DIY: Create A Personal Style Collage for 2013

It's a snowy morning here in Winston Salem which means my calendar has been cleared for me!

How fortunate! 

I took the morning off and have had fun creating a personal style collage on PicMonkey.com. I thought you might enjoy playing around on this fun website as well...

 First, save nine or more of your favorite pins from your Pinterest  to your computer. Next, it's so easy. Go to: pic monkey.com and click on "create a collage". Use the blue button "Open Photos" on the left side to upload the pictures you saved onto your computer. After you upload your pictures, you click on the layout tab on the left and drag your photos into the grid. Move the images around until you get the desired look. I used the "square deal" layout for the first two collages and "L-egant" for the last collage. Give your collage a name and save it to your computer. 

I would love to see what all of you create.

Can you share a link in the comments to your collage? Pretty please!

Creating a style collage was an interesting way to start the New Year, a motivator to take some of the images that inspire me and use them as a springboard for new projects around the house.

I wish I were more of a purist...you know the people that Pin something on Pinterest and you can tell who's Pin it is before you even look at their name. I am not that disciplined. I like a variety of styles that range from the latest crush on anything Belgian to the juxtaposition of rustic and luxe. I also go nuts for a modern farmhouse or simple cottage and even like a little bit of Bohemian mixed in. I crave the clean lines of modern design and love it when antiques and modern art successfully come together....

so I created three different collages...

I call the first two collages The City Mouse and The Country Mouse.

The third collage, I'll call Southern Sunshine.

If you are not on Pinterest yet, you should give it a try. Seriously!

It's a great reference tool for creative thinkers and do-ers.

Let me know if you create a style collage...I would love to see it!

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Living With Antiques

Happy New Year!

Although I have not been posting a lot recently, I have been reading....

 I have been particularly inspired by many of the posts I have read regarding New Year' s resolutions. Most of the posts are more about living the life you have always dreamed of rather than getting rid of nasty habits or losing weight. I like the thought of honing in on the things that I find most important and spending more time simplifying my life and living with only the things that I find most essential.

While reading my email this morning, I clicked over to the latest issue of Lonny Magazine for a quick flip-through and discovered the enchanting home of Houston antiques dealer Kay O'Toole.

Five years ago O'Toole built her dream home in the courtyard of her Houston antiques shop, Kay O'Toole's Antiques and Eccentricities. The most amazing thing about her home is that it is just three rooms. She was inspired by a narrow, one-room deep home she once admired in the French Quarter in New Orleans. Maybe it's because I just celebrated my 50th year on earth but the idea of paring down and living with only the best and the things that I love sounds compelling.

Move over Kay...I am coming home!

But, seriously, Kay's home is such a lovely reflection of a life. Her home, filled with treasures collected over a lifetime, art from local artists and even rescued architectural elements from old Houston homes has everything that I have ever wanted - a home that feels serene and personal.

There's no doubt that there is only one home that looks like this....

The range hood is a renovated wooden altar from a 19th century french chapel.

The marble in the kitchen was rescued from a demolished Houston post office.

"Light, says O'Toole, is the ultimate luxury."

I was smitten with O'Toole's elegant bedroom the first time I saw it  {Veranda Magazine/March 2010}. I have always loved an all white bedroom!

A display from O'Toole's shop - Kay O'Toole Antiques and Eccentricities. 

Antique french garden chairs and an antique faux bois table grace the front courtyard.

A charming garden with more faux bois and a potted lemon tree in the her private garden.

Working with Murphy Mears Architects, O'Toole designed many of the architectural features around a large cache of steel windows and doors she reclaimed from a 1920's mansion being demolished in the exclusive Houston River Oaks neighborhood.

The upholstery throughout O'Toole's home are covered exclusively in Fortuny - How luxurious!

New Year's Resolution 2013

Simplify

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Leonardo da Vinci

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