I don’t know if I’ve ever shared the above image by Melanie Acevedo, but it’s one of my favorites. It’s the image that inspired the family room and its wall of bookcases. You probably don’t see much similarity between the inspiration and the reality. Our bookcases are dark, but that’s because we already had a few dark ones and it was cheaper to add more of the same finish. Our settee is actually a sectional in white and our pillows are green (that you know of–I recently bought new ones).
You’re right. Our family room doesn’t look much like the picture. One day I will have white bookcases and a little more color on the sectional. Specifically, blue and white because confession: I love blue and white. Second confession: I never use blue and white. I’ve found it’s a color combination that can go wrong quickly, or if not wrong, really, really specific.
Think blue and white and tell me what pops into your head. Never mind, I’ll tell you. Country manors. Geese. Toile. Chinoiserie. Ladies who lunch, cats, too many plants, tea, poetry, and the entire catalog of Merchant Ivory films.
Ignoring the fact that I actually enjoy quite a number of the above, you have to admit blue and white needs someone in its corner to defend it against that bully, neon. Because when blue + white is done right, it is so…right.
It’s possible one of those images does little to negate the blue + white = woman with too many plants stereotype, but you won’t hear the blogger with 15 houseplants complaining.
One more piece of blue and white, this one by Waterford. It’s the Evolution Menagerie Rose Bowl (6.5 inches) and I want it. I picked it out, so of course I want it. (It’s out of stock, but there’s an entire line with the pattern you can check out here.) It’s blue and white and traditional, but still modern. The pattern takes inspiration from the coat of an Ocelot, which is part of the reason I love it so much. Nothing else would allow me the opportunity to dip into my cache of randomly pinned images so tastefully.
Ann Margret with a baby Ocelot on a cheap blue photo backdrop. Sometimes, the awesome images find me.
You figured out I am giving away one Evolution Menagerie Rose Bowl, I’m sure. But do you know why? It’s because while you read this, I am most likely on my 100th walk of the year. (!!!)
Some disclosures and rules
I was not paid, perked, or gifted to run this giveaway. Waterford is a great company and I own several of their pieces. I felt this went well with the intentional home philosophy I’m always harping about and I thought you’d like it.
The same rules as always apply.
In order to be eligible to win, you must be at least 18 years old and a US resident. Please leave one comment on this post. There are no additional entries awarded for liking/following/tweeting/singing/or tapping out in Morris Code anything about Pancakes and French Fries, Waterford, or this giveaway. I will delete additional or duplicate entries. The giveaway will run through April 17, 2013 and the winner will be selected at random. I will announce the winner shortly thereafter and the results updated on this post.
UPDATE: Congratulations, Kate!
Is this giveaway open to non-US residents? If so, conside this my (very excited) entry! Thanks for the giveaway Jules! :)
I too love blue and white.
I ? blue and white too! Here’s to 100! Hip hip horray, very proud of you!
I wonder along with Hannah :c) I also love blue and white, but try to stay edited rather than crammed with stuff, as I know you do too! That bowl would look wonderful on my mantle.
But really, the point of this is your 100th walk, for which we are all so proud of you! Keep it up Jules – I love reading about your successes.
Good job! Keep it up. The blue and white and the word geese made me spit on my monitor. This kitchen I’m sitting in was wallpapered a country blue with white geese for years before I painted over it in yellow. I was looking at old photos yesterday and couldn’t get over how ugly it was. Seriously ugly. How did I live with it for years? Anyway, I still love blue – just not country blue with flocks of geese. ;) The bowl is gorgeous.
Blue and white has always been in my life! Looking forward to walk 101!!
So happy for your success!
I’ve always thought that inspiration photos were just that – for inspiration, and there is no requirement to have your room look identical. Like so much of life, it’s all in the interpretation. And congrats on 100! That is a true success.
I’m a new reader to your blog and I’m really enjoying it, Jules. It just took your generous giveaway for me to finally put fingers to keys and say hello. Hello!
Congrats to you! I love Waterford too…my mom has a beautiful collection of blue and white and I would love to have my own someday.
I rarely read giveaway posts because I’m not that interested in stuff and they usually don’t consist of much more than, “Here’s something awesome, hope you win it.” If I were writing a book on how to write a giveaway post, I’d include this one as an example–fun, funny, and some thoughts to chew on.
Please don’t enter me in the giveaway–it’a a lovely bowl, but I don’t have a place/need for it and now that I’ve been thoroughly William Morrised it would be wasted on me–I just wanted to tell you that this post made me smile. Ladies who lunch with too many cats. :-)
I love blue and white too! Thank you for doing a giveaway that doesn’t require all the liking and tweeting and facebook following!
I’ve got the perfect space for it on my own wall of bookcases! And agree, you sure an turn a phrase for a giveaway post!
Love the inspiration photos. Yes, blue is so hard to do right! So fun to do a giveaway, thanks!
The bowl is lovely, as are those images (and Ann Margret!) Since there are no extra points for sucking up :) (are there?) you will know I mean it when I say as I scrolled down over the first picture I actually thought right away of your living room. So you are doing something right! And CONGRATS on the 100th walk – that is awesome!
It’s a lovely piece, and reminds me of shiny wet seashells.
I really like blue + white. I have a habit of picking up stray Blue Willow pieces whenever I find them at garage sales and thrift stores. Other than, I don’t have the combination anywhere in the house, but seeing those pictures sort of makes me wish that were different. At any rate, I’m somewhat embarrassed to say I didn’t think of any of those things you listed when I thought of blue and white. But now that you mention it…
Congratulations on the 100th walk! What you are doing is inspiring!
Congrats on your 100th walk!!!
What a generous giveaway! Congrats on the 100th walk!
Wowzers! Thanks for this opportunity. Your awesomeness continues. I also love blue and white, but agree that it can go bad so quickly. I’m happy with how I used it in my living room – two armless Ikat blue/white chairs are my pride and joy.
Congrats on your 100th walk!!
Congratulations on your 100th walk!
I immediately thought of your bookshelves when I saw the top photo. I actually like your version more because, with a few exceptions, I prefer wood instead of white paint and I like the white couch better. :)
We don’t have anyplace to put the vase right now, nor is it exactly my style, so choose someone else for the giveaway if you draw my name. I do love blue and white, though!
That is a very pretty bowl, and would look very pretty in my bedroom that is coral, gray, and blue. Very, very, pretty.
You did a great job replicating the inspiration picture for your living room bookcases. And a huge “Congratulations!” on your 100th walk!!! You are amazing. Also, what a gorgeous collection of images. Blue and white has long been my favorite but it took some time before I decorated with it. Thanks for the inspiration!
100th walk?! Are you kidding me? CONGRATULATIONS!
Also, the disclaimer . . . love it. :)
I love the bowl and would be happy to own it, but really I’m posting because you’re missing one key word in the above post. Baby. Ann Margaret is posing with a BABY ocelot on a cheap blue background. And it couldn’t be cuter.
Congratulations on meeting this milestone! I love this bowl! I really need to send you a picture of my blue and white room. Hopefully it’s done right ;) although I do have a tough time sticking to just two colors.
Congrats to you from a kindred lover of blue/white!
Yep, you totally captured the vibe of the top photo. I <3 blue and white!
Im a new follower and love the blue/white theme. Im also a huge Waterford fan and love Evolution pieces. Congratulations on your 100th Walk!!!
keep up the walking , jules ! 100 congratulations
My house is mostly blue, white and green but I am definitely not a lady who lunches.
The blue and white combo reminds me of my mother. She has quite a few pieces of Blue Willow china that I hope someday will be passed down to me. Thanks for the great giveaway!
100 walks! Big huge congrats. Love the bowl, but I have to know, do you get one too? You love it and deserve it, so I hope so.
I love BLUE!! It’s the color of our bathroom (with white trim), the color of my truck and my favorite bird feeder. Beautiful! Thanks for the chance to win. Renea
Des Moines, IA
Thanks for the giveaway! I love blue and white too!
I love the blue and white color combo. I have a collection of Blue Delft that hang out in white bookshelves in my living room. Great give away. Also congrats on your 100th walk!
Oh glory day! That place setting with the plates and the cup and the napkin. Oh that is going on my inspiration board. I LOVE blue and white. Like you said, when done right it is just oh so right. Yum.
The blue and white is beautiful, and I like a lot the ocelot inspiration. (See what I did there?) Love your blog!
I adore that bowl! I would probably sleep with it at night and push it around in a stroller during the day and never let my kids near it.
100th Walk — WOW!! Congrats on your perseverance… so impressive & inspiring! :)
I, too, love blue and white (with yellow and green mixed in). We’re in the process of moving and I just picked out colors for the whole house to be painted and now I’m worried I picked too much blue. But its a soft, light calm color! And the house is dark so I thought the bright light of it would perk it up! I’m nervous. Keep telling myself, we can always repaint (but, really, will I?)…
I love Waterford, use to have wine glasses in lismore, but then they all got broken. I adore blue and white. Our bedroom is blue with white trim.
So excited for a giveaway! Thanks!
That bowl is adorable (though I confess I am a blue & white superfan already). Congrats on 100 walks!
Congrats on your 100th walk! :)
A few years back, my family and I traveled to the United Kingdom and we stopped at the Waterford Factory. Very cool to see them making all those glass treasures. And another thought…Ann Margaret so stinking gorgeous!!! I would die happy if one day I woke up and I was a natural redhead. I’ll keep dreaming.
Congratulations on your 100th walk – that is a great accomplishment! I feel like you do about blue and white…and I love that bowl too!
I love the memories of blue and white as well! For me, it is the pottery of Spain. =)
Woot! 100!
I love blue and white – have a small collection of Burleighware “Bluebird” pieces – and am intrigued by this little Waterford bowl. And congratulations on your 100th walk!
I love blue and white and took the bold move of installing cobalt blue counters in my kitchen.
Jules, when I saw the picture at the top of your post, I immediately thought, Oh! It’s her living room, clearly! With a smaller couch, of course. So I think you did an awesome job replicating your inspiration view! Alas, I can not stomach blue and white. When I was in high school, my best friend and her family moved into a new house, and her mother decorated it, top to bottom, corner to corner, in white and blue. She had a white with blue floral patterned Laura Ashley comforter and curtains in her room, along with white wicker furniture. The carpet was blue throughout, except where there was tile, which was white. If the walls were white, the furniture was blue, and vice versa. The house was kept at an icy 65 degrees year round, which made it feel like a cavernous, cold freezer. Full of blue ice.
I loved old movies as a kid (still do), and when I started into my Elvis phase, I watched all the classics– Blue Hawaii, Kissin’ Cousins, etc. But my favorite was Viva Las Vegas, which I watched ad nauseum because I just couldn’t get over how beautiful Ann Margaret was. I decided she was definitely The Most Beautiful Woman Ever.
The fact that I died my hair red 20 years later is probably not unrelated.
I love ocelots too! and blue and white. but i like my blue and white in nautical style stripes.
What great looking rooms! I love blue and white, mine tends towards a more Asian style, but I love it all.
So, so, so proud of you Jules! You’ve inspired me to get out more and walk to explore hidden parts of my new neighborhood. I stumbled on a park yesterday. What a pleasant surprise! The vase is gorgeous, and I’d love o display it in our new (first) home.
Congrats on 100 walks! That is awesome. I’m a huge fan of blue and white as well. :)
Everything about this post is lovely…the vase, your walks, blue & white.
Congratulations! I love blue and white decor too.
I have to comment just to say…. Ann Margret and a baby ocelot…. my brain is still looping on that one.
Congrats on the big 1-0-0!
In 28.5 yrs of marriage, the blue/white combo has always reined in our home. Please count me in.
Oh I love that! What a beautiful and generous giveaway. I must admit to owning a couple of Waterford pieces (wedding gifts)! And I also love blue and white – in fact it’s the basis of my kitchen scheme, although specifically it’s cobalt and white, chosen before white kitchens were ever popular. But I really think you should pick me for the giveaway because my son turned three yesterday and he’s the cutest three-year-old on the planet. Jk, I know you don’t pick, it’s random, but worth a try anyway. ;)
Those colors are gorgeous, what a nice giveaway. And congratulations on your 100th walk!
Boy, you really see how big your readership is when you do a give-a-way!
I love the photo of Ann Margaret & the baby ocelot. Congrats on the 100 days of walking – it sounds silly but I’m so proud of you!
If I get picked for this give-a-way, please donate to Julia C for her ocelot pun. I love the vase, but I do have a firm no STD’s policy in place for our house (no new Shit To Dust).
I love blue and white!!!! SO clean.
blue and white – a classic combination!
It really is a lovely bowl!
Every time I see the word “Waterford” I chuckle a bit because my maiden name is pretty close to that, and I used to get called Waterford all the time. :-) In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s what my husband’s family thought my last name was for years!
Beautiful bowl, and wonderful images. I just love blues and whites!
I love blue and white. My mom never had any blue in our house growing up, but I have at least a touch in almost every room… And that bowl is beautiful!
You are so inspiring with your walking…100! My 62 yr. old girlfriend just had a mini stroke and so I’ve increased my rate of walking on the treadmill and reduced the alcohol intake. Baby steps, baby steps. I would probably gift the lovely vase if I dominate this contest!
Lovely bowl and such a fantastic reason to celebrate!
Yay you for 100 walks!
So many lovely, classic photos in this post! Love the giveaway idea, too! :)
Ohhhhhh. So pretty.
First off, I’m not actually leaving a comment to win. That’s right. I mean, nice bowl, nice of you, but I felt compelled to post, even before I got to that whole “enter to win” section. Why? Because of your comment about how that picture was the inspiration for your family room, and how your family room didn’t turn out quite like that. Missy… I PINNED YOUR FAMILY ROOM PICTURE ON PINTEREST because it inspired ME! :) Quite truthfully, to me it looks far more real, far more lived in, and far more do-able than the room that inspired you. I love it, and I love that you did it with what you had. Kudos, Ms. Jules. :)
I agree with Carrie: I love your room and its inspiration – both different in their similarities. And I’m with Rita: as a woman with too many curious cats, I’m severely limited on locations to put breakable things. But I do think you should award an extra entry to someone if they tap dance in “WILLIAM Morris code”. *snerk*
Blue is my color :) I love the bowl – just beautiful. Great job on the 100 walks. After a health scare I’m trying to make some lifestyle changes by walking more and cutting back my diet soda intake, so I know how hard it is. Thanks for the giveaway, too!
Ahh, blue and white. Two of my favorite things to combine.
What a great giveaway! Just beautiful. And I really enjoy your blog.
Love your blog, living mindfully, William Morris (!), and – perhaps not surprisingly – blue and white. I’m a big fan of Waterford (and Wedgwood), too, and just love the Evolution bowl. As you said, a perfect blend of the traditional and the contemporary. Thanks for sharing!
I stumbled upon your blog and enjoy it very much. I too am fond of the Blue & White. Keep up the sharing!
Shiny love
I love blue and white – esp since I live right on the beach.
I have a love/hate relationship with blue and white. As you pointed out, it can go so horribly wrong. White is also not child friendly (or at least my child :P) so I start fussing about every little piece of dirt within a few days. *sigh* Maybe someday when the kidlet is grown and I can afford to have someone do it for me…
I love blue and white. Thanks for the inspiration…especially the ocelot pic. Now that’s given me something to ponder.
Fun giveaway! Congrats on 100 walks… reminds me a little bit of the 100 day celebration we in kindergarten. Not that I’m trying to relate what you’re doing to kindergarten at all! :) Love the pretty piece!
oh that blue couch in that living room with the white rug…. Congrats on the walks!
Blue and white makes me think nautical, but it can be very beautiful.
Blue & white is a FAB combination…I am obsessed with it. And the rose bowl is just lovely…as is your blog! :)
Love blue and white anything together! Congrats on the 100th walk!
Congrats on your 100th walk!! That bowl is beautiful! :)
Keep walking!
Beautiful!
Thank you so much for sponsoring this awesome giveaway! You have great taste!
I love Waterford, and I love your blog. A perfect combination, in my opinion. Thank you for sharing such a lovely piece! (and congrats on your 100th walk!!).
That’s a lovely vase. Congrats on your 100(plus!) walks!
This would add class to my house.
That first picture is amazing! I’m always so inspired by your blog- your writing, ideas, photos. Thanks for sharing!
The bowl is beautiful! And you are one funny lady. Thanks for making me laugh and inspiring me to tackle all those nagging projects I don’t want to do but want to have done.
great job on 100 walks!
I enjoy your blog! The blue and white bowl is absolutely gorgeous.
I always wanted a wall of shelves, I may get it one day, thanks!
It is hard to beat beautiful Waterford Crystal.
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