Quote of the Week

"Travel leaves the colors of exotic destinations printed in our memory like a stain of the place itself."

- Kevin McCloud, Choosing Colors

 Greece; photo found here

Costa Rica; Photo found here

 Paris, France via Flickr

 Souk, Medina, Marrakech via Flickr

Guatemala; photo found here

 Australian Outback via Flickr

Netherlands Antilles; photo found here

Karpathos, Greece; photo found here

Quote of the Week

"The doors we open and close each day

decide the lives we live.”

- Flora Whittemore

Stunning Photography & Special Offer

Happy Friday everyone! I apologize for the lack of posts lately...I've been keeping busy with the completion on my online design store, Modern Chic Home, which will be launching early next week. I've been working around the clock to get it up and running before the holidays! Anyway, the first photo featured in today's post is by Tiffany Zettlemoyer - I did a post recently about her work and she has been kind enough to offer a 10% discount on prints to belle maison readers between now and October 22. Please mention the blog “belle maison” in the comments area of your purchase and Tiffany will discount the money back to your PayPal account. As always, shipping on additional items is free. Thank you Tiffany :) And the rest of the photos in today's post are via National Geographic...aren't they just sensational?! Have a fantastic weekend!

ABOVE PHOTO CREDIT: TIFFANY ZETTLEMOYER

PHOTO CREDITS: NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

Quote of the Week

"I make no special difference between architecture and design, they are two different stages of invention."

- Ettore Sottsass

PHOTO CREDITS: ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST & KELLY WEARSTLER

Sightseeing in Santa Barbara

I visited my best friend in Santa Barbara a couple of weekends ago for her birthday and we spent Saturday afternoon at the Santa Barbara Mission and Santa Barbara County Courthouse. I had a field day photographing all of the beautiful old architecture of both buildings and the interiors of the courthouse!

From left: Me, Michelle and Erin (best friends since the 2nd grade:)

Photo Gallery: Stairways

When I was a little girl, I was fascinated with stairways. My family lived in a one story home and I always wished for a second story, just so I could walk up and down the stairs. My mom even remembers me asking for a set of stairs for Christmas one year! I didn't care if they went anywhere or not...I just wanted them to play on. While most little girls asked for barbies, I asked for stairs - go figure I became and interior designer with a love for architecture!

PHOTO CREDITS: ART.COM

Adventures in San Diego

My husband and I took a little mini-vacation to celebrate the 4th of July and our 1 year wedding anniversary (which was actually on May 19th...). We headed down to San Diego and had a fantastic time! Here are a few highlights from our trip...
The Sofia Hotel, where we stayed, was just adorable. It was built in the 1920's and is right in the heart of downtown SD, which was great for us because we could walk just about anywhere. The rooms were pretty tiny but the decor was contemporary, which I love! I'd stay here again :)

Me and my husband Ryan...and me drinking a Blue Moon beer with an orange slice - we had LOTS of those!

Seaport Village - the cutest little seaside village on the bay with great shops & restaurants. I loved this old restaurant built over the water.

Posing in front of a gigantic tree outside the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park.

After visiting the Natural History Museum, we headed over to the San Diego Museum of Art where they were holding the Georgia O’Keeffe and the Women of the Stieglitz Circle exhibition! I'm a big fan of Ms. O'Keeffe's work and it was such a treat to stand before her very famous works of art - they were all just incredible. This was definitely the highlight of our day :)

Some of the other beautiful architecture in Balboa Park.

We had such a great weekend and a fun 4th. I hope you all enjoyed yourselves as well over the long weekend!