The rains are settling in for the long haul, days are getting shorter and I’m starting to feel like quite the homebody these days. Not that I’m complaining…we had a fantastic summer that stretched far into fall but I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a West Coast girl at heart and love a cozy evening indoors while the rain pours down outside. It’s also pushing me to put some more effort in decorating our new house (can I still call it “new” when we’ve lived here 7 months?) and I’m excited to finish a couple of small projects and maybe even paint (or wallpaper!) a room or two. I absolutely love white walls but have been feeling the urge to add some colour to our bedroom (I’m thinking a deep moody teal, on the navy end of the spectrum…thoughts?) and came across this carriage house on a Pinterest search last week. Located in a Prohibition-era back alley of Washington, DC, this once derelict space has been transformed into a Bohemian home ready to entertain…

Garden & Gun | Photo by Patricia Lyons

Garden & Gun | Photo by Patricia Lyons

Garden & Gun | Photo by Patricia Lyons

So full of personality, isn’t it? You can see more great photos of this small space over at Garden & Gun so be sure to check them out. On another note, I’m going to cut down to only a couple of blog posts a week but you can always keep tabs on what I’m up to over on my Instagram feed in the meantime. Wishing you a frightfully good Halloween and a sugar-filled weekend ahead!

Hey, there! This week has already been chugging along at a fine pace and the school district decided to throw in some half days and a Pro-D (just to spice things up!) so the next few days will be even more of a juggling act. So it goes sometimes but, thankfully, I’ve got family and friends to help me out with the kids in a pinch and Brad will be home this weekend so I’m confident that my daily grind will be eased somewhat by next week. Thank God! It’s been a loooong month. Anyway, onto more exciting things, like a little peek inside one of my all-time favourite designers, Emily Henderson‘s, gorgeous home in Los Angeles. It was featured in Domino last month and is absolutely everything I would have expected and then some. Be sure to check out both Domino and Emily’s blog for many more great photos and details on the furniture and decor throughout. Come take a look:

Photos by Brittany Ambridge for Domino | Style by Emily Henderson

Photos by Brittany Ambridge for Domino | Style by Emily Henderson

Photos by Brittany Ambridge for Domino | Style by Emily Henderson

I just love how clean and curated Emily’s family home is. Everything looks intentional, there because it’s loved or has meaning, and although it’s packed with stylish finds it doesn’t feel cluttered or “trendy” in the least. Full of personality, mid-century bones and an eclectic mix of old + new make it a definite win in my books! Hope you’re having a great week so far 🙂

Boom. Just like that, another week bites the dust! Anyone else wish that time would slow down just a tad this Fall? My days are full (we’re talking full) to the brim with kids/work/driving/life and I’m definitely counting down these final 8 days until Brad gets home from the wilds of Manitoba! Here’s a little roundup of some links I’ve loved this week but I didn’t quite make it to the usual 5 for Friday as I ran out of steam by number 3 😉

1. I love everything about this gallery wall and eclectic bedroom spotted over at The Everygirl yesterday:

The Everygirl | Michelle Lange Photography

2. Um, how flipping adorable is this Maria costume?!? I love The Sound of Music (I mean, who doesn’t) and think this is the most darling idea ever. See how to make this cutie and an astounding amount of other sweet costumes over at Oh Happy Day:

Oh Happy Day | The Sound of Music Maria Costume | Photo by Paul Ferney

3. I’ve wanted to make homemade caramels forever (I think since reading about Laura making pulled taffy in The Little House on the Prairie books when I was little…anyone else remember that?) but never have for some reason. These salted butter confections look too decadently delicious not to try:

Salted Caramel Caramels | A Beautiful Mess | Photo by Emma Chapman

Any exciting plans for the weekend happening out there? Mine’s looking fairly quiet, other than being surrounded by my brood, but it’s always a treat to take a break from the schooldays routine and put my feet up…like, before 9pm 😉 Cheers to the weekend!

I’m feeling a little bit under the weather with a cold but the slim silver lining of some sniffle-induced downtime has been catching up on my stack of design mags and some favourite blogs. As someone with a blog, it’s kind of ironic how few blogs I actually read myself these days. After being on the computer for much of the day for work, it seems far easier to scroll through my favourite bloggers on Instagram instead…instant gratification, I suppose? I’ve noticed this shift in my own habits for awhile (and it’s also been a topic of discussion with my Spruce partners) so I found this NY Times article especially interesting while browsing last night.  I’m a little late to the conversation (ironic since I was on my own blogging break when the article came out!) but can totally relate to both blogger-burnout and creative burnout in general. There were some really great responses to the article from some of the bloggers featured (here, here and here) but I’m curious to know what your thoughts on the shift in social media are. Have your own online habits changed recently? Please share…

Photo by Michael Graydon for House & Home Magazine

Photo by Luisa Brimble for Local Milk

Photo by Idha Lindhag via SF Girl by Bay

“Watching Trees” by Clare Elsaesser

Brunswick Cafe, Brooklyn NY via Remodelista

These spaces have nothing to do with blogging except for the fact that they inspire me…which is the whole reason I started this little blog with Rachel so many moons ago 🙂

Hey, friends! We’re heading into the final long weekend of Summer and I must admit I’m not happy about it. I feel like we just got into our beach-touring groove and then suddenly the days got shorter and the evenings got cooler…noooo! Like all good things, even Summer must end but I won’t give up our beach days without a fight. We’re heading out for a weekend of camping with friends tomorrow (or the next day, weather dependant) and I’m still overly optimistic that the soggy forecast is wrong…the sun will burn off those huge clouds, right? Still no word if school is starting next week as teachers have been on strike since June, (ugh!) which is leaving us in somewhat of a limbo.  Love our teachers but the kiddos have been home long enough. Seriously. But onto brighter things, these beauties caught my eye this week because, I mean, how could they not?!

1. I immediately downloaded this awesome desktop theme from Design Love Fest as soon as I saw it. Can you tell I’m ready to get back to work?

Our Heiday | Design Love Fest

2. Red Envelope sent me this awesome dipped serving bowl and matching utensils as a housewarming present and it’s been a bright spot on our table all summer! It also comes in an amazing emerald green colour and is on mega sale right now…check it out here:

Dipped Wooden Serving Bowl | Red Envelope

3. We’ve been in the height of wedding season with our Spruce Vintage Rentals division of the shop so I’m always on the lookout for fresh event inspiration and this floral chandelier is seriously the bomb…love!!

Greer Gattuso Photography | The Not Wedding New Orleans via Ruffled

4. I’m beyond thrilled (and entirely envious of her talents, in a good way!) that my partner Jessica just launched an amazing line of illustrated prints in her shiny new shop, Acorn Atelier. I need one of each, no joke!

Acorn Atelier | Jessica MacDonald

5. I’ll need a good detox after this summer of fun but the good news is that it’s technically summer for a few more weeks and this cocktail looks divine…bottoms up 😉

Grapefruit Sage Mimosa | Shannon Kirsten

Do you have big plans for this last Labour Day hurrah? Enjoy, be safe and cheers to the freakin’ weekend…I’ll drink to that 😉

* Disclaimer : I was gifted this beautiful serving bowl set from Red Envelope but all opinions are my own…and always will be 🙂

Hello, it’s the weekend! What are your plans? It’s a long weekend here in British Columbia to celebrate  BC Day and its supposed to get nice and toasty. We’re going to take the kids into Vancouver to see the fireworks and do some wandering around. Our good friends are out of town and are letting us stay at their place just up from the beach in Kitsilano, which will be such a fun treat. It’s usually me escaping to the big city on my own so the kids are really excited to get in on the action! If you’re looking for some outdoor inspiration, come visit my guest post over at Poppytalk but otherwise I thought I’d leave you with some dreamy Etsy finds to get the weekend started off right…

JPG Photography

One Eyed Dog

Emily McDowell

Burnish

Laura Frisk

Eine Der GutenCarococo

This week has been crazy, in a very good way, so I’m looking forward to the beach, some sunshine and maybe even a little sleep. I’ve been teased more than once about all of the late nights I’ve been pulling…is there a way to encrypt Facebook and Pinterest to cover my tracks in the wee hours of the morning? Please fill me in if so 🙂 I’ll be back next week with a big announcement and another exciting kitchen collaboration that I’ve been working on. Until then, have a wonderful weekend!

Birch + Bird elsewhere this week:

• An interview with us over at the Brazilian magazine Casa e Jardim (in Portuguese!) 
• Guest post over at Poppytalk

After a very long day of travelling, we made it “home” without any major issues.  The girls were fabulous and I’m so proud of how they kept up with me through the airports while pulling their own suitcases.  I hope our trip home will be as easy.  Before we left, I was granted Mother’s Day off to go shopping.  Pure bliss.  Of course, I stopped in at Anthropologie to have a look around and came across the lovely stationary of Quill and Fox that I’ve been eyeing on Etsy.  The Terrarium Postcard Set came home with me because my stationary stash hasn’t been replenished in a long while.  Who wouldn’t love to find any one of these in their mailbox?

All images by Quill and Fox

Pretty, right?