jamie ann

In just a short amount of time sofas have come a long way – once they conformed to a strict sense of design, came stuffed with straw or, if you were lucky, horse hair and cost an arm and a leg to buy. You would probably only ever own one sofa in your whole life. However things turned around in the ‘50s and sofas have seen a design revolution to become as unique, adaptable and fashionable as we are. Not all sofas are created equal, however, with some bearing a distinctly more haute couture hallmark than others. If you’re thirsting for inspiration, here is just a smattering of the weird and wonderful sofas being created today to whet your whistle.

Harrod’s Stuffed Animal
Designed and constructed for Harrods of London, this sofa was made by Alice’s Bear Shop back in 2006 and is made from over 300 of Harrod’s teddy bears. It took two full weeks for Jo Farmer and Rikey Austin to construct the sofa as every bear was hand-stitched on.

Roman Amphitheatre
Created by Italian upholsterer and interior designer Rodolfo Rocchetti, this sofa is meant to ape the look of an amphitheatre from modern times, complete with plush red velvet seating and handcarved back rest.

Tetris
If you were a child, teenager or wayward college student during the dawn of video games, this sofa will be only too familiar. Designed by Stefano Grasselli, this couch is made up of multiple parts that can be taken apart and reassembled in a number of different ways, although if you were a true Tetris fan you’ll know there’s only one way to put them together and win.

Recycled Paper
Believe it or not, this beautiful modern looking couch designed by the people of Flexible Love is constructed entirely from white virgin kraft paper and post-industrial wood waste. It even folds up into a flat structure that can be manipulated and moved to create a variety of different seating options. It might not be the most comfortable sofa on this list, but it’s certainly the most portable and adaptable!

This has been a guest post on behalf of Tesco. It’s also very appropriate because do you guys know how obsessed I am with sofas and chairs?! Seriously. I have a problem.

(Also, I would totally have that last one in my house if possible.)

With the busy lives we now lead in our modern society the line between chaos and effective simplicity is easily blurred. I doubt any of us is a stranger to the “oh, I’ll sort this heap out later” trick. Though all of us, to a certain degree, hate mess, when we lead such hectic lives how can we be expected to keep our homes in order? The trick I’ve found is to have a home for everything. Furniture with interesting storage devices are your friend when it comes to organising your home with minimum effort put in. However, many people struggle with the issue of creating a comfortable, homey living space that is clutter free, yet not clinical.

The best way to tackle this I feel is to adopt clean colours that will urge you to keep them clean. Off whites, light beiges and blues can create a light, airy and spacious environment that will lean towards a new clutter-free existence (hopefully). By teaming this with rough naked wooden pieces the effect is not clinical, but more ‘beachy’ and relaxed.

A favourite of mine is this stunning Marina bench with backrest from Fashion for Home. I love it! Not only is it beautifully simple with its clean lines and criss-cross detailing, it also acts as a fantastic piece for storage with the fir wood drawers bringing a more homey, country cottage feel.

However, don’t think this means there’s no space for your nick-nacks within this new sleeker existence. More often than not it’s everyday rubbish that creates clutter and not your furniture pieces or objects of sentimental value. So, perhaps I should be advising purchasing more bins or a more ruthless attitude when it comes to throwing things away.

This is a sponsored guest post on behalf of Fashion for Home. I have been compensated, but I really do think the site is pretty rad and has some great furniture. You guys know what a design nerd I am.

A new post, finally! But it’s not from me because I barely have time to think about dinner let alone write. BUT! I bring you something better — a guest post about pretty things from the always lovely, Doni! And everyone knows how much I love pretty things and Doni so this is guaranteed to be the raddest guest post on the block. Or internet. Whatever.

Take it away, Doni!

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For those of you who’ve read Jamie’s blog for any length of time know a few things:

• she’s super into Etsy
• she’s from Chicago
• she’s got excellent taste

Me, on the other hand… I’ve always been a little home decor impaired. Meaning, I have a handful of great pictures and framed goodies that deserve a special place on a wall somewhere, but I can never quite figure out how to make it work. Nothing I’ve acquired really has a theme, and I think that’s what makes it so tough to figure out where to put things.

Over the past few months, I’ve acquired two pieces that I especially love – and they’re both reminiscent of my hometown of Minneapolis, MN. As I started paying attention to the things that catch my eye, I’ve noticed that artwork that visually reflects and/or represents a geographical area always gets my attention.

I received this one as a birthday present this year (thanks, Nicole!):

And I found this one from from lindenleaf on Etsy:

There are all kinds of ways of using a place you love to decorate your apartment, especially places known for a lot of landmarks. I’d advocate decorating with your own photos of your favorite landmarks, places, and scenery, but when that’s not an option, these Etsy shops fill in quite nicely:

Transit systems:

[Chicago | NYC]

Landmarks:

Portland, Oregon is nicknamed Bridgetown because there are SO many bridges here. The city sits right on the Willamette (rhymes with “dammit”) River, and is divided in the middle into an east and west side. The bridges are a big part of this city, and they’re gorgeous. I love this print that celebrates all of them:

[Etsy shop]

Vinyls/Decals:

Decals are a great way to add character to your walls and space without putting holes in the walls. Check out this Chicago skyline from urbandecal:

What’s your favorite city, and does your home decor reflect that at all? 

Doniree Walker is a freelance writer/blogger based in Portland, Oregon. Her clients include UMoveFree, a service helping renters find Trophy Club, TX apartments. She spends her free time frequenting Portland’s farmers’ markets, training for her first 5K, and daydreaming about the places she plans to travel. She blogs at doniree.com and nomadicfoodie.com, and you can follow her on Twitter @doniree.

This awesome guest post was brought to you by the lovely Maggie of Red Letter Haze!

A few days before Jamie took off to Vegas she asked me to guest post on her blog. While I’m happy that she handed over the blog reigns to me, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t the least bit jealous. I was planning on joining her, but after the guilt trip I got from my mom & fiancé about spending money on a vacation when I should be saving for a wedding the closest I was getting to Vegas was seeing The Hangover in theaters this weekend (flipping hilarious by the way).

But seriously, my brain must be in Vegas or something because I cannot think of anything worth sharing.

First I was thinking writing about how awesome Jamie is, but you all already know that (but she totally is). I totally have a blog crush on her. And she’s an even better dinner date.

Then I was like, well I can list all the reasons why I’d rather be in Chicago than Vegas. Besides the Printer’s Row Lit Fest and ‘Chicago is the New Vegas’ meetup, nothing earth shattering happened. And the weather sucked. Big time. Last time I checked, it was June not March.  Plus I heard Vegas has a Serendipity, and Chicago is severely lacking in that department. So, Vegas-2 Chicago-0.

So instead I just rambled my way through this post by writing about what I wasn’t going to write about. Does that even make sense?

While part of me wishes I was partying it up with the best of them in Vegas, I know I’ll get to meet many of you in a few weeks here in Chicago.

And I can’t wait for my next dinner date with Jamie so she can fill me on all the details!

Hi everyone! I’m Jessica and I blog at Everyday Adventures. I am your lovely guest blogger today while Jamie relaxes from a fun weekend in Florida (jealous!)

Now, I still enjoy a break from technology, but in the end, it’s good to go home Full of Wifi, Blackberry and cell phone access and functioning laptops.

(Today’s guest post is from the always fabulous Alexa from Cleveland is a Plum. If for some ridiculous reason you don’t read her blog yet, you need to fix that ASAP.)

there are laws against drinking and driving, drinking and boating, drinking under the age of 21, and in some states there are even laws about drinking and bike riding.

but there is one drinking and _____________ law that is missing from the world.

drinking and internetting. 

internetting (it’s a word cause i just made it up), includes instant messaging, emailing, twittering, facebooking, blogging and the dreaded online shopping. this included smart phone internet as well kids. 

cruising the internet while intoxicated is an extremely dangerous act that needs to be regulated, controlled and basically stopped altogether.

i can’t explain how many times i’ve woken up in the morning after a drunken night and looked at my twitter  and seen this…

“omg drinks and shots boy don’t like me no more dance home”

or i got in a silly disagreement with a friends and i decide to post a blog about it from my blackberry at a bar only to wake up in the morning and quickly have to delete it.

hell, right now as i’m writing this? i’ve drank three glasses of wine – thank god jamie is so lovely and trusts me and my buzzed up thinking.

gchatting boys semi-dirty chats? been there.

bought the carpenters greatest hits album on itunes? done that. 

all i know is that something needs to be done to make me stop – maybe i’ll start a non-profit and call it bloggers against drunk internetting. it could happen.

maybe there’s some kind of test that i can set up to take when i log onto my computer after a certain hour. like a really hard algebra problem that only when answered correctly would i be able to access the internet.

who am i kidding? i can’t even do algebra sober!

oh well, until something prevents me from drunk internetting i’ll keep doing what i do best… making a fool out of myself.

Hi!  My name is Tia and I write Clever Girl Goes Blog.  When Jamie asked me to do a guest post for her while she soaked up the rays in sunny Florida, I jumped at the chance.  A feature appearance at The House of Lovely?  Yes please, sign me up.

If you didn’t know (like, as in, you might be living under a rock), the other day was Jamie’s 25th birthday.  She wasn’t ESPECIALLY excited about it, which is something I can totally relate to, although her reasons might differ from mine.

(As in, she’s probably not crazy and doesn’t harbor major phobias about getting older.)

(And seriously?  If I could have, I would’ve sent her balloons and flowers and 19 puppies and Edward Cullen.  But I don’t know where she lives.)

Anyhoodle.  I can sympathize with Jamie about lack of enthusiasm towards birthdays, because mine is next week.

(I accept gifts in forms of jewelry, cash, and ponies.)

Last year, I had a VERY hard time with turning 27.  I dreaded it.  I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was an age that someone ELSE was, not me.  I know that probably doesn’t make much sense, but for me, 27 was iconic and scary.

Now, as I’m staring 28 in the face, and strangely enough, it doesn’t bother me at all.  A couple weeks ago, I was waiting for the anxiety to settle in.  I figured any minute, I’d be chasing Hubs around the house with a knife, yelling “REDRUM!” because he dared to bring up the idea of a birthday party for me.

(Best.  Wife.  EVER.)

Whatever the reason, 28 is looking just fine to me.  I’m embracing it.  It doesn’t scare me.  I’ve bested The Crazy.  28 seems settled, and on the right track.  Sure, it lacks the cute intonations of, say, 23, but it’s not a bad place to be.  I’m okay with it.

Besides, I got carded twice last week, so I figure my age-obsession is all in my head.

(Thank you, cute pizza place waiter!)

In today’s society, when people are completely focused on diets and botox and cougars and wrinkle treatments, it’s no wonder that a girl might get a little sidetracked and not realize the BEST thing about getting older:  MORE TIME TO MAKE FRIENDS = MORE PRESENTS.

So if you find yourself with the birthday blues, just remember that.

And let’s be real, shall we?  The WORST thing about getting older, for me?

Feeling creepier every year about lusting after a seventeen year old undead high schooler.

Thanks to Jamie for letting me hijack her website as she’s out there changing media and journalism as we know it.

I am Michelle Woo of the cleverly titled blog Michelle Woo and in today’s issue of Photo Scanner Fun, I have a somewhat embarrassing confession to make.

I used to do musicals.

Me (center), age 14, in “No, No, Nanette” at my high school. I look so cool.

Growing up, musical theater was my main extracurricular. When I was in elementary school, my parents had me audition for a local song and dance company as 1) they hoped it might help me break out of my shell and 2) I couldn’t throw/hit/kick/catch a ball to save my life. So in front of a panel of note-taking grownups, I sang a shaky “Somewhere Out There,” somehow made the cut, and thus began a life of sequins, red lipstick and jazz hands.

I performed in shows like “Bye Bye Birdie,” the musical rendition of The Hobbit (no joke), and even “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” with the Young and Restless’ Michael Damian and the Broadway cast. I was never the lead or anything, thank goodness. I was always more than content doing heel-step-shuffle-ball-changes and singing my “Ooooh, oooh, ooohs” as part of the ensemble. (Although in “Once Upon a Mattress,” I did get to recite SEVEN WHOLE WORDS as Princess #12. Thank you, thank you. No pictures, please.)

While this was strictly a childhood hobby (shoot me if I ever do adult community theater), I do kind of miss that old life — the delirious late-night rehearsals, the adrenaline, the standing ovations (from my parents). Every now and then, in the car or in the kitchen, my sister and I will spontaneously belt out obscure Broadway show tunes and pretend we’re on the big stage. It’s fun.

So there’s my confession.

Did you ever do musicals? Wish you did musicals? Watch musicals? Make fun of the kids who did musicals? Spill!

Hi, I’m brandy and I write here. Jamie asked me if I wanted to do a guest post for her and I said ‘yes! absolutely!’, because I have it on good authority Jamie will one day own the internet and I want to be on her good side when that happens.

You know when you have an idea that’s so crazy that you have to write about it? Like, that time you decided to go a week only drinking things  from a funnel? Or that time you went to Mexico and got a gang member to explain to you what each of his tattoos meant when you bumped into him in an alley? Or that time you voted *Republican?

That’s what todays post is like. After getting 4 random emails in the last week asking for dating advice, from both bloggers and real life friends, I thought I would impart some tips for the ladies about relationships.  Why is this idea so ridiculous? It could be because I’m currently as single as humanly possible. So much so that asking me for relationship advice is similar to asking Tara Reid tips on sobriety. It’s just a silly idea. But, I thought it would be fun to try and everyone needs a good laugh during a long week. So open up your knowledge basket, because I’m about to fill it up.

1. If a person likes you- YOU WILL KNOW. Stop. Re-read that first sentence. Now read it again. AND AGAIN. Read it until it is carved into your memory, burned into your eyeballs. Read it until you choke on it. Guys don’t play hard to get, so if he IS hard to get? Then he’s not the guy for you. Move along. Trust.

2. Sure, relationships are work but if it’s more work and less play, more tears than laughter, more Ike and less Tina then it’s not worth it. Relationships ARE work, but a relationship shouldn’t feel like a full time job, unless you are getting paid. And if you are getting paid for sleeping with the guy? Then you are a hooker and not a girlfriend and this post doesn’t apply to you.

3. Make up sex is hot, but you know what’s even hotter? Compromising so you don’t argue in the first place. Okay, that’s a lie but you could try it and see if it works for you.

4.”I’m sorry” doesn’t fix things as quickly as “I was wrong” does. But, sometimes it’s nice to hear both, so say each when you mean it.

5. If you have sex in person, you need to dump them in person. If you’ve only had phone sex, you can dump them on the phone, but I assure you, a message left on a machine is just not classy.

Any tips you feel should be on the list?

*Kidding. I promise. I miss politics. Let’s still be friends?

My first guest blogger this week is probably the craftiest, most stylish girl I know. I also totally want her hair. It’s the ever so lovely Kyla Bea! If for some reason, you don’t read Kyla’s blog…seriously, what’s wrong with you? Get to it!

Also it is apparently Delurking Day or something so delurk and say hi. I promise we are all nice here!

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In winter there seems to be more time for dreamy flipping through fashion magazines or vegan cupcake cook books, which means more time for blogs – and my top indulgences are design and street style blogs. I am full on and wholly addicted.

Where I live in Canada, between Toronto and Vancouver, the winter lasts from November to April and is routinely well below the -30°C (-22°F!) mark which means a significant amount of time spent indoors. This year is also the first year that I’ve owned a PVR which has opened a world of TV to me that I couldn’t be bothered to watch before…..suddenly America’s Next Top Model has entered our home.

The word fierce has new meaning! There are more (albeit less political) girls from Alaska! There are hormone injections and
underwater shoots! But between the winter weather, street style blogs, and Top Models I’m feeling all together fashionably sub par this winter.

So in continuation of Jamie’s major fashion offenses, I give you 5 major fashion offenses I have committed in The Great White Canadian Winter. Because sometimes when you have frostbite, you just can’t think straight. And sometimes it’s more important to be warm than to look good.

The Crimes:

1. Painting my nails in pastel, because while the light blue OPI that I own looked edgy in the summer, but it really draws attention to how pale I am in January.

2. Layering with more than one sweater and compensating for massive heat loss due to wearing leggings when I should be wearing snow pants by wearing black long johns under black tights. It keeps the heat in!

3. Wearing snow pants over my skinny jeans. I’m still going to wear skinny jeans even though I’m cold and the internet tells me I shouldn’t! I’m just not going to freeze. Snow pants are cool when you live 8 hours north of Minneapolis, it’s a fact.

4. Rocking oversized men’s flannel and skinny belts. It’s warm. And with ankle boots it can be fierce. Or at least warm & tall. I’m not apologizing for this one.

5. Watching my co-workers squirm while trying to choose their words when complementing my new sweater. Because it’s not a sweater, it’s a pancho. (Don’t worry, I didn’t wear it with tights to work!)

It can be near impossible to look pulled together when you’re staving off frostbite and static electricity – what winter faux pas have you given up on avoiding while there’s snow on the ground?