EARTHQUAKE + PHOTO WALL = SAD

When I hang a picture, it's a harbinger of destruction. I'll be sure to notify local seismologists next time.... 

BEFORE (Put up by me this weekend.)

AFTER (Unhung by nature yesterday.)

Yesterday, my apartment looked like the result of an angry toddler ramage; books down, pictures down, objects all pulled off the tables and shelves. I half expected to find a juice box in the rubble, or at the least a blankie. C'est la vie. Anyway, not much harm done, considering no one was hurt (though you wouldn't know it to read the headlines - "EARTHQUAKE OF THE CENTURY!"). 

So let this be a lesson to you:  purchase IKEA, and earthquakes will only wreck cheap damage on your home. 

POINTY SHOES

First off, doesn't this make you yearn for Fall? A chilly day, out for a stroll in the city, in Autumn colors... and Louis Vuitton shoes. These marvelous bow-toe flats are cropping up again this year.

(Natalie Vodianova photographed by Peter Lindbergh for Vogue)

Gorgeous flat ironed bows from Vuitton 2010.

And for Talbots 2011 - my, my! Doesn't this look familiar?

It's a charming collection (if a wee bit LV inspired), and I love this pump in stingray.

Here's a 2010 velvet and satin flat with Swarovski-studded heels. 

Compare to the Talbots Fall 2011 stingray pair. 

And a little more creativity with leopard bows.

The collection ranges from $139 - $169. Not bad!

/All images, Talbots/

HOW-TO: PHOTO WALL

I got what seemed like a brilliant idea the other day - a photo display wall to fill a vacant corner above my couch. But large photo walls are so expensive:  custom framing, the art or photography on display, and usually a professional installer to hang them just so.

This Vogue vintage cover wall from Domino Magazine was a great inspiration. 

So what to do? My first stop was IKEA, king of inexpensive home accessories. Even if the frames weren't glam, a matching set always looks more elegant.

IKEA Ribba frames at $10 a pop - including the mat!

But what to put in the frames? I have years of fashion and shelter mag editorial and advertising tearsheets lying around, so I raided my stash to find a series of photos suitable for framing. The guidelines were to 1) find images in various shades of jade to pick up the green themes in my apartment, and, 2) to find them with as few words on the page as possible (editorials are best for this).

After choosing favorites, I framed them up and laid out the photos to find the best arrangement.

I settled on a mix up of home decor, accessories, and fashion images from over the years. Vogue had the best fashion options (of COURSE), but Town and Country takes the prize for absolutely gorgeous accessories shots (note the Tony Duquette brooch picture in the center).

With a little help from the IKEA frame inserts, and a lot of measuring, I framed out the job.
Tips:  Be sure to measure the space between each frame too, so the distance is right. I then penciled in the exact spot for each nail hole on the paper, and drove the nail right through the paper, pulling off the wall papers when I was done. Easy peasy!

(Remember, in an older building, it can be really tough to find the perfect "center" since the walls may not be perfectly straight. Your best bet is to trust your eye as well as your measuring tape, moving things around until they look right. Also, keep in mind that the frame insert papers are a great guide, but they're slightly smaller than the frames. You'll need to add in an extra inch or so for the perfect fit.) 

The final result:  ta-da - inexpensive photo wall!

The set dresses up an otherwise dull corner (apologies for the window glare). 

Total cost? $120 for frames. $0 for old magazine tearsheets. Yay!

I tried the same affect in my bathroom with vintage nature prints and a shell craft basket. Again with the glare. Sorry!

Have you found a special trick for making great wall displays?

CHA-CHA-CHAIR

It's for sale HERE.

iDECORATE: BEDROOM

My apartment is a studio, but while I'm a happy camper living in one large room, I refuse to pretend that I live in a large BEDROOM. Luckily, the layout is such that with a great (massive) bookcase, I've created free-flowing separate living vs. sleeping areas. Even though the bed isn't the centerpiece of the apartment, I still wanted it to feel luxurious, and since it's in a dark corner, cheery.

And the most cheery thing I could think of was Mr. Bunny. I sketched Mr. Bunny back in my aspiring artist days (middle school?) and he's always struck me as having a sweet, if rather coy, tempérament. He's obviously fond of clover blossoms:

Since my current headboard is a massive chinese screen, I had to hang the sketch with visible cording. After a brief trip to the hardware store, I established two things:  a) they had no appropriate cording or wiring that could hold the picture's weight AND look good, and b) it was 100 billion degrees outside and I wasn't going to look anywhere else. Luckily, after a few minutes of aisle cruising, I found this roll of jute twine. Rustic chinoiserie? You bet!

Here's Mr. Bunny all hung up. In real life, the sorrel colored bedding is a nice compliment to the bright orange of the screen - in the photos it looks odd. The lovely pillows in Windsor Smith Pelagos Haze by Kravet are from one of my favorite Etsy stores, ZzzBoutique.

The chinese screen is a score from a Southern vintage shop - it's covered on both sides and framed in oak. Would you believe it was only $110??!! It almost didn't fit in my car - let's just say I got very cozy with the screen on the way home. 

The little glass and brass bamboo bedside table is the perfect size for the corner, and another vintage store find.  The lamp was a Home Goods score last week - $45.00, and it came with the shade, which has a rougher woven pattern in the same style family as the jute cording (hard to see in the picture). It also came with a cheezy porcelain finial, but I had purchased brass fretwork finials in a vintage store a while ago, even when I didn't have lamps to go with them. If I find something I really like, I just go for it. Inevitably, it finds a home. I love how ridiculously large the lamp looks on that teeny table - it's fun. 

Better view of the lamp (and that weird mismatched color thing again). The bedding is West Elm cherry blossom in sorrel.

That's the room! I'm not done - a different rug, pictures on the wall, and eventually, an actual headboard (I'm thinking grey velvet), as well as a bedskirt in matching Windsor Smith fabric are all in the future! 

FOLLOWING CHLOE WARNER

Everyone (by which I mean you, because you read shelter blogs) remembers this bedroom:

It's by Chloe Warner, from her charming pad in the California Hills with blockbuster-level glam. But she hasn't been resting on those cherry blossom laurels. Warner's design firm, Redmond Aldrich, spreads her special brand of eclectic palm beach goes Asian around town - enjoy a few fresh looks below.

 Images/Chloe Warner/

iDECORATE: BEFORE AND AFTER

Earlier this year I moved to Washington, D.C., into an apartment long on charm and views, and short on size. Much to my surprise, I'm loving living small. No more clinging to boring or unloved items; I feel free to throw things and out and start afresh (as I mentioned on the Great Couch Hunt). So I have. And, I decided that, other than upholstery and textiles, I'm decorating vintage as much as possible. EBay, One King's Lane, and antique stores are my new best friends. Thrill of the hunt! Here are a few first finds.

Pattern play - I had fun piling up the kitchen linens for a colorful effect atop the newly painted table!

BEFORE:  I scored this diminutive table in a vintage shop down South for around $100. It's English-made, and I fell in love with the delicate bamboo carving. Since I live in a studio, it was the ideal size for dining in - but not the ideal color. By painting it a high-gloss black, it would make a nice set with my bamboo fretwork dining chairs from Ballard Designs.

AFTER! A coat of primer and some black enamel, and it's a matched set! I love the way it turned out (much better than I loved painting each and every carving...). It makes a sweet little seating area, and when I move to a larger home, a nice side or card table. I'll need to learn to play...

BEFORE:  I found this sideboard on eBay for $145. It's by Broyhill, and not exactly inheritance material, but I loved the mix of bamboo carved border and turned legs. In a rather bold, but ineffective effort, the previous owner had attempted to go Asian country with cream paint and slate blue hardware. Hmmmm...

AFTER:  a lot of elbow grease later (stripping hardware is a pain!) and with a new coat of paint, it's reborn. Decorating is still in process but I particularly like it flanked by the green foo dogs. Best of all? It has a TON of storage - perfect for a small space.

My new place is a work in progress. I'll update you as things move along!

All images, my own.