Weekend Links

Happy Saturday! We only have one more weekend to go until we’re wheels up in route to London! I can’t adequately describe how happy we are to having a trip on the horizon. We haven’t had a vacation in over a year, with the exception of taking a few days off last summer to paint the house. We both need a break from work and an opportunity to explore a new-to-us city. I’ve been going back and forth on booking reservations for tea at Sketch. It’s obviously an Instagram favorite and the tea service does have good reviews, but I’m not sure if spending the equivalent of $160 is worth it for a photo opp when I’d be just as happy with street food. Other than that, we’re in fairly good shape with our itinerary and we’ll be putting the finishing touches on it this weekend.

We’ll also spend time around the house this weekend putting our spring projects in motion. One of the biggest things we’d like to tackle is our outdoor space. Last summer, our lawn was mostly made up with weeds, which normally doesn’t bother me as long as it’s green, but we want to whip things into shape this year and create an outdoor area that we want to spend time in. We raked the leaves this week and picked up all of the sticks that fell over the winter. We also ripped up the landscape fabric that the previous owner put down over the entire perimeter of the yard for some ungodly reason. It looked awful and you’d see pieces of torn fabric in the yard, especially after mowing. Now that that’s gone, we’ll put down grass seed and see if that takes. We do need to have four trees removed when we get back from our trip because they’re infected with emerald ash borer. I was initially upset that four mature trees need to go, but they’re dying and removing them should give our yard a lot more sunlight in the afternoon. (Plus, one that’s getting taken out drapes over our deck and spiders randomly fall out of it. Ew.) After that, we’ll look to paint or stain our front porch, stain the deck, and buy outdoor furniture. Phew!

Weekend Links:

I’m smitten with Clare Elsaesser’s art. I’m contemplating this print, this one, or this one for our home.
You’ll be surprised to learn what color the Eiffel Tower was originally painted.
This bathroom is seriously inspirational. I love how the different tiles work together to create a cohesive space.
A roundup of spring cocktails to try.
Fashion photographer Bill Cunningham wrote a secret memoir that will be published this September. You can pre-order it here.
Jessica’s roundup of every outfit she wore in Australia is giving me major wanderlust.
This chair is amazing.
I really dislike our kitchen. The walls have an awful textured treatment, the floor is outdated linoleum that looks like river rocks (seriously), and the counter is a speckled brown that hides just about every crumb and spill (great, until you clean and realize it was dirtier than you thought it was). We don’t want to invest too much in a remodel, so we’re just looking at doing cosmetic changes. One will definitely be painting the cabinets white. I’ve bookmarked this post with step-by-step directions for doing it right.
Gray Malin wallpaper is a thing!
My style icon, Iris Apfel, now has her very own Barbie! While I won’t be purchasing the doll, I did just order her book.
16 of the most beautiful streets in the world.