Introducing the crafting extraordinaire Brittany, blogger at The House That Lars Built... read more
The time has now come for us to reveal our next blogger crush of the moment – drum roll please! Some of you may already recognise our blogger of the moment from when she recently took over the Laura Ashley blog with her fabulous DIY Scarf Camera Strap. A blog that often has us ladies in HQ swooning, it was high time we crowned Brittany, blogger at The House That Lars Built, our Febuary monthly crush.
Our perfect excuse to find out more about the wonderful Brittany and her blog…
(c) Rachel Thurston
(c) Trisha Zemp
We stumbled across Brittany’s blog last year when we spotted her impressive DIY tutorials over on the American Laura Ashley blog. Since then we’ve had ‘The House That Lars Built’ bookmarked on our reading list, making sure to never miss a post. A woman of many talents, Brittany not only tries her hand at crafting, but interior design, styling and illustrating too!
(c) Cassidy Tuttle
(c) Trisha Zemp
Living by the manta her mother passed on: ‘a creative mess is better than tidy idleness,’ she set about on her way to become a ‘professional mess’, dreaming up amazing crafty creations on her own blog as well as penning articles for Design*Sponge and Brooklyn Brides. With a passion for anything and everything creative, Brittany’s inspiring nature shines through her blog as we follow each imaginative project she so kindly shares with her readers.
(c) Trisha Zemp
Drawing inspiration from nature and her love of florals, Brittany’s paper flower creations are all kinds of wonderful.
We caught up with Brittany to hear all about The House That Lars Built…
(c) Trisha Zemp
How did ‘The House That Lars Built’ come about?
The House That Lars Built started when I was in graduate school for interior design in Washington, DC. I had just spent a summer in NYC interning for a couple of interior designers. A couple of my colleagues had “design blogs”. At the time, I didn’t know blogs could be cool and all of a sudden I wanted to jump on the bandwagon. The perfect opportunity arose when I took a residential interior design class.
Creating a blog for a fictional family who I was designing for, I put up my inspirational images, floorplans, and bios on the family. I named the dad Lars based on my own dad. (My dad’s name is actually Bob, but his alias is Lars!) When we were growing up he would put his name in as Lars at restaurants and things like that. As kids we got the biggest chuckle out of it and because Lars was the name of my fictional dad and he was building the house, I related it back to the nursery rhyme and changed Jack for Lars. Hence, The House That Lars Built.
(c) Maurine Dashney
What do enjoy most about blogging?
I love blogging. I get to create whatever I want, style it the way I want, and choose who I get to work with. It’s so ideal. I can easily get very bored so the variation keeps me charged and inspired.
(c) Meta Coleman – How to make an envelope cushion with Laura Ashley Emma fabric
What are your bookmarked blogs to read?
Ooooh – there are a lot of clever people out there…
– Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge for paving the way and being vocal about the state of design and the business of blogging.
– Bri Emery of DesignLoveFest for working so fluently with stellar brands.
– Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day for making crafts cool.
– I also admire The Alison Show, Merrilee Liddiard of Mer Mag, Meta Coleman of One More Mushroom, Kelly of StudioDIY, Dos Family for being bold and the French blog Griottes.
What is your must-have item from Laura Ashley?
I’m a long time fan of Laura Ashley. As a floral lover, it’s the ultimate brand. My favourite items right now is the Silk Contrast Spot Print Dress and the Ombre Pashmina Scarf. I would also love to wrap my walls in the Aviary Garden Wallpaper.
Be sure to bookmark Brittany’s blog The House That Lars Built and get ready to be inspired!