Things I Like Friday: The Decluttering Edition

Hello Lovelies!

"Softly glowing Japanese paper lamps" - photo, my own. 2013

Today is Friday, and I'd like to share with you a couple of links and highlights of beautiful and/or useful stuff I have found online this week.
I am in the midst of a major decluttering process which you can view and follow here.. It's (not-so) hard work, yes, but mostly, i am having fun doing it! This will give me freedom, and will help a situation like the one I told you lovelies about a year ago LINK and will my moving house (soon) process a breeze.

I am loving simplicity and embracing minimalism in my daily life now because of the sheer happiness & joy it gives me.

 Fall 2011. Photo, my own.

So, what did I find worth a read or a look this week?

Well, through the ZenHabits forum, I have found a new blog called "The Minimalists". I really like their blogposts, the most popular are listed here and Joshua, one of two authors of this blog, has a cool playlist to share with us.

JFM's Top 12 Albums of 2012

I am also very excited by this upcoming Fall season - as end of summer (2011 LINK) and back to school are my fave time of the year!

I have listed a few pros and cons about Fall. Enjoy!


A few cons a friend of mine reminded me on Facebook recently:
too much to do, rushing arounf, being stressed out, mess daylight etc...

Painting session with my nephew. Photo, my own.

But... lots of pros!

The heat is bearable again. It's Indian summer, with its beautiful "golden hour" light still lingering.

My fave designers & artists are showing their new creations. I plan to buy an original painting by Jane Cornwell as soon as I can afford it, to add to my small personal collection. F&B has a new range of paint colours due in September 9th. It's the "rentrée littéraire" in France - hundreds of new books are published between end of August and September each year. I plan to read 1% of it all. This means about 5 new books to read by Halloween (details here).

I am enjoying my end of summer decluttering process so much that  I have decided to make up a new tradition: very year from now on, from august 21st to 31st, it's assessing your own possessions and decluttering time!

 

"Shadow of a chair". Photo, my own.

Now is also a great time to enjoy the outdoors and take great photographs (I eally like the shadow of a chair I took, shown above). Or you can go visit a city and admire its street sculptures and monuments, like in the pic below:

Or visit local artists' market:

 "Haiku". Photo, my own.

Of course, back to shool is an exciting time for a stationery junkie like me! I just need to carefully write down a wishlist and assess my wants vs. my needs.

image via

 

image via

There are also plenty of photo-a-day challenges out there from you to choose from, so...

Enjoy!

-Alix of TeaButterfly.

Apartment Therapy Style Cure - part I

Hello Lovelies!

This is the color scheme that inspires me - paint chips from Farrow & Ball (link). 

More inspiration here.

As I mentioned earlier on this blog, I am doing the Style Cure hosted by AT. Yesterday was day 8 of the Cure, which means it is time for an update. To review day 1 (aka my starting point, please read here).

So, this is where I stand for the Style cure - day 8:


First, picking the room to cure.

 image source via

The room i picked up for the Cure is: a very large room that is mainly a living-room with its "social triangle" by the chimney (read: two-seated sofa and two vintage French old chairs), plus a large wall that will become a rotating personal art gallery (complete with shallow and narrow white metallic shelves wehre I can display my own art as as my small personal art collection) and a nice corner that serves as a home office, complete with desk, lamp, shelves and two bookshelves.

example of shallow shelves for a rotating art gallery at home: image found on a tumblr blog.

Then, determining your own style - I wrote about this before. And i have a pinboard about this.

Also, taking measurements and drawing (hastily and by hand in my case) the floor plan. you can see my sketch here.

And now, After much hum and ho, picking the right colors for the room:

Example of the paint color i want to use: "Elephant's Breath" by Farrow & Ball.

Main color for the room is inspired by this color theme: http://www.flickr.com/photos/teabutterfly/9452299040/

So, I will paint most surfaces in a warm off-white paint (inspired by the Farrow & Ball range of whites, maybe "Elephant's Breath" or "Blackened" the former having a greyish and pinkish undertones, but reproduced by my local paint shop).

Ceilings look OK to me right now, but if after the paint job is completed they don't seem clean in comparison with the freshly repainted walls, I will paint them a bright, pure white.

Since my room is lacking *a lot* in terms of visual depth and cohesion, i will need an an accent color on the wall that faces the street and has two high French windows. I will paint it in a color inspired by F&B "Dead Salmon". The windows will get covered in sheer white drapes and a second layer of thick anti-cold and anti-noise thick off-white ( a warm shade of white anyway) drapes.

More varied textures will be found in a new cover for existing sofa (think: satin velvet cover in medium to dark grey), pillows (I will work with the many pillows I already have, occasionally buying fabric that will best fit the color scheme and the upcoming cold season to sew inexpensive new covers for existing pillows), woven baskets for books & mags storage, I need to buy a new reading lamp, too.

image via

The color scheme used for these accessories will be matching shades of pale grey, dark grey, rich brown, off-white and a touch of zesty mustard yellow. Maybe i can contrast warm and cold shades of grey.

 

spiky origami pendant lamp available here

shopping list:
"Elephant's Breath" and "Blackened" sample paint pots
"Dead Salmon" sample paint pot
off-white paint inspired by "Elephant's Breath"
medium greyish taupe paint inspired by "Dead Salmon"
new dark grey slipcover for sofa in a shiny dark grey satin.
repair reading lamp and buy a new patterned lampshade for it
a pair of sheer white drapes
some patterned fabric in graphic grey/white/brown/yellow for covering up pillows
place existing woven basket - i have only one - in the room

shopping list for later in season:
some more patterned fabric in graphic grey/white/brown/yellow for covering up pillows
a couple more woven baskets
a pair of opaque curtains
new reading lamp (optional)
a graphic origami chandelier to hang from ceiling (I found a great shop on etsy - Zipper8Lighting - for that, my budget for this can go up to 150€). link is: https://www.etsy.com/fr/shop/Zipper8Lighting the seller is extra friendly and helpful!

I foresee that the whole painting job will take over a month, though! But at least i'll have a direction with this project and a precise to-do list!



Wanna see more? Check this out.

-Alix

How To Hang Artwork - My Personal Ongoing Project

Hello Lovelies,

I have briefly mentioned on my previous post that I wanted to hang a big, bold artwork, probably this oil painting of mine, above my couch in the living-room:

 
Oil painting by Naomi Lipson. All rights reserved.

While I see a lot of thin shelving options around the internet, just like this example:

 source

I find it will be best for displaying smaller pictures in my hallway.

Above the living-room couch, I'd rather go for a museum or gallery-like way of hanging art. like this:

 image from artdoctor.fr

In order to make a bold statement, like this example found in Lonny magazine:

image source: Lonny Magazine Jul/Aug 2011 | Photography by Patrick Cline; Interior Design by Lauren Gold

For more big, bold art, see the pinterest board I created on the subject.

Enjoy!

-Naomi of TeaButterfly.

New Paintings & Doodles of the Day

Hello Lovelies!

one of my "moody" oil paintings. oil on canvas. Lipson (c) 2011. photo, my own.

I'm glad to tell you guys I have resumed my "Doodle of the day" personal challenge. It consists in doodling/drawing a small drawing, one per day, every day. You can see the one I did yesterday here, and the one I did today right here.

Insects, tea scenes, gingko leaves are to be expected in these series... ;-)

While uploading my doodle of the day to flickr today, I realized that I had mistakenly put some of my oil paintings in the wrong set! This is now corrected and you can see all of my moody oil paintings online. One of them is shown above.

Enjoy!

-Vic from TeaButterfly.

Cozying Up - in the depth of winter.

Hello lovelies!

photo, my own.

This week has seen the last days of my struggle against the flu. It's finally over, hooray! So i have been eating macarons to celebrate (see above).

Even before I had fully recovered, I ventured outside (crazy, I know) because the depth of winter is so beautiful, and I wanted to take some pics of ice and snow before they melted.

photo, my own.

After going outside in the cold, here is a glimpse at what I come home to:

photo, my own.more here.

After much inner debate, I have discovered the virtues of Dr Bach's flower elixirs. They really work! Life has been good to me ever since I started taking them, from day one. Quite amazing!
I personnally use the hornbeam remedy, but you might want to read a book or two before you take the plunge and choose your own flower.

I am starting to think about and prepare an exhibition of my oil paintings this year. This is a very exciting project! I need to count, name and photograph all of my oil paintings, not just these three few you can find here. More to come about that.

In the meantime, I have tried the following "Joyful Simplicities" for February, as advised by Sarah Ban Breathnach:

wear perfume everyday,

try a "muddy rose" lipstick, (mine is called "ripe rose" by eyeslipsface.com)

treat myself to a single white flower for my desk

listen to the music of Cole Porter.

What are your pleasures in the depth of winter?

-Vic from TeaButterfly.

Wet Paint

Hello Lovelies!

 photo source : here

I'm busy working on a new secret project... Lots of wet paint involved!
Let's talk soon, and in the meantime, have a nice weekend, y'all.

-Vic from TeaButterfly.

Oh, and Happy, Happy Friday!

Hello Lovelies!

Untitled. Oil on canvas. Finished October the 4th 2011 (c) Lipson.

Wow, it's already Friday! Happy week-end to y'all!

My week-end will be busy with the drying of a freshly painted canvas (see above), healthy meals and the collecting of leaves for artistic projects like the one depicted below.

GROW: Collect leaves and use paint to make prints. Beautiful, frame-able kids art! Photo by: Kristin from Kleas Typepad

Have fun!

-Vic from TeaButterfly. 

Things Floating Around My mind

Wow!

quote in the handwriting of Keri Smith

This week barely started and it's already been so inspirational! Thank  you, blogosphere! And I specifically mean you, you you you and you.

There have been a lot of things floating around my mind lately. So here goes:

Things I've Painted Recently

Here's my friend Christophe standing in front of rows of oil paintings.
The blue butterfly is by me.

Blue Butterfly II - by Lipson (c) 2011

Another blue butterfly, I have started painting awhile ago:

Blue Butterfly I - by Lipson (c) 2011

Things I Got For Myself

the water paper paint book

green dangling earrings by Rachel Unger Jewelry

a black skirt with brown beige and white polka dots
a geometric dress for fall

Things I'd Like to Have Soon

Any book by Keri Smith, esp. "How to be an explorer of the world".
This perfume, because of its name... "Iris de nuit"... dreamy!


Things That Inspire Me

Jane's Flanagan's blog, "ill seen ill said", for her wonderful, heartfelt description of summer feelings, the color green and the shade of trees.
This article about bubble painting.
These birds from the Liebe shop via Traveling Mama:

and just like Amy Krouse I "love to make things"...

so I'll sum up by just quoting the following:

Have a great week, everyone!

-Vic from TeaButterfly.

Oh, and happy happy Friday!

Hello Lovelies!

...and a happy weekend to you all!

Above is a picture showcasing one of Allyson Reynolds' moth paintings! Absolutely fabulous! So colorful and fresh...

See you Monday!

-TeaButterfly.

photo via the "absolutely beautiful things" blog.