midcentury modern for chairish

i am still mourning the loss of my beloved mad men this week. did you watch? when chairish asked me to put together some of my favorite pieces from their mid-century collection, i immediately thought of the interiors of the 60's and how they informed why i became a designer. when in design school, i admired 60's icon couple charles and ray eames and their love for primary colors. their color palette and designs are timeless and still relevant today. i love that chairish has so many authentic designer pieces that can be used in all styles.

check out my favorites picks here from chairish and sources below. the eames documentary (the architect and the painter) is wonderful and you can see their home was full of color and life.

lady lithograph / skyline silkscreen / lucite chandelier / eames molded plywood chairs / brass hex table / blue tufted sofa / brass magazine rack / herman miller nelson bench / marble brass coffee table / blue landscape / brass pendant / red platner chairs / brass elephant bookends / danish sideboard

i have lots to tell and excited to share about my new nephew, business, and projects. happy memorial day weekend. madeline

travel : road to hana, maui

i have been sharing about our trip to maui, hawaii this week, i shared about paia town already and today - the road to hana! before we left paia, we downloaded an app called gypsy guide, that came highly recommended to us. i wish this app existed for every city; it is a gps guided tour that tells you when to stop and prioritizes sites for you while driving. the road to hana is a famously treacherous, 42 mile drive along the northeastern coast with 600 hairpin turns. have i sold you? this drive took us about six hours because we took our time and stopped every chance we could. this is truly about the journey, not the destination.

we stopped first at the ho'okipa lookout to see the windsurfers and surfers. the next stop was the rainbow eucalyptus trees off the road in a grove - their bark looks like watercolor. love at first sight. next was the garden of eden arboretum, a small nature preserve with peacocks and local flora where parts of jurassic park were filmed. next was the black sand beach at waianapanapa state park; there are beautiful sea caves and you can go for a swim at the beach. there are many waterfalls (upper waikani, wailua) along the way, we stopped in at a few and swam in the icy water. we drove along the keanae peninsula and stopped at a stand for warm banana bread and shaved ice.

along the route, we stopped at the nakihu mile marker for the most amazing fish tacos and famous 'coconut candy.' the last stop was in our little town in hana at hamoa beach where we would stay for a few days. the beach at hamoa is beautiful (one of maui's best) and there are a few restaurants for dinner if you plan to head back. we saved the south coast for the drive back to wailea.

{the first stop - ho'okipa lookout and windsurfers}

{our jeep for the week}

{rainbow eucalyptus grove - my favorite stop of the whole trip}

{rainbow eucalyptus grove}

{rainbow eucalyptus grove}

{winding roads and lookouts on road to hana}

{'garden of eden' arboretum black rock from jurassic park}

{banana bread on keanae peninsula}

{waianapanapa state park - black sand beach}

{waianapanapa state park - black sand beach}

{perfect black sand beach at waianapanapa state park}

{sea caves at waianapanapa state park}

tips:

• download guide before you leave when you have wifi
• take snacks and water with you, not stops till later in the drive
• plan for this to take a full day (early morning) if going there and back (or stay in hana)
• rent your own car if you can so you can stop at your own pace (and fill up your tank)
• convertibles and jeeps are most fun for this drive, be prepared to close to top for passing showers
• bring hiking shoes, towels, and swimming clothes!
• leave enough time to return and don't drive back in the dark (we rented a place and stayed a few days)

{white plumeria everywhere in hawaii}

{last stop at hamoa beach in hana town, pastoral, and beautiful}

xoxo

madeline

coffee + creativity

{coffee + my to do list + a sweet postcard from josh}

coffee + creativity. always the perfect pair. i love drinking coffee and finding inspiration for the day. mornings are my most creative time, when i feel the most possibility and the least overwhelmed. i love this quote below. this can be hard to remember this sometimes when the alarm clock is going off too early or i feel uninspired, but it is a good reminder. when is your most creative time?

{via}

{coffee + pinterest inspiration}

{coffee + floorplans}

all images are from my own instagram. more hawaii posts coming this week and my nephew is due any day now!

xoxo

madeline

diy : shibori dyeing

this winter before it got too cold, i thought i would try my hand at the shibori indigo dyeing trend that i am seeing everywhere. blue is my favorite color and i wanted to use make tablecloths and napkins for parties and specifically, a baby shower. my sister and i tackled this project together and had so much fun. i bought this indigo dye kit and these cloth napkinsto dye. i am so happy with the results and am sharing some of the lessons we learned.

{indigo dyeing kit, wood blocks, and rubber bands}

{napkins folded six ways}

{the 'bloom' on top of the dye bucket}

{mixing in soda ash}

View fullsize

{wet bucket, dye bucket, and rinse bucket}

{post dyeing dry out - start as green and fade to blue}

{the results after unrolling}

{hanging on diy rope line}

{six different designs}

{tablecloth hanging to dry}

{tablecloth design made with woodblocks}

this turned out to be a really quick and easy diy, and now i have some beautiful textiles to use. thanks natalie for your help! a few tips:

• make sure to buy more rubber bands and more wood blocks than are in the kit. we used a large bag of rubber bands and made some large wood blocks for the tablecloth design.
• spend the time to get everything set up before starting - the lines, the rinse buckets...so you can quickly dye and hang.
• if doing a large amount of fabric, use large clean five gallon buckets.
• dip into the dye more than once. we only dyed once and the colors fades when dry. they will look very dark at first, but only because it it wet.
• wash in the washing machine once after dyeing process with no detergent on cold.
• these two tutorials are really great for folding designs. (one and two) i also made up a few of my own designs.

there are endless possibilities. be creative and enjoy!

xoxo

madeline

travel : guide to paia, maui, hawaii

this week i want to share some of my travel photos from our trip to hawaii in november. with the ice and snow around the country, we are all needing to mentally be somewhere else today, somewhere warm! to celebrate finishing my husband's architectural exams and our third wedding anniversary, we booked a trip to maui in november. november is considered 'off season' on the islands; prices are lower, but the weather is perfect year round. we did a lot of research before leaving on where to stay on the island, the best beaches, and what to see. i would love to share.

upon landing, we could see the cloud shrouded peak of maui's volcano, haleakala. we planned to take our entire second day to travel the road to hana, a scenic road trip along the east coast of maui, popular for it's winding hairpin roads. we decided to stay in paia town, a small bohemian village near the maui airport (north coast) so we could start the next day bright and early for hana. we did not spend very much time in paia, but it charmed us with it's quaint character and friendly locals. i loved chatting with a girl on the beach who fell in love paia and bought a one way ticket; she moved there and never looked back! i only wish we could have had more time to explore.

STAY:

paia inn - we stayed here, and this boutique hotel won our hearts. paia town is a small, walkable downtown and this inn is right in the center. it was comfortable, small, and beautiful.

airbnb - there are great options for vacations rentals on the island. it is addicting to browse the homes for rent.

DO:

paia bay - this beach was right outside of the paia inn and we spent the morning watching the turtles and surfers. the turtles wash up on shore and they are bigger than i could have ever imagined!

car rental - we rented a jeep wrangler and it was the best decision we made! we chose a location close to the airport for easy pickup before hana.

SHOP:

mana foods - there are no large grocery stores once you get to the east coast, and there are also not many dining options in hana. it is a great idea to stop in to mana foods to get groceries if you plan to stay on the eastern side of the island. so glad we knew to do this. it is like the nicest whole foods you've ever been in; we bought hawaiian coffee, fresh local fruit and produce.

boutiques + art galleries - paia is full of artists and handmade crafts, which makes it a great place to walk around at night and window shop.

EAT+DRINK: 

charley's - we stopped in for breakfast to prepare for the long road trip to hana. there was an incredible bloody mary bar and we had to order the famous macadamia nut pancakes with coconut milk syrup. amazing!

mama's fish house - this restaurant is a must while you are there. although very popular and touristy, the service, dinner and drinks were perfect. it is a beautiful setting on the beach and we sipped mai tais and ate local ono fish while feeling jetlagged.

{surfers on paia bay}

{ginger plant flower}

{passionfruit etching}

{exploring at paia inn}

{colorful outdoor dining at paia inn}

{macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup at charley's}

{exotic fruits at mana foods grocery, rambutan?!}

{mai tais at mama's fish house}

i will be posting guides on hana and wailea this week. i hope you enjoyed the paia guide, and please post any questions you may have about your travels!

xoxo

madeline