Wednesday Five - 14

Happy Wednesday everyone. We have a great round-up of what’s been going on at Gray Oak Studio this past week. It’s been another busy one for us, sending our little ones off to school and beginning so many new and exciting projects.

1. We hit 1,000 followers on Instagram!

2. We had a fun, little photoshoot. Not for any completed project, but for us! Some new headshots for our website and social media accounts. Big shout out and thanks to Callan Photo for taking our photos and pretending like all people are THAT awkward when having their picture taken. If you follow us on Instagram…if you’re one of the 1k…you got to see some of those truly awkward behind the scenes moments. Stay tuned for more on this in the coming weeks.

3. If you don’t follow Copy Cat Chic, you should. It’s a website/social media account that finds the copy cat (less expensive) version of the hottest home furnishings and decor out there. Here’s a great example:

I subscribe and get a daily email of the copy cat of the day, I find it easier than following them on IG because I don’t want to miss a post!

4. Sonia went to the Brimfield Antique Flea Market, which is one of the biggest and bestest flea markets in the region. She saw so many goodies and scored a bunch for our clients! Here are some images from our Instastories:

5. And I got a new bag for fall. I love it. I LOVE IT (I just sang that as I wrote). I was really torn on what color to get and ended up going with the camel, which is gorgeous, but I also love the taupe. I’m still in the phase where I need snacks, diapers and wipes with me at all times and this gracefully handles it all. Is there ever a phase when snacks at all times isn’t necessary?

Sorry to be brief this week. The stomach bug crawled its way into my house, despite being firmly told NEVER TO COME BACK - back to school germs have arrived - and my blogging night has been intermittently interrupted by sanitizing sheets and scrubbing everything and questioning whether I’m nauseous or paranoid.

Until next week!

- Leah

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Wednesday Five - 13

It's the 13th edition of Wednesday Five and a lucky one it is! If you follow us on Instagram or Facebook, you know we had a pretty incredible week. So, let's jump to it.

1. We were featured in the new West Elm catalog!!! Guys. GUYS. Cue confetti. Cue trumpets. Cue extremely high pitch screaming.

We're on page 29. The photo is from our Southend Project where we used two West Elm modern weave storage baskets under a console table.

For a growing business like ours, this kind of national feature is truly indescribable. We are just so grateful. And feeling just a little, tiny bit famous.

For other designers and Instagram influencers (and any other curious folks out there) - here's how it happened: About a year ago, when we finished our Southend Project, we posted this photo on our Instagram feed.

West Elm commented on the post and asked if they could share our photo on their account. In order to say "yes" we simply had to reply to their comment with the hashtag "#mywestelm". Of course we immediately did so. And then...nothing happened. As far as we're aware, West Elm never shared our photo on their feed. And we forgot about it. Since then we've been asked to "reply yes" by using a hashtag many times by many different brands. We always do and one time our image was even shared by Wayfair on their instastory, which felt pretty major at the time (last fall). All of this is to say, we were never given formal notice (or informal notice for that matter) that our photo would appear in the catalog. Moral of the Story: use those hashtags and look through your catalogs!!!  

2. Contrary to popular belief, being lazy is a good thing. According to an article on Times.com, being lazy...truly lazy...doing literally nothing...is when our creative juices start flowing and subconscious problem solving skills take flight. Now I just need an excuse for all the hours of Bachelor in Paradise I've been watching. If you find an article to support my habit, please send it along...

3. I bought a light bulb. Not quite as major as being featured in West Elm, but I think worth sharing. I think. So, I wanted to replace an existing bulb because it was way too dim and way too yellow. I wanted more white and more bright, which is basically my personal design preference for all spaces. The bulb also needed to be pretty because it's exposed. 

I started by reading a great article from Young House Love that gives a great breakdown of those light bulb terms that we've heard 1,000 times but still don't understand: watts and lumens. Next I found an article on LifeHacker.com that suggests different lumens for different living spaces (i.e. brighter lights in the bathroom, warmer lights in a bedroom, etc.). 

I did a little searching and review reading and landed on these guys from Amazon. 

I'm really happy with the look and the function. 

(Here is a link to the light fixture for those who have been asking!)

4. If you're a knitter or crocheter or you want to become either, I have 2 great follows for you. First, you have to check out www.allaboutami.com. It's written by Stephanie (not Ami!) and it's a wonderful. Stephanie creates patterns that are current and wearable, a true feat in the crochet world as so much of crocheting is all about the granny squares and the doilies. Her stuff is truly cool and her patterns are free. Amazing. I'm also obsessed with Purl Soho, which is a brick and mortar store in NYC with an awesome blog. The blog also contains tons of free, gorgeous patterns. 

5. Elle.com has rounded up the nail polish trends currently seen on the runway and here are my favorites.

Dove Gray by Zoya - This might be my favorite

Skinny Dip by Essie - So classic and the sparkle on the tips is amazing

Licorice by Essie - I went through a black nail polish phase about a decade ago (when Lincoln Park After Dark by OPI was suddenly everywhere...including my nails) and I could happily revisit that moment

Have a great rest of your week!

- Leah

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Wednesday Five - 12

I first want to say - THANK YOU! Thank you so much for reading this blog and following along and supporting us and hopefully enjoying our client (and personal) projects and our weekly potpourri of thoughts. We had a flurry of comments on last week's Wednesday Five and it was so flippin' exciting. So, again, thank you!

If you're new to the Wednesday Five, I'll fill you in. Every Wednesday, we post about our past week. Anything interesting that we've been up to, whether it's a recipe we tried or a new television show we're watching. We pull together sales roundups and share insight about our favorite home design trends. It's a little bit of everything.

And now, all the fun and truly random stuff we've been up to.

1. Free Printables

It occurred to me recently that not everyone has heard of The Little Umbrella, which is truly devastating...somewhat for The Little Umbrella and mostly for you. It's an awesome resource for DIYers and party hostesses alike. It offers free printables for all sorts of stuff - baby shower games, Valentine's Day cards, nursery art, and a whole lot more. And it's all beautiful and even feels boutiquey. Many of the printables are also customizable. For, example, the colors and the letter/name in the print below are all customizable. So fun. It's the sort of website you can really get lost on and there goes an hour...or two.

2. Back to School and Labor Day Sales

There are a ton of sales happening now and coming this weekend for both "back to school" and Labor Day. Anthropologie has an extra 20% off sale items. H&M has free shipping on orders over $40 with code "0040". Target has a ton on sale with an additional %15 off select home items, including rugs...and we rounded up a bunch for you.

Top left counterclockwise (ish) - black and white chevron / home / home sweet home / navy and white plaid / green and teal tassel / beige and multi pom pom / jute / blue jacquard pattern

3. Peach Cobbler

Not last weekend, but the weekend before, was the annual peach festival at a local farm and I went peach picking with the fam. It was a lot of fun. But, the peaches were rock hard. Like - don't drop that peach because if it lands on your toe your gonna be in a world of pain - rock hard. But, we shrugged and picked a whole bunch anyway. We figured they would ripen in a bowl on the kitchen counter over the next week.

Then, my husband's coworker gave us some great advice - put the peaches in a brown paper bag and put the bag in the fridge. It turns out that if you let rock hard peaches ripen in a bowl on the counter it'll take forever and they might go bad before they get ripe, which almost doesn't make sense, but is apparently true. We followed this wise coworker and a week later had perfectly ripe, unspoiled peaches. One problem solved, but another problem immediately upon us because they were all perfectly ripe at the same time. Who can eat that many peaches?! And so, I made peach cobbler. I found a really easy recipe (here). I'd love some recipe suggestions for how you use a dozen perfectly ripe peaches. 

4. Armchair Expert - New Favorite Podcast

I recently discovered a new podcast: Armchair Expert. It's a big winner. The premise is really simple: Dax Shepard interviews fellow actors/singers/entertainers. They get really deep at times and really raunchy at times and really funny almost all the time. Dax has a really organic way of pulling unfiltered thoughts and stories from his guests. My favorite episode thus far is with Mila Kunis. Although the first episode, with his wife Kristen Bell, is really good too. They're all about 2 hours long so I find myself listening in 20 minute snippets while I'm doing the dishes or folding laundry. It's NOT kid friendly, so don't attempt to listen in the presence of small ears.

5. Behr Color of the Year for 2019

A few week's back we shared the PPG color of the year for 2019 - nightshade, a deep, dark green. Well, Behr has officially announced its own 2019 color of the year and it's on a little bit of a different page. It's called Blueprint and it's not as moody, although still saturated. As more and more brands announce their 2019 colors, it'll be fun to see if there are trends.

That's all for this week. By next week's Wednesday Five, we'll be officially back to school around here. Hard to believe the summer is officially over. Well, almost - enjoy Labor Day weekend! 

- Leah

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