The Friday Five: Pretty White Dresses

I wore a white-on-white-on-white outfit last weekend, and I loved it. It’s such a fresh clean look, and it makes me feel super summery. Thinking of all-white summer ensembles prompted  me to browse through some of my favourite shops to see what white dresses they have to offer us this summer.

Here we go…

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Nadeer eyelet dress, $279, Club Monaco

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off-the-shoulder dress, $149, J.Crew

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linen v-neck and flare dress, $62.99 (on sale), Gap

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pleated skirt sweater dress, $428, Kate Spade

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DVF cotton eyelet dress, $410, Diane von Furstenberg

Aren’t they pretty?

Hotel to Home: Design and Wine Hotel, Portugal

We’re heading over to Portugal today to check into the Design & Wine Hotel in Caminha.

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I do not know how they do this, but the room rotates with the sun! Isn’t that the coolest thing? It sounds pretty high-tech to me!

The room (I think it’s shown in black and white in the photo above) has a ridiculously simple design. The use of multiples (in the art, water) is very striking and easy to recreate at home. Here’s what it inspired me to put together:

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art, sheet set, blinds, water, glass

Catch up on all the posts in my Hotel to Home series.

Art: Anna Church

Take a closer look at Anna Church‘s photographs, and you may be surprised at what you find. From afar, you may see a beetle, a heart, or a row of feathers, but on closer inspection, you’ll find trophies, shoes, and teacups. Anna Church is a sculptographer – she takes photographs of the sculptures she creates with interesting, unusual, and everyday objects.

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Crowning Glory, from $795

Swan-Lake-Anna-ChurchSwan Lake, from $795

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My Heart’s Content, from $650

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Career Girl, (sold out)

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Taxonomy I – Stag Beetle, from $650

In addition to her own collections, she also offers bespoke commissions whereby you provide your bits and bobs, and Anna will create an incredible display of them for a beautiful, original photograph. In addition to this, she offers custom wedding insignias, like the one below, that brides and grooms will enjoy for years to come.

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Wedding Insignia

Learn more about Anna Church’s approach to art and business in this Design*Sponge feature.

 

The Friday Five: Faves from the One Room Challenge

If you’re in the design or blogging world, you’ve likely already heard of the One Room Challenge. The ORC, as it is also called, gives designers, bloggers, and design enthusiasts a challenge to make over a room in a 6-week period. Challenge is right. As an observer, I love to see the transformations. I think just about any before-and-after is dramatic, even if they don’t include professional photography sessions that sometimes happen with the ORC rooms.

There’s a select group of 20 designers/enthusiasts who are officially ORC participants, and then there are another 200 or so (I think) who are guest participants. It’s all very fascinating, if you ask me. People really get into it, and the participants are fairly open about sharing their design vision and process.

Here are five end products that really caught my attention, but I would encourage you to check out all the ORC featured designers and guest participants if you’re looking to be inspired by traditional/modern/interesting design!

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powder room, Wife in Progress (that floor!)

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sun porch, Worthwhile Domicile (those shelves! that ceiling height!)

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teen room, Vanessa Francis Design
(I love the addition of the trumpet and the story that goes with)

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bedroom, Love on Sunday (I love Amy’s use of textures in her white bedroom.)

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bathroom, Simplified Bee (such a luxurious shower space!)

A 6-week timeline for a room make-over…could you do it? Have you done it?