I need this NOW.

Orla Kiely Citroen

This could not be more perfect. Not only am I in the market for a new car, but I happen to love all things Orla Kiely AND have wanted to figure out a way to get my hands on a Citroen in the U.S. since we rented a C3 in Spain a few years ago.

DS3 by Orla Kiely

Seriously, add an Orla Kiely signature stem design to a toilet plunger and I would buy three (are you listening, Target?). The Citroen DS3 by Orla Kiely is a limited edition and only 500 will exist, so my fantasies about rolling up in this at the grocery store, the office, day care, or the other glamorous places I drive will be short-lived. Doesn't mean a girl can't drool.

Citroen DS3 by Orla Kiely Details

Take me to....Manka's Inverness Lodge

Manka's Inverness Lodge

Maybe it's the cold rainy weather. Right now I can clearly picture myself back at Manka's Fisherman's cabin: Outside, the mountains are black against a blacker sky but we can't see them through the prickling fog. Inside, dim yellow lamps cast long shadows across rough wood ceiling beams. I am wearing flannel and long johns, toasting my toes by the fire, sipping spicy red wine and schooling my husband in an hours long game of Scrabble. Yes, my fantasy builds up to winning a board game. Oh, the married life.

Manka's Inverness Lodge is one of those magical places that you hear people talk about but never quite understand; then after just one night becomes so personal that you almost feel violated when you realize that other people have experienced it too.

 

 

Image via Remodelista

There is such a sophisticated and easy cleverness to Manka's. The charm comes through the approachable personality of simple details that are inviting and inspirational. I can't wait to return.

*Still a Young Buck* Mirror Detail at Manka's Inverness Lodge

Texture and shadows at Manka's Inverness Lodge

Pouf! There it is...

Now that our little guy is officially a toddler, I am in the mood to get him some sort of soft, snuggly seating that he can climb all over or curl up on.

I love the way these simple shapely poufs lend an approachable and crafty feel to these modern interiors.

(from Katy Elliot)

(from Megan Jorgenson)

If there is such a thing as an ideal knit pouf, it would have to be the Urchin Pouf from dutch designer Christien Meindertsma. 

Urchin Pouf by Christien Meindertsma...gorgeous!

CB2's knitted pouf is a more affordable option in a spherical shape.

Knitted Poufs from CB2

I love the smooshy handmade quality of this one from the Norwegian company Pickles.

Puff Mama Mini by Pickles

These denim poufs from Ferm Living look so soft and touchable.

Denim poufs from Ferm Living

Making Time

provax

I've always been a clock watcher. I time everything. It takes 12 minutes to get from my house to the halfway landmark during my morning commute no matter which route I take. It takes 19 minutes to the same point on the way home. It takes my husband 9 minutes to shower even though he claims it takes 7. My obsessive stopwatch was taken to a new extreme when I kept a nursing log for my newborn, diligently penciling in the exact minutes he spent eating each side. I continued to update the log long after the recommended 6 weeks and now have an entire notebook filled with months of his eating habits.

Maybe that's why I'm drawn to the works of Portland printmaker Alyson Provax, who has elevated her own clock-watching obsessiveness to an art form. The letterpress prints she sells at her Etsy Shop are clever chronicles of time wasted. She writes, "The 'Time Wasting Experiments' are an ongoing series of letterpress prints I've been producing which document time wasted. These are in part inspired by tracking 'billable hours' but also come from the compulsion to always be doing things and producing objects. This series is a sort of audit of how I spend my time, but the prints could also be thought of as permission slips allowing you to spend a period of time in a wasteful way (maybe recontextualizing a private, shameful activities into something which one tries to get done in a set amount of time)."

I love the simplicity beauty of these. I want to house a collection of them in floating lacquer frames for a graphic display - perfect in a bathroom as a sly nod to the place where most of my time is wasted.

west elm floating lacquer frames

 

 

 

I love this simple arrangement. source unknown!

The casual placement of frames in this bathroom would also work well with this art. Image by Rob Fiocca from article in Canadian House and Home Magazine.