Tag: <span>design ideas</span>

Around the World Travel and Design blog
If you haven’t noticed, HoneyTrek.com has become my new labor of love. Seeing Design was meant to be the aesthetic arm of our blog about our 675-day honeymoon around the world, but the style and stories behind each of the 33 countries and 302 places we visited can’t be separated from our journey to find them. HoneyTrek chronicles the twists and turns of our unconventional path and everything that inspired us along the way. Stunning architecture, charming homes, chic designs, talented artisans, exotic cuisine…these tenets of SeeingDesign can all be found over on HoneyTrek…but within a context that means so much more than what meets the eye.  We couldn’t be more proud of HoneyTrek (and all the press it’s been getting!) so we hope you check it out and join us for the adventures to come!

 


If you want to catch up on our past two years of world travel, watch this video, full of highlights from a trip that has truly changed our lives.

 

honeytrek 2014
Even though we are back in the States we still have 12 more countries-worth of stories to share, so…

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We look forward to hearing from you and having you along for the ride!

Places Projects

Vermont BrideandGroom
I’ve been wanting to post about the wedding for months but between editing thousands of photos and trying to put words to the most pivotal, meaningful, and magical days of my life, it took me a waaaay longer than expected. Excuses, excuses aside, I’m back to SeeingDesign a wed woman and thrilled to share the marriage of Anne Elizabeth Collins to Michael Patrick Howard.

mountaintop-inn wedding
Set in Green Mountains of Chittenden, Vermont, covered in the fresh snow we were hoping for, the Mountain Top Inn was truly the most amazing venue for a winter wedding.
winter wedding rings
Ski days of yore was a subtle theme throughout the day.
wedding-palette-purple-grey-cream
Plum, winter white, and grey—from silver to charcoal—made up our palette.
The bride and groom before seeing one another.
sleigh-wedding entrance
For the entrance to the ceremony, my dad escorted me to the aisle in a horse-drawn sleigh. (Total fairytale land.)
To make the thought of a beautiful 32-degree ceremony a little more appealing, we provided heat in many forms: spiked hot cocoa, cozy knit throws, and hand warmers in little burlap sacks.
winter wedding ceremony
Looking out to the snow-covered lake and mountains, 150 guests sat by the bonfire as Mike and I took our vows. 
Vermont winter wedding kiss
With the musician who played at our first date strumming his guitar in the background, Mike kissed the bride.
Winter Bridal Party in Sleigh
After the ceremony, Mike and I were swept away in the sleigh and into the woods to take a moment to be completely giddy on our own, then we picked up our closest friends for a spin before cocktail hour.
Wedding_Table-display-birch and mercury glass
For the reception, birch covered votives and mercury glass vessels of different shapes and sizes adorned the tables. Pops of purple in the napkins and blooms brightened up my attempt at a rustic glamour display.
winter wedding tent
With the draped-fabric ceiling, dozens of glittering antique chandeliers, and candles at every turn, the canvas tent felt like a cozy escape from the cold (lots of heaters, champagne, and dancing didn’t hurt either.)
winter wedding couple
Mike and I took in a moment by the fireplace before the after-party and its epic bouts of sledding.  

Everyone says weddings are the greatest day of their lives and it’s cliché, but I’m thrilled to be a part of the club.

Photos by Birke Photography

Places

wall-decorating-ideasWhen you move to a new home, it’s amazing to see how a fresh space can give your same old things a whole new look and function. A wonderful example of this is Michelle Adams’ new apartment. She is known to most as a founding editor of Lonny Magazine and an acclaimed textile designer, but I’ve always known her as submission #2 of the Happy Chic Home Contest. She entered her former NYC apartment into this contest that designer Jonathan Adler and I hosted on my old blog Design Daily back in 2008. We gave her 3rd place, though if her new apartment design was in the running . . . it would have snagged the gold.

Featured this month in Lonny with a lovely addendum on Decor8, Michelle’s new home is more than double the size of her former 325-square-foot abode. One would think this would be a good thing but she says handling the extra footage was one of the hardest parts about the redesign. Her old furnishings weren’t enough to fill the space and their compact design solutions weren’t necessarily needed anymore. Needless to say, she tackled the challenge head-on with smart shopping decisions and very clever rearranging.

Michelle Adams’ Design Scheme in Her Old Apartment
living-room-design-ideas
shelving-arrangment-ideas
headboard-ideas

Michelle’s Design Scheme in Her Extra-fabulous New Apartment
For the most part you can barely recognize the original pieces in this sophisticated new space but look a little closer and the reuse is inspirational.
new-livng-room-design-ideasA jute rug and a white linen sofa still anchor her living room but the ostrich wallpaper and yellow zigzag curtains bring her furnishings to life.
A long credenza is one of those luxuries that her former pint-size pad could have never afforded, but now she can use it as a grand display for her favorite accessories. This snakeskin tray used to be tucked on a bookshelf; now it’s glorified as a sassy bar tray. The tortoise-pattern lamp was once relegated to the corner of the living room and today it illuminates the details of her art and accents.
headboard-ideasYou may recognize these bedside tables from the former living room design–they were pushed together to make a coffee table. The headboard is exactly as it was but set against a charcoal-colored wall, it becomes that much more dramatic.

With a few moves under her belt, Michelle says, “I look for versatile pieces that can be reinterpreted in each apartment I move to (and eventually HOME!).” I don’t know where she’s off to next, but I know she’ll turn her things into something wonderful all over again.

Lonny photography: Patrick Cline

Projects

simple-home-decorating-projectMike has been collecting antique skis since he was 16 years old–and as adorable as that is, we now have more than 30 seven-foot-long objects collecting dust in a storage unit. As decorative objects, the hardware and wood are actually quite pretty, and the skis offer a hysterical look at the safety standards of the early 20th century. (Can you imagine descending Mammoth on a wood plank with only a strap of leather to keep you in place?)  Since they are too great to give away but too large to display together (without turning our home into the Elks club), we had to start figuring out ways to put them to use.

Salvage Studio to the rescue again. Ever since I saw this photo in their book, we’ve made this the decorative storage plan for Mike’s office. By flipping the skis upside down and mounting them to the wall with metal brackets, they actually make a really charming picture ledge. With a pair or perhaps three climbing up the wall, it will give his collection and the look of the office new life.

Projects