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As a mother of two who has dedicated nearly my entire professional life to aligning large organizations with causes, I am excited to be a part of Macy’s Shop for a Cause fundraiser supporting the March of Dimes!

Did you know that the March of Dimes was established in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, inspired by his own battle with polio? In fact, March of Dimes funded research for vaccines developed by Dr. Jonas Salk and Dr. Albert Sabin — the vaccines that ended childhood polio. In 1958, having addressed its primary mission to end the polio epidemic, the March of Dimes shifted its focus toward birth defect prevention. Today, the organization is focused on preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality, as well as advancing maternal and health research. For those of you who have had babies in the last decade or so, you’re probably well aware of both their folic acid and prematurity awareness campaigns, both of which have worked toward healthy, full-term pregnancies for all women.

Now’s your chance to support March of Dimes and get up to 25% off your purchases at Macy’s — all for $5. 

Simply buy a $5 Macy’s saving pass that will provide 25% off on regular, sale & clearance items,  including home items (please note that you will receive 10% off electronics, watches, furniture, mattresses, rugs/floor coverings), and Macy’s will donate 100% of the $5 cost of the savings pass to the March of Dimes to help give more babies a healthy start in life.

So you want to know the details?

From now until August 25: buy passes in-store (good for in-store purchases only)

August 25 only: buy a $5 savings pass online at macys.com (good for online purchases only)

SHOP, SHOP, SHOP on August 25! Use your passes online or in stores (depending on where you bought them). Two stores in Massachusetts will hold Shop for a Cause on Friday, August 24 AND Saturday, August 25 — Boston (450 Washington Street, Boston) and Berkshire (170 Old State Road, Lanesboro). So if you want to get shopping early, you can go on August 24 to either of these two stores, buy a pass, and shop.

Want to see my Shop for a Cause wish list?

Gold is having a moment throughout the house, and I’m LOVING this Marchesa by Lenox hostess set!

The shape, shade, and color of this table lamp from Pacific Coast are perfect.

My husband and I were given a single glass cake stand for our wedding 12 years ago, but I could find many uses for this one from The Cellar collection. Great for displaying baked goods or using as a tiered centerpiece filled with fruit and flowers.

Add texture to your living room with these faux bois vinyl coasters from Chilewich. (psst – they’re a bargain closeout!)

These Sandpiper tidbit plates from Kate Spade would be a great hostess gift, or framed out in shadow boxes and hung on the wall.

On a trip to Atlanta last year, I fell in love with a natural fiber cocktail table, but decided against it because the shape didn’t work with our sectional. This cocktail table is perfect!

With two boys and a mountain biking-husband, I use indoor/outdoor rugs throughout our home. This runner from Couristan is a beauty! (Please note that rugs are excluded from Shop for a Cause online purchasing, but are eligible for the discount in-store!)

Inspired? Purchase your pass, help babies, and get shopping! 

Image credit: all images from macys.com

Complete details about Macy’s Shop for a Cause fundraiser can be found here.

This post (+ my sharing on social media) was inspired by my participation in a compensated program initiated by Women Online/The Mission List to raise awareness about the March of Dimes/Macy’s charitable fundraiser. All commentary, opinions, and fabulous finds are, of course, my own.

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Have you heard? Amy Butler’s husband, David, is launching a new fabric line! With three boys in the house (yes, I’m counting the hubs), I’m excited to see his new line of “guy friendly” prints. No website yet, but you can follow the winter introduction of Parson Gray on Facebook.

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I love this horizontal stripe shower curtain from West Elm…

…but I like it even better as easy-peasy drapes for my in-progress kid’s room. $120 to add three graphically-awesome, light-killing window treatments to my early riser’s room? Yes, please.

Want to do the same? Go here for directions (only this time I used fabric glue instead of fusible webbing…an even lazier, er, I mean, easier approach).

Photo credits: Stripe Shower Curtain, West Elm; Paige Lewin‘s mad photography skills

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About this time of year, the stripes start to send signals…

…that spring is coming!

I love a touch of nautical in my wardrobe, but I’ve always been a bit of sucker for it in my home too.  Remember this post?

Last fall, I went to the Brimfield Antique Show with my friend Cheri, and I fell in love with this guy…

Cheri didn’t get my crush on him, and frankly, I couldn’t explain it.  I just knew I had to have him.  It’s not like I come from a family of sea captains, or grew up in Gloucester, or particularly like Salty Dogs, but I loved the idea of looking at his grumpy eyes every day.  So now he lives in my downstairs bathroom, freaking the crap out of people when they walk down the hall.

A touch of nautical?  It makes my captain feel right at home.

Image credits: J.Crew; EmersonMade.; Tea Accessories; Oh Captain, My Captain and his close up taken by Paige Lewin’s iPhone; Dash & Albert; Uncommon Goods; L.L. Bean; Wisteria; Anthropologie

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Logic quiz:

Poor self-image is to fashion magazines as WHAT is to home decor catalogs?

I don’t know either, but sometimes I feel like I have it, whatever IT is.  Occasionally I get sort of taken over by staging my house…rolling up the throw blankets and storing them just-so in a gorgeous basket (you’re cold? grab one of these!), propping the white ceramic fish platter in a plate holder on my kitchen counter (look, it’s art!), stacking up a pretty set of books by my bedside (who has time to read?).  Maybe it’s some form of OCD, or maybe it comes from buying and selling multiple houses in the past five years (never know when you’re gonna have to put it on the market!), but I suspect that some of the obsession comes from looking through too many home design catalogs and shelter pubs.

Luckily, my little brother pointed me to a hilarious site that reminds me how idiotic some of those scenes from Pottery Barn (and others) are.  Catalog Living follows the fictional life of Gary and Elaine, the passive-aggressive, accessory-obsessed couple who live in your catalogs.  Created by actor and Tufts graduate Molly Erdman, Catalog Living now serves as my daily reminder that I shouldn’t worry if my throws aren’t just-so.

{But really, a little staging never hurt anyone.}

Image credit: Catalog Living, January 20, 2011

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A recent exchange with my friend Christine — who’s currently redoing her office — reminded me of something I meant to post long ago.  I’m also in the (endless) process of updating my home office into a lovely creative zone, and I needed to find a solution for a long wall that my desk faces.  I thought about shelving (too heavy, visually and literally), a mirror (up at 5:30 a.m. to write? no thanks), and a series of prints (I’ve done that little trick in three other spaces in the house)…but nothing seemed right.  Then as I was cruising IKEA one afternoon, I came across the DIGNITET system in the Textiles department. 

Meant to be used as a curtain wire in lieu of a rod, the DIGNITET system had all the right qualities for my wall.  It was super long (up to 197 inches), could be hung from the wall or the ceiling, was lightweight, and was easy on the wallet ($14.99 + $4.99 for each package of clips).  I snagged a kit plus two boxes of clips and a couple of days later (when I finally got around to installing it) I had the foundation for an ever-changing inspiration board.  Love it.

 

Image credits: IKEA; Paige Lewin and her slammin’ photography skills (I’m working on it)

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After two years, we’re finally hitting our decorating stride and beginning to make our house feel like a home.  Next project on the list?  Our youngest son’s room, woefully ignored up until this point, except for a quick trip to IKEA for a big-kid bed when we started to worry he was going to crack his head open from jumping out of his crib. 

As I said, woefully ignored. 

I’m not quite sure where we’re going to go with his room, but I’m definitely going to integrate this super-simple (and budget!) window treatment idea:

Grommet panels hung on a shaker peg board — brilliant, right?  Easy-to-install and totally sophisticated. Love it.
 
Image credit: Coastal Living

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I believe that window treatments are like mascara for rooms – you don’t have to have them, but when you do the room looks finished.  I’ve had a long, sordid history with window treatments – not really loving most inexpensive pre-made ones and having limited ability to make more unique ones because of sub-par sewing skills and (cue the standard motherhood excuse) a lack of time.  However, my latest affair with window treatments ended beautifully, both for the wallet and the creative ego.  The key?  A shower curtain.  The cotton beauty came from eBay (for under $20 including shipping), and with a pen, a pair of scissors, some fusable webbing (it’s like permanent tape for fabric), an iron/ironing board, straight pins, drapery clip rings and a rod, I had new curtain panels in under two hours.  Shower curtains make it easy because they already have finished hems and you don’t need to go through the process of pre-washing the fabric because it’s already done.  Here’s how I made mine:

  • Hang the drapery rod where desired (I chose to hang mine right across the top of the window molding)
  • Place clip rings on the rod (I used 10 for each panel)
  • Mark the center of the shower curtain by folding it lengthwise and making a small pen mark at the top
  • Hang shower curtain from the rod, spacing clip rings evenly across both halves
  • Determine how long you would like the panels to be by folding the bottom of the curtain and pinning
  • With hem marked, take curtain down and lay flat on the floor or a table
  • Make one long straight cut where you want the desired hem PLUS 2 inches.  For example, if it turns out you want 60 inches between the top and bottom hems, you should cut a straight line at 62 inches.  A yardstick or ability to follow a line in the fabric pattern helps in cutting a straight line
  • Once the bottom hem is cut, make a straight cut from the mark at the top all the way to the bottom hem; now you have two panels
  • Take one panel, and working the long side first, fold the edge over ½ an inch and iron all the way down.  Then, following the directions on the fusible webbing, make another ½ inch fold over the webbing and iron the seam shut
  • Following the same directions as above, iron the bottom seam, except this time make the first fold ½ an inch and the second fold 1½ inches (it looks more finished when you have a wider hem at the bottom)
  • Repeat for the side and bottom hem on the other panel
  • Hang them up and enjoy the satisfied feeling you’ll have from making one-of-a-kind window treatments for your home!

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