Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A Visit to Kartell

On my way to meet my husband for lunch last week, I passed by the Kartell design store here in Vienna.  The Mademoiselle Chair caught my eye...


upholstered in a leopard print silk fabric (a collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana).   Very luxurious!  


And, here it is in the pink floral upholstered fabric.  This is so much fun and I always have had a soft spot for this one!


These optic like tables caught my eye, too!  These would be fun to add as an accent table in a more traditional space to liven things up a bit.  Or as a stool pulled up to a vanity table!


And, one day I would like to own a ghost chair - a trend that  has been popular for a long time.  I would love to throw a leopard print pillow on it to warm it up a bit!!  How about you - which piece is your favorite?

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Gruss Gott! Week Three.

I cannot believe we've been here 3 weeks already.  It still seems like we just got here.  This week we were catching up from last week of having visitors.  This week I had a chance to i) join the Vienna babies club (a club where english speaking mothers get together), ii) take kids to the doctor, iii) invite some friends over for dinner (while the kids slept soundly in their bed) and iv) go out to lunch with my husband! A great week all in all even though, little E has caught a bug and is pretty sick. :(


A beautiful florist shop on the way to meet my husband for lunch.  I love boxwoods.  Makes me excited for spring!



Simple pink tulips I picked up at the market.


Looking out our living room window.  I feel like I am constantly being watched!

You can never get tired of the inspiration that exists from all the architecture.  I hope to post more of this during our stay here - I just NEED to remember my camera every time I go out.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Drooling...






..over these paintings.  Artist is H. Mall.  Go check her out.

Happy Weekend my friends!


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Styling the little things

As you may or may not know, we are only in Vienna for a short time.  Seven months to be exact.  And, we're living in a furnished short-term rental.  So, decorating the apartment to my liking is pretty much out of the question.  All we brought with us is our suitcases.

However, I am exerting my styling influence on a couple of things that either currently exist here or that I brought with us.  For example, my beauty products that are currently sitting in the medicine cabinet.



While I was unpacking them, I placed them all on the shelf; I played around with them a bit and just thought they were kinda pretty all sitting there next to one another.  So, I took a picture.  Am I weird??  Okay...don't answer that!

Anyway, I can honestly say, for once, I am really happy with the beauty products I'm using.  And, my most recent purchase, the Nuxe Creme Fraiche, is by far the best facial creme I have ever used.  It is so rich and smells wonderful.  And, it is affordable.  I will be using this for a long, long time.  (I heard about it via jcrew tumblr - out of all places?).

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Gruss Gott! Week Two.

Sorry for the delayed post.  We had family visit us this past week.  We've only been here two weeks and we were so fortunate to have my brother, my sister in law and my two nephews visit us from Belgium.  My brother, who is in the US Army and working with NATO in Brussels, Belgium had the opportunity to attend a military ball at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna (about 1/2 mile from our apartment).  Ordinarily, he wouldn't have volunteered to come, but with us in town, he piggy-backed a vacation.  So, on Friday night, we got to babysit 4 kids (all under the age of five) while my brother and sister-in-law went to a boring old ball! :)


Aren't they a cute couple?  


Aren't those chandeliers gorgeous??  They look like they are floating in mid air.  Yeah, it does look pretty boring.  I'm glad Kevin and I stayed home with these little monsters. :)


For their last night in town, we cooked a traditional Austrian dinner of Stelze (Schweinshaxe) and sauerkraut paired with weizenbier and rot wein.

Before:


After:


Ohhhhh, the carnage!!


J and C, thanks for the wonderful visit.  We'll get you back when we leave the kids with you and go to Paris in the summer! :)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

What I'm loving today....



this striped settee from John Derian's store in NYC's East Village.  I've been spotting the pink and red color combo a lot these days in both fashion and interiors and I gotta say....I really like it.

You?

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

The Perfect Desk Chair

I love this desk chair and I would like to find one like it - I bet I could find one at a antique fair, consignment store or the like.

If I found one, I'm sure it would need to be reupholstered.  I would choose a black and white striped fabric.  I think the black and white fabric paired with the brass frame and casters would look so chic.

This fabric which has a sort of john robshaw'esque' feel (at least to me) would be perfect (the price is perfect too)!


I would only need a yard and 1/2 given this nifty little yardage table for reupholstery projects.  And, if the frame and casters weren't brass, I would paint it in Rustoleum's Metallic spray paint in brass.  Or switch out the existing feet for these beauties!

Okay, now I gotta go out and find me this chair!! :)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Gruss Gott! Week One.

So, we made it one week in Vienna.  Well, actually a week and a half.  So far, so good.  What I love about our apartment is the location.  We are central to what seems like everything.  This is the cafe you see when you walk out of our building.



So far, my favorite thing to do is to go to the Naschmarkt (1 block from our apartment) and enjoy all the fresh food.  It is incredible. It certainly is a luxury to have fresh food daily - cheeses, wurst, bread, vegetables, pastries, etc.  Here are some pictures I took yesterday.



They also have fresh flowers daily.  


You can tell the Europeans are used to eating fresh foods daily as their refrigerators are so small.  There is no room to store or freeze much of anything.



Luke completed 3 half days of his new Viennesse Montessori school.  I am so proud of him.  From what I can tell (at this early stage), the kindergarden school system is very different from the American.  And, I can't get over how much smaller everything is here - especially the school class rooms and the playground (which they call 'garden').  It makes you really appreciate 'space'.


Elizabeth is faring well, but I am trying really hard to get her into a fixed sleeping schedule.  Once I can do that, my daily routine will be easier and more predictable.  So, for the time being, I am a bit limited with my outings around the city.  I'm sticking to a radius of about half a mile.

This past week we've been focusing on just getting settled and getting some of the bureaucratic things done  which always is a bit slower here in Europe.  With this behind us and Elizabeth schedule more regular, I am hoping to venture out to explore more of the city - especially the innerstadt, flea markets and the many furniture and antique stores (which seem to be everywhere).

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Jenny Wolf Interiors

I love pinterest.  Who doesn't?  I stumbled across Jenny Wolf interiors while pinning and I hopped over to look at her portfolio - I am so glad I did.  I really like her style.  She grew up in the South and credits her style to her Southern roots.  Anyway, I like what I saw and thought I'd share.









Pretty, huh?  

Also, I realized I never posted my pinterest account on my blog before.  If you want to follow my boards, you can find me here

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Crushing hard....

I know Nick Olsen's apartment featured on West Elm's blog, has been all over the blogosphere, but I had to post it because it provides endless inspiration (at least for me).


What I'm loving....

1. Stripes on wall
2. Yellow lamp with black shade
3. Classic linens 
4. Antique table
5. Stack of books 

If you haven't seen it, go here.  

In other news, we're slowly getting settled in our apartment!  Luke had his first day of school today at the Vienna Montessori school and he really liked it.  I'm so relieved.  More later. 

Saturday, January 7, 2012

I'm alive....

but just not 100% with it.  We survived the long plane trip (long b/c our kids barely slept) but we, thankfully, made it safely to Wien.

Here is a picture of us at the start of our trip....


and, at the tail end of the trip when the kids finally passed out (with literally 20 minutes to go).  Isn't that always the case?


We're suffering from severe jet lag and when I say 'we' I mean the kids;  but I am the one telling Luke at 2 AM in the morning that it isn't time to get up yet.  I'll be back soon.....

Sunday, January 1, 2012

2011: A Year in Review

Happy New Year!!   2011 has brought a lot of success in so many ways!  Of course the greatest is little E that is now 3 and 1/2 months old.  Other successes were finishing up some long standing projects around the home and getting our house sold in a relatively quick manner.  Here are some Green Street 2011 highlights:




Before & After Kitchen Roman Shade


Before & After Kitchen Stool


RIT Dyed Lamp Shade


DIY Painted & Stenciled Ikea Rug


Before & After Kitchen



Before & After Patio


Before & After Hallway


DIY Greek Key Roman Shade


Before & After Renovated Bathroom


Before & After Dining Room


Before & After Sideboard




Make sure you click on the links to see the 'before'.  There are some huge transformations.

All of these projects were completed before Elizabeth was born in September and our house sold in October.  Phew! We accomplished a TON in 2011 and I look forward to a new adventure when we temporarily move to Vienna, Austria (leave this Tuesday).  

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's Day and the next time you'll hear from me will be in Vienna!!   Bis dann....