Trending: The Ever-Elegant Bar Cart

A few weeks ago, I got the urge to add to my living room. I don't know if it was all the Mad Men I had been watching or the Southern belle in me, but I had to have a bar cart. No good hostess should go without one, and with my family coming into town, we rushed out to buy, assemble and stock (and empty, and re-stock) one right away. I'll show you mine first so it doesn't look so measley after all the inspiration images. After all, I'm not a professional photographer...yet.

I think we did a nice job. The cart and trays are from Ikea. Zach attached the wine glass rack in some special way so it would look like it came that way, but really all the attachments were bought separately. The coral (in my favorite color, turquoise) was a lucky find at Marshall's, but I was too cheap to buy it, so Zach surprised me with it the next day. The other little trinkets are gifts with special meaning to me. And the mirror was stashed away in my closet, but I was desperate to find a place for it and it ties the cart in with the rest of the room nicely.

Here are some images of beautiful and unique bar carts, which I will someday recreate when I'm no longer on an Ikea & Marshalls budget.

Pretty:

Absolutely gorgeous, I have to have both:

 

Totally cool and unique, if I'd had more time I would have searched til I found the perfect piece to repurpose and put Zach to work. I'm jealous:

The next one is just beautiful. Industrial and nautical at the same time. With some bottles on the floor and a crate on the table, it doesn't look too hoity-toity. And everything looks repurposed, which I love.

And finally...this gem:

See the bar cart way back there? I love this whole room. It's just all my favorite things in one space. A comfy couch, modern chairs, a romantic chandelier and antlers! And...I spy a Kyle Bunting rug!

Moral of the story: Whether you get it at Ikea or an upscale store, or even at a flea market, whether you use it as a side table or a sideboard, whether you put your bottles on a tray or on the floor....you need a designated bar cart or table area in your home. They just make you look like you know how to throw a party. And they're pretty. So to help you get started, here's about a million to choose from.

http://www.1stdibs.com/furniture_search.php?C7=1#

Have fun!

Dreaming Of: My Baby Brother's Nursery

Today's post is special because it's for my littlest brother who is due in November. I am trying to woo my dad's wife into letting me help design the nursery but so far I don't think she's having it! I understand it's all part of having a baby...decorating, dressing it, yada yada. But if nothing else, I am going to get a blog post out of this situation, so here goes....

A small detail I should mention is that they live in Peru so I don't know how it would actually work out even if they did let me spec the room. I would love to use an old vintage crib and some cool flea market find that I could transform into a changing table, but I'm not privy to navigating Peruvian flea markets, so I'll stick to normal retail products. But I'm still excited about this post because for once I actually have a real client in mind instead of Paul Newman or Andy Warhol who I (sadly) never met. What's more is that I have an actual, existing space to design around. The room is huge with wood floors, a very extravagant bathroom (especially for a baby), a walk in closet and an attached playroom. The benefit of all that is that the room itself doesn't need a lot of furniture for storage, which is great since there isn't a lot of wall space that won't be taken up by doors, windows or the crib. The other challenge is that my style and my dad/stepmom's style are pretty different, and we haven't spoken at all about what they want for the room. I don't really know what Peruvian people usually do with nursery themes. They can't have the cowboy theme cause I called dibs and I don't think they would want it anyway. But....sailboats, monkeys and anything else I could name off the top of my head didn't seem right for them. So, I thought about what my dad and Martha love to do; something special they would want to share with their son. And the only obvious answer seemed to be traveling. Plus, they met through her job at American Airlines. So...we have a theme, people!

AIRPLANES!

(Knowing me, you should take this to mean VINTAGE airplanes, specifically).

My vision is that the room be rather sophisticated so that it doesn't have to be redone every couple years (though that would be fun). The space should be simple and uncluttered, the furniture both functional and beautiful, and the colors masculine yet playful. This way, the room will fit nicely with the rest of the house. The large fur rug will bring coziness and comfort to a space otherwise covered in wood. The bedding won't be the typical cartoony design of most baby linens, but something like the darker and more simple design of the image in the bottom corner. The (adorable) mobile will hang over the chair (I like the white one but Martha may prefer the green one). Art will be arranged in a gallery wall over the crib where various frames will hold mementos and photographs of the baby's beautiful and adoring sister. In one corner, a vintage propeller will hang over a stack of vintage suitcases used to hold blankets and toys. And I can't resist a chandelier in a nursery, so the Sputnik will hang in the center to awe the baby and provide dim lighting perfect for lulling him to sleep. Finally, along one wall I would do something like what's in the image below, just for fun.

Well, that's all I have to say. Hope you liked it (Dad & Martha, I'm talking to you!).