Café Design

Decorating Consultations

Bits of Life & Flowering Blooms

Only three days left until Christmas!!! I hope life is not too crazy for you right now, although not the same can be said about our home and life in general. December has been a whirlwind month so far and we’ve been busier than ever with out of town guests, my mom’s visit, shopping, school, work and the usual responsibilities. At times it felt like too much was happening and there were not enough hours left at the end of the day (it still feels that way) but, in reality, Ivan and I strive on chaos and madness. We love the adrenaline, the rush and the busyness of life in general. We’d rather be too busy than bored. We’re crazy that way.

My daughter is the happiest this time of year. She still believes in Santa and the Elves and her innocence makes these magical holidays that much more exciting for us grownups. And now with her grandma visiting, Christmas will be extra special. For her and for all of us. I’ve enjoyed my mom’s company more than anything these days. She’s sweet, easy-going and funny. She also has a sweet tooth so she’s been sharing with us old family recipes that my grandma used to prepare for me when I was little. I want to stretch these moments as much as I can… The cold weather didn’t stop us one bit. We went antiquing and acted silly. We found nothing  but it was still worth it just for the time we spent together. 

Anyway, I think by now you realized that this is my long winded way of saying that there’s no proper post today 🙂 Lack of time. Instead, I’m going to share with you some leftover photos from Wednesday and Thursday, of my living room. A corner of it anyway. The rest is not blog-ready yet and I don’t know that it ever will be 🙂

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Holiday Shopping With Ambrai India

With our cross-country move this past summer, I decided to start our home décor with a clean slate. Motivated partly by the high costs of moving, partly by the fact that we had outgrown in taste and style most of our things, we sold almost all our furnishings before the move. Once in Amherst, we found a bright and modern apartment in a great neighborhood and I began to slowly cozy it up. Some of our purchases were new but for the details I relied on treasures I (im)patiently searched for. 

It is a temporary home so things had to stay within a reasonable budget. Craigslist, eBay and local antiques shops (thankfully there are many around) became my best friends. I collected things over time and regularly scoured Etsy and flea markets for pretty trinkets. A kantha quilt had been on my wishlist for a long time but I was hesitant to commit to a purchase. A few weeks after our move I came across Ambrai India. With attractive designs at affordable prices, I liked that their textiles are 100% cotton and hand-made using only natural dyes so, after reading their reviews, I felt confident and ordered one of their pretty quilts. I was so happy with my purchase that I asked them if they’d be interested in being featured on Café Design. The result of that collaboration was a post offering readers a 10% discount on any of their products. 

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Living Room Updates & Neighborhood Pretties

Six months ago we moved into a sunny apartment in Amherst MA. I was immediately taken with the views and the amount of natural light. The forrest is literally our backyard. However, it is a rental and it lacks any architectural embellishments. It’s a blank canvas without crown moldings, wainscoting or a fireplace – you know, all the good stuff. However it has amazing views and a semi-open floor plan which we liked. It also has a 6-foot window seat that soon became our favorite spot for watching the wildlife  in front of our window. 

As I mentioned before, this place will be our home for one or two years, until my husband gets a tenure track and we move to someplace more permanent. Investing too much in a home we’re going to leave so soon made no financial sense to us. However, the decorator in me still wanted to cozy-up the place and make it look pretty, even if on a budget. 

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Our Home | Updates and Pretty Finds

As promised, here’s a little sneak peek of our progress with our living room makeover. If you’re new here, we have so far updated a pair of Ikea Billy bookshelves with base and crown molding and it’s made such a difference. We also painted our walls a warm green/grey with subtle yellow undertones and I love the cozy feel it has created in the space. I now regret living with white walls for so long.  At first I was afraid F&B French Gray (matched at a local paint shop) might look too dark and make our little apartment look and feel cave-like, but the two large windows make the living room walls lighter and the room looks bigger and more interesting than it ever was. 

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Over the last few months I collected inspiration – images and fabric samples, as well as some new accessories. eBay, local antique shops and estate sales have been great places for one-of-a kind pieces. I even bid on a tortoise table and won! This past weekend we braved the cold to attend Olde Hadley Flea Market and came back with a handful of stuff. I found a sweet little blue and white plate which I’m already using as a catch all for keys…

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Q & A With Heather Strommen

Instagram is my favorite hangout place when I want to meet kindred spirits and feel inspired. It has become a cliché in the design world because it’s been so often said but it has been said so much because it happens to be true. Instagram has become the great connector and by far one of the sweetest people I befriended on Instagram is Heather Strommen, of the blog Sweet Shady Lane. I met Heather a year and a half ago and was instantly charmed by her friendly demeanor and excellent taste in design. I soon discovered that we share a love of relaxed and cozy interiors, an appreciation for blue and white and, we even have the same favorite interior designers we look up to.

Heather has recently opened her own design consultation business, perfectly complemented by The Vignette Box. A carefully curated selection of decorative objects hand-picked by Heather herself, The Vignette Box will imbue the same sense of style to your own vignettes. Her home, lovingly named Mona Bina, which means Home For All, has been Heather’s design laboratory over the years and, as illustrated by the pictures below, she has a knack for creating beauty in every nook and cranny. It is then no wonder that her work has been featured in several national magazines and her Vignette Boxes were listed in Minneapolis Home Design as one of the 100 best of local design. Today,  I am delighted to welcome Heather for a quick and fun Q& A session! 

Q: Welcome Heather! I’m so happy we’re finally doing this. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your passion for interior design. How did it all begin?

A: Honestly, I started decorating around 9 years old. My mother would come home and I would have rearranged the living room sofa and moved knick knacks from here to there…I always loved the day we would clean my own room and were able to make little changes, like kitty cornering the bed. Sometimes, I still feel like that little girl after I’ve moved things around in my own home—excited, renewed and ready to accessorize.

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