Cozy Corner

This little corner is so simple and lovely. I like how the color scheme was kept at a mellow neutral and how the variation is only in shades of butter yellow. Looks like I need to get my hands on some ceiling medallions! It's such an ingenious way to add architectural detail to a boring wall.

Image: Better Homes and Gardens via Hello Giggles

Sneak Peek

Guess what's happening on my bedroom wall right now? THIS SHIT.

Yes. I finally did it- I painted my own wall paper. Why would you do this crazy thing, you ask? Because my landlord won't let us wallpaper and it was inexpensive and I could pick my own crazy color like metallic GOLD. Oh, and also I am batshit crazy. This took a full-day y'all and I'm only half finished. But soon it will look amazing and already I am loving the metallic sheen and the overall effect of the pattern. Thank goodness it's only on one wall or I might have lost my mind by now.

As soon as it's finished, I'll post better pictures and show how I did it (and probably what I was drinking throughout. Hint: It involves large quantities of alcohol.) Then I'll have to start strategizing art work and working on the lamp situation.

Please excuse this horrible photo taken with my cell phone.  I couldn't find my camera in the giant fort I created on the other side of my room while I painted.

Image courtesy of: Mia G for w*ink

Other things we can hang on our walls

As we begin to sort through our massive collection of wall art, I am finding myself more and more attracted to non-traditional art that isn't necessarily something framed. Sconces? Metallic Sculptures? Mirrors? So many options! Here's some inspiration culled from the archives of Lonny and Rue:

From Lonny:

I'm a sucker for symmetry! Red flowers omg.

Love how light these sconces look. Also can someone please buy me that desk?

I know, I know: Sunburst Mirrors: So 8 years ago. But still classic!

From Rue:

Love how ornate this sconce is.

Another sunburst mirror. Blorg. But this one is feathery and fun!

*Drama* J'dore.

Tempting

Oh how I wish I could get away with painting the walls of our living room black! Alas, my roommates would hate it and I think it would be wrong for the space. A girl can dream though!

Image: Desire to Inspire via The Glamourai

Looooooooooove

{artwork, chair, rug}

Image: Design Files

Whitewash

I wish I had the courage to fully embrace white rooms. I think I would probably go crazy after a few weeks and then spontaneously paint a wall purple or something but one can dream. I don't really condone white couches, especially since I saw The Slums of Beverly Hills at an impressionable age. Maybe I could try the all-white look out on my bed since I can always bleach everything if it starts to look dingy? Then again, if you do an all-white bed and you already have white walls, you have to make sure your walls are actually clean and white and mine are neither of those things. My bedroom walls are actually a faded gross eggshell with random cracks and ugly khaki-colored trim that I am too lazy to paint.

Back to the drawing boards, I guess.

Image: The Decorista

love love love

I love everything about this room. I love the light fixture. I love the wall color. I love the old-school champagne glasses and the abstract artwork. I love the chrome-edged table and the plaid tea canisters. I even love the dinosaurs, which usually terrify me.

Image: Domino Magazine via Happy Mundane

yet another wallpaper alternative

I had the most annoyingly long commute this morning and was in a thoroughly bad mood when I arrived at work but my mood was somewhat lifted when I saw Jennifer Hill's gorgeous stencil job featured on Design Sponge today. Inspired by a mural on the wall of their Honeymoon suite in Morocco, Jennifer transformed a small wall in their bedroom with paint, an allover patterned stencil from Royal Designs, and what looks to me like a lot of patience. The result is nothing short of breathtaking and frankly, I am so jealous that I am tempted to copy her idea in my bathroom this very weekend.

I won't- but only because I am too lazy.

This ain't Jennifer's first time at the rodeo either. (The rodeo being Design Sponge.) Jennifer's swoon-worthy Jamaica Plain home and workspace, along with her charming cards and calendar, were featured on the site back in June of 2008.

Check out Jennifer's blogpost, which includes relatively easy instructions, here.

Ps. I also want her dresser. And her rug. And her honeymoon suite.

Image: JHill Design via Design*Sponge

apartment envy

Sometimes I sit around my apartment and I think, ' Apartment, you bore me'.

True story.

The fact is, I like bright colors and modern lines and enough artwork to cover a whole damn wall and that is sadly not happening in my apartment at the moment. To be fair, much of this is due to my budget and the fact that much of my furniture was inherited from either my parents, friends or craigstlist. One day I will get it together and start replacing things and buy appropriate frames for the piles of prints I have lying around everywhere and then my apartment will be a wonderland. Sort of like the apartment of one David Kaiser, an art curator whose magnificent apartment is currently featured over at NY Mag.

See? Isn't it just fabulous?

I am over the moon about this West Village apartment. Under Miles Redd's direction the floors were hand-painted, tables were ebonized, dressers repainted in Yves Klein blue and sconces were designed complete with matching oversize urns.  How is this not the most beautiful place you've ever seen?

Further evidence:

Yves Klein Blue! Yves Klein Blue! I die.

Images: NY Mag

Copycat.

We had a very productive weekend in our apartment- we were finally able to install a new pendant lamp in the kitchen and we now have two new bookcases in the living room. As a result our apartment is suddenly flooded with (artificial) light AND my bedroom is less cluttered without giant stacks of books under my desk and lining the walls. Progress!!

This cozy corner, courtesy of Blafre Designs, is so sweet and girlish that I don't even mind that it's clearly a child's room. In fact, it's reminiscent of my own living room! (minus the child-size bed, of course) Our walls are a similar purple grey color and we scored a cute three-tiered faux chandelier on super sale from Urban Outfitters that is currently hanging in our front window. It does make me wish I had more white in the room because between the dark wood floors, bookshelves, tables and chairs, we have a lot of brown going on! I'm beginning to re-think my plans for some bright slipcovers for our armchair in favor lighter, more neutral tones.

Still working on the rug.....

Image: Blafre Designs via marion hearts

We call the hot one Kyle.

When I first moved to NY, I lived on the Upper West Side in a charming apartment with Helen. We like to refer to the place as 'Potato Chip Island' for reasons I will not explain here but if you get the reference, we can be best friends forever.

Potato Chip Island was a magical place. We didn't put a ton of thought into our design scheme- everything just fell into place since we both like lots of color. Our only decor-related project was a series of silhouettes we made one afternoon and then ingeniously pasted to the wall of our living room. It is the only wall decal that I have found acceptable in recent years and that's mostly because we made them ourselves.

The problem with decals is they usually look so cheap and easy. I saw some cherry blossom stickers recently at Ikea and threw up in my mouth. (Sorry Ikea, I usually love you) I am willing to make one exception to my decal hateration: These headboard decals by Blik:

They come in a variety of kicky colors and styles but this basic 'iron' frame is my favorite. Sure, they border on college dorm chic but I don't care. I think they'd look awesome in a guest bedroom or in the kind of apartment where you wind up using milk crates as nightstands and somehow they look cool and sort of industrial in a non-hipster way.


Images: Helen Rosner and Blik

Gallerinas

Ah Ikea. Even though you exhaust me, I still find delight in every excursion. This weekend Hanna and I braved the crowds at Ikea (a feat considering they are now offering their famous meatball lunch for a mere $.99!). After much discussion, several negotiations and one minor meltdown, we left with over a dozen picture frames for various parts of our apartment.* Most of them will be in Hanna's bedroom but several will wind up in the kitchen, giving that room a much-needed face-lift. The question is now what to put in them and where to put them?

We have a plan for the dark corner where our table currently resides: we will hang a white shelf I inherited from my parents' guest bedroom and then we will store all our tea tins and tea cups on it. Perhaps a few colorful tea towels as well. The other wall in that corner is still completely empty and I have been considering the idea of creating a gallery to bring some personality into the room.

I have always loved the idea of hanging a gallery of photos. My sophmore year of college, I covered one wall with 49 photos of old Hollywood movie stars in sheet protectors linked with paperclips. I had a lot of time on my hands. Unfortunately, the 49 pairs of eyes staring at me began to creep me out and I tore it down in a drunken rage one night. When I moved into the city, I began to collect postcards, photos, paper scraps and ribbons to frame and display in groups on my bedroom walls. Perhaps these two examples would be a logical next step. They look more organized, sleek and stylish. Plus, I would have an excuse to start a whole new collection! I also like how much space they take up. It's hard to know how to treat those long, uninterrupted walls! Our small kitchen wall wouldn't be such a huge undertaking, but it would be a challenge to decide on an appropriate theme. I'm thinking nothing involving eating or food or kitchens.

Thoughts???!???

Images: AT: SF and Design*Sponge

*We also brought home a box of Princess Cakes = THE most delicious dessert you have ever had. Buy them. Eat them. Crave them. Repeat.

Is Brown the new Grey???

I am loving food writer Laura Santtini's attic apartment in London! The large scale of the rooms and furniture bring a certain old-school elegance to the space but touches of color and off-beat accessories add a touch of whimsy. I adore the mix of furniture styles and finishes and the different textures throughout each room. I don't know if it is the season or what but I am really into chocolate brown walls lately! They look so warm and inviting and effortlessly stylish.

 

Check out the full spread over at Living Etc and you too can drool over the different styles of each room!

PS. LOVE LOVE LOVE the white subway tile in the kitchen. It is infinitely nicer than the ugly peach painted trees in our kitchen! Sigh.

Images: Living Etc via AT: LA

collage days

I love collages. I love how complicated they look. I love how easy they are to make. I love the instant texture, pattern and depth they add to a room. When I was in London, I covered one wall of my bedroom with a large collage of ticket stubs, postcards and random pictures of Cate Blanchett as a Russian ballerina in The Man Who Cried. (skip it.)


There's something sorta bad-ass about collage, don't you think?

I do.

Lately I've been thinking my bedroom is awfully boring. Granted, I still don't have curtains, there are crates of books taking over my desk area and I've placed wall art on only one wall. Nevertheless, I need something to balance out the girlishness of my room. Something darker. Something edgier. Something dramatic. I *was* thinking a crystal skull but perhaps a collage will do instead!

Images: The Benevolent Postcard Society and Apartment Therapy via Dress, Design & Decor

ps.

Photo Courtesy of: Variety

Chocolate: Not just for eating

Even though I rarely cook, I'm a sucker for a cute well-organized kitchen. I love exposed shelves and pretty dishes on display. I adore all the canisters and vases and containers involved in storing utensils and dry goods and finding an appropriate space for cookbooks and take-out menus. I could go on and on...

What I REALLY like are spaces that look really clean and efficient without sacrificing style and beauty.

This kitchen, featured on Apartment Therapy's sister site The Kitchn, is exactly what I am looking for- simple lines, crisp colors and very organized yet still comfortable and homey. I always forget how warm a deep chocolate brown looks; it's lovely against the cool white subway tiles. I am also loving the artwork, it really elevates the space and I guessing it also helps tie in the rest of the room.

We really need to work on our kitchen. It will never be as chic as this one since we are still cursed with the painted tiles (peach colored trees?? really??) and lack of adequate storage space. However, we have a ton of wall space and room to be creative with furniture and shelves and seating. We recently hung up a spectacular chalk board for displaying menus and recipes and random crude quotes but I'm thinking of painting for wallpapering one of the longer walls to bring some spice to the room as well.

Image: The Kitchn

If it ain't baroque...

Everyone knows my taste tends to be a bit dramatic. Even as a child, my taste varied depending on the day (my mother once grounded me after I petitioned for a violet room only to dismiss it in favor of an all white palette while the paint was practically still wet). Lately, I find myself wavering between two different aesthetics. On the one hand, I lean toward bright white rooms with smaller touches of vibrant colors and patterns but on the other, I am inextricably drawn to dark, slightly Gothic rooms with radiant jewel tones and an abundance of hot pink and yellow. I saw this incredibly chic living room over at CasaSugar yesterday and have been thinking about it ever since. Designer Abigail Ahern first caught my attention when the photos of the apartment she helped design for her sister hit the New York Times. Something tells me I might be adding another girl to my design crush list!

Check out Ahern's fun website here. (I especially love the lamps and chandeliers throughout each room)

Image: Abigail Ahern via CasaSugar

Transitions

We are finally starting our major apartment overhaul! The first step was painting the living room (more on that debacle later) and the second step will be tackling our wall art situation. Last night we discussed the pig sty that is currently our kitchen.

Our kitchen poses many problems. It is a large room with a big open space in the middle. We have reserved one short wall for a wide kitchen cart to hold our toaster oven and other small appliances. Our round kitchen table resides in a dark corner that is in desperate need of a wall-sconce or lamp. I am considering an open bookcase for the other corner, which would house our cookbooks and pretty bake ware. The problem with our kitchen is the one long wall that leads to the door. Theoretically, we should be able to separate the space into the 'entryway' and the 'kitchen area'. But that is easier said than done, especially since the fridge is right next to the door. The trick, I think, is to figure out a way to separate the two spaces without interrupting the flow of the room. (Sorry to be all 'zen' but it cannot be helped.)

I was perusing the Design*Sponge offerings today and I think this new line by Lene Toni Kjeld would be a perfect way to transition from entryway to eatery while still maintaining two distinct areas. A colorful console/umbrella stand combo could brighten the white while the delicate silver design would soften our bulky wood table. It also looks great with bright yellow, which is a color I am considering painting our dining room chairs!

Image: Lene Toni Kjeld via Design*Sponge

Bright Idea

I have proclaimed my love of chalkboard paint on numerous occasions but that is so last month. I have moved on to IDEA PAINT. Idea Paint is whiteboard paint. That's right. You heard me. (er, read me.) White. Board. Paint. Not dark like chalkboard paint! No messy chalk dust to clean up! Infinite marker color options! Erasable!

I'm in.

If I didn't rent my apartment, I'd cover my entire door and let people write all over it- inside and out.

Image: IdeaPaint via Poppytalk and Design Hole

Mellow Yellow

I am deep into a yellow phase right now. I love yellow like whoa. When I was in high school, I painted my room yellow and then promptly filled it with red and blue accessories. When my friends came over, they would marvel at how brave I was- choosing primary colors for my bedroom as opposed to the pastel paired with brown look that was au courant.

These days I am into a fresher, crisper yellow. A bright shade paired with black, white, grey, navy and fuchsia. More sophisticated than the primary colors of my youth but more plucky and modern than a grandmother's 'canary yellow kitchen' which supposedly represents her funky taste.

I found this on Design is Mine today and am already trying to figure out where I can find such a large frame. I love how clean the yellow and white looks. I am also gaga over the wallpaper. It's so easy to overpower a whole room with a bold print but this tones it down quite a bit. It also helps that the print itself is quite delicate. I could see this working well in a dining room with a nice wood table and a deep barrel pendant lamp. It would also be cute to hang two matching panels in a corner with a low bookcase and a comfy armchair.

Image: Design is Mine

Stamp of Approval

Since the Keep Calm & Carry On Poster clearly won't work for me, this would be a fabulous alternative that is bold yet simple!

Image: Decorno