I'm Gonna Watch My Money Slip Down the Drain, but at Least My Sink Will Be Clean!

(Now hum the blog title to I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right out of My Hair!)

Those who know me, can attest to my love for Jo Malone. I love the natural, citrusy blends she creates and, when sprayed in layers, one's body becomes a true goddess temple ;o).

How can you create a similar sensory landscape in every part of your home? Before you take a bath in perfume and walk around your humble abode, take a look at Murchison-Hume cleaning products.

Their packaging is rather similar to Dr. Perricone and Khiels' skin-care lines. The design heralds back to antique medicine bottles, thereby making the product appear elegant, dependable, natural, and accessible or as I like to say, "It's just EDNA!"

http://www.murchison-hume.com/index.php

Mirror, Mirror in My Mirror

Today's find is a lovely mirror by Kartell, an internationally renowned design firm that melds modern and functional aesthetics for the home, office, and laboratory!

Company bio http://www.lifestylebazaar.com/designers/kartel/

The mirror I speak of is below. It reminds me of a picture my friend Nina once took while we were visiting Bruges, Belgium. Years ago, I would never embrace such sterile pieces, whose palette consisted of white and other primary colors. Mondrian, whose work I respect, but never loved, always came to mind. Now that Saturn is returning in my life and my taste buds are maturing to the point of me enjoying dark chocolate over milk, I can embrace the Mondrian-esque qualities.

It retails for £308.00. http://www.lifestylebazaar.com/shop/home_accessories/mirrors/francois_ghost_large

Birthday present anyone?

Great Source for Light Fixtures

I've decided, my lovely blog followers, to share little personal morsels with you each week. Today's find revolves around light fixtures. My apt., unfortunately, showcases several ceiling fixtures that offer little to no character. My quest for affordable, modern, sleek lights is an on-going process for several reasons. Either they are bland or too expensive, go figure.



I came across this chandelier today. It retails for $1085.00

On the surface, it looks like a challenging, yet doable DIY project.

Here is the link to Y Lighting, a site that sells several designer fixtures. They will get your imagination going and your mouth watering.

http://ylighting.com/index.html

I Want to Know....Where do you keep your "Keep Calm" Poster?

When I first bought this poster, I was naive enough to think I had stumbled upon something terribly unique and rare. Unique, yes, rare, not so much. But that is okay. People love this poster. So, I want to know

Where do you keep your "Keep Calm and Carry on" Poster! Send your pics to me and I will post them here.

This is where I keep mine. It's a great message to send to co-workers!

My Venture into Cube Interior Design

My Corner Home Away from Home:
If you’ve ever worked in an office, you’ll know that most cubes are either decorated with office materials or with haphazardly placed family photos. I work at a movie studio and it would be all too easy to fill my corner with tchotchke. Instead, I have chosen to create a peaceful and aesthetically pleasing area that portrays my personal design tastes. The way I see it, if I’m going to leave my beautiful apartment to spend 10 hours+ somewhere else, it better be stylish and comfortable.

The Entrance:
I fell in love with these Blik decals. They are perfect for personalizing a space without damaging the walls or cabinets. When walking past my corner, one is immediately taken by the flock of birds. Instead of offering junk food, I give my visitors a tasty treat, Clementines in a beautiful glass vase.

Detailed View of Front Facing Wall:

•Clementines in a tall glass vase
•“Keep Calm poster” is the best mantra to share with work colleagues.
•Blue birds from Blik
•Wooden framed mirrors, IKEA
•Stainless steel French press because drip coffee is no way to drink LAMill coffee
•Tiny pink roses in “inline box vases” from CB2 http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=910&f=4815&viewall=1
•Snake plant in brown ceramic vase

The Computer Area:
Every time I came into work, I was welcomed by this bland cabinet door. It was in this corner that my cubinterior design began.

1. I upholstered square cork boards with cool, patterned vintage fabric. Then, I attached magnetic plaques labeled “Maps:Gym”, “Contact List”, “Calendar” and a famous quote from Cicero
“Tarditas et procastinatio odiosa est”, Delay and Procastination are hateful. It’s nicer to read in Latin.


2.The flock of birds begin their ascent from this corner


3.I tacked on two Spontan magnetic strips with t-shaped pins on the backsplash and placed 6 Grundtal magnetic canisters. The fish bowl images, which I added, bring the element of water into the space. I find it to be calming and clean.

4.In addition, I made a “Happy Hour” clock with the IKEA PS. If you open the front door, there are two liqueur glasses and a small bottle of St. Germaine Elderberry.

Detailed views of backsplash

•Canisters are filled with vitamins, fish oil pills and keys sitting in a canister of coffee beans
•Added the gold fish in fishbowl image to canister lids-notice the keys resting in the canister of coffee beans?

Detailed view of Corkboards

•The vintage fabric was wrapped and stapled to the corkboards. I then attached binder clips to the center of the boards, removed the front handle and secured them with t-pins to the cube walls.

Additional photos:

My beautiful Brooklyn home

Some of you have had the pleasure of seeing my parent's house in Brooklyn. (Yes, I must distinguish that it technically is not mine, but I'm working on that!) During the 2008 Lefferts Manor house tour, it came to my attention that our house was used as the blueprint for the other houses on our block.




The house tour last year was pretty spectacular. Living in Los Angeles for the past 7 years, I've missed the gradual change that has slowly crept into my hidden jewel of a neighborhood. Due to Manhattan's inflated prices, many people have flocked to our block (hehehe) to purchase their own piece of NYC history. With that migration came excellent interior design! Fearless homeowners completely renovated their interiors by adding central air, tearing down the stucco walls, tearing down walls, in general, to make more spacious living rooms and bathrooms. The one house that really caught my attention was 28 Midwood Street. Wow! They spent close to one million dollars on their renovations and it shows. If I have the chance, I will certainly try to interview the home owners and showcase it on this blog! What was so breath taking you might ask? Well, let me list my favorite details

• Central Air: Having experienced the sweltering NYC summers for most of my life, I've always dreamed of having an air conditioner in every room. Then, I moved to LA and discovered the wonders of having central air and heat. Every home should have such a system. The design is streamlined and environmentally better, I think...




• Follow the red brick Garden: Personally, I had mixed emotions about this, considering how much my mother adores her little garden and craves an even larger one. They removed the gardening area and paved the entire space in red brick. Added nice lawn furniture and planted two trees in opposite corners. Minimalist and great for entertaining.




• My bedroom: The house originally had 4 1/2 bedrooms and 2 smaller studies that could be converted into bedrooms or offices. Well, 28 Midwood decided to throw caution to the wind and re-imagine the layout. (Below is the floor plan of 30 Midwood street. 28 is pretty much the same, just inverted.) There is a back room, a middle room (my room) and one at the anterior of the house. There is a hallway that runs along the outside of my room, from the back room to the front bedroom. Well, they tore down the wall between my room and the hall, making a beautiful reading/entertaining area. Seeing that it gets the most light, I thought that was a wise choice.

• The master bathroom (another great surprise): In between my bedroom and the anterior bedroom is one small bathroom, tres, tres petite. The owners created a masterpiece! They created a walk in closet with two entrances: One from the bathroom, the other from the bedroom. The bathroom extended a bit into what was the original closet and was tiled from top to bottom with white marble. I'm salivating even now.

Why am I writing about this? I love interior design, for one thing. What inspired this post, however, was this article on Apt. Therapy.com. They featured a similar Victorian house in Fort Greene that was touched by a modern interior deign fairy.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/house-tours/house-call-nicoles-historic-contemporary-mix-new-york-078263

As I commented on their site, these houses provide a traditional canvas on which to design a modern masterpiece! I look forward to seeing more creative interiorscapes in the neighborhood.