just hangin around

Painting the walls is just part of making a house a home, hanging things on them is also a great way to warm up the interior. These are images and there are more by the same artists that I really enjoy and am looking forward to gracing my walls.


I love Breakfast at Tiffany's, but am kinda bored with the traditional prints which is why I was drawn to this one. And since I want to paint a room in the Tiffany Blue it might be fun to hang this in there.

These next two are by Curly Girl Design
and in case you ever want to get me something and just don't know what, I strongly suggest any of her stuff. I just cannot get over how cute and fitting each one is. I have a card of my favorite one, but I would love to get the print of it someday. And now there are journals and I love writing, so I can see a few of those in my future.







I love this next idea. I saw it at a great little cafe, Gabriella's That I wrote about on my Local Girl Blog.I just love the writing on teh wall effect with the sticks. Might steal this idea for my kitchen or patio.

nostalgia

There is something that just grabs me when I see old food advertisements. Today as I was wandering the Santa Cruz County Fair I came across a lovely display of old apple crates complete with the labels still intact.

My friend Judy was admiring them too, and let me know that I could find them on Ebay! (which means I do not need to figure out how to pack them in my two suit cases.) I did a little browsing and Judy was totally right, I found all sorts of vintage food signs and labels even in foreign languages for next to nothing!

Then I rounded the corner of the Old Farm display and discovered a nice wall display of old glass jars of different colors. Sadly they were behind glass so my pictures did not turn out that great but you can still get the feel.

More and more I am discovering my attraction to the vintage kitchen look.Maybe not quite this old, but I just love how welcoming it is. It reminds me of Anne of Green Gables for some reason. Like when Martha was standing in the kitchen making pies, it makes me want to bake a pie.

Mmmm warm apple pie...that is something American that I will be adding to my kitchen. That is if I have an oven, many Romans do not have ovens I have been told.

la cucina

Image by wallyg via Flickr

"Accessible in that it seems so ordinary, unpretentious and 'just like mine,' and extraordinary in that it contains the actual tools and equipment collected, used and cared for by the beloved Julia Child."

Today I went to watch Julie and Julia for the second time, this time with my littlest sister. As I watched Julie blog about cooking her way through Julia's cookbookI could not help but think of my own neglected blog. So here I am motivated once again dear readers to share my hopes and dreams of my Roman apartment with you.

With Julia still in mind and images of her kitchen floating through my head why don't we focus on the possibilities for my kitchen. I have been thinking a lot about my kitchen this week, as I have had the house kitchen included to myself. (I live with an amazing family, not my own as I wait to move to my new home)Due to the lack of people to cook for, I invited some friends over for a BBQ this weekend, and rekindled my love of food and cooking for friends.

So now that I am inspired by my friends, food and film the essential ingredients in any of my good pondering lets discuss my favorite room of the house la Cucina.

There are of course aspects of Julia's kitchen which are worth replicating, let's face it her husband was responsible for the design of war rooms, so it is safe to assume that the kitchen he laid out for her was functional. I like the idea of having things assessable, like the peg boards for her pots and pans, and utensils. I think that this would make cooking and cleaning much simpler, not to mention the warmness and homeyness that it offers the space. I also enjoin the classic colors found in Julia's kitchen, the pale greens and blues, and might lean that way myself. Though I have been thinking along the lines of burnt orange. There is also tucked away in the corner the must have kitchen appliance the Kitchen Aid. Something I have longed to own for quite sometime. Julia's was Colbalt Blue, I however am not sure which color I love most. Part of me loves this pale blue (Tiffany color) and part of me loves the red, and yet part of me just likes the simplistic black or silver. As I added the picture I am pulled more and more towards that one, it is just so, lovely is it not? I mean if I cannot have a ring that comes out of a box like that I should at least have food that comes out of such a precious mixer. Lets be honest I would rather have the mixer than the ring. In fact for future reference if someone ever wishes to propose I would take the mixer and an inexpensive ring any day.

This post is getting long, so I will pause, more to come on kitchens I am sure, but let me know your thoughts and ideas!

a bit of home

I was thinking (yeah I know dangerous) that I should have a bit of Santa Cruz in my Italian home. Maybe like one of the many vintage looking prints or paintings that capture the Santa Cruz beach.This one is a favorite that is always for sale at Bunny's Too a store I frequent anytime I am downtown. There are many others that I like as well. I am sure that there are other bits of home here that will invade my new home, like my beach glass collection, but what are some other things that you my Santa Cruz friends would suggest?

appartamento

Just in case you are concerned that I am dreaming too much about stuff and have not put in any thought about the apartment itself, rest assured I have. I have been browsing an Italian website that can narrow down my search to my desired neighborhood and my budget. It is on this lovely sight that I have been able to get a feel for what style and size appartamento's are available to me.

casa.it.com

So here is a link to one of my favorites thus far. It is big enough without being too big. It has beautiful views of trees (while that is a given here in the Santa Cruz Mountains it is not in Rome) and it is under my budget! It is not perfect, I am not crazy about the loads of blue tile, but it will give you an idea of what is available.

If you want there is a google map available on the bottom of the page. I am going to be living near Monte Mario, which is just a jaunt away from Vatican City.

(this is a picture from Brian and Sarah's roof top the radio tower is for the Vatican and the hill is Monte Mario)

short list

Cloakroom
Organized
Bright and Traditional
Smart and Stylish
Country House

Okay since you cannot link to my short list via the easy way I have put it together for you here. I cannot take the pictures from the original website, even though they took them from someone's so sorry for all the linking, but let me know which parts of what you like and what you could live without.

entry point

Image by gingerbeardman via Flickr

After a long day of walking around Rome language classes and of course getting lost it will be vital to come home and have a place to just drop the maps, bags, scarf, coat phone, keys, mail from you and kick off the shoes so that I can put my sore feet on the nice cold marble floor.

So lets start to dialogue about the entry way. When I was visiting Rome in March I stayed with my fabulous team leaders and they had this perfect little entry way. Right by the door there was a place for everything I mentioned above, minus the letters from you, because well it is unlikely they know you.

I will need a console table, one that will help me organize my life in it's design but that is still cute. Some form of coat rack or hooks for the bags and coats. It would be nice to have a piece of art or something welcoming that lets me know I am home and makes you comfortable when you come to visit.

I would think a vase to hold some fresh flowers would be nice, as would a bowl or basket to hold some fresh fruit that I can grab on my way in and out. My alternative to a candy dish.

There should be a welcome mat and possibly an umbrella holder of some sort. Maybe, just an old boot. A cute old rain boot. Speaking of shoes maybe a basket or shoe rack.

I browsed a bit but am open for lots of suggestions. Here is a fun site called House to Home It has a lot of entryways and hallways to browse. I also discovered that they wisely allowed me to determine a short list of my favorites so that you could look and give me your opinions. So take a look, and let me know what your thoughts are. I selected a quite an array, but I love something about each one.

one thing

What is the one thing in your home that you wouldn't want to live without? This can be anything from a trinket to a bed even a nook. I guess what I am asking is what is the one thing that makes your home your home. The first thing that comes to mind when I say home. (aside from family, because sadly I will not be taking them with me)

More book holders

Here are two more options...one which would work if you find an apartment with columns. But I like the wall one.

fun and functional

So I promised that after i head some of your thoughts on the bookshelves, I would reveal my top choices. I enjoy the white one with the odd shaped holes, I think it is fun and homey without being so abstract that it is annoying. I am not 100% sold on it though, because I think it would make finding a book difficult.

The shelf that you can put by the side of your bed or a couch that holds your coffee and the book you are reading and the other 5 or so that you are also reading seemed the most useful and I loved the idea of it. However I was not so stoked that it was metal.

Image via Wikipedia

I did see similar ones that were wood, but they did not have the coffee cup rest. You know how I am with my coffee and luckily Romans seem to share my love for espresso.

Maybe my favorite is the shelf that looks like a book, and holds all your books. It is simple and almost invisible. It takes nothing away from the heart of the matter, and it allows you no real room to collect dust or junk.

Like I mentioned in one of my comments I put the naked man shelf up just because it is so ridiculous. But Italians do seem to have a fondness for the naked males in their art. So maybe it would be a doorway into the culture. Or at least it would be a great conversation starter if nothing else.

so far these are my favorites...

These are shown in order of how blogger chose to upload them. I borrowed the images from the bookshelf blog, which they are linked too. Who knew there were sooooo many options for displaying books. Now that I know, I do not think I will ever be satisfied with a plain old ikea shelf again.

So I want your thoughts I am not giving you mine until I get some of yours...

bookshelves

I have been browsing bookshelves, as I do love to read and intend on spending the money to ship my books over to Rome I thought I ought to have somewhere just right to place them. Little did I know how many types of bookshelves there are. I am going to just add some links to fabulous pages so that you can browse as you choose. If you find one and I am certain that you will that you find I cannot live without. Please share your discovery.

30 of the most creative
bookshelf
20 Unusually Brilliant

just something

There is just something is there not about a Tiffany's box? It is almost enough just to look at the box. Maybe this feeling comes from one too many viewings of Breakfast at Tiffany's, because God knows I have never been handed one of these lovely gift boxes.

Who knows, but whatever the reason, I do love the color combo. Tiffany box color and white, simple, classic, elegant. As if all contained within will be as well. So what do you think about this as a living room?

picture this

If you know me at all you know I love Carrie Bradshaw's apartment in Sex and the City. I loved the old one pre Big and I am okay with the one she ends up with in the movie.

This image is from the new apt. What I am drawn to here is the collection of frames that is hung above the bed. There is something about it that I adore. I am however not convinced that I would want to mimic the placement. Maybe a different room?

You cannot tell from this picture what are in the frames, and I honestly do not recall. What would you put? Family, friends, art, drawings, pages from books or mags? Something else a combo?

Lets here it.