1. This new slightly wonky but non-the-less incredibly huge and infectious smile of Ida’s.

2. My growing vintage Danish ceramic collection–even though I have no clue how I’m gonna get all this home.

3. The fact that art museums in Denmark have pencils and paper so that you can draw after getting all inspired.

4. Freetown. Christiania in general, this upcycled military barrack turned colorful kid’s playhouse, in particular.
5. These bowls.

6. This talk that Satsuki and Victoria share.

7. This pin.

8. This home tour–especially the little yellow foot stool and the humungous agave plant, in a vase on the dresser.

9. This clip that may actually hold my crazy-thick hair

10. This lady’s move to L.A.

I hope that your weekend is full of smiles!!

I’m so happy Caitlin‘s back to share some of her deliciousness with us! I’ve had this one of hers before–it’s insane. The vanilla bean is what really does it I think…

Enjoy!

What you need:

Peaches, pears, apricots, or whatever else you desire
Honey
One vanilla bean
Fresh thyme
Water
Chamomile tea (loose or tea bag)
Sea Salt
Greek yogurt, or creme fraiche

What you need to do:

Place fruit in a pot and cover with water and add a pinch of salt. Split vanilla bean in half, scrape seeds and add both to pot along with honey, thyme, and tea. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until fruit is knife tender. Serve with yogurt hot or at room temperature.
_____

Thank you Caitlin!!

I got an email recently from Colombian-born, Hong Kong via New York artist Lina Benjumea who describes her hand-painted Totem Bowls as modern and Latin/African-inspired. It doesn’t get much more international than that now does it–which is probably why I love them so much. I want like five of them to stack and make one huge totem bowl that is overflowing with delicious fruit and nuts and heck why not, a huge agave plant on top. Aren’t these bowl gorgeous? Check out her Etsy shop “Titiribi “and start thinking about what you’d fill your totem bowls with!

Vintage, embroidered, mirrored and patchworked vintage sari covered parasols that I kinda wanna hang ALL OVER THE PLACE. Tassel-trims too?! Consider me in the market for a sunny spot that needs a bit of shade. Available at Fabricadabra for $22.

One thing I love about summer is getting outdoors–and if you, like me, have no air-co and live in a house that gets super HOT, you’re prepping for all kinds of ways to bring the indoors out this summer. One of the best ways to do that is by inviting homies over for outdoor movie nights! There’s something magical about watching movies al fresco with a cold beer and popcorn, yes? That is why I am beyond excited to be helping out a brand that I’ve been shopping in since I was a little girl, (literally), World Market, with the launch a Pinterest “Movie Night Giveaway” Sweepstakes now through May 31.

So here’s the low-down: World Market Pinterest followers can enter for a chance to win a Backyard Theater System (an outdoor screen and projector) and a $1000 World Market gift card. To enter,  follow these instructions and repin any of the pins that you love from World Market’s the “Movie Night Giveaway”  Board. Winners will be notified via email.

I’m really looking forward to hooking up my back yard when I get home from Copenhagen next week. I have so many plans, and just looking at this stuff makes me super excited for my first summer soiree. I want to make flavored beer (I swear it’s good) and chipotle popcorn for my movie night–and I’m thinking that catching up on the last six weeks of Madmen and Game of Thrones outdoors is gonna be the way to go. What will you watch at your outdoor movie night?

This post is created in partnership with World Market.  All words and ideas are my own. Thanks for the support y’all.

Plant-a-colada!? Yes please! The coconuts cost me $1.89 each at my local Asian grocery market. I had all the tools, fabric and string in my craft closet–so these planters cost me less than $2 to make!  Cheap, eco–and fun to do with kids (provided you do the saw part) this project is perfect for adding a bit of green in the home–and the table-planters can easily be personalized with names or table-numbers for special events (think weddings, showers, graduations, birthdays etc.)  Perfect summer project, yes?

COCONUT TABLE PLANTER

MATERIALS
-One young Thai Coconut
-Potting soil
-Plant
(Succulent used here)

TOOLS
-Drill
-Serrated Knife or saw
-One Sharpie

1. Drill three holes in a triangular shape on the bottom of the coconut for drainage holes. Drain the coconut water out. Drink it. It’s delish.
2. Saw the top of the coconut off leaving one inch of ‘ridge’ on the top of the coconut.
3. Clean the ‘meat’ out of the coconut with a spoon. Make a smoothie from it while you let the coconut dry out in the sun (may take a few hours) #Yum!
4. Once coconut is dry, draw a simple, repeating pattern all over the coconut. (not the bottom).
5. Place potting soil into the coconut and plant your choice plant into the coconut.
6. Place in appropriate light for chosen plant.

COCONUT HANGING PLANTER

MATERIALS
-One young Thai Coconut
-1.5 ft. thin, patterned fabric
-Cord or string
-One S-hook
-Potting soil
-Plant
(Staghorn Fern used here)

TOOLS
-Scissors
-Drill
-Tape
-Hot glue gun and glue
-Iron
-Serrated Knife or saw

1. Drill three holes in a triangular shape on the bottom of the coconut for drainage holes. Drain the coconut water out. Drink it. It’s delish.
2. Saw the top of the coconut off leaving one inch of ‘ridge’ on the top of the coconut for hanging holes.
3. Clean the ‘meat’ out of the coconut with a spoon. Make a smoothie from itWhile you let the coconut dry out in the sun (may take a few hours)Yum!
4. Drill three holes into the ‘ridge’ on the top of the coconut , equadistant from one another.
5. Measure coconut circumference and height. Cut fabric height and length accordingly leaving and extra 1” on each side for seam allowance.
6. Fold 1” of fabric over all the way around, and iron flat, creating a “hem” on all four sides.
7. Using the hot glue gun, glue the fabric all the way around the coconut.
8. Cut three pieces of string 2.5’ long. Wrap tape around the end of each of the pieces of string like shoe laces, and thread one piece of string through each of the three holes. Tie each string in a double knot to fasten it to the coconut. Tie the strings in a knot together at the top and tie to the S-hook.
9. Place potting soil into the coconut and plant your choice plant into the coconut.
10. Hang in appropriate light for chosen plant.

Enjoy!

Projects and photos by Justina Blakeney

So many ‘firsts’ this week…the first time we took Ida to the beach, the first time she rode on a train, the first time she tasted porridge, the first time she visited a contemporary art museum, a modern art museum and a history museum all in one week! She is such a trooper. She just looks around, smiles at strangers, laughs and takes it all in. I’m so thrilled that she seems to love traveling as much as we do…because, god willing, we will be doing a lot more of it in the future.    

Had some fun stuff come out this week–
An oldie but goodie was featured over on Marie Claire Maison
Check out my feelings on Ida at six months over on one of my favorite reads, The Littlest
Learn about my hair regimen on The Good Hair Blog
Thanks y’all!

Wishing you all a weekend full of smiles and plenty of ‘firsts’!

What do you think? Would ever paint your door a crazy bright, bold contrasting color to the rest of your home?
All photos by J. Blakeney

One thing I get asked really often is how I manage to ‘pull off’ mixing so much pattern and color in my work, so I thought today I’d share a few secrets that I use to make abundance of color and pattern work in any space.

• When choosing accessories with prints, work in the same color palette for all of your patterned accessories. I like to start with curtains. So, as I browse through a wide range of curtains,  I look for one specific color. For this exercise, I chose to work with blue.  I found this sweet blue patterned footstool and a blue patterned pendant lamp to add to this room. The three patterns are very different from each other, but because they’re all in the blue family, they get along really well together.
  
• Add neutral colors, to help the eye rest. I always include neutral colors so that things don’t get *too* hectic. The mellow color of the couch, the simple jute rug and the natural wooden cabinet do the trick in this space.
• While shopping for home accessories like plant pots, curtain rods, and lighting  (the Argos shop has many lighting options,) make sure the colors of the accessories recall one another. Look at the kelly green floor lamp,  the adorable colored buttons on the settee, the cacti pots, the mustard occasion table and the Matisse print, you’ll notice that certain elements match. This is done on purpose to recall different shades around the room for cohesion.
• When picking the wall colors consider the art, drapes, and other wall decor–all of things that are going to be placed at or on the wall–don’t you think that the ikat curtains look good framed in the dusk color? And that the Matisse print looks pretty on the orange?

Once you get the colors and patterns working together they no longer compete with the eye for attention.

This post is created in partnership with Argos. Take a minute to look through their HUGE selection of home goods. I was blown away with all of their options for lighting, curtains, and other home accessories. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this blog possible. (All words and ideas are my own.)

Succulent image via here. Matisse print image from here. All other item images via Argos.

 
Been noticing all of these box and crate shelves around here–in shops, homes, restaurants and museums. I love this idea because it’s a super easy DIY (I always see crates at the flea markets in L.A.) and I love that you can arrange the crates to fit your needs–plus the way that objects are framed when inside the boxes make objects and books really stand out. Love the idea of painting the inside of the crates/boxes different colors, too.  It turns the shelves into a kind of installation art. A single box, four boxes all in a row, or boxes stacked on top of each other every which way, either way I think they look super cool. Another thing I like about these box shelves is that I can picture them being useful in pretty much every room in the house–and in homes with different styles–modern, rustic, boho, minimal and maximal!  What do you think? Would you do box shelving in your pad?

Also, this is a bit of a non-sequitur but I wanted to mention that if you are in L.A. this week you should check out Create + Cultivate--an event that “consists of 5 amazing workshops, 1 inspirational creative seminar, delicious food, happy hours, mixing, mingling and more.” If I was in town I would be there. Some good friends of mine including Jessica Comingore will be leading workshops, and if I weren’t abroad–I’d be leading one too. Anyway, it’s May 18th at the Downtown Standard and the folks over at C+C have been kind enough to offer JB Est.1979 readers a discount code, so use the code CCVIP at checkout to save a little somethin’ somethin’.  It absolutely glorious here in Cph, but thinking about missing this does make me miss home a bit.

Box and crate photos by J. Blakeney