Brown Bottle Fall Centerpiece

It's the middle of November and we've been incredible lucky to have 3 weeks of Indian Summer here in beautiful Romania. The weekends were warm and sunny and we had a picnic every Sunday. I got home with a lot of fall clippings and wild herbs. Their colors are amazing: silver grey, soft honey brown and subtle lavender - so I decided to use them in a Fall centerpiece.

Let's take a normal look at the dining room table. That's better... The light colors of my clipped herbs needed some contrast, so I put them in brown bottles. The earth tones arrangement goes so well with the glowing Autumn light! I reached into my cupboards for the perfect companions: small brandy glasses in tinted hues, traditional pottery from my country and a tiny brown apothecary jar filled with spices.

Of course, an all-neutral-decor is too much for me to handle. I just can't do it. It may be classic, timeless, effortless and perfectly elegant, but it just isn't my style. So I added a little twist to my brown bottle centerpiece: a kiss made of pink and orange felt letters. Now we're talking!

This little DIY can be made and re-made in so many ways! For my friends in the USA, the letters could say "THANKS" - it would make a great centerpiece for Thanksgiving! For my European friends, you could spell "AUTUNNO" or something similar. Spot the differences in the 2 images from above! You can leave the bottles standing solo, as well as decorate with additional items - either way, the centerpiece still looks great.

Styling tip: play a little with the height of the bottles. Make the arrangement more interesting and invite the eye to travel across the table by assorting slightly different items. As you can see, I used 3 different sizes. Also, play with the height and dimensions of the flowers / fall clippings. You can create the WOW! effect if you vary the bouquets (some larger, some taller, some smaller) instead of repeating the same bunch of flowers in every bottle. 

Brown bottle centerpiece tutorial:

1. Choose your felt in one o more colors. Trace the outline of your letters, using a marker. The thicker the marker the better (felt is not easy to draw on!).

2. Cut the felt letters with a sharp tool. Make sure that the marker outline is not visible on the final letters. 

3. Use a needle & thread to make a chain around each bottle, each one holding a letter. You can also glue the felt letters directly on the bottles, but I like the thread better, because it looks more loose (and I can simply re-use the brown bottles later).

4. Stick the fall clippings in the bottles and enjoy your Fall centerpiece!

How To Decorate With A Super Gourd

Difficulty: easy peasy;

Time to complete: 10 minutes;

Budget: 1 euro for the gourd;

What I love the most: the contemporary look (which is exactly what I was going for).

Autumn is the perfect time to decorate with elements of nature. There are so many round pumpkins, fiery colored leaves, delicate wild berries, perfect pine cones and crazy looking gourds, that it's practically impossible to resist them. You just have to bring the nature indoors! 

Speaking of crazy shapes, I got this plus-size gourd on a September trip to the South of Romania. It looks like a cross-bread between a bowling pin and a wine decanter, don't you think? I decided to make it the living room attraction, but decorating with a huge gourd is no easy challenge. In case you need to decorate with a single gourd, follow a few design rules:

So let's see what can be done to create a vignette for this outstanding gourd:

1. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

Find the perfect spot for your display. Choose a common room if you want more visibility. Make sure that your vignette gets plenty of light and that it's not overshadowed by other decorations in the room. 

The first question was "Where to put the gourd?". My first option would have been the home office, but there already was another gourd arrangement on my desk. So I decided to put it in the living room, where all my friends could see it from the moment they entered the room.

2. CHOOSE YOUR STYLE. 

Should you make a traditional Fall-ish shrine to nature? Should you go streamlined and minimal? The simplest way is to assess your room decor style and to create an assorted vignette.

Even if the classical approach is to make a fall arrangement with many gourds and leaves, I wanted to use the giant gourd as a stand-alone attraction. It also works best with the eclectic style of my home.

3. CHOOSE COLOR, SHAPE AND TEXTURE.

Start with the color of your gourd and work your color scheme around it. You can use a monochromatic, a contrasting or a complementary color scheme, depending whether you want your vignette to look natural & soothing, striking or interesting, respectively.

You don't need to buy new stuff! Go through your cabinets and find items to fit your color scheme.

I decided to use a complementary color scheme, with maximized contrast, for a guaranteed WOW effect. The gourd is green and green's opposite color is red. Green and red would be my color scheme. From this point on, we were down to business. Once I had the plan, I chose the DIY pink/red side table as my base. In the cupboards I found a red pitcher and a red candle holder. They were both round in shape and made of glass, similar in shape to the gourd's "belly" and contrasting with the heavy texture of the gourd.

For an eye-pleasing effect, I added a few items in neutral colors (the lamb and the baby-breath flowers) and  some cute tiny accents (the washi tape and the felt balls).

4. THE TRIANGLE LAYOUT. 

As you may already know, when in doubt use an asymmetric "A" shape layout. This way you make sure that the eyes of the beholder travel throughout the entire vignette. Layer the elements, placing the taller ones in the back row and the smaller ones in the foreground.

The gourd has been a successful conversation-starter, namely because I've made it the focal point of the room. Also, my boyfriend is amused by its shape and size and calls it "his arch-enemy", so the super-gourd is a great addition to our home :)

The Gourd In The Glass Jar

Should I say "The gourd cloche"?

Or better yet "The gourd terrarium"?

No matter how hard I try, it seems impossible to come up with a good title for this post. Friends, this is the big reveal to yesterday's post and its burning question. How to decorate with a gourd that has pointy bumps on each end and doesn't want to stand upright?! It upsets my OCD... So my solution was to put it in a bowl full of gravel. Even better, I put the gravel in a big empty glass jar (recycled, of course - see it here full of paper-whites) and then I put the gourd on top of the gravel. It doesn't stand vertically, but it's enough for my design sensibility.

The gourd in the glass is now good enough to star in a pretty fall vignette. If you're not sure where to start in creating a vignette, click here to see my tutorial on how to make a balanced vignette following a few simple rules. As you can see in the first pic, I chose natural elements and neutral colors for the arrangement. We've got everything: wood (the desk, the blank Russian doll), glass (the jar), metal (the vintage can), wax (the candle), ceramics (the mushroom salt shaker). The whole thing forms an "A" shape, for instant eye attraction. The whole thing is sitting pretty on the desk. So I created a vignette inside a vignette!

Talking about personal history, almost every single item in this pic has a special meaning to me, so I love it even more:

- Let's start with the desk: my dad bought it for me when I was 9 and I've had it ever since.

- The round brown sign was written freehand by my sweet Ana from Uituka, who is a master of typography. Don't ask me what is says, because we wanted to say "Division of labor" but in the end she came up with this untranslatable joke in Romanian.

- The blank Russian dolls are a birthday gift from my friend July. I've wanted a blank set for ages and even found some good deals on Amazon, but now I can't to paint them!

- The succulent is a gift from Sigrid's mom, from the most beautiful autumn garden I have ever seen "live".

- I stole the vintage tin can from my grandma, it was a tobacco box from the 1930s.

- And I saved the best for last: in the last pic you can see my cat Anais hidden inside the desk box. She does that to protect my cards and illustration from fading, right?

Little Mongolian Dolls

Oh, the joy of waiting for spring! And for Valentine! It gives me the perfect occasion to post lots and lots of pinks around the house! Not that anyone is counting - I am happy to say that every time I feel like decorating in a certain way or like using a certain color - I just do it and remain immune at any comments from visitors (or inhabitants). So yes, pink gives me good vibes and energy ;) Nothing better than what could be a great Valentine vignette...

I found the little Mongolian dolls in a thrift shop. They've got traditional native costumes and some amazing hair styles. Their clothes are made of burlap and embellished with silk and wood accessories - very stylish! I've prepared a nice spot for these three sisters, in the home office, dressed in pretty pink for the occasion, with the help of some books already in hand and a fiery pink potted cyclamen. I've had these little dolls for quite a while now, but the more I look at them, the more I love them :)

Turquoise And Purple On The Coffee Table

Turquoise is still ranking high among my color preferences, so I had a little idea for a late Fall arrangement. The result? This turquoise and purple vignette on my coffee table. The inspiration came from two little serving bowls in these colors, that I first used for Autumn fruit here on the kitchen counter. Now the grapes are long gone and I've filled them up with pretty pine cones, hand picked in the forest by yours truly.  A small thrifted purple vase and my out-of-shape, larger than life blood-leaf (iresine is the official name of the plant) complete the vignette.

I really like the way that the black-and-white art gallery acts as a backdrop for the "front row" vignette on the coffee table. Instead of turquoise and purple, I can imagine infinite chromatic possibilities. Too bad that I need to change the art again, when I am ready with the Christmas preparations. But until then, I might as well enjoy this arrangement and pray that the cats don't knock anything down.

I think I also need to make a drastic gesture and trim the beautiful blood-leaf plant. The more you trim it, the more it grows sideways, developing a beautiful bushy structure. I just can't bring myself to cut those tall strains, at all. Well, perhaps I shall do it tomorrow and in spring the blood-leaf will look a lot different from this skinny one :) And on the bright side, I can put the cuts in water, hoping that they will grow new roots, thus enriching my plant collection on the little balcony.

This purple and turquoise vignette was featured at Homework. A million thanks, Carolyn!

Halloween Miniatures (From Headphones)

Halloween isn't gonna catch me unprepared this year. I've got this vintage orange lamp shade to light my way through the haunting spirits. Yup, I just got the little lamp shade from the thrift store and my lamp collection is expanding beyond my current storage capacity. Oh, well, I don't even wanna stop. I am like the Brigitte Bardot of lamps! But let's get back to Halloween: I've got a copper bell to chase away vampires, a little black bunting and an old tobacco box filled with good spells. Oh, now I also have two skull miniatures.

It all started with my BF's brand new headphones. They came with an extra-pair of furry black covers. Of course, a guy could never stand furry stuff on his ears! I was just about to throw them away, when I noticed that their shape was like a thick, fluffy frame. And they were so black... I thought of designing miniature portraits to go with them. And since we are approaching Halloween, I drew skulls (such a no-brainer!)

Given my limited drawing skills and the smallness of the headphone frames, I kept the miniature portraits pretty simple, in black and white. Then I came up with the orange hair, because it's Halloween after all :) I love the little furry medallions, trapped in the spider web! They DO look a little Goth for my taste, but I pride myself in always trying new stuff and incorporating it into my own style.

Happy Weekend!

Happy Weekend, everyone, I hope you are having a wonderful time, wherever you are! I am preparing for a birthday party and I haven't even wrapped the present, so I must hurry now. Perhaps any of you lovely friends could tell me what is that painted wooden item on the right - because it's so beautiful (I got it from a garage sale) but I have no idea what it is supposed to be (?!)

Jungle Kids Art

I am a hopeless thrifter - I admit, so shoot me now! I rarely buy something new, but every once in a while the thrifting fever hits me and I go running around town, hitting every second hand shop that I know of. My storage is full of old lamps in need of some serious TLC, queer tableware, crooked stools and little boxes (which I am gonna restore - someday soon). This time, I went out there and got back with a set of four jungle scenes. There's the giraffe, the puma, the elephant and the black and white zebra.

Until they will get a new use, they are sitting pretty in my craft room. I don't actually like the designs - well, except the elephant family at the water pond, they are darlings and I also love the turbulent reddish color and the composition. Anyway, my grand plan is to use those square canvases for a higher purpose. Maybe a stencil project? Maybe a neon craze? Some mixed media 3D art? We'll see about that.

Meanwhile, I've paired the jungle art with a pink Lucite coffee table and some nesting art albums in complementary colors. Please notice Chagall, my favorite visual artist since childhood <3.... The kids theme works great next to the faux wallpaper. There's something charming about bicycles and giraffes together, I must draw them someday :) And for a complete mix and match, I added a 3D puzzle of the London Bridge (thank you, Roxy!) and a crochet wooden stool made by yours truly. Long live the eclectic decor style!

Lime And Turquoise

(... and a little bit of candy pink!)

I really lost all my patience and I wanna go to the seaside NOW! Why do I have to suffer for two more hot weeks, why? Why do I keep seeing relaxing pics from the Mediterranean everywhere I look, especially on the blogs of my new virtual friends from Spain, Greece and Italy? Haven't they got a heart?! Don't they know that an innocent Romanian girl tries to relax browsing through their marine pics, but instead she just chokes in agony? I will get to the sea and I will swim for three days. Until my legs get cramps and my hands can't move anymore against the deep blue water. At night, lying in bed, I will close my eyes and feel the circular motion of  the waves rocking my body over and over.

In order to calm myself down, I felt inspired to play with sea colors: lime and turquoise. My starting point was this ancient polka-dot box, where I keep my warranty papers from all the house appliances (gotta keep things organised around the house!). My star, as always, is the lovely blue pitcher with its plump belly. The tall turquoise container lives in my kitchen, as tortellini storage. The "tea" mug comes from a previous work place, and the lime one .... let's just say that I borrowed it.

What about that pink azalea topiary? Hmm.... she just happened to be in the right room, at the right time. She spreads her beauty like a satin queen, gracing the light with a touch of her soft pink petals. Azaleas are not supposed to last this long, they usually fade away during the last months of Spring. Anyway, I feel calmer now. Two more weeks. I can make it :)

Peekaboo!

Who's that hiding under the yellow tulips? A Russian doll?

Peekaboo! I see you!

Friday at work. I've got the weekend on my mind. Cannot concentrate on anything. I'm looking around the office in search of a downer. Something to bring me back to earth, you know... It is Friday, it's so true. But that doesn't mean I'm free to procrastinate. Not yet! I've got a long To Do list before this Friday is over.

Concentrate, Meeha! Do your job! Look around you, everything is in it's place. All the objects surrounding you are serious and really commited do their jobs. And so should you. I look around and I see funny stuff everywhere. Play is in the air.

So the Russian doll is playing hide and seek. Peekaboo - I see you!

No, wait! What's that?! A mustache?!

Oh Lord, my Russian doll is so old, it grew a mustache.

I must solve this mystery and rescue the poor doll!

Oh wait, that's not a lady. It's a man with a mustache, trapped into a Russian doll frame. Hey there old guy, where are you from? I think he is from Kazakhstan, the land of never-ending longing steppe songs.

He is very sad, because he is lonesome. I discovered him in a thrift shop, last March. He had a wooden wife is an equally enchanting national costume. But I only took him and left his wife there, on the shelf. Someone else took her and played with her. Now the Kazakhstan man and her wife are separated forever. They will never see each other again. Please forgive me, little man! I had no soul. I'm sorry :(