{blog love} this week i love…

Enjoy your long 4th of July weekend – be safe, have fun, and celebrate this great country!

Here’s a bit of what I enjoyed this week in the blogosphere…

Design & Decor:

Spunky, colorful Brooklyn loft – {design|diaries} – totally fun, and totally bold…love the rustic beams and blackboard painted wall with colorful frames (and the animal heads draped with jewelry are pretty fun too!)
Collection of lovely, serene bedrooms – {Haven & Home}
Cutest cottage – {Blue Hydrangea} – love the inside, outside, everything!
Interview with Vicente Wolf – {Material Girls} – love his work!
Houses of Newport, RI – {Things That Inspire} – a collection of really lovely Newport homes
Plantation panache – {Blueprint Bliss} – pics of beautiful Reynolds Plantation down in Georgia
Great home buying tips – {Young House Love}
Fantastic foyer – {elements of style} – I love everything about this foyer (except for the faux stone wallpaper) – so glam and yet comfy
Stunning formal living room (+ gorgeous Visual Comfort lamps!) - {Material Girls} – I just love everything about this living room…and am happy to have found a new lighting resource!
South African designer John Jacobs’ work - {Porch Light Interiors} – really beautifully done interiors (and happy reminders of our trip to South Africa a few years ago)
Purple room makeover – {La Jeune Marie} – love her lilac and chartreuse “mental re-do” of her in-laws’ “purple people eaters room”
Quirky and bold beach house – {Haven & Home} – so many fun elements in this beach house, I can’t name just one!
What a wallpaper round-up! – {Tobi Fairley} – loving all of her favorite wallpapers!
The Youngsters solve another design dilemma – {Young House Love} – they do another awesome job incorporating what the room already had to create a traditional yet Anthropologie-like room
New chandelier install - {Small & Chic in C’ville} – loving this gal’s dining room re-do and especially her new chandelier from Shades of Light
A country BBQ – {Eddie Ross} – I just can’t get enough of his table settings…he is quite the host!
White, classic kitchen (to die for!) – {La Dolce Vita} – love this kitchen (Laurie – check it out!)

Recipes:

Garden Recipe: Lemon Dill Salmon & Butternut Squash – {Fly Through My Window} – looks easy peasy and deeeelish!
Fruit pizza – {urban grace interiors} – can you say yum?!
Cherry brown butter bars – {Smitten Kitchen} – can’t wait to try this with cherries so cheap right now!
Walnut pesto – {Heart of Light} – I’ve never made pesto with walnut but now want to try!
Cardamom rose cocktail - {design*sponge} – Husband loves cardamom so we might have to try out this drink (albeit very girlie!)
Corsican omelet – {Savour Fare}
No-fail sangria – {Eddie Ross} – we made this yesterday and it was delicious!!! – definitely no failure here
Pink salty dog – {elements of style} – yummy cocktail made with grapefruit juice
Strawberry frozen yogurt – {What’s Kookin’ in Kara’s Kitchen} – definitely going to try this one!
Summer salads – {Smitten Kitchen} – can’t wait to try all of these salad recipes!
Thai pork with peanut sauce (in the crock pot!) – {Savour Fare} – yay, a summer crock pot recipe!
Light brioche buns – {Smitten Kitchen} – THIS, my friends, looks to be a fantastic hamburger bun recipe! – can’t wait to test it out!

Crafts & Projects:

Making pillows out of designer napkins – {Blueprint Bliss} – LOVE this idea to make fancy shmancy pillows using designer napkins…no cutting, just sew!
Silhouette pillows – {Brooklyn Limestone} – Mrs. Limestone is at it again with another classy and chic project…which I definitely plan to do one of these days (and aren’t her Christmas cards amazing?!)
Free printable stationary set – {Creature Comforts}
DIY lampshade – {Urban Nest}
Freebie 4th of July paper goods – {Twig & Thistle} – sparkler holders, matches, and drink labels for the 4th!
Free printable labels & tags – {Creature Comforts}
Fancying up a corkboard with linen and upholstery tacks – {everything LEB}
The 5 C’s of photo styling – {mint} – I definitely need to put these tips into practice…
Pallet daybed – {design*sponge} – wow, what a COOL idea to make a daybed out of pallets!…and check out the door for a headboard and the colorful ceiling decoration