Good Idea! {Homemade Gifts}

If you follow me on pinterest you've already seen these and a lot more but I thought I'd share some of my favorite 'good ideas' here as well. This round up is all about clever home made gifts.


These genius ideas are detailed at the sources below:
1. send a heart attack, the house that lars built
2. housewarming jar, julie blanner
3. for the baker, sur la table
4. for s'more summer fun, sally j shim
5. grandma's biscuits, i love swmag
6. socktopus (or is it socktopi?), ginger and george

Give any one of these fabulous gifts and you'll be a star!

Missing the Sparkle!

Thanks for all the well wishes about our big little news! We are very excited. You won't be hearing too much about baby planning for the next few weeks since we're holding off on nursery planning, naming negotioations and shopping until we find out the baby's sex in 6+ weeks. I know it's not that far away but the suspense is KILLING ME! Anyone want to make a guess?

On a totally different topic, fireworks are illegal in NY which is generally a really good thing. Those of us who lived in Brooklyn before it was quite so trendy will remember the all night amateur firework shows going on til the wee hours in every neighborhood, followed by fire engine sirens and general chaos of the holiday. But there is one thing I miss and its the sparklers!
I would really love to try my hand at some sparkle photography but the good aren't readily available. (I'm sure there is a healthy black market for those in the know but I am definitely not in that category.)



images via: ho hum cards, canon, lamb and lark, tylerknott


So for those of you with easy access to the sparkle sticks, I hope you have some fun with your camera come next week. I'm very jealous.

There are lots of tips on how to snap your own sparkly masterpiece online but I'm particularily digging this blog post from studio tran.

Our Big Little News

Well I certainly thinks this counts as the biggest DIY project we've ever worked on!

17 years together, 38 countries visited and 993 blog posts later, Baby Limestone is expected to make it's big debut this December.

I'm coming up on 14 weeks and its been quite an emotional and physical roller coaster. All to be expected but certainly turning our lives upside down already. Now that we have made it through the first trimester, I've made a promise to myself that I'm going to start focusing on the fun stuff and put all the scary stuff out of my mind. (Up until now I haven't even been able to write even a sentence in a journal or even think about nursery colors.)

I hope you'll like hearing all about nursery planning, memory keeping and other bundles of joy here. I promise to keep the less than adorable stuff to a minimum.

Steal this Idea: DIY Backyard Playhouse

Its Friday (yippee!) - time for another Steal this Idea* feature - a tiny show of appreciation for a well executed tutorial. Today's feature is a little bit different because its the kind of project that is a bit more advanced and definitely requires a more time and investment - but this project is soooo worth it. Not something I usually feature as part of the series but its so jaw droppingly awesome I had to make sure you knew about it.

So what am I so enamored with? It's this DIY backyard playhouse from the handmade home created for their little one's enjoyment. Not only is she sharing the concept, she is also authoring a series of posts to let us know just exactly how she did it (part 1 and 2 are up, with more to come) Love it!



What child would not go crazy for this? I'm seriously considering asking if the handmade home will adopt me.

It would never fit in my backyard (and even if it did the NYC DOB of buildings might want to have a word with me about it) but I'm sending this directly over to my brother so if he can build one just like it in his future country hideway.

postscript: *When I say steal, I really mean borrow nicely and give proper credit!

**If you have an idea/tutorial you would like me to consider for a feature, email me. I'd love to see!

Fashion Challenged!

This seems to happen to me every year. The temps turn steamy, I walk into my closet and can not figure out for the life of me what I was wearing just a year ago.

So I need to shop but Im coming up empty. Everything seems to be too short, too casual, too uncomfortable or too dull. In short, I'm feeling a little bit like this lady looks.

image via all posters

So help a girl out. What is striking your fancy this season? And more importantly what can I wear? I'm curvy and work in a moderately dressy office (i wear a lot of dresses). I have to commute on the NYC subway so that means temps go from hot as hell on the platform to artic chill in the car. I could use a few casual pieces that travel well too.

I'd really much rather be feeling like this lady.

image via all posters

I know there are some smart fashion gurus out there. Help!

Away we went: Last year

It's that time of year again. I hunkered down for a few hours on Sunday and put together my 2011 travel book. I just might have set a new personal record for getting this done in the first half of the year. Hooray! Just have to put my order in and I'll have a third volume to stack on 2009 and 2010.




Want to flip through the pages? Here is the 2011 edition.

Away we go 2011 by Brooklyn Limestone Make Your Own Book

If you can't see the widget, click here.

For any specific information on a trip, just hop over to my travel page for more. I've also written an 'inexpert' guide to taking better vacation photos and planning a trip if you are interested. I've been working on another inexpert edition about packing for any trip in a single carry on but I'm having some recent struggles with packing for my next trip so I'm having a hard time doling out advice right now :)

Is the Octopus the next Owl?

Even thought I still like an occasional owl in decor, even I can admit its a bit played out. So what will unseat the ubitiquous owl? My bet is on Octopus.

I give you exhibits A through D.

1. from the deep dishware via anthropologie 2. sierra octopus via rugs usa 3. thomas paul shower curtain via 2modern 4. lord bodner's octopus study via tonic home

While I never added an owl to my house, I'm *this* close to trying to freehand an octupus on my shore bedroom dresser (yea, that one -the subject of much back and forth here and here). Ive been thinking about it for a while and the idea has been nagging me so it might be time to go for it. I can always paint over it, right?

So what do you think? Are you with me on the octopus being the new owl? Or are you voting for another fury friend?

More importantly should I give it a try on my dresser? Can a goldfish and a octopus co-habitat peacefully?

Ceilings Taken to New Heights {super 7}

I'm not one of those people to run around calling things in or out of style. I kind of believe almost anything can be done well if in the right context. But there is one thing I feel like I don't see enough of - and that's pattern on ceilings. I've become completely obssessed with it lately. I went searching high and low for a photo of what I'm dreaming of - a houndstooth pattern ceiling - and came up empty. I simply don't believe its an original idea and it seems like it wouldn't be too difficult using this houndstooth stencil but I came up dry.

So while I'm dreaming of that, here are my favorite examples of fab 5th walls.


top row: jenna lyons nursery (is there any inch of that house that wasn't gorgeous?)/hudson baby design / 4 men 1 lady
center: shannon kaye, house beautiful
bottom row: making it lovely (ok so this is a cheat since the ceiling is a simple gray but it plays so beautifully with that patterned wallpaper I had to include it!) / vintage revivals

So have any of you strained your back and patterned a ceiling? Is it as hard as it looks. I want one but I'm not sure if I have the skills or patience.

Out Back: Succulent Chandelier

A few years back I hung a candle chandelier over my two-fer table on the back deck. At first I wanted to paint it but as it got rusty, the aged look grew on me. All that was lovely but as it turns out, I don't have the kind of lifestyle that requires candle light very often - I almost never lit those candles. Never a fan of purely decorative items, I wanted to put the chandy to better use.



Succulents (the best friends of a black thumbed gardener like me) to the resuce. I can't take any credit for this idea as I saw it done in a garden center years ago but it suddenly popped into my mind as a fix to my problem this weekend.

I have no idea if this idea will work or I'll end up with a bunch of succulent skeletons to show for it but for now, I'm loving it.

For those natural born gardeners out there - whats your verdict? Will they grow or have I sentenced these poor innocent plants to death?



In other backyard news, the upside down tomato planters seem to be bearing some fruit. I won't be opening a roadside stand anytime soon with the bounty but I'm excited to taste them (if the wily city squirrels don't get to them first!)

I want to make you: Colorful Wooden Doormat

I'm not sure if its the joy of the yellow boots or the fun of the mat itself but I'm loving this! My version would be ombre blues and just perfect for the shore. Yet another time I wish I had a barn full of tools to get some side projects done without messing up my living room.


Project details can be found at Lowes Creative Ideas

PS: If you happen to have a barn, I'm really very jealous. Oh, the fabulous parties and projects I dream of in my imaginary barn. Can I borrow yours?

The Great Dining Room Table Debate

Ok so maybe its not really so great - its just an internal argument I've been having with myself for 5 years running.

I'm cheap and shelling out for a new, proper piece of furniture kind of kills me. There is so many great thrifted, salvaged and DIY pieces that its hard to lay out a lot for something I don't strictly 'need'. But this issue has been going on since we moved in so I think it might call for drastic action - a retail purchase!


the original table

If you have been a reader for a long while, you know that we used the table we found in the house (the only piece of furniture left behind simply because it was too big to remove without taking it apart). Despite its poor condition I really liked this table but it was too small to seat more than 6 people and caused a bit of an issue for holiday dinners. (Turns out getting seated at the secondary table is some kind of old world insult.) We always knew we needed a bigger table but I didn't want to plunk down the dough for a proper one at the time.

there she blows

Then on a random lunch hour trip to a NYC thrift store where I found this bad girl for a few hundred bucks. The condition wasn't great nor was it's pedigree but I really loved the shape and it was biggger! Hooray. It suited us fine for up to 8 people, 10 if we squeezed uncomfortably together. And that has held us for the past few years. But the very same shape I love also precludes me from slapping a folding table at the end of it so adding more seating space is nearly impossible.


thrifted curvy table in action


Due to some lovely additions to our holiday crew over the past few years, we will need at least 12 seats going forward. Christmas is a BIG DEAL to me and I love having everyone at the same table enjoying a meal.



Ok enough detail for you? So it may be high time that I shell out for a real table that has the right amount of seats. I have loved this rough wood trestle from Restoration Hardware since its come out. But ouch on the price tag!

So what do you think? Should I splurge on it or do I find a cheaper alternative? Any other suggestions?

I want something pretty that will age well (Im not the kind of person that will put a pad on my dining room table!). It has to seat at least 12 with an extension but collapse to a 6 or 8 seater the rest of the time.

5 years of June

It's June! Time for a trip down memory lane to take a look at June's past.

Last year was a busy one. I started to work on the shore bedroom, revealed the British Invasion shoot I had been working on, shared my favorite spot in NYC, and wrote an Inexpert Guide on Planning a Trip.



A year earlier I shared a freebie download menu, recapped our trip to Shanghai, and made a list of all the things I hate about our shore kitchen.


Rewind to 2009 to where I made a simple personalized pillow (that still sits in my living room) and was working out the kinks in the master bedroom plan.


Way way way back, I baked a claufouti, finally got some living room furniture and treated myself to a leathal weapon, aka an electric staple gun.


So thats 4 years of recap. Are you wondering what had happened in June of year 1? Well it looks like that was a very low point in the whole process and it was blog silence that whole month. We were about to sell our old house (to fund the renovation) and things were just stressful and not fun all around. So glad to have that bit behind us.

Do you enjoy the flashback? Stop over at my trip down April's memory lane.

So what is on your agenda for June?

Steal this Idea*: No Sew Table Skirt

Its Friday (yippee!) - time for another Steal this Idea* feature - a tiny show of appreciation for a well executed tutorial.

As a lifelong city mouse, I can appreciate the struggle of the narrow hallway and finding hidden storage space. So when Maggie Rose whipped up this no sew table skirt project, I was all over it.

Added bonus: check out the giant Ostrich photo she hung over the table taken by little old me. I can never get enough of seeing my own images hung as art in someone elses home. Super exciting!

Hooray for no sew projects! Not only does this work perfectly in a hallway but a larger version could be great behind a sofa or as a makeshift sideboard in a small dining room. Love.



Mosey over to Maggie Rose Interiors, for all the details and lots of other great interior design talk.


postscript: *When I say steal, I really mean borrow nicely and give proper credit!

**If you have an idea/tutorial you would like me to consider for a feature, email me. I'd love to see!