Giselle Potter

Giselle Potter has got to be one of my favorite children's illustrators. Her characters and colors are so charming and her style naive yet sophisticated. I particularly love her book The Year I Didn't Go to School which she both wrote and illustrated. In this book she tells the story of a year from her childhood when her family went to Italy where they all paricipate in her parents traveling theatre and puppet troupe. It sounds like something I've dreamed for my life with my children. I'm sure Atticus, with an actor as a father and an illustrator as a mother will have similar experiences. He's been on an airplane at least 8 times, been to 5+ diff states (the "+" referring to the ones he's driven through on a 3 day road trip), has a passport and will be traveling to Paris in May and Santa Cruz in June...and all this in the first year and 1/2 of his life! He'll either grow to love the arts and travel or to loathe it! Only time will tell :).

Sabyasachi

Ok, but my new favorite fashion designer has got to be, Sabyasachi Mukherjee. He is like an Indian version of Anthropologie. I absolutely adore the mixture of textiles and colors and I love his librarian chic take on today's trends. Very fabulous.

Amy Butler

Since we are on textile designers and their studios I had to mention one of my favorite fabric designers, Amy Butler.
The first pic is her in her studio. The others are from a trade show. I love how she painted one of her patterns on the cement floor. I have wanted to do that. One dream I have is to renovate a warehouse and have everything open with cement floors (I know, not very kid friendly) that I could paint on.

I also love Amy Butler's book In Stitches. I have made the lounge pants from it and am working on the kimono to go with them.

Heather Bailey

My dear friend Denise Plant, fabulous designer and artist herself, called my attention to fabric designer Heather Bailey, and in particular her studio. Isn't this so inspirational? I love how creatively organized she is. And her new line of fabrics, Freshcut for Free Spirit, are wonderful as well. I'll have to get some to play around with.

Zara Home - Breathtaking

These pics from Zara Home are breathtaking! This is absolutely my dream decor. I can't wait to go to their store in London as well! (No stores currently in the US). I read once that your dream home is what you see when you close your eyes and image yourself in a place where everything is right. Often times it has been there ever since you were a child.

These images are a perfect synthesis of what I love today coupled with what I have always dreamed of growing up. When I close my eyes, there is always white. White peeling paint, billowing white curtains and white ornamentation. There might be other colors to accent but everything is predominantly white. This may seem odd as I love color and paint so much and want to paint all the walls in my current home. However, when I do get my dream home, I think I'm going to have to go for the all white look in a least one room in the house (one where the kids can't go until they've grown ;)).

I love the few shots of the kitchen here as well. I've been trying to decide what my dream kitchen is and I love what they have done here. I would love to have self-standing cabinets and counters. I love hutches and open shelving. And of course I love white. As far as kitchens go, I think I know more of what I don't want than what I do. I know I don't want anything too modern (i like plenty of modern accents, such as appliances, but a super sleek bachelor pad looking kitchen is a definite NO.) I also know I don't want oak cabinets or anything that looks too middle America cookie cutter (such as my kitchen now - nice but not my dream. Jon likes it though and won't let me paint the cupboards white. He's most likely right that it's best for the re-sell as we won't be here for forever). I've been hard pressed to find pics of kitchens I like (most everything is so sleek and I like withered) so I was excited to see these.

Designer's Guild store in London

I'm so very excited to visit the Designers Guild store in London. I absolutely love the textiles used in their fabrics & wallpaper. I've come to realize that my interior design tastes are very Brittish. I love how they mix vintage ornate looks along side modern shapes and colors. Love it. My favorite mags are all from accross the pond.

Gwen Keraval-French Illustrator

The French have some great children's illustrators. Gwen Keraval is one that I especially like. I hope to pick up a few of her books while in Paris.

My fifi's haved arrived

I ordered these adorable little fifi originals and they have finally come! They are itty bitty but oh so cute. Fifi (formally known as miff) is a very fashionable bunny who wears designer clothing straight off the catwalk. In my pics she is wearing Zac Posen and Anna Sui. If only I could be so chic :).

Check out this Forever 21 blouse influenced by the Anna Sui dress. This is a much more affordable route to becoming as in vogue as fifi.

Forever 21 dress

I just found this dress online at Forever 21 and it reminds me of the dress I just made. I actually have a pattern for this style as well. Very cool.

Marie Claire Idées

I recently purchased the French Marie Claire Idées magazine and loved this shadow box take on family history. I like this clean and simple multi-media approach to collage as well. I'm going to have steal it!