And they're off!

It’s officially Derby Week in our hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, and we couldn’t be more excited about it. We’re dusting off our hats, perfecting our mint julep recipes, and placing our bets on who will be first to the finish line this year. To help get everyone in the mood, especially those who might be unfamiliar with Derby fever, we’ve compiled a list of a few our favorite equestrian-inspired ideas for home décor. Just always remember to hang those horseshoes in the proper u-shape so the luck doesn’t run out!

A Photo Finish

Equine photography has been as beautiful as its subjects for decades. A pretty collection of black and white or sepia-toned images in a variety of gallery frames is a neat way of adding a little horse heaven to your walls or art collection. Large-format images over a mantle can make quite the statement as well. 

Photo credit: suemariedesign

Blue Ribbon Collection

Offices or bedroom shelves as fun places to add some tack room taste. Try lining your shelves with vintage show ribbons, equine figurines, and riding helmets, or hanging old leather bridles on coat hooks. Show ribbons are fun draped on lampshades as well. Leather riding gear brings an Old World look and lovely aroma to any room of the home. 

Photo credit: suemariedesign

The Youth Class

Traditionally made metal or wood rocking horses, particularly vintage or vintage-inspired ones, are darling additions to children’s playrooms or bedrooms. They are not only stylish, but fun toys that DON’T involve any of that pesky screen time we are constantly tearing our kids away from.

Photo credit: houzz.com

Run for the Roses

Traditional julep cups are handy for a whole lot more than a fancy cocktail. They make beautiful flower vases as well. During Derby Week, we like to fill these with arrangements of red roses, in honor of the rose garland the winner of the Kentucky Derby has draped over his or her withers in the famous Churchill Downs Winner’s Circle. They are fun year round though, and look just as pretty with hydrangeas or tulips.

Will you be watching the Kentucky Derby this year? Any good picks to share? 

Earthy Interiors

This past Monday, April 22 was Earth Day. Though we’re a bit tardy to the party, we still wanted to celebrate by sharing some ideas for how nature can enhance more than your backyard. We love using everything from pinecones to seashells in our home décor, but house plants are an easy way to bring a little earthiness back into the home.

Choosing the Perfect Plant

Photo: designsponge.com

The right house plant can soften the right angles of rooms and add a sculptural element to the décor, and many do so with minimal care and attention. But it’s important to make note of a few things before heading to the garden store to pick one out. Pay attention to where you’d like to put them, then consider the quality and duration of light in those spaces, as well as how much water and attention it will require. If you have pets or small children, make sure to ask about toxicity risks as well.

The Perfect Plants

Photo: marthastewart.com

The options are truly endless, but we love philodendrons, which thrive in living spaces with full or partial sun and super-aerated soil (three parts soil mix to one part mulch), excellent drainage, and weekly watering. Bromeliads are multipurpose and make great substitutes for cut flowers on a dining room table. Spider plants have a lot presence as well, and tolerate a variety of temperatures and lights.

Potting the Perfect Plant

Photo: designsponge.com

Photo: designsponge.com

There are probably more options for potting your indoor plants than there are actual plants. Simple ceramic bowls that top the potting soil with moss are an especially easy and earthy way to display your favorites.  But everything from large mugs to unused copper pots  and vintage product cans can make a statement. 

Caring for the Perfect Plant

Photo: marthastewart.com

Every plant requires a slightly different regimen of cleaning, watering, trimming, and fertilizing. Get the full instructions from your local garden store, or try a simple Google search. Keep the tools and solutions you need in a single container. Try a handled wire basket that's easy to carry around as you move from one plant to the next. A mister, some plant food, and paintbrushes from a home-supply store for dusting leaves, garden shears, small pruners, and an absorbent towel are all you really need. 

What are your favorite house plants (or do you prefer those of the silk variety)? How did you celebrate Earth Day this year? 

Big APPetites

These days it seems like we’re all more glued to our iPhones, iPads, Androids and other fancy devices more than ever. These are our go-to’s for everything from phone calls to e-mails to lunch orders. Why not put them to work as you decorate your home as well? We’ve done our research (and blown through a fair amount of our own battery life) and here are a few design applications worth checking out:

Houzz Interior Design Ideas

Price: Free

Shelter magazines are one of our favorite ways to get inspired. But they can be cumbersome, especially as your collection grows. Houzz Interior Design Ideas offers a collection of more than 120,000 professional interior design photos—perfect for getting a little inspiration on the go. If you see an idea you like, you can save it to your virtual idea book and head directly to the store. 

Handy Level

Price: Free

Hanging photographs and artwork on your walls can be a pain. Handy Level makes it just a little bit easier. Rest your iPhone on top of the frame, and it acts as a level. So no more digging through that ancient toolbox.

Home Interior Layout Designer—Mark on Call

Price: $2.99

Prevent measurement disasters, like having a bed frame man handled up the stairs into a bedroom only to discover it doesn’t fit, with Home Interior Layout Designer. Set a room’s square footage in the app, then enter the dimensions of whatever piece you are looking to add. Simply drag it around the room to see where it fits best—if at all. There's even a feature that allows you take pictures of finishes, fabrics, and floorings that you can “skin” on to any item in a photo of the room. Very cool.

Handy Man DIY

Price: $1.99

Handy Man DIY offers detailed how-to instructions and videos for various home design projects, such as installing tile floors. It offers pre-built material lists for a variety of projects, or you can build your own. The app also allows you to enter product prices to get a cost estimate for a project.

JotNot Scanner Pro

Price: $0.99

This one can be useful for a lot more than just design projects. If you’re notorious for losing receipts or important documents, try the JotNot Scanner Pro. When you take a picture of a document—a receipt, for example—this app will turn it into a PDF, and you can save it to your library. It’s also great if you need to sign a document and fax it back—simply sign it, snap a photo of it, and email the PDF.

What are some of your favorite apps, for home design and otherwise? 

The High Points, of High Point

This week we’re packing up and rolling due east for the spring market at High Point. We make the trip twice a year, but it’s always especially sweet in the spring. North Carolina is almost as pretty as Kentucky in April. Here’s a taste of what will be happening in our showroom this time around:

Barstools

New designs, new finishes, new fabrics! We’ve got a few fresh designs about to debut, but we’re also bringing a new look to some of our tried and true favorites, including the Venus and Lindsey stools. We’re also bringing a broad array of styles in lots of different materials—woods and metals in a variety of finishes. We’ve also got some uniquely armed styles that will be on display.

Bedroom

Our solid wood beds and bedroom collections are more popular than ever, so we’ll be highlighting them at High Point this year, in a wide array of light and dark finishes.   We’re also loving the new designs in youth bedroom, and thus will be bringing a lot of samples with us this time around (but don’t worry, there will be plenty of elegant, grown-up options as well).

  

Gaming

Gaming tables always have a little of that old school attitude, but we’re adding a little more traditional flair to a new set headed for High Point.

Occasionals

Lots of new accent pieces—including convenient console tables and mirrors will be dotting our lovely showroom, so if you visit, be sure to take a stroll through every corner.

The High Point show will be open beginning Saturday, April 20, through Thursday, April 25. If you’re in town, be sure to stop by and say hello. We’re located at Center Point, in spaces 112 and 113, at 401 South Hamilton Street in downtown High Point.

Mapping It Out

It’s spring break in Kentucky, but alas, many of us are stuck at our desks dreaming of far off, exotic locales instead of inhabiting them. While we’re in the spirit though, we thought we would share a few fun ideas for turning past travel memories into unique, personal home decorating projects. Maps are inexpensive, and we often return from vacations with loads of them in tow. It’s time to put them to good use.

Simple Wall Art

Photo credit: elledecor.com

The next time you’re thinking of adding a painting or photograph to an empty wall, consider hanging a map instead. Vintage prints of your favorite cities, wall-size illustrations of the world, or well-loved fold-outs from a favorite road trip can all bring graphic and personal punch to a room.

Wall Education

Photo credit: houzz.com

Coming up blank on ideas for the nursery or children’s bedroom? Turn one entire wall into a map of the country or world, and make daily geography lessons fun. Maps are fun and colorful to begin with, making them perfect, interactive decorations for youth spaces. 

Gallery Globe

Photo credit: houzz.com

Gallery walls, while a bit of pain to install, are popular and fun for families and houseguests to explore. Turn a series of maps, perhaps all belonging to a certain trip or illustrating the stamps in your passport, into a gallery wall. Sizes should vary, and colors certainly can, but if you prefer a particular scheme, consider scanning your maps and editing colors through Photoshop to maintain a consistent look. 

Wallpaper Wanderlust

Photo credit: houzz.com

Turn old school atlases or map collections into wallpaper for offices or guest bedrooms. Simply adhere the pages to the walls in what pattern or arrangement you prefer, and turn the savings on wallpaper into the start of your next vacation fund. 

Old and leftover maps also make great wrapping paper for gifts, so always give them a second look before tossing after your next trip. We hope you’re somewhere fun and sunny celebrating Spring Break this week. We wish we were!