The Tannery Bar

I'm the weirdo who tries to nonchalantly whip out my phone and take photos of things like this in a bar, because it's just so pretty!

I'm falling more in love with Portland every week; five years here and I keep tacking on more reasons I adore this city. And yes, some of those reasons are bars. 

Last weekend I grabbed a drink with a few friends at The Tannery, one of Portland's newest drinking establishments (only 8 Yelp reviews "new") on the city's eastside. I had been wanting to check this bar out for a while, mainly drawn to its tiny size and potential coziness for a cold rainy night. When I walked in the door on Saturday, I was met with a great rustic-Portland vibe, super nice bartenders, and a stellar drink list. Some of the notable design elements included School House Electric lighting, long communal wooden tables, oil lamp sconces and old-timey accents reminiscent of saloons of the Wild West. And just as I hoped, it was really cozy.

I tried one of the beers on draft called "The Cowboy," a tasty Smoked Pilsner by Danish brewer Evil Twin, and it hit the spot. Unfortunately, like really unfortunately, I had already eaten dinner because the food menu looked bomb: bier wurst or monte cristo, anyone? Next time.

I snapped some pics with my phone which I've posted below; know it's killing me that a couple of those photos are as grainy as they are. Lesson learned that I should be carrying my big camera with me at ALL times. 

My new favorite place to eat, drink and be merry....

The Tannery. That's it, folks!

where the drink and food making magic happens, open for all to see

Evil Twin's "The Cowboy"

What bars/coffee shops/cafes in your city do you particularly love?

Moving Up in the World

It's Mooonnndaaaay! I hope everyone had a great weekend despite it probably going by way too fast. I finally got to see Silver Linings Playbook and went to a new Portland bar called The Tannery which was really cool. I also had one of these. :) The biggest event for me, however, was purchasing my first TV ever!  Now I don't have to watch all of my Netflix shows (currently House of Cards) on my little laptop... very exciting. So, I flipped my bookcase on its side, reorganized my books and then put the new TV on top. And I found myself a little overwhelmed. 

It's kind of weird how a television, especially a large one, can become such a presence in a room; just a Giant Black Rectangle hangin' out and stealing the show. Maybe it's because I'm not used to having one and I'm not someone who fawns over the "beauty" of technology, but I just want to hang a pretty textile over it or something when I'm not using it. Am I crazy? Perhaps.

I spent Sunday using things I already have to decorate my bookcase in an attempt to soften up the Giant Black Rectangle. It is a work in progress considering the artwork is hung with no thought whatsoever (the hooks were in the wall when I moved in) and those green ginger jars in front of the screen aren't in a practical location. But that's what I've got so far, and I like it way better than when I started.

Another thing I'm excited about? My sofa is arriving this week! But more to come on that later...

How was your weekend? Did you work on any projects at home?

February Favorites

Wowza this week went by fast! I just finished cleaning up after having some friends over for fajita night (I made homemade tortillas for the first time, so there was extra cleanup) and I am dying to hop into bed. These past few days have been non-stop and I am thisclose to turning into a pumpkin! I decided, however, that before any more time goes by I will use my last ounce of human strength to share some of the best house tours I've laid my eyes on recently. Even if only one of you is seeing these for the first time, I'm glad I shared it. They're that great, and they all happen to be from the oh-so-wonderful Apartment Therapy.

Last summer I met up with some college friends in San Francisco for a little reunion and we had a great time wining and dining and exploring and spending way too much money. I loved visiting, but this SF house tour actually left me in a daydream about how I will decorate my own future Edwardian era apartment in The City by the Bay. Because obviously I will be moving there if it means I can live in a home as sweet as this one...

to see more of this beautiful home and read an interview with the homeowner, check out the original tour here

Now onto the second tour... You may or may not know, but I grew up in Texas and it has definitely had an influence on my decor style, but perhaps not in the way you would think. Living a border away from Mexico has left me with a nostalgia for the folk art and culture of the colorful country that permeates Texas style. When I saw this house tour below, it made me giddy because of the homeowner's love for vintage and their Texas roots.

 To see more of this very cool tour please go here

Finally... I will simply describe this next tour as wild. It's one of those homes that I imagine people either love or hate; just seeing it gave me a rush of excitement but I'm sure for some it gives them a rush of anxiety. :) What I love most though, is that the homeowner obviously went with what she felt and loved, and in my opinion it totally works! Sometimes you just gotta do you...

 You should probably see the rest of this tour for the backyard alone, check it out here

What home do you like the most? I hope everyone has an awesome weekend!!

Lovin' Landscapes

How was everyone's weekend?! I was one of the lucky ones who had three days off of work, and I'm happy to report that I did quite a bit! I went estate-saleing and came home with some really cool Victorian silver, cross-country skied for the first time ever and watched, ummm, eight episodes of Breaking Bad. In a row. Whoops. Laundry, unfortunately, is yet to be done.

I also hit up some antique stores and came home with an old de-silvered mirror and a 1925 landscape painting. I'm going to put the painting in my bathroom because I think the mossy hues and aged patina will work with the rustic vibe I'm going for, inspired by this shot. More to come on that later.

I have a soft spot in my heart for landscape artwork in general, so I thought I'd do a round up of some of my favorite examples... enjoy!

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via Elle Decor 

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It's so hard for me to pick a favorite style!

What things did you get into this weekend?

All About Color: 10 Very Simple Ways to Decorate for Valentine's Day

 1. Look through your book collection and gather ones with red, white, or pink spines and arrange them as the focal point on a table.

2. Grab your Valentine-hued scarves and coats and hang them on the coat rack in your entryway.

3. Line up your pale pink, hot pink, dusty rose, fire engine red, coral and sparkly nail polishes on your vanity or bathroom shelf.

4. Move any family wedding or other romantic photos to a place where they are clearly visible.

5. Look through your magazines and find the ones with pinks and reds on the cover and lay them on your coffee table.

6. Make some red velvet cupcakes or cookies with pink frosting and arrange them on a cake stand on your kitchen counter.

7. Pull any pink, red or sparkly shoes out of the closet and place them in a casually noticed spot.

8. Look through your closets and less-visited rooms for pink, red and floral things that you forgot about (blankets, artwork, collectables) and move them to a place where they'll really stand out.

9. Go through any wedding announcements, baby announcements or other cards that have pinks and reds, florals or symbols of romance and put them on your fridge. 

10. Finally, if you must buy some kind of Valentine's Day decor, check out places like Target for cute things at great prices. These heart pillows were only $11.99 a piece and I can use them in different areas of my home Valentine's Day after Valentine's Day.

Obviously, it's all about certain colors. Which of these ideas is your favorite for simple Valentine's Day decor?

Getting Stuff Done!

where the magic happens: I sit in that chair by the window and work on my laptop; 

as you'll see below, I need to get a sofa and rug and hang some artwork...

How was everyone's weekend!? Friday night was especially fun for me because I grabbed drinks with some close friends at Clyde Common in downtown Portland and then on Saturday I went on a spontaneous shopping spree at Tar-jay and found all kinds of irresistibly cute Valentine's Day decor at really good prices.  I can't wait to show you the couple of items that practically jumped into my shopping cart!

I also worked on a giant list of things I want to do in the relatively near future. I'm the kind of person who needs lists to survive. I can't get my house organized and cleaned unless I break it down into tiny spaces and list them out: kitchen counters, area by the window, bed (anyone else use theirs as a table?), bathroom sink, floors, etc. It may sound kind of ridiculous but it helps me to focus and not get overwhelmed by all there is to do. Plus, it's really fun to cross things off the list.

I was inspired to start another sort of list by blogger Jackie Jade, a list of 101 things to do in 1001 days. The original idea comes from Mackenzie of Design Darling who describes the 101 in 1001 as the "happy medium" between a to-do list and a bucket list. I thought it sounded like a cool idea and am hoping it will help me concentrate on the things that are important to me and make better use of my free time.

So I have a little less than three years to get the following accomplished:

1. Make a 101 things in 1001 days list
2. Take a sewing class
3. Buy a piece of furniture at an estate sale
4. Paint my bathroom and kitchen white (early Feb 2013)
5. Put drapes/shades up in all of the windows in my apartment
6. Go to an estate auction
7. Save up for a large, flat screen TV; I have never owned a TV and just watch movies from my laptop... but I'm kind of over that and I'm pretty sure my friends are too
8. Create five pieces of artwork for my home
9. Visit my sister in Washington D.C.
10. Make my own stationery
11. Barbecue a Texas-style beef brisket
12. Go skiing on Mt. Hood and graduate from being a total beginner
13. Host a winter cocktail party
14. Host a Cinco de Mayo party every year 
15. Go cross-country skiing (mid Feb 2013)
16. Go deep sea fishing
17. Learn how to really work my camera
18. Learn how to use photoshop to do the things I want to do
19. Learn how to make a collage of things for my blog (I am so clueless!)
20. Help three friends (including blog friends) decorate their homes
21. Learn how to reupholster a piece of furniture, and do it
22. Make my front porch really inviting with potted and hanging plants, a pretty mat and a welcome sign
23. Replace/repair the crown molding that has detached from the ceiling in my apartment
24. Get to an intermediate level in yoga (I have a loooong way to go!)
25. Get better at telling jokes :)
26. Host a game night at my apartment
27. Participate in Apartment Therapy's "January Cure" - I'm currently doing the "February Cure" instead!
28. Make a really good homemade salsa 
29. Learn how to make queso without using any Velveeta
30. Go through my clothes and take 1/3 to Good Will or swap with friends
31. Knit a hat
32. Add some houseplants around my apartment
33. Transfer my beloved Staghorn fern to a larger base, so he can grow!
34. Update my blog layout
35. Figure out a way to incorporate The Lucky Find Vintage (my Etsy shop) into this blog
36. Read three biographies and three autobiographies
37. Ween myself off of The Bachelor (2 hours/week is just soooo much time) (Feb 2013)
38. Create a floor cloth for my kitchen
39. Complete my bar table (Valentine's Day 2013)
40. Find a great vintage Persian rug for my living room
41. Get glasses
42. Begin a "vintage recipes" series on the blog
43. Make sushi
44. Create Instagram magnets for the fridge
45. Get an iPad
46. Read Lonesome Dove
47. Get a better URL for my blog (I really really really don't like it as is)
48. Be able to better define my design aesthetic
49. Watch three classic musicals that I haven't seen before
50. Spend a Saturday having a Disney movie marathon
51. Camp along the Eagle Creek trail in the Columbia River Gorge (it's the most beautiful trail I've ever been on)
52. Attend some kind of Interior Design or Antiques event/seminar
53. Connect with at least 5 blogging friends in person
54. Make 10 recipes off Pinterest, first up being this
55. Make 20 recipes out of cookbooks handed down from my grandmother
56. Try Zumba
57. Watch Star Wars (I never have)
58. Refinish a piece of vintage furniture

I took this photo a couple of summers ago while hiking the Eagle Creek trail. Summer and #51 on my list can't come soon enough!

59. Make a fancy cake with my vintage mixer
60. Do a cleanse (NOT the Master Cleanse)
61. Find out my blood type
62. Send letters and cards to out-of-state family members and friends on a regular basis
63. Send birthday cards to family members and friends
64. Visit Santa Barbara
65. Stay at a bed & breakfast
66. Go to a national park in Utah
67. Go tubing in the river
68. Draw a floor plan of my apartment
69. Organize my storage space in the basement
70. Brew my own beer
71. Go on a Distillery Row tour in Portland, OR
72. Cook a nice dinner with meat/seafood purchased at the farmers' market
73. Have a friend over at least once a month for dinner (started Feb 2013)
74. Make a tie-dye picnic blanket
75. Paint my kitchen table a fun color
76. Get a sofa
77. Frame and hang all of the artwork I own
78. Get new tires for my car (and maybe get a new car??)
79. Learn how to make a martini and have them regularly (Valentine's Day 2013)
80. Become flexible (physically)
81. Learn how to make flower arrangements
82. Get a cute light fixture for my front porch
83. Get a new piece of furniture to store books (Ikea bookshelf be gone!)
84. Babysit some kids for free
85. Start volunteering again
86. Go to Yosemite National Park with my family
87. Go to Disneyland
88. Go on a brewery tour in Bend, Oregon (for my 29th birthday in Feb 2013!)
89. Go crabbing on the Oregon Coast
90. Go clam digging on the Oregon Coast
91. Find some new chairs for my kitchen table at a thrift shop or secondhand store 
92. Learn how to play a new lawn game
93. Have a barbecue with friends in the backyard
94. Replace the battery in my Macbook
95. Go bike riding at least 20 times
96. Watch 10 movies made before 1960
97. Add at least a dozen framed photos to my home decor
98. Go gold panning in Southern Oregon
99. Take a trip to Seattle and go to the top of the Space Needle
100. Clean out the trunk of my car and keep it that way
101. Take more of my own photos, and share more of my own projects on this blog

yesterday's project

I'm thisclose to being able to cross "paint my bathroom and kitchen white" off the list - it's what I spent all of yesterday doing (made bearable because of this playlist)! I even skipped a Super Bowl party so I could get it done, and now I just need to do one final coat in the bathroom. Sometimes it feels good to just do it, ya know? Now I can really move forward with decorating my bathroom and kitchen, which is exciting because I desperately need to get some ideas out of my head. :)

How was your weekend??


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Looking for Great Whites

Who else loves the wonderfully pungent smell of a freshly painted room? As luck would have it, my apartment has two rooms that are begging for a wall color makeover: the kitchen, which is currently a pale yellow (just not my color) and the bathroom, a really, really bright sky blue (better than the yellow but still not my color).  Some may call it boring, but I love a room that's painted a bright white, serving as the perfect backdrop for bold and bright artwork, furniture and accessories that can be easily switched out if tastes change. That and the fact that I'm renting in grey-skied Portland have led me to the conclusion that a crisp shade of white is the way to go.

Of course I need to make a trip to the paint store, get some samples and throw them up on the wall to see how they actually look in real life, but in the mean time I thought I'd do a roundup of some of my favorite white (or shades of white) rooms with paint colors included. If you're looking to do some painting in your own home, I hope you get some inspiration. Enjoy!

Atrium White by Benjamin Moore via

Natural Linen by Glidden via

White Dove by Benjamin Moore via

Witch Hazel by Olympic via

Soft White by Benjamin Moore via

Super White by Benjamin Moore via

Cream Fleece by Benjamin Moore via

Do you have a go-to shade of white in your design skills arsenal?

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A Favorite Thing: Moroccan Wedding Blankets

You know how we all have those lists in our heads of things we would LOVE to have or do, but for whatever reason probably never will? For me that includes spending a Christmas in the Swiss Alps, owning a dalmation, being a nanny for a Hollywood celebrity (my aunt tried to convince me this could be a real possibility), having a wedding á la Rachel Getting Married, actually loving wine and, finally, having a Moroccan wedding blanket across my bed.

Moroccan wedding blankets are something I've been loving for a while now, and every time I see one pop up in a photo of a beautiful serene bedroom I fall into a daydream about owning one myself (even though I don't think my obsession with vintage chenille bedspreads will ever die). It spells adventure in faraway lands and centuries-old stories of romance... plus they're really, really pretty.

Here's a little schooling for ya... According to Apartment Therapy, "The creamy, sequined blankets, or handira, are a window onto traditional Berber culture. Known as Moroccan wedding blankets, handira are woven out of sheep's wool, cotton and linen by Berber women in the Middle Atlas mountains of Northern Morocco. [...] Berber wedding blankets are woven in anticipation of, you guessed it, a wedding, by the bride's female relatives. It can take many hours — even weeks — of work to attach those hundreds of mirrored sequins once the weaving is complete; it is thought that during this collaborative task, the bride's relatives teach her all about the birds and the bees, among other marital duties and expectations. After the wedding ceremony, the bride wears the blanket tied around her neck as a kind of cape. It might be associated with her trip to her new marital home, which could be a chilly ride."

Pretty cool, right? Behold....

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Gorgeous, right? What things do you have on your "list?"

Design Trends 2013

I'm typically not one to follow trends; the only ones I can recall following from 2012 were the high-low skirt trend and the turban trend - the latter of which I never wore outside of my house, thank god. I put it on and spent a good 10 minutes trying to make it look like I had envisioned, when it dawned on me: I live in Portland, not LA, and I am not trendy. Free People's online marketing campaign had hypnotized me into believing I was though, for the five minutes it took to add the turban to my shopping cart then charge it to my credit card. Maybe I'll incorporate it into some weird Halloween costume this year and it won't go completely to waste.

So, when it comes to trends I end up either chickening out and the item just stays in my closet or I'll wear the thing a few times then feel like it's way past its prime (even if it technically isn't). But interior design trends are different, and that's why I wanted to do this post. Unless it's something that has rarely been done before and then EVERYONE and their hairstylist is behind the trend (chevron, Keep Calm and Carry On), interior design trends seem to be a little more subtle and therefore have more staying power. I perused blogs, magazines, and other interior design inspiration hot spots to come up with a short list of design trends that will be big in 2013. I hope you enjoy and get some kind of inspiration for the year ahead.

High-gloss / Lacquer

I love this trend because it can be done on a variety of scales: from accessories to walls, furniture to floors. For example, if you have a nightstand or dresser that needs a fresh coat of paint, you can just buy a high-gloss color at Home Depot and call yourself the Rachel Bilson of interiors. I accidentally followed this trend a few years back when I needed to repaint some furniture I'd picked up at a flea market (and lived with as-is for far too long) and for some reason or another went with high-gloss for my dresser and kitchen table. There have been absolutely no regrets since.

a glossy turquoise cabinet via Pinterest

balls to the lacquered orange walls via Odi et Amo

a pretty high-gloss nightstand via Decor Pad

Brass/Gold

Get the heck out of here silver because brass and gold are IN. This trend makes me especially happy because I usually answer with "gold" when someone asks me my favorite color. The color combos are endless: cream, slate blue and gold; pink, white and gold; navy, chartreuse and gold... I could go on forever. This is another trend that can be followed on a budget, just collect a few brass accessories or search for a brass lamp at garage and estate sales - trust me you will find one!

brass fixtures via The New York Times

brass lighting via Design Crisis

brass in the bathroom via Thunder In Our Heart

Grass Cloth Walls

If only I didn't live in an apartment and if only I had crossed "buy a sofa" off my to-do list. This trend is a bit of a splurge for most of it, but doesn't the beauty of this luxe wall covering make it worth it sometimes? Often done in pale blues, greens and greys, I love this in an unexpected color like pink or navy.

a warm shade of grass cloth La Dolce Vita

a serene green grass cloth (and notice the desk?) via La Maison Boheme

my favorite grass cloth of the bunch via Elle Decor

Emerald Green

As Pantone's "Color of the Year," you're going to be seeing green everywhere in 2013. Hopefully in more ways than one! Be bold and paint a wall or four in this bright jewel tone or simply bring some new green and white decorative pillows into your living room. Even though the trend is a particular shade of green, I can guarantee you this hue will have a pretty lax interpretation.

a bold green wall via Andie Johnson Sews

Pantone emerald green chairs via Chic & Deco

green all over the place via My Luscious Life

Natural Elements

A nod to nature will continue to be big in 2013, demonstrated with the use of raw materials in remodels, rustic furniture, vignettes of shells, bones, rocks, feathers and art depicting wild animals, vegetation, and interesting natural landscapes. My goal this year is to create a collection of potted succulents in front of my kitchen window and up the number of indoor plants in the rest of my apartment (because Mr. Staghorn is lonely).

dried wildflowers via Design Sponge

a driftwood wall via Design Sponge

a collection of bird prints via BHG

And to wrap it up, one trend I saw pop up but just can't get behind? Camo. Sorry folks, I will not be upholstering my couch in red, yellow and pink camouflage and I hope you won't be either. ;)

What 2013 design trend are you most excited about?