Thursday, May 31, 2007

My Design Style is Bi-Polar

Just when I think I've got my style nailed down (clean lines, contrasting colors, pale blues and turquoises with oranges and reds, simple, non-chaotic--see post below this one) I have to stumble upon these pictures from Marie Claire Le Maison, which have me wanting to live a more Bohemian lifestyle, and to become more free, and, in some sense of the word, *eccentric*.Oh to sleep near the floor, under a tent, ...or surrounded by walls wrapped in bright blue fabric underneath roses. And to have such a collection of strange objects that look perfect displayed on my walls...

Other images that give me this same feeling below.
From top to bottom:
2 Images from Marie Claire le Maison
Domino Magazine's Outdoor living
Wary Meyers Portland Maine
Wary Meyers Brooklyn NY
Moulin Rouge Poster, 1889
Polly Wreford from Sarah Kaye
Mel Yates from Sarah Kaye

Taking My Mind Off Moving

It's hard to know that you are going to move in X amount of months (or 1.75 to be exact) because you can only get so prepared. I'm working on hiring movers to come to my 6th floor walk-up and pick up my things then drive them halfway across the country. Angela M. from Shelterrific might end up taking my bed frame for her upstate home (good luck with the inspection!) which would be great. Then there's packing, and purging. Then comes the hard part, preparing to say good bye to all of the great friends I've made since I moved out here years ago now, at 17.

So instead of thinking about packing, and moving, and walking up and down 6 flights of stairs a thousand times, and throwing myself a goodbye party :) I'm thinking about....
Mootful on Etsy
Ikea Stokholm Sofa table
Coasas Alarm clock
Urban outfitters Antoinette Fainting Sofa
DWR Nelson Wall Sconce
Twenty2 Wallpaper and silver chair from ?

Mirrored Furniture, a DIY?

I saw on Ikea Hacker today that someone "hacked" the Ikea Parsons style coffee table and turned into a really cool looking mirrored piece of furniture. Domino, and other magazines have been featuring this style of furniture a lot, and I particular love this piece:Am I crazy to think that I could pull something like this off, with just a regular dresser, perhaps this one below? (from Ikea)Yeah, I think I pretty much know the answer...but how cool would that be if I actually did pull it off? It could be really awesome! Then again, it could end up looking as ridiculous as this halter top I made out of a t-shirt my freshman year of college. Notice the leafy curtain in the background, man I had style back then...

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Into the Deep

I used to feel like abstract art was too deep for me. In fact, just tonight I was at dinner with a friend, and we decided we felt the same way about it. But I saw these drawings on Etsy and didn't feel like their "meaning" was over my head. They are just pretty designs, done in mediums I use myself (pen and marker) in colors I really like. Done by Yellena, sold on Etsy.

The Even More Awesomer Urban Outfitters Sale

Just received this e-mail from Urban. Even more discounts, on apartment stuff too. The sale may be even awesomer but I'm even angrier that I'm still not buying anything until I move in July...

Tummy-Ache

I'm not sure how I found this blog, Tummy-Ache. I think it was just from clicking link to link. Two cool things that I got from Tummy-Ache. The first being MOMO natural, a really fresh-looking online store from, my guess is China. There is English here and there on the site, but most of it is in a language I can't read. The images really speak for themselves. I hate using these ubiquitous terms, but their products are truly retro and modern all wrapped into one.
Tummy-Ache also has a small Etsy store. Currently there are on 3 prints on her store, but here is one of them, which I am really thinking of getting. It's only $10, and just so cute, reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, no?

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

New Shoes

I finally found some new shoes. I always seem to find them when I'm not really looking anymore. Wait, who am I kidding, I'm always looking for shoes! A friend of mine tipped me off to Zara, which is an Italian store with cute clothes at reasonable prices. Their shoes,though, were what really amazed me though. They are all priced between $30-$100. They have flats, wedges, sandals and heels. Sparkly shoes, and kelly green ones, peep toe flats, and slingbacks. I tried to find some online to post here, but I think they are really only available at the Zara stores. Nerms really loves the box they came in for some reason.

Axe Commerical Design

There's a funny new Axe deodorant spray commercial out there, but what I really love about it is the inside of the house it's shot in! I wish these pictures were better, I could only find one Youtube video of this commercial.

Here's a shot of the whole interior. Custardy walls, cool looking red posters, and a pretty fireplace. There's a white kind of shag rug too that's not easy to see here.
Here you can kind of see the fireplace mantel with black and white frames, and other knick knacks that all look really nice grouped together.I really like the look of these shelves too. They're not too neat looking.

Weekend Fun

I promised myself I would never apologize for not posting, because that just seems silly. But here I am anyways, apologizing for my lack of posts.

On another note things that got done this weekend:
-Saw a really awful scary movie (The Omen, wouldn't recommend it)
-Bought a really cute vintage fan
-Played ping pong for the 1st time in a long time and LOVED it
-Found the perfect pair of summer wedges (red, will post pics soon)
-Signed the lease to my new apartment in Chicago! Moving 3rd weekend of July all the way from NYC. This entire process was about 1,000 x's easier than finding an apartment in New York. Who knew that brokers could actually be nice, and that sometimes apartments are sold without a one month's fee, and that they'd introduce you to your neighbors who are moving in the same month as we are. Going back to the Midwest is sounding pretty good....

Monday, May 28, 2007

Through My Window...

Apartmenttherapy has been doing this "Through My Window" series where artists send in photographs of their depiction of this idea. Some of them are really abstract, some are pretty thought-provoking. I really liked these few in particular...Through My Window: Dusk by Sarah Jane Horton
Through My Window: A Very Large Flower by Kathy Osborn
Through My Window: Untitled by Rob StephensonHere's my own version of Through My Window. My window faces the inside of a courtyard. You can imagine the strange things I know about all of my neighbors because of this architectural set-up.

Vintage Fan: Found $5!

Awhile ago I was thinking about buying a vintage fan on E-bay.(Click here) I had almost given up the idea when as I'm walking to the subway close to 96th street I come across some sort of (illegal) street sale where a man was just selling a whole bunch of random items on the corner. One of these items was a vintage fan. Actually, it was one of the exact ones I'd been looking at on E-bay. I bought it for $5. It runs so well for such an old thing! Only downside is it's slightly dangerous, mostly because of my cat. It doesn't really have the guardrails that modern fans now have, which is also why its design is so much cooler. I'm going to repaint it.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Weekend Fun: Quick Shots

Saw some pretty things already this weekend, figured I'd post them real quick. I really like the idea of things living within concrete and bricks, and finding unexpected life in strange places in the city.Bricks underneath fruit
I thought it looked like trees were making a river through the buildings.Water under the bridge

Ok, back to enjoying the weather...:)

Friday, May 25, 2007

Urban Outfitters Sales

Some things I've been looking at at Urban Outfitters for awhile now are now on sale, which is great. But I'm not buying anything new until after I move, so it doesn't really matter that they're on sale. Here they are anyways. I'm off from work today so I'll be out in Central Park I think, not in front of my computer. Have a good weekend!
Magnetic Wall organizer $16.99
Rosie Rug (3x5) $14.99
Rosie Duvet $49.99
Latticework Duvet $49.99

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Quick Question

I don't think I ever mentioned this on this blog, but I am in market research. I spend my day, well, doing research. But for some reason, when it comes to internet and blogging things, I can never seem to find what I'm looking for. It's a wonder I was able to create a header on my blog. So, I'm posting this, with the hope that someone, anyone really, might have the answer. Here are my blogging questions since I still feel like a newbie:

-Is there any better way to view blogs I like, rather than to hope my browser remembers them, or to list them in my blogroll?
-Is this what a site feed is for? What exactly is a site feed? How does it work? Do peopel really subscribe to feeds?

Any answers are appreciated, thanks!!

Stick my head on this guy and you'll know what I look like trying to figure this all out...

New Blog and Imagini Personality Test

I just found a cute new blog I like called Treasuring. She posted this really fun DNA Imagery test, that has you pick an image out of set of images for your type of art, vacation, landscape etc. It's pretty interesting. Try it here. Part of mine is below.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Papier Peint and French Design

I might be the last person in the world to have figured out how cool European magazines are. I just discovered Marie Clare le maison, and LOVE it. I finally figured out where this image came from:
In the same section in Elle Masion magazine's site, are other things you can do with Papier Peint, which I can only assume is wall paper. I had a discussion with Anna from Absolutely Beautiful Things about whether or not the image above was indeed wallpaper, and it seems it might be fabric. So I'm left wondering, what the true definition of "Papier Peint" is. Paper paint? (French bloggers help me!)
This last image is my favorite. I love how the wallpaper design is not even the focal point. This mix of burnt orange and pale blue is sooo pretty.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Artsy Chairs

So nothing special, just decided to draw a chair the other night. Then I realized how many pieces of "chair art" are out there. Sort of strange, it's not really that exciting of an object to paint or draw. Can you guess which one's mine? I think I made it pretty easy.


Colorful chair
Blue Chair
My chair
HowaboutOrange chair

PS: This is my 100th post!


Spoon Studio Sketchbook

Courtney from Spoon Studio has some really interesting projects and illustrations listed on the SpoonStudio website. But I particularly enjoyed the sketches from her sketchbook. Her line drawings are amazing. I really like the drawings of intricate building exteriors and detailed images of everyday objects.I was going to just post on my favorite black and whites from the sketchbook, but this water color was too pretty to not post. The way she creates shadows with so many different colors creates a really cool effect. (found this via Cup of Jo who found it via Happy Cavalier...it's a small blogworld)