Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Schwinn


I want this. Bad. Now, I try to stear clear of posts like this, where I lust after an object I will never actually buy. But I've been seeing people riding around on these in bubblegum colors like pink and turquoise, and I just want to show them up by picking a mature color like brown. I am told Chicago is trying to be the #1 bike-riding city in America. Maybe once it's crowned with that title I will have a good excuse to purchase this.

And yes, this post is tagged "fashion".

Help! Art as Headboard?

I decided to do a little experiment to see if I could pull off black and white art hanging above the bed as a headboard. I drew little silhouettes of various images, and added a few things I already had framed. I've never hung a grouping of art though before, so I'm wondering how this looks, and what I can do to improve it (despite straightening the frames). Should I spread it all out? Should I eliminate the ones with color and keep it strictly black and white?? Help! Here's a closeup of some of the art I made, using a sharpie to outline some photos I liked.A photo I took of Washington Square Park my freshman year in college:Crazy charcoal drawing:

Monday, July 30, 2007

New Affordable Art via Vitamin D(esign)

You wouldn't think there were any ways left to make the word design or decor into something clever. Vitamin D(esign) is a new online shop coming from a husband and wife team. For their opening they're offering 10% off of orders above $100, how nice! Here are some prints I liked, some more familiar than others.Fluke the Mutant Cardina: Chelsea Groves (I think I have an obsession with chubby looking birds)
Orange and Brown CanvasFalling Gingko leaves: Wolfie and the Sneak

Fill in the Cat

Found this on Bloesem and thought it was good for today. I'm keeping an eye on Nerms because she is sick, and I can't get her to the vet until tomorrow. Between that, fixing my computer, and beginning to study for a calculus placement exam I have at the end of August, I am pretty busy. Happy Monday :)

Image via NEL

Saturday, July 28, 2007

I Am In Love


with this watch! Too bad it's $200. I love how it looks retro, and reminds me of the panel siding station wagons used to have. Maybe I could settle for this one at $130...Watches from Nixon.

Rococo

I'm obviously late to join the trend, but I'm noticing a lot of this style being used in various "arenas". Kitchen items, upholstery, jewelry and fashion are all using rococo style. I think I need at least like a pillow or something with this design so that I can get with the trend.
Plates: Elsewares.com
Couch: Anthropologie
Wall Decals and Wall Clock: chiasso
Notebook: Sprout Home
Bracelet: Konzuk

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Billy vs. Expedit

I know I'm like the Expedit's #1 fan, but look at how Lorena and Esteban (from At's house tour) use the billy bookcase and make it look cool. They put them up next to each other, with shelf heights varying, in their office and even in their kitchen! Currently there are 5 black billy bookcases on my deck outside left from the previous owner of my apartment. I'd love to find a great way like this to incorporate them in our place.

Everything Inching Towards Its Right Place

My 5 or 6 boxes of stuff that had been picked up over 2 weeks ago in New York finally arrived in Chicago today. I was so excited to finally move in, for real, after 5 days of living here. Here's what I've been doing all day, and why I wasn't on the blogs at all. (Oh, and I took my grandmother couch shopping which took about 5 hours, yikes).

My first time using a drill, I hung that floating shelf up myself. I'm thinking of adding another. I have all of this artwork and knickknacks out trying to figure out what I like where. Still wishing that dresser had some mid-century modern flair. Some things are just un-poofable it seems.
The office closet in the making. I'm eventually going to get a piece of wood to use as a desk, and add one more shelf. Also going to store my bags somewhere else. Wouldn't a flat screen tv be nice? Oh, and I'm painting that bright blue chair a darker brown.
I do like the way this one corner turned out, though the rest of the "office" needs some work.

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

To Love a Room

It's strange to see an image of some room you've never been in and feel as though you have to have it, as in recreate the actual room and put it in a place where you can lay on the sofa, and turn the lights on and off, and walk up the stairs etc. That's how I feel about this room above, which came to me via Decor8 (and via Holly from Sfgirl) and was originally from the blog HOOM.STHLM.

Hm. Maybe I can have it if I try hard enough. I'm not ready to share pictures of my living room, but so far the sofa is white, and so are the walls. So that's a start right?

Seaweed

These are so pretty. John Derian Seaweed plates. I'm still thinking I might be able to make decoupage plates like this a DIY. These came from Lille in Chicago, and would make a great wedding/engagement gift I think for anyone.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

I've Been Busy...

...and so has she. Opened up her own bag of catnip on the table tonight. I promise, only maybe one post a month on the cat. I can't help it, I've become a crazy cat lady. At least this cat loves the dining room table as much as I do. That makes it 3:1 voting in favor of keeping it if I'm including all 3 roommates + Nerms.

I've been super busy running around buying new stuff for my place. I'm hoping for things to die down by end of week so I can catch up on all my favorites!

No Boring Boards Here

Thinking about headboards, I am trying to do something exciting. My room is way more beige than gray (even though the paint name was gray-beige, grey being first) so I'm trying to jazz it up with some color. Here are some options. I'd never heard of Ferm Living before I read Decor8 today, and am happy I checked it out. Wall decals are from there, and the Vintage Wallpaper is from Secondhandrose. Sorry about the crazy looking pillows, I'm working from my parent's computer and feel handicapped. Also, my duvet cover is actually white, which is hard to tell from the photos.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Suburban Monster

Maybe it's because I just moved to Chicago, and am feeling more like a New Yorker than ever before, but I can't help but love this print "the giant suburban bear monster visits NYC" by Matte Stephens. Oh those suburbanites and their slow-walking and site-seeing :)

I've posted on his apartment before, but Stephens' art is equally enjoyable.
PS: He also keeps a blog

Found: Vintage Dining Table

So this is pretty sweet, I found this table in the hall outside of my new apartment. The Ikea table my roommates had was too small for the room, so I moved it into the kitchen where it fits in better. How cool is this table? The sides fold in to make it more of a sideboard if needed. I'm going to keep my eyes open for chairs that will match.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Farewell to NY, Coney Island Style

Friday a big group of people I've known for 5+ years went to the Cylones game in Coney Island. I got some pretty good shots of the parachute ride, fireworks during the game, and the amusement park. It was the perfect last night in the city, heckling the players, eating hot dogs, and spending $6 a beer. Best New York send-off ever. I highly recommend this for anyone in or visiting New York.

Friday, July 20, 2007

Grace Sun

I wasn't going to blog today, but it turns out work is slow, and I've recently been made aware of Grace Sun (via Michelle from Armas design). These clothes have me totally in the mood for it to be early fall, like that first chilly day when you pulll your favorite (gray wool) sweater out from the under-the-bed box, and stuff a scarf in your purse in case it gets that cold.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Coney Island and Big Move

Tomorrow straight from (my last day of!!!!!) work I'm going to Coney Island with some friends for a Cyclone's game. It's my first trip there, after 5 years of living in NYC. Can't wait. Then I'll finally be moving on Sunday. I know. I've been talking about it forever everyone's like "haven't you moved yet???" See you sometime on Sunday when I hope to be able to get online. Have a great weekend.

Into the Closet

Could this desk fit in that closet? If I lived there already I'd be in the closet right now with a measuring tape! I'm really wanting to do something like the images below for when I start school, considering I'll be studying so much and might want to do so in a quiet place.Apparently that bamboo chair is very popular for closet/desks. If the West Elm desk doesn't fit, maybe I'll be gutsy and build my own!2 images from DesiretoInspire (if you search for office in closet, the white desk with blue decorative pieces comes up all over the place!) Flickr Pinkpoppy, Flickr byujerry

Paint

Domino has a couple galleries devoted to paint pallettes and rooms painted with interesting combinations. I took some of the ideas I liked in Domino and used House Beautiful's paint calculator tool to create a few different looks. Above is a beige wall with robin's egg blue ceiling. I wanted to see how that would look in a bedroom.
Midnight blue ceiling with beige/blue walls.
Beige/grey (Greige) walls with off-white ceiling. I think I like this one best, but I wouldn't go overboard with the bedding like in the room House Beautiful provides.

All My Bags Are Packed...

...but is she ready to go? Nerms, I mean. She is hard to motivate in the morning. I packed all of my pillows, but one, for the movers who came last Saturday. Silly me, forgetting one for myself :)

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

False Beauty

Since this blog is about making things look nice, I thought I would post this Dove ad which is just fascinating to watch. I've always liked Dove products, but now I'm growing fond of their commercials as well :)

Fall Already? Wasn't it Just 4th of July?

I received an e-mail from Urban today about their new fall stuff. While I feel I might be too mature for a lot of the clothing (when I go into the store it's like all 14 year old girls) their new fall apartment items are kind of great. For instance, take these bird-themed plates...or this funny little bird clock.

West Elm Sale

So West Elm is having a sale and it's causing me some stress. I've been really focusing on getting a dresser for cheap but now all of a sudden I think I might need a new desk. I'm going to be doing a lot of studying pretty soon (grad school starts in September).

So here's my question, is this desk worth it, at half price for $150?? I love the parsons style and the sleek looking drawers.
And I could do something like this underneath:How do you know when the price is right?

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Color Generator

I've been thinking about this bedroom for a week or so now, thinking maybe I should paint my new bedroom a kind of grey/taupe color rather than light blue. I think that art would look better on a more neutral color, and want to try something new. My bedroom growing up was light blue, so I think I need something more "grown up".

Via Liquid Sky Arts blog, I found the Palette Generator from BigHugeLabs and Flickr, which allows you to upload a photo and spits out color palettes based on your photo. So cool!