June 8th, 2010

Chase

Meet our cute little puppy Chase!!  He just celebrated his 4 month birthday on June 6th…and he is growing sooooo fast!!!!  Nate & I left him for the first time for 4 days at Citizen Canine- and we missed him so much.  I feel like I missed out on so much, the past 4 days I was without him!  I may just be exaggerating, but I swear he turned from a little puppy to a grown adolescent!  His face has become so mature, and I swear he doesn’t need his Mommy and Daddy anymore :(   Last night was tough, he normally sleeps 8 hours through the night without having to go potty, but last night he woke up twice in the middle of the night.  I’m hoping he is just getting back in the groove of being at home.  Here are some cute pics of our little Chase-y baby!

approx 10 lbs at 9 weeks, first day at home!

25.2 lbs at 15 weeks! our little boy is not so little anymore!

April 28th, 2010

New Obsession

I am ADDICTED to the new Bravo show, 9 by Design.  The show is about Cortney and Bob Novogratz, their family and design business- Sixx Design.  This has to be one of the coolest families in NY…dare I even say in America?!  This family seems down-to-earth, and I think their keep it real parenting style is what appeals to people like me.  This show’s got NY attitude mixed with chic design…and I love every minute of it.  I even watched the same episode back to back…that’s how obsessed I am!  The show is full of design inspiration, sometimes I even have to pause the show to take a longer look at the snapshots of their “before” & “after”.

Here are some pics from Black Eiffel :

and more from JuBella :

and more from YDF :

Check out Sixx Design for more of their amazing design work.

And you better believe I’m going to be picking up their book, Downtown Chic.

I love their unexpected use of color, and their mix of vintage and modern pieces.  They buy what they love, and i’m all about that philosophy.  It keeps things interesting, and never too matchy matchy.  And you know i’m all about the feng shiu,  and am digging their use of open spaces and lots and lots of windows.  So their bold choices of color got me thinking of adding more splash of color to the abode.  Here are a few things on my wish list:

CB2’s knitted pouf:

Target’s Metal Bistro Set in yellow:

CB2 Orange Formosa Tray Table

West Elm Links Duvet Cover :

Etsy’s , Quite Contrary , print :

Etsy, deKanimal, print :

Now, who’s gonna jump on the 9 by Design bandwagon??!?

April 8th, 2010

Recycling Bottles

Earlier I wrote a post on recycling bottles to make a chic decor item for your home.

Well, I attempted this project myself last weekend.  Check out how!

First, I looked for 3 already used bottles around the house.  I wanted to pick 2 taller bottles, and one shorter one- for height variation.  I also wanted to pick bottles that had different types of “texture” and shape.  Here is what I came up with.  The shorter bottle once stored a chicken marinade from Trader Joes- I liked the height and interesting form of the neck.  The middle bottle once stored a Port Wine we got from Napa.  I liked the sleekness and simplicity of this bottle.  Finally, the bottle on the right is an S. Pellegrino bottle.  I liked that this bottle was a little fatter than the Port Wine bottle.

So, after picking out which bottles I wanted to transform, I rinsed them out and made sure they were nice and clean on the inside.

Next step, I had to take off the labels.  I plugged our sink and filled it up with hot water and  3-4 drops of dish washing liquids, and dropped the bottles in.  I then left the bottles in there soaking for about 1 hour.

Once an hour passed (check the labels after an hour, you’ll know if it’s time for the labels to come off, or if you need to leave them for a bit longer), I peeled off the labels while they were still in the water.  Some labels were easy to take off…such as the S. Pellegrino bottle and the Port Wine bottle, but the Trader Joe’s bottle needed a little help from our dish sponge and a bit of scrubbing.  After the labels were off, I washed, rinsed and dried the bottles.

Then, I got my painting supplies ready.  When we were at Lowe’s, I came across some discounted paint-  half a pint of Valspar Samples for $.50…yup! 50 cents!  We used Mercer Blue Satin and Breakwater Interior Satin Latex.  We also bought a pack of sponge paint brushes (we use these often) for about $3.50.

Then it was time to paint!!  You may want to start painting below the rim of the bottle first, so you can use your fingertips to turn your bottle as you paint, without messing up the paint you already laid.  Last step would be to paint the rim.

We ended up doing 3 coats of paint on each bottle.  Letting it dry for about 2 hours before the next coat.  The amount of coats may also depend on the color of your bottle or the color of your paint.  Here is what it looked like after the first coat.

And, here they are after 3 coats!  I love the look…so simple and chic!  Really loving how we used the same color, but in different shades…it just looks like it makes sense that way.  If you are looking for a super cheap and super easy project, try this one!

April 8th, 2010

Refreshing flowers!!

Still going strong!!!!!!  After more than a week, my Mums are still at it.

The only flowers I needed to refresh so far, have been our coffee table flowers.  I switched them from the white vase, to a shorter, smaller vase (from Anthropologie, can be used as a glass, or like me- as a candle tea light holder- I love the color!)  There were a few shorter flowers that went bad.  I took the bunch out of the white vase, snipped the bottom at an angle under fresh water, put in nice clean fresh water into the green vase, and voila!  A new arrangement!

From this:

To This:

The other mums in the bud vase are still livin’ large.  I havn’t even refreshed the water, or snipped the ends yet…but will probably do so today or tomorrow.

I am convinced that Mums are the longest lasting flowers I have ever had!

April 6th, 2010

Turning a Closet into an Office

One day I dream of Nate & I turning a closet into an office.  It’s all about utilizing the space you got, right?

Check out these cool closet make-overs.

from theofficestylist.com

from livinglocurto.com

from keloconnell.wordpress.com

allyou.com

roomremixblog.blogspot.com

April 2nd, 2010

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

At the beginning of the year, I bought this candle.  It’s life has now expired, and I thought the jar was too nice to throw away, and I figured I could use it to store something.

So I stuck the jar in the freezer overnight, then the next day i chipped of the excess wax.  Then, I washed the jar…and voila! Another storage item! :)   I paid about $6 for a candle, and storage jar! Not too bad.

Here it is frosted, after spending the night in the freezer.

Clean, washed, and ready to be used!

March 30th, 2010

Binder Clips

Found this on unplggd.com

Love how amazingly simple and innovative this is.

March 29th, 2010

Recycling bottles

This is so my next project!!!!!! My bottles will no longer be of waste!!  I love the colors they used in this picture…so light, dreamy and romantic!!!!

Apartment Therapy

March 26th, 2010

Blissful Blooms

I felt like my home needed a breath of fresh air, so I opened up the windows and bought a bunch of Mums for $4.49 at the local Trader Joes’s.  In feng shui they say that flowers and plants uplift and harmonize energy in any room…and I swear, I think these flowers just made my room smile!

I love the short setting of these flowers…perfect for our coffee table!

Love the way these Mums look in these two bud vases.  I think i’ll be keeping one of these on my nightstand upstairs, and one on our kitchen counter.

Not bad for $1.49 per “arrangement”, right?

The other day my sister gave me these flowers straight from her garden…nothing like free flowers to spruce up your home!

How yummy do these look in this honeycomb vase?!  These flowers are livin’ the life on our dining table.

So…let’s see how long I can get these blooms to live!!!! I will have to be good about cleaning out the water and keeping them nice and fresh!!!!

March 25th, 2010

Bobbin’s Nest Studio

In search for a new hobby, I decided to take a class (with my sister and friend) at Bobbin’s Nest.  This place is super cute.  I once described it as Anthropologie meets Gilmore Girls.  They have really cool and modern fabric, and a huge selection of yarn and other crafty things.  They even have a sewing salon, where you can pay a flat rate fee to sew all day if you don’t have a sewing machine at home.  The sewing salon is also where they hold their classes.  My class was Sewing 101, where we learned to sew a simple pillow (post on that may be coming soon…still deciding if I want to post since I messed up on a step or two…hey, i’m still learning!).  They offer a few classes every month such as: sewing, crochet, knitting, etc.

Anyways, here are some pics I grabbed from their flickr.  So cute!