Decor « Covet Living

{via}

Yo yo yo – Happy New Year! Hope you had a great holiday, and emerged from 2011 well-rested and ready to get back to work this week… (wait for it)… BAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA! Yeeeeeeah RIGHT. Everyone I know is: a) still bloated from shoveling food & booze in their faces over Christmas, and b) feels like going back to work this week has been like trying to jog a marathon through a pool of tar. Blehhhugggghhhhh. I don’t know about you, but other than playing a fun game called no-carb-cookie-or-glass-of-wine-left-behind over the holidays, my downtime looked a lot like this:

{via}

…and this (Gussie!):

…and a LOT of this:

My FAAAAAAAAVORITE THING – soaking up design mags & blogs – and straight up whooshing my drawers over what I ran across. Behold… my new favorite bits:

Blush, Bashful & Lilac: Hello, Lovers.

Apparently, I smoked cotton candy for breakfast every day over Christmas. Either that, or I’m just yearning for easy, breezy, happy colors… like the ones that dance around laid-back little houses in SoCal. A magical, sunshine-y place where the ocean breeze blows through open doors and windows all year long.

{1930’s Antique Ikat pillow in lilac and indigo.}

{Do I spy an ornate front door in barely-there pale pink? Looks like candy. Yum.}

{Bushel of lilacs + blingy lamp + pleated lampshade + watercolor + carved console = hea-ven}

{Hot pink art, to the tune of funky & fantastic}

{Pretties via e-Sale Rugs – Pink & Purple}

{Simple & understated… with a pop o’lavender}

{I dream of painting walls that color of Pepto Bismol, and owning mirrors like that. Via vintage Domino.}

{POW!}

{HO-ly TESTICLE TUESDAY! Those chairs are fantastic.}

My Favorite Piece of Furniture… Maybe Ever:

{Say what?! Do I spy bamboo-esque lucite and antique brass? I just died.}

Black, White & Neutral – So Fresh & So Clean-Clean

{1. Can I have that tile? Please? 2. Love the cottage feel of the paneled wall. 3. Love that the white cabinets would almost feel like they were floating… if not for the ebony hardware.}

{Lovely & Lived in. Courtesy of my favorite blogger, Rachel Halvorson.}

{Those curtains are killin’ me.}

{So pretty & so grown-up. If it were me, I’d just add one wacktastic pop of color somewhere.}

{That is some gorgeous architecture. And a bangin rug.}

{HO-LY schnikes, Batman! Those rustic but kinda refined chairs are on my bucket list to own. Anybody know where I can find some?}

{Simple. Feminine. Raw. Heavenly.}

Good staples and saccharin, huh?! PS: as soon I’m ready to put down the mini-corn dogs and stop eating microwave brownies, I’m sure I’ll throw up a post about some resolutions or something. But for now, I’m not even gonna pretend like I’m crawling out of my cookie-induced-coma just yet. Have a great rest of the (short) week!!

xoxo,

A wise person once said: Like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. I mean, not to sound like a broken record but seriously, are we the only ones who felt this last year whoosh right on by in warp speed?

2011 was both the best of times, and sometimes, well, the worst of times. It had unbelievable highs for us here at Covet Living, and it also had major lows. But, as is the case with anything the two of us are put through, we took it all in, tried to learn a little, and worked on appreciating the lesson given to us.

Below are some of the highlights from both of us this past year:

1. Our big girl Steph landed herself a brand, spankin new job. Aka, Stella Got Her Groove Back. Translation = consistent paychecks for Steph to spend on vacations with her blogette better half! I smell a springtime reunion…

2. With both of us having fancy jobs, we got to travel more for work as well as for play.

(Karrie’s 36-hour jaunt to Paris. This pic taken after her 11th crepe of the day)

(Charleston, SC. Literally Steph’s other home)

(Kitzbuhel, Austria for Karrie)

(Dallas for Steph)

3. Karrie ended a 6-month stay in San Diego and headed on back to Santa Monica, this time with her handsome fiance in tow.

4. Steph turned the big 3-0!

She rallied through her celebration weekend with friends, her mom, and with nothing but style and grace:

5. Like last year, we lost some people very dear to us, including Steph’s grandmother Ruthie, a feisty, wise woman who bestowed a mischievous spirit onto her granddaughter, as well as an ardent love of life and family.

*Side note: Ruthie is known as the grandma who never, and we mean never, missed one second of Steph’s hundreds of v-ball matches growing up, or the basketball games to watch her cheer.

6. Our babies really started to grow up! Ok not our babies, mind you, but our loved ones’ bundles of joy, who are becoming sweet little ladies:

(On the top: Little Miss Halie, who has no idea just how pampered she will be during the next, oh, 18+ years. On the bottom: Steph’s adorable niece Rainer)

7. We continued to dish on gorgeous, drool-worthy design – our true passion. We managed to spotlight a few designers, including Nate Turner:

(Classic-meets-Boho glam)

And Kristen Buckingham:

(With her hubby, Lindsay)

8. We added a couple new guest bloggers to the site: Jess, our food blogger, with a penchant for scrumptious and healthy meals, and Cory, who had words of advice and a killer smile which got our lady readers completely swooning:

9. Reunions! We got to see each other five (!) times this year. With busy lives, the price of plane tickets and thousands of miles between us, we think our track record this year was pretty stellar.

(First, a February trip for Steph out West to Saaaan Diaaago)

(Next, Chi-town for Memorial Day misbehavin’)

(Lake time in July, for boating, bonding and epic Marky Mark dance-offs)

(Palm Springs for Karrie’s bachelorette party in September)…

…(Cause we’re the three best friends that anyone could have)

…(Pretty sure a couple of these girls were on a ’99 video of Girls Gone Wild)

(And in November, there was THIS occasion..)

10. Karrie and Tim got hitched! After 10 years since they’d last seen each other, a reunion thanks to Facebook, and 3 years after their first date.

Steph was on hand for late night pre-wedding house parties, the most endearing and hilarious rehearsal speech, and for wedding day laughs/event planning skills/post-wedding dance parties. Hearts.

So that’s our year in a nutshell, friends. We’ll take it, all of it. Thank you for continuing to read our little blog, for commenting on our posts, and for tips on ways to make it better.

(via)

“New Year’s Day… now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” – Mark Twain

xoxo,

and