clark drive

pretty...

but would be even prettier if school wasn't closed.... AGAIN.

A bad case of Sciolari

Doesn't that sound like a disease? Sciolari. Right up there next to clematis and coleus (plants for those who aren't gardeners.) Anyway, these gorgeous chandeliers by Italian designer Gaetano Sciolari have been creeping in my mind, and I can't stop thinking about them. I think it's a weird coincidence when you see something, then again and again. Maybe it's merely just the popularity of an item, but I think it's fate.

I was at an estate sale a while back and found a funky old modern chandelier selling for like 100 bucks, looked like it could have been a Sciolari. Of course it was already sold, but I made a mental note.

Then came across this stunning photo:

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 Then this one:

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And so on...

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And on...

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So back to that coincidence.... no, I didn't score one of these bad boys for next to nothing, but I'm putting out some cosmic Sciolari vibes for one these to come across my path soon.

pssst.... eco throw giveaway!

Guess what ? I'm giving an eco throw to one lucky dog! 

Get the dets here.

Pretty Pose for Pez

I've always wished I could see how people people decorate with my throws... I think I might have to come up with some kind of a giveaway where people post pictures of Happy Habitat Eco Throws in their homes so I can see! In this case, we all got lucky, as the lovely and talented Julia from Chris Loves Julia used the Pez Throw in Candy for her little BIG girl's room and it's AHHHH-mazing. The grasscloth is sophisticated, the black butterflies are a bit edgy, and super cool art that includes one of her daughter's own creations add personal and modern touches. And Pez posing so nicely tops it off with some fun. Such a perfect balance. Pop over there to see the whole room.

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Keep an eye on Chris Loves Julia--- a Happy Habitat Eco Throw GIVEAWAY is coming soon!

Bedroom Planning

Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself when planning a room. Example here is that I kind of forgot to run all the bedroom stuff by the Mr. I'm usually pretty good about that, and try to be very aware of keeping things not overly feminine-- no florals, no pink. And I usually try to get his opinion before I do anything. In this case I bought the bedding, and luckily he liked it (I think), but the rest of what was happening in my head I need to explain. Most of the time he doesn't get it until it all comes together, and is mostly trusting of my weird things I envision. But I thought I'd pull some of these things together for him and for me. I'm going with teal and yellow, and some brass/gold accents. He's not sold on the yellow lights, so I told him he could choose. I brought home these and told him he could pick the color I was going to spray paint them. Choices are: yellow, white, gold, teal or navy (not sold on the blues, but had to give some options). So what did he want? He wanted to keep them silver. Noooooo.... silver with my gold hardware?  So he said MAYBE gold. Yes-- that works. Another thing for me to spray paint gold... I seriously have a problem with the gold spray paint.

I'm wishing for a pretty Julia Marcum painting to put in a frame that I gold-leafed,  but have some other options that I already have. Even if I did score a Julia Marcum painting, I'm not sure I'd want to hide it in my bedroom. I ordered these brass pulls and these brass pulls and will decide when they come in. I'm thinking that the space needs a little sparkle so I might want to do the shiny ones, but we'll see. Curtains are something I haven't addressed. I want something mostly white since the walls are so dark, and the room needs some brightness, but can't decide if I should bring in yellow or the teal, or neither, don't want to be overly matchy. Kind of like these, but not the price on either one:

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a small step in the right direction

Since I've started Happy Habitat, I've tried to be aware of how my business affects Mother Earth. It is important to me that I feel good about how Happy Habitat is integrated with our world. I'm taking baby steps and one of my first initiatives was to make my blog/website carbon neutral. I couldn't pass it up because it's FREE! I do most of my work on the computer. Seems mostly harmless, but it's not. A blog that receives 15,000 visitors actually puts out 8 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year. This is due to the energy usage that mainly comes from mainframe computers, servers and their cooling systems (that info found here.) So, although my throws are made from recycled cotton, the designing I'm doing on the computer is still sending out pollutants. So what does it mean to make something carbon neutral? To me it means that when you put something bad out in the world (specifically carbon dioxide), you are neutralizing it by putting something good back into the world (oxygen). 

So this organization (originally from Germany, hence the everything written in German, but has since expanded to the US), will plant a tree in exchange for spreading the word. I'm happy to spread the word, and proud to say that Happy Habitat is now officially carbon neutral thanks to the new tree that has been planted in exchange for this little write-up. Win. Win. Win. 

Task Lights as Bedside Lamps

As I have been doing a mini-makerover to our bedroom-- I've been thinking about what to do with the lamps I have, just a basic wood spindle small lamp with linen shade. I was thinking of spray painting them yellow. Or adding a graphic bright yellow shade, but coincidentally when I was turning on the lamp, the plastic piece crumbled and broke. Really--- not just saying that as an excuse to buy new lamps! So new lamps are in order. I've totally had my eye on the yellow industrial task lights from West Elm, I was going to get them for Reece's room, but ended up getting the Arod from Ikea instead, which is a great light. I wasn't sure if task lights would be weird a bedside lamps, but I did a little searching, and like what I see:

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Although I really love the West Elm one:

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I may end up doing a DYI with some yellow spray paint because these guys are $70 and I need 2. Spray paint is purchased! Just need to find the right light....