{ heat wave }

{ heat wave }

kelly wearstler is my biggest interior design icon, and half the reason i booked it to miami for art basel was that i was offered a room in a friend's suite, at one of her boutique hotel projects, the tides. i couldn't pass up an opportunity to spend a few days immersed in her work! it did not disappoint:







{ images via google + tidessouthbeach.com }

{ christmas is here }

{ christmas is here }

you all have probably seen my apartment by now, so this post will be nothing groundbreaking. nevertheless, i had so much fun dressing the place up for friday's tree-trimming festivities, that i couldn't help but share a few photos. here's the calm before the soirée:







{ see the tree above AFTER being decorated, in this post from yesterday! }

{ before + after } bedroom furniture

{ before + after } bedroom furniture

i've always been a compulsive improver, a serious DIY addict. i can't look at anything without thinking how i can make it better! this trait came in handy while decorating the apartment (on a budget!), as so many things can be transformed with a little patience and a few swathes of paint. here are two of my favorite makeovers:

this bedside stool was a surprise score. i'd been looking for a chic step stool for a while, but they are surprisingly hard to come by. when my guy texted a photo of this one to me (from a yard sale in the hamptons), i knew it had incredible potential. only problem was, the seller didn't want to let it go without the matching (ginormous) bed frame. i insisted that he be persistent, threatening: "don't you dare come home without it!!" in the end, it took four trips to the woman's house over the course of two days, plus a whopping $30 to wear her down. the day he returned home victorious, i set to work painting our prize!

as you may have gathered from this photo, it serves a vital function to my pampered pup. while i'll be the first to admit that pooch is spoiled rotten, installing steps for her to get into bed was more about my convenience than hers ~ i hated being woken up every time she got the urge to cuddle! i also use it as a perch while putting on shoes, and as a way to reach the purses at the tippy-top of my closet.

this dresser came from craigslist. it was pretty banged up (as you can see) ~ but it was cheap, and its architecture (especially the quietly curved lines) reminded me slightly of the step stool above. i really liked that it had lots of little drawers on top to store my sunnies and accessories. luckily, a bit of wood glue (for that taped-together leg), some sanding, and a couple coats of paint went a long way; this project took only a day!
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i hope this inspires you to look at that next yard sale find with a more open mind ~ or even to rethink something already in your own home!!

{ home sweet home }

{ home sweet home }

i spent the weekend on a spur-of-the-moment trip to miami, soaking in some sun and tons of inspiration via art basel. as amazing as the trip was, it was equally wonderful to return home to the cozy embrace of my nyc nest. see the whole thing today over on apartment therapy!!

{ gift guide } books to live by

{ gift guide } books to live by

inspirational coffee table books always make great holiday gifts ~ they're the sort of indulgences that we too often hesitate to splurge on for ourselves. here are a few lovelies for the interiors junkie in your life:

{ clockwise from top left: a perfectly kept home is the sign of a misspent life // the private world of yves saint laurent & pierre berge // flea market style // vintage french interiors }

{ bunny } canine catnip & art aficionado

{ bunny } canine catnip & art aficionado

on tuesday, one of my favorite design sites came in to shoot some snaps of the apartment. i'm excited to share the results with you all next week ~ but in the meantime, how about a little outtake featuring BUNNY?!

this teeny-tiny pup of mine was recently attacked by a much bigger cat. when i mentioned it on twitter, we were overwhelmed by the sweet outpouring of well-wishes. thank you for all your kind words ~ she's a much-loved dog! things got a bit dicey, but i'm happy to report that she's healing rapidly and well (yet funnily unamused by yesterday's kitty-print shirt / i may have to shelve that one for a while).

{ home for the holidays } all that glitters

{ home for the holidays } all that glitters

though it may seem a bit early, i'm already making holiday lists ~ for myself, my home and my loved ones! to follow are a few tinsel-y talisman that would be great to give or to get, to put out for a little seasonal sparkle (thanksgiving's coming up soon in the states!) ~ then keep out well into the new year!!

{ CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE LEFT: target stag horn mirror: $220 // anthropologie stork-legs pot/candle stand: $78 // anthropologie enchanted buck measuring cups: $48 // target star mirrors: $200 each // anthropologie serverware: $68 // target mirrored tealight holders: $30 }

{ CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE LEFT: anthropologie measuring spoons: $24 // crate & barrel gold ruffle charger: $5 each // vintage silver deer: $31 // jayson colored pencil set: $65 // urban outfitters wine stopper: $12 // urban outfitters gold sparkle fisheye camera: $60 // jayson crystal votive holder: $54 // crate & barrel salt + pepper set: $60 // jayson wall-mount brass bursts: $45-85 }

{ inside my studio } scents + spaces

{ inside my studio } scents + spaces

to follow up on yesterday's perfect place post, i thought it would be fun to share a teeny peek into my own perfect-for-me place: my studio! specifically, the wall in that room where i store my favorite art books and other assorted necessities. like my closet, it's not nearly as big as i'd like it to be (oh, the things one gives up to live in new york!!), but it has lots of happy little corners:

as a workroom (where anything from sewing to soldering to computing occurs), my studio is a lot more casually adorned than my living/entertaining space. because i've got to be able to stash some not-so-lovely stuff in there, i need lots of nooks for books & odd objects (gadget cords, things i use for jewelry still lifes, file storage, etc). of course, it's also a room where i need to be inspired, so i try to keep things well-organized and pleasant to look at!

right now, its shelves are strewn with fun, numbered bottles from ralph lauren's big pony collection of colognes ~ i love the way they complement my color-coordinated book collection:

in the coming weeks, i'll be regularly partnering with ralph lauren to debut (and host giveaways of!) these fragrances. i was attracted to the project for two reasons:

1. i almost exclusively wear men's scents (which these ostensibly are, though i think they would appeal to almost anyone!)
2. i love spritzing scents to subliminally enrich a room's decor ~ and thus like keeping a melange of bottles around different parts of the house, to complement the mood & use of disparate spaces.

during the years that i worked as a clothing designer, we would pick a scent every season to spritz the tent with ~ so when guests began to arrive for a show, they would subconsciously start to settle into the spirit of the collection that was about to debut. that's one runway trick i love to apply to my everyday life!

every one of them instills a new mood. the first fragrance (which i'll be giving away tomorrow!) is sporty and dynamic, with fresh hits of lime and oak; the second is more seductive and musky (the sort of scent i like wearing best), with dark chocolate undertones. these two bottles flank a flea-market-found plastic giraffe ~ my absolute favorite animal:

number three is geared for adventure, a woody aroma enriched with ginger and mint. it sits above a beloved box of andy warhol's 'red books' ~ a collection of polaroid flipbooks from his factory days:

number four is the collection's most stylized: a mix of kyara wood and grapefruit. it sits just above a 'glamour monster' doll i made several years ago from a no-longer-worn toile de jouy skirt:


scattered about the surrounding shelves, prada, miu miu and alaia shoes boxes are used to store old documents/receipts, and my twitter followers may recognize a certain ebay-binge-begotten porcelain unicorn:


as always, my trusty sidekick/mascot/assistant/troublemaker is never far from the action:

{ the perfect place }

{ the perfect place }

do you remember when i first started working on my new apartment, i envisioned it as:
"midcentury-simplicity-meets-grandiose-baroque ~ marrying a modern sensibility with a bit of bombastic hollywood regency aplomb, all executed in a minimal palette (black/white/silver/gold)."

though i hadn't seen it yet, i do believe the apartment below is exactly the style i was imagining:



{ images via nuevo estilo // via coco+kelley }