Lulu's Designs: January 2011

Monday, January 31, 2011

Inspiration

What inspires you?

I love shopping on Etsy & reading magazines & blogs ~

it's one of my most favorite things to do.

I get inspired, motivated, & entertained from blogs.

Where else do designers get motivation?

(Kelly Wearstler via Google Images)

Nature

(Google Images)

(VWGarden.Blogspot via Google)

(Google Images)

Is this not the most amazing color of blue?

Architecture

Architecture is amazing & inspirational. I take joy in soaking up all forms of architecture.

Whether its basking in front of a Monet or looking at old streets in France or Italy,

I enjoy it!

(Google Images)

Other forms of inspiration are Music, Photography, & Imagination.

Design elements such as Textiles, Shapes, & Color also evoke inspiration.

Dorothy Draper (the Queen of Design) says to pull pictures of magazines,

& use them as a reference. Don't be afraid of color!! "Living without

color is like living without love" ~Kelly Wearstler.

Designer's Guild is one of my favorite places to find inspiration.
The colors, prints, & textures makes my heart melt.
Fabric is deinitely my weakness & where my talent lies.

What inspires you?

some old doors?

an urn?

(interiordecoration.blogspot)
a picture from a magazine?

(image from Paris Atelier)
a pair of shoes?

I wish I knew where I got this photo. It was on my desktop for a long time.

I'm in awe of the french furniture, the pink draperies, & the art on the small side table,

the amazing sconce.... I'm amazed by it every time I look.

I keep a file on my desktop of my favorite chairs, room views, dressers...

Somtimes they change but I'm always inspired.

"Be faithful to your own taste because nothing you really like is ever out of style."

~Billy Baldwin via Josh Taylor

Jennifer Lynette

from

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Jennifer and I have been treasure hunting and boy did we have fun. Usually we plot out our course, but yesterday and today we just drove around looking for garage sales and estate sales and oh my, the treasures we found! We've decided that just winging it makes the experience seem more like a real treasure hunt. Jennifer's driving and looking on her side of the road and I'm riding and looking on my side of the road. We yell, "Sale!" But by that time we've driven by and we have a make a u-turn, but we are accustomed to that!

This is a photo of our car loaded to the gills with our wonderful finds. This sweet little chippy white table was sitting all alone, forgotten in the back corner of the garage just waiting to come home with us.

We have some ideas about what we are going to do with some of the items, but not all of them. Come back to see our plans and then the transformations! (We honestly thought that we would come home and work on some tonight - but we are bone tired from all of that shopping! What were we thinking?!?)

Giveaways Galore!

Lulu's is excited to announce we are having our first giveaway at 52 Flea's Blog!!

Two of 52 Flea's readers will receive an Industrial Silvered Glass Bottle! We are also running a special sale on the bottles on our Etsy Shop.

The Flying Bee is also having a spectacular giveaway!

I love this bag! I adore the French graphic on the front.

AND...

... a lavender soy candle.

We would like to thank Laura for hosting the give away for the silvered glass bottles.
Thanks Laura - you are wonderful!

Friday, January 28, 2011

So - Who Are We?

Hi Y'all - Paula here!

So, are we Lulu's Designs or are we Southern Shop Girls? Well, we're a little of both!

Google Images

Remember Meg Ryan as the owner of "The Shop Around the Corner" in You've Got Mail? We love that movie! Meg's character, Kathleen Kelly, used "Shop Girl" as her screen name. We couldn't be the shop around the corner, because we aren't in a physical shop, so we decided to be Shop Girls and then we added the Southern because we are proud of our Southern roots. These days the URL address that you fancy may not always be available on the www. Apparently there are lots of ladies who want to be "Shop Girl"!

Google Images

That brings us to Lulu's. My mom's middle name is Lou. She has dementia and it's a very sad disease. Recently, she asked me why I didn't name Jennifer after her and call her Lou Lou. (It took her thirty years to ask me that!) I must admit it never occurred to me to use Mom's middle name. So in honor of my mom and Jennifer's grandmother, we decided to use Lulu. Back to those pesky URLs. Tons of ladies like Lulu's too! We had to do some quick thinking so we combined the best of both worlds. Our Etsy shop and blog title are Lulu's Designs. But we are Southern Shop Girls. Is everyone thoroughly confused? =) Hope not!

Google Images

In You've Got Mail everything worked out in the end. Boy got girl, girl got boy and they lived happily ever after. Lulu's and Southern Shop Girls will work out in the end too and we are hoping for the happily ever after! On Etsy our URL is Southern Shop Girls but our blog URL is Lulu's Designs. We tried and tried to find some better combination but this is the best we could do!

Jennifer and I are preparing for our space at Old Henry's Farm in, Round Top, TX - the biggest show on earth for the antiques show in late March, early April! As we find things to take and gussie them up, we'll post befores and afters and get your two cents worth. This is all new to us - so help will be appreciated! We have sold antiques and vintage items before but that was a few years ago before all this painting became "the thing" to do. We are changing how we look at things.