Wednesday Five - 21

So, I totally blew off last Wednesday’s blog post. Which you already know…because no blog post came to your email inbox last Wednesday. Wait, you do know that you can subscribe to this blog. Right? To make sure that you don’t miss a post. Right?

Well, if you don’t yet subscribe, I’ll make it super easy:

 
 

Okay, back to last Wednesday, when I didn’t post a Wednesday Five blog post. I must have a lot of guilt because I can’t seem to move on. So, I host Thanksgiving. And that is my excuse. Between food prep, in-laws arriving from out of town, special festive school stuff with the kiddos, it didn’t happen.

But I’m here today!!!

1) This week and last, we posted a couple photos (on Instagram and Facebook) of the foyer from our Hutchins Project. Exhibit A:

 
Gray Oak Studio - Hutchins Project - Foyer
 

Side note: check out all sorts of family room pics from our Hutchins Project in our portfolio.

Back to the foyer. We got tons of comments and questions about those beautiful stems. Well, they’re faux (aka not real…aka totally fake). But they look real. They kinda, sorta feel real. You don’t have to give them light, water and love. And they last foreva.

Now, you know we’re plant ladies. We believe in plants they way most people around here believe in Tom Brady. And Sonia can even keep them alive. But, faux stems have come a long way.

And now, obviously, a roundup. These are stems we’ve used and loved or get great reviews.

Gray Oak Studio - Wednesday Five - Faux Stem Roundup

Top Left, clockwise - 16” Ortata Stems ($9 - on clearance!) / Desert Rose Succulent ($4) / Flocked Snowy Pine Stem ($9) / Petal Leaf Branch ($35) / Silver Dollar Eucalyptus ($18 for 6 stems) / Monstera Leaf ($20)

2) Mary Poppins Returns is coming. I haven’t been so excited for a movie in a really long time. Mary Poppins is one of my favorite movies from childhood and I have a renewed love for it in recent years, watching it with my daughters. Here is the trailer if you’ve missed it.

3) We are still pulling together some additional holiday gift guides (click here for the one we posted over the weekend), but in the meantime I wanted to share one of my favorite gifts from last Christmas. A year later I’m still obsessed with this gift: sheets. Gorgeous, comfy, soft, perfect, sheets. From Brooklinen. They might be a little more pricey then you typically spend on sheets, but first, they’re worth it (seriously), and second, isn’t that the mark of a good gift? Something you wouldn’t buy yourself because the price point is a little much.

Below is the pattern I was gifted.

 
 

4) Carson Kressley spoke our love language in a recent episode of his new show Get a Room with Carson and Thom. Let’s back up and talk about the show itself. The former Queer Eye castmates (Carson Kressley and Thom Filicia) decorate rooms of all shapes and sizes on budgets of all shapes and sizes. It’s on Bravo and, yes, it’s another home makeover show. But a good one. Great for binging.

Anyway, Carson said (in episode 2) that blue can be used as a neutral, not just a pop of color. And he used the term “Bluetral”, which we will start using immediately and often. Blue being a neutral color is absolutely, 1000% our belief. If you’re a client reading this (thank you!) you’ve probably heard us preach this exact concept. We love using blue in our designs. And we use it interchangeably with gray, ivory and beige. Here is an example of blue as a neutral (again with the Hutchins Project!):

 
Gray Oak Studio - Wednesday Five - Using Blue as a Neutral Color
 

To take this idea one step further, where blue is used as a neutral, you can and should feel free to choose another color as your pop. Go for it! And there concludes our design tip of the day.

5) Did you know we have a Pinterest page? We don’t talk about it much. It gets outshined by its dominating, older siblings (Instagram and Facebook). But it exists and it’s worth checking out. We add to our boards ALL. THE. TIME. And we have a bazillion boards that range from “tile we love” to “hostess gifts”.

Until next Wednesday.

- Leah

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