Mid-Century Modern

So far, my favorite part of the bedroom rehab is my Jacob chair, and the way its white frame looks super modern against the mid-century feel of my mid-century condo.

Domo arigato

I'm loving giving up all my hard earned cash to MoMA's Destination Japan products at the MoMA Design shop. As a World traveler, I believe it's really important to bring home a little piece of every place you've been- I feel it helps you remember what you learned and carry it with you and to people around you. But if you aren't able to just hop a plan across the globe, this is a great second option.

It's amazing just looking at everyday objects, we can really see how differently we all live our lives, but how similar they are at he end of the day.

718 Constant

Checking out design*sponge this a.m. I was reminded about - this weekend!
http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
I didn't have a chance to attend last years show because of family obligations, but this year I will be there with bells on, and will be covering the event for a really fantastic website.

If you are able to shimmy down to Dumbo, visit us during these hours:

Friday, May 9: 10am–8pm
Saturday, May 10: 10am–7pm
Sunday, May 11: 11am–6pm

For the Love of Notes

I am dying to get my paws into the National Stationary Show, but, unfortunately, none of the places I freelance for are very interested in covering it (big mistake!) and I don't yet have the credentials on my own. But for anyone who does have the right creds, be sure to check out the 210,000 square feet of creativity and favorites like sweetbeets, Pink Loves Brown, and MadeByGirl.



The Stationary Show hits the Jacob Javitz Center from May 18-21, 2008.

Embarrassingly, since Target is closer to my house than the nearest 24-hr supermarket, we've resigned to stopping in for stables weekly. And since I've just purchased my backyard fence and am deep in yard-mode, I'm super excited to present the Cynthia Rowley Whim outdoor collection at Target.

Patio furniture, grills, inflatable pools, and other neon colored gizmo's flank this extremely wallet-friendly line. However, as with many Target items, I have a feeling these gadgets won't make it to next season for lack of substantial quality. Fingers crossed for the blue and green grill!

A few of my favorites below

Take a Settee

I have a huge problem.

I'm having people over tomorrow for a LOST party and yet have no place to seat them! I do have a couch, though a three-seater, and a few club chairs, but I feel like my archive of good seating is limited.

So, lately I've been looking at wicker two-seater's. I like the flexibility of these items; add thick pillows for a casual dining room seater, leave them bare for outdoors, thick throw for extra living room seating. I'm especially loving the few below.

Montauk Settee from Pier 1


VIBBYN chair from Ikea

Bed, bath and beyond

This isn't the most timely report but something that's been on my mind for a few weeks.

In the ever present fight to keep my abode feeling sparkling and new I have turned myself into a bed sheet pro. If there's a new sheet in town, I must have it.

Low and behold to my inbox comes an email from bed bath ad beyond. I'm pleased to announce their line of new dkny bed and bath products. It comes in sophisticated colors and modern shapes but what I enjoy most is that I can outfit my bed in this and my boyfriend won't feel like a wimp crawling in at night- they are definitely unisex friendly.

Kitchen Island

I'm looking to expand my kitchen cabinets, but for now this super-cheap Ikea butcher block top island is doing just fine!

Backsplash beige no more

I've been having ongoing problems with my basement ceiling, and in an attempt to combat them, bought tin tiles. The idea was to attach them to pre-existing (read: ugly) ceiling tiles and make my damp, dark ceiling hideous no-more, but that didn't quite work out. So instead, my imagination got to working over time and I decided to try a little piece of the kitchen to see what it would look like. Please excuse the bad photography- rogue camera.

Before:



After:



What's that on the cabinets, you ask? Well, let me tell you. Chalkboard paint.

Yes, believe it or not, I slathered my cabinet doors in chalkboard paint with every intentions of scribbling to-do lists, recipes, notes to Craig, and reminders up there. The paint was originally for a neighboring wall, but after a kitchen marathon on HGTV I was too inspired to let this pass.




The other side isn't finished yet, but I'll post more when it is.
And yes, those are cheap Ikea knobs looking very sleek and fabulous on the doors.

Wish List 4/08

Every once in awhile I surprise myself and fall in love with something the general masses (of Williamsburg) have already been diggin on for weeks, maybe months. I tend to march to the beat of my own sometimes dillusional drummer, and have a hard time revealing this, but, yes, its true. This week I'm ready to commit to a life long love of working girl glasses.



They may not be called working girl glasses for sure, but they evoke memories of mom putting on her blazer and going off to work, while I sat in bed with a big bowl of Rice Krispies, pigtailed hair, and rainbow bright nightshirt- Puffalump in lap. I'm crossing fingers that somewhere in the attic is an authentic pair waiting just for me.

Obsession number two comes at no big surprise to anyone who knows me. I'm a stationary freak. I have a drawer full of cards for Birthday, Christmas, Groundhog Day, Thank You, We've Moved, Happy New Year, Happy New Baby, and Just Because. I have a silver plated Pierre Cardin pencil I received years and years ago, sans original lead insert, and now I'm looking to expand this collection.



Call it excessive, but I just can't help imagining my red Ikea vase-made-pencil holder stashing a few of these bad boys. Superfluous? Yes. A little bit of sunshine in my life? Absolutely.

ps: Both items via BK.
www.fredflare.com
300F Kingsland Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222
(718) 599-9221

www.americanapparelstore.com
314 Flatbush Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11238
(718) 230-3705

A Word from our Sponsor

Lately, I've gotten a number of emails complimenting my profile picture, and asking how I made it. Well, I didn't make it. I actually had it created by this cool online service I found via the Stumble tab on Firefox (thank you Stumble).

It's called CartoonMe and for about $7 American dollars it'll create a cartoon image out of any photo you upload. I uploaded from my computer, and it was emailed to me in about two days time.

I was persuaded to try out the program because I really, really want cartoon images of my dogs to hang in my house, but other options I found have been so expensive- this is not a project I'm willing to spend so much money on; let's save that for the slate shower. Besides the price, I'm into CartoonMe because its online. My next stop is to take the photos I've Cartooned, expand them and print them on photo paper, and frame them for my house- easy as that.

As soon as I get that done, I'll be sure to post pictures.

As a repost from ApartmentTherapy.com (whose 8-week Cure I am reading and following religiously), here is the Staten Island drop-off location for hazardous materials. For example: your probable current hand soap, dish soap, shampoo, and dish washing liquid.

STATEN ISLAND: Foot of Muldoon Avenue off the West Shore Expressway (440) adjacent to the DSNY Staten Island 3 garage.

Read the post here: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/la/green-ideas/where-to-rid-of-your-toxic-household-cleaners-044970