I am completely obsessed with these Gumdrop Pendants from Serena and Lily. The bright colors, the glossy finish, the polka dot trim! Seriously what’s not to love? They are officially on my list for the new nursery for bambino number two.

For the past two years I’ve been trying to convince the hubs that it’s time for us to grow up to a king size mattress.  So far he has been resisting and it’s probably because he knows that a king size mattress means a king size bed frame, new bedding and most of all a king size price tag.  I might need to tap into my crafty genes to make an affordable headboard rather than purchasing a whole bed frame. Luckily the WWW is full of inspiration. I’ll be keeping track of my finds on a new Pinterest board titled “Sweet Dreams”. Here’s a little taste, follow more here.

Bed frames in “popover” pattern from Studio Bon.

Black rope poster bed. Bedroom design by Tilton Fenwick.

Glamorous mirrored bed frame from Angie Hranowsky Design.

Coral and white tufted head board from Meredith Heron Design.

Lovely “jaipur” pattern bed frame from Serena and Lily.

Raksha Bella, one of my all time favorite textile designers for insanely gorgeous bedding is having a ridiculous sale starting today 7/29 through Sunday 7/31 with up to 50% off of EVERYTHING!! This is madness people! Get on it now! I feel a little like Crazy Eddie from those old electronics commercials.  Seriously though, I adore Raksha Bella’s line of 100% organic wood-block print textiles and I’m never one to pass up a great deal or miss an opportunity to share one with you!

I love these colorful Sombrilla’s for the beach. For $150 you can choose from three bright patterns in 100% cotton with 95% UV protection. It’s too bad we’ve already gone to the Cape for our beach vacation this Summer or I’d buy the Moroccan Blue version right now.  From Hollie & Harrie.

Uguisu Shoten is my latest obsession. If you love Japanese design or things made in Japan you’ll be obsessed too. Paper, linens, bags, books, rubber stamps and gorgeous tape can all be found at this treasure trove of a website.

Dying over these guitar pillows – especially the ones in the Liberty of London print. If you haven’t been to the Le Souk website before, be prepared to find at least a dozen items that you’ll desperately want for yourself or as a gift for someone else.  The baby and kids section had be exclaiming “awww!” to the annoyance of the other folks in the coffee shop, sorry people! Check it out, you’ll see what I mean.

It’s finally April and it snowed all day long yesterday.  Looking for a way out of my gray mood this morning I was so glad to find an email from Camp Cirrus in my inbox. The Camp Cirrus line of home accessories with their happy colors and patterns helped restore my faith that Spring is right around the corner. I mean they are from Sweden and if any one knows about never-ending Winters it’s the Swedes! I really dig the laminated birch trays.  Their line of hand printed cotton canvas items includes pretty and practical tote bags, cheery pillows and clever textile jars.  All items are available in the US through the online shop Vitrine.

I realize this is beginning to look suspiciously like a baby blog lately and not a design blog but everything has gotten so hip for kids these days that I believe even if you don’t have kids you can appreciate these things.

The latest adorable designs come via sisters Cristina and Genevieve Burgess from Canada who recently launched Auggie, a line of bedding for kids. Sizes range from crib to queen (I guess I won’t be upgrading to a king bed anytime soon) and includes decorative pillows and quilts.  See more from Auggie and buy online here.

Thanks to Oh Joy for the heads up on Pinterest about this.

I don’t even know where to begin. I am so excited for the release of the Great Food book series for Penguin with covers designed by the incomparable Coralie Bickford-Smith.  The series covers food writing from the last 400 years. Some of my favorite contemporary authors are included like Calvin Trillin and the legend Alice Waters but some of the best titles come from vintage authors like eighteenth-century housewife Hannah Glasse and her “Everlasting Syllabub and the Art of Carving.” This beautiful set of 20 reissued classics will be available in the UK this April. The rest of us will have to pre-order through Amazon and wait patiently for the October 25th release in the US.

Thanks to Grace at Design Sponge for the heads up.

Only one day left until the Handmade for Japan auction! The brainchild of ceramic artist Ayumi Horie, this is one of the more creative ways I’ve heard about to help the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.  Beginning March 24th at 8pm ET and lasting until March 27th you can visit the Handmade for Japan eBay auction site to bid on over 100 items donated by concerned artists. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to Global Giving’s Earth and Tsunami Relief Fund. Here are just a few of the stunning items that will be available for auction:

Munemitsu Taguchi Serving Bowl, Justin Rothshank
Sea Life Jar, Yoko Sekino-Bové
“Village expert” teapot, Jana Evans Bowl

Jen Allen Celadon Pitcher, Michael Connelly Pitcher, Steven Young Lee
Cups, Shoko Teruyama
Tumbler with Purple Horse