Up North

This past weekend was filled with quintessential fall activities. Northern Michigan in the fall is practically unbeatable. The colors, temperature, smells and laid back atmosphere makes time spent up there completely satisfying. A group of us passed the time by taking walks, unsuccessfully hunting (though I can say I was not disappointed), doing puzzles (also an unsuccessful venture as we took on an 1,000 piecer with lots of solid blue sky), carving pumpkins and cooking an amazing meal of veggie lasagna and chicken piccata (of which I did not contribute due to my tendency to over season). The cabin could not have been cozier or the friends better.

I was excited this morning to wake up to an email of beautiful pictures taken by my friend, Brad. He really did a great job capturing the weekend, as he does many other adventures. I thought it would be nice to share the inspiring fall photos with all of you.

** I think I need to mention that this cabin was built entirely off site, deconstructed and then rebuilt on site. Pretty amazing.

Benelli

Puzzling

The setting for the delicious dinner

St. Louie

We have been super busy over here at Duncan Fuller. But, for now, I will post a few pretty pictures from the wedding I attended in St. Louis this past weekend. There is not much to do with design in the following... but they are beautiful. St. Louis is a gorgeous city and I love the traditional architecture, clean cityscape and gorgeous fall color. I wanted to snap a picture at every street corner, but being the maid of honor, I had to make sure I was concentrated on the constant shuffle. I should do a post on St. Louis one of these days. From the Washington University campus to unbelievable art museum to the suburbs this city is a little Midwestern gem.

Here's a little picture of design! This was a super cool antique shop in the Central West End Neighborhood. I bought a neat horn sculpture. This place was jammed packed with all sorts of curiosities and trinkets. If only I had a bigger suitcase...

Fun Morning Email

This morning I opened a wonderful photo album email from my friend, Meredith. The pictures were from her latest travels to Turkey. Mere and I have grown up together and now she lives in Shanghai. It is amazing that with the technology we have today a friend who literally lives on the other side of the world can easily share certain aspects of her life as an expatriate. It was a very inspiring email and combined with a little cup of java I am ready to start my day!

Weekend

Image Via Kate Towers

I am ready to have a weekend jam packed with fall activities. I think I feel a certain urgency because it seems as though winter is going to be upon us in no time. Things that would make for a very fun fall weekend but would require scheduling to fit everything in, which is not very fun, are:

• Franklin Cider Mill donuts and cider (basically a must)
• A scouting visit the the Royal Oak Flea Market
  
• Treasure hunting at the Detroit Architectural Salvage Warehouse
  
• A swing by the Bloomfield Antiques show at Long Lake and Telegraph (I have had some great luck here in the past)
• Walking Hogan up to the Birmingham Farmers Market to get some pumpkins for the front porch and get Hoagie to release some energy. Hmm... probably hard to walk back with a bunch of pumpkins and an excited dog... I will have to think about this one.
• Checking out the Avedon Fashion Photographs at the DIA
• At the movies I would check out: FAME, Love Happens or the September Issue.
  
• Celebrating my future niece-to-be, Molly's, second birthday!

If any of you are in the area, I would strongly suggest checking out any of these activities except, of course, Molly's birthday party.

Fallin' Cozy

Well, fall has kicked itself into high gear in Michigan. The blustery winds, Halloween decorations, excitement for sweaters and layers (an enthusiasm sure to wear off) and the first signs of color have me excited for warm fires and home cooked stews (also, something that sounds like a dreamy vision that I might not find to be an accurate reality. For one, I probably have a bird's nest in my chimney and I have no idea how to cook a stew.).

In the spirit of the upcoming Midwest hibernation I have compiled a few pictures of cozy spaces that might not make me so upset about relinquishing my warm weather freedom.

Image Via Southern Accents. Designer: Jan Showers.

Image Via House Beautiful. Designer: Michael S. Smith. April 2009.

Image Via House Beautiful. Designer: Fern Santini

Image Via House Beautiful. Designer: Barbara Westbrook and Kim Winkler.

Image Via House Beautiful. Designer Albert Hadley.

Image Via House Beautiful. Designer: J. Randall Powers.

Image Via House Beautiful. Designer: Markham Roberts.

Image via House Beautiful. Designer: Robin Bell.

Image Via House Beautiful. Designer: Alessandra Branca.

Repurpose

Phew, after a whirlwind weekend celebrating the new Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Strickland, I have been a little preoccupied and not able to do an adequate blog posting. In the mean time, this is a pretty cool picture from Dwell Magazine that my friend, Brad, told me I needed to check out. Talk about making a statement from nothing. Builder and owner, Byron Mouton with his companion Julie Charvat create an amazingly fresh home in the midst of established New Orleans architecture. This surprising sculptural coffee table is fabricated from the guts of a piano. How inspiring, if only all recycling was this beautiful!

Image Via Dwell Magazine. Photographer, Amy Eckert.

Check It Out!

One of my roomates from college, Shawn, emailed me today that the online magazine she had been working on for the last couple months launched today. You all must go check it out. It is an outstanding shelter magazine that combines sustainable design with effortless (& affordable!) style. To say Shawn had the small task of writing is an understatement, it is beautifully written and the pictures are making me all jittery with excitement. I am even debating printing this to read on the drive to Cincinnati... although that would not be so eco-friendly. Hmm... I guess I will just have to set aside sometime this weekend so I can fully indulge on this new design treat!

Now, GO!

LONNY