Pillows!
May 15, 2008

After last week's drama I needed to do something relaxing and "homey". So I finally got over my zipper phobia and made two pillows for the back of our couch. These were surprisingly easy and quick especially with the zipper foot that came with my sewing machine.

A trick my mom showed me is to round the corners slightly before you sew the two sides together so that when you insert the pillow form they don't bow out. I'm thrilled with how these turned out and am never buying pillows again! I have the fabric for my throw pillows, just need to pre-wash it and buy more zippers. Yay!

Posted by raya 2:20 PM 1 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home, She's Crafty

Dying to Sew
April 21, 2008

After 10.5 weeks of not sewing, I am dying to get out my machine. If I can swing it today I'm going to at least cut out my pillows. I've decided on these two from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern and a chocolate brown velvet for the couch pillows. I asked Forest if he cares about having pink pillows and he said no. What a guy.

My mom gave me a few pillow sewing tips that I will share when I post the final product. Wish me luck!

Posted by raya 12:22 PM 7 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home, She's Crafty

Amy Amy Amy
April 8, 2008

I forgot to share a very fun surprise I came home to after B's birth. Nan at Amy Butler sent me a care package with Amy's new book Midwest Modern and some new patterns to try out. So fun!

I really love this book, especially after my third or fourth look-through when I actually read the words. I do this with magazines too - flip through a few times and look at photos, then actually read the articles. I loved reading about her design process and learning that she still does all the original art for her fabric by hand with paint and paper.

I'm excited to make some of these bags when I get to sewing again and also wanted to send out a public THANK YOU to Nan for thinking of me : )

And continuing with Midwest Modern love, here is what is currently on my inspiration board.

I would be a horrible interior designer because I can NEVER make a decision and stick to one thing in my house. Before I've bought fabric or furniture for my current "idea" I've moved onto something else.

That said, I ditched my old color scheme and now thinking about pink/brown/yellow for the living room. Pink in the living room? Really? Yes, for now. I think. I don't know!

We went to a baby shower last weekend and the mom-to-be's house was beautiful, all neutrals and whites. Then I come back to my golden rod chairs and green kitchen walls and start to doubt myself. Something I heard recently is encouraging though and here it is: "Just do what you do". I think that rings true for me in every area of my life. I have to just do what I do and be myself - with my photography, home decor, wardrobe. All these things have a certain style and I need to just roll with it.

That said, all these pink-y fabrics from Amy's Midwest Modern line intrigue me. So we'll see. When I see them in person that might change, but if I actually get as far as making pillows I will let you know. So far that hasn't happened : )

Posted by raya 8:51 AM 12 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home, She's Crafty

Meet me over at sfgirlbybay
March 26, 2008

I'm very excited to say I'm an Unexpected Guest over at sfgirlbybay today!

This is one of my favorite segments of Victoria's blog and I was so honored she asked me. She usually features fancy artists who actually have you know, work to show so I wasn't quite sure what she would do with me. But thanks to Flickr she found enough interestingness and I just love the diptics she put together. A photo can become so much more when placed next to another.

Thanks Victoria! I have a mojito chilling and a lounge chair with your name on it any time : )

Posted by raya 9:04 AM 10 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home, Nice to Meet You, rayaphotography

Slipcover
March 10, 2008

My mom was in town for a few a days (yay) while my dad and Forest fly-fished in Mammoth. Mom visits are always fun, especially this one because it involved a lot of fabric and sewing talk.

While she was here she made a slipcover pattern for the yellow chairs:

As much as I love my yellow chairs, they really need to be recovered. Maisy attacked one about a week after we got them (thanks, Dog) so one half is permanently covered by a blanket and the other is starting to rip now too because the fabric is old and worn thin. I thought about having them reupholstered in leather or another fabric, but leather is out right now due to budget concerns and with our lifestyle slipcovers really are the best option.

I have said this before, but do you know how awesome it is to have a mom who sews professionally? It's awesome. I am determined to learn slipcovers myself so I don't have to bother her, but I'm starting small with some pillows for our couch.

Part of our weekend involved a trip to LA's fashion district. I have been wanting to take my mom there for awhile so we packed up the baby and went for it. Little B did great in the Moby Wrap for 2+ hours (I CAN have a life and a baby!) and we were successful in our fabric search despite only covering um, 1 of the 90 blocks that is the fashion district. I think we had more fun taking pictures and I'll show you my favorites scenes from Maple Avenue in an upcoming post.

So now, pillows with zippers. My mom says they aren't as scary as I might think. We'll see.

Posted by raya 11:11 AM 3 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, My Home, She's Crafty

Drawer Lining
February 5, 2008

Taking a tip from Grace's DIY drawer lining, I bought this paper to line the drawers in B's wardrobe.

I love it and it matches the colors in the room - chocolate brown and light blue. Pretty much my favorite color combo ever. These were also our wedding colors : )

Posted by raya 1:19 PM 4 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home, She's Crafty, With Child

DIY Draft Blocker
January 30, 2008

Now that a baby is going to be living here in just a few weeks I am starting to realize how cold our house is. This is mostly because we have the original windows from 1951 in our bedrooms and they are pretty much worthless at keeping cold air out. You can actually hear & feel a steady stream of air blowing in. And our one wall heater doesn't do much except heat the 10 feet surrounding it, only to have that little bit of heat escape right out of our inefficient, energy-wasting windows.

I made these simple draft blockers for B's room and am going to make them for ours as well. They already seem to be helping and they're an inexpensive solution until we can replace the old windows with new ones.

To make them I measured the length of our window casing, then divided that equally into 9 (because I wanted 9 different panels, but you can use as many or as few as you like). I then added an inch for seam allowance in the width and cut each panel to be 6" long (also allowing an inch for seam allowance). I sewed all the panels together by the 6" sides, folded it over and sewed around the raw edges, leaving one short end open. Then I filled it with rice and finished off the last raw edge by hand.

I think I also saw something like this in Lotta Jansdotter's book, but they're pretty simple so you really don't need a pattern. It's also a good way to use up your scraps.

Anyway, this is probably one of the oldest tricks for keeping warm air in and cold air out and I only wish I had thought of it earlier. Hopefully this will help keep our little one warm and cozy during these winter months. And maybe I won't have to wear my bathrobe and Uggs around the house all day like I have been.

Posted by raya 9:10 AM 8 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home, She's Crafty, With Child

Sunday At Home
January 28, 2008

I rearranged our living room the other day. Yes I, the 38 weeks pregnant woman, pushed chairs around all by myself. I know I'm not supposed to, but I couldn't not do it. We have these cool little things that go under the legs so you can push furniture on wood floors and not scratch them up. Too easy to wait the 4 hours for Forest to get home from work : )

I really like this arrangement so much. I've told Forest that like 10 times. These chairs are super comfy and didn't get enough use in the dining room, as much as I liked that little corner. It's also nice to have extra seating in the living room. And the Saarinen table I bought on Ebay is perfect between the yellow chairs.

Our house is coming along nicely. I'd like to get a new couch, but for now I'm just going to make new pillows and do with that.


I love the brightness of these flowers against the white background. That little vase is a Jonathan Adler that my sweet friend Christa gifted me after I said how much I liked it. I will find a special place for it in the house.

More photos on flickr. Hope your Monday is coming along nicely : )

Posted by raya 3:16 PM 12 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home

Clutter Control
January 11, 2008

The other day I was hit with one of my first bouts of "having-a-baby-must-clean-everything" - this was an overwhelming urge to clean that I have never experienced before. I can usually think of something else I'd rather do than clean the house, but not this time. I took it out on the office first. My desk was so horribly cluttered - seriously, it was embarrassing. So much junk EVERYWHERE.

I did what I could, but discovered that I have a lot of little wirey things and such that really don't have a place - ipod cables, flash card readers, memory cards, etc...so I consulted my favorite book of the moment to see what I could do about it.

The result is this desktop organizer:


I modified Amy's size so it would fit underneath my monitor stand. The modification was pretty easy with some graph paper and a calculator. Email me if you want more info on that.

Overall it was a project, but not extremely time consuming and not completely un-doable for a novice like me. Of course the lining did not sit neatly inside and was too big. I guess a perfect lining takes practice because I have so far been unsuccessful at having everything match up just perfectly.

I have two more in the works - letter sized trays that will serve as "inboxes" for Forest and me. Four weeks left to get life in order before it changes for-ever...hows that for pressure.

Posted by raya 3:17 PM 13 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home, She's Crafty

Wood Floors Sneak Peek
January 8, 2008

They look amazing and have changed the whole look of our house. All of the sudden the couch I couldn't stand isn't so bad. It's amazing how new floors affect all your other furniture. Here's a little sneak peek:


They are already really dirty because of all the rain we've had...so once I clean them I'll show you more : )

Posted by raya 12:47 PM 1 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home

Favorite Blankies
January 7, 2008

On our new favorite chair. We had a shower with Forest's family over the weekend, and what can I say except they know me well. I mentioned to Forest that I'd love to have an Eames rocker for the baby's room and so the whole family went in on one for us. Forest's sister's father-in-law is in the furniture business and is a big Eames fan himself, so he used his connections to make this chair possible. I feel so blessed to have such a caring family. Thanks David and everyone!


Also, thanks to Forest's family our baby will have no shortage of favorite snuggly blankies. We went from very few to this giant stack - a few of them handmade by various talented women in the family. I can't wait to cuddle B in any of these.


Speaking of handmade, we have been given some beautiful handmade gifts and I'll be doing a post showing all of those off. I am consistently blown away by the talent all around me. It's just amazing.

Posted by raya 10:48 AM 6 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home, With Child

Where I Want To Be Today
December 20, 2007

Lying in my bed looking at these beautiful roses on our dresser. Our friend Kasey works for the Cut Flower Growers Association in California and often is gifted beautiful bouquets by the growers he visits. He shared these amazing roses with us - the stems were each about 3 feet long (no joke) and the buds are as big as my fist. Not a bad job perk, especially for his wife Tarah : )

Our floors are done and they look amazing. What a difference. I will post a photo tomorrow when we get all our furniture moved in. For now its still all crammed into the office and guest room. I'd much rather be in my cozy bedroom than in the office full of furniture, so I may just bring the laptop in there and work from my bed today. It just feels like the right thing to do.

Posted by raya 10:34 AM 3 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home

One Last Look
December 18, 2007

At our carpet and tile before it gets ripped up and replaced with beautiful hardwood!

As I write this they've already taken everything out and leveled out the floor. Our house looks really small without any furniture. Usually it's the opposite, but for some reason with our house having stuff in it actually makes it feel more roomy.

We decided to go ahead and have the floors put in this week. We weren't expecting to, but the crew had time and we just went for it. The saddest part was taking the Christmas tree down on December 16th - so much for that. And so much for the baking and handmade gifting I was going to do this week.

I don't know how it got to be a week before Christmas so suddenly. On Nov. 30th I was feeling so prepared and geared up to get everything done. And now I'm looking at the pile of unwritten Christmas cards on my desk and the list of gifts I still need to buy (pretty much all of them). At least I have no choice but to go shop today - can't do much here at the house. It's rainy here too and feels all Wintery and Christmasy. The perfect day to be out enjoying the season.

Posted by raya 9:04 AM 1 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home

Christmas Tree
December 7, 2007

This year we drove down the road a bit to Santa Paula Christmas Tree Farm and got our tree the old fashioned way. Well, it wasn't quite hiking up into the woods in the snow and carrying our tree all the way home, but it's as close as we could get here in So Cal.

It only looks like we're carrying it. In about 3 minutes a flat bed truck is going to drive by and we are going to let them take our tree the rest of the way. I am 6 mos. pregnant. No need to strain myself.

Posted by raya 7:55 AM 1 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, My Home

New Couch & Computer Dorks
November 10, 2007

It's 9:45 PM on a Saturday: And what are my husband and I doing? Dorking out on our computers...

Him:
Working on translating ShowIT Effects & Borders into French...if that makes no sense to you check out those two pieces of awesome software here. They are great for professional and just-for-fun photographers.

Me:
Updating our baby registries

Researching Combi International strollers and car seats. I think we may have found the ideal infant car seat/lightweight compact stroller combination. After spending 30 minutes at Babies R' Us tonight pretend strolling around the store, I am thrilled.

Looking at designsponge and realizing I've hit a wall and need to get re-inspired. Took another look at Grace's sofa guide - we've been thinking about the Crate & Barrel Petrie, but I've been indecisive about the color. But then every time I see it in Cocoa I say, ooh that's pretty. I have the actual sample and it seems darker than it looks on the web, but maybe it won't be that way once it's covering an entire couch.

Anyway, it is pretty isn't it. And it's reasonably priced for a sofa it's size. This seems like a color that will be pretty dog/baby resistant as well. Which is of course now my concern about everything - how times have changed.

Posted by raya 9:46 PM 4 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Family Life, My Home

Stitch
October 19, 2007

This came in our mail yesterday. The paper is different than the normal Anthropologie catalog so I thought it was some new company..then I saw the tiny "Anthropologie" written on the cover. Sneaky.


All of these knitted tops are so lovely. Yum yum yum. This white top looks especially cozy for the approaching winter. I wish I could knit beautiful clothes like this. Instead I just have that scarf I started last DECEMBER that is still not finished.

On the home front, we have not done a single thing to the baby's room yet. I've been ignoring it and just shoving everything that doesn't have a place into that room for the last few months. But now that we're only 4 mos. away with three holidays in between, I'm feeling the urge to get going. Currently this page out of Found Style by Amy Butler is inspiring me. I love the robot made out of an old toy refrigerator.

That's all I could muster today - photos of other photos. I have an engagement photo session in Malibu tomorrow - fun! And hopefully next week I'll have my own work from the wedding and three family sessions I did last week to show. I really really hope so.

Posted by raya 12:47 PM 2 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Look what I found, My Home

Improving the Home
October 8, 2007

Our house is about to get ripped apart so we can install new flooring. This wasn't really in the plan for this year, but someone we know owns a flooring shop and is giving us an insane deal before he hands it off to the new owner (he's selling the business this week).

It was probably a mistake for Forest to let me wander the show room unattended, because inevitably I find the most expensive thing in the whole place. Here is the flooring I would love:

Reclaimed teak from Burma. It is what's left over after the best wood is chosen. Normally this would just be burned, but instead it's turned into flooring and sold in America - it has some dark areas where holes are patched, but the color is beautiful and it's environment friendly. You'd think it would be very inexpensive, but no...


So instead we are going with this traditional Oak - costs about 1/3 what the teak would. It doesn't look that great in this photo, but I think when installed throughout our living room, dining room and kitchen it will look good. Forest and I discussed it, and he felt that our house - for what it is and how long we are planning on living there, didn't really demand expensive teak flooring. Dang the voice of reason.

You can see the difference here. In the end I am just happy to get hardwood floors at all - it will be a major step up from our cheap beige carpet and generic 12" tiles in the kitchen. Yay for home improvement.

Posted by raya 2:44 PM 6 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home

Our House is on Design*Sponge Today
September 7, 2007

Grace over at Design*Sponge has been so good to me, posting about my photos a few times on her blog. Then she asked if we wanted to do a sneak peek of our house....um, ok! I was stressed about taking these photos and trying to make our house look exciting, but it also forced me to finish some unfinished projects.

I read d*s daily and know that many of you do too - Grace's personal style is so classy and she always posts about such great designers, artists, crafters..I am honored to be in their company.

She posted quite a few photos so click on the image above or here to see her post. I've also posted more images on flickr as well so you can see them there. Thanks Grace! What a great way to end my week : )

Posted by raya 8:22 AM 9 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home

Found: White Record Frames
August 29, 2007

I've been looking for white record frames for these kids records I've been collecting for the baby's room/guest room. I realize now the records I picked are kind of girly, so if we end up having a boy I'll have to switch out the Mary Poppins and Sound of Music for more manly ones like Robin Hood & Peter Pan or something like that. I think Forest would appreciate it.

If you have a need for white or non-black record frames you can find them online @ hobbyframes.com. They come in 12 stains and colors, ranging in price from 14.95 - 17.95.

Posted by raya 10:55 AM 7 comments Links to this post    

Labels: Look what I found, My Home

Last Night Sewing
August 24, 2007

I had a night to myself last night, so instead of sitting on my butt watching Friend's DVD's (my current evening past time...don't I sound like the most exciting person ever?) I decided to try and make a pillow for our yellow chair.

With sewing these days I'm trying to use only what I have to keep the costs down. I used some of the leftovers from the clutch for this little 11" x 11" pillow. I didn't really use a pattern, but I did take a few tips from Amy Butler's In Stitches. I made a pillow form to go inside the cover and I used her instructions for tufting with the buttons.

This small accent is going to tie this whole room together, I think. There is so much yellow going on in that chair I was worried it was going to dominate, but I think once we get the art hung and the dining table chairs finished it's going to look nice.

Posted by raya 8:45 AM 1 comments Links to this post    

Labels: My Home, She's Crafty