expo loot

I love antiquing and one of my favorite places to go is the Portland Antique Expo. This show happens three times a year with approx. 1,000 dealers all under one roof.

The July show is my favorite, though, because an additional 300+ vendors exhibit outside in the parking lot and that's where I find most of the good stuff!

My friend Amy and I went yesterday as Early Birds, when a lot of vendors were still setting up. Yes, you miss out on a few booths that haven't arrived yet but on the flip side, you get the best selection among the things that are already set up!

1300 dealers can be quite overwhelming so I usually try to stick to a budget and try to decide whether there's something specific I'm looking for so my eagle eyes can scan all the booths quickly. This year, I wanted to keep my eyes peeled for beer paraphernalia for Todd as well as storage solutions (my one and only new year's resolution for 2009 was to get more organized).

I came away with some great finds:
I found a great metal bin with a wooden handle (the one on the other side is missing) that I can use in my office. The round tin with cute side handles and a clean interior that will be perfect to store the cat food outside by the back door.

The cute little lunch tin is perfect to hold loose ends in my office, and I couldn't walk away from that awesome little "25" badge. I'm sure it'll find its way into some of my assemble art.

The old horse bells on a leather strap will be repurposed to help potty-train Tucker. Just that morning when I dropped Tucker off at doggie daycare, the folks at Wag the Dog told me to tie bells to all exterior doors. The idea is that he'll associate hearing the bells with opening doors and access to the outside; hopefully, he'll get the picture and start nuzzling or pawing the bells to announce his needs!

I even found a few things for Todd: an old bottle opener and a piece of a bill board advertising non-fattening Acme beer! With a title like that, I bet the beer wasn't much good, but I love the graphics and color palette.

tulip mania

Growing up in Northern Europe with Dutch parents, grand parents, aunts and uncles, it's only natural that I have an affinity for flowers. However, despite having lived in the Netherlands for six years, I don't remember ever having been to the famous tulip fields or the auction in Aalsmeer.

Seeing these pictures makes me think next time I happen to be in the Netherlands in spring, I simply must make the time for a visit:

I love how the rows of color create a graphic pattern:

I would like to credit the photographer for these photos but they were sent to me in a forwarded chain of emails so I don't know where they originated...

sad for swee swee

I'm sad to report that Swee Swee Paperie in West Seattle is closing it's brick-n-mortar doors. I've always admired Ann Conway's style, especially her fashion sense – just take a (last) look at some of her window displays:

TOP PHOTO: via bdstudio.com BOTTOM PHOTO: via Swee Swee Paperie

They're going to revamp and reopen their online store in September so at least we'll still have access to some of the great paper products Ann discovers.

SWEE SWEE PAPERIE • www.sweesweepaperie.com

illustrator – daren newman

I recently came across some of Daren Newman's work and thought I'd share it. I love his illustration style and he's a whiz when it comes to typography!

birthday invitation

This weekend, I helped Todd prepare for a Belgian beer tasting and I realized I never shared photos of the big surprise party I planned for his 40th birthday back in April.

I won't bore you with fuzzy photos of total strangers, but what I will share is some of the fun details I planned for this special occasion. After all, what kind of designer would I be if I didn't practice what I preach and create a fun invitation that set the tone of what was to come the night of the big party!

First up were the invitations: fun and colorful, yet tasteful and with a hint of beerishness. I used chartreuse envelopments that I picked up at PaperSource ages ago (the green is a perfect match for Defteling Design) and glued in the actual invite with double-stick tape (designed in Illustrator and printed right on my little desktop inkjet).

I also created a custom logo that I used everywhere, including on stickers (also from PaperSource) that I used to seal the invites. The logo was inspired by one of Todd's favorite Belgian beers (St. Bernardus) and included small details like his profession (librarian), age (40), birth year (1969), even the correct beer glass shape and the little halo (he's Saint Toddeus, after all).

I knew I wanted to have a Sachertorte from Market of Choice as his birthday cake, but unfortunately they didn't have a way to recreate the logo so I went online and ordered a couple printouts using edible ink on rice paper. The result was stunning!

And what's a beer tasting without the right accessories! You guessed it: the logo founds its way onto pint glasses and beer coasters, which doubled as party favors.

I had a ton of fun designing and planning this event and was so happy when it all went off without a hitch (well, besides Todd coming home through the back door instead of the front door, so none of us were prepared to yell "surprise" when he walked in!)

summery stationery

It never ceases to amaze me how excited I get to see the final printed product of something I designed. It doesn't matter whether it's a personal or a Defteling Design project – I can hardly wait to tear open the box and see how it turned out.

Today I was utterly delighted to reveal the finished stationery for Distinctive Beach Lodgings. The logo colors and design elements are so summery, just looking at the stationery makes me long to be on the coast...

We went a little unconventional for the letterhead: a narrow third-size sheet that neatly tucks into a standard business envelope. The front has the logo and contact info while the back repeats the website and the main logo element, a silver dollar, which also creates the wallpaper background.

The double-sided business cards take advantage of the extra real estate by boldly displaying the logo and website, using a black background to really pop the colors and the design.

The front of the card ties in with the back of the letterhead by using the sand dollar subtly in the background while the blue bars and cream background nicely reference the logo.

And in case this summery palette tempts you to book a weekend getaway, do check out the website for a listing of all their wonderful properties. I've been to several cottages and absolutely love them!

bath time

Ever notice how one small thing can start a whole chain of events? How it can just snowball? If you own a house, you know exactly what I mean!

We are now the proud owners of a completely new upstairs bathroom! And yes, we're absolutely in love with it, but did we plan this? No. Did we budget for this? No.

This all started because we had to have our pipes snaked out. The plumber finished the upstairs bath and as he headed downstairs, he noticed a drip of water hitting his head at the bottom of the stairs. Uh-oh: the shower stall was leaking down through the ceiling!

Now, I must admit that we've never liked that bathroom and always planned to completely remodel it once we had the funds to overhaul the second floor. That plan was hatched seven years ago and needless to say, nothing happened to turn that plan into reality.

So, it seemed only natural that if the plumbers were going to have to come and fix the shower, why not tear out the hideous vanity and put in a cute pedestal sink? While picking out said sink at Home Depot, we discovered they had a matching toilet! Sure, why not get that one, too.

Well, if we replace the sink and toilet, the shower will look hideous so you guessed it: a new shower was in order. And once a new shower is in place, simply painting the old tile floor is no longer such a good idea so let's splurge on tile!

Two months later: our gorgeous new bathroom! I never took "before" pictures because it was just so hideous but the couple in-progress shots give some sense of its past.

All the design decisions came together very quickly. The sink and toilet are Kohler from Home Depot, the faucet is also Kohler while the low white cabinet is from Ikea. The mirror is from Pottery Barn and the light fixture Rejuvenation (bought on sale seven years ago when we hadn't even closed on the house yet!).

The tiles were a splurge from Pratt & Larson and I love how at first glance they look like wood floors. But when you look closer (maybe not quite as visible in the photos), you'll notice a wonderful metallic sheen that makes them look ever so luxurious!

Then of course, there are all the fun finishing touches, like towels (Restoration Hardware) in wood storage bins (The Container Store), soaps (Ink & Peat and Sesame & Lilies), and potted plant (Ikea).

The painting is a piece we bought at Art in the Pearl a few years ago and which hung in my Defteling Design office until just last week.


And the candles on the back of the toilet are totally DIY! My dear friend Amy with Candywinkel makes soy candles, and when we saw these glasses at Ikea, we knew they'd be perfect containers for some custom candles! We cooked up a batch of wax in her studio and I love the way they turned out: the color is perfect and the scent delicious!

So while things snowballed and went way above and beyond what we originally thought, I couldn't be happier with the final result!