guest series // wear where

hey, hey, hey! you kids miss me yet?

i'm hoping to put a little recap of my nyc/blogfest experience together for you, but in the meantime, you can come see gaby and me over at apartment 34 for another installment of wear/where. there may or may not be brass elephants involved (in other words, you know it's gonna be good). please do come by and tell us what you think.

miss you guys. ox

things i'm afraid to tell you

so it all started when jess wrote this post on letting down the walls and talking about real life. no pretty pictures, no styled shoots depicting the glamorous aspects of one's day, no inspiration for the sake of inspiration. just real facts about the girl behind the blog. then ez was good enough to organize a movement of sorts, which i actually attempted to write a post for, but missed the deadline. mostly because i was a bit too afraid to hit publish. was i saying too much? was i (as usual) just being self-critical vs sharing things that others (you) could relate to? would i alienate all of these people that come to BIA everyday simply to find inspiration? so i never posted, but the idea festered. by the time megan initiated another wave, i knew exactly what i was really afraid to tell you (and myself).

i'm afraid to tell you that i need some time away from blogging. over the last few months, i've been able to identify some dreams that i'd like to chase. they're big, lofty, gutsy dreams and i want to make them come true. however, what i'm spending my days doing and talking about aren't things that entirely complement those dreams, and they need to if i want a chance at making them real. i think it will take stepping away to be thoughtful about a new direction and intentional in my content to get that shiz rolling. i'm not talking about a complete departure from what BIA has always been - in fact, this little space was instrumental in figuring out what my true talents are and how i can best leverage them. i.e. with your help, i've learned that i'm hella good at some things, and everyone knows that you should play to your strengths. so that's what i intend to do. i just haven't had the time or energy to get my bearings and start spinning things to best reflect my vision the way that i'd hoped to be doing by now.

i have no idea how long i'll be gone. i'll probably still have to stop in from time to time, because i don't know if i can completely be without this space (according to my mom, i won't last long. i've cried wolf to her before). plus, there are things like girls dinner and guest columns to share. i do know that i'm not the only one that will love what's going on around here when i get back, so don't go giving up on me. there's way more awesome to come. ox



other participating bloggers for wave #2 of things i'm afraid to tell you:
Coco + Kelley / Court & Hudson / Sacramento Street / My Cup of Te / Blog / MIMI+MEG / The Decorista / Modern Eve / Apartment 34 / Design Blahg / Vmac & Cheese / Miles to Style / Life in a Venti Cup  / The Zhush / Radiant Republic / Savvy Home / The Doctor's Closet / Design Manifest / {extra}ordinary wonders / Sparkling Footsteps / Hitha On The Go / Note To Self / So Much To Smile About / Blogstar / The Goods Design / Style & Pepper / Small Shop Studio  / Long Distance Loving / Maggie Rose Blog / The City Girl In Me / The Best Laid Plans / Concrete Jungle DC / Food Fashion Fitness / East Coast Chic

thanks again to jess for her initial post, and to ez for starting the movement. this is so refreshing!

bloggers that participated in ez's wave #1 of things i'm afraid to tell you:
Design for Mankind | Little Brown Pen | Beautiful Hello | Curating Style | Sweet Fine Day | The Jealous Curator | Happy Days | Sage & Berries | Really Handmade | Peck Life | Satsuma Press | Rena Tom | For the Easily Distracted | The Hemborg Wife | Vitamini Handmade | Courtney Khail Stationery and Design | Meg in Progress | Dando Photography Blog | Widdershins22 | Alison Citron | Pink Moon Daily | Just Pretty Things | From China Village | Tea with Me | The Darling Ewe | Not Your Average Ordinary | The Electric Typewriter | Elleby Design | Parsimonia {Secondhand With Style} | Life as an Artistpreneur | Hello Cupcake | Dellie | The A & B Stories | Pretty Little Things | Feistyelle | Nib & Zed | Well and Cheaply | I Ripple. I Dance. | Whitfield Awesome Blog | Foxtrot Press | Dry As Toast | The List of Now | Apple Blue | For the Love of | Four Flights of Fancy | Miss Modish | Snapshots & Secrets | Dirty Laundry | Bubby & Bean | Penelope's Press | Little Nostalgia | Vale Design | Pikaland | Fleurishing | Print Pretty | Vespa Tales | Hazel & Agnes | Amanda's Musings | Mo' Funk Designs | Ordinary Mommy | Camp 1899 | In Honor of Design | Liberty's Yarn | Love, Life & Pictures | Stacey Winters | Owl in the Rain | Living Life Creatively | Emma Elizabeth Clease | I Live in Vacouver Now | British Cream Tea

guest post // here, there and everywhere

you guys should come by apartment 34 for our 3rd installment of where/wear today! michelle armas will be there . . .

then meet me at second street east for happy hour (it's 5:00 somewhere, right??)

cause i got nothin' for you here today.

house guest // the aestate

i really doubt that today's house guest needs any introduction. if you haven't been following jessica before now, you have seriously been missing out. she's hilarious, stylish, honest, and has an unbelievable eye for design. i'd be lying if i said that i don't occasionally want to lick my computer screen when i see her posts. i'm also fairly certain we'd be fast friends in real life if we ever met. super honored to have her visit today!

. . . . . . .

Jessica here from The Aestate! I want to give a big thanks to Tobe for having me as her house guest!

Variety is the spice of life and nothing gives a room the “wow” factor like a great pattern combination, but mixing patterns can be tricky. The pros make it look easy- throwing together mixes that looks effortlessly chic and daring. Its a skill I'd love to master myself, but it takes time and practice to develop an eye for patterns that play well together, so I want to share with you a basic method used by many decorators. Remember we’re not just talking throw pillows here. Upholstery, curtains, rugs, wallpaper, lamp shades, and trims are all opportunities to inject some pattern and texture into a room. When you’re feeling stuck, try this method for selecting patterns…

1. Pick a large-scale pattern with many colors in it: This one will set the tone for the whole room. The more colors it contains, the easier time you’ll have finding textiles to fit the mix in the room.
2. Pick a medium-scale pattern with a few colors found in the first pattern:  Doesn’t need to have all the colors, but it definitely should have a different motif.
3. Now, pick one small scale pattern with just a few or one of the colors found in the first two: This one can have a similar motif as one of the first two.
4. Bonus: Add one or more very small-scale patterns or textures.

I hope these rooms will inspire you to mix it up...

{1 2 3 4}

Have any pattern mixing tips to share?

interiors // channeling house beautiful

forgive me for the radio silence yesterday. aside from just being too lazy to get anything accomplished over the weekend, we had a storm sunday that knocked out our internet and prevented me from even procrastinating until the last minute. i'm dipping in today to tell you about the paint swatches all over my family room . . . aparently, i'm channeling hillary thomas and jeff lincoln because what i've had in my head for our room is looking a lot like the 60's town house they spiffed up. like, eerily similar.

interior design by hilllary thomas and jeff lincoln, photography eric piasecki  // via house beautiful

no kidding - i have minty blue swatches all over the walls right now. i've also been thinking about switching out the trellis rug for something a bit lighter and more neutral. maybe i need to go for the leopard print like erin? rawr. we've decided that, while we love it's modern lines, our current couch must go. in it's place, i'm imagining a more traditional shape in medium gray fabric (with fringe!!). we'll keep our low cb2 coffee table, the parsons chairs will be recovered in a monochrome (blue?) patterned fabric, there will be a similar console/bench sitch to the above photos as you enter the room from the front door. there's really no room for it in the entryway proper, and extra tucked away seating will be nice when we have more booties than normal. i even love the idea of pairing large-scale photography (thinking over the couch) as they've done above the console here. i'm still undecided on the necessity of window treatments. that will be secondary, i guess.

all of this is, of course, subject to change because the longer it takes me to get anything done, the more likely i am to change my mind (ahem. like the rug). but i think it's important to take your time when you're first in a space so you learn how you use the rooms, how much light you get, what the architecture calls for, etc. (you can stop laughing now, mom. i'm not making excuses for my apparent lack of motivation.)

just one more. because i die for this table and chairs:

house beautiful

party on // cinco de mayo

happy friday, all! are we all prepared to get our cinco de derby on?? i know we have some fun plans for the weekend.

truth is, cinco de mayo kind of has a special place in my heart, because eric says that our first one together marked the night he knew he loved me. he'd be spittin a bunch of mumbo jumbo about never wanting to get married again or have more kids. i didn't care too much about getting married (or so i thought at the time), but the idea of not having any babes of my own was a deal breaker. legend has it, when i explained why i was so intent on having kids, he knew he'd found the one.

collective awwwwww.

whatever your reason to celebrate the day, here are some delicious ideas to get your party started:

strawberry mojito

coconut mango mojito

classic sangria

ginger cilantro margarita

blood orange margarita

i have my own tried and true margie recipe that i'll be sharing in a guest post next week, so stay tuned.

Disfrute de su fin de semana! ox

interiors // hotel la malcontenta

you guys are such awesome enablers! thanks to all of you who shared your two cents on yesterday's conundrum. sounds like several of you have a similar setup. which means i'm not crazy, and that i will probably be moving forward with operation sitting room. yippee! more furniture to buy!

in completely unrelated news, last night as i was getting lost in the land of pinterest, i came across the work of designer lazaro rosa-violan. after a bit of digging, i realized that i'd featured his work on BIA before (in one of my very first posts, no less!), but a new-to-me project immediately caught my eye.

hotel la malcontenta is a historic spanish country home gone boutique hotel.

what i love so much about this cozy place is that the historic character was so well maintained when it underwent conversion. it truly looks like a gorgeous home. and one that i would happily love to visit for a long weekend, i might add.

design by lazaro rosa-violan // additional images via fork and pillow

there's just something about a quaint hotel, no? not quite as intimate as a bed and breakfast, not so large that you're just a face in the lobby. feels like the perfect place for a warm retreat. who's in?

interiors // strange or smart?

 via design manifest

this sitting area is begging to be recreated in our would-be eat-in space. a friend of mine has a setup like this; instead of having two dining tables to choose from, they have a couple of loveseats right off the kitchen. perfect for entertaining visitors while dinners parties are prepped, lounging by one of the greatest natural light sources in the house, and (thinking waaaaay ahead here) ideal for the chitlins to entertain themselves nearby while mom (or likely dad at our house) makes dinner.

what do you think? strange or smart?

type tuesday // edible cookbook

pages of gorgeous type and instructions for making lasagna??!? i just died 1000 times!

genius concept by korefe // via good design makes me happy

talk about a conversation piece!