yesterday was a grueling day here at k+o. occasionally, when we’re out, lauren and i will pop in to our local crate and barrel, or target, or restoration hardware to see the products in person that we’re recommending in our moodboards. we sit on chairs, we snuggle with pillows, we’ve even been known to flop on a sofa or two. each item must pass a strict litmus test. it must be comfy. and it must be hot. and we will not accept anything less. that is our promise to you.

so yesterday, we spent the morning doing our intense product testing while touring the new west elm and pottery barn stores in lincoln park. and let me tell you, we worked our butts off for you! it’s hard to snuggle with a pillow while trying to look cool in front of west elm’s creative director, alex bates (who was super nice and friendly, btw).

we loved the stores, both are such a pleasure to shop in, and have tons of new ideas for how to make designing your rooms a heck of a lot easier and more fun. we were totally impressed by west elm’s continued commitment to being eco-friendly, and affordable, and pb definitely had some new tricks up it’s sleeve as well. unique, artisan made products, and more smart media units that make plugging in a heck of a lot more attractive. because, let’s face it, nobody wants to see your wii.

overall, there was a lot of comfiness, and tons of hotness. and you’ll be seeing tons more of the new stuff in our moodboards, if i ever have time to get them posted.

xoxo!

our sweet new client rebecca sent this over, and we wanted to share it with you.  hope you’ll stop by.

we were on WGN this morning! if you did miss it, it’s entirely our fault. we didn’t tell you to go watch. for shame.

lucky for you, this thing called the interwebs is magic. so magic i can’t even make the stupid code embed.  but here’s one of our little segments.

thanks sooooooo much to WGN, Ana, Mary, and Terry, you guys were so much fun! and of course to Allison, our incredible client who let us raid her house and take all the credit, and to our friends at Chicago Home for hooking it up.

(cue exit music)

we wish we could have taken it all home.

the 30 dollar turquoise tweed sofabed.

the distressed leather chesterfield.

the giant, GIANT arc lamp, shining with brassy 70s glamour.

and much, much more.

if you haven’t been, you really must.

my roommate’s eagle-eye spotted this beauty rug at angela adams yesterday…

the name of it? kelly/olive rug!

inspired by our awesomeness? i like to think so.

courtney and i just got back from the most amaaaaazzzing store scouting wallpaper for a client…urban source. if you live in chicago, you should go there. for reals. they have the greatest selection of wallpaper and textiles around. some of it is super pricey (the fabric i liked at 180 per yard) but there’s some more accessible stuff…and it’s fun just to browse.

i did have to pout a little though. it made me sad that i’m a renter and that i don’t have the option to hang velvet flock silhouette wallpaper in my home. and unless i find some single millionaire who’s into portillos burgers, pomeranians, and lost …i’m not sure i’m going to be able to buy a home anytime soon.

anyway….it’s a busy day ’round here but  i will leave you with this…

one of my faves from today…topo choco by pattern tales

DELIGHT!

alert! all chicago readers…be sure to grab the latest edition of chicago home + garden (the one with Mr. Berkus on the front) and read ‘move it or lose it’ by lisa gartner which features an interview with yours truly!!!

the article focuses on redesign and home styling as an alternative to full-scale interior design services. needless to say, we were thrrriiillllllllled to be featured!

not in chicago? can’t find a copy?

check out the magazine in virtual form on zinio. (we’re on page 33.)

thanks again to chicago h+g!!!! love ya!

chairs are the perfect impulse thrift store purchase… functional but pretty, substantial but small enough to fit into out little kelly + olive hatchback. my house already has two too many chairs but i still can’t resist.

looks like i’ve found my people…

chairwhore. a blog about chairs. and nothing else.

from the beautiful and functional to the totally wackadoo, it’s a photo blog of a all things chair-y.

yikes! the hair chair!!!!!

so one of the first things i did in the bathroom was take down the light fixture. i needed to do that to paint, because it was this huge frosted glass and pointy silver thing with a kind of ’90s space vibe (by space i mean OUTER space) and every time i looked at it i could feel the chunks rising in my throat. when i took it down, i noticed that the junction box was off-center, and the length of the fixture’s backplate (i made that word up, but i think it’s descriptive) had been covering it up. the fixture itself was centered, but the back plate was long enough to hide the hole. get what i’m saying?

fast forward to today when i bought a new light fixture at home depot, which was not great, but would serve the purpose, not thinking about the backplate issue. so of course it doesn’t cover the box. it then occurred to me that the previous owner was not in fact a tasteless goon, but someone who chose that fixture because they didn’t want to move the junction box and that was what was available.

so they were like me, but smarter.

it was a humbling moment.

so now i have to scour the interwebs looking for a pretty, modern fixture with a long backplate, or man up and learn how to add a new box a few inches away. since that would involve ripping my newly painted wall apart i think i’ll go for the former, even if it costs a little more.

right now i’m thinking this one:

or this one.

but i think the second one might be weird looking. is it weird looking? please advise.

side note: the mirror is up! and i got it on sale for 1/2 off. so is the shade, which you can kind of see in the reflection of the mirror. it’s lovely. i’m glad too, because i pretty much got them for the whole house.

so, any of you had this problem? find any well-priced, good-looking fixtures to solve it? i’d love to know, so i can copy you, and order them.