little did i know...

this is a long winded post. sorry.

but house and garden magazine was my first love.

first magazine love.

i was in college and in love.

before domino came out.

then domino came out, still in college, and it was my second love... but more soul consuming. those 2 still rank at the very top of the magazine hoarding love list.

then they both died.

but this morning on pinterest, i saw this image and i almost died.

(not really).

i love it.

i love the hot pink tufts.

the black and white carpet.

the oatmeal walls.

that mirror.

the pale blue and white stripes.

i have decided i'm re-doing my front navy blue room and this is its inspiration:

(i've been "over" my navy walls for a couple of months now.)

so i had to find more.

i had to see the rest of this house.

luckily pinterest said jacques grange did the design bc the link was broken and i couldn't follow it back to anything. so i googled jacques grange pink tuft and came up with this post from habitually chic.

i love the internet, you only have to ask.

it's the paris apartment of prada's mathilde agostinelli,

from a long time ago when it was published in... house and garden!

(may 2006)

the colors are less saturated than the first image and i like the first image better so i'm going with it.

then i kept reading.

look at this girls room.

i posted about it along time ago, here on the blue house bc i loved those bubble gum tufts.

(june 2011)

and then this room!

i posted about it, too bc i obssess over the wallpaper.

(august 2012)

well, as it turns out.

i love the rest of her place, too.

(you know those pink walls and myself are friendly. you can find more pink walls here, here, here, here, and here.)

well, anyway.

happy monday.

it was for me. and this all happened before 6:30 this morning.

JILL

let's talk.

i loved domino, as we all did, and one of my favorite editors was rita konig.

i find her style right up my alley. she's a more-the-merrier type, with an eclectic, mixed, vintage-with-new, repaint, reupholster, and re-use, full on color and pattern style, and i loved her.

i recently found that she contributed to ny mag's blog, the t magazine, after domino. she did before and afters, some major insight to what she's thinking when she does it/why she likes it and why she doesn't kinda thing.

she doesn't do it any longer but i enjoyed going back and reading what she had written. you can do so here, if you so please. i recommend it.

here's her ny apartment that i love for its mix and color.

not to mention that dark pinky inky-purple velvet. delish.

while raving about a friend's beautiful monochromatic place, she said somthing that i seem to agree one million percent with, "...tom's taste is very tailored. all the upholstery is white, as is the fireplace and even his nonshedding dog. it is an incredibly controlled palette; even the art is almost entirely framed in white. personally i am terrible at this type of decorating. my mind is far too scattered and magpie-ish to keep myself to one vision. but for me, with rooms- as with people- it is the mix that makes it work."

love. that sounds like me to a t.

it makes me feel more confident about my scattered and magpie-ish self and style.

even her car is a fantastic orange and unapologetically retro.

her bedroom isn't one that i'd pick for myself but i find it charming and perfectly english, just like her.

some of her other before and afters in her own apartment:

this room she did for a client is exactly why i'm such a fan.

pattern and pattern and color. turquoise leather with a cozy white club chair.

ikat with damask.

glorious.

do you enjoy her as much as i do?

JILL

{images via domino, ny times, apartment therapy, plush palate}

$12.

this project cost me a whole whopping $12.

less than!

my dad purchased an office building a couple of months ago to move his office into. it came with some office furniture... midcentury modern gorgeousness actually.

and then there was this.

it was stuck back in the back, covered in dust and grime.

the original upholstery (prob purchased in the 80's sometime) was ripped in the front.

i told him i could try and reupholster it for him.

he said i could just have it.

so i took it home, and husband gave me one of those looks,

like- why are you bringing that into our house?

picures are actually making it look better than it did in real life.

months ago, i stumbled upon this fabric that was cute enough...

but it was only $3 a yard so i bought 10 yards of it. why not really? it was $3.

i thought i'd reupholster my grandma's wingback in it but i am saving up my courage and strength for that job. so i decided to use it for this project.

it took less than 4 yards to do the whole thing.

but more than a few weeks to do it.

i didn't take any photos during.

just painted and replaced the fabric.

i kept all the inside stuffs.

is it the best bench/setter thing in the whole wide world?

no, not really.

is the new upholstery job better than the previous?

light years.

it was my very first time making piping. it was kinda fun actually.

i used this and this tutorial for help.

it was one of those tasks that scared the you-know-whats off of me until i made myself do it.

made some green velvet pillows for it and now i quite like it.

it's now going to live at my dining room table.

we have a settee at the kitchen table (which is next on the list for some re-up) and now we have one for the dining room.

so comfy.

whatchya think?

at least better, right?

and certainly worth $12!

JILL

could it be...

i have my eye on velvet right now for a chair in our living room. this chair is giving me quite the hard time. i have considered handfuls of fabrics in three different colors for it over the past year and just can't commit.

xoxo

elle.

it adds texture and depth and comes in so many rich colors that give life to any piece. used on a pillow or to cover a sofa or on pumpkins :)...you can't go wrong.

velvet might just be the perfect option. it is such a lush and inviting fabric that gives off a feeling of subtle elegance.

huntin' for the velvet pumpkin

apparently these velvet pumpkins are all the rage! i must say in their gorgeous vivid velvets they are hard to resist. and tossed together filling the center of a table they have a rich elegance - the perfect setting to share all that we are thankful for this time of year.

plush pumpkin was founded in the fall of 2002 by monya kampa. monya's goal was to create a truly unique table centerpiece that would "wow" her quests and provide a feast for the eyes. The response was overwhelming. since then, monya has been reinventing her creations made from lush velvet, rich fabrics, and of course her signature all natural pumpkin stems.

via french kissed

you can find plush pumpkins here in nyc at rachel ashwell shabby chic on wooster, and at j'adore in kansas city. for other locations across the country visit the plush pumpkin store locator page here, or you can visit embrace online to purchase

another source for these wrinkly plump floppy friends is hot skwash by daria knowles based in lake oswego, oregon. hot skwash is a family-run business dedicated to bringing joy and beauty into peoples' lives. Each velvet pumpkin is individually handcrafted by daria, the artist. in 2002, daria came across a gingham holiday pumpkin with a crude stem at a gift store. she knew this could be transformed into something incredible with the right fabrics and colors. after creating velvet pumpkins for several years, friends, family and clients encouraged daria to grow her creative talents and start her own small business.

daria founded hot skwash, llc, in 2008. her keen eye for color, texture, and shape gives each treasure its own personality. working with local farmers, hot skwash harvests unwanted pumpkin and squash stems and recycles them into unique accents for the home. employing stay-at-home moms who share the same passion for the pumpkins helps connect hot skwash to its roots--combining creative passion with family. to find a hot skwash seller visit the hot skwash website here

or to attempt these on your own visit martha's do it yourself craft page.

xoxo

elle.

photos via plush pumpkin and hot skwash unless otherwise noted