CHATEAU BORDEAUX

Hannah's colorful, eclectic and modern space

2015-12-30T12:50:00.002-06:00

A couple of months ago, I came across Hannah Hagler's blog and fell in love with her eclectic and bold sense of interior style built on her mantra that you can live a fabulous life without spending a ton of money. Hannah agreed to let me interview her and virtually tour her home, and I found lots of really great (and super affordable) ideas to file away for future projects.

Read below for the full interview!

Tell us about your place!

I live in a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo built in the 1970's in Orange County, CA. I share the space with my boyfriend Jesse and two fur children (a chihuahua mix and a Pomeranian mix) and we are one happy family! I wish we had a great story of how horrific the place was when we first got it - but truth is, it had amazing bones! There was detailed crown molding, brass fixtures, and French doors to name a few. I would say the worst part was the hideous pale purple bathroom. Luckily, it gave me an excuse to splurge on the banana leaf wallpaper I had been eyeing for years.

How would you describe your interior style?

My style is Hollywood Regency with a touch of Mid-Century Modern. I like to have a mixture of old and new pieces.

Can you share some of your most brag-worthy DIYs?

My favorite DIY project to date are my Dorothy Draper IKEA nightstands. They look so much more expensive than they actually were and people never believe they started out as IKEA dressers.

What is your favorite room in your place, and why?

The living room is my favorite because it is the most spacious part of the house, and it is where everyone gathers when we have guests over. Our couch is extremely deep because we had it custom made. I wanted the space of a sectional without the look of a sectional and it is a dream. Also, from the living room you can see the dining room and the sputnik chandelier which is my favorite piece... it has truly brought the room together.

What has been your biggest design challenge?

The kitchen is closed off, which I love because it allows the dining room and living room to be more formal... but it had an awkward empty corner. I ended up putting a bistro-type table and chairs there which works to fill the space, but I'd be lying if I said we ever used it.

What do people say when they come to your home for the first time?

People are always really surprised by the high ceilings. Since we live in a condo, you think you are walking into a closed-in space. The next thing they point out is the sputnik chandelier -- it is always a conversation piece.

What is the best advice you've gotten on designing your home?

Take GOOD measurements when picking furniture. If something isn't the right size, it will throw the whole space off.

What are your favorite sources for interior inspiration?

I am a Pinterest junkie... I have found so much inspiration from there. I also love anything Kelly Wearstler touches, so I will look at places she's designed for inspiration.

Favorite budget decor sources?

Craigslist! Some of my BEST furniture pieces are from Craigslist, and I would not consider any of them to be expensive. I also love flea markets, furniture consignment stores, and Etsy.

Thanks, Hannah!

All photos are courtesy of Hannah Hagler.

The foolproof way to collect unique and affordable art

2015-12-04T11:46:00.000-06:00

Finding a painting or photograph that just speaks to your soul is something that is equally amazing as it is rare. Although I'm a creative at heart and have always loved art, the hunt for meaningful and affordable pieces is extremely difficult for me. My first real apartment offered a blank slate of walls begging to be adorned, but I had no idea where to begin and couldn't bear to cover it with run-of-the-mill, mass produced faux canvases from IKEA or Target.

I remember wishing that there was a one-stop shop where I could discover up-and-coming artists and afford to buy their work. A few months ago, I finally found it: it's called Art Crate, a genius concept founded by veteran insiders of the art world to help connect potential budget-conscious (and overwhelmed) art buyers like me with premium quality print works of individual artists that we might otherwise not discover on our own.

Art Crate recently invited me to try their service, which was genius and incredibly efficient: I completed a short survey about my design aesthetic, and was paired with a curator who hand-selected and suggested three pieces for me to consider. I emailed her with my choice, and received it a couple of days later to frame myself!

It came with the sideline benefit of introducing me to several new artists (like Katie Keyworth, whose print is hanging on my wall, and Hannah Mode, pictured below). I've since Google-stalked each of them for inspiration and plan to become a benefactor of their original pieces once I am rich and famous!

I interviewed Art Crate to learn more - keep reading to learn about the curators, their process for choosing great works, and their really great advice for starting a collection.

1. Who are the curators, and what's their process for finding artists and selecting pieces?

We have a small team comprised of the two founders, Rachel Wenman (our lead curator) and a handful of interns. Rachel is the backbone of the curation process and advises the rest of the team as needed. We spend a lot of time looking at what the customer selected during the survey process and sometimes we’ll write our customers to get a few more details about them before we start selecting prints. Once we’re confident in our understanding of the customers style we select from our database of art.

We have partnered with amazing artists from all over the world and we now have a collection of hundreds of specific pieces of art for specific client types. So, we strive to choose art from our database. Sometimes we find a piece of art that would be perfect for a customer but the artist is outside of our network. So we will personally write the artist, and ask them to join even if they are only licensing that one piece to us.

We curate 3 prints that fit the customers style, they select the final piece, and we ship it a week later.

2. So, about that survey - I think I'm divergent because I liked all of the options for every question! What's the rationale behind it, and how does it help the curator select something that you'll love?

The survey is a beast in it’s own right and it’s a process we’re constantly refining. Like I said before, sometimes we will reach out to the customer because their results are all over and we don’t have a clear picture of their style. Other times a customer will fill out the survey in a very clear and direct way and we know exactly what to send them. So it’s a process and we’re always working to improve it.

As for the rationale, we know our target market (we’re not trying to sell to everyone), so our survey is very specific and speaks to our core customer. You’ll notice we don’t have street art, southwest art, etc. because those are not the customers we’re trying to serve. But, within our target market there is still a wide range of styles and home decor aesthetics and that’s what we’re trying to pinpoint with the design survey. So I’m not surprised that you like all the options (many people do) but that’s why we force you to pick one store, one gallery wall, etc.

We’ve found our first question to be very telling “select the store that best represents your style.” We only let you pick one store, so you’re forced to really think about that question and make a decision. Our original design survey would let you pick multiple stores, but clients would select a bunch of stores they “like” not the ONE store that matches their personal aesthetic.

3. What is your absolute favorite piece of art that is on the site right now?

Well it depends which one of us you ask. Katie Keyworth’s ‘Shall We’ print is one of my favorites, but Kate Roebuck, Sonal Nathwani, Julia Contacessi, Cat Coquillette, Hannah Mode, (and many more) all have amazing pieces that we LOVE. I think that is why we love what we’re doing and why we love the gallery wall concept. We don’t have to pick just one piece! We can create a wall that has 8 or 12 of our favorite pieces from our favorite artists.

4. What advice do you (or your curators) have for someone that's looking to start to build a meaningful collection of art - both original and prints?

Art is a very personal thing, so first you need to know what you like and build a collection around that. Some people collect art as an investment but that has never interested me. If I love it, I’ll buy it whether the artist is well known or not. So I’ll buy a $5 piece or a $500 piece, I just need to love it.

Even though art is personal, we pride ourselves on being very high touch. If we miss the mark for a client they will let us know and based on their feedback we’ll select more art for them. We are not here to replace our customers opportunity to discover, we’re just reducing the noise and finding new art for them.

How to style a vintage piece in a modern room

2015-11-06T14:06:00.001-06:00

When Wes and I first got married, my parents drove from Chicago to Charlotte with all of my grandmother's china in tow (service for 16, no less). Since they were going to be loading up the old Kelly family van anyway, I seized the opportunity to have them transport a few things that I've always wanted to take off their hands but couldn't carry home on a plane.

Enter this chair, which has sat in my dad's basement workshop for most of my life and (literally) collected dust. According to my mom, it's a patio chair from the 1950s that used to belong to her grandmother. I love the midcentury design and that it's astonishingly comfortable for a hard shell!

Making an old chair like this look modern and fresh is surprisingly easy with a few thoughtful styling tricks.

#1 Add a soft accessory that goes with the tone of the room

For this chair, I decided to drape it with a cream lambskin to make it look more inviting and work with the rest of the neutral decor in the room. If this room was filled with bold art and bright colors, I'd add an ironic Jonathan Adler needlepoint pillow or an angora blanket with a bold pattern. A soft accessory makes the piece look like it's used often, loved, and part of the overall living space and not a random, out-of-place afterthought.

# 2 Balance it by using furniture from different eras

To make a vintage piece work, it helps to have an assortment of furniture from different eras. For example, this midcentury chair doesn't look out of place with a modern sofa, an antique brass tea cart, a patina-ed surfboard coffee table rescued from Craigslist, and a trendy calfskin rug. It balances out the age factor and adds interest.

# 3 Add cohesion by bringing in a variety of personal elements you love

It helps that I already have eclectic decor taste, love mixing woods and metals and get nervous when everything matches. Even if you don't necessarily love eclectic decor, you can balance vintage pieces by shopping your home for heirloom blankets, vintage frames or even items that you just really love and plan to have forever. I love bringing together things I've collected over the years (antique, vintage or bought new) and seeing how well they work together. You'd be surprised how cohesive your taste is over time!

Below is a photo of our living room from our Charlotte house styled with the vintage chair that I was so happy to rescue from my dad's basement workshop!

(By the way, I would like to proudly announce that I painted that entire fireplace myself. Doesn't it look chic and fresh? Thank you, Lowes, for the encouragement and proper paint roller.)

A vintage + modern guru's top tips for styling your house

2015-10-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite sources for vintage inspiration in Chicago is an amazing vintage-modern shop called Humboldt House. It's one of those places where you walk in and want to live there. It's filled with amazing Chesterfield sofas, leather butterfly chairs, patina-ed credenzas and the most beautiful, unusual assortment of decor you'll ever find.

Shop owner Claire Tibbs opened Humboldt House in 2013 to combine her love of beautiful things, comfortable spaces and community. She built her business by putting her whole heart (and sense of style) into the shop, sourcing from local Chicago artists and designers, well-loved and well-designed vintage modern furniture, and eclectic textiles.

Naturally, she's a go-to resource about how to style inspiring spaces, collect vintage furniture, and discover up-and-coming creatives. I interviewed Claire for her tips on all of the above, and I think you'll love her ideas as much as I love her store:

#1 What is your best tip for styling vintage furniture in modern, contemporary way (like you do in your showroom, for example)?

"Always start with the rug. It defines the space, the color story, the textures. It can be overwhelming to look at a blank room and have limitless directions. Find a rug you love and fits the space and then start building up."

#2 What advice would you give to someone who wants to start collecting vintage pieces but doesn't have an eye for it, and isn't sure where to start?

"If you want to start collecting vintage than you already have an eye for it. If you see vintage and your heart skips a beat because you didn't know that something so functional could be so beautiful than you have an eye for it. Buy what you like. Buy what makes you feel something."

#3 Can you tell me about some of your favorite up-and-coming designers, artists, etc.?

"YES! So many exciting things happening in Chicago right now. Leah Ball is an amazing ceramic and jewelry artist. We carry her marbled ceramics and are excited to launch her Feminist As Fuck fine jewelry collection. Lindsay Lewis is another of our favorite designers. Nearly every person in the shop lights up because of her designs. They are approachable, but also visionary. She is definitely a Chicago trendsetter."

#4 What do you do when you're short on creative inspiration?

"I love a good self date. I take myself to my favorite Chicago restaurant, Lula Cafe or Rootstock. I order a nice glass of wine, people watch and then think all the thoughts I can think. Enjoying time by yourself is how I recharge."

Claire's advice is simple, practical and genius. And makes me want to give away everything I have and start over with one of her amazing rugs. If you're in the Chicago area, it's worth making an afternoon of visiting the store. (And while you're in the area, check out Humboldt House's Guide to Chicago for some wonderful spots to eat and drink!)

All photos via Humboldt House

How to create a masculine dining room

2015-10-21T02:30:00.000-05:00

These photos are of Spruce, an amazing restaurant in San Francisco that I visited last summer: it's been the inspiration for the first dining room or study I have when I move into a place where I'm allowed to paint the walls! Here's how I would copy this look to recreate a moody and masculine room of my own:

#1 Mix rich colors, textures and tones

Like deep navy walls combined with warm camel faux ostrich leather and dark brown velvet chairs, plus touches of crisp white in the tablecloths. Think how different (and boring!) this room would be if the walls were white.

#2 Play with proportions

The oversize sketches on the walls are hung in enormous silver frames and make an extremely bold statement. I love that they're offset with delicate, antique picture lights and ornate chandeliers. The bold look of the colors and textures is balanced with subtle touches like small, understated succulent centerpieces and minimalist place settings.

#3 Combine decor styles

It's traditional, luxurious and modern all at once, thanks to a handful of well-positioned abstract paintings on unfinished canvases. The lack of an overall theme makes it feel pulled together but not overthought, and reads masculine when combined with the bold choices in paint colors and artwork.

If you're not ready to commit to navy blue walls, get the color combination by using rich rugs, fresh white drapes, and oversize sketches sourced from Etsy and hung in silver frames.

Meanwhile, I'll get started on re-creating this look by hunting for a vintage chandelier, trying to convince my landlord to let me paint, and attempting to recover a distressed pair of studded leather office chairs that my dad pulled out of the garage and hand-delivered to our home along with other Kelly family castoffs (including at least six different types of cacti that have been flourishing* in the Chicago climate).

*They arrived drooping and nearly dead, handed off by my guilty parents who didn't want the blame for killing them off (aloe is on their hands).

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A professional organizer's top five tricks for maximizing your space

2015-10-19T10:28:00.001-05:00

This post could have also been titled "How to not freak out about moving in to a little house of limited closet space with your big wardrobe and all of your soon-to-be husband's stuff that he can clearly live without but won't let go (see light-up beer signs and other bachelor pad horrors)."

When my husband and I were getting married, I desperately need help with this topic and sought some expertise from a professional organizer. Kim Clark, an expert at whipping cluttered messes into crisp, calm homes, helped me prepare for some of the biggest challenges to organizing our new place by suggesting some strategies and product recommendations to keep the soon-to-be Chateau Bordeaux organized.

Here are her top five tricks, in no particular order:

#1 What are strategies for adding storage space to a small bathroom with just a pedestal sink and small medicine cabinet?

The best small bathroom solution is an etagere! Google etageres and you'll find a bunch that are visually stunning and bathroom friendly. Corner hanging curios, leaning ladder bookshelves, wall shelving, wall cabinets, shelf towers and shower caddies work great too.

#2 How should kitchen cabinets be organized?

The counter space of a kitchen should be clear and open. Never have more than 3 or 4 items on any display shelf and cabinet inside your home. Have minimal kitchen appliances on display. Pots and pans need to live in the closest cabinet to the stove and oven. If you have the height, a hanging iron bakers rack is always swanky.

The top of kitchen cabinets should be tall decor items that pull together themes in your home. Kitchens often have blind cabinet space which makes it hard to find items and put them away efficiently. Installing shelf lighting will change the way you prep and cook! Keep all cooking tools in categorized sections: Tupperware, spices, pantry (snacks, grains, sauces, canned goods, starches, junk food, baking staples), pots, pans, oven mitts, utensils.

Also, buying matching dishware makes life a lot easier; a dozen mugs in different shapes, color and sizes is a visual nightmare.

#4 What are some of the best pieces of furniture to maximize a small space?

Load up on organization friendly pieces like hutches, armoires, curio cabinets, buffet tables, dressers, bookcases, chests and trunks.

5. Do you have some creative suggestions about how to store an (enormous) shoe collection?

My shoe collection is in antique built-in china cabinets (totally funky and easy to see it all.) I highly suggest purging a few pairs of shoes or reselling heels you've neglected. I hate cheap shoe organizational tools that are visual eyesores (think shoe trees, under the bed space savers, storage bins, over the door pouches and plastic shoe racks).

If you have many flats, sandals and flip-flops, try a space saving idea: find a sturdy box and store shoes vertically and paired. Throw away all cardboard shoe boxes - they are space hogs and collect dust. The weirdest shoe storage I designed for a client was hanging stilettos on an iron old jail door from the 1800s (she found it for $40 at an estate sale)! We leaned the jail door up against her walk-in closet wall.

We used all of Kim's suggestions in our every house we've lived in as a married couple, and these are all great space-savers. You can check out Kim's work and services at vanchic.com.

Pottery Barn Baker's Rack, $80; Home Styles Etagere, $254; Overstock armoire, $325; China cabinet photo via Apartment Therapy

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10 easy steps to create a perfect gallery wall

2015-10-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

My collection of pictures and frames have followed me from my childhood bedroom to college dorms and every single one of my apartments. Whenever I move in to a new place, the first thing I do is start hanging frames on the walls - there's something comforting about being surrounded by familiar images when you are in an unfamiliar place. I have no regard for symmetry and truly hate when everything matches, so my little collection of pictures and frames fit in just right no matter where I live.

Granted, I am probably not the best person for giving tips on hanging pictures (I "eyeball" everything, and therefore most of my walls are covered in nail holes), but do think you'll agree that galleries look best when they are a little willy-nilly and off kilter, as if a real artist just slapped them up there for sale. But I do put a little thought into the arrangement and thought I'd share some tips I've learned after making hundreds (no, really, hundreds) of holes in my walls:

#1 Go beyond picture frames and canvases

Sprinkle in some letters, animal heads, or anything else that you feel inclined to nail to the wall - remember that there is no 'wrong' in an art gallery.

#2 Find frames anywhere and everywhere

The obvious Pottery Barn and Target work, but Goodwill and Homegoods are great sources, and I pick them up at flea markets, garage sales, etc.

#3 Vary the size, texture and dimension

Use fat frames, skinny ones, long ones, small ones, embellished ones, simple ones, etc. You get the idea.

#4 Choose a theme

For one gallery, I stuck to neutral tones (black, white, gold, silver, cream, wood).

And if you want to change it up, an $8 bottle of gold spray paint is all you need. I decided to paint all my old frames gold and left a few black for balance.

#5 Use your floor to test your layouts

Before you start hanging, it's a good idea to lay everything out on the floor so you can rearrange until you've got the right feel.

#6 Start with a bold focal piece

I chose a large stretched black and white canvas to be the center of my wall.

#7 Arrange medium and small frames around the focal piece, any which way that you please

Once I committed to those two as the focus, it was pretty easy to start hanging the the others in the places where I felt they fit. (And if you're not comfortable making as many nail holes in the walls as your darn well please until it looks right, you can play with the layout on the floor and use a ruler.)

# 8 Stick to roughly the same amount of space between the frames

To tie everything together and make it look cohesive, use a measuring tape to space everything evenly - I did 1.5" spaces between my frames, top, bottom, and both sides. One or two 'thumbs' apart also works as a good guide if you don't want it to be too perfect.

#9 Don't be afraid to make holes in your walls!

There is no hole that a little spackle and a makeup brush of touchup paint can't fix.

#10 Change it up frequently

I rearrange my pictures all the time, partly thanks to my fearlessness in making holes in the walls and partly thanks to my need to rotate things through my home.

(FYI, I think my disrespect of drywall stems from my dad. He would wait YEARS to hang pictures, and left beautiful paintings, photographs, prints, and amazing frames leaning against the walls in his study collecting dust. Lesson learned - commitment phobia is not for drywall.)

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How to make a bad rental kitchen (sort of) nice

2015-10-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

For all the charm of this little old 1930s bungalow that my husband and I rented when we first got married, the turquoise countertops were almost a deal-breaker. The kitchen was in a sad, disorganized state for months and I had no idea how to fix it.

So I decided to stop fighting it, accept those ugly laminate counters for what they were, and work with them by adding other quirky accents to liven the place up a little (and focus the eye on the white space of the pantry door).

For some reason, spelling out 'EAT' in large letters in your kitchen is suddenly cool, and I hopped on that bandwagon for a mere $10 worth of wooden block letters from Michael's and sat them on top of the crown molding above the pantry door. I added a knife magnet for organization purposes, and dragged Wes's (stolen?) street sign home from his old high school bedroom where it fit nicely above the cabinets for now. The brass pineapple hook was an eBay steal ($6) and the perfect home for an amazing Crate & Barrel dishtowel (it has all of the measurement conversions you'll ever need, in machine-washable cotton for $6 - it's my kitchen reference library!).

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How to create a bar cart when you don't have a cart

2015-10-07T23:52:00.000-05:00

There was awhile there at the beginning of the bar cart craze that took the world by a storm when I didn't have room for an actual cart. (I was living in a 400 square foot studio, and had to keep furnishings to a minimum for obvious reasons.) However, what do you do when you want all of the entertaining joys that come with an organized bar setup, but don't have the cart?

My friends, you look to Craigslist and search "cart." It's amazing the solutions that will populate before your very eyes. After thorough Craigslist research, I finally settled on a tea cart that doubles as a side table to save space. It worked perfectly! I bought the antique brass cart from a little old lady who was downsizing and very happy to help me load it into my Honda Civic. To keep the "bar cart feel", I decided to style my tea cart with old bamboo tray from Target and filled it with assorted Homegoods tumblers, shot glasses, and a fantastic stainless ice bucket. I ordered a matching stainless bar shaker set on eBay for $0.99. I used the top of this cart to display an antique camera and long lens, Restoration Hardware sterling silver candlesticks (that I found at a consignment shop for $1 apiece) and an orchid that died almost immediately due to my black thumb.

In my research, I found a few other ideas for bar-but-no-cart designs, and one of my favorites was this antique buffet-turned-bar. I love the bright green tray and think the bar tray idea works perfectly here! (The giant gold mirror, symmetrical lamps, and ceramic Turkish end tables tucked underneath the credenza are all amazing.)

Photo via Appollinas

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5 reasons you should fill your home with vintage furniture

2015-10-04T22:46:00.003-05:00

Vintage is just a fancy way of saying really old, and very used - both qualities that I prioritize when hunting for furniture. I am anti-Ikea. For some reason, it is important to me that my furniture has character. This dresser has plenty. But there's more than just character that makes vintage furniture such an amazing addition to a room. Here are just a few reasons to consider:

#1 The quality can't be beat

They don't make it like they used to, that's for sure. I love that this vintage dress is SOLID and HEAVY, that it has dovetail drawers and curved wood. And that the drawers pull out smoothly, are lined in cedar, and have room for everything that a MALM dresser promises and more. And I love that my mom took one look at it and told me to hold on to it for life.

#2 It's the most economical source of furniture (if you're willing to hunt)

This dresser was a $50 Craigslist find. Need I say more?

#3 A little patina is the 'je ne sais quoi' of amazing decor

For those new to the vintage market, patina is the sheen on wooden furniture that's a product of age, wear, polishing and general exposure to the elements. It's protective and also beautiful. When I first bought this dresser, I meant to refinish it but decided that I kind of liked the distressed-from-years-of-wear look.

#4 Vintage pieces are timeless

Having pieces from different eras and made from a variety of materials means that you can take your collection anywhere and it will work. This dresser fit in perfectly with my crooked kitchen cabinets and hodgepodge collection of furnishings I picked up at Goodwill, flea markets, and the curb in my first real apartment, and it's traveled with me to many different cities and homes since then.

#5 Vintage pieces are functional, not precious

Because I bought this dresser for $50 to serve as a TV stand, I've never been scared to place my coffee mugs on it and have never treated it like a precious gem. Instead, it's been a functional piece of furniture that's part of my everyday life. It's become my favorite piece of furniture, the place where I organize my jewelry for the week, store my collection of perfumes, and display my favorite (equally distressed) cowboy boots.

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How to arrange your living room furniture

2015-10-02T12:25:00.001-05:00

Our new apartment is amazing, but posed some serious challenges for the living room layout. There literally was not a place for the TV unless we sacrificed the windows and I just wasn't willing to do that. So, we got rid of the TV. (Ok, really we turned a 3rd bedroom on the first floor into a den and it turned out to be the best idea ever.)

Anyway, our living room is really bright with an exposed brick wall that I love, and decided to let it go au natural with the only statement-making decor choice being a large red wool Moroccan rug.

We didn't have room for large furniture, so I let the couch and rug take center stage, and added some extra seating and modern side tables to bring it all together. (I found the clear acrylic nesting tables on Amazon for $165 and it was the best buy ever. They are the PERFECT modern touch to balance my random collection of assorted vintage furnishings.

Raw silk drapes in a dark gray added some texture to the room, and also block out the light when I am trying to read my Kindle! The old drapery rods from our other apartment fit perfectly, as did a hand-me-down brass lamp that never quite worked in our other places.

These mismatched side tables (from Target, can you believe it!?) are the right height and work together because of the round shape and metallic tones. They also help to balance out the old, dinged-up vintage furniture in the room!

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One simple way to have the most organized year ever

2015-09-30T16:13:00.001-05:00

Outside of work, organization is not one of my strong skills (am I alone in this, or do other people find it shockingly difficult to be an adult?!) - I'm always looking for ideas to help me keep track of all the little to-do's that pile up at home (getting oil changes, reordering contacts, giving the dog her flea medicine) and also balancing my travel schedule with my husband's so we can give the dog walker and the cleaning lady advance notice (not to mention knowing when we'll be home to receive our freaky-fast Amazon Prime deliveries).

After writing this post about an amazing Lucite wall calendar, a reader from Germany named Petra sent me an email about a company in Stuttgart that makes amazing yearly planning calendars where you can see all 12 months on the wall. It comes with hundreds of colorful dot stickers that you can write on to label days with events.

It's beautiful, and also gives a great visual for the year! Blocking out holidays, vacations and time off from work in one color will give you something to look forward to all year. Color-coding travel schedules for work will make life easier for the dog walker and our Amazon Prime ordering. Adding dots for weddings, dinner parties, and other events will keep me from accidentally double-booking. How is that for genius German engineering!

I'll be ordering one of these calendars for 2016, which gives me just enough time to find the wall space for it! If you're interested in more details or ordering one for yourself, you can check out Dotty Edition's Dot On Calendar here.

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A perfect (and really affordable) writing desk

2015-09-27T09:45:00.001-05:00

This is my creative workspace where I write, paint, craft, put on my makeup, and drink my coffee while daydreaming in the morning. Having a dedicated space in our apartment to do all of those things was really important to me, and finding a stylish modern desk that would fit a little nook in our living room - and stand up to my acrylic paints and eyeliner faux pas - was challenging.

I found this great white table on casters at CB2 and bought it immediately (and loved it so much that I also bought the coffee table version in grey for our TV stand). It's super versatile and sturdy, and looks great with one of my vintage dining chairs modernized with gray velvet upholstery fabric and a cream Mongolian fur pillow.

This jack-of-all-trades desk helps keep me organized - it's the perfect spot to keep thank you notes and stamps handy, and is a landing pad for my notebook of creative ideas. I also keep my favorite candle handy and a little dish to collect wayward jewelry that I want to remember to wear!

(In full disclosure, right now this desk is a complete mess, covered in Amazon Prime packages, my clutch from last night, and a pile of bills and mail that need to be sorted and handled. So, I am sitting on the couch right now but enjoying these photos of that time my desk was actually neat and organized!)

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How to decorate a brick wall

2015-09-09T10:21:00.000-05:00

When we first moved into our new apartment, I loved the exposed brick walls in our living room but quickly realized that it was going to take some extra effort to decorate them. Although the original brick is amazing, it needed something to lighten up the space. There's nothing quite like a huge frame with white matting and a serene vintage photograph to do that! This print is 24"x 24" vintage photograph from the 1940's called Weeki Wachi Springs that I purchased from art.com and framed myself by replacing the original print in a frame my dad's office was discarding.

After framing it, I needed to figure out how to hang it on the brick wall so I went to my favorite store (Home Depot) with a helpless look on my face until someone came along to give me the directions I so desperately needed. Fortunately, I already owned a power drill so the only extra investment was to purchase a mortar bit (works exactly like your other power drill bits) and mortar screws (called concrete anchors). Then, it's a simple as hanging a picture on drywall: find the right height, mark it with chalk, drill into it with your mortar bit to make a hole for the screw, and then drill in the concrete anchor leaving a few millimeters for the picture wire to grasp. Note that you need to drill into the mortar, not the brick itself, and it helps to drill on a down angle to further secure whatever it is you are hanging.

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One easy way to make every day of your life count

2015-08-24T15:53:00.001-05:00

Really, it's as easy as posting a black-and-white reminder in your living room so you see it every day. I just made this $30 investment at RowensCo on Etsy and am so excited for it to arrive! Although posting a reminder is one effective way to live in the present, there are some other amazing, thought-provoking tactics that I learned earlier this summer and have completely changed my perspective on how I thought about my life.

These three concepts, although simple, make the rational case for living in the present and also suggest how to implement present-mindedness in your own life:

1. You, like most people, probably spend a lot of time living in an imaginary world.

Meaning, you're focusing on things you can't control. Some people like to live in the past and spend time and energy on things that have gone wrong, that could have been done differently, or that cause anger and angst. Others (like me) focus on the future and spend time and energy on things that should, might, could, probably or you wish would happen in the future. In either scenario, the hours of thought have no productive outcome: you can't change the past, and have very limited influence on the future. This doesn't mean that you can't learn from the past or plan for the future, but your thoughts need to focus on what you can do in the present moment to get you to where you want to be.

For example, I want to be a freelance writer full-time someday. Thinking about wanting to be a professional writer someday in the future, but worrying about losing my comfortable salary, does not help me get even one minute closer to that dream. If I wanted to use that present moment productively, I would send an email to an editor asking to write a trial article for her Web site and add it to my growing list of writing samples. Doing that a few hundred times, and following through when given the opportunity, will evolve into a freelance career.

2. You are not your mind, and you have the ability to control it.

We've all had thoughts like: "I can't believe I said/did/forgot that!" or "I can't live with myself right now!" This suggests that you are able to separate your 'self' from your mind, and think objectively about your thoughts. It means that you can learn to control and channel your mind to be a more productive resource and train it to 'catch' moments where your thoughts start to dwell in the past or race into the future.

For example, I finished this section of the book on my Monday morning flight into Philadelphia. As I was driving into the office from the airport, I caught myself stewing in frustration about something that happened the week before and talked myself out of it by asking what I could do right now to make it better. The answer was to let it go, so I did.

3. Your present self is the culmination of your past thoughts.

It's helpful to grasp this concept by thinking of your physical body: what you look like at this exact moment is literally a culmination of thousands of small decisions you made over the past days, weeks, months and even years. From a diet perspective, over the past several days, months, and years you had thousands of opportunities to think, then choose, and then eat. If, in most of those moments, you thought: "Will this decision make me healthier and leaner?" then you are probably healthy and lean today. Same applies from an exercise perspective: you've had thousands of moments to think and then decide whether to go to yoga, or the gym, or for a walk. If, in each of those moments, you opted for the activity, you are probably in good shape today.

It also applies to almost everything else in life - from your relationships to your career and everything in between. Whether you want to admit it or not, everything about you and your life you thought into existence.

So, what does all of this mean? If you listen to your new living room reminder to make every day count, and focus on channeling your mind toward positive, productive thoughts, you will literally have a better body, relationship, career and life.

It's simple, really! If you want to learn more, I highly suggest reading 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle. Keep an open mind when you read it, make it to the very end, and give yourself a few days to mull it over. I guarantee it will make you think differently.

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How to create a beautiful, eclectic living room

2015-06-17T09:47:00.002-05:00

Moving every year has really demonstrated how the basic, functional pieces like my oatmeal linen Crate and Barrel sofa are a great blank canvas for the unique, vintage items I've found over the years. If you start with one basic, contemporary-yet-timeless piece to center the room, it's an easy to hunt vintage shops, Craigslist and specialty stores for additional seating, tables, and eccentric accessories. The challenge is knowing what to look for, and how to tie it all together.

In my experience, I've learned that items with different textures, metals, woods, and periods mix really well but it took a lot of exploring to realize it. Wandering through vintage shops is a great way to find inspiration and discover things that you never knew you always wanted (like a hippo side table, for example) and following places that curate great vintage design. One of my favorites is Revision Home, an upscale vintage furniture and decor appointment-only warehouse in Chicago. You can subscribe to their email list for updates on new art, furniture and decor that they're sourcing. It's a great way to discover new (old) styles and ideas to guide your own hunt. For example, wouldn't this vintage cabinet be so much more interesting than a run-of-the-mill, everyone-has-it West Elm media stand?

I'm currently stalking their art collection as part of my research for upping my wall decor game (more to come on that topic...)

Photo credit: Revision Home

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How to shop for vintage furniture

2015-06-08T21:12:00.001-05:00

Obviously, this is a topic close to my heart - so many things in my home are older than me. I love strolling flea markets and discovering something that I'll never find again. In a world filled with low quality, build-it-yourself Scandinavian furniture, it's so worth it to take a little extra time to hunt for a pre-scuffed, solid wood credenza with dovetail drawers and brass fixtures (for the same price as a Malm dresser).

It's taken me a lot of trial-and-error to get the hang of collecting vintage. Learning to tell the difference between a diamond in the rough versus something that truly should remain on the curb for the trash collectors takes practice. Fortunately, there are some great resources for hunting down your next vintage piece if you're not quite ready to start trolling thrift stores. There are a number of places that have started taking some of the guesswork out of shopping for dinged up old furniture.

I was recently introduced to Chairish, an online vintage consignment concept that is truly genius (and they'll deliver, so you don't have to worry about how to fit that midcentury modern surfboard coffee table into your Honda Civic like I did). In addition to the online offerings of vintage furniture, decor, art, and jewelry, Chairish has curated city guides to help you source the perfect piece for your home (I'm loving the Chicago City Guide). They sent me a sneak preview of their latest venture in helping the world see beyond Ikea: a one-page vintage buying guide that breaks down the designers, materials and designs to look for when you're out there on your own and it's just between you and a large, worn-in leather womb chair on the side of a road somewhere.

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The most beautiful wall calendar you've ever seen

2015-06-05T16:49:00.002-05:00

This might just be the case for me and Wes, but we have an extremely hard time coordinating our schedules. There have been times when I'm about to board a Monday morning flight to Philadelphia with Wes already in the air to the opposite side of the country when I've had the following thoughts: "Did we remember to pay the dog walker? Was I supposed to mail the rent check, or did Wes already do that? Does our parking permit expire this week? What day did I ask the cleaner to come?"

It recently came to a head when we unintentionally collected a pile of parking tickets on our trusty-yet-rarely-used Honda Civic left to the elements on a side street in Lakeview. It was an embarrassing moment for us both, a classic failure at being an adult right up there with killing houseplants and overdrawing your checking account. We gave ourselves credit for keeping our dog alive all these 14 months, paid the tickets, and ordered an enormous wall calendar on Amazon to track all of our commitments, due dates, etc.

The good news: the calendar worked! The bad news: it's a heinous office product that doesn't look right prominently displayed in our apartment. There had to be a better way (and if you're thinking Google Calendar, you haven't been privy to my personal email response timing...)

Fortunately, I found inspiration when I discovered this amazing Lucite wall calendar by DareToBeDomestic on Etsy. It's $1,100 which is a mere $1,090 more than our paper At-A-Glance but somehow I thought it would be a hard purchase to justify (despite the savings in parking tickets and late fees it would facilitate). While I'm working to convince Wes to make the transition, I'm researching how to use the inspiration to DIY one of my own... (To be continued.)

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How to recover dining room chairs

2015-06-05T16:44:00.003-05:00

There's something about moving into a new place that makes you look at all your old things in a new way. I spent a good part of this weekend hanging, unhanging, and re-hanging pictures and art and rearranging furniture. I have aaaaaalmost got it right except for two chairs that just did't quite fit in anymore. They were a Goodwill find that I reupholstered (covered in this post) and were just sitting in a corner taking up space.

So, I decided to give them a makeover and finally listened to my friend Lynn who insisted they would look better painted. My inner couch potato was hesistant to even go down the painting road because it's such a pain to clean up, but jumped in anyway to discover that I bought the best spray paint ever made, period. It didn't drip, it looked amazing with just one coat, and dried completely in 20 minutes! This took about an hour to do for both chairs and I love how the results are brightening up the room.

1. Remove the seats from the chairs with a screwdriver, I use a Ryobi electric (available at Home Depot) because it is so fast and easy to use.
2. Spray paint the chair frames with DesignMaster Colortool spray.

3. While the chair frames are drying, line up the seats on your fabric of choice - canvas works best because it doesn't have much stretch (I learned this from experience...) and draw out the cut line, leaving an inch or so gap to ensure the fabric overlaps onto the seat bottom.

4. Using a staple gun, make a staple at the top, bottom, and each side to hold the fabric where you want it. Then, work your way around from the top and staple every inch or so. Be sure to fold the corners and curves of the seat.

5. Reattach the seats to the chair frames and you are all done!

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A seriously amazing backyard

2015-06-02T14:12:00.002-05:00

With my new place, I also inherited a small backyard in need of a makeover. It has a few great features - specifically, a firepit and an old stone slab patio. However, up until a few days ago, I had no interest in stepping foot out there - I am allergic to yard work thanks to my dad's habit of waking up the family at 7 AM on Saturdays to weed, rake, hide behind the shed to make dandelion necklaces, etc. Then I found the pictures of this yard and have been dying to get started on my own backyard.

This yard is perfect for a dinner party - I love the fearless use of indoor items outside, the covered seating and enormous dining table. Wes has an old butcher block and a great wrought iron table that I plan to repurpose for our own back-to-nature dining room. I've been Googling DIY patio ideas, hunting for backyard furniture, and researching plants that thrive in North Carolina with minimal effort required on the part of the owner (turns out, all plants require effort). I am also trying to forget that I don't have any friends to invite over even if I did have the most amazing yard in the world. One step at a time.

Images via Apartment Therapy

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How to style an antique bedroom set

2015-06-02T14:04:00.003-05:00

This bedroom set was a gift from my mother-in-law (and by gift, I mean that I may have coerced her into parting with it by explaining how it would get much more face time in my house than hers... and the rest is history). She bought it for $25 in the 1970s and I'm so glad she hung on to it for all of these years. It's simple, but beautiful and fits our house perfectly.

We put it in the sunny front bedroom of the house and decided to resist the urge to buy new things and instead dressed it up with our old favorites: a big horse blanket from Wes's grandma on top of a (very) distressed cream coverlet, a Southwestern rug that I picked up at Eastern market, curtains and rods that I've carried around with me since my first place in Georgetown, and pairs of metal plant stands that work great next to a little wooden bed.

The result is a room that makes me feel at home. I love coming in here to read or talk on the phone, surrounded by a collection of things that have been through it all, survived U-Haul trips across the country and never made it to the Goodwill bag.

This is the room where Wes keeps his stuff, and the simple styling makes it possible for an Ikea clothes rack and a framed photo of the first president of the USA work. Note that these were not my first-choice accessories, but I'm learning to compromise...

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Five easy ways to update your bedroom

2015-06-02T14:02:00.001-05:00

So, I've been on a roll designing rooms in our new (old) house and wanted to share some ideas that I picked up about creating a cool bedroom and applied to my new space. Read below for five easy tips that I've learned!

#1 Create a reading nook.

It's simple (and free, if you already have a chair or two handy to introduce to the room). Clear out a corner, add a chair or two plus a small side table, a lamp, and a cozy pillow and blanket (in my case, a soft Turkish towel). I love this little nook in our bedroom. It's where I can find some quiet time to call my mom, enjoy a glass of wine, or read my Kindle. I've been hunting for a small footstool to complete it.

#2 Take everything out except the essentials

Trust me, I am the queen of clutter and have a collection of things that would have gravitated into this bedroom had I not made a commitment to myself to keep it minimalist. The effect is a simple, serene space that helps me to relax and fall asleep. Wes and I love this house particularly because the 'master bedroom' is really two separate rooms: we keep our things (desk, clothing, crazy mannequin, etc.) in the den and front bedroom so that we can preserve this simple corner of our house!

#3 Add a rug

It's the easiest way to add some texture and dimension to a room, not to mention warmth if you have hardwoods. I found this cream and navy striped tassel rug at Pier One and have moved it around to a few rooms in this house. When I brought it into this bedroom, it was perfect! It plays well with the bedding and paint, and lightens up the floor. True confession: I have rolls of rugs stored in my house that have no place to lay out, but I keep them around because every once in awhile I like to change it up, introduce a new pattern or color, etc. I'm currently on the hunt for the perfect sisal rug for our dining room, and a red silk Persian rug just because.

#4 Paint it in a soft, neutral color.

This room was originally a deep maroon with terrible carpet. I talked the landlord into pulling up the carpet and staining the original hardwoods underneath it, and then painted the room a soft blue-gray that makes the room feel calm and comforting. I picked out a few shades and painted test patches on the wall before settling on this one.

If you need help settling on a color, visit a paint store and ask to speak to a color consultant. (There are people who pick out perfect paint color for a living, believe it or not!) I'd bring along pictures of the room in natural light (e.g. mid-day with no lights turned on) along with pictures without natural light, and some of the pieces you plan on including in the room (furniture, artwork, etc.) and an open mind. If you're in the D.C. area, there's a great new resource for expert advice (and, of course, cans of paint) in Friendship Heights: check out Farrow & Ball at 5221 Wisconsin Ave and tour their showroom for all the color inspiration you'll need to get started! (If you're not in D.C., perusing their website will give you some amazing ideas for color and room design anyway.)

#5 Stick to simple bedding

Cut it back to the basics and you'll be amazed how much prettier the room looks (and how frequently your bed gets made). Clean white bedding is one of those small luxuries that makes a big difference to me and makes the bedroom feel fresh and inviting. I buy nice white sheet sets and snap up high thread count sheets (800 or above) when I find them on sale.

I wash sheet sets together and keep sets together either on the bed or in the linen closet so that everything always matches. It's simple but makes a noticeable difference in the comfort of your bed! For summer, we've been using our new collection of white Egyptian cotton sheets with a simple cream coverlet from Ralph Lauren. For winter, I've been using the same white cotton duvet and shams for years, and upgraded to a larger down comforter once I got married.

Other ideas that did not make the top five:

Add familiar artwork to the walls (like a big Alaska poster that my dad picked up decades ago following a hiking trip to our northernmost state that was hanging on the wall of my parents' living room for my entire life until I convinced them to give it to me.); Add scented candles (no explanation needed here); Remove overhead lighting in favor of accent lighting (no really, I actually take the bulbs out of overhead lights in rentals so they can never go on. Why do you need general lighting in a bedroom? #lampscreateambiance)

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The many uses for Turkish towels

2015-06-02T13:41:00.002-05:00

This post could also be titled 'how to make over a chair in 10 seconds' which is exactly how I use a big chunk of my collection of Turkish towels: at this very moment, I am sitting on a worn out Ikea Poang chair covered in a gray Turkish towel in my bedroom. It covers up a wine stain on the cushion, looks very Jonathan Adler, and pairs well with a Mongolian fur pillow all for a mere $35.

I have a white Turkish towel draped over an old wooden captain's chair in my living room that lightens up the dark wood and saves me the time and effort of refinishing it.

They also make great scarves, shawls, blankets - even a makeshift umbrella in one instance. They get softer (and more authentically Turkish-looking) with every wash. It's one of the only things that I am willing to pay retail, and I used to buy them at Eastern Market from a Turkish woman who sources them from a textile town in their namesake country (I now order them from her Web site).

For summer, I'm adding a couple new ones to my stash to use as packable beach blankets-slash-sarongs. In red and turquoise stripes that look great stuffed in a canvas tote (I'm ordering this one with my unofficially new initials).

When I first discovered these, my inner cheapo felt guilty for spending $100 on three (amazing) towels. The versatility almost cured me, and then I learned that each one is hand-woven in traditional looms in Turkey and the three ladies who run this company partner with local organizations at every stage of their production process to help women in the community become economically independent.

I'll take that over Target any day.

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What to do with a weird nook in your hallway

2015-06-02T12:23:00.002-05:00

We moved into a rental house that was built in the '30s and has all the charm that money can buy (think arched doorways, worn-in hardwoods, antique moldings) and included a whole set of strange nooks and crannies that took up valuable square footage. Exhibit A above is a 3' x 4' alcove in our hallway that was the resting place for old gym shoes, a discarded wooden chair that Wes picked up off the curb, and useless boxes of 'important documents' that everyone feels obliged to keep but never needs (or opens to begin with, in my case).

My natural inclination was to add shelves so at least it could be organized storage instead of a pile of junk. I measured the nook, went to Home Depot and got them to cut some plywood that was sized to fit and picked up a set of L brackets to hold them in place. I bought a power sander and some white paint and went to town but couldn't make it past the first shelf. Instead, I decided to make it into a writing desk by installing it at table-height. I love how it has become a natural home for that salvaged old chair and some of our souvenirs, brass hooks, picture frames, and my new Jonathon Adler bookends (that I wrote about here).

Side note: how amazing is the lion's head doorknocker? I found it for $12 but don't have a door for it so I nailed it to the wall for the time being.

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How to make a small kitchen stylish

2015-06-02T10:38:00.001-05:00

After I moved into my tiny studio, I started paying a lot more attention to interior design because the place needed some personality to make up for the lack of square footage (although the small space has turned out to be an advantage - I can Swiffer the entire place in about 45 seconds).

Before I discovered a blog or bought Elle Decor, I researched feng shui to learn the principles of design from the time-tested standard and realized I have totally been missing one of the most basic and easy-to-follow rules of space layout and here it is: Imagine your place flooding with water, starting at the front door and rushing through your place all the way out the back door (or window). If there is not a natural path for the water to flow, you've got bad energy and some rearranging to do. Genuis!

My galley kitchen, according to my Google research, had some serious feng shui issues. I got right to work applying the principles, adding layers of light, organizing my bakeware, and handing unused appliances over to Goodwill. The one rule I got stuck on was making the kitchen the center of my home with space to seat friends. My tiny 2-seater table wasn't going to cut it.

I spent weeks reading design blogs until I discoved the perfect solution: A stainless steel island! Then, I spent a few more weeks trolling Overstock and Craigslist. When I spotted this Ikea DACKE island for $80, I immediately called a minivan taxicab to take me to pick it up (didn't you know D.C. Yellow Cab is also an effective moving service? Door-to-door service and even some heavy lifting, free of charge). That night, I put the island together and it was worth the hours spent agonizing over which screwdriver fit where. It has room for 5 stools, storage for my pots and pans, and immediately pulled my apartment together into a little home. Thank you, Sweden.

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