The Next Mood Board Monday: West Elm and PATCH NYC

Hi and welcome! For our 6th Mood Board Monday Party, we've got something really special for you!! And I say we, because well, this one special time, its not just me hosting...I've brought along some pretty famous friends:)

West Elm loved our last Mood Board Monday that featured bold and bright area rugs and your beautiful rooms designed around their Andalusia Rug in horizon and ivory so much (we even made it to their facebook page!) that they got in touch about maybe collaborating together for the next Mood Board Monday. Yes, you read that right...THE West Elm...the modern, sophisticated and affordable furniture and home accessories retailer that we all know and love!! (Duh, of course I said yes!)

What's even cooler is that West Elm just recently launched a new collection for Summer 2010...a partnership with designers Jon Ross and Don Carney of PATCH NYC.


PATCH NYC began in 1997 with a small line of hand-crochet wool hats:) Inspired by vintage items found at local flea markets, the pair soon hand-detailed fabric scarves and special occasion bags with great success. Now their intricate apparel work and jewelry collections are in stores all around the world!

This new, special West Elm PATCH NYC collection brings Carney's bold ink nature drawings of plants, birds and insects to life on home decor pieces like throw pillows, wall art and ceramic plates.



(For a more detailed look at Don and his artwork, click here. For PATCH NYC's flea market shopping tips, read their guest post on design*sponge here.)

So, the West Elm PATCH NYC collection is going to be our inspiration for this Mood Board Monday party!!! Shouldn't be too hard to come up with an amazing room centered around these natural, bold graphics, right? And guess what? This time there's going to be prizes!! West Elm really loves you guys and wants to award your creativity and support of their brand with two $50 gift cards! The fun part is that the guys of PATCH NYC are going to choose their favorite mood board out of the bunch...that lucky person wins one of the West Elm $50 gift cards. And I'm going to choose my favorite room to award the other $50 gift card to:) Then you could actually purchase the item from the collection that originally inspired you or maybe pick up something else from West Elm that you've been coveting.

For those of you just joining us who might not have participated in a Mood Board Monday party yet, here's the general idea. This blog party is all about seeing how different people are inspired differently by the same things. It's a fun way to share all of the creativity out there and showcase how we can all start from one inspiration point and end up with a variety of ideas. To be a participant, you need to create a complete mood/idea board for a room of your choice (no limit to your budget here...just use your imagination) using one of the three inspiration pieces shown here. On Mood Board Monday party day (next Monday, April 26th in this case), come back here to link up to the party. You will need to include your sources in your post and give a brief description of the room and how you used the inspiration item/s.

To see how it works, check out our previous Mood Board Monday parties here: MBM01, MBM02, MBM03, MBM04, and MBM05.

Ok, so we're dividing the PATCH NYC collection into 3 distinct groups - framed wall art, pillow covers and ceramic entertaining. First decide which group of the 3 speaks to you the most. Then choose one item (or more) from that group that really tickles your fancy to include in your imaginary room.


1. PATCH NYC Framed Wall Art Collection

{metallic letterpress renderings of the natural world}

Use just one print or as many as you'd like from the collection in your mood board:

{Rose}

{Thistle}

{Pigeon}

{Butterfly}

{Turtle}

2. PATCH NYC Pillow Covers

{foil printed on chunky linen with a subtle metallic sheen}

Be inspired by just one pillow or use as many as you'd like from the collection in your mood board:

{Rose in Ivory}

{Thistle in Pear}

{Pigeon in Slate}

{Butterfly in Flax}

3. PATCH NYC Ceramic Entertaining

{nature comes to the table in this collection of witty, chic ceramic serverware}

Use just one plate or as many as you'd like from the collection in your mood board:

{Rose...small plate}
{Thistle...large plate}

{Pigeon...small plate}

{Butterfly...medium plate}

Awesome, no?! Please, if you have any questions let me know. And don't forget to spread the word, the more creativity the better (last party we had the most participants ever, and it would be great to get you all back as well as some new faces). I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!! (Like usual, I'm going to try my hand at a mood board too this week, even though it obviously won't be up for selection to win a gift card.)

I'd really like to thank West Elm (especially Kendall) and the guys of PATCH NYC for this amazing opportunity and for being just so inspirational in general. And I'd like to thank all of you for your continued support, participation and overall awesomeness. See you back here next Monday, the 26th, with your rooms!! Happy designing:)

PS. I made us a new Mood Board Monday logo. What do you think? Anybody got any better ideas for a tag line?