kelly wearstler.

if all goes as planned, i'll be meeting this cool cat in space city today:

in the past, i've only creeped from a safe distance so it should be interesting. fingers crossed i don't OD on champagne cocktails and slash or make a fool of m'self.

personal projects: modern and contemporary.

if you're new-ish to this blog, please know that when i'm not buying junk at thrift stores or hoarding craft projects at my house or writing posts that say FUCK FUCK BALLS FUCK Y'ALL*, i have a full-time career as a legitimate interior designer and on occasion, i get to prove those claims with actual photos. it doesn't happen that often, but we just had quite a few homes photographed, which i'll post weekly until i run out, either of pictures or energy; STAY TUNED.

it's fun for me to share these projects, because as i've mentioned, my own personal style is MORE IS MORE / PACKRAT CHIC / HOT ASS MESS OF CLUTTER, and this house, as are most of the homes i design, is not that. not at all, not even kind of. i'm a fucking design chameleon, y'all!

this home is across the street from memorial park and you might recall preview shots from this post way back when aka 2011. it is probably the most contemporary residential project i've worked on in houston, and has stunning views of the surrounding area. our client had purchased a modern home that was beautiful, yet in dire need of some serious updates, so after heavy remodeling, palettes of marble tiles and slabs, wood veneer wallpaper, tom dixon pendant lights and truckloads of entirely new furnishings, this happened. the clean lines of the minimal furnishings really let the gorgeous architecture stand out. exterior photos to follow (hopefully).

*sorry mom, for all the swearing, that occurs 100% of the time when i am not in kansas.

bookcation and boatcation.

“being rich is not about how much money you have or how many homes you own; it’s the freedom to buy any book you want without looking at the price and wondering if you can afford it.”

―john waters

we recently got back from a tremendously fun boatcation (which is old news if you're following me on instagram or twitter), and as with any 'cations of any sort, i did m'self proud in the reading department. fully immersing myself in reading for four straight days was MAGICAL. i have recently been reading in spurts on my iphone or the kindle, but for this trip, i went straight old school with tactile books purchased at the airport.

gone girl-gillian flynn: holy crap ballz; just read it right meow. i promise there is no weird kinky sex going on like the last book everyone on the planet recommended.

a hologram for the king-dave eggers: probably the most beautiful book cover i have ever seen; the story is not bad and really takes you away to a place that-heavens forbid-i'll never have to go.

sense of an ending-julian barnes: highly recommended by b-rad and his dad; probably better reading if you are a dude or an older dude, or don't naturally gravitate to books of the twilight variety, but it was enjoyable and really makes you think about not being mean to anyone ever.

as for the boatcation part (aka TEXAS FOREVER, part one), we flew to corpus christi to meet sugarbear's parents, who had taken their boat to port aransas previously in the week. i'd never actually seen any of the texas gulf coast (especially from the water), and it was amazing, partly untouched by civilization and also full of aquatic super structures, like enormous boats and bridges. daytime bay fishing and max relaxing at night was the only thing on the agenda before heading back to space city, which was a 15-hour trip by boat over the course of two days. to accurately describe the experience, my feelings would best be expressed by reciting the lyrics of any jimmy buffet song, and that is not just because b-rad's dad is a committed land shark drinker and tommy bahama wearer. you really do nibble on sponge cake and look for lost salt shakers and drink boozy blender concoctions all day, while you marinate in the salty ocean air and let the troubles of reality melt away. it's like fancy hillbilly camping at sea and i highly recommend it to anyone who's not afraid of a little skin cancer.

so many dinghy jokes.

TEXAS REDFISH NOM NOMS.

did i mention it was a three-boat caravan? here's the whole crew.

sugarbear would totally be smiling more in this photo HAD HIS FRONT TOOF NOT FALLEN OUT.

furniture problem, aka needlepoint problem.

so yesterday, we got one of those 'we tried to deliver a package but you weren't here so now you have to drive out to bumblefuck to pick it up your damn self' notes on our door. you know those notes-the peach ones? that don't tell you what the package is? and in his knight in shining armor-ly way, sugarbears was like, I'LL GO GET IT TOMORROW!! because he genuinely loves getting the mail more than any person i've ever known, and he is super nice, and doesn't mind going all the way over to the post office, which again, is inconveniently located at the corner of WHERE THE FUCK and RAPEY STREET. b-rad is really the best.

then SB calls me, and he was all, did you order knitting needles or something? and with me, you never really know what kind of wine-induced late night etsy shopping might yield, so it wasn't until later that i found out it WAS MY NEEDLEPOINT KIT. which you may or may not remember from this post. as a refresher, it will someday look like this:

but for now, it just looks like this.

womp womp.

i was super tempted to purchase it already needlepointed, however, the fabric map thingy was $60 and the FIBERS (don't you dare call them yarns, rookie) were an extra $25, plus i had to ship it here from florida, which is where the higher quality needlepoint kits come from these days, so i've already got $92.50 invested in this bad boy. any guesses on how much extra it costs to have someone stitch it on up for you? anyone? anyone? FOUR HUNDRED AMERICAN DOLLARS, that's how much. i mean, that is what i THINK the lady said, but i couldn't really hear her over the sounds of las vegas slot machines going off in my head, thinking about all the money i could be making while sitting on my couch covered in fibers if i were a professional needlepointer.

so y'all pray for me, because if there's anything i'm good at, it is not finishing a project. case in point.

vaya con dios.

although i wasn't born in texas, i did my best to get here as fast as i could, and since the tender age of eighteen have been making a special place in my corazón for all things texan, which includes a no longer surprising amount of mexican influence. of late, my love for things south of the border has transitioned into loco and become a feverish obsession, and this isn't just counting my two chihuahua dog friends (STEVE!). maybe it has to do with the current neon and color gravitation in my life, but i died (and continue to die) over nick olsen's mexican blanket covered chair (which, yes, i know is super old news) and somehow refrained from buying this pair of cactus lamps. this summer, it's been all i could do to not purchase a mara hoffman otomi bathing suit, but when i saw valentina gonzalez wohlers' cactus chairs, the floodgates opened. so here is a post for you on spicy mexican flavor, even though it is not cinco de mayo. arribba, beyonches!

whether it be otomi, sarape, rebozo, faja or huipil, a little goes a long way, but consider these items when adding some pequeña mexicana to your life.

{chairs, multi floor lamp, one piece bathing suit, pillow, blanket, shorts, pouf, black dress, pendant, boots, white dress, yellow pillow, bikini, sofa, dresser (which could be a super easy ikea hack), white floor lamp}