MG online!

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 12, 2009 | No Comments | Category: Designers

Aside from Blogger, the Material Girls have become slightly obsessed with Facebook Blog Networks and Twitter. Who knew so many of our blogger friends and celebs alike have already taken to these sites?

Join our Facebook blog network and connect with other MG design enthusiasts

And…we’re on Twitter too! Ok so maybe our updates aren’t as exciting as Mischa Barton’s or Brit Brit’s, but spread the MG love and follow our “tweets”!
Twitter name: material_girls





Getting back to stripes!

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 11, 2009 | 3 Comments | Category: Decorating

What comes to mind when you think of stripes? The American flag? A prison? A candy cane? The White Stripes band? A Zebra? Billiard balls? Fruit stripes gum? Whatever it is, we all have our own perception of stripes.

What comes to my mind when I think of stripes is my Junior year of college.

The class: Furniture Design

The project: To design a dining table that coincided with any dining chair of your choosing.

First, it didn’t help that I chose probably the most heinous dining chair on the planet. Big mistake. Then I proceeded to design a dining table that went with it. Even bigger mistake.

I can remember my professor telling me that the table reminded her of a jail cell! Black and white painted wood slats lined its base. Then we had to make a model of it too! So now I get to re-live my awful design in 3-D popsicle sticks for the rest of my life!

Honestly, what WAS I thinking? And to this day, I am hesitant about using stripes! Was it the jail cell table incident that scarred me for life? I may never know.

But I am slowly coming back around to stripes and shedding myself of my phobia. How could I avoid using them? They are everywhere- and I actually LOVE them when I see them used in magazines.

But what is the key to using stripes?

Scale and orientation. Always ask yourself if the stripes would look better horizontally…or vertically? Vertical stripes on a wall make a room appear taller and horizontal makes a room appear wider.

Make sure your stripes are the right size for what you are putting them on. Tiny pillows won’t look so great with incredibly wide stripes! You lose your pattern.

I love this dramatic, striped entry from House Beautiful– very Dorothy Draper!

Here’s a nursery with a lot of style! Golden yellow painted stripes on the ceiling give the baby something fun to stare up at.

This room from House Beautiful is wrapped in stripes. You would think this would make it feel incredibly busy, but instead the continuity of it gives off a nice serene vibe.

This cheery bathroom provides a big punch of color in a small space. The continuation of the stripes on the ceiling makes the ceilings appear to be taller.

Or you can go all out like this Domino reader did and put stripes on your floor, walls, and ceiling! They are incredibly brave!





Living la dolce vita!

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 09, 2009 | 1 Comment | Category: Design Bloggers

Our friend Paloma over at La Dolce Vita blog has just launched Decorum Design Forum!
Its mission: it was created as as an extension of the stylish living blogging community with the idea that it would be an easier way to interact with multiple people at one time. Decorum is intended to be a place where people with similar interests can share ideas, ask for and receive advice, and discuss issues related to interior design and living “la dolce vita”.

What a great concept- and just one more site for me to obsess over and chat up a storm!
We’ve already joined and so have a ton of others. You go Paloma!





Pillow Madness

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 06, 2009 | 1 Comment | Category: Decor Accessories

Crate and Barrel has the cutest pillows right now! Most are below $39!





Don’t make me beg Domino!

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 04, 2009 | 1 Comment | Category: Magazines

I have been so utterly devastated this past week over the shut down of Domino. I am still in shock and it hasn’t quite hit me fully yet that I will never get an issue of my favorite magazine ever again.

I have expressed my sadness to the outside world (meaning non-Domino followers) and they just don’t understand!

So then I found this self help group/crusade to Save Domino!!

What? There are other design aficionados out there like me who have lost sleep over the untimely and unexpected demise of everyone’s favorite shelter magazine?…Apparently!

Join in the fight to “Save Domino”- a blog fully dedicated to Domino’s resurgance!





Southern Chic

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 02, 2009 | 3 Comments | Category: Shops and Showrooms

One of our readers emailed me this showroom’s website because it’s one of her favorites and she thought it might be of interest to us Material Girls and our readers. Thank you so much Laurel!

The name of the showroom is SummerHouse and it’s located in Ridgeland, Mississippi.

They have a great website- flash photos that give you a complete tour of their showroom (the only downside of flash is that I couldn’t import more photos to show you guys!)

Southern showroom road trip, anyone?

We can start in Texas and make our way to Louisiana and visit Julie Neill, then head on over to SummerHouse in Mississippi, and then drive on over to Pieces in Atlanta! Then we will finish up the trip in Florida where we will lay on the beach in Miami for days. Sound like a plan?





Twig 1 vs. Twig 2

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 02, 2009 | 6 Comments | Category: Furniture

I found two very similar (but also very different) twig side tables.

You have two trendy elements put together in each piece- Organic + Metallic

Without telling you where each is from, how do you think these two measure up?

Twig Contestant #1:
-Black stone top
-Metal on metal tripod base
-“silvered tree branch look”
-17″ diameter
– Was $399, now marked down to $299

Twig Contestant #2:

-White marble top
-Antiqued brass intertwining legs
-16.5″ diameter
-$349

Which twig tripod would make it into your home?





Ole!

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 02, 2009 | 1 Comment | Category: Bed and Bath

I opened up the new Anthropologie catalog and almost mistook this shower curtain for a very, very, very long skirt.

It’s called the Flamenco Shower Curtain- cascades of ombre ruffles envelope this festive curtain- reminiscent of a Spanish dancer’s skirt.





Thanks from the Material Girls!

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 02, 2009 | No Comments | Category: Design Bloggers

Just wanted to give a heartfelt thanks to Kineda for featuring us on their 40 Amazing Architecture and Interior Design Blogs list.

There are a ton of great blogs listed and even some that I’ve yet to discover. Be sure to check them out.

Off to go read!





Calling all readers with paint problems: February’s Challenge

Posted By Emily-Dallas | Feb 01, 2009 | No Comments | Category: Color, Contests, Paint

Is your home feeling blah? Are your builder’s beige walls finally getting to you? Not to worry, you are not alone!

I can’t tell you how many consultations I’ve gone on where people want strictly color/paint advice. I experienced a similar situation a few weeks ago when I got a call from my boyfriend’s sister who told me that I need to come to Georgetown ASAP to fix her color problem (or lack thereof). Her walls “look lifeless”, she said. The same neutral color flows throughout her entire new house and she needed paint advice from a designer STAT. I designed her pediatric dentist office this summer (with bright colors galore) and then she comes home at the end of the day to a lackluster color scheme of neutral upon neutral upon neutral. Sigh.

A home should reflect one’s personality and when it doesn’t reflect anything, well it can end up looking pretty dismal.

I always tell people that one of the easiest, most affordable, and quickest way to give your home a makeover is through paint. What better way to express yourself and to highlight your art, furnishings, accessories?

For this months challenge, please send me up to three rooms that are in desperate need of a paint revamp! If you only have one or two rooms, no problem- send it my way! These can be bedrooms, kitchens, living rooms, powder rooms, dining rooms (you get the jist).

To enter the contest, please email me, Emily (emily@ejinteriors.net) with the following (please submit by 2.28.09):

**At least four 4 images of all angles of the rooms you wish to repaint (can send up to three rooms) and send photos of existing flooring

**Images of any connecting rooms (to make sure the colors flow well with the rest of your house)

**General colors that you like, general colors that you dislike

**What you want the overall feel of the room to be? Dramatic, light and airy, warm and homey, etc.

**Please send photos of the existing furniture in the rooms as well as any existing fabric swatches (winner will be asked to mail- if possible, any fabric swatches to me that way we can make sure we get the closest match possible for your room!)

**Please state or show lighting conditions in the room

**I can choose paint from these vendors: Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, and Farrow and Ball- please state in the email which vendor fits your budget and location.

**Please specify which areas of the room need to be painted- walls, moulding, ceiling, built-ins, etc.

After the first fifty entries or the last day of the month (whichever comes first), we will post a note on our blog that the giveaway submittal window has ended.

Here is a reminder of our contest calendar:

1st- Challenge announced

15th- Previous month’s challenge winner announced on our blog as well as a solution to the challenge.

Last day of the month– All entrants must be emailed to the designer who is taking on that month’s challenge.