been having this week. Her music is beautiful, dreamy, complex, and a little mysterious, like a flower just moments before it bursts into full bloom, or the sky just before the sun rises. Buy or download her debut album On A Day Like This from her website and treat yourself to some serious Bay Area talent!

Color Fever: Blue + White

This week's color fever is the classic combo of blue and white: modern, refreshing, relaxing, or moody, we're seeing the pair all over town, sporting all kinds of looks. So take a trip into the wild blue yonder and see what strikes your fancy...

Architectural Digest

Traditional Home :: House Beautiful

Elle Decoration :: Traditional Home

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Elle Decoration

Bazaar :: Lucky

One Love: The Happy Place

inhabitat.com

This amazing rooftop garden designed by Green Door Solutions in Japan is officially my new happy place. With it's lush, enchanting mossy walls, the beautiful flowers, a feng shui balance of wood, stone, and water, dreamy furniture, and even a waterfall cascading off the roof and down one of the walls, add a good friend or a good book, a nice glass of wine, some cheese and dates, and it's pretty much perfection.

The Bright Idea

After the last few weeks' features on naturals we thought it would be fun to swing the pendulum to the other side and show you some color. Bright, bold, daring color. It takes courage to go as colorful as these spaces have, but as you can see, taking that chance can yield amazing results. With spring rushing in, there's no time like the present to shake things up and welcome the change of seasons with a daring, new look. So go forth and be bold. We think it's a bright idea.

House and Garden

House and Garden

House Beautiful

House Beautiful

Elle Decor

Bazaar