section: amy azzarito 
i’m a huge fan of swans island handwoven blankets and i spend a lot of time drooling over the gorgeous images on their website. the company’s commitment to local artisans and craftspeople extends to a section on their retail site that they’ve devoted to highlighting like-minded designers and artists. through that list, i discovered photographer sarah szwajkos of damn rabbit studios and was blown away by her project “personal space ~ photographic portraits of private places,” in which she creates commissioned “portraits” of interior spaces. for this set of portraits, sarah drove up to rockport, maine to the home of swans island creative director susan williams and her husband rufus, also an artist and swans island partner. additional images here! {thanks susan, rufus and sarah!} -amy a
[Susan and Rufus built their home several years ago on a large plot of land that borders the Beech Hill Preserve in Rockport, Maine. Set well back from the road, the house and studio buildings emerge at the end of a long, winding drive, amid stone-walled fields with glimpses of the ocean in the distance. Here is a sneak peek at some of my images of their Personal Space. -Sarah] 
Inside the mudroom: a quintessential feature of Maine farmhouses. The mat is from Art Matters and the boots are made by the French company, Le Chameau.
In a corner of the kitchen, opposite the counters and stove, the big farm table entices guests to sit and relax among many pillows, which mix antique French tapestry patterns with bold, modern block prints. We found the wooden bench at the Union antique fair in Union, Maine. The block print pillows were bought locally at 412 in Rockland, Maine. The grey pillows are made from recycled Brunschwig et Fils drapes.
CLICK HERE for the rest of the peek after the jump! read more … November 16th, 2009 - 10:00am 
the first thing you’ll notice about annie coggan’s home is the chairs. there are chairs in every nook and cranny. if you look a little closer, you’ll notice that these aren’t your run-of-the-mill seat furniture. in addition to design classics like a womb chair and an eames rocker, there are chairs with embroidered detailing and side chairs that have been painted and fused together. after many years of brooklyn living, annie moved her family – and her chairs – down to starksville, alabama mississippi where she and husband caleb teach at the college of architecture, art and design and are also partners in coggan crawford architects and designers. just last year, together with brother ted coggan, annie opened little building café, annie designed the space and it’s filled with even more of her chairs! {thanks annie, caleb and madeline!} – amy a
[Together with our daughter, Madeline, Caleb and I arrived in Starkville in 2007. Madeline and I immediately fell in love with this house - a 1902 Queen Anne in town. It is unruly - more space than we need but a very welcome change after life in a compact Brooklyn brownstone. The house has become a laboratory for my furniture design work and I always try to balance the room with color, since my attitude about color is there is no bad color. This is our living room or as 19th century ladies used to say "the best room," which I love. It does have all our Best Stuff in it. The light is a modern take on the southern chandelier culture. It is from the Turkish company Auto Ban. The wing chair is a piece I made. I embroidered a map of William Faulkner’s homestead Rowan Oak and the green fringe on the seat is meant to represent the colias in the front half of his garden. All the mats in the house are by Christopher Paul.] 
The Saarinen Womb chair is the most favored chair in the house. It sits directly in front of the TV. The blue side board is a piece I designed – it’s painted metal and meant to accommodate speakers, books, games, etc. The drawings above are mine.
The Eames rocker was a birthday present from my husband. The yellow chair is part of the garden series of chairs that I am working on – This one is Eudora Welty’s garden. The large painting is a student painting of Caleb’s and the small ones are from Brooklyn painter Jason Novetsky.
We are firm believers in Ikea when in need of drawers, closets, or shelving – this bunch has been in two houses.
CLICK HERE for the rest of Annie’s peek on one page! read more … November 11th, 2009 - 12:00pm 
artist and design blogger (from the right bank to the left coast) ally has moved so frequently - two overseas moves, several times across the country and many moves across cities – that she’s been dubbed the modern-day nomad by friends. a self-identified design junkie, each move gives ally the opportunity to decorate a new space and leads to the discovery of new shopping sources, so it’s not surprising that her seattle home is a seemingly effortless mix of the modern and the antique where everything seems to be carefully selected and collected. {thanks, ally!} – amy a
[Our last move was from Paris to Seattle and on the very first day of our house hunting trip, my husband and I found a green, contemporary house in the middle of the city that was in the beginning of the construction phase. Even though it was basically just a shell of a house at the time, we could visualize how it was going to turn out and bought it on the spot! It’s turned out to be the perfect house for our two dogs and us and to this day we can’t believe our luck. Some of my favorite objects in our home are the antique French and Flemish paintings in the living room. I especially like them contrasted with the exposed beams and contemporary furniture.] 
Having moved so much, you can imagine our furnishings are from all over the place. I’ve also always been a fan of mixing styles so our home is a real mishmash of old/new, froufrou/modern, high/low . . .
CLICK HERE for the rest of Alek’s sneak peek after the jump! read more … November 2nd, 2009 - 12:00pm 
Want to have your own Audubon print? This blue heron hand-colored engraving from 1837 could be yours for $80,000.)
There has always been a relationship between interiors and nature. In light of the current and (seemingly never-ending) John Derian-esque craze for all things nature, I thought it might be fun to take a look at one of the most well-known naturalists – Audubon. 
from left: Flamingo, Gyrfalcon
It’s nearly impossible to look at a bird print and not think of John James Audubon. And there’s a good reason for that – Audubon’s Birds of America, published between 1827 and 1838, was comprised of 435 images all drawn life-sized. The book was a result of 18 years of work. Not only did Audubon trek across the United States searching for his subjects, but he spent nearly as much time looking for subscribers for his volumes. In light of Audubon’s enormous achievements, it’s extraordinary to realize that he likely never would have pursued his career as a naturalist if his life had worked out the way he had intended. It was only when Plan A didn’t work out, that he turned to drawing – and he pursued his passion for birds with a dogged determination. 
from left: Wild Turkey, Yellow breasted chat from the New York Historical Society
John James Audubon was born in Saint Domingue (now Haiti) in 1785, the illegitimate son of a French sea captain and plantation owner and his French chambermaid, who died of infection shortly after his birth. His illegitimacy would be a source of embarrassment for his entire life and something that he successfully concealed from all but those closest to him. After the death of his birth mother, he was taken to Nantes, France where he was raised by his father’s wife. 
An original Audubon print can run you into the tens of thousands of dollars, but this DIY Audubon paperweight is less than ten dollars! It a quick and fun way to bring a little nature into your home or office!
CLICK HERE for the rest of the post – including an easy Audubon-inspired DIY after the jump! read more … October 27th, 2009 - 12:00pm 
this is one super-stylish power team! tec and chelsea petaja live in nashville, tennessee where when chelsea’s not teaching visual arts to montessori school students, she frequently styles photography shoots for tec who does both commerical and wedding photography. (she recently put together a beautiful yellow and gray tablescape for oncewed.) oh and somehow she finds time to run an etsy shop! {thanks tec and chelsea!}
[We bought this house, our first home, in April of this year. It was built in 1905 and is tucked in a historic neighborhood in the city. We've spent the past half-year making it us.] 
[The majority of our home is comprised of hand-me-downs, thrift finds, or items we owned separately before we were married. However, the dining room table and matching bench were one of our first purchase as a married couple (from World Market). The orange chairs are garage sale finds, and the yellow chairs are repurposed hand-me-downs from my sister. The large painting in our dining room is by Dr. Tommy Mew, a former professor of mine.]
The caned chair was saved from a “Goodwill pile” and the frames, all from Ikea, display some of our favorite pictures and mementos. The “We’re better together” wording was done by just painting it on top of a thrift store painting we already owned.
CLICK HERE for the rest of chelsea’s peek (and all the photos on one page!) read more … October 26th, 2009 - 01:00pm 
when i went to brimfield, that sprawling east coast antique show, for the first time last year, i was so overwhelmed with the massive variety of antiques that i choked and came virtually empty-handed. so this year, when grace, amy m. and i took a design*sponge team to check out the show, i was determined to fare better. i found a vintage industrial machinist table with a butcher block top that i plan to use as a bar cart. now i just need to accessorize! you can also find pretty fantastic vintage items on etsy and ebay. even if you don’t have a bar cart, nothing makes a party more festive than a tray filled all the fixings for cocktails! – amy a
[image above, clockwise from top left:linen napkin $15, queen anne champagne bucket $67.99, stage horn-handled silver plate ice scoop $89, stripes tray $28 platinum ombre champagne coupe $18.00, elixir carafe $20, winston glass $2.95, 3-piece cocktail set $30, glass recipe shaker $19.95, melamine trays $17ea, scaled leather bottle opener $16] 
vase (ice bucket!) 14.99, ice scoop $1.95, imbibe: from absinthe cocktail to whiskey smash $16.29, marimekko aarre tray $24, hemingway muddlers $22 ea, pop rocks glass $14, glass pitcher $24.99, botero glass $12, fog linen tray $27.20, 7-piece bar set $33.49, pine cone coasters $4
CLICK HERE for all 50 barware accessories (including vintage items!) on one page read more … October 20th, 2009 - 12:00pm 
artist and illustrator neryl walker (you might have seen her work on bloom cosmetics and on bare escentuals ‘buxom lips’!) along with art director husband tim live with their formerly stray cat marvin in an old jewish/italian neighborhood in melbourne, australia. they are both drawn to all things vintage and worn – things with a past. (it’s a family joke that even their cat is second-hand!) they’ve just moved from an apartment to into a house which they’ve been filling with artwork made by themselves or friends (the vintage sign artwork on the patio above was made by tim). {thanks neryl, tim and marvin!} -amy a
[Our house was built in the early 50's but was the victim of a bad 70s make-over. The entire house had been wallpapered with beige stripes and bad florals, white carpet through-out, ugly tiles and nasty curtains. We knew it had potential and have slowly peeled back the layers to reveal it's former self. It has some great features like interior wrought iron work and concealed lighting, and as soon as we saw the original pink and green bathroom we knew it was the house for us!] 
The gold bamboo wallpaper is one of the few things we kept from the 70’s reno. The ‘Danger’ painting is one of mine. The cowhide patchwork rug is from a secondhand store.
We both love music and play in garage rock band, Pretty Green. The bowling lamp base and shade were bought separately in the East Village and they look great together. The mannequin hand and the letter ‘N’ were presents from Tim.
We have been collecting old mirrors from thrift stores. I especially love the etched glass ones. The vases and bowls are mostly vintage. The Majestic lamp was bought at Chelsea market in New York and bought back to Australia as hand luggage.
CLICK HERE for the rest of Neryl’s sneak peek after the jump! read more …  October 19th, 2009 - 12:00pm | 
