Saturday, April 30, 2016

SWEET HOME CHARLOTTE: Bananas for Banana & Palm Leaf Prints

The design diva's from Laurel & Wolf  asked me to give my two cents and a Trend Forecast for Banana Leaf & Palm Prints. . .Uhmm, YES Please!! 


My home designs almost always start with a neutral color palette because I am so ADD that I need to be able to switch things up on the fly. Some new curtains, new pillows and a few accessories and viola a whole new space. This summer I am digging adding a whole new vibe to my sunroom and kitchen style with some over the top Banana Print accessories.







I am 100% my sunroom would be even more divine with a pillow refresh and some more 70's goodness with a few Banana Print Pillows. I am over the top dying for these Palm Beach Pillows from Furbish Studio.


 


How about these killer outdoor poufs from Etsy shop Square Fox Designs. For under a $100, they are a steal! Any takers on a white washed screened in porch, some fresh outdoor white curtains and a few of these for some extra seating and design goodness.

Image & Source: Makeup By Tiffany

Make a traditional bedroom fun and fresh with fun pillows like the one's used in this room by Makeup By Tiffany



Design Credit & Image: Not 100% but would LOVE to know!!! 


Be BOLD with Palm Print Wallpaper like this designer! A statement wall like this is all a glamour girl needs. Well that and the Hermes blanket!










 


Hello, best scene ever from the cult classic Troop Beverly Hills. The Beverly Hills Hotel, home to the iconic use of Banana Leaf & Palm Prints.For the record, that's about my idea of camping as well.






Sunday, April 10, 2016

SUNDAY MUSINGS: GRATITUDE






Moments of clarity always come to me when I am the least likely to be open to it. Last September 10th, on my way to West Point for the last of many funerals, and after delayed flights and a car rental experience from hell, I found myself stuck on the Major Deegan Expressway at rush hour. Starving and exhausted, I looked up from a dead standstill to see a billboard sign hidden in the dark sky, one word in bold type, GRATTITUDE. Misspelled (like every word I spell) with an extra T and a backwards E, I couldn't help but smile at the irony. 


Gratitude: The quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation and kindness.

How is it that such a simple word with such a clear definition, can be so hard to practice in my own life. Yet, there it was, my lesson for the day, staring me down from above, so that I couldn't possibly miss it. GRATITUDE. I was grateful that day, to be going to my Great Aunts Skippy's funeral, on of all days 9/11, thankful for her life and her lessons that she left to all that loved her. Practice gratitude everyday, even in the dark and in traffic, and you will find happiness. It's not complicated at all. 

As if my Great Aunt Skip would have had it any other way, her funeral was a clear celebration of life, we laughed we smiled, we shared only the good times. Afterwards, we jumped in our cars, drove up and down the Hudson River Parkway and celebrated on the water with great food and wine and basked in the sun light.