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Announcing Quin B Studio!!!

July 21, 2010

Today doesn’t really feel like a Wednesday. And even though the wedding is now officially less than 2 months away, I have more exciting news to share with you today.

Quin B Studio finally has a virtual home!

“Come Again?” you say? Well, remember back when I held that giveaway to discuss the new look of Peppermint Bliss, and asked for ideas to name my new decorating business? And then how you kind of thought I was lying because months and months passed and you never heard anything more about it, and nothing changed, and time stood still, and the continents just kind of started floating off of the earth?

Well, I am not going to get into the various debacles that befell the early stages, because Ladies and Gentlemen, Things are LOOKING UP for ol’ Bailey Quin.

First, I decided on a name. Quin B Studio. I liked that it referenced my name, but had the potential to be something larger (dream big!) since it wasn’t just straight up “Bailey”. I also liked the play on “Queen B” and the sound of it, kind of like a foppish, British “Quenby”.

I am still working with a typographer/illustrator to perfect the logo, and with my programmer on linking the page to Peppermint Bliss and hosting my full portfolio.

Which will, of course, feature this before……And after…Truffleberry finally got its curtains, by the way, AND is shortly awaiting the arrival of its new chair friends. So those new pics should be delicious once they are up for consumption!

So there is still a lot to do. But at least for now I have an internet home. And am open for business. If you have any business, sling it my way!

None of this would be possible without the lovely and talented Alaina of Live Creating Yourself:

(Alaina is also the graphic talent behind the much anticipated Rue Magazine)

Who, although I know her personally, I still consider a magical creature because of how quickly she swooped in and saved me from the Graphic Design meltdown I was about to have. Within days of my last frantic phone call to her, she had whipped up the above lovely temporary Quin B Header, business cards, and about 100 different new headers/backgrounds for Peppermint Bliss.

So for those of you who keep saying, ‘what in the samhill is going on with this neverending facelift’, you should be pleased to know I am in more than capable hands and you should be seeing some rad changes around here rill soon. And if you need any graphic design work for your own bloggyblog/business, definitely check her out. She is talented, she listens, and is a blast to work with!

Sincerely though, I really want to thank all of you lovely internet stalkers for reading PB, and for supporting this nubile Decorating Business I have walked way out on a limb to start. It is definitely daunting, and I cannot tell you how encouraging all of your comments and emails are for me. Even if you don’t comment, just coming around here everyday means you are pretty much the funnest ride at the Fair and I love you all.

So what do you think? Do you like the name for Quin B Studio? Do you want to hire me? Do you want to fill out this survey since I am cutting it off tomorrow so I can go through all of your suggestions and make PB even awesomer? Do you need a hug?

20 Comments

Guns don’t kill people-Chairs do.

July 20, 2010

First off, remember a few weeks ago when I told you my friend Helen was coming in to visit for 4th of July?

Well, she moved here. Like, yesterday. And, like, in with us. Into Clifford, our home. Which proves three things.

1. I am a fantastic salesperson/negotiator/dancer.

2. Chicago is awesome.

3. I am really good at running a non-murdery youth hostel. Because-oh, by the way- we have 2 more friends moving in this week. Like our own little Urban Family.

But that is not what I am here to talk about today. That was just FYI. I am here today to discuss dining room chairs. Right now we have a totally fine situation, however our tabletop has recently bowed and when you eat your plate kind of slides into the middle of the table. Which is pretty fun, especially when you have guests, but probably not all that practical. So we got a new one. That very much resembles this:

But now we need new chairs, and I am sort of at a loss.

I have two “accent chairs” that Pete says are not going anywhere b/c he loves them, that look like this:

They don’t actually live at the table, but on either side of our buffet, because Pete the Decorator thinks they look cooler like that.

So natch my first inclination was to not rock the boat and go for these suckers:

But then I was like, meh, kind of boring maybe? Maybe I should mix it up?This guy is named Camille…silly name for a guy.This guy is called Gentry.

And then I 1stDibs’d it and all bets were off:

I don’t want too modern, the table is pretty sleek/austere on its own and I kind of want to fluff it up a bit. I like this dining room a lot:

And this one too:

…And this…


Thoughts? Suggestions? Preferences?

Oh, and if you haven’t already, kindly take this survey. I am cutting it off Wednesday, and your suggestions are greatly appreciated!

14 Comments

The Snozzberries taste like SNOZZBERRIES!

July 19, 2010

I am absolutely obsessed with wallpaper. It has taken super-human restraint for me to not just adorn every wall in our new house with some fabulous print. Basically this would be my bliss.

Except in a better pattern-obv.

I can get lost for hours at the mart just flipping through books of wallpapers, and literally lost my mind when I stumbled upon this amazing junk last week.

Verily I say unto thee, this. junk. rules. Everything about it. The colorways.

The sheer TEXAN-NESS of it all! I think I am just going to have to use it…somewhere…I don’t know where but I don’t care.

I think this best demonstrates the effect this wallpaper has on me.


It is called Yee-Haw (naturally) and is part of the Studio PrintWorks line now carried by Brunschwig in Chicago.

And trust when I say there is a whole lot more junky goodness from them out there as well.

Like…This little guy which I think would be presh, retro, fab in a babies room.

I love the names of the patterns too..

This one is called A Head By A Nose

Sgt. Pepper Paisley
I mean…Trippy.

Pauline?

Boring name for super fab paper.

Trash Day.
South Beach Toille…
Probs one of my favorites.

Tell me this doesn’t make you giggle.
And…coming soon…BLAST OFF!

I want.

Am I just a complete child, or do these make you super happy too? Do you have wallpaper in your home? What are your favorite prints?

Oh, and if you haven’t yet…please take a moment to fill out the survey I posted on Friday! Help me, help you!

12 Comments

Peppermint Bliss 3.0: SURVEY TIME!

July 16, 2010

It has been awhile since our last survey here at Peppermint Bliss, and since then a lot has changed. We went from dedicating one day a week to design, fashion, weddings, entertainment, and any randomness that floated into my brain box- to pretty much focusing on interior design with a Wedding Wednesday or random musing thrown in. All along readership has grown, which makes me very happy so THANK YOU for coming ’round here.

There are exciting changes coming up, I know I have been teasing you for awhile now, but the ol’ bloggyblog is getting a fabulous face lift, and I will be launching a separate-but linked-site for my decorating business. None of this would be possible without all of you, and so I would really appreciate it if you could take a second to answer a few questions on how to make your Peppermint Bliss reading experience all the more enjoyable.

If you do it, a mini-fairy-me will magically jump through your screen upon completion, hand you a delicious cocktail, and wish you a magical weekend!

Click here to take survey

Which honestly sounds like a pretty good deal to me!

4 Comments

Don’t be mad at him when it’s on to the next one…

July 15, 2010

I think I have a sickness. Now that Clifford is finally winding down, and TruffleBerry Market is pretty much complete, ALL I can think about is my next project. Which would surely be the sign of a dedicated and driven decorator/visionary, unless you knew how stressed I have been the last month (or you saw my stress-acne’d face) in which case you might gently suggest I take a nap instead. Either way, I can’t help it. My mind is already off fantasizing about building another house- preferably for someone else this time, hire me!- and I already have a plan.
In my next dream project I am going to build a house around this island. Well really the kitchen, and then the rest of the house will take shape from there.

Isn’t it gorgeous? It is from an old bakery in France, and I saw it when Brittany (TruffleBerry client) and I went shopping in her neck of the woods.

It is from an antique store called Old Plank Road, and you would never guess from the outside how many teasures await you inside.

But I am not just telling you about our local hole in the wall treasure trove to torture you, because Old Plank Road is on 1st Dibs! And although the prices of most items listed probably leave it squarely in the realm of fantasy for most of us- I still enjoy browsing through and imagining how I would use some of their more impressive pieces to build a whole home around.

But in a legit inspiring way, not like those ridiculous commercials where the couple takes a stupid Kohler faucet to an architect and says, “build around this”. I have met a lot of architects in my days, and I would guess that most people in a group known largely for their arrogance would not nod and say, “yes ma’am, I have always dreamed of designing a masterpiece around a mediocre piece of plumbing. thank you for the opportunity”. Antique replica of the Eiffel TowerAntique Dutch DollHousePete would love to have this for his barPretty cool, huh?

I remember being younger and having to run errands with my Mom and it was always a dreaded day when “Antiques” was on the list. I knew it would be hours of me sitting on some uncomfy chair staring at some creepy doll while my mom hunted for buried treasure.

In the end I love whatever she did with those antiques, because they blend seemlessly into our home without it having a museum feel.

It is all very kid friendly, she would never buy a chair that was too precious to sit on, and that mentality has been passed on to me in my decorating.

I always feel uncomfortable in those homes where the antiques are there for The Pretty, not for the touching. And I feel sometimes like “antique” has become a dirty word in our super casual generation.

What do you think? If money weren’t the issue, would you use antiques in your decorating? Would they be there mostly as art or should it function day to day to earn it’s spot in the home? Or is you style just more modern and you have no interest in antiques other than for kindling in the winter? I liked our last discussion. Talk to me.

7 Comments
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