Petunia Pickle Bottom co-founders DeNai and Braden share an incredible tour of their home and design style. Keep an eye out for the school map of the United States, the oversized Chinese ceremonial mask and the mushroom collection. Without question, I could live here and feel well traveled, educated and at peace. Beautiful job, guys! If you want to learn more about PPB, check out our designer interview. Enjoy!

Maybe it’s the fact that in my professional life vibrant color and pattern are my signature style at Petunia Pickle Bottom that make my personal life at home a monochromatic world.  My rule of thumb when putting together a room usually begins with one object.  I am a fan of flea markets or something with a little history.  So when I begin to style a room, it is usually a unique found object that sparks my imagination.

Our home was built in the 1920’s and still has a considerable amount of the original details.  Our family room is where we like to hang out by the fireplace, read books to the kids on our comfy couches, take a nap or set up train tracks to circumnavigate the room.  When I first saw this room, I was struck by the 8’ window and high exposed beam ceiling. It was light and bright so I chose colors that would naturally illuminate.

The focal point I designed around was the natural wood Roost buck head flanked by archival school charts (lobster and bird) that stem from my father’s days as a college biology professor. My recent obsession with mushrooms covers the fireplace mantle.

Friends joke our kids will have nightmares from the oversized Chinese ceremonial mask that hangs in our dining room. Found at an antique store in historic downtown Ventura, she’s become part of the family. We think it was used in the movies or carried in a Chinese parade.

The red lips of the mask were the perfect color to pair the walls, a vintage red wood telephone booth door filled with glass, and our custom table crafted by my husband.

My 3-year-old son Sutton’s room was recently converted to a “big boy” bedroom.  Years ago I found a stunning oversized school map of the United States (chalk printed so you can write on it) that I knew would be perfect for a child’s bedroom. We held onto over the years and it served as the perfect centerpiece for the “Traveler’s odyssey” theme for my son’s room.

Complete with a flying ship, globes, suitcase, guitar, army blanket, old books, and Read the rest of this entry »

I think Niecy Nash is hilarious. Thus, I find myself getting sucked into the show she hosts, Clean House, all the time. This week they featured a couple who wanted a green nursery for their baby. After some soul-searching, the mother-to-be finally gave in and sold the nursery furniture at the garage sale in exchange for green nursery furniture by Oeuf. In these days of green-washing, I wanted to let you know what makes Oeuf furniture green. I will use the Oeuf Classic Crib to show you the considerations a designer takes into account when manufacturing an eco-friendly piece of furniture:

First of all, the crib can be transformed into a toddler bed with an additional kit. It’s able to transform to meet lifestyle needs and changes, thus making it a product you can use longer and in different ways. Oeuf furniture is designed to be used after a nursery is no longer necessary:

Second, The birch used in the base is from certified sustainable forests.

Third, the sides, footboard and headboard are all cut from single sheets of wood panel which is eco-friendly MDF made of recovered wood fibers – to eliminate the hazard of loosening joints.

Fourth, the lacquer used on the finished products is, of course, lead-free, non-toxic, and completely inert.In addition to being eco-friendly, non-toxic lacquer is what you want to have if your youngster decides to try to chomp his/her way out of the crib bars!

To check out the entire Oeuf line, click here.

If you have completed an eco-friendly home project, please leave a comment and tell us about it!

top two photos from the style network

Thanks to Elements of Style for this post about how to live a Hollywood Regency dream by renting from Room Service.

Oh My God! THE LIZA ROOM TAKES THE CAKE! If you missed SF20, you can lament your loss by perusing these fabulous images Leah posted at More Ways to Waste Time.

Oh My God Part II: Oh Patricia Gray, thank you for this. At first I thought it was a Chelsea Lately sketch, but it really is Sarah Palin’s office

Home Rejuvenation’s posts blow my mind all the time. I’m giddy over the The Next Generation House by Sou Fujimoto Architects.

I’m just nuts about Mrs. Blandings. I don’t know how I missed this charming Kansas City-based blogger’s writing for so long.

I don’t know how it took me ten days to find fellow, the new online design magazine from decor fellow blogger James Saavedra. Thanks to Habitually Chic for the tipoff.

Check out the list of the most inspiring design books of all time from O At Home magazine. I’m such a dork; I circled the ones I already have, which added up to ten. I was really excited to see Luis Barragan, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown and J.B. Jackson included on the list, but was disappointed that landscape architecture was not represented more.

Bummer! The Farnsworth House, in spite of the plinth it sits on above the ground, is majorly flooded. To make a donation towards repairs, click here. (via AT: Chicago).

Design Bloggers in Print! The New York Times did a huge feature on design bloggers yesterday, and included some of my favorites, like Jennifer Dwyer from The Peak of Chic. Congratulations! Hey, you know what’s weird? Wordpress has the word “bloggers” underlined right now like it’s not a word. It has Wordpress underlined as well. What’s up with that?

• photo from Room Service via Elements of Style

• photo by Leah Hennen at More Ways to Waste Time

• photo from The Anchorage Daily News (Landov) via The New York Times, via Patricia Gray Interior Design

• photo by (I think) Sou Fujimoto Architects, via Home Rejuvenation

• image from Mrs. Blandings

• image from fellow by James Saavedra

• image from amazon.com

• image from landmarks.org

We had a special visit from Ashley of DwellStudio on Monday…boy is it a treat when our designer friends stop by! Something spreads through the air and we all get even more excited about the products on our site…a fervor-esque excitement some might say. Ashley gave us the lowdown on all of the new 2009 DwellStudio Baby and DwellStudio Home products which James launched on our site last week…we learned a TON about the new pieces but there are a few highlights I’m just itching to share:

1.) The new geometry print is amazing. It is a classic pattern that totally has a lasting quality to it (good for adults and kids and babies alike). Their color choices are spot on and the shapes are Read the rest of this entry »

Fresh off the Q&A boat: an interview with Jesse Johnson, the Co-Founder and CEO of Q Collection Junior. We couldn’t be more excited about the addition of their eco-friendly baby furniture to our site. Their products are made from locally sourced materials, with non-toxic, low VOC water based paints and stains, and formaldehyde-free glues (not to mention design savvy and beautiful). Enjoy!

Please tell us a bit about the path that led you into founding Q Collection. What was the turning point that lead to Q Collection Junior?

Back in 1999, Anthony and I (the co-founders) were looking around for home furnishings for my apartment in lower Manhattan. Anthony was an interior designer and I was immersed in the world of environmental management. We asked ourselves if we could find items that had the quality and design Anthony was used to working with while also having the sustainable features I sought. We failed to find anything already in existence. If we wanted truly green things, we had to give up on quality and design. If we wanted quality and design, we had to give up on sustainability. That planted the seed. What about all the folks, like us, who want both – high quality and fresh design with the healthiest, most environmentally friendly materials?

We made some prototypes and opened a temporary showroom in 2003. There was far less understanding and awareness around Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to coordinate your bedding and your Fatboy? The long wait is over! The new Fatboy’s by Dwell are live on the site!

This is Dwell’s first licensing deal, and we hold the worldwide exclusive for a limited time.

Check out the complete collection here.

Lucky Jade=Lucky Babe! It is the “It Blanket” of the year; according to InStyle magazine, Courtney Cox has one, so you know your baby has to have one too. C’mon, spoil your little one at a very early age; Lucky Jade Baby Blankets are designed by Leslie Pitts, a former fashion designer.

Lucky Jade Baby Blankets are spun from only the finest cashmere yarn Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Ford writes Modern Day Dad, a resource for stay-at-home dads. He includes the dad stuff I’ve found that’s cool, that works for the baby (or doesn’t work), as well as his own personal experiences.

There are two facts that, when you are preparing for a new baby, become painfully apparent. The most obvious is that this is something brand new. Not just new as in “Um, why did I trade my life that I’m perfectly happy with for a new one that I know absolutely nothing about?”, but also new as in a fresh start. It’s like you’re given this project completely from the beginning, and it’s up to you to make it as cool as possible.

Read the rest of this entry »

Elizabeth Thielke writes Busy Mom (go figure). “40 years old, married to Busy Dad for 15 years. 3 kids: Busy Girl (10) Busy Boy (9) and The Preschooler Formerly Known as Busy Baby (3).”

I may or may not have a talent for home design and decorating, I’m really not sure. When faced with a room that needs that special something like oh, say, paint, I tend to freeze up and not know what I want and, therefore, don’t end up doing anything. I think it stems from growing up in a home with all white walls and linens; my father wouldn’t tolerate anything else. Fortunately, I live in an old house that is detailed enough to be interesting on its own and I don’t have to do a lot to it downstairs. Upstairs? Not quite as interesting. It needs a little more effort.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kyra and her husband Robertson founded Twenty2, a Brooklyn-based design shop producing a variety of textiles and wallcoverings. Their latest creation is Wallbands, a line of easy-to-apply, pre-pasted, washable wall patterns.

Kids really seem to dig our Wallbands. When we showed our 5-year-old nephew Brooks some early samples of our Wallbands collection, he immediately said, “I want to see all of them” and proceeded to spread them out on the floor and choose his favorites.

Read the rest of this entry »