IN PROGRESS: RUGS

Our den was an addition to the original house, added on about two years after it was built (here's what it looked like when we bought it). It's by far where we spend most of our chill time. I love the built-ins, the wood-burning fireplace, the huge windows and sliding door to our patio... but not the faux-slate tiles. When we moved in I bought some neutral cheap rugs from IKEA to create a cozy "island" in the middle of the room. When when we got our bigger couch a few months ago, it seemed... not enough. I wanted that cozy island to become a whole cozy room, with a little more life in it – and the den seemed like a good space to go a little more vivid and out-there since we also have a more chill, mid-century modern "formal living room." Replacing the tile with carpet or wood isn't an option at the moment. I also realized it was the only room in the house without pattern... so I bought that pouf on clearance at Target. But then the pouf looked totally sad and out of place.

It was time to buy some crazy rugs.

One of the many upsides of being a designer is the power to use Photoshop to imagine things. I've done this with paint colors and artwork before, but never shared it. I wasn't even planning on sharing this (you can see my Starbucks cup on the desk in the background, nothing is styled or smoothed or fluffed...), but I'm too excited by how my room is going to look that I can't help it.

This is the beginning of the Great Rug Layering of 2015. I got all three of these on Overstock (though I also love RugsUSA) for under $400 total. I'm honestly not super comfortable with pattern, so I wanted to make sure the combo wasn't too crazy, that the colors tied together well, and just see what it did to the vibe of the room. I wasn't even going to buy the rugs that day... but after seeing this I just had to immediately (I also didn't want to over-think it). The power of Photoshop!

They'll be arriving in the next week or two. Down the road I think I'll buy another, larger jute rug for under my desk / the back half of the room, and maybe some smaller (grey-based?) rugs to fill in holes. But this is a solid, cozy start.

CLICKING

Above: some Instagrams of recent favorite corners of the house.

I use this blog as a journal, to remember, and I love randomly checking posts from a year or two ago, just to see where I was in contrast to where I am. Last late January I was expanding and contracting during a time of intense change and growth. It was one of those "everything is very bright and a little overwhelming and when will winter end" times, that thankfully has passed. 

A year later, things are just now clicking into place (except for that peskily-cyclical winter bit). I can finally look back with some clarity and appreciate, by contrast, the calm of my life right now. We chose to elope and it was absolutely the best decision for us. Micah found a job – and it ended up being better than anything we could have imagined. We were able to start saving up for things again, and bought a big new bed, and a cozy new couch (photos soon). Our house is feeling more like a home. We're both building creatively-fulfilling careers. 

I just wanted to acknowledge this period, to validate Past Liz, and to reassure Future Liz. Everything contracts and expands, this too shall pass, just keep swimming, all that. And when in doubt, read the archives of your own silly blog, to see how far you've come. It's always further than you remember.

JUICE

I've officially jumped on the juice bandwagon, and so far I'm loving it. As per Bon Appétit's recommendation (my favorite magazine subscription right now), I bought myself this juicer a few weeks ago, plus a book of recipes to get me started and keep me out of ruts. So far my favorite combos are (from top to bottom): carrot + grapefruit + ginger, beet + apple, and kale + spinach + celery + lime.

So far, I'm averaging about one big juice every other day. I've been careful to always use more vegetables than fruit (sssugarrr). These aren't meal replacements for me – more like hearty snacks, or a supplement of sorts, to make sure I'm getting enough plant power. I recently worked with a client who was trained as a raw food chef, and during one of our meetings she said, "Raw food is alive, and it will transform you from a cellular level. You're literally putting life and light into your body." It's really stuck with me, and I can totally feel that in those first few sips. So bold and fresh and potent – just the COLOR alone is transformational, no?

As healthy as all this jazz is, my mind can't help but wander off to the delicious cocktail possibilities that my new toy also opens up. We had fresh-squeezed orange juice for mimosas last weekend, and that green juice got me thinking about combining cucumber + lime + maybe a little jalapeño? + gin, or making a home-made Bloody Mary mix...