Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Final Countdown

I must admit this one snuck up on me, but tomorrow (Monday, July 1) Google Reader is no more. I've been meaning to blog about it but between summer fun and trips, I've dropped the ball. Here's the deal - if you've been following my blog via Google Reader, simply go to Bloglovin and follow My Interior Life there (or import your entire feed from GR).
 
Or you can do the same on Feedly (which is another great RSS option). I just didn't want you to miss out on any blog posts (like I've written so many lately - sorry about that).

Of course, you can always follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook.  I'll be back soon with some actual decor inspiration, so please stay tuned via one of above mentioned avenues. As always, thank you for reading!


Thursday, June 20, 2013

Home Again

I'm back from Memphis and somewhat recovered from the whirlwind of activity that included cleaning out all manner of cabinets and drawers, hanging out with some of my best friends, eating, shopping and visiting the zoo and museum. Whew.

I feel like we got a lot accomplished but, of course, there's tons more to do. My sister and I did manage to shop for some furniture for my parents' new home (some of their old furniture just won't fit - you know how that goes). We picked out the Brae sofa from Bernhardt . . .
That's my sister playing a blurry Vanna White . . . 

Not wild about the throw pillows, but those can be easily changed. I think the neutral fabric, nailheads and classic shape will work great for my parents. Dad liked it so much, he even bought the matching club chair and ottoman which will all go nicely with the blue leather club chair they already have.

We also scouted out some rug options for that main living room. I'm voting for something neutral with a hint of blue. They don't want to spend a ton of money, so handmade Persians are out of the question, but there are some good wool options online and in local stores including these . . .
My parents are fairly traditional so I'm thinking they'll pick something like the first or second option, but I'm loving the silk and wool ikat. Just my little opinion. 

And speaking of shopping, thanks to a Madewell gift card from my sister for my birthday (yes, I'm officially 40 now, whooppee), I got to do some for myself as well. Apparently, Memphis (well, technically Germantown just on the outskirts of town) now has a Madewell. Something Nashville still doesn't have (although we did just get an H&M so I guess I can let that slide a bit). Known for their denim, Madewell also has great dresses and accessories. However, I stuck with the classics - some white denim shorts and v-neck tee shirts . . . 
via

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I have to say all tees are not created equal . . . I bought two of these (gray and navy), and they are SO soft and comfortable. Their cut is also great - not too roomy with just the right v-cut (not too deep not too shallow). I wear tee shirts a lot in the summer, so I'm hoping these hold up.

I also made it home with some flowers to brighten my home . . .
These hydrangea are from my mom's backyard. 

And some pink peonies from the grocery store because I just can't resist them!

Of course, cleaning out my parents house meant I brought home boxes of memorabilia from my childhood. So now, I've got to go store those somewhere. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer days!


Thursday, June 13, 2013

Random Nuggets of Summer

Just checking in. As you may have gathered, I'm on full-time mom/summer duty which means a lot less interior design material unfortunately. I still have tons of ideas and projects percolating in my head, just not as much free time to develop them into blog posts. So, thank you for bearing with me. Here's a shot from our Disney vacation from which I now need a vacation . . .
Disney is truly magical, but truly exhausting. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed some different aspects now that the kids are older. For one, I think they appreciated Epcot more which is a sure sign of maturity. But the teacups will always be a favorite of the kids no matter how old they get.


In other news, sadly, I have uncovered no great fixes to the missing embedded Pinterest photo mystery. As one Blogger message board guy responded, I basically had "hot-linked" to these photos (which to me sounded like I had done something illegal like hot-wiring a car) which is "a very bad idea because if that external site ever goes offline, changes their name, moves their files or renames their images then ALL your images that you have hotlinked will be broken. Pinterest has obviously moved their internal location of the photos which is why they are broken." Great. I assumed as much. I'm really just aggravated with Pinterest for changing something internally that messed up all my hot links. Why even have an "Embed" button? Live and learn. I guess I'll just have to go back and fix my old blog posts as I have time (because I always have a ton of free time to do fun things like that).

And just to prove that I know how to post photos properly now and really do blog about interior design stuff, I'll leave you with a favorite photo from the Moroccan home of Bruno Frisoni and Hervé Van der Straeten featured in the latest Vogue . . .


I hope everyone's enjoying their summer thus far. Now, we're off to Memphis to visit my family and help my parents sift through and pare down 30 years of stuff in preparation for their move to a new home. Wish me luck . . . I will need it.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Disappearing Act

Okay, so I could be talking about my absence on the blog, but the disappearing act I'm actually referring to is the fact that my embedded Pinterest photos on old blog posts seem to have - poof - disappeared! Has anyone else had this problem?? Are you confused about what I'm talking about?

I didn't realize this was an issue until I happened to go back to one of my old blog posts for reference and noticed the photos I had embedded from Pinterest were no longer there - just the link below the photos. You can click on this post for an example of this weird phenomenon (or basically any post older than a month old with Pinterest photos in it, which is a lot).

I'm assuming this is a Pinterest issue, but maybe it's a Blogger issue. Do any of you tech-y people have any clue? Am I the only one having this problem? Do I just need to update something? Uggh, I hate being clueless. I thought I was being so tech-savvy by using the embedded HTML code from Pinterest . . . it saved me a step. I didn't have to drag photos onto my hard drive then place them, then delete them. Now, I feel like I'm being punished. Seriously, a ton of my old posts are now missing photos. It's bizarre. Am I going to have to go back and manually replace missing photos? Because . . .

And yes, I have emailed Pinterest re: this problem. So far, this is the response I've received: 

  A member of our team will review your message as soon as possible. While we’re always working hard to make Pinterest better for you, we’re currently unable to respond individually to every message we receive. Rest assured we are always listening and we’re frequently resolving issues and making improvements based on what we read in emails like this one.

Thanks for using Pinterest.

- The Pinterest Team

Yeah, so, I'm not too hopeful. So seriously, if anyone has any tips, advice, suggestions, etc. Please let me know. I promise I will blog about interior design stuff really soon and maybe even share a photo from Disney World - I know you're all waiting with bated breath!