Andrew and I have decided to sell our wonderful little condo and I figured I'd post some pictures in case any of my readers happen to be looking for an adorable one bedroom in Cambridge!

E-mail me for details/price/all the goodies.

Happy Sunday!

It's been a while since I last posted...sometimes life just gets busy. But while entertaining a move to a bigger home, I've been on the prowl for some modern design classics that would be worth investing in....but sometimes, cost is prohibitive no matter how valuable an investment it would be. A good, quality knockoff is just a smart bargain! For example, take the ivory leather Mies Van der Rohe Barcelona Chair (left). I would KILL for a pair of these in my living room, but at $6,000 a chair for the original, it's just not going to happen unless Andrew wins the Mass Millions. However, I found a great all-leather replica (right-with the ottoman!!!) for $576 on Designer Seating. Almost identical.

After seeing a group of such bright, young students have their lives cut violently short this week, I wanted to post something supportive and positive for those in the college community. The Savannah College of Art and Design is a wonderful insitution brimming with the design world's next stars. They have set up a e-shop for the students to sell their crafts, from paintings to pillows and handmade candles. It is a energizing site full of unique, beautiful works of art of all kinds. I particularly like the Working Class Studio pieces.

-erin gates, 2000

This post has nothing to do with the curve of an armchair, weave of a rug or the perfect centerpiece...but I just feel like posting some of my favorite inspirational quotes because it's just one of those days. Mother Nature seems to be ignoring the memo that it is springtime, and so the cold, gloomy days of the Northeast spur me to try to make light of this frigid nonsense. And since I am a complete quote addict, it pleases me to do so. Happy Wednesday.

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly." -Buddha

"If you are going through hell, just keep going" -Winston Churchill

"Whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should..." - Max Ehrmann

"Finish each day and be done with it. you have done what you could. some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. tomorrow is a new day. you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Happiness consists in realizing it is all a great strange dream." - Jack Kerouac

"I beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. do not search fo rthe answers, which could not be given you now, because you would not be able to live them. and the point is, to live everything. live the questions now. perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." -Rilke

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face... do the thing you think you cannot do." -Eleanor Roosevelt

If you look around the walls of your apartment/condo/house and still see a framed print of Van Gogh's "Starry Night", now is the time to take it down. In an attempt to replace my reproduced art with real art, I have taken a liking to antique prints: botanicals, eggs, nests, seashells and the like. Groupings of these types of prints look so sophisticated when presented in simple identical frames and mattings.

The best source on the internet I've found for prints such as these is Panteek. It is a virtual library of every kind of vintage print imaginable.

For frames there are endless sources, Ikea always being great for going the quick and cheap route. But check out the Gallery frames from Pottery Barn and the three dimenional box frames from West Elm for a more substantial, modern take on things.

So keep your eyes peeled! If you see a run down chair with great lines, imagine it in a modern fabric with a fresh coat of paint. Something old may be that "something new" you're looking for.

And this bouncy chair that looks like it came from the design desk of Kate Spade (brought to my attention by my uber-chic, very pregnant designer friend Julie Richard):

Now, for a family "shout out". Circa Trade is my husband's cousin Courtney's fantastic antique store in Hudson, NY, with an equally charming website www.circatrade.com. She is one of those individuals who has clearly had taste and a keen eye for design from birth. Endlessly talented, she fills her shop and site with unique items she collects on her many adventures around the globe. The chinese laquered shutters above are now hanging in my living room, and this stool to the right is on my wish list. Business is booming for her after a mention in my very favorite interiors magazine, Domino as well as the NY Times. Take a minute to look around. It's always best to have something in your home that not everyone sees in the new issue of the Pottery Barn Catalogue.

After a Sunday spent organizing my closets after a whirlwind shopping spree at H&M (which has fantastic things for spring right now), I was thinking about getting my desk ready for my influx of work (wishful thinking?) Then I came across www.seejanework.com, a fantastic site teeming with fabulous, stylish organizational desk accessories. Somehow having a jadeite jar to put your paper clips in and a fabulous wire in-box makes working more fun.

So, I've got a logo, business cards on order and a dream that this little venture will grow into a career for me. Having been raised by an aesthetically minded architectural designer father and always stylish mother, I feel that I would be denying my heritage to not give this a go. Previous jobs as an art "gallerina", interior design assistant and event planner have lead me to a place in my life where I can take the skills I've learned and focus on the parts of those careers that made me feel inspired and alive...and do it on my own. So here I am. If you have a room that needs sprucing up or a dinner party that needs a little something special, you know where to find me.

I wanted a name that represented how I feel about design, and immediately I thought "I always want to be in my element, surrounded by things that make me smile, that have a story and make me feel at home" So I went with it.

My approach to styling is this: it should be fun. It should be a process. It won't be right on the first try all the time. It should not intimidate you or make you feel overwhelmed and anxious. The desire to create spaces and events that reflect who you are inside and out is why I have started this company. I want everyone to live a life of style, not just the upper crust with the big checkbooks.

So pass this blog along, as well as my e-mail erin@element-interiors.com and hopefully, someday, look for me in the pages of Elle Decor.