one of my favorite things about this sneak peek from erika firm of delphine is the story beyond the images. she lives in rancho santa fe, california (just north of san diego and 5 miles from the beach), but it’s not just her, her husband (who is also her business partner) and their son, but it’s a four generation household, each who brings their own creative juices to the home. her mother is wonderfully creative- paints, designs, makes jewelry, her father is an engineer who loves to make furniture, and is an excellent cook, and her grandmother - for whom the business is named - sews, embroiders, speaks french around the house and is the favorite cook.  so today we’re please to share with you the place that embodies them all. and if that’s still not enough, check out lots more images right here. [thanks, erika!] -anne

photos by jessica davis photography

[above: This is "foyer number one" ... the entry way in our house. These 1976 David Rowland Stacking chairs were rescued from my dad's factory--they were going to throw them out!]

This is “foyer number two” … a completely random, giant “nook” that is immediately after “foyer number one.” We didn’t know what to do with it, so we made it into a sitting area. The yellow-green armoire houses all our table linens.

The reading chair in our bedroom. We’re going to recover it in yellow velvet… if I can ever find any. The print I picked up in San Francisco at a street fair.

Our guest room. The dresser was given to us by my husband’s childhood neighbor. it was sitting in their basement for more than 20 years. John stripped it and left it natural. The bedspread duvet cover is from ikea. The lovely orange and white pillows are from Union Of Art.

Our five-year-old son’s bedroom is due for a makeover. He wants to paint it orange. Or green. He can’t decide. The bed spread is from Pottery Barn Kids (discontinued in green, but still available in red or blue); the bed is from Pottery Barn Kids (discontinued); the embroidery of the mer-man holding a baby is by my grandmother, Delphine. She embroidered our son’s birthday into the design. The surfboard above his bed belonged to his namesake, John’s best friend, who was killed in Iraq during the very first mission of the war in 2003.

I found this neat dresser at The Corner Store, a vintage furniture store in La Jolla, California. The roses are from the garden. The mirror was a gift from my mom–she got it in Mexico. The photo is of my husband, John, on a merry-go-round when he was about 6 years old.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the delphine sneak peek after the jump!

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tuesday morning eye candy: beautiful work from natalia ortega gamez, an artist based in the dominican republic. natalie specializes in using local materials and applying them to a “global” concept. i really like the way that her pieces have a warm, earthy feel. i’d like to pick up that terra cotta/orange bonsai planter. would be fun to use the other half for something like keys by the door, so you always start and end your day with something green. click here for more information on natalia’s work.

good morning! i wanted to start things off today with some colorful new goods from nicole larue and her new company, white elephant collective. she just launched a cute new collection of cards, prints, tags and tees right here on etsy. i particularly love the colorful orange and green prints.

also, haylie has a beautiful new post up on the d*s guest blog this morning, including some of my favorite female artists, click here to check it out (images from her post are below)

lesson of the day: never buy any one item for over $100. the result is what you see below, and it’s seriously amazing! everything in the home of morgan satterfield has been thrifted, bartered, from a flea market, from craigslist, and the occasional piece from the “as is” section of ikea, not to mention a little DIY love. (don’t worry, when she goes out of control with her vintage shopping, she puts some of her finds that can’t fit in the house in her brick house vintage etsy shop). both she and her partner jeremy are big fans of mid-century modern, but they also like to mix it up - with the fun part of thrifting being that you never know what you’ll find, and you don’t have to break the bank while doing it. we hope you enjoy their home today as much as we did. you can follow along with morgan’s continual work in progress [aka the house] on her blog, and you can find the complete set of images of her home here. [thanks so much, morgan!] -anne

[above: The ceramic vase is part of the Raymor Capri line designed by Michael Lax that I thrifted for $1 - I had no clue at the time, but a lovely commenter on blog let me know! The vintage 70's brown mushroom lamp was picked up at Amsterdam Modern in Los Angeles for $25, it still needs to be converted from its European electrical...it looks fab despite. The little clay head with his tongue sticking out  was a gift from Gordon Senior, an artist who I worked with on a public art project. The painting of the blond was thrifted for $3 at a church run rummage spot by my work, she is my favorite piece in my whole crazy art collection.]

Pretty much everything in the master bedroom is locally thrifted with a few pieces from Ikea (Vinstra bedframe, Ludde sheepskin, Jorun blanket, Hovet mirror) and the kilim rug is from ebay (20!).

I just won the Rejuvenation Make Your Home Your Own with this space. Awesome! The floors are original - we refinished them and left them natural white Oak. We painted out the fireplace in Behr’s “Dark Cavern” and built in the book shelves. Everything is pretty much thrifted or gotten from Craigslist, including the art. Its still a work in progress - we tend to switch things up and move things around CONSTANTLY.

The white couch is a new addition. It was the artist Juli Carson’s old studio sofa and was going to be thrown out. I had a barter deal going with a local flea market dealer and he went picked it up and had it recovered in a really nice and supple white vinyl. It ended up costing me about $52 in fabric - I’m glad we save such a nice sofa frame from the dump. I can’t believe I own a white sofa, but it cleans up with a sponge. The coffee table is from the Long Beach Flea market and the Eames lounger knock-off is from the Palm Springs craigslist - $50!

The overhead lamp is from Amsterdam Modern and is totally retractable. The dining table is thrifted - I had to beg, lie, and plead to buy it around Christmas time from a very unhappy thrift store manager who wanted to keep it for the stores ugly Santa display. Its Danish and BEAUTIFUL! Maybe one of my favorite thrift store finds. The tulip chairs are from the Long Beach Flea Market, I’m selling them to get 6 black eiffel bases for a set of 6 cream Eames side chairs I just got. If anyone is interested and located in Southern California - holler at me. I bought the blond portrait for $5 off the street from a guy in downtown LA who was set-up near Saint VIncent De Pauls.

A lot of the kitchen is original to the house (including those nutty turquoise faux bois laminate countertops and metal Youngstown kitchen cabinets that we restored). We installed the black VCT floor before we moved in. We must have ripped out about 5 layers of old nasty vinyl flooring to get to the original white and rainbow speckled laminate that had just totally disintegrated. We bought the O’keefe and Merritt stove off of craigslist to fit the 40″ stove gap and it was delivered by 5 burly sexy fireman! Too bad they are TOTAL liars. They said it was in great working condition, but the oven is dead. We had a couple guys come out to look at it but no one knows how to fix it. We haven’t baked or made anything needs an oven for over a year and a half.

We also built that little breakfast bar with the open storage and Brown Jordan faux bamboo chairs. It was an awkward space, but I love how functional and space saving the bar is!

CLICK HERE for the rest of Morgan’s peek (8 more pictures) after the jump!

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it’s always hard for me to pick out my favorite element in each sneak peek, because they’re all full of tons of wonderful inspiration. but i think for the home of basak aydin notz of the beautiful letterpress company small square design, the winning element (for me at least) is the chalk board art piece over their dining room table. i immediately was drawn to the folksy image, but it turns out it’s just the chalkboard piece of the month, courtesy of their friends mara and anna from dutch door press). believe it or not, every month it’s wiped clean to literally start with a clean slate. while sad to see each piece go what a fun way to show off your friends’ talents, and even a great excuse for a dinner party. click here for images from basak’s home, and, as always, you can find all our wonderful sneak peeks right here. [thanks, basak!] -anne

[above: Our dining area. My husband made the dining table out of one of doors recovered in the renovation of our house. The six chairs are old barroom chairs, with seatbacks etched with the brand of Schlitz, a beer company in which my husband’s family was involved. The lanterns are leftover decorations from my daughter’s first birthday party. We decided to keep them up for the color and the festiveness that they added to the room. San Francisco printers Mara and Anna of Dutch Door Press are good friends of mine. Anna was so sweet to illustrate one of their folksy designs for this month’s chalkboard art. Although it is hard sometimes, we like to wipe it clean every month, leaving a blank slate for the next collaborative/crazy piece that tends to appear in the late hours of dinner party.]

The sink that we call the urban fountain, two little lady paintings from San Francisco artist Kelly Tunstall, and a Bertoia-like chair that was another street find.

Our bedroom. The dresser is from my husband’s grandfather’s bedroom. The photo hanging to the left is by our friend and wedding photographer Ryan Anderson.

Another look of the kitchen / living room. The red Francis Francis! Espresso maker is the first thing turned on each morning. My husband made the wooden cube side table from one of the old beams in the house. I love that.

We put up the Lotta Jansdotter linen calendar when Lula was born as I wanted something soft hanging over her crib in shaky San Francisco. We then decided to put up a new one for each year of her life. So far, we have two…

Our daughter’s room.  Somehow, our beloved Eames chair wound up there, but it fits well! The beautiful bird mobile and the embroidery on her closet door were gifts from my friend and talented crafter, Jen Hewett. The little leather sandals on the windowsill were mine as a little girl!

My husband and I have offices next to each other. The wall color of his office is my favorite in the house. My mother-in-law sent me the old keys mounted to the frame. The oak chair was found outside on the street. [right] The corkboard behind my desk, which I use to post cut-outs, illustrations, photos and work in progress.

Here is one of my favorite things in the house -  the big sink in our bathroom and the his + hers separate cabinets. It makes everything so much easier.

CLICK HERE for the rest of Basak’s peek (7 more pictures) after the jump!

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i’m totally in love with the homes of michele michael (freelance editor and prop stylist behind elephant props) and patrick moore (furniture designer and children’s book author and illustrator). today’s sneak peek gives a great look into their two homes: a brooklyn apartment and maine getaway (more about the two places at the end of the post). despite being two very different places, i love how they both have a similar feel. michele describes her “style” as function is very important, not liking any extra stuff in a room, and responding to strong shapes, patterns and color (color makes her happiest). i’m definitely inspired and hope you are too! click here for additional images. [thanks michele and patrick!] -anne

[Maine dining room above: Our lampshade is an inexpensive Pearl River rice paper shade.  The Eames shell chairs are from Modernica.  The eight foot long table was made by Patrick. It has unfinished pine planks with a painted base.  It’s insprired by the  Shaker tables we had seen on a  trip to the Shaker Village in Sabbathday Lake, Maine.  The amazing polka dot and deer painting is by a young artist, Jared DeFrancesco, who we commissioned to make something specifically for the space.   He can be reached at borderofutopia@riseup.net.  ]

[Maine living room] The sofa is from DWR.  The throw pillows are from John Robshaw.  Patrick built the coffeetable and made the wooden casters that it sits on.  It’s very convenient having a rolling coffeetable! The rug is Moroccan.  The print above the teak Danish credenza and the print between the windows are by our friend the artist Eunju Kang.  We found the credenza at the Good Will in Portland, Maine for $30.   The blue striped bowl is by a French potter and is from The Marston House in Wiscasset, Maine..

[Brooklyn living room] I recently traveled to Morocco where I bought the carpet for this room.  The Florence Knoll sofa is covered in a fabric to match two cats we once had.  We thought it was most practical way to hide cat fur!  Now two of our animals match it, and, well, the other two don’t!  The throw pillows are from John Robshaw.  The Moroccan white leather pouf is from John Derian.  The table was acquired in a barter my husband did with the furniture designer Rick Rubin of Harris Rubin.  The lovely color photograph of two peacocks on top of the cabinets is by my friend, the photographer Tara Donne.  The black and white photographs are by the photographer Gilles Peress. Patrick designed the cabinets which run across the entire length of our living room giving us lots of needed storage.  A wonderful local woodworking shop constructed them for us.  The little Victorian parlor chair is covered in a mohair velvet and was a birthday present from my husband many years ago

[Brooklyn living room] That’s our cute kitten, Carl, on the bed.  This is a tiny room.  Attaching the padded headboard (from West Elm) to the wall saves space.  I customized it with Marimekko fabric. Patrick built the two simple box night stands that are also attached to the wall.  The bedding is from John Robshaw. Our very talented niece, Renee Staeck, painted Agnes the cat. The print on the other wall is by H.C. Westerman. I purchased the vintage orange lamp on ebay.

The vintage white porcelain elephant was our mascot at Elephant Props until I decided he should live in Maine.  I bought the tiny vintage white porcelain bear because I just couldn’t help myself.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the sneak peek after the jump!

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