Watching Mad Men has given me tons of inspiration for my home. I can’t help but constantly find myself nudging my husband and saying “I want one of those chairs!” or “Look at that lamp!” I hope I’m not alone…

Photo via Dr. Television

I fell in love with a sculpture that I believe was in Roger Sterling’s original office from Season 1 (not the crazy Saarinen op art space-age one he’s in now!). Above the fireplace in our living room, there was a bare space that begged for something like this. Jordan and I made a commitment for our new house that we’d make more investments in art instead of buying tons of posters and prints and putting them in frames that cost more than the prints themselves. So, I did some Googling to find something similar and stumbled on Marc Creates Inc. I immediately emailed them to see whether they had some pieces available.

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I am pretty excited because we just installed the very last thing in the kitchen and, technically, it’s complete! What a relief. Now it’s time to get everything photographed so I can share it with you in all its glory. But before that happens, I wanted to show you our tile, which was installed a few weeks ago.

When we were deciding on a backsplash, I had a hard time with it because I wanted something that wasn’t too trendy or too boring that also fit nicely into our mid-century modern house. I thought glass tiles in a stacked pattern would be a great middle ground, so I contacted modwalls for some size and color samples (above).

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Let’s take a break from the kitchen project and talk about something equally as fun – shopping! For the past month, every day is like Christmas at our house. I’m pretty sure that Fab.com has my wallet held hostage and that the UPS and FedEx guys are ready to go on strike. Each day it seems that something arrives on our doorstep, so much so that our giant recycle trash bin has not been enough for all the cardboard shipping boxes.

I thought I’d share a sampling of stuff I recently bought for the house:

From top left, clockwise: Three Emeco 111 Navy Chairs for the kitchen to match my red one (this was a Mr. Design Milk decision), set of eight Fferrone water/wine glasses, a small wine rack for reds to place above the wine fridge, two counter stools for the kitchen island, Jim Flora print, Kumani ottoman (Mr. DM hates this but I love it), cowhide, Alexander Girard wood print, set of 12 graphic napkins from wolfum, two Gus*Modern Bishops tables in Macassar Ebony, and a set of nesting bowls. PHEW!

I also bought a sculpture, but after courting it for six months, it deserves its own post… so stay tuned.

FINALLY!

Maybe you’ve had full overlay doors before with no handles or pulls and you’re familiar with the pain of trying to open them every day. Needless to say, I was getting kind of stabby. But, just when I thought I was going to pull my hair out, they finally arrived and we installed them last weekend. They rock.

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It’s been a while since I shared the progress of our kitchen. Since having a baby, things actually slowed down quite a bit, and then… well, kind of stalled.

The timeline came to a screeching halt when we discovered the flooring we ordered to fill in the gaps between where the old and new cabinets sat was the wrong size… we got 3/8″ instead of 1/2″. However, we tried to make do by putting a cork underlayment underneath the floor boards before gluing them in place. At first, it was perfect, but after a day or two, the boards began to sink down and the cork made them feel spongy. So, we were back to square one. Luckily we were able to return the flooring and purchase new 1/2″ boards. However, the new ones we ordered ended up getting lost in transit and took a few extra weeks to arrive. They’re FINALLY in.

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From the details that distinguish a space, like a set of wholly original stairs to a cleverly executed thematic design (think pirates) to some very personal projects (yup, House Milk), the design of residential and commercial interiors are as important as the overall architecture. After all, it’s the area you’re actually in. In case you’ve missed any of Design Milk’s myriad of interior design posts, or if you just feel like a refresh, here are the top ten of the year.

When Life Throws You a Curve Ball, Make Lemonade
Design Milk’s own Jaime and Jordan had lots of projects planned for the first six months of new home ownership. And the they found out they were having a baby. Suddenly, designing a nursery took precedence! Since then Little Milk has arrived, and she’s happy as can be in the finished room!

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As you know, we’re knee-deep in a kitchen renovation, currently waiting for our tile to arrive. One of the things we desperately hate looking at is our ugly dish drying rack / drainer. Despite having a dishwasher, we still often find ourselves hand-washing some dishes, so we still need a drying rack. Did you know there are modern dish drying rack options out there? I had no idea until I started doing some investigating. Here are some of the great ones I found — which one would you choose?

Above is one of my favorites – Black + Blum’s High&Dry rack.

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Because I went into labor the evening of the cabinet installation, I don’t have photos of them being installed. However, I’ll get back to talking about them a little later on. I want to focus on one of my favorite parts of the kitchen — the countertop.

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Let’s take a break from the kitchen project and talk security.

When I shared our family room progress (which hasn’t progressed at all since we started the kitchen), I mentioned that we purchased Kwikset Polo handles for every door in the house. Well, Kwikset asked us to try out their SmartCode electronic exterior locks and, since we hadn’t purchased anything yet for the exterior doors, we took them up on the offer. It’s one less key I have to fish for in the dark.

We happen to have two exterior front doors – the one that was originally the service entrance, which we call the “side door,” and the main entry. Both also had different keys. If that wasn’t frustrating enough, neither had a turning deadbolt – instead, you had to get the key to unlock the deadbolt.

Here’s what the side door looked like before:

Part of our plan for next year is to replace the (warped and drafty) exterior doors and (gross and rotted) door jambs, but in the meantime, it’s nice to have a little bit of an upgrade.

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Back in June, I shared with you the exciting news that I am welcoming my first child – a daughter – this year. Well, she’s here! Amelia Josephine Derringer arrived on 10/30/11. And as you’ve probably noticed, we haven’t been taking any breaks here, and you won’t see a change in the quality of content you’ve come to expect from Design Milk. I promise this blog won’t turn into a baby album.

It’s definitely an exciting time for us. When I made the announcement about our Little Milk, I also shared with you my nursery inspiration board. The room has been complete for some time, and I am excited that I can finally share it with you here.

To refresh your memory, this is the original inspiration board:

And here is the completed room:

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