House Tour: Annie’s Colorful Abode

Photographs by Noelle Bakken

I always have been drawn to bold, bright colors, but like so many of us, I too have shied away from putting saturated color on my walls (cut me some slack, I’m a renter!)  Meet Annie.  She is not afraid of color.  Instead, she embraces bright colors and fills her home with cheerful, fun hues.  Check out her home for inspiration of how to have fun with color in your own space.

Read on after the jump to see all the pictures of Annie’s home.

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Floor Sample Sale at DWR

Have you always wanted the sexy Eames La Chaise shown above?  Well you can get it and many other items at a discounted rate at the floor sample sale going on at Minneapolis’ Design Within Reach.  The uptown store has this beauty, in addition to many other items (including the Eames Molded Plastic chair, Frank Llyod Wright sofa to name a few) on discount.  If you want to learn what other items made it the floor sample sale, visit the store, or give them a call at 612-827-0990

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Casey’s Living Life in his Luxurious Loft

Congrats to Casey Fritz for being featured as one of Apartment Therapy’s House Tours!  Blogger Jason Loper took some beautiful photos of Casey’s 620 square foot Minneapolis condo which he shares with Eric Sodemann.  With 14 foot high ceilings and an open floor plan, Casey and Eric created a space which is open and inviting, yet they maintain individual rooms using strategically placed furniture.  Using rich, bold colors, handmade burlap curtains and a mixture of old & new furniture, Casey & Eric took time to look at the details and make this space their own.  The result is a warm and cozy urban retreat.  Head on over to Apartment Therapy’s blog to view the entire story.  In the meantime, enjoy the snapshots below!

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2010 Tangletown Garden’s Garden and Art Tour

Postcard art by Amy Rice

We are fast approaching Tangletown Garden’s 2010 Garden and Art Tour.  The tour, going on its 5th year, combines the finest gardens from homes across the Twin Cities with beautiful local artwork.  Last year’s tour featured gardens primarily in the Lowry Hill and Kenwood neighborhood.  I went on the tour last year and can attest that it a lot of fun and a great community building event.  The self-guided tour is scheduled for Saturday, July 24th, from 9am-4pm, rain or shine.  Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 the day of the event.  The proceeds helps fund local art, charities and garden projects throughout the Twin Cities area.  Check out photo albums from past tours on Tangletown Garden’s website.

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Spotlight: Kirkland Gallery

Artwork by Drew Beson

Last week, I had an invitation to join the Blog Pantry ladies (a group of local female bloggers) at the newly opened Kirkland Gallery in Downtown Minneapolis.  The art gallery is beautiful!  Nestled right off of the light rail, Kirkland Gallery hosts some beautiful works from artists such as Gino Hollander, Drew Beson, Norm Korpi, as well as sculptures from Siri Hollander.  Please read after the jump to learn more about Kirkland Gallery and to see a photo tour of its current exhibit.

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Road Trip to Madison!

I have been a little MIA from this site lately, but with good reason.  I just returned from a road trip to Madison!  Although the Twin Cities has a fantastic design scene, I had to bring back a few show and tell pictures of some of my favorite furniture pieces I ran across.  Read on after the jump to see more of the great places I found in Mad-town.

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Olioboards

Meet Olioboard.  It might be a designer’s new best friend.  Olioboard  creates presentation boards using over 10,000 pre-loaded furniture pieces from 300 brands.  This application also allows you to upload your own pictures and layer them on top of each other.  All you have to do is drag the images onto the board, then you can scale, rotate, flip flop or crop any of the pictures.  It is a fantastic tool for the person who has a difficult time imagining what the end product of a room might look like.  Oh, and the best part?  It is completely FREE.

Lately, I have spent many hours playing with the website.  It is relatively easy to use, the only downfall is that there is no easy way to share the boards online.  The team at Olioboards told me that they are currently working on ways to share the boards by e-mail, twitter, facebook, and exporting.  For right now, the easiest way to share the boards is to take a screen shot and insert the image into an e-mail.

I LOVE this tool and it is so easy and fun to play with.  Go to Olioboard’s website yourself and have fun!

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FinnStyle’s Semi-Annual Marimekko Clearance Sale

I am a big fan of the Finnish company, Marimekko.  Their big, bold graphics and simple colorful styles are eye-captivating.  Starting today, July 1st and running through July 15th, FinnStyle is holding a Semi-Annual Marimekko Clearance Sale.  Their website has savings up to 40% and their store has savings up to 70% on over 300 items!  I’m posting pictures of a few of the many other items that are discounted.  For more information, please go to FinnStyle’s website.

FinnStyle is located at 160 Glenwood Ave in Minneapolis, MN


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