Julie's Dining Room: Faux Tortoise

We have to confess that we have an obsession with all things tortoise.  Julie has been lusting after these napkin rings from Bloomingdales for a while now:

Ahh...so pretty! At $20 a pop she couldn't justify spending the money to get them, but once we're obsessed with something there is no. stopping. us.  Earlier this week we found these napkin rings from Crate and Barrel...currently on sale for $.95 each! 

We freaked out and bought 12.  We realize that napkin rings shouldn't be this exciting.  We think they'll look great in Julie's dining room (still working on the lighting situation...will keep you posted on that), and once we she bought them we wondered how else we could use tortoise in the space.  Too much of a good thing is just extra good, right?

We're thinking about doing a faux tortoise treatment on the stool underneath this console table:

Can't quite picture it?  To give you an idea, the tortoise shell was painted onto the table in this room:

If we can pull it off, we think it will be pretty amazing.  We're feeling inspired by pretty spaces filled with faux tortoise, like in the rooms below:

Tortoise trim...insane!

Obviously, a vase like the one above is such an easy way to pull some of this look into a room.  If you love it as much as we do, we'd use this ice bucket as a vase and fill it with some pretty, all-white blooms (only $25.99!):

We'll keep you posted on how our faux tortoise treatment turns out on Julie's stool.  Wishing you all a great week!

Get the Look: Restoration Hardware Baby and Child

While in the process of designing the nursery for Sarah's son, we visited Restoration Hardware Baby more often than we'd like to admit.  Although we ultimately went in a different direction for her son's nursery, we really love the look of RH Baby...but we don't love the price tag.  Some of our favorite items from RH Baby for a girl's nursery are the hand-folded vintage map dresses.  Aren't these stunning?

We think these would be gorgeous hung above a changing table or dresser in a nursery and would transition really well into a "big girl's" room, as well.  At $599 each, however, they're not all that reasonable for someone looking to design a nursery on a budget.

It's no secret that we turn to Etsy when we're looking to recreate a look on a budget (like the Sputnik chandeliers we posted about here).  And once again, Etsy didn't disappoint.  To get the RH Baby look. we'd buy these dresses, and have them professionally framed in white shadow boxes:

Because these are only $66 each, you'd be able to recreate this look at a fraction of the RH Baby cost, even with professional framing.  Love that!  In all honesty (and because we're crazy), we'd probably message the Etsy seller and ask her if she could make the dress bows out of maps, as well.  This would get you a look that's even closer to RH.

We really can't stress enough how helpful it is to do a quick search on Etsy (and eBay, and Craigslist...) when you're thinking about making a big-ticket purchase for any room in your house.  You'd be surprised at how often you can get the same look at a much more affordable price.

Are there any items you're planning to purchase that you'd like us to hunt down for you on the cheap? Let us know!  

News

We have some big news to share with all of you...Sarah and her family will be moving to Los Angeles at the end of the summer!  Although the move is bittersweet, we're excited for this next phase of life for her family.   AND we're excited to start decorating a new apartment, California-style! We'll still be working on 1201north, but the whole thing will be a lot more bi-coastal than we originally planned. Thanks for tuning in-- we're excited for what the next few months have in store!

Target: Campaign Furniture

We know that campaign furniture has been trendy for some time now, but we're not sick of it yet (and not sure we ever will be).  We love the simple lines and recessed hardware and the fact that campaign pieces look great in all types of design.  We were lucky enough to snag a vintage campaign dresser and side table for Sarah's apartment (more on that to come) from our local flea market, and now Julie is considering nabbing this desk from Target:

The desk comes in salsa (above), black, and midtone and is only $119!  We think we've made our love for Target pretty clear, and these newest pieces of furniture from their Threshold line have completely sealed the deal for us.  

If Julie buys this desk, she plans on adding brass casters to the feet and hitting the hardware with some gold spray paint or Rub N' Buff to match, like in this desk:

Even though it's technically a desk, we think it would also be great used as a console table in a small hallway or entryway or as a vanity, like in the room below:

Love the look but want it on a smaller scale? Target also offers a campaign side table (on sale right now for $63.99!), which we think makes the perfect bedside table.  We're obsessed with it in gray, and it also comes in salsa and green.

It reminds us so much of the Pottery Barn Devon nightstand, which costs $299!

If you want the look of the brass corners on the Pottery Barn nightstand, we'd suggest picking up these brass corners from Home Depot and getting your DIY on.

We're thinking about snagging this side table in green for an office redo we're working on for our mom.  We can't wait to share all of those plans with you in the coming weeks!

Get the Look: Sputnik Chandeliers

We first fell in love with sputnik chandeliers when shopping at our favorite J. Crew store in the city.  We love the mix of glass and metal in these mid-century modern beauties, and are especially drawn to them when used in more traditional spaces...such an unexpected pop! Here's a shot (from Jenny at Little Green Notebook) of the sputnik in J.Crew...see how they've paired it with the traditional chesterfield sofa and rug? LOVE.  

Side note: pay attention to the decor they use in your favorite stores, and don't be afraid to pull inspiration from them! We always love the lighting, accessories, rugs, furniture, and art installations in stores like J.Crew and Kate Spade here in NYC.

So, J.Crew is where we first spotted this lighting and since then we've noticed sputnik chandeliers popping up in some of our favorite spaces:

Unfortunately, if you're anything like us, you don't have thousands (like $35,000 in some cases. For real.) lying around to spend on a chandelier for your bathroom.  So please imagine our excitement when we found Stimulight on Etsy.  Stimulight creates "custom urchin chandeliers," that really remind us of our beloved sputnik.  

Here are a few of our faves:

$479

$379

$529

Please note that all of these options are under $600.  We hope you now understand why this Etsy find is a big. ass. deal.  Check out Stimulight's full selection here.

Any lighting trends you're excited about? We'd love to hear.

Happy 4th!

The 4th of July is the kind of holiday that makes us wish we had a (perfectly decorated) lake house that we could jet off to to get some R&R.  We're still working on our husbands to make that wish come true, but we are looking forward to spending some time with friends and family today.  We'll be heading to a friends party here in Brooklyn and are brining this Red, White, and Blueberry trifle from our homegirl Martha:

Although we've shied away from red, white, and blue decor for fear of a room feeling too patriotic/themed, we think the below spaces prove that this classic color combination can be oh-so-chic:

We hope your days are relaxing and fun!

Mustache and Bow Tie Party

...aaaand we're back! Our summers have been off to a really busy start.  But now that the madness has died down, we promise we'll be better about posting.
Since Sarah's son just turned one, we thought we'd share with you a few of the details behind his first birthday party.  The party was a "little man" theme-- we jumped on the chance to pick a theme that lends itself to cute decor.  Here are a few shots from the day:

Julie made both of the signs in Word, and the mustache cupcake toppers can be found here.  The mustache table runner is wrapping paper from HomeGoods.  

One thing that we like to do when going to any party is wrap our gifts according to the theme.  Since the birthday party was a joint party for Sarah's son and two of his friends, Julie picked up the same gift (this adorable book) for each little man and customized each with a mustache gift tag:

The tags were cut out of black cardstock and the names were spelled out using glitter scrapbooking stickers from Target.  Wrapping paper and twine are both from HomeGoods.

Although we don't love themes in kids rooms, we definitely love them for parties-- they make planning and decorating a cinch!  Do you have any favorite kids' birthday themes you'd like to share?

Wishing you all a fantastic week!