Holy unhealthy obsession, kids — I CAN NOT stop looking at wallpaper! It all started when Ally asked for wallpaper suggestions to go in her new house, and now — 6537 hours later — I think I may have looked at every single wallpaper pattern on the internets. Problem is, I ain’t got nowhere to put it. Actually, The Hubs and I are considering moving relatively soon, so we don’t really want to take on any big projects that may have to be undone before a parade of buyers come through, demanding that every wall be painted band aid beige. Thus, therefore, alack, anon, as of now, I am officially in fantasy decorating mode. Le sigh. Of course, I do have real tasks that should be done, like painting trim, cleaning up the yard, switching out little hardware doo dads, blah blah blah, but who wants to do that boring crap when sexy wallpaper beckons like a siren in the mist — oooooowwwwweeeeeeee (or whatever a siren sounds like). Dudes, I want to glue paper onto something very, very badly.

Who could blame me when there are so many fabulous papers available to us regular folk? Right now I have a serious crush on Barcelona based wallpaper firm, Tres Tintas. Their papers are Hot Diggity Dog awesome. I love the artsy, painterly quality of many of their prints; the best of them feel more textural than patterned.

1080 Cadires kind of reminds me of Kelly Wearstler’s staircase. If only it were much, much bigger…

Pelos looks like line drawn hair, or softly waving sea kelp.

Sara Palmer is a contemporary take on the ubiquitous 70s jungle paper.

Mostly I just like this picture. I want a penguin, too.

My favorite print from Tres Tintas is the Selva de Mar. Most of the colorways wax Miami Vice, but I love the white on white print. Yes, it’s there. Promise. It reminds me of some fancy abstract art I can’t quite place… maybe Jackson Pollock’s early paintings, before he got all actiontastic?

Selva de Mar is pretty similar to Jocelyn Warner’s Kew print, which I also likey, but I much prefer this colorway:

Black on black, apparently printed in gloss inks. This one earns another Hot Diggity Dog! from me. If anyone out there has this paper in their house, or has seen it in person, please please report back. I need to know if it’s supah glossy. I want this so hard.

And then there’s Erica Wakerly. Girlfriend can do no wrong in my eyes. I’ve probably already used up all my allotted HDD!s for today, but if not, then her Desert print gets another one from me. Kind of 80s, totally awesome — I love the black and coral colorways, too.

Angles has been a favorite for a while now. It would look SMASHING in my kitchen over the sink, behind my new shelves (which I am too lazy to photograph today. Sorry, dudes). Then I would hang a big, brass pendant light, and it would KILL. I would totally go for it if we weren’t thinking about moving. Plus, I’m a little worried about wallpaper behind a sink. Dirty disaster in the making?

Last but not least, I like EW’s Teepee print, but in the orange colorway:

In my fantasy dream house, I have a teeny tiny powder room, and this is how it rolls, with big gold lights, simple teak cabinets, and white countertops. Delicious.  Nevermind that hanging foil wallpaper would be hard as hell. It’s my fantasy.

Anyone out there have a fancy, favorite pattern? I know I should stop with the wallpaper, but I. just. can’t. Feed my addiction, pretty please?

During my blog-vacation I spent quite a bit of time doing, what else?  Perusing blogs.  With all the free time I had on my hands I finally had time to check out what all you dudes are up to.  I spotted this picture on design-porn-favorite,  Desire to Inspire:

I immediately knew it would be perfect for the Birds Barbershop bathrooms.  I emailed the pic to the shop owner and got back a one word response: iwantiwantiwantiwant

I had no idea where to find it so I put out a call for action in the Desire to Inspire comments section.  Another reader immediately came to my rescue and pointed me to Aimee Wilder

Turns out, Aimee is quite prolific.  I guess I must have been hiding under a rock, because home girl has quite the collection.  Her Analog wallpaper can be purchased in one of five colorways.  Of course, I vote for silver on charcoal.  If it weren’t (ahem) $140 / roll, it would be on it’s merry way to me right now.  

I do feel like I’ve seen these robots before.  And if I ever have a bambino’s room to decorate, I can choose from pink or one of these colors:

Oh, who am I kidding, the bambino gets the analog wallpaper.  You just can’t beat it.  Here’s more of Amy’s paper:

I’m kinda loving these graphics from Aimee even more than the wallpaper:

and, here that analog it is again, in technicolor!!

Aimee has also been commissioned by Vans to do a line of sneakers (none of which I could find on the Vans site)

Yep, I could rock that tote.  But call me, Aimee when you make an analog version.

Half way through the last issue of Elle Decor I decided to cancel my subscription.  The magazine’s embarrassing embrace of John Mayer’s mind-numbingly dull apartment had me oscillating between fits of rage and nightmare filled sleep.  I was done.  Well, until I reached page 122

Margaret Russell chose to counter-act the Mayer coma with a love letter written personally to me in the form of Anna Sui apartment photos.  If any of you have a copy of the magazine I urge you to take a magnifying glass to the mirrored wall on the right side of this room.  If any of you want me to love you forever, find, purchase and deliver the wallpaper to me asap.

I do not pretend to know what is happening behind the sink, and none of this alone is really my taste, but I am mighty fine with it all together.

Like the photo before it, I would never ever ever pick any of this out, but I would be happy as could be to wash up in this pretty potty.

A closet filled with Anna Sui couture.  Bummer

Ugh!  That wallpaper!  This photo spread really makes me rethink my whole house.  It’s nothing like what I have, but I love the layered dark patterns.  Ok, so maybe I won’t redo my house, but I will keep my Elle Decor subscription.

Guess what everyone!?  Tomorrow Erin is coming back!   Thank you so so much to everyone that covered for us while Erin was gone, you all have special places in heaven filled with kittens, baby whispers and anna sui wallpaper.  

We are experiencing a major drought here in Texas.  My once lush green lawn is now on life support and with the city’s water restrictions the prognosis isn’t good.  Everyone in the lone star state has their hands clasped together in prayer for some serious serious sky water.  So, I’m not sure if I just have rain on the brain or if there really is a lightning bolt trend happening out there in the rest of the irrigated world.

This glorious wallpaper has been in my office wall inspiration folder for some time now.  I’ve written about the magic of Minakani wallpaper before and my love for them has only grown stronger since releasing this design.  Since my office renovation is scheduled to start next week (I’m doing it myself and just took a couple days off) I’ve had this design on my mind.

Then, low and behold, I spotted this genius art piece on one of my favorite blogs Me Melodia:

If ever I had the need to have a urinal in my home, it would most certainly be this Duchamp knockoff with lightning bolts by Hellovon.

Bombarded by TWO badass lightning bolt images, I decided to super sleuth the possible trend to see what else I could find.  Here’s what I dug up:

Admittedly, much of what I found was clothing - but doesn’t fashion usually preempt home decor?  There were gazillions of lightning bolt earrings, so, assuming that you’ve probably already seen them, I excluded them and only picked the best of the best.  This Miss Miln Lightning Dress from Asos certainly takes the cake.  If I had my way I would buy it and time warp back to 199X so I could wear it to the prom, then maybe I would have had a good time.  Note to self:  find a new date, too.

This lightning bolt skirt is feeding my craving for all things bright yellow.  And short.  At only $30 from Karma Loop, I think it just may become mine.  How rad would I look in my new lightning bolt office with this skirt?  It’s totally work appropriate, right?

Don’t worry dudes, I did find a few lightning items that will dress up your den, not your booty.  Like this watercolor from Etsy user HellsSewingCircle

Or this stamp set from another etsy artist, WhimsyByJess.  Get a load of that green background, pretty rad, Aye?

This laptop cover by another etsy user MichelleChristina will trendify your mac lighning quick

And finally, one last fashion image.  Sorry, but I thought it was too cute to pass up.  Etsy user Aeon’s lightning tee

Real quick like I want to say Thanks so much to Waxyhearts for her awesome guest post yesterday and Jen for her yellow, black and white roundup on Friday!  Stay tuned this week for lots of fun and excitement:  Tomorrow Even Cleveland will be ripping your heart out with some to-die-for-designs.  I’ll pose a design question for the ages on Thursday and Friday you really really won’t want to miss:  our own Mrs. Erin will be dropping by to give you all an update on la bambino and to finally make a public reveal of his little name.  Sadly, it’s not Berin.

Kisses!

Ok, how good would these paintings look

in this room:

especially this one

or this one

right?

Paintings by Erik Mark Sandberg, awesome wallpapered room from Living Etc, via If the Lamp Shade Fits

Last Sunday, just after watching back to back episodes of my two favorite shows:  Rock of Love Bus and Tool Academy, I was ripped from the comfort of my bed by a prior obligation.  I had promised a few of my favorite ladies that I would join them for drinks.  Of course, I made said promise at 11 a.m., and was remiss to fulfill said promise at 11 p.m..  Yes, 11 p.m., on a Sunday.  What had I been thinking?  Well, anyway, I’m quite glad that I pulled myself together and scooted out the door because, not only did I have a great time with the favorite ladies, but I also met Michelle Marchesseault of Redstart Design.  

Michelle and her business partner, Rachel Shannon are notorious in Austin for their Op Art commercial and residential murals.   Using nothing but tape (only sometimes) hand painting, and a lot of math, these ladies put together the freshest non-wallpapered backdrops in town. 

The residential mural above was achieved using silver leaf.  Do any of you know how tedious that is?  The painting I did in my living room (by hand-cut stencil and latex paint) took a week and a half, I can’t even imagine how long this takes the ladies:

Perhaps if I had conducted an interview (per our Sunday discussion) I would have learned the answer.  But I was busy working so you dudes get pretty pictures and lots of unanswered questions.

This photo of former partner, Jason, does provide some insight on what a bitch this job must be.  But I have to say, that finished ceiling is out-of-control amazing, and totally worth the effort. 

Clearly, these ladies like ceilings.  Writing this post is only heightening my ever-present craving to scrape all of the popcorn off my ceiling so that I, too, can have the Redstart treatment.

The Vivid Walls of Austin’s Viva Salon

One of the many bedrooms for, ahem, the Real World Austin set

I love when artists and designers post pictures of their process.   Same with set building on DVD extras.  I could probably skip most of the movies I watch and just enjoy all the behind-the-scenes design goodness alone.  Ok, actually, I have done that before, it was pretty damn awesome.

This freeform latex and GOLD LEAF(!!!!!!!!!) residential mural Speaks directly to my heart.  Shhhh… can you hear it?

And I know that I was just getting all mad at Elle Decor the other day about their piss-poor butterfly trend prediction, but I really like the space above.  I’m 100% sure it’s the palette, and the fact that the butterflies aren’t all lame and colorful.

Speaking of animals I love:

This lovely horse is snugly nestled in at one of my favorite bars in town, the Red House.  There are plastic and painted horse heads everywhere, and that, my friends, is a motif I can get behind.

The mural at Frou Frou always caught my eye when I lived a couple of blocks away.  Somehow taking things I don’t generally like on their own:  red and pink, and putting them together, really does it for me.

The ladies of Redstart don’t just sit around contemplating repeating pattern and huffing paint all day, they also get their exercise on by participating in Austin’s own synchronized swimming troupe, The H2Hos.  

So, looking back on my Sunday night on the town, I have to admit, it wasn’t so bad after all, almost as good as Rock of Love Bus, almost.

I just did a quick flip through my RSS reader and I’ve got to hand it to you bloggers, yesterday you were BRINGING IT. I saw more to-die-for rooms, artwork and Obama pillows then my heart could handle and, unfortunately, I have to ride on your coat tails with the world’s shortest post. Now, wait, wait, before you get all angry, have I told you about my week? Did I tell you about the almost hairless, emaciated stray dog I found monday? Did I tell you about all my dealings with the local vets and shelters? Did I tell you about the criminal investigation I’m having the city pursue against his former owners? What about how difficult it is trying to adopt a very needy dog when he already has asshole parents? Oh, and I just got a new job. So, it’s the end of the week, I need to go to my happy place, I’m pretty sure it’s right here:

Wallpaper Line by Minakani, via Les Carnets du Design

KISSES!

Matt and I are finally going to break ground on our bedroom this weekend, which has me frantically sifting through my magazines and bookmarks fueling up with last minute inspiration.  While I am dying for a large-scale piece of original art, my bank account looks at me with a big frown and says:  yeah right.

Thank god I have a projector that hooks up to my computer.  With this fancy device and my two-can-of-paint-budget, I can easily knockoff duplicate almost any one-color wall mural.  A few of the following are vying for my attention:

Room 206, Hotel Fox, by WK Interact

This beauty has been siren-songing my name for a while.  Matt likes her too (of course) but Erin says it will look like a big porn threw up on my wall - or something to that effect.  I wouldn’t copy her exactly, but I am taken by the stark black and white of this room.

The Hotel Fox boasts several other murals, none of which are right for my room, but they are fun to look at nonetheless:

Room 106, Hotel Fox, by Geneviève Gauckler

GRRRRR, I steal children’s souls while they sleep!!!

Note to self:  put this in your baby’s room

I was really in love with the porn lady until I got wind of this kitty cat:

Larry the Cat at Portland, Oregon’s Ace Hotel

Yes, I have written about Larry before, but really, can anyone ever get enough of this lovely feline?  I didn’t think so.  Seems as though my love for animal decor will never die.

Specifically, my Love for Horses in Houses, yum:

Studio Ilse

I really really really want my entire house to be horse themed.  Horse couches, horse art, horse murals, horse dishes.  I mean seriously horse themed.  Screw one wall covered in horse art, I’t talking top-to-bottom.  How’s that for en masse?  I think I just felt a tear rolling down my cheak.

If I can’t have wall-to-wall horses, pictures of people I don’t know will work as well:

Hotel Particulier, room by Natacha Lesueur

The wall behind my bed is about 3 times the size of this one with the photos, so if I can score 6 giant head prints, then I’ll be in business.

It seems as though I’m running to catch up with the band-wagon, as giant heads are all the rage:

Sixty Hotel designed by Studio 63

More big heads:

Interior by Concepts Interior Design

And just to drive the point home:

(L) Suite 5, The Lute Suites, Marcel Wanders Studio; (R) unknown, found on Studio Picaso’s flickr photostream

Perhaps the heads are too much for you and you’d prefer to zero-in on the window to the soul:

Offices of Neogamma / BBH, via This Ain’t No Disco

This mural in the offices of Neogamma BBH is certainly swoonworthy.  The fact that they have a second proves that these dudes know how to party:

I’m pretty sure they were able to zero-in on exactly what sheeps think about: “blurb. color. exclamation mark. splash.”  sort of like me when I write blog posts.

In other animal mural news (I told you I couldn’t get enough):

Unknown from Digital Picaso’s flickr photostream

I never thought I’d say this but, that tromp i’oil chandelier is almost overshadowing those lovely animals.  

If, like me, you’re diggin the faux furniture wall mural, and would like to leave the artwork creation to those who actually know what they’re doing, perhaps you could try one of these wallpapers:

Semi-Drum, Semi Drum x 2, and Stripy Jumper available via the collection

Want something bigger?  That’s my girl:

Wall murals by Surface View

There’s those darn animals again.  Here are some wallpaper murals that don’t belong to the creepy phyllum:

Femme Fatal available via walnut wallpaper

oops, that was only one non-animal image, now I’m getting back to my roots with this animal-house mural:

Home Made Restaurant

Yum, if the food at this restaurant is 1/4 as good as their design, then they shall be serving the people for eternity.  Great.  Now I’m hungry.

And finally, an image that is neither animal or silhouette:

Interior Shot by Gabby Zimmermann

Ok, so maybe this wall doesn’t really fit in, but it sure is pretty and I would hang the hell out of that wallpaper given the right opportunity.

So, what do you guys think?  Should I go for a gigantic wall mural (please don’t suggest a wall sticker!) or should I play it safe and do something that actually says “real people sleep here?” 

Sorry for the late post this morning, but I’m a little tired and under the weather from some of my weekend adventures, one of which involved a first foray into the world of wallpaper. Yes, my Cole and Son Trees wallpaper finally arrived from Merry Old England, and Hunny Bunny and I wasted little time in slapping it up on the wall. Which is kind of scary, honestly, when you’re dealing with a $100 roll of paper, and, uh, you don’t really know what you’re doing. Ok, I’ve assisted my domestic diva of a mother with wallpapering a time or two, but this wallpaper is abnormal.

Here’s a blurry picture of Hunny Bunny wrestling with wrapping the paper around a corner in the dorrway. If you’ve ever hung tradtional vinyl paper before, you know that you usually paste the paper, book the paper, hang it, then paste the top again. But this paper is super duper stiff, and you paste the wall instead of the paper, which is kind of awesome, but also kind of painful. It’s really hard to keep the paste from touching the top of the paper, and it’s hard to get the paper into corners because it’s not very flexible.

The new breed of nonwoven papers are supposedly removable in one piece, and that was definitely a deciding factor in my choice of papers. I don’t think I’ll be pulling it off the wall anytime soon because it was a lot of work, and also because the band aid beige wall underneath is nauseating.

Drill, baby, drill! Light fixtures, that is. I have two sconces wired into the wall, and it was kind of heartbreaking to cut into the paper and screw them in. Actually, I couldn’t watch at all. It looked like some kind of creepy surgical procedure.

Sconces are implanted installed. Don’t worry. I already have 800 pairs of better ones that I’m watching in Ebay. What I really want is something like this, though:

All these beauties are from Circa Lighting, and if I had $500 burning a hole in my pocket, I’d already have a pair ordered for the hall. Alas, I am agonizing about spending $50 for a pair. The real world is crappy.

Anyway, here’s a bad picture of the finished hall:

(Sorry about the lighting… no natural light in the hallway, and I’m too lazy to drag out my light kit. And, no, my bathroom is not actually poo brown). All things considered, I like the paper a lot. I know, I KNOW. It’s so overused. But it’s nice and quiet, and in real life it feels very naturalistic, with quite a bit of depth.

So, I dragged all the stuff I used to have in the hall back into their respective places.

Hunny Bunny and Karly hate it. “It’s too much stuff… it’s covering up the trees… blah, blah, blah.” In my weakened state, I have to admit that I’m beginning to agree. I hate it when they’re right. Or maybe they are just objecting to my cheesy foo dog?

I did try restyling, though, because I have a stupid attachment to that display case. Don’t ask me why.

Everyone likes mannequin arms, right? Sigh. Oh, and I forgot to duck when I took that picture…

Wish I could put my sexy Milo Baughman chair there, but it’s too darn deep. Or my hallway is too darn narrow. Gosh darn it, doggone it, you betcha it sucks.

Ok, how about this?

This is just a wee art deco mirror top table. I guess I could drop the mirror down lower and paint the table…

Are you sick of looking at bad pictures of my hallway yet? Only one more to go, because I’m running out of small furniture pieces.

The mirror is a no go here. I could maybe hang some spiffy artwork? Something VERY simple and graphic?

Help, people. I don’t feel well, I’m tired of moving furniture around, I’m indecisive and I can’t let Karly and Hunny Bunny be the only bosses of me. You do want to get in on the action, right? Here’s your chance. Tell little Erin what to do.

I think we may be developing an affinity for decor developed with sharpies.  Who knew? You all may harken back to the luxurious sharpie Lamborghini we posted a couple of months ago and are still very much drooling over.  Now we have a second sharpie spotting that we just have to show you (if we get a third it will officially be a trend).  My brother sent me this link last week and, despite the icky furniture, this room is pretty awesome:

Charlie Kratzer of Kentucky covered every square inch of wall space in his basement with his own sharpie art.  For $10 worth of marker, Kratzer depicts

Georges Seurat’s Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. There is Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, and the Cornell Law School, of which Kratzer is an alumnus. There is Kratzer’s dad. There is the harlequin pattern — alluded to in culinary culture today by the Panera bread bag — and a fake fireplace facing a real one.

There are both The Walrus and the Carpenter (from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There), and William Shakespeare. The Marx Brothers peer around a corner. A flip-top garbage can is transformed via marker art into Star Wars’plucky little beeper R2D2.

For the full story, check out the  Lexington Herald Leader  

Oh, and,  P.S. I’m sorry, but that’s probably my very favorite post title eva