The Philadelphia Museum of Art is actually where I got my first introduction to Cy Twombly’s work.  Ever since, his large freely scribbled, calligraphic-style graffiti has been a favorite of mine.  They also have a Degas Ballerina (need I saw more?)

The photos were actually taken on my Dad’s old SLR that I’ve nicknamed ‘Big Zoomie’.  If you are still using an SLR, you can actually have them digitally processed through Shutterfly (they send you an envelope for your film and within 1 – 2 weeks your images are online!)

Photo Credit: Slipcover Your Life

Today’s color of the day is TURQUOISE.

I love the bright pop that Turquoise adds to a room (if it wasn’t so darn expensive, I would cover an entire chair in the turquoise hounds tooth I found at Mood).  If the images below haven’t satisfied your Turquoise need, make sure to visit Erin over at House of Turquoise (one of my favorite reads!)

Image Credit: 1. Light Locations, 2. Light Locations, 3. James Merrell, 4. Anja Mulder, 5. JJ Locations 6. Hownowdesign, 7. Polly Wreford, 8. Neza Cesar, 9. MayaLee, 10. Lulu Guiness, 11. Living Etc, 12. Joanna Henderson

Today’s color of the day is GRAY.

Gray in my book is THE neutral color out there.  It’s more exciting than white (white lovers don’t be offended!), and you can basically do whatever you want with it.  There are warm gray tones, and cold gray tones.  You can make gray formal, or casual.  You can use gray in modern decor and traditional decor.

AND if the above points haven’t convinced you of grays important presence in home decor, I DARE you to tell me a color that doesn’t look AMAZING with gray?  Fuchsia? Nope sorry, looks amazing with gray.  Brown?  Once again, nope, looks great with gray.

If only there was a Gray Lovers Association of America that I could be President of (we’d do really cool tv adds, like the pork and cheese people are!)

Photo Credit: 1. Anthropologie, 2. Nuevo Estilo , 3. Sasa Antic, 4. Living Etc, 5. Selina Lake, 6. Nicholas Yarsley, 7 – 9. Graham Atkins-Hughes,

One of my top five from a few days ago (read post here) was letterpress.  Well when I combine this with today’s coloring within the lines BRIGHT colors choice, I get Caroline Gardner’s work!  Who wouldn’t love to receive one of these cards or a present wrapped in her brightly colored wrapping paper (I know I wouldn’t mind!)

Today’s color of the day isn’t one color, but all things BRIGHT!

After yesterday’s white out, I was majorly craving pops of color.   I am in the process of ordering super bright yarns, and am adding some of the neon fabric that I displayed earlier this week.  I think my only saving grace when it comes to my own home’s decor is that I LOVE dark grays (otherwise I think my apartment would look like a leprechaun vomited the rainbow everywhere…)

Do you have bright decor in your house? If so, how do you temper the pops of color?

Photo Credit: 1. Sweet Jessie, 2. Design-Ties, 3. Manolo Home, 4. Jek in the Box, 5. House to Home, 6. Slipcover Your Life, 7. Svenska Stylistgruppen, 8. Purl Soho, 9. Neza Cesar, 10. Peacock Feathers

So I’ve entered probably 100 blog giveaways and have yet to win one! Well I’m hoping all of this unused luck is stored up so that I can win the current book giveaway over at one of my favs, bluebirdlux.

Eileen is giving away a copy of ‘Printing by Hand:  A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens‘ by Lena Corwin (which I’ve had my eye on for months!)  The cover alone makes me want to own this book and I’ve ALWAYS wanted to know how to silk-screen (my uncle recently told me that he built my Dad a make-shift silkscreen frame when he was about my age!)

I’m going to try and be a bigger person here and encourage you to head over to bluebirdlux and enter (even though it’s lowering my chances of winning!)

Do you often find yourself referring to SYL as “Oh yeah, that design blog where the lady LOVES dachshunds”?  Have I become the crazy dachshund lady yet?

Well I guess if I haven’t crossedthat line in your head yet, this post might do it in for me.  I first saw this Ipod Earplug Cable Organizer over at A Touch Of Happiness and couldn’t resist sharing it with my (hopefully) faithful readers!  Yes, for the non-dachshund obessed (not sure how that’s possible but I’m open to the possiblity existing), they do sell other animals at the Cindarellagiftshop on Etsy.

Today’s color of the day is WHITE (because we got snow in NYC!)

I’ve made it pretty clear that I will never try to achieve the all white look (just love color too much!) but I can appreciate it’s aesthetic appeal.  I like the clean lines it evokes, and the overall crispness and cohesiveness it creates.  It’s also one of those looks that typically invokes the WOW factor (although a super dark paint color with a pop of neon could also induce a wow…)

Image Credit (from left to right): Channel4, 2. Ravenhill Designs,  3. Design Sponge, 4. Coco Cozy, 5. From the Right Bank, 6. Nato Welton, 7. Alistair Nicholls, 8. Lonny Mag

This is my dachshund version of Where’s Waldo.  Can you find the dachshund in the picture below?

Photo Credit: Bruno Suet

I’ve come to find that the most inventive, creative, and inspired DIY projects come from weddings (I guess you go in to this other zone when you’re a bride; this Martha Stewart-esq brizezilla like zone…)

I recently stumbled upon an amazing pom pom DIY project over at Once Wed (I LOVE pom poms almost as much as I love antlers and globes, but that’s another story). All you need is Chinese Lanterns (see resource list at bottom of post), hot glue gun (I actually have two, one regular and one super hot), fabric (see my choices at bottom) and ribbon.

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut circles out of fabric.

Step 2: Fold the circle in half and put a little hot glue on the center, then fold over to secure.

Step 3: Apply more hot glue to the bottom of the folded circle.

Step 4: Press the bottom of the folded circle with the hot glue onto the Chinese lantern.

Step 5: Repeat these steps until the whole lantern is covered. Once finished, attached some fabric to the metal frame of the lantern to hang.

Cheap Paper Lantern Resources (because you’re covering it, who cares what it looks like!)

1. Oriental Trading
2. Paper Lantern Store
3. Amazon

My fabric selections (thinking this would be the way to add that pop of neon to my bedroom that I’ve always wanted to!)

Today’s color of the day is PINK.

But not because of Valentine’s Day (I am the biggest Valentine’s Day scrooge EVER!) I am currently re-reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and can’t help but get caught up in the Mr. Darcy/Elizabeth saga!  Just love it (if anything could melt my scrooge heart, it would be Mr. Darcy)!  Are you a big Jane Austen fan?

From Left to Right: 1. Holly Brooke Jones, 2. m a r i c e, 3. tastysuite, 4. natzfirefly, 5. Boopsie.Daisy, 6. Chica Schmica

So I’m currently taking the Blogging Your Way class with Holly of Decor8 and Leslie of A Creative Mint (two of my all time favorite design blogs!)  If you have the opportunity to take it the next time it’s offered, I highly recommend it!  This is only week two, but I’ve quickly discovered that Holly is all about lists of 5…

I think SYL needs a little re-focus and I’m going to do it using Holly’s proven method of 5.  What 5 things do I love the most, do I want to share with my readers, and are most important to me.

My List:

1.  Coloring Within the Lines: I love color.  Bright Colors.  Dark Colors.  But Color.

2. All things DIY:  I love re-doing furniture and love looking at other people’s re-dos. I love all DIY crafts including making pillows, curtains, blankets, etc.

3. A Mirror with Memory (Photography): I love styled photos.  Photos of interiors.  Photos of architecture.

4. Artspeak:  Especially hand-made art prints.  Silk-screened art.  Art that you can only see at the Met.

5. Letterpressing: If you can believe it, I actually wanted my own notecard line for a little while (maybe that will still happen, just not anytime in the immediate future).

So my new guidelines (at least for a bit) are that all SYL posts will fit in to my top 5.  What are you top 5?  What would you add to my list?

Bailey, some friends of mine and I went to the Brooklyn Flea Market today.  We had an amazing time!  I found 3 vendors that I’m absolutely obsessed with that I will post here on Monday.

In the meantime, wanted to leave you with some of my photography from the day (as you can see, the building was absolutely stunning!)

Photo Credit: Erin Stanton

But without the hassle (I tried chalkboard spray paint, it did NOT end well!)  The Wall Sticker Shop offers tons of Chalkboard options that are easily removable!  I love the Rococo one, and the Days of the Week option would be perfect for a busy family!

Lot 9 Press prints were really speaking to me today (in the mood for a major life change in 2010, more to come!)

Really enjoying the mix of two strong patterns in this chair, all tied together by my favorite color, orange!  This vintage chair is available for sale over at Henry Road (while you’re there, make sure to check out their awesome pillow selection; one of my all time favs!)

And they answered my prayers with Attic24!  Lucy, the writer of Attic24, must be me but for crochet (look at the color palettes of all of her projects, look familiar? Think neon orange chairs, neon green headboard…)

I bought a crochet needle and yarn a few months ago (September) but never got around to starting again (my mom had me crocheting blankets as a child; don’t ask) UNTIL I stumbled on Lucy’s blog this morning.  She offers fantastic How-To’s, and I just can’t get over her amazing color choices!

Hopefully thanks to Lucy I’ll have some project updates here at SYL soon!

Photo Credit: Both images are by Lucy, from Attic24

Bailey, get ready for your close up!

Photo Credit: Karl Juengel

“I strive for an easy-living type of style that combines the classic New England with the casual Californian. I believe that you should be able to live comfortabley in a stunning home.” – Jill Goldberg, Owner/Designer

You may remember Hudson from a recent battle vs. Wisteria.  Most of you LOVED the Hudson couch and I personally was a huge fan of the sunburst mirror and plaid rug.  Hudson was created by Jill Goldberg, an Interior Designer, who felt limited by the stores in Boston. Instead of putting up with it, she did something about it and opened Hudson (way to go Jill!).