Hello from Barcelona!

Hi everyone! I´m having an amazing time on my 9 week European tour so far. We´ve been to Galicia, the Picos de Europe in Astoria, Santiago de Compestela, San Sebastian, Bilbao, and now we are in Barcelona (All in Spain). Tomorrow night we are leaving to travel Italy for two weeks. I promise I´ll try and upload photos at one point! But luckily for now the awesome Coco from Cococozy had written an awesome guest post!

COCOCOZY'S FIVE FLEA MARKET TRENDS!

Hi Decorology devotees. I'm Coco from COCOCOZY here on guest duty. I want to thank Ashley for having me guest blog while she is on her fabulous journey abroad. I live in Los Angeles (in the Hollywood Hills) to be exact, am not a professional designer but after over two years of blogging about interior design 3-6 times a week, I might be what would be considered a "designaholic" (Can you do that? Just add "aholic" to any word to indicate someone is obsessed with something? Hmmm...please let me know...)

Anyhoooooo...onto my post...here goes.



Was at the Rosebowl Flea Market in Pasadena, CA a few weekends back. Hadn't been to this flea market in about 10 years. It was time. My plan was to get up at 6:00a on Sunday, be at the market by 7:00a, get all of the design scoop with my Cococozy camera and find some great items all by 9a. By 10a, the plan was that I would be home to take dog for a walk (I never take dog for a walk so don't know how this got into the planned schedule but it was) and perhaps be at a breakfast with some friends in Los Angeles by 11:30a. Well...I made it to the flea market by 9:45a...so much for keeping to schedule.

The Rose Bowl Flea Market was packed. Throngs of people trying to find the most interesting items possible. So much to see...so many interesting finds...

With thousands and thousands of items on display, one might think it would be hard to make sense of things...but if you can believe it, in all of that, I did notice a few recurring trends.

TREND 1 - ORANGE



Love these orange wire nesting tables. They were my favorite of the day! I could so see them in my house. Too bad they were at the beginning of our journey through the flea market so I never got back to them.

Orange...whether originally orange or painted orange...orange has been an "it" color for the last few years in decor...and it is certainly a hit color at the flea market.




For no reason at all, I also coveted this orange metal coffee pot from a vendor from Sweden. He wanted $30 for it...I wanted to pay $10. He said "30", I said "10"...he said "Okay $30" and I said "I can pay "10"...and it went on and on. Clearly the deal never worked out!

TREND 2 - COLORED GLASS PENDANT LIGHTS



Lots of these amber, blue or green colored pendant lights. They were reasonably priced. Couldn't seem to get out of the vendors whether they were newly made or recycled pieces. I think they are newly made though to look like 70's kitsch. I had an eye on the small amber one on the left. Thought it would look good in a hallway (not my hallway...but some hallway). The vendor wanted $75...I would have paid $35. Again, no deal.

TREND 3 - CRANES




Lots of bronze crane statues. Don't know what this was about but I saw at least 4 vendors selling tall bronze statues of these birds. One vendor said he got them from the furniture sale of a Las Vegas hotel that was closing. These particular ones were going for $125 each.

TREND 4 - VINTAGE LANTERNS



Saw a million and half vintage Dietz lanterns (kerosene lanterns and railroad lanterns). Cleaned up they could be great at an outdoor living space or if really shined up, even inside in a bay window. I wanted to pay $4...the lady wanted to sell three of them for $20 (they were marked $28 each). No deal there either. Hmmmm....note to self...need to work on negotiating skills.

TREND 5 - VINYL 1950's DINING CHAIRS




We ran into so many metal and vinyl chairs. They looked like they were ripped right out of the 1950's and placed at the flea market in 2010.



I particularly liked the light yellow set of chairs. I can't remember how much these were...but since my price point was at about $10, I knew I wouldn't be able to afford.

Well that is it from my day of trend sight seeing at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. I definitely regret not getting the orange nesting tables...but other than that, I am happy with how the day went. I left pretty much empty handed with only a dish and four glasses that altogether cost me a total of $18. I enjoyed the day...browsing, dickering and flea market trendspotting.

Ashley, hope you have a great rest of your vacation. Decorology readers please stop by COCOCOZY for more fun design finds!

Thanks Coco, and thanks so much to everyone for stopping by even though my posting has been so spuradic!

Hello from Santiago de Compostela!

Hello from Santiago de Compostela, Spain. As some of you know, my boyfriend and I are travelling around Europe for the next 9 weeks. We´re only a few days days in, and it´s already amazing. I plan to update you with some photos in a few days, so stay tuned!

An intriguing and whimsical housetour

I'm leaving for my big trip tomorrow - 9 weeks in 11 different countries. I'm freaking out a little -feeling just completely overwhelmed. I'm going to try to post as often as possible - depending on our hotel(s) internet situation - as I'm not bringing my laptop- yikes! I'm already suffering from phantom laptop syndrome. I know I should be posting something traveling related - but I'm just a little too scatter-brained to put anything together - so I'm going with a tried and true house tour.

This home is really different from anything else I've seen before. I think for the most part it somehow manages to avoid being over the top though. What do you think? Too quirky for you?



great wall color!







That painting is the only thing I couldn't really live with

via KML Design

A supercute shop with tons of vintage shabby-chic goodies

Hi all - I hope everyone had a great weekend. I wanted to introduce you to this adorable shop - Blue Carrot.

Here are some of my favs -

Love this typeset drawer






I think these images will easily entice you to go take a look - www.bluecarrotshop.com

They have some great sales too!

Inspiring entryways

We all know by now an entryway is important. For me, not so much when I leave the house but definitely when I come home after a tough day. It's instantly calming for me to be greeted with order, a place to put my mail, shoes, bag, and keys. Here are some spaces that - thought might not work for everyone - at the very least provide some great eyecandy. What are your necessities for an entryway?

Love the modern retro look of this entryway. The mirror opens it up.
The Nest

Bright turquoise accents on the console help balance the weight on the wall.
via Lonny Magazine

I love lamp light. A nice way to treat yourself is to set your entryway lights on a timer, so they turn on right before you get home.
via Jackson Aaron



I think the use of a secretary desk here is a great idea.
three images above via Indenfor

And the winner of the Bamboo Dry Erase board is.....

Jacqueline! Congrats - I'm super jealous because I think this prize is awesome! The winnner was selected at random by the Random number generator.




Jacqueline - contact me with your shipping address at ashley@decorologyblog.com so we can get you your prize.

Thanks to all for participating!

A gorgeous starter home with Scandinavian bones and quirky vintage accents

I think this place is so well done for being this couple's first home. It looks like they either had the same style, or were able to combine them very well. It's refined, without looking too mature, and is just all around charming. What do you think?



I *ADORE* this bedroom. So soft and pretty and serene.





I really like the dark wood counter tops - it's a nice contrast with the white.

via Indenfor & Udenfor

A personal announcement: My plans this summer

As you may or may not know, this summer is going to be an exciting one for me. My boyfriend and I are backpacking around Europe for 9 weeks. We leave on June 17th, and I'll be returning to the states on August 25th. The countries we plan to visit include Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Holland, Belgium, and France. I'll go into more detail including what areas of each country we'll be seeing in future posts.

We'll begin our trip in Galicia, on the coast of Spain

Further on in the trip we will be visiting Cinque Terre, on the northwest coast of Italy



By the middle of July we will be staying in a remote area of the Swiss Alps!

I should also mention that, since I won't be bringing my computer, I'm not really sure what the posting schedule is going to look like. I'll do my best to check in and write something on atleast a weekly basis. I really will miss all of you and do hope that you'll visit me on Decorology from time to time this summer, and hopefully full time again in September when I have a normal schedule once more. And of course I'll be sharing tons of pictures from my travels - which you won't want to miss!
Stay tuned to hear more!

Thanks again for all the support!

Another great designer discount site - and I have your membership code

I discovered Haute Look awhile ago, and I think it's worthy of sharing with you. It tends to feature more basics and "daily wear" than some other designer discount sites.
Here's your code to become a member - it's free and quick http://www.hautelook.com/invite/AWhite564





They also have great home decor sales.



Your free membership code is http://www.hautelook.com/invite/AWhite564
Happy shopping!

What do you think of this Scandinavian beauty with a rustic twist

Happy Friday! I think this space out of House Beautiful is a refreshing change of pace in that it keeps with a lot of the Scandinavian characteristics we all know and love, but diverges from everything being based in white and takes on a warmer, more country feel. What do you think?

Love maps as art.



I always like to see another artist's inspiration board/work space.