Last Minute Giftology

It's getting close to the holidays and there are plenty of us who haven't quite been able to make it out of the house to do the Christmas shopping. Happens every year, but not to worry! We were lucky enough to have a few of our items featured in Time Out New York's Gift Guide this year, and there are a multitude of fun and quirky ideas for last minute gift ideas. They've even come up with funny and surprisingly accurate titles for the gift categories, including "Gifts for the Dude-Bro Manly Man" and "For the Relative You Don't Relate to". Our Thomas Paul Luddite Platter, Picnic Backpack Set, and French Bull Ring Round Platter have all made it on the lists! The best part is you don't even have to leave home if you're busy running around getting everything else ready for the holidays. Gift shopping just got more exciting!

Branch Out

Get cozy next to the fire this winter and bring a rustic look to your holiday table. We love how Food Network Magazine has featured our Log Wedge Serving Board in a woodlandsy spread of the November issue. Best of all, the board is cut into 8 pie shaped pieces making it perfect for hosting that winter party! Pair it with our Silver Sapling Cocktail Flatware , sand cast from real twigs, to add a delicate and whimsical touch to the woodland theme and entertain away!

Vogue's 100 Spring Items For Under $100

There are lots of ways to know when spring had finally arrived. But our favorite has to be when Vogue releases they're picks for the Top 100 Spring Items Under $100 and share their favorite clothing, jewelry and home accessories for the new season. And we're honored to be a part of it this year! One of the items they've chosen is the Spun Bamboo Deep Bowl Set by Roost. (slide #15) We love that it's modern, sophisticated and environmentally conscious all at once. Which is exactly why we added it to our collection for spring. Have a look see! And for the complete slide show just click here.

Let Your Inner Interior Decorator Out

I've lost count of how many times I've rearranged my living room furniture- and then had to rearrange it again because something didn't fit right or looked weird. My wooden floors have started to look like a skating rink with all of the marks from dragging my couch back and forth. But no more! I've found an online interior design tool that is so awesome I'm actually using the word awesome to describe it. MyDeco has created a really user-friendly interior design program that allows you to choose from a host of home furnishings and basically design the room of your dreams in 3-D from wallpaper to throw pillows. It's so awesome, in fact, that even Design Within Reach is using it. 

In the past I've attempted to use Sweet Home 3D, a free interior design application that helps you place your furniture on a house 2D plan, with a 3D preview. It's a bit more technical and the imaging isn't as sophisticated but it can definitely help you avoid layout spacing issues. Give them both a try and see which you like better. And if anyone is willing to send us one of the 3D room designs they've create, we'd love to share it with everyone on the blog for inspiration! 

All Hail Polaroid

Instant Rainbow by Yumalum

I'm not sure if everyone is aware of Cool Hunting or their daily e-newsletter, but consider this your official notification. Go sign up now. They cover everything from art, to food, to culture and trends. And most everything they feature is, indeed, cool. Last week they did a piece on Welsh designer, Yumalum, and the release of his second poster in honor of beloved Polaroid. I'm a bit of color addict and I'm also one of the many people elated to see Polaroid making a comeback. So, I think I might need to add this poster to my current collection of Polaroid art. If you'd like to purchase this colorific print, go here. But if the poster is too large size for your space, you might consider these lovely (and smaller) Serigraph Polaroid Camera Prints. Or maybe ease your nostalgia with a Polaroid cast in white porcelain (both by Yellow Owl.) 

Serigraph Camera Prints by Yellow Owl

White Porcelain Polaroid Camera by Yellow Owl

Country Cool

I thought something looked familiar when I picked up the March issue of Country Living. And there it was, right on the front cover, the Thomas Paul Ostrich Pillow! I never thought I'd utter the words "beautiful ostrich." And then I saw this pillow. It's a super soft linen and the fun red fringe keeps it from feeling stuffy. And I really never thought it would look good sitting on a toile bedspread- but there it is! And it looks great, right? Did I mention it's on sale right now, too?http://www.seltzerstudios.com/Ostrich-Linen-Pillow-with-Fringe-p398.html

Where do you keep your love?

Quite often while we're packing up orders for customers I'll start to feel "gift envy" creeping over me. Someone will order this platter with those plates and I can't help but try and picture their dinner party. Or someone will order this pillow with that candle and these bookends and I find myself wondering what their family room looks like or guessing what color their couch is.

Luckily, every once in a while a customer throws me a bone and sends us a picture of how they ended up using an item they purchased on our site. And I love it!!! First, it makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside to know when something leaves our shelves it's actually going to a "good home." But second, it's really inspiring! Everyone's style is unique and often times I find myself saying." Huh, I never would have thought of using _______ like that. But damn it looks good!" 

Well, this latest example really made me smile. A customer bought one of the Jonathan Adler "Love" jars and used it in a wedding. Perfect, right? Well, wait until you see the photos on Green Wedding Shoes, a completely wonderful and drool-worthy wedding blog. Scroll halfway down the post and you'll see it. Enjoy! 

Have You Looked At The Calendar Lately?

I don't know how it happened, but it's only come to my attention now. Now that it's 8:30 PM. Now that I'm already on the couch for the night watching Law & Order reruns. Now that it's pretty much over- this is when I find out that today is (was) the first day of spring.

Why didn't anyone remind me? The first day of spring isn't always warm, sunny and filled with singing robins. (Well, not in Chicago.) But it's definitely a turning point on the calendar. It's the day we officially kick winter to the curb and start wearing our flip flops too soon.

So, what's left for us to look forward to now? In an attempt to console myself, I started looking at the new spring merchandise we've ordered that hasn't come in yet. That's right, yet. While we've been adding new items almost everyday, I'm happy to say there's still more to come. And I thought sharing a few of my soon-to-be-favorites would be a great way to salvage what's left of this day. So, here they are in no particular order:

Hive Trivet in Tangerine by Modern Twist also comes in Lime, Cherry & Aqua.

Matryoshka Containers by Fred will be joining the M-Cups & M-Spoons we now carry.

We've added the Meadow hand-painted champagne flute by Roost to our collection.

Lucky Strike Container by Imm Living (there's a matching bottle opener too!)

This Wallpaper Has Not Yet Been Rated

This morning I woke up to about a bazillion emails waiting in (just one of my 3) inboxes. Luckily, one of them was the Daily Candy Weekend Guide. Featured today in the Decorate section was Filthy Home, a wallpaper design company created by Ryan Cox out of Brooklyn. And I have to say, I love everything about the site. The wallpaper, the witty titles and creative stories spun as the descriptions for each design- even his bio is fun.

I'll forewarn you though, this isn't your grandma's wallpaper. A few things are necessary to enjoy these wall coverings: 1.) an appreciation for good design. 2.) a sense of humor. 3.) in some cases, parental supervision. But it's all done in good fun. (And good design.) So, go on and have a look. And don't forget to pick your favorite.

Hungry For Color

We've mentioned Pantone before and how they influence the design industry and trends at large. Well, now it seems that Pantone can even make you hungry! While browsing Design Sponge we came across these fun cookies made by designer and illustrator Kim Neill. Rather than filling Pantone Tins with  traditional chocolate chip cookies as a holiday gift, Kim decided to whip up a few batches of Pantone chip cookies instead! Genius!

Striped Polkas

Yesterday we were featured (along with Amy Ruppel's lunch set seen above) in a lovely little design blog across the pond called Striped Polkas. And boy are we glad! We've been looking to add more British designers to our store and thanks to Striped Polkas, we've found a ton more items from the UK that we're not sure we can live without!

Striped Polkas focuses mostly on British design (although exceptions are made for particularly charming items no matter where they're from) and is run by Mags L Halliday who's taste, she admits, is rather eclectic. "I grew up with a lot of stuff from earlier periods rather than the kind of perfect rooms you see in lifestyle magazines. My own house is 18th century but filled with a shambolic mix of stuff. So there's a set of red velvet theatre curtains closing off the kitchen from the rest of the house, a 1950's Ercol chair in the bedroom and an IKEA daybed in the attic."

Mags keeps things simple by limiting the blog to one post a day and features a quick peek at the latest item to catch her eye. In her own lovely, British accented words, "I want to provide a daily dollop that people can enjoy looking at elevenses." Sort of makes you wish you were British, doesn't it?

Designing a Blog- Easier Said Than Done

We've been hard at work the last few weeks with redesigning the layout of our online boutique, Seltzer Studios. And part of that redesign includes adding (yep, you guessed it!) a blog. So, now we find ourselves attempting to design a "fun, insightful and aesthetically appealing" blog as well. And its turning out to be a bit harder than we thought.

Our first dilemma- what color palette should we use? (This is especially tough since we're still noodling with the color palette of our boutique and we'd like them to match.) Should the blog layout have turquoise in it since Pantone, the global authority on color and well-known provider of design standards, announced back in December that Turquoise Pantone 15-5519 is the official color for 2010. Seems like a no brainer, right? Okay, then. Now what about accent colors? How many should we use? Do we want bold accents? Soothing accents? There are to many options when you're choosing from...all the colors in the world!

So, here's what we're gonna do. We're going to spend some quality time on COLOURLovers. (For all you color junkies out there this is going to be your new favorite site.) COLOURLovers, in a nutshell, is an online community where people from all over the world create and share colors, palettes and patterns...all in the name of love. That's right, love. You can download them and use them for free, create your own, bookmark favorites and a bunch of other things. It's pretty much the most colorful and mesmerizing way to pass an afternoon. We're gonna go get started.

Thanks, Kitchn!

We want to give a special thanks to The Kitchn for their post about us yesterday. As most of you know, The Kitchn is Apartment Therapy's sister-site, a wonderful blog that focuses on all things cooking, kitchen and delicious. We've found many favorite recipes on their site so we're delighted they're digging some of our colorful kitchen accessories!

Our First Posting

So, this is where we're supposed to write about new and inspiring things that relate to home decor, gifts and accessories. Cool. How 'bout we start this tomorrow?