I’m a sucker for fresh flowers.
Most interior design gurus will tell you that adding live, natural elements do wonders for the feel of a room, but since I have a serious black thumb, houseplants are out (honestly, I killed a cactus last year…do you know how hard that is to do?). So instead, I try to pick up fresh cut flowers whenever I remember — at the grocery store, farmer’s market, whatever — and put together a few bunches around my house.
This week, mother nature started delivering one of my favorite flowers, and a single stem needs nothing more than a simple vase (even a water glass!). Lilacs, with their intoxicating scent and gorgeous shades of lavender, blue, purple, pink and white, will peak in New England from now until the end of May. This weekend, I’ll be hunting down some blossoms to add new life to my home, and officially welcome the arrival of Spring.
Image credit: Arnold Arboretum
Last summer I was poking around a bookstore in Vermont and came across Mice, Morals & Monkey Business, an incredible children’s book filled with gorgeous block prints by artist Christopher Wormell. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it – not for our kids’ library, but for my kitchen wall.
I really wish we had a mudroom, but since we don’t, we relegate our shoes, coats, and the seven-or-so bags that arrive home with our little family every evening to a 30-inch “mudspace” right inside the entrance of our home. To help define the space and give our two kiddos a little more room to walk in, stretch out and take off their shoes, we purchased Pottery Barn’s Diamond Outdoor Rug made out of polypropolene (yes, it’s plastic!). This hip, neutral rug is supersoft underfoot and fit perfectly with our décor, our budget, and the total lack of time we have to devote to cleaning – it can be hosed down outside and still look fabulous.
The Mudroom 