Tomorrow morning, May 26th, is my birthday and I can’t wait to arise and look into the sun and sky for one more day.

Sunrise by Monet. For breakfast, I may celebrate with these because Macarons are just so tasty and colorful!

Friday, I’ll throw a little party and I’ll be sure to post pictures. I’d love to decorate with a crocheted garland like this one from Dottie Angel, she is a new favorite to read.

I will also do the all things I love like visit blogs I love and ride my bike…

and talk to the people I love. Have a sweet May 26th! I’ll be back next week with more rug designs to inspire you.

I don’t care if Monday’s blue…

This week has been such a beautiful one. It started with the misty rain and ended with a sweet redo!

This table used to be yellow with rustic country charm. We had been using it much like a garden table filling it up with plants, watching as it quickly became dusty with soil. This little table is an antique, but was in no condition to be restored. I still liked the grace of it’s lines and the keyholes. A collector once told me it was probably a 1920′s wash table with a mirror attached. I always saw it’s original potential.

I think I like the pale pistachio paper and pink birds even more against the white.

I’ve been building a replacement for the garden, inspired by this tiny photo.

Now, I wouldn’t dare to set a dirty potted plant on this lovely white!

For custom pieces, please inquire hilary.hahn@pinkpianos.com.

Happy Friday, folks!

I sat down for a brunch-time interview with Los Angeles based artist, Leah Padow to find out more about her sublime paintings and motivations behind her work. Leah paints in acrylic, watercolor, pencil, and paper. You will notice how she juxtaposes light cool and dark warm colors at once.

Leah graduated from the Studio Art Program at Cal State Long Beach and remembers her favorite class being Color Theory. Which explains why, Leah’s work is often full of  brightly colored organic shapes …

When asked if she’d ever thought of being something other than an artist. Leah relates her first experiences with creating an artwork as a child. She remembers using Xerox and scotch tape to produce a series of toilet sculptures, later came a bicycle and an ironing board. How cool is it, that she created a series at age 5? So being an artist seemed only natural, although becoming an architect may have been runner-up as you’ll see a definite balance and order in her compositions.

I get a feeling from looking her pieces, how about you?

Her current series is all about skin is and is open to audience interpretation. Currently, she is “painting with paper” a style that has been evolving since her earlier work. I hope to post one of her latest paintings soon. In the between time,  if you’d like to contact Leah you can do so by emailing lovelee30@gmail.com. Leah is a member of Women Painter’s West and the Wednesday Collective. I will keep you updated about her upcoming shows.

I have to admit designing a room for a pre-teen girl is a fun and awesome challenge. Mia is a creative girl and has tons of great ideas that she’d like to incorporate into her teen dream room. She loves purples, hates pink and has lots of cool ideas for lighting. So far we’ve have been through a series of inspirational pics and products still searching for the perfect fit.

You may remember the bed round-up from a month ago. Well, who knew the Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel only carry queen sizes and up! Now I do.

Luckily, Annie, my project partner stumbled upon this awesome platform bed at Brocade Home.

We are seriously considering it, but waiting for Mia to give the ultimate thumbs up!

Here is what Annie came up with. I love the faux leather silver cubes from Brocade Home and I think Mia will too! Mia and her mom, Veronica spotted this hip black and white Mandala bedding at CB2 and I think it could be the perfect design solution.

As a design alternative I came up with a brighter board for us to look at and perhaps pull other products that Mia loves. The white chest from PB teen is a must for her bean bag seating area, along with the black linen dress form that she can attire in the mornings while picking out clothes for school.

Now, we know that pink can be a bit girly, but this ruffle bedding also comes in Celery green and Gray! We love the way the pink is paired with yellow, red, and orange, for a splash of sunshine indoors. The rug is optional but does tie together the room nicely. We are also considering a shag rug, if anyone knows of a colorful shag rug retailer please do share! Finally, the lace tower at left will make space for Mia’s blossoming shoe collection. Really, what more could a girl ask for?

I am so excited to get the shopping underway this month. We promise to share the final products in July, while they are installed.

I’ve been planning for today’s post once again, as this month every Tuesday I’ll be introducing you to another talented and interesting artist.

I am also proudly inching my way forward toward my blog-iversary, and 100th post which guaranteed to be climatic! Pondering what should I do to celebrate? What should I wear? Who should I invite? The brainstorming goes on!

Today, I’d love to introduce Andrea Long Chavez, whom I described last week as the ‘chronic doodler’.

Andrea is an intriguing artist who specializes in illustration and photography; who also uses fashion to express her inclinations for the day.

Over at She Will Dress Herself, Andrea finds new inspiration with in her interactions with people and old places. You can see what she likes to wear and go along for a metro bus ride with her!

She is equally great at drawing people and she has accomplished much in her young career including awards from the Music Center for Photography. Andrea’s silver gelatin prints pictured below were shown at Bergamont Station in Santa Monica, February 2006.

As well, she was awarded the Scholastic Art & Writing Silver Key for her drawing portfolio, 2006. It is no surprise considering her training at California Animation program at CalArts, Ryman Arts Program at USC, and Otis Young Artists’ Studio Arts Program. Her mediums of choice are acrylic paints, sakura pigma micron, dip pen & ink. Commissions are available upon request!

I hope you enjoy her work and blog as much as I do.

Tommorrow, I’ll show you inspiration boards from my interior design meeting! I need your advice, big time.

Well, she’s done it again…that Martha!

She never ceases to amaze. Tiny dust-like flecks of glitter in every color of the rainbow.

Next week, I’ll show you just what happened with all this lovely glitter and I bet you will not guess what I’m gonna do with this glitter buffalo.

…a simple thought in sparkling text.

I’m happy to announce my new series, An Artist a Day, in which I will be featuring talented artists every Tuesday in May, that I am lucky enough to know in person.

I met Tory last year at Coachella Valley Art and Music Festival as part of an artist’s team.

Tory Van Wey is an artist and illustrator out of the San Francisco Bay Area. I like her work because it is a playful and insightful. She creates a bridge between the human and natural worlds. As her biography notes, she uses contrast and bold composition to lend a strong graphic quality to her work while her level of detail displays a dedication to finer crafts. Her works spans several mediums including silkscreen and letterpress printing with a primary focus on cut paper and ink illustration.

Tory remembers, “When I was a little girl I used to sit outside in my back yard and construct elaborate scenes using the materials around me. I would use seed pods from the ash tree to make a pair of fairy wings. A fuscia blossom would become a ballerina and acorns from the oak would be hats. I would peel the bark off a birch tree and shape it into houses for the creatures in my imagination. The tactile sense of dirt and leaves between my fingers left me with a great curiosity and love of organic forms. These daydreams from childhood are the roots of common themes present in my work; exploring the opposition and connection between the fantastic and the organic, the natural and man made and reweaving the threads that run throughout.

“The patience and tactility of paper cutting attracted me to the medium and it turned out to be a natural evolution of my drawings and design. I find the simplicity of the medium and the complexity of the final result to be a direct reflection of the contradictions in my art. ”

I think that Tory’s work is really dynamic because of her composition and use of color!

One piece from her blog, that I’d like to share was designed for Beach House the Indie soft rock group from Baltimore, Maryland.

She captures their organic sound so well in this piece. I could totally see it as their album art.

She draws inspiration from ancient Japanese woodblock carvings, vintage concert posters, European folk art, and music of all persuasions.More of Tory’s work can be seen on her blog at www.toryvanwey.com

For more of this series stop by next Tuesday, for images and a biography of artist Andrea Long Chavez.

“A self described ‘chronic doodler,’ Andrea is an artist who works from her environment. Finding inspiration in her interactions with kind people and old places, she likes drawing people on the bus and bargain hunters sifting through thrift stores for that gem.”

More to come!

A while back, as a prize for winning the Lovelies, I was lucky enough to receive a gift from Life in Sugar Hollow photography.

This soft and sweet Stretch Out and Wait print has inspired an impromptu collage wall in our Bathroom. The silver mirrored frame around the print is from Target! I fell for the way it accents our bathroom mirror with it’s subtle shine.

The cluster of frames remains an installation for now. I have used one print by Sonja Gallardo of Hi Cutie Pie on the top left and two snippets of William Morris wallpaper patterns; bottom left and top right to pull it together. The other 3 frames, I had lying around the house. I refinished each by hand one to match Ana’s Barnwood frame I built in Feb, another with Rub n’Buff gold, and the last with metal effects bronzer. For questions on custom finishes simply follow the links or email me at hilary.hahn@pinkpianos.com. The burnished mirror on the left wall is from Mexico. It is Oaxacan and has been colored through scorching.

What can I say? I love to collect art and rearrange it when the moods strikes me!

I also think small art could look really wonderful in the bathroom, so when I came across this wall in Country Living. I knew I had to share!

Best of all is the way they’ve hung it from white ribbons on a white wall, so it looks like it’s floating!

This room below appeals to me with it’s still life themed art. I’d love to own that chaise too.

So, I’m still debating my own wall if I should keep it as is or narrow it down to three! So much is happening, as I’m inching my way toward my 100th post. I’ll be sharing the work of 3 talented artists this month and 3 DIY projects are all lined up on the horizon like birds.