I am in love with Marimekko

I am having a hard time deciding which Marimekko bedding I want to inspire my bedroom.

Help me decide and tell me your favorite. I could take any of them. Bright, bold, graphic...it's me!

When given the full range of the crayon box and permission to let go...I can do wild and fun. It's just happy.

I have two places I want to visit in New York: Marimekko concept store and the MOMA.

Book me a ticket!

Action Abstraction

I am loving the holidays and time spent with my family. My daughter Audrey (20 yr) is home from college. My son Alex (17 yr)has planned many of our family activities including a wonderful visit to the St. Louis Art Museum to see the special exhibit Action Abstraction. If you live in St. Louis you have until January 11 to see it. It's traveling around the country, so look for it in a city near you.

I love studies in color...and especially abstract art. I can't put in words what it means to me, but it elicits reactions in my soul like when I listen to inspiring music.

I was most moved by Grace Hartigan's work, her story and her art.

Like most women and blacks in the 50s, she had to fight hard for recognition of her work. Hartigan ran in circles of those better known Abstract Expressionists like Pollock and de Kooning. She broke through a glass ceiling in the art world as the only woman represented among 17 artists in the prestigious exhibit "New American Painting" sent by MOMA to Europe to communicate that New York had trumped Paris as the capital of modern art.

I am drawn to Hartigan's use of bold brush strokes and saturated splashes of color.

Bold, abstract, vivid and color infused...I can't get enough of it!

My favorite Hartigan painting is Summer Street (above). Can you make out the woman from the 50s shopping in the street? It took me a bit, but I found her. And do you see the watermelon? What else do you see in the busy summer street? What color and light of summer do you recognize? What time of day does it look like? Are there buildings around and if so, how are they recognized in the painting? Do you see yourself in a street like this?

I wish I could pluck Summer Street off the exhibit wall and place it in Heather's home! Perfect for her piano room (you'll see the reveal of Heather's piano room later on my blog). It would also look great in the 10th Street Lobby (also stay tuned for that reveal.)

I also loved New England in October (below).


Grace Hartigan quietly passed away in November this year. Though she faded from prominence years ago, I am grateful her work lives on in this exhibit.

More Designing Haven of Grace -- Flower Power

There is so much to share about the Haven of Grace project. I showed you the children's space. Here is the bathroom (above).

Gina and I did not have any grand plans for the bathroom. We were focused on finding donations and decorating the other spaces. The bathroom just lost our attention.

But thanks to Laura n , the bathroom, once an afterthought, became a highlight. She put in some extra time at my urging and created a dynamic wall mural of a Calla Lily. I found a silk Calla Lily to put in a beautiful turquoise vase that was donated by Ashley Furniture Home Store in Kirkwood, Missouri.

I love this mural because it is not a cutesy wimpy mural of a flower or flowers, but bold and graphic...it really makes a statement. To create a similar look, go big and bold.

That's Flower Power!

Wall Flowers

When is it cool to be a wall flower?

When it's chic and cheap, that's when.

Wall Flowers, new from UMA.

Wallter Hex Wall Decor

Wallpaper? sculpture? art?

It's all three.

And you are the artist, using hexagon shapes to form a line, random patterns or any pattern you like.

Flexible hexes can be painted any color. Spray paint is recommended.

They are easily adhered to the wall with 3M tape.

For $29 you get 8 shapes in various sizes.

Through Tuesday midnight central they are on sale -- 15% off. Just enter "memorial" on the coupon code. See iloveuma

Cheap, easy and hot...the way we like it.

This gives me an idea using circular shapes. How about cutting 1/2 inch depth shapes from toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls and other cylinder shapes? Or using canning jar lids? Paint and adhere to the wall in random patterns.

What are your ideas?

Studies in Color -- Jerry O. Wilkerson

I can't think of a better Mother's Day. I spent it doing what I love with whom I love. My son and I went to the St. Louis University Museum of Art.

Studying color and sharing it with a loved one, how rich and wonderful!

We saw the Jerry O. Wilkerson Retrospective, Discerning Palette. I met the artist's widow, Gail Wilkerson, at the Art of City Living Tour. Gail told me that she has spent this last year managing the estate of her prolific artist husband who sadly passed away last June.

I was excited to see Gail strolling the exhibit today with her mother. Gail said she would be happy to answer my questions and I had tons.

I asked what drew Jerry to express his work in pointillism.

Her answer: "Jerry loved color and light."

Jerry enjoyed seeing what he could do with color, even tiny dots of color, applied to paper, board, canvas, fabric, quilts or sculpture to produce recognizable images of everyday ordinary things, like pears and pizza and reflecting iconic images of popular ure like Fig Newtons.

My son liked all the works, and one of his favorite was of a lemon and Kentucky Fried Chicken in the fridge. Color can be found anywhere, and Jerry O. Wilkerson found it in the refrigerator.

Gail remembers well Jerry's fascination with how fridge light illuminated the colorful items inside. He spent hours viewing the contents, taking photos and observing from different angles.

Now here is a lesson we can learn from the artist. If you are struggling to select a color palette or wall color for your room, have you considered studying color even in ordinary surroundings? Many might stop and study a dazzling sunset, but the fridge?

There is beauty to be seen anywhere there is color and light. And anywhere there is color and light, we can learn.

I love how artists present us with a new perspective. They encourage us to think and react to our surroundings in ways we never imagined.

So when I open the fridge this week, you bet I'll be noticing the color and light.

Learn more about the exhibit -- click here And if you live outside of St. Louis stay tuned, I will share Jerry O. Wilkerson exhibits that are heading your way.

Modular Carpet

Have you discovered FLOR?

Easy, easy, easy... liveable, affordable, stylish and fun!

FLOR provides us custom DIY carpet to fit any style and space. And it is so easy you can install it yourself. It's ideal for tight budgets or if you just want a custom look.

Right now mod*mom will give away the newest addition to the FLOR line-up. Carpet tiles designed by Alexander Girard.

If you want to see FLOR tiles in St. Louis, check out UMA at 1100 Locust, downtown.

Tell me your favorite FLOR tile and why.

Mod Bedding and Giveaways--found it at the Big Box

Bedding by Dwell at Target

For a long time I have been moaning the fact that there has been few sources for modern bedding at affordable prices.

Thankfully, that is changing.

At our "Design Hop" (more on that later, it's a design club, think "garden club"), Stephanie was asking about sources for modern bedding. I told her about an exciting development. Dwell, relatively new to the industry and fast becoming a household name for modern bedding, has partnered with Target to bring us affordable and stylish designs. Check them out at: Target. And for a limited time receive free shipping on orders over $50.

Bedding by KuKunest


And take note of a fun offer from mod*mom. She has several giveaways going on including darling mod bedding by KuKunest. Click here to enter: mod*mom giveaways. It is easy, just scroll down to her giveaways and leave a comment.

Let me know your affordable sources for modern or unique bedding.

Creative Cousin Craig

I was born with the right side of my brain, that I know for sure. I can't say what has happened to my left side, atrophy most likely. I don't take to math or science.

I have to create, make and forge new paths.

Many of my kin were born like me -- a heavy branch of artsy folks weights down the family tree.

Let me introduce you to one of them, my cousin Craig. Though his imagination is more wild than mine, I claim him anyway.

When Craig is not composing music or blowing up cars (for real) in the desert, he is making furniture, sculpture, paintings and redesigning his home.

I love his niche display (pictured below) in his living room wall that features prisms in the style of his hero, Frank Lloyd Wright. I think it is stunning.


See more of his work at http://www.craigsibley.com/

In my dreams, it would be so fun to collaborate with Craig on a project.

Love you Cousin. It's been too long, let's get together.

Valentine Vase

A fun idea from UMA ( Urban Materials and Accessories ) -- chalkboard vases. What a fun way to write your loved one a special message.

This gave me an idea. Why not take chalkboard paint and make your own DIY vase.

What other items can get the chalkboard treatment? How about a chunky picture frame or a decorative plate -- write a message on the rim and place treats in the middle.

What ideas do you have for using chalkboard paint?

"Steel" Crazy for John Beck

Look at what's new from John Beck -- a St. Louis favorite -- this console, above.


I am "steel" crazy for his designs. Check out more: click here.

Affordable Affluence

When you think "brocade" do you think, like me, "expensive"? Or "Marie Antoinette" --very feminine, velvety, silky or lacy? Or, perhaps a style that borders on "garish", especially if overdone?

That is what comes to my mind.

But Brocade Home makes me think again.

Their offerings are neither expensive or over-the-top. Think "minimalist boudoir" -- a cleaned-up and current version of style that reads "nobility".

Lisa Versacio is the creator of this relatively new line. She is also the creator of West Elm. I think she is brilliant in the way she takes a concept and gives it mass-market appeal -- in this case, that concept being "elegance".

Hand carved curve back chair -- citrus -- on sale now at Brocade Home for only $159

Check out the sale going on now at Brocade Home.

St. Louis Modern

I live in St. Louis, Missouri, in the heart of the Midwest. Modern style may not be what comes to mind when you think of this traditional heartland. In fact, most of my clientele in the St. Louis counties favor traditional style, and I enjoy serving them.

Recently, however, I have moved to the Central West End of the city, and I am enjoying the best of modern design and lifestyle the city has to offer.

The Arch -- Jefferson National Expansion Memorial -- tops my list for modern design in St. Louis. I don't have words to describe my love of the Arch. I never tire of it or stop taking photos of it.



Eero Saarinen was the architect whose vision was to create a monument that transcends the boundaries of time.

The Arch looks to the past as a symbol of a gateway with reverence for St. Louis' role in opening of the westward U.S. territories. While it looks back to the past, it also looks boldly to the modern age with its simplicity and steel construction.

Breaking the mold of typical monuments, it is not an obelisk, rectangular or dome in shape. It makes its own statement on the banks of the Mississippi. I can't think what shape or form is more appropriate.

For more on the Arch I recommend a beautiful book by the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial (Gateway Arch) Chief Historian, and my friend, Robert J. Moore, Jr., called The Gateway Arch: An Architectural Dream.

I could go on from the Arch to list the best of modern design in St. Louis, but 2Modern Design has already done it - why reinvent the wheel? I defer to their list. Check it out at 2Modern Design.

And see more of Eero Saarinen's work at mod*mom.