Today I love… bathroom inspiration edition

If you follow me on twitter, you may know that my husband and I are moving to a new apartment at the end of the month.  And while packing and moving is stressful, we’re looking forward to more space, a better kitchen, and some cool new design features (skylights! in the dining room and bathroom!).  Plus, I’m looking forward to the best thing about moving to a new space — decorating!  Right now, like Katy, I’ve got bathrooms on the brain…


{desire to inspire, apartment therapy}

We’re still renting, so we won’t be making any significant changes, but luckily we’ve already got lots of nice elements to work with, like a black and white tile floor, stand-alone bathtub, and the aforementioned skylight.  I’ve already got our new shower curtain picked out, but I’m thinking about additional storage options for narrow spaces and artwork for the walls.  I’m also thinking about painting the walls a light, calm shade, like this pale pink or soft blue:

Bathroom-inspiration2{domino via sfgirlbybay, house of turquoise}

I promise to share photos of our new space once we move in, but in the meantime, if any of you have additional bathroom inspiration to share, let me know in the comments!  

{image credits: as listed below each photo}

Whimsical Baby Shower Invitations + Announcements

After I posted these baby shower invitations a couple of weeks ago, I received the sweetest e-mail from Tovah at Brighten My Day studio.  Tovah creates entirely custom wedding invitations, Bar and Bat Mitzvah invitations, and — of course — baby announcements!  The amazing thing, particularly in this era, is that Tovah operates entirely by word of mouth and does not maintain a website (!) — and as a result, Tovah forms a personal relationship with each of her clients that is reflected in the final design.  Here are a few examples — along with some background from Tovah on each of the designs:

Orange-Floral-Letterpress-Birth-Announcement

LEAH WALDMAN

I have worked with this family for years, and was honored to create the invitation for their granddaughter’s naming ceremony.  They wanted an invitation that was warm and sophisticated, and while they wanted a little sweetness, they did not want the invitation to feel juvenile nor whimsical.  We letterpress printed the invitation on a heavy, nearly white board in a warm tangerine hue, a compliment both to the décor in their home and a match to the warmth of this family.  The invitation is monarch sized and paired with a kraft colored enveloped, also letterpress printed in the orange ink.  The floral image has a hand-drawn feel, and is carried through to wrap around the envelope flap.


Pink-Daisy-Letterpress-Baby-Announcement

JAREN ROSE

This is my daughter’s birth announcement.  I wanted some sweetness, but still clean and contemporary.  This one was a 4Bar announcement {petite and girly} letterpress printed in latté and petal inks.  The “relief” dot detail on the flowers has a great feel when letterpress-printed, and the pink was a translucent, delicate shade that I just loved.


Blue-Geometric-Letterpress-Baby-Announcement

NOAH SAGE

This is the birth announcement of my now 4-year old son.  I wanted something that felt modern, but with a softness that still felt ‘baby.’  The announcement was letterpress printed in light blue and chocolate inks on a gorgeous soft white stock.  His name was lettered by the amazing Gail Brill.


Pink-Floral-Letterpress-Baby-Shower-Invitation

Floral-Twins-Letterpress-Baby-Announcements

SCOTT AND SHANE

This couple had gone through the surrogate process and were soon bringing home twin baby girls.  We used their nursery — a contemporary room of orange and pink with vintage elements — as inspiration for the both their shower invitation as well as their baby announcement.  The shower invite (top) featured a floral illustration that was letterpress printed into heavy, nearly white board in blossom and tangerine inks.  The announcement (bottom) was a tri-fold design printed on fluorescent white 110 lb. cotton Lettra and featured a gorgeous black and white photo of the newborns. 


Blue-Elephant-Letterpress-Baby-Announcement

ZEV MATTHEW

This couple were using whimsical animals throughout Zev’s new nursery, so I used that as inspiration, knowing that Mom and Dad also had a clean, unfussy personal style.  They wanted to keep the design to  a single color {for budget reasons} and loved the sweetness of a 4-bar card.  The announcement was paired with bluebell envelopes, letterpress printed tone-on-tone in a deeper bluebell ink.

Thanks so much Tovah!  If you're interested in working with Tovah for baby announcements or Bar and Bat Mitzvah invitations, you can contact her via e-mail by clicking here!

{image credits: tovah glenn}

Blue + Brown Floral Letterpress Invitations

Allison from Bird Dog Press has such a beautiful way with pattern — like these spring-inspired letterpress invitations that she created incorporating a blue background pattern with brown text and floral elements:

Blue-brown-floral-invitation
Blue-brown-floral-invitation2
Blue-brown-floral-invitation3

I also love the corresponding blue poppy on the brown envelope, which just gives a slightly more lush feel to the overall design.  So pretty!  Check out more on the Bird Dog Press flickr page.

{image credits: Bird Dog Press}

Red + Aqua Papel Picado Wedding Invitations

Good morning!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend!  I’m slowly easing back into my normal routine, and to help with that process I thought I’d feature a wedding invitation suite that is easily one of the most beautiful I’ve seen in a long time — these gorgeous papel picado wedding invitations by Parrott Design Studio:

Red-aqua-papel-picado-wedding-invitations

Sarah designed these letterpress wedding invitations for a bride with a serious love for design and textiles.  In addition to the beautiful papel picado banner (note the wedding date in the hearts below!), Sarah lined the back of the invitations with a stylized version of a Liberty of London print and contrasted Crystal Kluge’s lovely Nelly Script with a modern sans serif font:

Red-aqua-papel-picado-wedding-invitations2

To complement the color palette of the invitation suite, the envelopes were lined with vintage oceanic maps in soft blue and aqua hues:

Red-aqua-papel-picado-wedding-invitations3

Gorgeous, right?  Check out the rest of the story and inspiration sources behind these wedding invitations right here!

{image credits: Parrott Design Studio}

New Year’s Eve Invitations

I love seeing how different people interpret and commemorate an occasion celebrated all around the world, like New Year's Eve.  So I asked a few designers to share some recent New Year's projects, and here's what they sent over!

Czar Press designed this festive New Year's Eve party invitation with bright pops of red — and complete with a cheat sheet for the symbols on the main invitation:

Red-White-Letterpress-New-Year-Invitations
Red-White-Letterpress-New-Year-Invitations2{czar press}

 

This next couple decided to also celebrate their engagement on New Year's Eve, and asked Peculiar Pair Press to design a modern invitation inspired by the work of contemporary artist Margaret Kilgallen:

Black-White-Killgalen-New-Year-Invitation-

{peculiar pair press}

 

This couple was married on New Year's Eve last year, and worked with Brown Sugar Design Studio to design a playful invitation suite (folding out to a total size of 20 x 5"!) that both reflected the festive time of year as well as their Scottsdale, Arizona destination wedding location:

New-Year-Nouveau-Fold-Out-Invitation
New-Year-Nouveau-Invitation

 

This New Year's Eve party invitation by Wiley Valentine incorporates festive flourishes and ornamental details, but with a softer color palette inspired by wintery hues:

Blue-Peacock-New-Year-Invitations
Blue-Peacock-New-Year-Invitations2

How are you celebrating on New Year's Eve?

{images from their respective sources}