Basket case....

I am officially a basket case- in the organizational sense. I am basket crazy- I have decided EVERYTHING can be hidden by baskets & voila! no clutter. Here is my pantry- still in the works-but it is amazing how much easier it is to get in & out of.




Here is the living room bookshelf-hiding toys in baskets.



This is where I put my millions of magazines.




I love these little tea containers from Marshalls/Home Goods. It makes me want a cup of tea right now.



My next project is the linen closets & the garage (HUGE undertaking-but where there's a basket- there's a way)

DIY Grasscloth Tray

Over the weekend, I ventured over in the freezing cold to the Hell's Kitchen Flea market. Among other things, I found an adorable wooden tray! It had nice holes with slight curves on the sides and then ducks on the actual tray part. The only problem was that the ducks were ridiculously silly looking! As you know, I love DIY and I had recently read a very inspirational post by Eddie Ross HERE about fixing up a bland looking tray to make it look chic. Check out my project:

Since I'm not an 85 year old woman (or my older sister), the ducks didn't really appeal to me. I had bigger plans for this tray.

I took some grasscloth that I bought at Kate's Paperie and measured out the inside area of the tray.

Cut it.

And then I fit it inside the tray and voila I have a cute wooden tray! No ducks!

I know mine is quite different from Eddie's but they are different trays. The mahogany wood in mine wasn't conducive to a ultra chic croc skin finish of Eddie's. I can't wait to use it in my new apartment for serving drinks, bringing dinners from the kitchen to the dining table (2 feet away), or for vases/candles etc.


Alicia B.

Happy Birthday, Laura!

Please all join with me to wish Happy Birthday to my friend Laura from Lodadesigns! Laura loves flowers, especially cherry blossoms which are coming in a few short months. They have special significance for her as she is a local and we have the famous yearly festival here.

Happy Birthday, Laura! We don't get to spend coffee breaks together at work anymore but you're still in my thoughts!

these images are ones i've taken during the last few years.

A New Era: Class

Bling Barf

This post I'll be using one of my fave designers, Christopher Maya as an example of somebody that I admire. He is understated, classic, traditional, and most importantly, economically appropriate. Everyone's been talking about being thrifty and cutting back because the economy is bad, and it's probably time to stop looking for the perfect $20,000 crystal chandelier that you want just to show off the fact that you could pay for it. Looking thrifty is in. I'm not saying dress in rags and live in a box, but be appropriate. Be tasteful. Enter Christopher Maya:

This bedroom is calming, interesting, and beautiful. I super love the geometric bedspread and the bench at the foot of the bed. It's very nice how he mixes Swedish with Queen Anne style antiques.

Maya really embraces this nook in this room, then accentuates it with the sweet pierced wood embellishment all around it. Looks so cozy.

In an aerial view of the dining room, this room looks quite exotic.

I adore this room, the living room, the most. The color palette is so restful and beautiful, and I'd love to have large floor to ceiling windows like this one day.

A little hiding place for the kids! SO CUTE.

The living room, again, is making me want to curl up and read a book. I love the furniture choices in this room. It's a large room but I don't see overstuffed oversized anything in here.

And finally, the entrance. The wide plank flooring and the adorable blue door? Are you kidding me? I also love that little bench pushed off tot he side with the brown and white gingham fabric. Ps, these are all from a spread in House Beautiful here.

Clearly these are expensive interiors, but they are understated; that's what matters. I read a really cute article in the NYTimes HERE about wedding dresses and how it's now quite admirable to find a great deal on a dress. There are brides that are shopping at second hand dress stores and then having the dress tailored. Seems practical, right? Coming from New England (yes, a personal tidbit about me!), this concept of understatedness really makes sense. I used to be sad that we weren't driven to school in a Mercedes, but rather a Subaru, and that we didn't have a house on the shore but took vacations out west. Now these are the things that I love most about my childhood. We weren't poor, but my parents just didn't believe in decadence. You know, keep you're pearls on, but go shovel the driveway. Now, I love DIY projects. Making something on my own rather than having someone do it for me involves more time, but it is admirable and shows your strength, independence and resourcefulness. So, gone are the days of "bigger is better" and "I want that gold plated" because even if you have the wherewithal, it's looked down upon...you're tacky.


Alicia B.

Gorgeous Bedroom Tagging

So, apparently in the blog world this thing happens called fourth and fourth. I was completely in the dark about it until I was tagged in it! A blogger will do a post of the fourth picture in their fourth folder in their image file and then you tag four people to do the same! Thankfully for me, it's not something completely embarrassing.


This is a bedroom in a House Beautiful spread by Hal Williamson. I absolutely loved this entire spread. I even did a post on it when I first started blogging! You can read my original post/embarrassing gushing HERE. And now, these are the people I will be tagging. Don't get sad if you don't get tagged because you already were tagged by someone else.

Nush Designs
Emily Amy
Bird in the Hand
Vintage Chair

Enjoy! Can't wait to see what happens. And thanks to Designer's Brew for inviting me into the cool kids crowd of this "fourth phenomenon."


Alicia B.

Yurt Alert

Cute little yurt in the snow.

Does anybody know what a yurt is? Well, I just found out recently. A yurt is a round structure, built as a home, that is very environmentally friendly. Since it is round in structure, it doesn't use very many materials; just the walls and the roof. On the inside, the air flows easily as it is round and you can divide up the space inside as you please with walls and partitions. Take a look. I thought it was crazy at first (kinda still do) but I'm coming around.

This was featured in the late and great Domino magazine. Very chill bohemian look here which I think encapsulates the yurt perfectly. I like the light walls with the trellis pattern, too.

This is a custom one from Mindful Living. I think it looks quite cool at night with all the exposed beams.

Don't pay too much attention to the interior design aspect of this one but just the architecture. The walls are all curved as well as the counter to mirror that curve.

You can pretty much do whatever you like with these! This one is a rustic style in two stories. It really blends in with the woods and looks like it is easily built into the side of a hill without destroying the landscape and using tons of cement!

This one looks quite large and it looks like the space is divided up by using rugs to designate a purpose to each area.

This is a floor plan from Mindful Living of an uber custom designed yurt. You can really accommodate a lot of people too; these aren't just for nomads as they started out to be!

To see more of these you should check out Mindful Living. They do a lot of custom designs: multiple stories, longer layouts, etc. I can't see myself living in one of these, but I see the point of them. Sustainable living is very important, especially in lean times such as these. Also, if you order one, they take less than a day to build! This should satisfy people with a need for instant gratification! Pics are all from Mindful Living, Pacific Yurts and Yurtinfo.org.


Alicia B.

Here.

Sorry about my flaky blogging of late. I have a lot of things going on, lots of balls up in the air right now so I'll try to be better. Anyway, I came across this amazing room by one of my heroes, Todd Romano. Remember when I did a post on small spaces and how putting lots of pattern in a room actually adds space visually, rather than taking it away? Well...


Just sayin. Isn't this fun?

Anyway, more to come later on. The guilt of not posting was just weighing so heavily on me. Have a lovely Monday!

Alicia B.