Friday, August 26, 2011

Friday Faves

Been a while since I've done Friday Faves, huh? Well life has been pretty hectic for me lately and its slow down a LITTLE but not a lot. So today has a theme, can you guess what it is?

I would like to have this at least once a day. YUM. You know that they taste as beautiful as the colors look.

Repetition is something that always catches my eye. This is gorgeous and I love this dark buttercup color.

Nautical. I'm loving all these ropes wrapped around the railing.

Ahh to ride on the back of a Vespa...I've never done that I swear. This one is quite jazzy with the stripes.

Well? What's the theme? These pictures make me want to travel and take tons of pictures. Maybe I will do just that. Happy Friday! (pictures from here)


Alicia B.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Our Wedding!!


A lot of you (my precious readers) have been begging me for pictures from the wedding two weeks ago. My mother and I basically designed the wedding and it was really beautiful...we rarely clashed on anything. My new husband and I are incredibly lucky to have had this amazing day...a good start to our lives together!!


We were married in a sweet little Congregational church in Litchfield County CT. The ceremony was amazing and my husband and I didn't break eye contact the entire time. It was threatening to rain and the moment that we stepped out of the church it started--good luck, I've heard!


Here are 3 out of 4 of my bridesmaids who wore adorable Buttercup yellow dresses by Lula Kate.


Here is the gorgeous tent that was in our backyard overlooking the rolling hills in the Berkshires.

The tent was beautiful and a cluster of these lanterns was hung over the dance floor. They were so charming and made the space super intimate.

Here we are!! My husband wore light khakis, a blue blazer and a cute yellow and blue polka dot bowtie from J Press. My dress was very light silk organza by Vera Wang with a large ivory grosgrain ribbon and flower broach.

Here is a close up on the bouquet.

My florist is a complete genius and created the most adorable and sweet flower arrangements in silver mint julep cups that my mom and I collected from the local thrift shops.


Our favor were 2 little macarons from Payard Bakery tied (by my sisters) in little bags with yellow grosgrain ribbon with our names and the date of our wedding written on them.

Ivory table cloths and light yellow napkins were the table linens and we had faux bamboo chairs.

Our cake was GAWGEOUS and though I only got one bite (the one that was ceremoniously fed to me) it was DELISH. Lemon butter cream= heaven. The cake topper was used at my sister's wedding 3 years ago and also at my grandmother's wedding in the 1930's so it was very special to have it.

Thank you for letting me share our amazing day with you and Happy Two Week Anniversary to us!!



Alicia B.

Giveaway Winner!


The UPrinting giveaway for a rolled canvas is now closed, but the winner is Ann! She said:


Congratulations Ann!! Please contact me at aliciabdesigns@gmail.com so that I can give you the details on your prize. Wooo!!


Alicia B.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

I hate purple

Isn't this from Blueprint?? Mustards and golds against the light purple are romantic and pop at the same time.

Hi, my name is Alicia and I hate purple. Yes, I admitted it. I think the color purple is awful, but I've been working a bit with it at my new job and I might be coming around to lavender. Let's be clear, I said lavender, not purple. I'm constantly inspired by my new job and I'm loving the super sophisticated color combo of Lavender and Champagne.


John Saladino. I think it works quite well in a bedroom. It's romantic and soothing and the moldings and shadows are beautiful with the color.


Hal Williamson. I've posted this image about 8 million times for different reasons but I'm continually drawn to it! HUH. Be that as it may, I love the giltwood furniture with the lavender color.


Drake Design designed this fun lavender bedroom with lavender grass cloth walls and amazing glass lanterns.


Pinterest hotness. I love round/octagonal rooms and the metallic ceiling with dramatic purple silk drapery.


I know most people love purple and I might be a total black sheep here but I don't mind. I don't have any purple in our apartment or in my wardrobe but I really enjoy this color combo. I think that the lavender has a little brown in it which makes it more soothing without being boring or ugly or a hideous neutral. Thoughts on purple? What about Lavender?
What about THIS. Enter my giveaway by Friday to win!



Alicia B.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

OH and BTW I got married...


A few of you all have been begging me for pictures from my wedding last weekend. I have to say it was, without a doubt, the best day of our lives and even though it rained (buckets), we had the most incredible and unforgettable time. These pictures are from the rehearsal dinner, which I designed, and my mother executed.


It was held in a boathouse, at a nearby boys prep school, so everything was very nautical. Plus I love nautical decor so I had so much fun designing it. The boathouse looked out onto one of the lakes in our town and was a beautiful view.

The fabric that we bought was from Fabric.com. My mom (sewing genius) sewed all the table cloths and napkins.

The napkin rings were nautical knot bracelets made by this super cute couple in Mystic CT available at Mystic Knotworks.


I scoured the internet for tons of milk glass vases, bowls, cake stands, and a pitcher for the tables. The flowers were from my mother's garden and were the perfect pop of orange, pink and red against all the blue and white.

Since we have so many of them, I'm probably going to sell off a few of them--stay tuned for that!

This was the bunting banner that I made! I had extra fabric from the tablecloths and some ikat fabric from some pillows that I made for a client and crafted them into this fab nautical preppy banner! More on that later...


The night was a total success and the toasts that everyone made for us were super special and meant so much to us. It was the perfect night before the perfect day!!


I'll work on some wedding photos for you in the next few days. What did you think of the rehearsal dinner? We had an amazing time and it was a great time for both of our families to get acquainted before the actual wedding. I can't believe we've been married for one week!


Mrs. Alicia B.

Friday, August 12, 2011

UPrinting Give-away!


Did I not promise you good things here at Alicia B Designs? Today is the start of the UPrinting Give-away where one lucky blog reader will win a 16 x 20 rolled canvas with the design of your choice printed on it! If you're like me, you're always looking for affordable art work and let's face it, it's hard to come by.
With this though you have so many affordable options. You can upload a cute picture, a photograph that you took or, if I won, I would upload one of my favorite fabric designs for this canvas. I'm guessing my readers are really into the girl with the dog idea...


UPrinting offers TONS of services for super cheap. Business cards, signs, invitations, labels (I love labels!), canvas printing (obvi) and so much more!


These are just some ideas but the possibilities are endless--ENDLESS!! I'd blow this guy up frame it for a very dramatic statement.


Also, if you're interested, you can blow up an Alicia B. Original from one of my photographs onto a canvas. Let me know if you win and you want that and we'll discuss.

You know the basic rules, comment on my blog, talk about it on Twitter and you'll get an entry. UPrinting can only ship within the US, and you have to be 18 or older to enter. Does anybody under 18 read this? The contest ends next Friday so you have a week to enter--good luck!

Oh, and BTW, this photo canvas printing giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given for hosting. Check out UPrinting.com for more details about photo canvas.


Alicia B.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Marbleized Paper Obsession

I've been obsessed for a while now with marbleized paper--it reminds me of Italy. I'm so happy to see that it's been making its way into the design market in home accessories and fabrics.


When I think of awesome products or rocks/marble, I think of Kelly Wearstler. Her blog is so much fun and I love to see her creative process. Her line at Sferra is just as awesome as anything else she does.

I love a dramatic headboard and this one blows me away. I guess it's more of a mural but I literally can't look away from this marbleized lilypad fabric. From HERE.

For your next tablescape masterpiece, use these AHHH-mazing napkins from Dransfield and Ross. I saw them when I was registering for my wedding but I chose the geometric greek Key ones. Also amazing.

Jenny over at Little Green Notebook took a gorgeous piece of marbleized paper and framed it. It's now an amazing and unique focal point in her living room! It adds a softness against all the other fabrics which are geometrics and ikat.

My fave fashion blogger Dilly Dallas got these amazing boxes from West Elm to accessorize her desk. I wish I could find them!

Love this pink marble fabric on the chairs here in what looks like a dressing room. Gorgeous dressing room from HERE.


I'm going to the source, ie Italy at the end of this month for my honeymoon and plan on stocking up on the real thing. I wish I could find some marble fabric--I know I've seen it somewhere. When I do, I see a pair of throw pillows in my future! Yes, I got married this past weekend and it was AMAZING--will show you pictures of the best day of my life later.


Alicia B

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Walking down the aisle...

My mom is the one lying on the back of the sofa. Seriously, she's an amazing wedding planner and even calls herself "Frahhnk"


Well, I'm off to Connecticut to get married this weekend. I wish I could be more focused on interior design for you all, but all I can think about is walking down the aisle. I'm BEYOND excited, I just want Saturday to come! People keep telling me I seem so calm, which is true because I have an amazing wedding planner (my mom), but also I'm just so happy to be getting married. Take a little peek into my mind right now...DUN DUN DUNNN.

We are getting married in a tiny and adorable New Englandy church and the aisle looks a lot like this. I think I'm going to tear up it's so cute! Thank you Pinterest.

The twinkling lights on hanging from the ceiling and lining the aisle make this moment so romantic! PIN.

YIKES this is woodsy. Very over the top but a cool look if you're up in the mountains. The guests have to sit on the birch stumps!

This might be the slowest most painful "walk" down the aisle that ever happened. From this hilarious post.

I'm a not so secret fan of yellow. I'm loving the yellow flower petals at this Maui Wedding from HERE.


A few hours from now, my mother and older sister are picking me up in NYC, picking up my dress, and whisking me off to CT to join the wedding factory that has become my house and I couldn't be more excited. OMG! See you all when I'm a wife!


Alicia B.