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!

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growing up just outside new york city in new jersey with frequent trips to soho galleries,  alex marshall always knew she would be an artist. after studying painting and ceramics for both her undergraduate degree and mfa, alex opened her first ceramics studio in sausalito, ca.  today she lives with her artistic partner and husband andrew barry and their daughter akiva in northern california’s central valley. the couple live on a five acre stretch of land with 600 olive trees plus a few pomegranate, lemon, tangerine, plum, peach and granny smith apple trees. their five acre lot is the smallest division of land allowable in the county so they’re surrounded by much larger orchards and farms. alex’s surroundings are an evident inspiration in her work and it’s fascinating to see how that translates to her home. {thanks alex, andy and akiva!} – amy a

[The main room of our house is one big open space. The mobile in the corner is a Calder my grandmother bought in the late 1960's and gave to me before she died. She had a great eye and is the primary reason I'm a designer today. The 2 paintings I did as an undergraduate at Skidmore College in New York State and are made of roofing tar, dried pigments, paper, wax, paint and are on wood. The green couch is from Design Within Reach and converts for sleeping. It's the perfect size for our 20 month old daughter to play on. The orange pillow is from our friends Max and Linda Geiser from Wallter. We met them at our first trade show in 2003 and not only consider them great friends but are also great admirers of their work. The wooden bench is from a local furniture maker which we use as a table, the vase is one of our sphere vases in brown stripe, the stools I made in college, the flooring is Flor's house pet tiles since we have a dog, cat and toddler and the rocking dog is our daughter's favorite toy. She loves to make it bark!]

Our dining table is an old wooden farm table that friends gave me years ago when they bought a new table (thanks, Ricka and Jeff!!!!!) and separates our living room from our kitchen. The dinnerware on the table is our slim dinnerware in white, the bowl is our 17″ bowl in chocolate and the sphere vases are in periwinkle and blue gray. We designed the pitcher a few years ago and I think it’s one of our best pieces but since it doesn’t have a handle it’s a tough sell! The photographs are wax casts of my feet I did in graduate school.

Our master bedroom, like the rest of our house, is minimal. The headboard is an antique teak door from Indonesia, the bedding is also from Wallter, the lamp is our rectangle lamp in matte brown, the dresser is a wooden trunk we bought at a flea market in Mill Valley, CA and the paintings I did in 2001 as part of a series of 8 on paper. The rest of the series sold and when we bought our house in 2004 found the perfect spot for these last 2!

CLICK HERE for the rest of Alex’s sneak peek after the jump!

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whew! today is the final deadline for the d*s book manuscript and i am still writing up until the very last second. so before i dive back into the book i wanted to kick things off today with a beautiful new series of pillows and rugs from designer bev hisey. bev’s amazing home will be featured in the book- and i can’t wait to share her incredible space.

until then, these pieces are part of bev’s newest line. i have a serious crush on the letter pillow- it’s got such a modern but slightly army blanket feel, which i almost always love. the river rock carpet at the top of the post is equally sweet and sleek- i’d love to see it in a mustard yellow. but no matter what color, bev’s work is always so gorgeous in person. if you want to check out her newest pieces, click here to view the full collection. thanks, bev and matt!

*stay tuned for FOUR sneak peeks coming up next! amy and anne have been coding like crazy to help out during my crazy book deadline so we have an extra special dose of homes today. thanks, ladies!

also- the d*s guest blog will vacant this week so i can give myself a little break from extra coding.

whew! this week has been crazy and on monday i’m finally able to finish the bulk of my work on the d*s book and turn in the manuscript! things are coming together so nicely i can’t wait to show you the final result. until then, i wanted to leave you with another peek from one of the new homes from the book. this incredible bathroom belongs to a former domino magazine editor and the rest of her home is just as gorgeous. until monday- have a great weekend! below is a summary of this week’s highlights:

[image above by james merrell]

• new monthly column!: “beyond on the big day“: the team at once wed shares wedding-inspired decorating and entertaining ideas
• biz ladies 09: sole proprietorship vs. incorporation
• new city guide: san antonio, texas
• dear d*s: purse storage and door privacy ideas
• small measures with ashley: home composting
• in the kitchen with: joel mackaay’s porcini mushroom tapioca cakes
• new sneak peeks: ed roth of stencil 1, patrick conner of fossil, erin heath, liane tyrrel of enhabiten, annie coggan, sophie blackall
• new diy projects: toilet paper roll wall art, kate’s beaded chandelier
• new before & afters: jen’s chair + nichole’s dresser, parisian restaurant + jane’s ceramics, rachelle’s deck + jill’s chair
• we like it wild: birch bark basket
• new d*s guest blogger: abc-themed posts from brooke at inchmark
• misc: furniture from egg collective, new prints from elisabeth dunker, miniwraps gift wrap from kamal, pressed flower photographs by heidi romano, cut paper cd packaging by chris delorenzo, number and letter cut felt coasters/placemats from little factory, modern quilts from amy sullivan,

[today i'm thrilled to welcome emily and the team from once wed to d*s! starting today, they'll be joining us once a month with wedding-inspired entertaining and decor ideas in a new column called "beyond the big day". i love the way that weddings are often the catalyst for beautiful decorating and party ideas, so emily's column will focus on bringing that idea to life. she'll be posting all sorts of design related projects, so stay tuned!]

I’m beyond thrilled to share these gorgeous inspiration photos from Jen Curtis with everyone today. Although this look was created for a wedding, it can easily be carried over into a dinner party or even used as decoration in your home like the fireplace mantel idea above. The lovely Gloria from Gloria Wong Design was kind enough to give us a look into the idea behind this shoot…

For this particular project, I decided to use my very own favorite childhood toy as inspiration. The spirograph brought me endless amounts of joy and wonderment as a kid. I remember spending hours and hours rotating those little plastic plates and watching shapes come alive on paper!

The shapes that a spirograph creates are inherently symmetrical and modern. So, for this mock table, I decided to go for an “Urban Modern Crafty” vibe in a loft-like venue with bare white walls. I chose fuschia pink, gravel grey and light cement grey because the combination of those colors fit the flavor… and because I’m in love with those colors at the moment! I used a streamlined wooden table, no curves, no fluff and layered on clean white plates. For the rest of the fun, I enlisted the most talented team of vendors.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the post after the jump!

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Living in Italy, I feel quite deprived of world cuisine and therefore have noticed that my collection of books dedicated to helping me satisfy those cravings has grown. Joel’s recipe for porcini tapioca cakes also happened to remind me of “world cuisine” coming all the way from Australia. So I thought I’d do a round up of a few ‘well-rounded’ cookbooks that offer a wide range of cuisine type, just in case you get bored easily. If you’re looking for more mushroom recipes, try A Cook’s Book of Mushrooms by Jack Czarnecki (Artisan). If, instead of mushrooms, you want to try out an easy chutney recipe, see the end of this post! Have you got a favorite cookbook with a wide variety of cuisines under one binding? -Kristina

CLICK HERE for the reviews and chili-pepper chutney recipe after the jump!

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