Round Up: Valentine's Day Cards

Okay so Valentine's Day may be 10 days away, but consider this a friendly reminder that it is just around the corner. I do not, as a general rule, put a lot of stock in Valentine's Day as a romantic holiday -- which is lucky for Dave as his first Valentine's Day gift to me was a blender. I do, however, thoroughly enjoy Valentine's Day as an excuse to buy and send cards and stationery. Even if it is just a "Hallmark Holiday", Valentine's Day is just as good a reason as any to let the people you care about most in your life that you...well, care about them.

If you're still looking for the perfect card or cards, I'd suggest foregoing your local Walgreens or CVS in favor of searching out a card that's a bit more personal and unique. And remember: cards are even better when you take the time to include a handwritten note. This year, while I'll be writing a few cards by hand, I think I'll send most of my cards virtually. Iomoi has a wonderful selection of Valentine's Day motifs (like the one above) for its virtual e-cards and, at $15 for a yearlong subscription, you could send Valentines to everyone in your address book.

Source list (from top left): 1. TTV Photograph Valentine's Day cards from Maile Lani ($12/set of 3). These are practically art-quality and would make great seasonal decorations. 2. Like card from Michelle Brusegaard ($3.25). The perfect card if your relationship is still in its nascent stage. 3. I Love You My Dear letterpress cards from Tara Hogan ($14/set of 5). I can't resist a cute pun...especially when it's on letterpress! 4. Love All Lovely cards from Up Up Creative ($9/set of 4). The retro-70s vibe of these cards is great and the color palette is a nice change from sticky sweet pink and red. 5. Vintage-Inspired Candy Shop Valentine's cards from Two Poodle Press ($4/set of 10). A great price; perfect if you're buying for an entire class. 6. Pride and Prejudice Valentine from Stars and Stillness ($3). What girl wouldn't melt for Mr. Darcy? 7. Laugh Love Dream notecards from Orange Beautiful A great take on the typographical trend that's still raging hot. I love the black and white card paired with the hot pink envelope. ($10/set of 6).

Source list (from top left): 1. Valentine's Day card from Jen Rotert ($3.50). Sometimes it pays to keep it cute and simple. 2. Letterpress Friendship card from Sycamore Street Press ($4). A great friendship card that's more sassy than sappy. 3. Valentine's Day Personalized Cards with Keepsake Mailbox from Ink Spot Workshop ($21/set of 20). The kid in me loves this whole set: the stickers, personalized cards and mailbox to keep them in. 4. Happy V Day card from Sweet Perversion ($4). The simple exterior belies the bold message inside this card. 5. Sweetheart Ribbon Card from Anna Cote ($5.50). Just plain pretty. 6. You Fill My Heart with Love card from Just Another Day ($3). I love the modern, clean look of this card. 7. The Bee's Knees Valentine Card from Lily Jane Stationery ($3). I love how the bee's path is in the shape of a heart. 8. Do You Still Love Me? letterpress card from The Sherwood Press ($4). This card would be perfect for my bug-loving hubby.

This coming week I'll be doing something a bit different in honor of Valentine's Day: I'll be posting some of my favorite love poems and accompanying artwork from favorite Etsy sellers. I've long been a fan of poetry (indeed, this blog's name is the first 3 words in one of my favorite Latin love poems from Catullus), though admittedly I have not shared my passion for verse on this blog before. Poetry has a way of capturing the real rhythms of love (and loss) in a way that prose quite simply cannot. And so, I thought I'd take this Valentine's Day as an opportunity to share with you a few poems that have meant a lot to me over the years. But don't worry, if you're not a fan of poetry I'll still be interspersing the poetry with my usual posts on design, shopping and style.

Colorful Wardrobe Pick-Me-Ups

As Houston continues to enjoy the drizzly, cool weather that I thought I escaped from when I left Connecticut back in 2003, I'm starting to rethink my choice of outerwear. After all, wet wool can start to take on a rather unpleasant, notsofresh, smell. A classic alternative would be along the lines of Audrey Hepburn's smartly tailored trench in Breakfast at Tiffany's (wherein that final rainy scene ranks as one of my all-time favorite scenes in cinematic history). But, if you're looking for a more modern, 21st century take on the trench coat, there are plenty of colorful, fashion forward options that are sure to chase away the winter blues.

From top left: 1. King Street Twill Bow Trench Coat by Kate Spade ($645). 2. Michael Michael Kors short trench ($100). 3. J.Crew ruffled gamine trench ($178). 4. Burberry packable trench coat in blush pink ($595). 5. Nick & Mo Topstitched Trench ($78) 6. Scallop Trim Coat from Boden ($198). 7. Indigo Trench from Banana Republic ($175). 8. Into the Wild trench from Marc by Marc Jacobs ($498).

The Bathroom That Blogging Built

This weekend marked the completion of the final decorative touches to our master bathroom and I couldn't be happier with the finished results. What excites me even more though is that this is the first room that I feel like I can really cross off my list and declare "done" in the new house (as much as any room I ever design can be deemed complete as I'm always tweaking things). It's also the first room that I can really say is exactly as I had hoped it would be as the majority of my house is still incomplete. In honor of the occasion, I thought I'd give you a virtual tour of the room, from top to bottom.

When I last updated you on my master bathroom, I was debating which light fixture to switch out the small, completely inadequate, ceiling light with. Well, after months of contemplating my options, I decided to go with: Neither! Ultimately, I felt that if I was actually that torn about which light to pick, I should just hold out until I found one that was exactly what I was looking for. And I'm so glad I waited.

A few weeks ago I spied this fixture over at Aesthetic Oiseau and knew instantly that it would be a perfect fit for my master bath. As a major bonus, it was also well under what I had budgeted for a light fixture (I bought the smallest version, the three-light fixture). And, while my ceilings wouldn't allow me much room for hanging, I do think the hanging pendant brings a coziness to the space that a flushmount simply couldn't have.

With all the hard tile (and all the white and gray!) in the bathroom, I wanted to bring in some softness and pattern in the form of fabric. Obviously, in a bathroom draperies aren't particularly practical, so after reading about Jenny's gorgeous pelmet boxes over at Little Green Notebook a few months ago, I decided to try making my own pelmet box to fit around our large, very bare window over the bathtub.

Because the bathroom will obviously see a lot of moisture over the years, I decided that constructing my pelmet box out of foam core was probably not the best move (I could just image it starting to droop after a few months of showering!). So I decided to tear apart the plywood box that one of our mirrors was shipped in and reuse the plywood as the frame for the pelmet box. It took Dave and I several hours (and several attempts) before we got a product that I was happy with, but overall the project was fairly simple. We hung the pelmet with two L-brackets,which we hung just a few inches from the top on either side so they're now completely invisible.

The fabric is Windsor Smith's Archipelago fabric in Haze. Normally this fabric is to-the-trade-only, but I managed to score it (at a pretty decent discount) from Avid-Home (which I heard about via Paloma over at La Dolce Vita). I love the fabric so much that I'm thinking about using the mist colorway for draperies in the master bedroom.

Beth has touted the virtues of this trellis foot stool (from, of all places, JCPenney's) several times on her blog Chinoiserie Chic. And, once it went on sale, I decided to pick up my own for the vanity in our bathroom, intending to recover the seat in the same Windsor Smith fabric as the pelmet box. When the stool arrived, I was pleasantly surprised by its sturdiness, but wished the base were in a bronze instead of a brushed gold (which is actually quite nice, I just didn't want to introduce another metal into the room). So I decided to pick up some spray-paint at Lowe's and give it a quick coating of bronze paint. I did a light coat to allow for some of the gold to come through, which I think gives the metal a more authentic, bronze look.

And finally, I decided to cover the majority of the open floor with a rug because (1) those tiles are dangerously slippery in the morning, (2) I love the look of a real rug and not just a bathmat in a bathroom, and (3) our pristine white grout is a major b*tch to keep clean. I chose the steel zig zag rug from Madeline Weinrib because I wanted to stick to the same neutral color palette, but go with a bold pattern that would really make a statement. As a bonus, the fact that the rug is a cotton flatweave should help it stand up to the dampness.

So many thanks to all the bloggers mentioned who inspired specific aspects of this design as well as to all the other bloggers who have inspired me daily and helped me to better define my own sense of style. It's a great feeling to finally have an entire room more or less complete (even if it is just a bathroom). Next on my list: finishing up the living room.