EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING

TFNC Deco Embellished Chiffon Dress

Picture me in these two dresses.

A|Wear Gold Trim Shift Dress

And also these shoes. Oh god. The pain of not owning them is killing me.

Dune Glee Peep Toe Heeled Shoes

Images: Asos

Calendar Love

It seems so antiquated to use a  paper calendar these days but I'm an old-fashioned gal and like to fill in those boxes and see my my life organized on paper. Also, I just like the look of them. Especially the new watercolor version by Linda & Harriet. It would look marvelous in my fantasy kitchen with white cabinets and black marble counter tops.

Just sayin'.

Images: Linda & Harriet via Oh Joy!

Oh Hello

Image: jaclyn paige via The Beautiful Soup

Dining Room Rant

Here is what is unfair: If you live in New York City and you are not a billionaire, it is unlikely that you can afford an apartment with a separate formal dining room.

You know why this sucks? Because you can't host a proper traditional Thanksgiving meal complete with centerpieces and a family riot. But ALSO because you don't get the joy of decorating it! Look at this table and chairs! Look at that lamp! Look at the freaking wall art!

My current dining room is the small corner between the living room and my refrigerator. It is also directly in front of the door to our apartment and therefore it acts as a catch-all for mail and other detritus of daily life. Plus, randomly, our seltzer maker. I've always wanted a dining room because when I was younger we ate at our coffee table unless it was Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter and I hated it. I wanted a formal place setting and multiple glasses and flowers on the table! I wanted to practice my mastery of which fork goes with which course, etc!

So you can see why it is so disappointing to be in this predicament. Sure, I can eat a proper meal at my dining room table. But it will be to the hum of the refrigerator, not the chatter of my incredibly interesting and intelligent dinner guests and smooth jazz.  And god help us if someone happens to enter the apartment while we are eating because they will basically walk straight into our meal and chaos will ensue. Oh woe is me.


Image: roygbiv via my little apartment

I never liked the name Irene

Everyone's freaking out about the hurricane but I prefer to think of it as an excuse to stay home and attend to the domestic chores I've been ignoring. For example, baking. Wouldn't it be helpful to have some delicious blueberry crumb bars during a treacherous storm? What else would one eat- cereal?!?

What are we, farmers?!?

Emily over at Cupcakes & Cashmere made these treats last year from a Smitten Kitchen recipe and I've had them bookmarked for months. They look filling and contain enough blueberries to convince myself that they are, in fact, healthy.  Wouldn't they be delightful with some coffee and perhaps a side of crispy bacon?

Also on my list: changing my bedding, an art project, painting an old mirror and lounging about with some magazines.

Image: Cupcakes and Cashmere

Shut Up, Monday

I guess this gorgeous space makes my day a little better. It is essentially the most beautiful goddamn room you've ever seen right???

Image: The Inside Stoop via Acoustic Garden

Looking Up

Look how the painting matches the wall and ceiling colors so precisely! How Meta!

I adore the painted ceiling in Kelly LaPlante's design studio. It's so simple but it packs such a big punch. I often overlook my ceilings because, well, it's hard enough to find the time and energy to paint the walls!

Painting the ceiling can seem intimidating and a lot of people think it's too much work, but it's really not. It's usually less square footage to paint than your actual walls (unless you're just painting an accent wall). I get why it seems so complicated though; sometimes you want high contrast and bright shades and it's hard to envision bright colors on your walls or sometimes the color clashes with your furniture.  Maybe you think you'll tire of it within a few months. But forget all that! Painting the ceiling is a great option because it's high impact but doesn't interfere with the rest of the room! If you get sick of the color, just repaint! A super long roller will have that sucker shiny and new in a matter of hours. How can you go wrong?

How awesome is the abstract painting that hangs in their conference room? I love how they've matched the wall color so precisely. 

Image: Celeste Sunderland via Apartment Therapy 

UPDATE: More Peach Obsession

The Kitchn

Yes, I realize I'm going a little overboard here but, um, PEACH THYME BELLINIS y'all!

Oh and also this:

Lonny

August Obsession: Peachy Keen

Martha Stewart Weddings

Peach is traditionally a spring color but I like it this time of year because it seems like an appropriate precursor to the darker, rusty tones of Autumn. I also love how delicate and ladylike it is- is there anything more beautiful than a bouquet of peach-toned flowers? I think not.

Southern Living

Joy of Kosher

Style Me Pretty

We Heart It

!!Stripes!!

My love of stripes is getting out of control.

Image: DecorPad via. The Decorista

Dancing Queen

I have been an avid fan of So You Think You Can Dance since that boring brunette hosted the very first season and ever since it has been the highlight of my summer. This season has been one of the best and has included some of the finest, most engaging performances to date. In fact, it's been so inspiring that I'm loosing sleep over it.

Yes, you read that right. I have LOST SLEEP over a tv show about dancing. THIS IS NOT HYPERBOLE.

On three separate occasions I have stayed up well past my bedtime watching YouTube videos of past seasons and these videos have filled me with such unbridled enthusiasm that I have been unable to sleep. One night I was so excited by a particular routine that, while lying in bed trying to force myself to sleep, I caught my foot weaving through some of the toe work.

In case you doubt the power of these routines, I give you this one choreographed by Mandy Moore (not the movie/pop star): 

See? Don't you want to dance now? Yes. Yes, you do.

So basically I have dance on the brain all the time. I am like an 10 year old who just discovered that boys don't, in fact, have cooties. 

My dance obsession might also spread to my walls. Ever since I saw this photograph in Domino Magazine (RIP) I have lusted over similar photographs. 

Isn't it classy?! Basically, as long as I steer clear of ballerinas I can avoid looking like an 8 year old. I like how simple the black & white image is though and the fact that it stands out but doesn't overtake the space.

Thank god the show's finale is tomorrow so I can return to my regular sleep schedule!

Image: Domino Magazine

Workin' on it.

Image: Where is the Cool via The Inside Stoop

Speaking of large scale wall art...

I have been in love with Sharon Montrose's prints for a few years now. If anyone ever wants to buy me a present, please feel free to order any one of her amazing animal photographs. They are so lovely that it's hard to choose favorites but I've had the Bunny and Flamingo prints bookmarked for some time!

The beauty of these prints is they look good both on their own and in combination, which means they are incredibly versatile. I could see hanging two side by side over my bed or a gallery of 4 in the bathroom or one large print over my couch in the living room. But why stop there? You could line a hallway with the whole collection, going from largest animal to smallest or vice versa. And would it be inappropriate to feature the Ostrich egg in the kitchen? I think not.

Check out Sharon's website to see the full menagerie!

Image: The Animal Print Show by Sharon Montrose

A girl can dream.

All I really want in life is some large-scale art work, a comfortable yet stylish couch and a soft blanket.

Image: Residence Magazine via The Beautiful Soup

What I did on my summer vacation

1. Went to Maine and watched one of my best friends get married! 

2. Drank Arnold Palmers by the pool

3. Saw the new Harry Potter movie

4. Read several books

Pretty nice right? Now it's back to reality. August is just the worst.  There are no special holidays or reasons to celebrate, just the sticky, horrible reality that summer is coming to a close. You're stuck in the last sweltering weeks of summer and you know you should be having fun and logging in as much beach/pool time as possible before the weather changes but a big part of you is already longing for Fall and planning outfits and menus and excursions to apple orchards. Then you feel guilty for not taking advantage of the weather and living in the moment and the guilt begins to take over your life until all you do is sit around watching Boardwalk Empire in your air conditioned living room.

Or is that just me?

Photographs Courtesy of: Oliver Scott Snure

Things I Will Do This Holiday Weekend

Paint my toes this vivid coral hue with the random name Boat House

Hang some artwork

Work on some writing projects while consuming copious amounts of iced coffee

Watch a summery movie. Dirty Dancing? Wet Hot American Summer?

Make and then drink a few Vodka Floriditas

We are so behind

Why can't it look like this already?!? (It will never look like this. Sigh.)

Here is what happens when you move: You get all excited about the radical things you will do to your new apartment, you compare paint samples, you make floor plans, you plot out where you'll hang your wall art and you make endless lists of stuff to buy to enhance your tattered old furniture. And then you do nothing. For two months.

I know there are schedules to contend with and budgets to adhere to but I am so disappointed by our lack of progress on the apartment! Every day I think to myself 'self, you really need to get your shit together'. But guess what? I don't.

I guess the only thing to do now is to make small goals and see if that works better than my previous goal which was to make the whole place perfect all at once.

Image: The Decorista

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.

Say hello hi hey there to my new bedroom

Ok well it's not my actual bedroom-that's still tk- but it's what I am currently lusting over! Stark white walls, cool-toned accents, statement art, cozy rug and luxuriously feminine bed linens. Amahzing!

Image: The Beautiful Soup via The Inside Stoop

DIY Wallpaper

This backsplash is wallpapered with Chinese food menus!

I love this idea although fear it would lead to a constant craving for lo mein.

Images: Apartment Therapy

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

Kitchen Plans

Our kitchen is pretty tiny but that's not going to stop me from going overboard as I conceptualize the design of the space! My basic plan is to keep it functional but still stylish with mid-century touches and geometric accents.

Take a look!

Here's the breakdown:

*Mini Moka Silkscreen Print $55

*Omar Shelves $69.98

*Plus Salt & Pepper Grinder $86

*Hessum Mat $10

*Vidalia Bowl $145

*Bamboo Bread Box $49.95

*Coop Bowl $24.95

*Ceramic Canisters $17.97

*Spindle Clock $495
*E'spice Jars $4

*Cure For What Ails You Print $15

*Colorblock Jacquard Dishtowels $24

Image created at: My Deco

Ikea FTW!

If moving taught me one thing it is that I have way too many books. I have so many books they fill my bookshelves and also line my desk and form a tower next to my bed. There may or may not also be a pile in my closet and some under my bed as well. I decided to sell a bunch a few weeks ago in an attempt to make more room on the shelves but then chickened out and wound up selling only 10. I think I need help. My good friend has a rule I would like to adopt. He saves only the books he will read again or recommend to a friend. When I apply this rule to my own collection, I realize I can part with roughly half my library. Am I really going to read Anna Karenina again? How often do I thumb through Shakespeare? (Answer:  When I need a good insult)

I realize giving away half my books will be pretty traumatic but there is a silver lining here. My bookshelves can look pretty again and not cluttered and boring! This is a good thing because Ikea just created this amazing galvanized shelving unit and it costs a measly $15.  Reducing my book collection is a good excuse to buy new bookshelves right?

Here are some awesome things about this shelving unit:

**It is pretty

**It is cheap

**It weighs 11 lbs which means I can carry it up to my 4th floor apt by myself

I would like to have two side-by-side along a wall of my bedroom. I think I would accessorize with some small succulents potted in brightly colored ceramic pots and a few fabric-covered boxes to soften up the look.

Image: Ikea

Homes of the Rich and Famous

In the world of celebrity homes, there are the awesome (Julianne Moore) and the boring (Gwenyth Paltrow). Let's file Keri Russell's Brooklyn brownstone under awesome, shall we?

(Yes. We shall.)

Images: Elle Decor

Moving is Hard Y'all!

Well we've survived two weeks in our new apartment and despite several set backs, (no window screens, no cable or internet, a fire alarm that goes off even if you are only boiling water) we are loving our new abode! The whole moving process was, in retrospect, not so bad. I thought I'd share some moving advice as someone who has moved a grand total of 14 times in the last 16 years. (Yes, I also count all the summers I had to move from one side of campus to another in college. It takes mad skills to carry large crates of textbooks across a quad, people!)

The best advice I can give when it comes to moving is to keep up the momentum. Start packing early and then don't stop until you have unpacked as much as possible once you get to the other side. There is no reason to be living in utter chaos for longer than a weekend. Above is a picture of my room the day after we moved in. Still a disaster zone but only a few boxes left!

The week(s) before you move, get rid of as much stuff as possible. Moving is horrible and awful and just plain no good BUT it does give you the opportunity to reassess what you own and why. I threw away or donated a lot of items ahead of time and it felt glorious. That ugly fruit bowl that I'd inherited from my parents? Curbed! Those hideous throw pillows I hid in the ottoman? Garbage! Those ill-fitting jeans I used to wear just because I was too lazy to buy more? GONE! As a result, everything in our new apartment is something that truly belongs there and we aren't weighed down by 12 boxes of magazines we won't read.  Another word of advice: color code your boxes as you pack. I used different colored sharpies to identify the contents of each box and which room it belonged in and that made it easier to separate everything once we were in the new space.

On moving day, do yourself a favor and hire movers. Sure, convincing your friends to help out in exchange for beer is cheaper but how much do you trust your friends when it comes to moving fragile furniture or electronic equipment? Hire professionals who will do everything for you and then you won't have to worry about anything. Also, let's be honest here, your friends don't want to help you move. As awesome as you are, no one wants to carry your 50 lb TV up four flights of stairs unless they are getting paid for it with real money. No amount of beer and pizza is going to be worth the ensuing back pain and your friends would probably just complain about it to their other friends. By hiring movers, you can also spare them the effort of coming up with a plausible excuse for why they won't be available that day.

Once you are safely ensconced in your new house or apartment try to resist the urge to arrange your boxes into an elaborate fort and pretend you are in a giant Nintendo game. Instead, get to work! Sure, you're probably exhausted by this point because if you are like me, you stayed up all night frantically shoving stuff into boxes and worrying that your last roll of tape was going to run out at any moment, but don't stop believing! Keep on keepin' on! Walk through that storm! Unpack as many boxes as you can right away and don't think about all the time you spent packing them in the first place because that will only make you depressed and send you running to your new local bar. Chug some Red Bull like the champion you are and tear through that shit. Seriously. It will be the most rewarding moment of your life when you have filled a cabinet with your dishes and already three boxes are unpacked.

Unpack and arrange your kitchen first. Why? Because I said so. But also because it's easy. You already know where stuff should go: In cabinets. Appliances on the counter. Cutlery in drawers. Blammo!

Next do your bathroom. Also easy. Hang up a shower curtain, throw your toothbrush on the sink and unpack some toilet paper. Done! Don't you feel so productive!?!

The living room and bedrooms are harder and I like to leave the bedroom last because that's the most sacred space but also because it involves arranging and organizing books and clothes which is the Worst.

Important---> Don't phone it in. Use this opportunity to organize your new space and do it well! Don't shove things in closets thinking you'll find a home for them later. You won't. It will all stay in that closet until you move again and then you'll feel bad about yourself. Instead, take the extra 10 minutes to figure out where that vase or lamp should go and then put it there.

Also Important---> Keep a running list of stuff you need for the apartment. Who ever thinks to buy a new toilet brush in advance? No one. Tape a big piece of paper to your fridge and as you run around unpacking like a mad man/woman, cursing yourself for throwing away the ice cube trays, write stuff down!

Within a few days, you should be comfortably settled in your new place. We were because I'm awesome and also sort of like a crazy dictator when it comes to moving. Don't think it is OK to unpack DVDs 'next week'. Unacceptable. Do it now.

Don't fret about decorating. That comes with time and it's OK to keep your artwork propped against an empty wall for the time-being. You have to get a feel for the space before you make any monumental decorating decisions anyway. Even though we're all settled in, we've decided to wait a few weeks before we tackle larger projects like hanging art work and buying rugs. I feel OK about this because at least I know where my DVDs are!

Pictures and progress reports soon!

Photo Courtesy of: Mia G for w*ink

Also I would live here

Image : Living Etc via Apartment Therapy

I could so live here

Image: Bijou and Boheme via The Decorista

Living Room Inspiration

Our new living room is quite small and so the major challenge will be to find a way to incorporate all our styles into one tiny space without sacrificing comfort.  I still have to work out the details of our little dining room area, which is essentially one corner of the living room, but in the meantime I thought I would share some basic ideas for the living room section.

Three things I want to keep in mind when designing this space:
1) There is now a boy living with us
2) We can't afford to replace our orange couch so the color scheme will have to work with it
3) We will need to incorporate a rug (finally!) as stipulated in our new lease.

My roommates claim they are going to give me free reign, which is very brave of them as they are well acquainted with my enduring passion for sequins and the color pink. Overall, I want the room to feel casual but tailored with clean lines and a few mid-century accents. My roommates have a lot of Brooklyn pride and so I want to figure out a way to incorporate that without relying on maps or other paraphernalia that feels tired or overused. Also we have a giant old TV that will need a sturdy media console, at least until we can trade it in for something sleek and flat-screened.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

Living Room

• Saarinen Side Table from Design Within Reach, $826
• Alphaville Design Felicia Floor Lamp Black from funkysofa.com, $219
• Fangio Lighting Curves Table Lamp in Silver from Walmart, $111.51
• PS Cabinet from IKEA, $99 
• PS Jonsberg Vase from IKEA $39.99
• Soho Jute Rug from Target $383.99
• Bel-Air Coffee Table from Crate & Barrel $599
• Geometric Pillow from Etsy $19.95
• Positano Asterisk Pillow from Jonathan Adler $34.00
• Futura Urn from Jonathan Adler $198
• Brooklyn Subway Roll Prints from Etsy $49

Make your own mood board over at mydeco.com!

Big News

We're Moving!!

Trying to find a new apartment in NYC (or Brooklyn for that matter) is about as fun as going to the lady doctor and yet, like going to the lady doctor, I somehow wind up having to deal with it without fail every year. Last year I delayed the move at the last minute by finding another roommate but after two years in our current apartment, enough is enough. There is too much water damage and too little water pressure. And also my roommate got engaged and that, as we all know, is a game changer.

Now there are three of us! The goal was to find a two bedroom in a nicer part of Park Slope with a decent landlord who won't claim to not speak English whenever we have a problem in the apartment.

I will spare you the ensuing drama.

No, I won't. What else is a blog for?  Here's the abbreviated version: We found an apartment, we got excited, we put in the application and were assured it was ours, I started fantasizing about wallpaper....and then we got denied. After looking at another nine apartments in two days, we finally found one that was even better than the first and it's ours! The lease is signed, the keys are safely on a Lego keychain in my purse and we have even gone over to measure every nook and cranny of the place for furniture placement purposes.

Huzzah!

Packing up our apartment feels like the most daunting thing ever but the idea of starting over feels nice, especially if it gives me an excuse to try out a new style or two. Now my  mind is all aflutter with wallpaper and floor lamps and upholstery and patterned vs. striped throw pillows, etc.

The big move is scheduled for Saturday the 30th so I'll spend every waking moment between now and then making floor plans and mood boards.

Image: Apartment Therapy

Words to live by

In response to my intense love of this clutch, my friend Jessica noted the following:

You could never be a spy with that clutch. 

So true, Jessica. So true.

Image: Charlotte Olympia Pandora Plexiglas Clutch on Net-A-Porter.com

Spring

I'm sick of cold weather and so until Spring decides to grace us with its presence I'm just gonna go live here, ok?

Image: Marks & Spencer/Sally Cullen via Bright Bazaar