Plant

Plant Rona Chang

Love this painted dresser tutorial from Lena Corwin. It's based on those beautiful animal blankets from Mexico that I really, really want.

Water Lines

Water Lines Rona Chang

My old moccasins from Taiwan have been wearing thin for some time and I noticed a big gaping hole in the seam of the sole. I have been on the prowl for comfortable walking shoes for some time now so I decided to put my money in a pair of well crafted shoes. I put an order in for some Arrow Mocs, handmade leather moccasins. A friend had them and I always admired the worn leather on his and even put my feet in them once so it's not a completely blind faith order. I have high hopes for them. I just have to be very patient because it will take six weeks to get them!

Running on Ugly

I finally got myself a pair of these Asics trainers for running. I know that they are hideous but they are comfortable. I got them at Paragon Sports, where they analyze how you run by having you run on a treadmill for a minute or so and then help you to pick the best sneaker for your feet. It took me forever to decide on these and admit that all the designs out there are awful ugly and I had to look past the glitz and trim to find a comfortable pair of trainers. So far so good.

Stitching

I bought this Old Navy flannel night gown a while ago because the fabric reminded me of French ticking. R cut of the bottom and altered the top for me. I decided it needed something more to make it even less like pj's. I ended up embroidering it with some red floss along the buttons and the sleeves.

There's a hybrid diesel VW Golf on the way!

Unfortunately, on the way means the end of 2009, but I'm excited nontheless. Read about it here and here.

A big shipment

My life is a bit hectic right now. I just receieved five huge boxes of good stuff yesterday afternoon. Here are some photos of the chaos at home.





We were up to our earfuls in bubble wrap, peanuts and foam. (We are going to try and reuse as much of it as possible. We've already recycled the cardboard boxes.)



Here are the goods, unwrapped, and safe.





The last two photos are shots of where the new stuff is going to go. Right now I have to climb into bed because everything has been displaced. I'm hoping to have this resolved before the weekend. More photos and details soon.

Hooks

I first saw these hooks in my friend Randy's bathroom. He makes them himself. If you want some and are not as handy as Randy, you can find it on Live Wire Farm. If I had a cabin in the woods, my decor would definitely go in this direction.

(images from Live Wire Farm)

New Ikea storage jars

I'm digging these new celeber jars from Ikea that are ceramic with acacia wood rimmed see-through lids. They look like the perfect solution to my growing baking needs.

(image from Ikea)

The weight of Martha Stewart

This morning, the center shelf of my Ikea LACK bookcase collapsed. I guess it was the weight of all my Martha Stewart Magazines. Then I saw the Wiz Wharton Sneak Peak on Design Sponge and fell in love with the various vintage shelving systems she has in her home.

Weber from Denmark


Poul Cadovius Royal Shelving System


What should I do? (I've already emailed IKEA to see if I can get a replacement shelf instead of having to purchase another bookcase.) If I have to buy something else, I'd love to get something like Wiz'.

(images from Design Sponge)

Perforated

I picked up these super soft new shoes at a stoop sale in the West Village for a bargain. I'm wearing them today- so far, so good.

Repurposing

Dahne and were talking about using old sailcloth (she's a sailor) to make bags and as a material for other possible projects. This shower curtain is a neat idea for repurposing sturdy sailcloth. Havana Outpost, where I ate on Sunday, uses sailcloth to cover their benches in the indoor seating area.

(product shots from Ella Vickers)

Weekend loot!

Here's some of the fabric I picked up from the Hable sample sale last week. I absolutely *heart* the bead fabric. *sigh*. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet. Make a cover for my planner? Make a little padded camera pouch for my lumix?



On Sunday I went over to the Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene. It was one sunny day! I put on some shades and sunblock but still managed to turn a bit pink on my arms. Lots of vendors, well curated, and fun. I wouldn't mind popping in every so often to see what's new. Well worth the trip to the other bourough. Plus Fort Greene is so gorgeous, it makes me want to live in Brooklyn again.





Here's a peek at the pattern on the vintage dress I bought. Isn't it awesome? I also scored these amazing wingtips for $15. They're a tad small in the front but I must fit my toes in there. (Need some shoe stretching tips...)



I had a great lunch at the Habana Outpost. I ordered a guacamole burrito (so yum! what is the white cheese they use?), grilled corn, and a lemonade. The food was so scrumptious but the scene not so great for me. The music is too loud for me, but then again, I'm just an old fart.

Out with the old

Over the long weekend, I brought over bags of clothes and shoes (including the cute sandals below) and other random household items (cast iron pot anyone?) to the local thrift shop around the corner as donations. Although this thrift shop is not affiliated with any charity they resell the goods for a very affordable price. These items will go to people who need them instead of a landfill.

Treasures from Brimfield

The rain filled day.


Expensive ($12) Lobster Roll (and not so great).

Even though it was raining all last Friday, I made it up to the Brimfield Flea Market that was suggested by Decor8. My aim was to find a nice mid-century credenza for my Mom. Not so easy. Arriving close to 1pm, I found lots of vendors closing up shop. They were literally packing up for the day just as I was about to begin my adventure. I have to say that about 60% of the vendors were shut down. Pooh! Well, the benefit of going to Brimfield is that it's HUGE! So I managed to check out the remainder 40% in the rain with my rain jacket and gore-tex hat on. I didn't see one mid-century credenza but I did manage to score a really cool globe and a beautiful quilt and have some fun.


New globe.


New quilt.

There are two more sets of dates for Brimfield if you are interested in going.
July 8-13
Sept 2-7

Read Holly's Plan your Attack for tips and extra info.

Hable sale this week

Hable Construction is having a sample sale this week on the LES. Find all details here.

(photo of my favorite bead fabric on a nice canvas bag via Hable Construction)

Another possible purchase?

I'm also in love with this Krakatoa poster from little red stuga by Elisabeth Dunker. I'm running out of wall space!!!!

(photos from little red stuga)

Organizing my snapshots

When it comes to my old snapshots, I have stackes of them in cardboard boxes (very bad, I know), still in the envelopes that they came in from the photo store. I'm going through a major clean-up and will throw out most of them. For the ones I want to keep, I'm thinking about using Kolo albums. They seem to be straight-forward, nice and easy to use. They are available at Sam Flax, so next time I go downtown, I might stop by and pick one up.

(photo from Kolo)

Brooklyn Flea now open

Design Sponge posted about the Brooklyn Flea, which just opened yesterday and will be on every Sunday 10am-5pm, rain or shine, in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. For details, check out Brooklyn Flea's site. It sounds like fun, so I may have to take a trip to Brooklyn to do that as the weather gets nicer.

No more plastic bags!

I got my very own Envirosax from Maria just a bit ago. I love it! I use a bunch of old totes when I go shopping but I have to say the Envirosax is sooo nice because it folds up tiny, can get thrown in to my bag where ever I go, and opens up to a nice, big sturdy bag. Love it! Thanks Lady!

(image from Envirosax)

Linen Boxes

I'm loving these netto storage boxes from design public, especially the yellow one. I need something like this for under the bed storage.

(image from design public)

Built by Wendy

While I'm on things that I like... here's a great shirt/ dress from Built by Wendy.

Otomi Coverlets

Design Sponge wrote up a source for the beautiful Otomi textiles that I've dreamed about for the last two years. I think I will wait for a nice trip to Mexico to look for one, or two... I can just imagine a yellow one in my bedroom.

(photo from Jacaranda Home)

Wave bag

Holly at Decor8 has been posting Baby & Kids Shop online guides. A good source, but what really caught my eye is this great bag from Nonchalant Mom along with all the great adult clothes they carry. The print is so lovely. And a green interior? How could you make me any happier?

(photo from Nonchalant Mom)

Orla Kiely stem umbrella

The only thing that I bought in San Francisco was this beautiful Orla Kiely stem umbrella from Candy Store. It just happened to be a dreadful day there as it is here in NY today. I checked out the shop and lingered on the umbrella. It had been drizzling all morning. I went on to some other shops and returned wet two hours later. I made the plunge for the most expensive little umbrella I've ever purchased ($62). I have to say that I will treasure it for a long time to come. The colors are great and the iconic print makes me smile. So I guess it is all worth it.

You can get it for 20% off via Decor8's discount at Twig until Dec. 3.

(image from Twig)

My new Gillians

I'm totally guilty. I bought two pairs. One in black (Bloomingdales) and one in gold (Century 21). It's a reoccuring theme- I seem to buy the same thing in different colors. I hope these will serve me well.

(Image from Zappos)

I now have iPhone lust

I went into the Apple store on Sunday. Did I need anything? No. I was just following my friends in to look at the new screens. Did I want something when I left? Yes. The iPhone was very impressive. Lust...

Mitsuwa

On the way up to the house on Thursday, we stopped by Mitsuwa, a Japanese supermarket complex in Edgewater, NJ. We usually grab some dinner at Whole Foods but we decided on Mitsuwa since I haven't been in a long while. I had a huge pork cutlet platter that was very impressive looking but not so good. The cutlet wasn't hot enough. And if you can believe it, I actually was still really hungry afterwards. We went into the market section and I grabbed a spicy California salad roll with 8 pieces for $3! What a bargain! It was really good, the pieces were sizeable and I was no longer starving.

A design guide to San Francisco

Turns out that I've been missing out. I've never been to California despite the fact that my best friend Maggie has been in LA for four years now. Mags, I'm just waiting for you to get your license so you can chauffeur me around, ya hear? Design Sponge has compiled a design guide to San Francisco that I will definitely use when I do get myself over to the west coast.

Sunday shopping

We left Pond Eddy early yesterday to get some Sunday shopping done at IKEA. I personally hate going to IKEA on the weekends. Weeknights are best for going in, grabbing what you want, and checking out. Things that you want are more likely to be stocked on the shelves as well. They did not have any new catalogs to give out but the new products were on the shelves. One new favorite I discovered while there is the STRIKT series for storage.

The STRIKT magazine files come two in a pack for $8.99. One is smaller than the other. It won't look too uniform but for the price, they will look lovely on my new white LACK shelf. I also got some larger STRIKT storage boxes for my overwhelming fabric scraps collection.

(image via ikea)

Emma's recommendations for reusable bags

This morning's reading from Decor8 provided a new blog to read.
Swedish blogger Emma has a totally great design blog. I'm going to add her to my links on the side. Last month, Emma wrote about Envirosax, a company that sells reusable grocery bags in compact 5 packs ($35) or individually ($7.95). They come in great color and pattern combinations. My two favorite are below.


If you buy the five pack you can have enough stylish bags for all your groceries!
(images from Envirosax)