Those girls at Tilton Fenwick are geniuses! I love everything they did in this room for the Hamptons Showhouse. I’m crazy over the studded grasscloth wall covering. I would kill a man for those chairs. And they have me clamoring for as many vintage Nat Geo’s as I can get my hands on.
![](http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/album%202/TiltonFenwick_Showhouse03.jpg)
I think the best type of decoration is something that is beautiful and also functional/educational. A big block of yellow spines would be so cool and graphic on my coral and black bookshelf! But I love that my kids and I could pull out different issues and actually learn something too. It reminds me of how my grandparents kept a big, heaping stack of National Geographics on the screened-in back porch of our cabin in Arizona. There was a triple bunk built into the wall of that porch and I remember as a kid falling asleep looking at the beautiful pictures of exotic places.
PS More colorful books in my Babble post.
![](http://i224.photobucket.com/albums/dd246/jkomenda/album%202/Picture82.png)
Oh my Goodness, so clever! My dad has thousands of them!!!
What about getting your daughters a subscription of their own?
Oh my gosh this brings back memories. My dad had about the same number of those magazines (or more!) in a closet by our office growing up. When I was little, my friends and I would look at them and be in awe of the African womens' huge breasts. We thought that's what we would look like when we grew up.. haha.
Love it…i love styling with books…and to be sure, National Geographic is yellow…one of my fav colors! Love the blue painting and contrast with all that yellow!
Kat
I love this post! I moved into my new home about a year and a half ago and have lots of new bookcases so my Granny K gave me hundreds of National Geographics to fill the spaces and I love them because they remind me of when I was a little girl!!
Growing up, my parents had a bookcase full of my Dad's National Geographic collection. My brother and I would pull out all the maps. :)
Found you via "My Name Is Cox" & love this post because my father has a closet FULL of dusty old Nat Geo's that I've begged him not to toss into the recycle, promising that I would come up with a good idea. Thanks for sharing this idea!
I LOVE that wallpaper. Any idea of the source?
I love Nat Geo but mostly because it reminds me of grandparents too. I can even remember the smell of the cupboard we'd get the magazines out of. Thanks for sharing.
http://bywayofney.blogspot.com/
I totally think you should contact National Geo and see if they would be interested in doing a blog contest with their mags. I can't tell you how many times I have used their mags to stage homes, frame their images or use in a craft project. Honestly, their magazine fuels imaginations on countless levels.
I am so glad you posted this! I had completely forgotten that my grandmother has 30 years' worth of issues in floor to ceiling bookcases in her living room (I haven't been all the way inside her home in maybe 10 years!). And I never realized how chic they are. I'm going to have to offer to take those off of her hands one day!
So glad to know that my husband's hoarding of magazines has now become chic. Can you come up with something for old newspapers, glass jars, assorted sports memorabilia, and picture frames? I would be in heaven then.
I'd love to know the source for the wallpaper as well!!! Thanks for posting this pic…..
my dad paid for a lifetime subscription to nat geo when he went off to college in the 70's. i dont even know if they do that anymore, but i COVET his collection. their library wouldnt be the same without them {cause if it would they possibly would go missing in the dark of night…}
Love the snapshot of our National Geographics collection at the Hampton Showhouse! Thanks for including in your amazing blog – we are such fans :)
The wallpaper is new from Phillip Jeffries, and just as incredible in person! check it out here: http://www.phillipjeffries.com/browse/collections/101-new__rivets.html
Fantastic!!
Miele is the only way to go on that vacuum girl! I could easily lift mine everywhere even when I was 9 months pregnant and it cleans bare floors and rugs like a champ.
I was a little concerned by the expression "kill a man." I know that you are a sweet, sweet woman, but it sort of surprised me–even if it is just meant in a hip way. Some people really are violent, and it makes you seem distanced from that, and to minimize it when referring to chairs . . .
I have read your blog daily for several years, and miss it when you can't post. I've now followed you to babble(?), and hope that 2012 brings you much success.
Thank you for your consideration of this awkward phrase related to something as trivial as (stunning) chairs.
When I was little there was an issue with a photo of a woman with a plate in her lip on the front cover. That photo totally creeped me out and I had to sneak past the shelf when I was by myself lest it jump out and get me.
I completely agree – functional decor is my FAVORITE kind there is :)
http://niftynelsons1.blogspot.com/
I agree with everyone else…the collections our parents had are treasures! i really enjoyed this post :)
Stacy
I do the same thing! I get boxes of them for free on Craigslist all the time. You can see some on my bar here:
http://mylittleapartment.blogspot.com/2011/08/bunkin-up.html
And I have a bunch stacked in my living room as well. It's one of my favorite colors of yellow!
Love this! Anthropologie did this a few years ago and I instantly started collecting! It goes great with my milk glass collection. :)