Design Crush: Raili Clasen

I love reading about creative people who see the world on a different plane than everyone else. As soon as I spotted this banana yellow piano in Domino, I wanted to see every thing Raili Clasen’s ever designed. Bright color and wild wallpaper are the tools of her trade, and she makes it all look so sophisticated — yet still super fun. It’s very much the definition of “California cool,” and good grief, I wish my house could have a Dutch door like the beach houses she dreams up in Newport.

You know what I noticed? She’s a master at working graphic signs into rooms. Yet it never looks like you just slapped up a “Live, Laugh, Love” sign from HomeGoods on the wall, either. As someone who loves words, this is promising:

We all gotta!! #giveadamn #railicadesign @dominomag 📸 @karynmillet

Not sure which direction to install, but this basically sums me up 😂 #ilikeitwhatisit #railicadesign 📸 @hillycollective

Wish We Were All here! Looove this coaching room at the #surfranch . PS.. We had an electrical panel that had to stay, so we waved our wand (and paintbrush) and voila it's a first aid station-ish😜 #railicadesign #faveproject @kswaveco 📸 @beccatilley @in.stagraham

OH HEYYYYY....Pool house bath coming ALIVE....#railicadesign #dovershores #interiordesign #ericolsendesign @krs_development #somersetproject @pelaez_construction_inc

Earning our stripes all over this #guestroom!! Just in time for the relatives to visit for thanksgiving!!in other news.. the #thanks I have for this past year are piling up.. but it's also been a heartwrenching one, watching these tragedies unfold in our world time after time after time. #praying 🙏 #wecandobetter #imstartingtoday #firedup #railicadesign 📷 @ryangarvin

One minute after I saw his Instagram post of a small print he did, I was texting @mattallen_art like a madwoman.. "Hi I love your blessings can you paint it on a 20 foot wall? Tomorrow good? Ok thanks ba bye." #countyourblessings #railicadesign #artinstallation 📸 @lisaromerein and it's also in the @sunsetmag feature.

Gonna catch me ridin' wordy!! 🎤 #railicadesign #entryway #thegivingtree #ilovewords #customhome @ericolsendesign 📸 @karynmillet @archdigest @cdmhometour #design #neonsign #installation

These fun clients hail from Philly, so really no other option.. #yo Full house tour on @dominomag...link ☝️ in profile #railicadesign #kidsbath #funwithtile 📸 @ryangarvin #SOdomino

OK, I can’t have the Dutch door but maybe I could get inspired by Clasen’s Helvetica “Hello” door signs.

Hello! Brand spankin' new project just completed with the friendliest front door in town. Loads of fun inside this one.. and LOTS more 📸 coming soon..#railicadesign @cynthiachildsarchitect @legacycdm 📸 @davidtsay #beachhouse #newconstruction #customdoor #frontdoorsofinstagram

3 things that make me 🤗... #myboxer #mybike #hello #entryway #lidoisle #sneakpeek #moretocome

Last install day for our Coronado Island project.. this 1927 #dutchfarmhouse totally had me at #hallo ♥️♥️ (hello in Dutch) and I'm so excited to share more of this one ☝️ soon.. #railicadesign #majorrestoration #entry #decking #historicalhome @ericolsendesign #tontzconstruction 👟 @vans x @commedesgarcons

Here’s Clasen’s website for more design stalking!

If Madewell Thinks Crocs Are Cool

I am still fascinated by the rise of Birkenstocks as a “fashion shoe” — and their staying power. We were debating five years ago whether they were ugly cute or just plain ugly, and in the year of our Lord 2020, you can still buy $420 Proenza Schouler x Birkenstock Arizona sandals on Net-a-Porter.

It has to be because in an industry that tries to convince grown women to walk around wearing a prairie dress, we’re just going to take the Ws when we can get them. These sandals so comfortable (in theory, I have yet to buy them). Once Birkenstocks are deemed in style, we can’t go back, won’t go back.

I see your Birks, and raise you a pair of Crocs. It could be quarantine talking, but maybe they’re going to have a fashion moment. There have been some fits and starts in years past, but maybe now it’s catching on. I submit to you two pieces of evidence: Madewell stocked a pair of spiffy white Crocs on its site under the “Labels We Love” section and they’re pretty much sold out. I feel like Madewell doesn’t partner with just anyone.

Exhibit B: look how cute quintessential cool French girl Clare Vivier looks in purple Crocs!

Summer work suit. Bags: @shopclarev (Saturday Tote & Petit Bateau) Jacket: @shopmille Shirt: @ayr Shorts: @jungmaven Shoes: @crocs

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

It’s all happening.

A corduroy blazer with a snappy button-down is not how I wore my pair of Crocs. Think more gym shorts, stained tee, general air of giving up.

I remember the day I bought them at DSW. I wanted something to wear when we went camping. Joe was like, are you sure you want to buy those? What about a nice pair of slides?

Nope. I want these grey dish water-colored Crocs.

They came to a sad end. I left them outside on our deck in the August heat and when I went to slide them on, they didn’t fit. Did I have them on the wrong feet? What the heck?

I swear, the sun shrunk them a size! I had no idea. Apparently this is a common problem Croc owners wears run into, since there are Pinterest guides on how to unshrink them. I didn’t google at the time, instead I put them out on the street and someone took them. God speed, Crocs, wherever you are.

The Big Dig

Our yard is 99% weeds. There’s the weird purple bits (henbit apparently), then a healthy smattering of dandelions, crabgrass, and clover, with low-lying vines growing overtop of it all. Every week Joe goes out and mows the weeds and I look for a few obvious ones to pull. It’s an ecosystem onto itself, and the futility of where to begin all comes down on me in after a few minutes of work.

I thought we had a stone walkway to our deck, but while yanking dandelions I discovered that it’s actually a stone patio of sorts. The weeds have devoured the patio completely. When it rains, I can use a dandelion hook and unearth entire pavers as the weeds pull away like a piece of sod. Sometimes I even take the carpet of weeds and “replant” it on a bare patch of dirt.

I feel like an archaeologist! What I don’t know is where the stones begin or end. Is the whole yard like this? Regardless, I can’t stop pulling out large chunks of our weed yard, even though I don’t know if it’s an improvement.

Modern Farmhouse

Ok, now back to frivolous things because we all need a distraction.

Our old house in Del Ray was something else: it was a little rowhouse in terrific location, a fact which blinded us to its many flaws. The day Joe and I moved in, we realized that it didn’t have a dishwasher. File under things that that would’ve been helpful to know.

The house was close to the metro. So close in fact, that it butted up against the train tracks and at 3 a.m., the walls would shake and it would feel like a freight train was right in the next bedroom. My mom was convinced a train was going to derail into our backyard and strike us down while we were grilling.

I broke so many dishes because we had basically a single countertop of work space. The microwave was on a shelf at waist level and one time I tipped up a bowl of hot soup and the entire bowl splattered into the wall (and the ceiling!) and Katie came over and started eating soup off the wall. Normal O’Chapin things.

I really wanted to make this place look nice, despite all the odds, and the vibe that Joe and I could agree on was “Modern Farmhouse.” You know, like a Chip and Joanna project or the Vanderpump Rules kids’ houses.

Of course, I wanted it to be way colorful, like this awesome blogger’s house:

View this post on Instagram

Weekend, have a good one 😘 . . . #weekend #color #splash #splashofcolor #home #dining #zilverblauw #umbra #vintage

A post shared by Liesbeth Disbergen (@sloppopyeah) on Nov 2, 2017 at 10:48pm PDT

We desperately needed storage so I found this cool vintage pie safe from Miss Pixie’s (like the inspiration photo, right?). The note on it said it was straight from a farmhouse, but they could’ve been pulling my chain. It was handmade, that’s for sure. And very fragile. The nice movers just barely got it in the house. This cabinet was absolutely massive.

When we found our current house, there was no place for the gigantic vintage pie safe. But I thought: I wanted it, surely someone else too. Then I did the thing I always do when I’m selling on Craigslist, which is like haggle with the first person who emails over $50 and acting all indignant, then a week later, I’m basically offering to pay someone to take it off my hands (which I ended up having to do with our old couch).

I got close, but by moving day, I had no buyer. And good thing because once the movers tried to pick this thing up, it started falling apart in their hands. It was so sad. They ended up tearing it apart to get it out of the back of the house, and I could barely even look as the glass shattered and the cornice part fell off and oh God, the humanity. It went from farm family (maybe) to D.C. store to me, and I wrecked it.

It was a goner. We left it out for the trash by garbage cans. I could tell it stayed there for awhile, because if I sat on the right side of the Metro car, I could see my sad, broken down vintage farmhouse cabinet out the window as the train passed by, a sentinel and vestige of my home design folly.

It Me

OMFG (Real screenshot from my Amazon wish list stalking). I've found my people. 

New Year's Resolutions, 2009

I've been on an organizing kick, and started pulling old, half-written-in notebooks off the shelf. So amusing to see my New Year's Resolutions from eight years ago. This list could be my resolutions today! I'd replace "start a blog" with "write in my blog" but the rest are spot on. Does this say something about the futility of our attempts every January? Or maybe these resolutions from 2009 are just very general. 

I did accomplish one of these, though! I was obviously trying to play it cool by putting that "Get a boyfriend" resolution second-to-last, when it really always was top of mind. The exclamation point gives it away. As it turns out, it would take me one more year to meet Joe, and I am so thankful everyday to have him in my life.

And just for laughs, check out the top of my to-do list a few pages back from that resolutions page. 

Right, right.