Autumnal Inspiration and Kara Rosenlund

Posted in Feature, Inspiration by citysouthern

Let me walk you through this recent chain of events while trying to gather some autumnal inspiration and plan festive outfits for Avery.

I recently purchased Avery this top for Halloween {on SALE for $5!!} but really wanted some orange leggings to go with it. Then I remembered that Jessica of Little Baby Garvin had both of her adorable girls decked out in some super cute orange striped leggings which would be perfect! You can see their matching Halloween ensembles here, and here. The leggings are only available in 4T so I scratched that idea and returned to Little Baby Garvin to catch up on the latest posts. I read this post which reminded me that Jessica was participating in the next Home Depot Style Challenge and I thought oh yea, I should head over to The Apron and see if there’s an update on the Fall style challenge. So I looked and remembered that Joni of Lay Baby Lay was participating in the current challenge. Some of her past challenges have turned out amazing like this playhouse. I haven’t visited her actual blog in a few weeks and wanted to catch up and see if there was any progress teasers for the challenge. So over to her blog I went and there I saw this post from yesterday on Fall Inspiration {or Fall-Spiration as she called it}. How appropriate since that was got this whole little chain of events started in the first place! Joni featured the image below.

I am all sorts of OBSESSED with this place setting. If we host Thanksgiving this year, here’s your preview. Grey linen, natural burlap, white plates, fresh herbs and spices, feathers, monogrammed silver, pretty penmanship?! In. LOVE. {Even if Mom hosts this year I think I will demand to take over tablescape duties}.

So I clicked on the link from Joni’s blog which led me to The Kitchn. But this beautiful image did not originate from The Kitchn. Oh no. This image was featured here by Aileen of At Home In Love who did a whole post on the photographer who took this image. And now my obsession goes way beyond the table setting.

Meet Kara Rosenlund.

Her photography is amazing. Her style and styling is impeccable. Her aesthetic is my vision brought to life. And she’s only 30! Australia is lucky to have her.

Discovering Kara when I did was perfect timing because her images really did help inspire me for some Fall decorating, and they’ve also inspired me for my upcoming photography class! I start on Monday! And that makes you some very lucky readers because my less-than-wonderful iPhone photos aren’t the best for the blog. I can’t wait to see how I improve!

That’s all for now. Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten to share my Halloween DIY art that I promised. That’s coming next week!

Have a great weekend!

All images in this post via Kara Rosenlund and I strongly encourage you to check out her work. Please credit original source.

23Sep2014

Getting Ready for Halloween

Posted in DIY and Projects, Halloween, Holidays, Inspiration, Interior Design by citysouthern

The end of September is near and I’m getting ready for Halloween. Avery was just a little lump of a tiger {she was Aubie} last year for Halloween at 3 months old. But this year she can walk around and is a little more aware of what’s going on which means I’m excited to see her reaction to it all! When it comes to holidays, there’s something about having a kid that gives me back the kind of excitement I had when I was a kid. We have plans for a trip to the Pumpkin Patch and I’m researching costume ideas. I also decided to locate our Halloween decorations…and had no luck! I was in a slight panic last week thinking that the tub of Halloween stuff was donated with the last trip to Salvation Army. If the plastic skeletons that hang from our front tree didn’t make it, then I’ll be okay. But the actual home decor that’s a little more chic {and expensive} is what I’m worried about. Not to mention I’ve been collecting it since before Chris and I ever started dating so it would take me a long time to build back up to what I had before!

Should the old stuff be truly gone forever, I need a backup plan. So I started thinking ahead to how I can quickly and cheaply add some new decorations this year and I came up with a few ideas. I was inspired by this picture I found on Houzz.

See the skeleton picture reflected in the mirror? I saw that and thought – that would be great to hang on the wall for Halloween! I began searching Etsy for a skull print and there are tons of options. This one seems to have similar qualities to the inspiration photo with it’s sketched look and antiqued paper.

It’s a really reasonably priced little print which makes me happy. And I’m sure I have an empty frame I could use. But I’ve got the DIY bug and I don’t want to just buy an aged-looking crisp piece of art. I want something that looks and feels like a page from an antique book, or was hanging on the wall of creepy haunted mansion. Maybe it was salvaged from an abandoned asylum? It’s Halloween afterall! So…I decided I’m going to DIY it. For FREE! I’m not sure how it’s going to turn out but at least I know I’ve got etsy as a backup plan!

And because I love a good happy ending, I found the box of missing decorations when I cleaned out the entire garage this past weekend. {There was definitely an embarrassing happy dance in the driveway for all the neighbors to see.} I can’t wait to start putting them up!

So when do you put up your Halloween decorations? Comment below, and stay tuned to see how my creepy skull print turns out!

UPDATE: My artwork is complete! To see the tutorial for my DIY Project, click here!

12Feb2014

New Office:Pinspiration

Posted in Inspiration, Interior Design by citysouthern

Are you all ready for the snow?? I’m looking out the window at a beautiful blanket of white and I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and see how much actually accumulated. Last I heard my area just outside DC is supposed to get 10″ to 14″!! Yippee!! I actually have some real work to do tomorrow, but any play time I get will be spent planning my new {home} office space. I currently have a desk where my computer sits but this office will be separate. It will be my own little corner of the house where I can go to relax and focus on creative things. I’m very excited to get it set up! Here are a few things I’ve found through Pinterest that are inspiring my space: