A Victorian design quiz

I'm living in a house built just a couple years before Queen Victoria kicked the bucket. Clos’d this earthly scene. Laid her hoary head to rest beneath this mournful turf.* Do I know anything about Victorian homes? Almost nothing. So I took this quiz to confirm it.

But actually I did okay. A little knowledge of art history helped. The parlor vs. drawing room tripped me up, though. I still don't know the difference. I want to do some studying, not that I plan to go all Victorian in here. I think the queen would have enjoyed lounging in an orange Saarinen womb chair, if only it had been designed yet, right?

*For time-waster extra credit, read a collection of early American gravestone inscriptions compiled by Caitlin Hopkins. Fascinating. (Via 22 Words.)

Vintage map duvet cover

Something that's making me happy: this New York City map duvet cover I just put on our bed. It's all vintagey and likes being in our old house, and the design satisfies my love of graphic prints. The price satisfied my wallet, too: it was $35. I googled for an H&M coupon and then ordered the pillow sham / cover set here.



I was also tempted by an orange and white number at CB2 and had fleeting thoughts of this floral explosion at Urban Outfitters. Fleeting because Alex instantly vetoed it, and I reluctantly admitted I'm not really a flowery girl. I'd get sick of it in two seconds. This botanical print seriously grabbed me, though.

But the Manhattan map reminds me of a sweet trip I took to NYC with Alex last year. It was so perfect, it could never be duplicated if we tried. We stumbled on a filming of Project Runway in Times Square, saw Tina Fey on an escalator, ate chocolate croissants in Central Park, and discovered a jazz age social on Governor's Island— where we bumped into Bill Cunningham two days after watching this great documentary about him. We couldn't believe our luck. So our bedspread will always bring up happy memories.

Free font: Idealist Sans

Idealist Sans, designed by Elena Kowalski, is a hip sans serif with pretty discretionary ligatures. It's available for free in Regular and Light weights over here at Behance. Use the text link at the bottom of the page under the images, or get it from myfonts.com here.

While you're at it, you might grab Sreda, too! Thank you to font foundry Glen Jan for making these available.

Favorite furniture makeovers from the internet

I've got decorating on the brain these days. Here's my routine lately. By day, I work on client graphic design projects until 7 or 8. Sometimes when I walk to the kitchen to get a drink of water, I get stalled staring at blank walls for five minutes, trying to figure out what to do to them. I force myself to snap out of it and get back to work. At night, I eat supper, put on a fun TV show in the background, and surf the internet for furniture, art, and decorating ideas. I should be heading out to meet new people, I know it. But work is really busy at the moment and by the time I wrap things up for the day, it's later than I'd like and I'm tired.

Want to see some fun tutorials I've found during late night browsing? Maybe you've come across them already, but they were new to me.

Shown above: how to spray paint vinyl chairs at Little Green Notebook. Jenny transformed a nasty thrift store chair into this black and white beauty. I love it! Find tons of interesting DIY projects on her blog.


Check out Taryn's pretty white side table transformed with paint and an old trellis she found in her yard. See her steps at Design, Dining + Diapers.

Mari of crab + fish emailed me about one of her DIY projects, and while poking around her site I found her gold nightstand. At first I thought it was spray painted, but no. That's gold leaf! Learn how to transform your own table right here.

Pretty, free stock photos

Rachael Smith of Love from Ginger has made a free photo library of original stock images to download. They're not for commercial use, but you're welcome to print them, post them on your personal blog, or alter them under this Creative Commons License. The spools image would be a pretty desktop wallpaper for people who sew, right? Rachel adds a new photo to the gallery every Friday.

Affordable art prints

I've been poking around online for affordable-ish art prints and ideas for solving the bare wall situation in our new house. Last night I made a Pinterest board for things that caught my eye. In the light of day, I'm noticing there are lots ladies in there, for some reason. Huh. Here's a sampling of my board:

1. ADRIFT by Sammy Slabbinck
2. Three Figures, 1913-28 by Kasimir Malevich
3. Legs and heeels by Lydia Coventry
4. Feline Dream by Rachel Linder
5. Pinky Promise by Emily Rickard
6. Black horses by Robert Farkas
7. Hello? by Yetiland
8. My Eyes Had A Picnic by DiDi Higginbotham

Part of me desperately wants to put this portrait over our fireplace, but I'd probably get tired of it after the novelty wore off. Or would I...

DIY arty geometric lampshade

This image caught my eye in the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living. That bright red geometric lampshade looks painted, but it's actually two lampshade frames wrapped together with ribbon. The frames came from The Lamp Shop, and the fitting was removed from the bottom upside-down shade with a hacksaw.


It's unique and cool! Hang one in your house and your friends will think you're an artist, I bet. The project is part of a DIY lampshade article in the September issue. See page 92 for the complete how-to.

Photos by Lucas Allen. Courtesy of Martha Stewart Living. Copyright © 2013. For more craft ideas, check out www.marthastewart.com.