Hostess/Housewarming Gift

Our super sweet friends were kind enough to host us at their home in Austin for a weekend visit.  I didn't plan far enough in advance to bring them a gift during our stay, but I was sure to send a little thank you when we got back home.



These perfectly packaged bar soaps were $5 at World Market and I know our friends (well, especially the wife) would love them.

Each soap is individually wrapped in a beautiful floral paper and they smell so good.  

Although I do believe our friends will enjoy this gift, I understand that it really is the thought, energy, and intent behind the gift that means so much.  The time to write a handwritten word of thanks is extra special in our face-paced and what can be, impersonal, world of emails and text messages.

I realized later that I could have been crafty and frugal and wrapped a less expensive bar of soap and labeled it myself, like I saw on Creature Comforts blog.

via Creature Comforts Blog 

Isn't that cute?! (By the way, Creature Comforts is a new-to-me-blog that I got happily lost in for well over an hour after popping over last night.  I think you might like it too.)



Do you have a great hostess or housewarming gift you've given or received?  I'd like to collect a few things and have them ready to go so I don't show up empty-handed next time!

Floor Lamp For Sale

Hi there.  Another item for sale.  Today it is a gorgeous brand new tripod lamp from Robert Abbey.  Ebony finished wood with Polished Nickel accent including at the base of the legs.

Dimensions below but in case they are hard to see 68.75"H x 22.5" Dia shade.  Retails for $505, selling here for $299 plus freight from Grand Rapids, Michigan.  This is at one of my client's homes in Michigan, not in Birmingham. 

E-mail me @ mstronginteriors@aol.com if interested.

A bang on trend malmö home

You'll have definitely seen this home floating around the blog world. But I am particularly excited and have more reason than most to show this fab home - I know the owners! They are a wonderful, fun and talented family. She's a designer with her own Copenhagen based company and he's an architect which explains all the fantastic renovation. They really haven't lived there that long and they've done absolutely loads; including an all white canvas, new plywood stairs, kitchen cabinets and shelving units among other things. All in all they've turned it into a fun, beautiful, sunlight drenched home and guess what? It's for sale!!!.....

Bo-laget

 I'm already excited to see what they do in their next home!

Will it be plywood again? Plywood is definitely the interior material for 2012, but what do you think of it?

Azul y blanco / Blue & White

La combinación de blancos y azules marca la decoración de este pequeño apartamento de 50 m² ubicado en la Costa Brava. Una mezcla perfecta para lograr ambientes frescos, serenos y muy luminosos.

Cupcake Pin Cushions

When I decided to take up sewing, I thought first of my Grandma, the handiest, thriftiest woman I know.   She said I should get a basic Singer sewing machine, so off to the store I went and came home with my first machine.  I've still never made anything other than pillows and curtains, but my Grandma encourages me.  Look at the adorable cupcake pin cushion she sent me- so sweet!  Using it reminds me of her and I love that feeling.

She also sent me this handy pin cushion/scrap pail.  The pin cushion is filled with sand so it keeps the pail from falling off the sewing table.  I adore the fabric- precious little flowers on a lively green background.  

My Grandma and I don't live close, so these tangible gifts help me feel near to her.  And she reads my blog daily- looking mainly looking for pictures of James:)



If you'd like to try making your own pin cushion, for yourself or a friend, you can check out the tomato pin cushion tutorial via Martha Stewart.

A pretty, rustic, minimalistic hotel on Gotland

Ever romanticised of owning a B&B on a beautiful island somewhere? Me? Always! Today I'm dreaming of owning Hotell Magazinet which is now for sale on the wonderful Swedish east coast island of Gotland. Decorated in beautiful rustic, minimal style with orginal floorboards and pillars restored from the days when it was a flour warehouse and then a grain depot in WWII, it's already for you to move in and start receiving guests!

Fantastic Frank

Incidentally, Gotland is a fantastic place to go on holiday. Lots of very trendy and arty Swedes flock there each summer. Some of the summer cottages available to rent are just beautiful. Well worth an internet search!

Hej heeej.

Simple casa de madera / Simple wooden house

Vía