Help! I can't get this tag off of me

Turns out that, despite my best efforts, I just can't avoid being tagged.  Lisa, over at Juxtaposition Design tagged Erin OR me last week, which I, ahem, casually passed off to Erin then Nerf, of Nerdy Fashionista called me out and is forcing me to fess up.   Seeing as how I have far more birds than I do stones, I'm gonna toss my Tag in a little sack then shake and bake it with this design post.  So, without further ado, what you've all been waiting for:  7 things about me:  a design story:

1.  I did not get to do my exciting and famous weekend bonus OR my Monday post (thank you for picking up my slack, Erin) because the love of my life, Laser went missing for 3 days (she came back this morning!).  I have a husband and 3 pets and am not embarrassed to say that Laser advances to the top of the pack.  Hands down, no shame.  Despite my deep love for la kitty cat, I really do not like pet beds that look like mini people furniture:

Do I know where you can buy this?  No. 

And I think this:

is highway robbery.  If you catch yourself considering a $320 cardboard bed for kitty to sleep / scratch away at, please contact us at hollaback@design-crisis.com, please insert:  DONATING LARGE AMOUNTS OF DISPOSABLE INCOME TO THE HARDEST WORKING UNPAID LADIES ON THE INTERNET in the subject line.

2.  Over the past several years I have torn out hundreds of shelter magazine pages, amassed roughly a gazillion interior design bookmarks, and subscribed to several dozen design blog feeds, but no room has managed to stick in my mind quite like this one from Elle Decor UK a couple of years ago:

I don't even really like that wallpaper, I actually never have.  But I LOVE the simplicity of the furniture layout, I love the black and white pattern and the black doors paired with the big, colorful marimekko sheet.  While I won't have this print on my bedroom wall, this photo is the #1 inspiration for my own room.

3.  I have never made a mood board.  I actually typed "I will never make a mood board"  but maybe that's wrong of me.  Perhaps I should be mooding it up.  I think it seems a little Candice Olsen-ey, what do you guys think?

4.  I can not drink coffee (love it but it hates me) instead I drink Chai, my Chai of choice:  (sorry) Iced Venti Non Fat 8-Pump Chai from starbucks, they finally trained me to say it all right, despite my years of protest.  If I had my way, I would drink my chai from this cup:

Re-Cyclos from Lladro

I would also like to have (any) drink poured from this pitcher:

Would that be weird?  Iced Chia from this thing? Whateves, it's pretty, you can get it here: Cibone

5.  I am pretty sure I will never get sick of this wallpaper:

I don't care how many times you homies have seen it.  I've been craving it for 2 years and it's going in my office, yo.  PS, in case you just stepped out from under some crazy rock, you can get it here (save me some!): FERM

6.  As much as I want to save the earth and all, I don't normally like recycled (as in repurposed - not as in craigslist... I LOVE YOU CRAIGSLIST) decor, but lately I've been thinking about ripping off this recycled eyeglass chandelier:

What, are you mad that I said I was going to rip it off?  I thought I had immunity for this Tag thing.  Besides, I don't think you should rip it off, I think you should buy it from stuart haygarth

And finally, #7:  I married the perfect man for me:

And just to keep this design related:  no that ugly kitchen is not mine and yes that is our personal K&M logo screen printed on his t-shirt that we designed / printed one weekend when we were bored.  See, design.  

So, that's that.  la design tag c'est complete.  Who am I tagging? I guess I'll follow Camilla's lead and say... You!  You dear readers, give us 7 things about you, no need to make them design related... tell us anything your little heart desires.  Just toss 'em in the comments, it makes us feel good (that's #8)

Round Top Roundup

Last weekend Karly and I went to Round Top -- the most ginormous antiques fair EVER. Since I'll be updating the blog later today with a (hopefully) witty riposte on Top Design, I thought I'd post some photos of the fair along with a few of my fabulous finds to tide you over. Karly went back for seconds today, so I'm sure she'll be blogging about her own glorious adventures very soon.

The fair held many delights, and also more than a few scary items. Take these ladies, for example:

One of the best stores was The Old West Shop, but the prices were pretty steep. Who knew you could buy a carved wooden horse with real human teeth, though?

Another horse (this time atop a giant lamp post) -- one of the recurring motifs of the day:

Gypsies Antiques from Austin had a great booth with some amazing vintage lucite chandeliers and bathroom fixtures:

I nearly had a heart attack when I saw these vintage industrial pull-down and scissor lamps. HOTNESS!

Many animals roamed the grounds freely. This panther really wanted to come home with me, but I think my spoiled little kitty princess would be insanely jealous.

A few booths had some great African art, and Karly wanted to steal these beaded chairs, but she couldn't fit them into her purse.

I thought this drum base would have made a cool end table if topped by a piece of glass.

All in all, we had a great day, and both of us indulged in out favorite pastimes.

Of course, the best part was the treasure trove we dragged home. Meet my new young buck, Brian. The store proprietor marked him at $15, but gave him to me for $10.

I already have enough chairs and lamps to open a vintage furnishings store, but I couldn't resist this pair of hoop chairs for $15 each.

All together now:

Honestly I bought the chairs for my patio because they're weatherproof nylon, but if I could figure out a way to paint them black, I might be inclined to keep them inside... Anyone have an idea?

We Are the World

I know, I know. The map trend has already made a few laps around the proverbial block, but all of the sudden it seems urgent to know where Georgia is in proximity to Russia, to know with certainty that Iraq and Pakistan DO NOT share a border, and to be able to draw a giant geopolitical flow chart that shows the connections among all of the countries currently fueling the global economy (hint: America is not one of them). So, for those of us who cannot see Russia from our back porches, I present a day of international geography as viewed from a domestic perspective. Hopefully we'll all learn something, myself included. Because I may or may not be able to identify all 50 states in their correct positions. Although I do know where Alaska is.

First up, this gorgeous map from the desk of At Home At Home. I'm pretty sure I have no idea what landmass is depicted there. I could cheat and look it up, but... that would be cheating. For now I shall bask in my ignorance until someone enlightens me. Anyone? Anyone? Buelllllllerr?

Perhaps if I slept in this room decorated by Flickr user kbreebo, I would already know with certainty that the unidentified landmass is _____ ? Well, at least her lucky son will grow up with the kind of intellectual acumen that I might also have acquired if only I hadn't slept through geography class. Although geography class in a Texas public school consists largely of identifying Texas on a map. Well, and maybe Arkansas, because you must be able to pinpoint with laserlike accuracy the position of your true mortal enemy.

Look! It's Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Mali, Niger, Chad, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran (you know, the "I" country that DOES share a border with Pakistan). It's probably a miracle that I can even read (I'm talking to you, Texas High School), but these digitally printed map tiles seen on Remodelista have nice, big print.

On the other hand, these delicate butterflies made from vintage maps seen on Imagesurgery could be problematic...

Squiggles and colors and dots, oh my! I can't identify a single thing here. Ok... I am identifying some lust. I want a swarm of these gorgeous specimens to fill The Hole behind my couch, and maybe I could put a magnifying glass and atlas below the frame in the vain hope that I could (or would even bother to) edumacate myself. Oh beauty, thou art a gloriously distracting trollop.

This amazing vignette by Steven Sclaroff poses a similar set of problems, chief among them the incontiguous arrangement of map parts. How am I supposed to track the Bridge to Nowhere when nothing is linear???

I suppose I could make my own map table, like this one photographed by Caroline Burghardt.

That way I could just hunker down with my studies and let my tush be cushioned by a fabulous Persian rug. Now where was Iran again...?

Or I could park my tush elsewhere and sit for a spell.

It's probably pretty important that I know where Saudi Arabia is, and after I finish with business, I can plan with pleasure my trip to South Africa where I shall visit the fabulous Heather at Elle Decor SA. Thanks, Apartment Therapy!

Wait! I think I may have learned something today...

The images in these paper clothes meticulously crafted from maps by Elisabeth LECOURT look suspiciously like the UK. Now, my geographic knowledge is probably up to average for the average American student, but I can't settle for mere mediocrity.

Battleship napkins and badass world map RUGS from Thorsten van Elten will ensure that I continue to broaden my cartographic repertoire. Soon, I'll be able to recite all 7 continents. That is, if we don't continue to confuse Sunni with Shia, ignite WWIII and get bombed back to Pangea first.

I'll just pretend (for now) that won't happen, and in the meantime I'll use these placemats to work my way towards a more detailed knowledge of our world's highways and byways.

Who am I kidding? I don't even think I could catch a bus to 6th street in Austin. I once spent three hours riding the bus around Hawaii because I couldn't figure out where to get off. The driver finally kicked me off at the end of his shift when we arrived at the central bus terminal, which was nowhere even remotely close to my destination. Did I mention that my sense of direction is ridiculously, unfathomably bad?

I can't let my inherent lack of aptitude get me down, though. I'll keep my nose to the grindstone and my eyes on the prize with these recycled map bowls by Liz Grotyohann.

And with this nifty wall sized world map clock by Johannes Wohnseifer, I'll be able to see that while night falls and study time is over for me, the sun also rises on the opposite of the world for others, like Miss Raina over in New Zealand.

Here's to hoping that the children of tomorrow will be better studies of the world than I was yesterday. Although today I have learned that I may want a giant map for The Hole on my wall, and that's something.