gathering spriggs

A Way With Walls

Decorative wall treatments have been on my mind lately. I started a little file on my desktop to store some favorite images when I first came across the ingenious work of Payton Turner's sticker wallpaper art installations. Then shortly after received word of Galbraith and Paul's Wallpaper debut collection. And this week I stenciled my sister's powder room in a shimmery Baroque style pattern. As a decorative painter by trade I love the idea of bringing art into the home via wallspace. Its my playground. Hopefully with being snowed in this week I can do something a bit experimental on my walls this weekend. 

If you are looking to introduce some pattern and want to customize your colors to a "tee" then here is a special wallpaper offer just for you, GS readers from Herisson!! You have to check out the customizable tool to pick your scale and palette. 

 

Code 1: WALLWARNING = 20% off for consumers at the Studio Herisson site and it can be used twice by each reader. The offer is good through April 30. 

So I wonder... how do you have your way with your walls? paint, paper, found objects...??

images: design is mine, purple area, herisson, payton turner, joanna goddard

 

Dreamy Romance: Photographer Christine Bauer

Fleeting worries melt into wonderous dreams. The world is fresh.  A new dawn unfolds like crisp linens. Hope makes it home again. 

Romance lives. Here in the work of photographer Christine Bauer, luminosity fills the void. Ahhh! Deep breath in. Cleansing. 

Hope is alive, and It Is Worth It. 

Thank you!

images: christine bauer

 

Good Reads Never Fade

Do you have favorite books lining your shelves that you enjoy keeping around for good company? Curling up in a chair with one of these dear friends is a perfect way to spend the afternoon in winter. Over the weekend I perused the shelves of a local used bookstore and found these two treasures (for less than $2). Flipping through their fragrant pages, I stopped at the copyright page with astonishment to find these books were published ten years ago! Fascinated by this strange attraction (I rarely can stand to look at decorating books more than 2 old), I began musing over what makes a good design book have staying power through trends and fads.  Well, for me, in this case,its Atlanta Bartlett  one of my current design icons, and Ryland Peters & Small the publisher of both these books:  The Comforts of Home and Floral House. 

Its compelling that each book is filled with light, pastel hues, white washed flooring which seem to put these ahead of their time. Or maybe its my fascination with simple, modern romance and touches of feminine florals that feeds my attraction for these timeless treasures. 

What is your take? Can you read past issues of magazines or design books past their prime? What is your attraction to good reads that never fade? 

images: heather spriggs thompson for gathering spriggs

Sweet Romance

Have to say I am still recovering a bit from our travels and busy holiday with the family. Here are some pretties I pulled together last week that are calling to me to tack up on my inspiration board for next years' style files.  A little exotic, a little rough hewn vintage and a little modern all at once. 

How about you? Are you still chillin' in holiday mode or ready to look forward to a New Year? I think I'm a little of both this week.

images: elizabeth demos, a life's design ,  lisa warninger , beautiful paper   design box

Heather's Holiday Decor & Inspiration

Happy Monday!! So.... how was your weekend? Restful? Restoring? And those of you, post- Thanksgiving feasts, how are you doing today? Back to work? Are we ready for December? Ready to officially kick off the holiday season?

Well, allow me to indulge you a bit more with some of my favorite web finds to inspire your holiday decorating. I've been collecting these images for weeks over on Pinterest and for more check out my Holiday Inspiration and White Out Boards.

And as if it was made just for me, take a peek at stylist, Marie Nichols Christmas table decor series. (last image)

Hope you have a lovely Monday and I will be back tomorrow with updates on my long weekend and much more. 

images: simply grove, top collage: linda and harriet, free people vintage , susannah t, drift living,

recycled christmas tree: style-files

second collage: ruby upcycled designs, focal point, joliejolie designs, mantle: pinterest, luna and chloe, 

last image: marie nichols via whole lotta lovely

 

Its the Little Things...

 



"Details create the big picture" (Sanford I. Weill) 

Long a lover of the simple, hidden, miniature and minute, I've been creating vignettes or pieces of a story from the beginning of making a decision to live a successful creative life. It's sometimes so easy to be sucked into the belief in a sort of "Instant Karma" or microwave success. But maybe just maybe its about plugging away day to day in the small things in life, which can lead to a bigger purpose (picture). Sometimes I fantasize about overnight success with visions of camera bulbs and interns at my side, but lately (and maybe this is coming with age) I am happy with where I am now. In the process. Sure, maybe, I have made some mistakes along the way or maybe haven't been wise with my finances, but you better believe I learned from them and chose new paths because of them. So, it has been a "live and learn" process. For example, I began this blog in March 2008, which starts to feel like ions ago in this land of Google Chrome and Tweet Decks. I was pretty clueless and as I am slow learner (well all around slow person), I think I will let myself say "I have come a long way". 

Maybe it was purchasing my very first iPhone this weekend and hearing myself tell the salesman that I need the 16GB for my "online business" ( ... it kinda took me by surprise because it felt so official) that led me to think about progress. Yeah, maybe I haven't been featured in a shelter magazine or had 100,000 site hits in a day, but looking back helps me look forward. Besides, it took Martha Stewart 7 years from the start of her catering business before she had a book deal! 

"It's the little details that are vital.

Little things make big things happen." (John Wooden)

 

The festivities have settled and a new month has dawned.

How do you see yourself today after looking back at where you have come?

What is one little thing you can do today to work toward your larger pursuits? 

images: FRYD + DESIGN, Lobster and Swan via Unicorn Dreams Magazine, Quietland, Kootut Murut, Yvestown

Shop Around the Corner: Redefine Home

After discovering Redefine Home this past week I quickly jumped on their website and ordered some Christmas presents for my sister and myself (actually-don't tell). What a delightful experience! Touring the pages of this online home furnishings store felt as if I was on the California coast with ocean breezes blowing through reclaimed wooden doors opening to reveal a naturally elegant shop filled to the brim with current finds. The founders Linsi Brownson and David Betz (an interior designer and home builder) have pooled their talents to bring you the best home furnishings where comfort and beauty collide all within socially and environmentally friendly approach.  So the concept of their shop got my wheels turning. 

How would you Redefine your Home? I love this idea that you could redefine what you have already. Its a word with dreams attached. 

I would Redefine my home as : Warm, inviting where the past meets future hopes.

Happy Weekend, shopping, dreaming and redefining!!

images: redefine home

Gathering Inspiration: Parisian Peach and Blue

 

 

   

Hello dear, dear friends. I've missed you so much over the course of the last month! But I am finally home now, after a much needed visit to my sister. I have read your comments and tried to stay connected to you as much as possible but it was a challenge to leave comments when my little 22 month old nephew typically sneaked up to play with the buttons on my laptop. :) He is just too precious for words. And as any good auntie knows, you can't really say "no" to a little bundle of joy who calls you "Hea Hea"  and reaches his arms out to you in love! 

However, in my hiatus, I did come across a few lovely inspirations to share with you. ... Thinking of you , always! And with the help of a friend with an eye for this new favorite color palette, and thumbing through some past issues of Country Home at Beth's over the weekend, I bring you... a peachy wonderful palette inspired by Spring fashion runways of Paris. 

All images are sourced from two new-to-me blogs that are delicious eye candy for the soul. Hope you like them too! See links below.

images: 1,4,5,6,8 Corbin Gurkin Photography and 2,3,7 Annette Tatum 

Guest Post: Loving White Porcelain

First of all, I wanted to thank Heather for letting me be a guest on her blog! It really is an honor. Second, let me introduce myself. My name is Lori and my “home” is over at ChicGeek Designs. So please, come visit me if you get a chance!

 

When I was trying to think of what to write for Heather, I knew it had to be something with simple, beautiful images because that’s what one of the first things that comes to mind when I think of Gathering Spriggs. Thankfully, this was perfect timing with my obsession with white porcelain this week. I have recently hung some hot pink cube shelves and had put some white porcelain animals in two of them. But I’m missing something in the third cube! So has started the hunt! But in the midst of the hunt, I have fallen in love with the simplicity and loveliness of these white porcelain pieces.

 

I LOVE the last item – I mean white porcelain bracelets?!? So awesome! What things do you have in/around your house that you look at and they remind you of simplicity/loveliness? If you can’t come up with anything, then you need to find at least one thing. I believe that everyone has to have some simplicity in their life and needs a small token reminder of that. So go, seek it!

Thank you for reading my guest post! Please come visit me at ChicGeek Designs, I’d love to have you!

~ Lori

Images: Collage 1 (L-R) 1. Suite One Studio 2. Isabelle Abramson 3. Isabelle Abramson 4. White Earth Studio

Collage 2 (L-R) 1. Suite One Studio 2. Isabelle Abramson 3. Kim Westad 4. Rebecca Humphrey

 

  

Fashioning a Fall Palette

 

 

Have you ever wondered how Rachel Ashwell decorates her home for Autumn or say someone else with a defined stylistic color palette ?? Yesterday I had a little time before finishing my paint project and packing for my trip, to ponder my own Fall Interiors Palette. "How can a girl with a penchant for pastels inject Autumnal hues without straying from form", I asked? So I rounded up some treasures from around the house and began some color collages. Now, I am no Leslie of A Creative Mint, but this was a really fun (and therapeutic) project. And although I have been accused of making too many vignettes I realized its in my blood. I love my little vignettes as stories to my soul. (did you notice the one signature item that finds its way in all i do?) So in this little research project I found the answer to my question. It is possible to forfeit the local craft store decor in order to stay true to one's own style. And you?? What's your personal style and color palette?   and how do you do your home for Fall? 

Please share your Autumn inspirations over at Gathering Spriggs Flickr Group! I would love to see your inspirations and perhaps even a vignette or two! 

images: heather spriggs thompson for gathering spriggs