Eugene Modern Spaces: Moss Hair Studio

Photos courtesy of Moss owners.

If you haven't heard there's a great new hair studio in town! Moss Hair Studio has only been in business since February but the co-owners and their team have been styling Eugene heads for quite some time. I just recently started going to get my hair cut by Jesse and as a result I have been getting mucho compliments. I've also heard great things about Renèe and Sonia too! Everyone was very welcoming when I went in last time. But really why are they on this little blog o' mine? Because I love their space! I believe Jesse and Renèe did most of the design. They chose their own color palate (green, grey, and natural wood with a dash of orange) to match their modern organic studio's sense of style. They were smart and chose an amazing central overhead light fixture (from IKEA). They had each of the stations custom made (Kustom Kraft Cabinets) for their space. The storage on these wood stations is so smart - it really cuts down on the clutter that we're all too familiar with seeing in many salons. The sofa in the center is a real surprise find from World Market. I forgot to ask where the rug came from but another smart use of color and shape (Update: for the opening they switched to a FLOR rug - we blogged about FLOR here). The floors sounded like a major production since they had to rip out nasty old carpet and seal the concrete floors. Jesse mentioned that they tried sanding or polishing the cement floors before sealing them and it was not looking so hot. So they decided to just clean the floors up and seal the deal. In order to celebrate a new business opening in Eugene and to give the Moss Team a pat on the back for creating an amazing modern and functional space where there really wasn't one before stop by on April 30th in between 6:30pm and 9pm for toasts and treats. And because the Moss team is so cool they are donating 20% of products proceeds to a local non-profit supporting children with Cancer who have lost their locks - the Angel Hair Foundation. You can follow them on Facebook or on Twitter although it seems they're on Facebook more often. Cheers to great hair in a great space with a modern mission of making smart choices that are all about aesthetics and doing right by the environment!

Themed Parties: LOST

Dharma labeled beer & island themed center piece.

Fabric from JoAnn's Fabric store to reference Dharma logo.

Dharma Fish Biscuits via Chef Robin

More Dharma beer being consumed by rabbits #8 and 15.

Greetings Friends!

For those of you who pay attention to T.V. Land you are well aware that this is the last season of LOST and in fact there are only 4 episodes left. We often hoof it over to other people's houses for the weekly viewing and outstanding potluck fare (food often featured in this My Way Around the Kitchen blog of Mrs. C) because our T.V. room is wee and there's just not enough room for all of "we". So Mr. Monkey and I have traditionally hosted the "wrap" party for the last 3 seasons. Fortunately I have pictures to document last year's season finale. The themed party is a fun diversion for a decorating freak like me. I'm always looking for ways to up-the-styling-anty. Last year, if I do say so myself (hear breathing on nails and brushing on shirt), we went all out with costumes and everything! Above are a few highlights. Below are the low lights - namely us (scary child Charlotte overgrown from eating too many Dharma chocolate bars before dinner and the meant to be scary dude who tried to put an LSD soaked sugar cube in Sayid) - plus a last minute Mr. Cluck's Friend Chicken Bucket. Now why am I posting about this party from last year? Because the party for this year is coming up - only about a month and half away and it's got to be a blow out. We've kept it small the last few years but for the final wrap party we will be inviting all friends who are fans of LOST. Of course we'll have Dharma labeled food and beverages but we're gonna have to go bigger and better. We're sticking with costumes for sure. What suggestions do you all have for decorations? What type of center pieces? Flowers? Signs? Posters? Palm trees? Food? Speciality drinks? Smoke monster? And finally the big question - how can we incorporate the theme of time travel? So many questions for one special party and so little time. Unless there was a parallel world . . .

Photos courtesy of Dr. Brian Warf.

Terrarium Fun

I remember when I was a child in the late 70's terrariums were pretty cool. As a little girl I also remember thinking that there must be little fairies and magical creatures that lived in this insular green and gorgeous environments sitting in people's living rooms warm and cozy and surrounded by beauty. They've been popping up again all over the design world - it's safe to say there's a trend. About a month ago we had our niece and nephews in town for a weekend celebration. I thought a fun crafty project would be to have each of them create their own terrarium in a large glass cookie jar. I bought them each a few small things to go inside their jars and a few petite plants to pick from. It's safe to say it was a success -  the five and 7 year old were entertained for about half an hour putting the jars together and then another hour running around the yard looking for rocks and other miscellany to decorate. Theirs turned out so well I wanted to make a few of my own. I'm far from being an expert but I can see how you can become obsessed with these little guys. Here are a few pictures of my final products. One made it to the new office space . . .

Decorating New Office Space

At my place of business we've gone through quite a few office moves. This past fall I was upgraded to have my own office. The space was great with big open windows but really no room for decoration because the wall and floor space were limited. This time around I have a corner pentagon-shaped office with a window through someone else's office to the outside window. Generally speaking I really really love to have a window to look out at the outdoors while I'm sifting through the solving the problems of the modern day education system (wink wink) but now that I've moved in I'm really enjoying my corner of the office. One of the big challenges was to find a mirror that would reflect the window behind me and create a new window for me to gaze through during these intense bouts of problem-solving - not to be confused with day dreaming. So I went looking all around town for some items to spruce up my wee oddly-shaped working space. Here's a recap of items found, bought, and placed. Thanks to Oak St. Vintage, Puttin' on the Ritz, Luxe, the UO bookstore, Goodwill, and yes, TJ Max. See if you can guess which items came from each store. The key is at the bottom. Cheers!


Lamp - Oak St. Vintage; Milk glass cookie jar, and ash trays used as paper clip holders - Puttin' on the Ritz; turquoise Fire King mug, old water color and frame, and milk glass candy bowl - Goodwill; Mirror - TJ Max; File folders and thank you stationary - Luxe, green desk top drawers - UO bookstore. Wedding picture of Mr. and Dr. Monkey courtesy of Northfork Photography and friend James Johnston.