Gold and Light

Gold and Light

I have a real thing for gold leaves right now. It started with the lantern, but as I was thinking ahead to the holidays I liked the idea of using gilded fall leaves with candles for this year's late Thanksgiving, which is also the second day of Hanukkah (Challah stuffing), and continuing the look through Christmas and into New Years, when I'll be hosting a fancy dress party for Adam's 40th birthday. I love the understated look of naked wood, white ceramics and gilded bits of trees. They are neutrals that play with light, and when you add a secondary color, like crimson red for Christmas or a royal blue for New Years it completely changes the mood of the design. I felt pretty validated about my obsession when I got the new Dwell Studio catalog in the mail yesterday and this was on the cover:

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The Fallen Leaf Lantern

The Fallen Leaf Lantern

I don't know if I ever formally announced this on Poppy Haus, but I started a visual display internship with Anthropologie last month; the best part of which is the opportunity to create three dimensional art installations out of ordinary materials "as a job", because as you know, I really like doing it for my home. Today's post has been in the works and a little delayed because of my ever tightening schedule with school, interning, blogging and kid wrangling.  I am very excited to share this new paper lantern project, particularly because it's a project that you can do with kids, at least the leaf collecting part (we got our leaves from Jasper's school). The lantern can hang from a string or can be illuminated with a light cord. Here are some more pictures and a tutorial. 

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Round Too

Round Too

Confession.  I sold my cupcake paper chandeliers in successive transactions on Etsy last month, and because I was going out of town when the orders were placed, I literally sold the pair hanging from my ceiling.  I meant to replace them, but I also wanted to try out a new idea I had for a larger, single chandelier for our new dining room space in Petaluma.  Using the same technique as the Anenome version, this time using 3" deep wrapped parchment paper baking cups, I paired the chandelier with a red fabric cord and ceiling fixture from West Elm. I left off the center papers on this piece, because the light is much more diffused.  To tell you the truth, I like this one more, and I think it looks more like the Rhododendron chandelier from Anthropologie.  For the tutorial, just reference the original post.

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Piece Of Work

Piece Of Work

I did some much needed housekeeping on the site today.  I've finally logged enough entries to really categorize things.  It's been seven months since my first post, I've been through two names and taken about ten thousand pictures. Now comes the time for me to start submitting some of my projects to the big blogs and I want to ask which one has resonated the most with you?  Your feedback is really appreciated!

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