Happy October! Here’s what’s inspiring me this week as shared over on NOTCOT.org. Click the squares to find out more!

The NOTCOT Nashville Project House is done! And we are finally home in LA. For those who have been following along this summer, you know what an adventure it’s been for Shawn, Bucky, and I!!! (For those who want to catch up - you can see our Nashville Project House and inspiration posts as well as the Instagram hashtag.) We loaded up the car and drove out to Nashville early in June to close on a house, then proceed to fix it up, subdivide the lot, and rent it out before driving back across country. We weren’t exactly sure what we were embarking on, and naturally hit a few bumps along the way - but never stop learning more and more than we ever imagined!

As for how it all started - Shawn grew up in Nashville, and over the last 5 years, I’ve joined him on countless trips there. It’s incredible how much the city is transforming even month to month. As we’ve watched it all happen, after our Dec 2015 trip, we started watching the house listings out of curiosity thinking it might be a fun project to buy a house or a plot of land there… we’ve both long dreamed of building a house, and we love the city. Well, being us, the what-ifs didn’t last long, and in February we found one that intrigued us. Tiny house (650 sqft), but amazing lot (nearly half an acre!), super near a lot of our favorite bakery/chocolate/restaurants/cafes/bars as well as gorgeous parks, river, farmer’s market and downtown… with some amazing changes coming soon (i.e. Envision Cayce) and in a fun neighborhood with lots of nice folks. We basically spent March in talks with the seller’s realtor, and landed the house on Shawn’s 30th birthday! We gave the seller a long closing to get his affairs in order, and drove out at the beginning of June to close on the house. I thought THAT was the beginning… fixing up the house and subdividing the lot (a whole other story)… then we decided to find a renter while we figure out what the bigger plan is! Well now it’s rented out and we’re home… it turns out THIS is really the beginning (or another beginning) as we dream up our dream house for the empty lot!

So here it is - a peek at the before and after to put the last few month of process shots into perspective! See it all on the next page!

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Another find from Justine at London Design Week - she spotted the beautiful jewelry of Eileen Gatt at Scotland: Craft & Design. Gatt is based in the the Scottish Highlands on the Black Isle and her Edinburgh studio. Her stunning nature inspired jewelry and silver pieces are lovely with simple, elegant penguins, seals, polar bears, rabbits, foxes, and more… see some of our favorites on the next page!

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So much good stuff this week over on NOTCOT.org! Feeling excited and inspired for all that is coming this fall! Click the squares to find out more, and feel free to submit more inspiration!

As promised - there was so much living green inspiration at London Design Week that Justine found, it deserved its own post! Plants and nature have always been a huge source of inspiration, but they are really gaining presence in design more and more - both indoor and out! Is there anything more rejuvenating than a fresh, bright burst of greenery? Take a look at what we found on the next page…

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One of the more breathtaking pieces Justine found during London Design Week, the glowing green Nude Glass Memento Mori Faceted Skulls by Ali Bakova. See more pictures of it on the next page.

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London Design Week 2016 has come and gone already! And while Shawn and i were driving back across the US, Justine went and took lots of pictures to give us all a peek at what was going on! So here’s a first look at lots of pics that stood out to me - so many patterns! and textures! And a bit of randomness as well… see it all on the next page!

p.s. There was also so much greenery, i’ve broken those out into a separate LDW Greenery post.

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Inspiration roundup time from NOTCOT.org! Click the squares to find out more.

New Plumen bulb! The 003! They really do take bulbs to a beautiful new level with every launch. This latest bulb has stunning golden facets which combined with LED lighting gives off a warm, textured ambient light while also providing a downward spotlight. In addition to beautiful design and functional lighting - the central structure sits on a specially engineered plinth which serves as a heat sink for the LED, keeping it efficient and ready to last up to 10,000 hours. They are selling the Plumen 003 as a bulb and a pendant set. Concept and Design Direction by Hulger. Form Design by Claire Norcross. Facet Design by Marie-Laure Giroux. See images of the stunning new bulb and pendant set on the next page!

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Fall is here? Already! As is London Design Week!!! As we inch away from summer - here’s a roundup of inspiration from NOTCOT.org! Click the squares to find out more - and feel free to share anything we’ve missed through submissions or email or tweets or… well, you know how to find me!

Our @NOTlabs Instagram while in Nashville is basically composed of the Nashville House Project, urban inspiration and silly details, and CREATURES! Apparently the last few weeks have had even more creatures than usual, so i’ve broken them out to a post of their own. So far you’ve seen cicadas, lots of shrooms, fatty caterpillars, furry caterpillars, birds, click beetles and more… this time check out the cutest baby water snake! Headed UP stream! Our resident Eastern Box Turtle who we’ve decided is the keeper of lot two (since we’ve now split it all into 2!!!) The always amusing Bucky and Caleb! And sooooo many more bugs, caterpillars, eggs, katydids, moths, butterflies and more… check out the creatures keeping us delighted and inspired on the next page!

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This may be the last update before the house reveal! We’re that close to having it all done! Subdivision is finally in and accepted and we’re just waiting on them to register the mylar!!! We drove out 3 months ago to buy a house and now we’re nearly headed home to LA with a house and two pieces of land! It’s surreal - but a hell of a learning experience. We took no short cuts on this project and really dove in to learn as much as reasonable - we joke that it’s been a summer of Nashville internships! But we’re going home with far more knowledge and experience that we’re just itching to apply to more of our creative projects to come! So take a peek at the latest house updates and some of the other Nashville randomness on the next page!

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Hello, September! 2016 is flying by, and our summer of Nashville is nearly coming to a close, and we’ll be getting back to more of our usual inspiration after another cross country roadtrip home to LA! But for now - here’s another big dose of inspiration squares from NOTCOT.org! Click the squares to find out more… and to follow our day to day real life adventures - see us on @NOTlabs!

On finding things that are uniquely local - i’m currently obsessed with the Green Door Gourmet in Nashville, TN - particularly their CSA Local Farm Box! Traditional CSA (community supported agriculture) models rely on customers to buy subscriptions for weekly boxes, pay up front, and essentially fund the farmers to buy seed, grow crops and do their thing. Super awesome, but terrible for people like me who have rather sporadic schedules and are terrible with planning.

While Green Door Gourmet has a traditional CSA option, they also have a limited number of “Flexible CSA model (Pack-Your-Own)” boxes! Which is awesome for those with crazy schedules or go through cooking bursts , commitment-phobes, and even travelers passing through! Sure you could go to a normal market or a farmer’s market, but there’s something so nice (and so much more delicious somehow) about popping by the farm, and picking deliciously fresh produce from the baskets. To join in, just get on their email list, and every week you get a message about what this week’s box includes, and you can place your order and prepay the $27 by Thurs to pick up Sat or Sun. They’ll happily explain what everything is to you, share recipes and tips, and tell you more about who, how, where they were grown and more.

Take a peek at how fun the Pack-Your-Own process is, as well as the amazing market/general store is on the next page!

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So much manual labor the last week - but so much fun, and we’re closing in on finishing up the NOTCOT Nashville House Project - and it’s nearly ready to rent (know anyone looking in East Nashville?)… Figure we might as well rent it while we figure out what to do out back! And we certainly need to get back over to LA sooner than later to take care of things. Can’t believe the summer is flying right by, but the inspiration keeps flowing over at NOTCOT.org - so click the squares to find out more!