...pretty PASTELS!

With Spring just around the corner (official date is March 20th), I have been attracted to pretty pastel and Spring like colors.  I thought for sure the color of the year would be mint green - not emerald green - with the huge popularity of this color in the fashion world right now.  Check out some of my refreshing Spring pastel picks below!

1. Have you heard of Oyyo's 100% organic cotton and vegetable dyed dhurries?! I'm obsessed.
2. Sophie Cook makes the most exquisite vases with graceful necks and big, plump bodies.
3. The taboret table from Bungalow 5 is a great little side table.
4. Pastel pink and gold bow earrings from Kate Spade.
5. Chic pastel yellow studded flats by McQ Alexander McQueen.
6. A sweet little geometric pastel painted birch wood box from LIEF.
7. Essie nail polish always has the colors I WANT to paint my nails, but i typically chicken out and go for my standard red....
8. This beautiful Deco buffet!! French, 1930's perfection!!

9. Matte porcelain bowls by Brooklyn based artisan, Johanna Flores.
10. Crayon vases - I love these grouped together...
11. Decorative lacquer boxes with white trim.
12. Another Oyyo rug....beyond, right?!
13. Loyal Loot Collective makes these pretty turned log bowls that come in tons of colors.....so fab!
14. Rebecca Minkoff mint leather tote....yes, please!
15. Archimede Seguso Murano long neck lamps....again, to be put in my dream home.
16. Jonathan Adler's "Lampert Lounger"...perfect for passing out on after shopping all day.

There was a doo-wop group called "The Argo Pastels" and I think they had maybe 3 songs....!

the bob hope LAUTNER home....for sale!

Guess what beautiful piece of architecture just hit the market for the first time ever?  If you said Bob Hope's mushroom palace in Palm Springs by John Lautner, you're correct!  The house was designed in 1973 (finished in 1980) and was supposedly built to resemble a volcano built into the mountain side.  It's massive windows take in the sweeping vistas of Palm Springs and The Coachella Valley.  And it's a biggie - one of the largest homes Lautner designed with six bedrooms, ten bathrooms, gardens, spa, pool, it goes on and on......it spans 22,000 square feet....!

I love the visor like arches, the open portico in the center of the home and the general uniqueness of this space. Not too many photos are to be found of the interiors, but Ill share the recent photos released with the pending sale of one of my favorite Palm Springs structures here with you.

Who has an extra 50 mill lying around?!

Soundtrack is the husband + wife who threw some amazing, swinging parties here....Bob + Dolores Hope of course!

...BUTTERFLY inspiration....!

Last week I was able to be spontaneous and jump in my car for a quick trip down South to visit my oldest brother and sister-in-law visiting Santa Barbara.  I went solo (sans hubby and pups) so my drive down was pretty loosey-goosey....I had unknowingly set my pace so that it matched up with an arrival at Ellwood Beach at the same time with some of my family that was heading there.  I was so excited to exit the 101 Southbound about 20 miles early and meet up with them because I have for YEARS harbored intentions of visiting the Ellwood Bluffs while on one of my many visits to SB but had been side tracked for one reason or another.  Reason being for my urge to walk these protected coastal bluffs was to catch a glimpse of the Monarch butterflies that migrate there during the months of December and January.  They form clusters on the eucalyptus trees there and the sight is not only nostalgic (my mom used to take us here as kids), but is also quite special, breathtaking and peaceful.  It is a drop in the bucket of live events going on worldwide.....craziness is going on everywhere and here you can pause time and look UP and just see hundreds of butterflies floating and flying around.  It's nature just showing off her best.  And I love it.

the path to the b-flies

they are everywhere....

omg!!

looking East

looking North

As always, this experience had my brain going full force of all things butterfly related.  I put together some of my favorite and iconic designs as well as a few recently discovered items on these inspiration boards:

1. Pierre Paulin Butterfly chair, Holland 1963.

2. linen "Dreamers" fabric by Lulu DK.

3. Butterfly "Exhibition Dress" by Yumi.

4. red hot, suede "Butterfly Cutout Sandals" by Giuseppe Zanotti.

5. glass domes with butterfly collections, France 19th century. 

6. Fornasetti lacquered wood tray.

7. La Mendola maxi dress, Italy 1960s.

8. Andy Warhol acrylic on paper, circa 1986.

9. mid-century French butterfly wall sconces.

10. leather, studded butterfly clutch by Gucci.

Soundtrack is Bob Marley, because it's his birthday today and I hope he is as free + floating as a butterfly wherever he is:

...cali COASTAL living + clam chowder....!

I do believe I mentioned that I started my own interior design business this year, yes?  I can't remember if I just hinted towards this news or actually "announced" it here on the JHID blog....well, I did - yay me!  AND I launched my website....you can see it here.  It is a little weak right now with content because I can't show everything I have been working on for the past 8+ years, but that will come with time....

I decided to take some time off this beginning of 2013 and reset my buttons....get my creative juices back up and flowing....walk my pups on the beach, do as much yoga as possible, hang with my hubby, catch up on movies, books + mags, catch up with friends, with family....just l-i-v-e.  It has been so nice to be spontaneous and I treasure these days where I can just jump in the car with the hubby and take a drive to find yummy local clam chowder in a coastal town on a Thursday early afternoon.....and yesterday we did just that!  It was cold in San Francisco (hi, I'm always cold here) and fresh, cozy clam chowder and a ride in the '66 BMW 1600 down the beautiful California coast sounded super fun.  I had posted a photo to my Facebook page the evening before of a funky little beach house in Santa Barbara that I always dream about and I guess that coastal, casual surf-beaten architecture and feeling still resonated with me the next morning....I wanted more.  So zip off we did.....!

this is one of my fav beach homes perched above a local beach that doubled as my backyard growing up in Santa Barbara...it is so easy, non-fussy and feels like HOME.  do you see the bathtub?!  fork it over.

a rare pic of me on the JHID blog via Instagram - see?  I'm cold!!

Sooooo....Barbara's Fish Trap in Half Moon Bay has the BEST clam chowder.  Really.

ummm....yes, please.

one for me, and one for you!

As I write this Miette is happily going between chasing her own tail and laying on guard at my feet in my office while Lu Lu holds the world record for most hours a dog can snooze per day.....I think she is at 23.8 hours.

Mimi

little Lu-Boo

Life is good, people.....life. is. good.

xo janel

all images above by janel holiday interior design.

soundtrack is John Coltrane......I can't get enough of him these days!