Mega Graham and Brown Wallpaper Giveaway!

Friends, I don't do giveaways very often. On a daily basis I am inundated with emails from press people trying to get me to review off brand paint and eco toilets, but I try to keep the blog strictly related to things I want to get in my house right now.

Things like wallpaper.

Me and wallpaper have a lifelong love affair going on. It started when I was a wee baby, swaddled in a muslin cloth tacked together by wallpaper paste, rocked to sleep with the sweet smell of wet wheat in the air... fast forward to today, when I have a closet filled with stacks of wallpaper samples. Sometimes I stroke them gently at night and whisper sweet nothings into their ears. Don't tell anyone.

All this to say I am a little excited to be giving away THREE ROLLS of Graham and Brown wallpaper designed by Steve Leung!

The winner will have her/his choice from any of the six Asian inspired patterns designed by Steve Leung in any available colorway.

THREE. ROLLS. BAM.

That's enough to paper a huge feature wall, or perhaps a small powder room, foyer, or laundry room.

So, basically $80000 worth of wallpaper... or maybe $255 USD. Whatever. That's a lot of wallpaper. Let's check out the players, shall we?

There's Jiao, which has a touch of the De Gournay about it. This color is very pretty in real life, but other colors are also available.

This is Bao, which means treasure. Adorable, because my Chinese bud always calls my kids "bao bao." Anyway, the rep sent me a black sample but I lovessss the cream on cream. You can't tell from the picture but this pattern is very textured.

Hua has some metallic interest in the branches.

Juan is so sparkly it's like a disco in your eyeballs. I am kind of obsessed with the gold on cream colorway.

Ling has great scale, and is slightly textured. All of the colors are nice. Karly likes the cream on cream but I think the red might be Chinese Chippendaletastic.

And then there's Mai.

Let me tell you about this honey of a paper: you can hang it vertically or horizontally. It has a teeny touch of metallic interest, but not Kim Kardashian much. All the colors are great -- the white and silver is dreamy and versatile, but the charcoal is dramatown and would be perfect in a foyer.

In short, I want to marry this paper and I'm a little annoyed I agreed to give it away rather than keep it for myself. 100% serious.

There better be a lot of entries or I will be tempted to create 100 anonymous email addresses and enter my own contest.

Kidding! Hahaha.

Ha.

I took some pictures of the samples the rep sent me so you could kind of get a sense of the texture on the papers.

Jiao/Mai

Bao/Hua

Juan/Ling

All of these patterns are nonwoven paste-the-wall papers that are so easy to hang even a dummy like me can do it. And if you tire of them, just peel the paper off the wall in strips.

You need this in your life.

Contest rules:

Please peruse the available selections here and pick a fave pattern and color. Leave a comment telling me all about your favorite paper and what you plan to use it for. The winner is free to change her/his mind so don't get all analysis paralysis on me... I'm really just curious and y'all know I love to talk decorating projects.

That's it! Leave a comment and you are entered for a chance to win three rolls of Graham and Brown wallpaper designed by Steve Leung.

The contest ends at midnight central time on Thursday, May 16. Winner will be announced on Friday.

Let's blow it up, people.

[Graham and Brown]

Reading Rainbow (and a Give Away)

Don't you just love give away days?  I j'adore them because it makes me look benevolent and kind and awesome and all that junk.  Well, today is no exception, I'm going to be looking pretty rad when I bestow one lucky commentor a three month subscription to Book Swim.  Pray tell, what is book swim? I'm so glad you asked.  Book Swim is the cure for my shrinking bank account and my increasing amount of laziness (look, I'm cooking an entire human here, it's work).  Book Swim absolves me of all my television watching guilt.  In a word:  Book Swim is awesome.

Book Swim is the Netflix for Books.

Yes, the netflix.  For books.  It's about time, right?

While titles from design heavyweights like Wearstler and Adler are noticeably absent from the Book Swim selection, I did manage to find the above.  (Can you guess which ones are in my queue?)  For the most part, I'm pretty impressed with their selection, about 80% of the titles I searched for were found in their database, including obscure reference books and random collections of short essays.  All and all I'd consider the selection pretty good considering that there must be, like, a gazillion trillion books in the world.

Want to try it out?  Of course you do.  Leave a comment on this post between now and Thursday, 7/1 at 6:00 pm Central time.  The winner will receive a free 3 month subscription to la Swim.  Check back on Friday when I announce the lucky duck.

If you can't wait that long to get your read on, go sign yo self up HERE.

Thomas Paul Pillow Giveaway: Name This Horsey!

That's right, my thoroughbred friends -- we've got an equestrian themed GIVEAWAY in honor of Karly's sold out edition of Horsey prints! This one comes courtesy of the fine folks at CSN Stores, who sell everything from bathroom vanities to Knoll and Kartell housewares through their mammoth collection of 200+ stores. I'm sure you can imagine that sifting through 489,654 items before selecting La Horsey was quite the sweaty herculean task, but it's ok. Don't worry about me. Everything I do, I do it for you. Now that I've drummed up an appropriate amount of sympathy and lodged a ridiculous Bryan Adams tune in your collective head, let's move on to the good stuff!

Just look at those sweet baleful eyes... who wouldn't want to give this little guy (or gal) a good home?

Measuring a substantial 22 x 22 inches square, our equine friend is hand screened with java colored ink onto jute, finished with leather piping, and stuffed silly -- because no one wants a skinny pony. Our lucky winner can display him (or her) whether they be old money or poorgeoisie -- this pillow has legs. Somewhere.

The Brass Tacks: Enter to win this FREE Thomas Paul pillow, valued at $80, by naming the horsey in the comment box below. That's right -- all you have to do is NAME THIS HORSEY to win a FREE Thomas Paul pillow. You have until Sunday, May 30, at 12 noon CST, to leave your comment below. A random number generator will choose the winner, who will be announced on Memorial Day, Monday the 31st. Sorry, due to shipping constraints, this contest is only open to US and Canadian residents. Please enter only once, but feel free to tell your friends and neighbors, announce this contest on facebook, and tweetaleet all about this bizness. We're looking forward to some excellent names, the best of which will be announced along with the winner, because bragging rights are almost as good as a free pillow right? Right?

Now saddle up and get cracking. Yee haw!