This is not the “next post” I promised in my last post, but just a mini-post to let everyone know that I’ve done a mini-update to the DESIGN-BEE site. I’ve corrected the site’s table layout and other general table-related problems so that they look great in IE as well as Firefox. I’ve yet to get a review of the site on an Apple since the update. Anyone care to check it out and let me know?
I see you noticed my awesome new Vera Wang boyfriend cardigan (not to mention my dorky pose and face)! It was a Spring Break splurge, but a steal at only $130 (originally $345) from Gilt Groupe, which is this great site you can sign up for to get access to exclusive sales for designer clothing. If you’d like to join, please click here to do so. My roommate sent me the link and I didn’t think it would be something I would ever use, but this sweater is GREAT. It’s a little big though, so I’m exchanging it with a small which is allegedly available from their site right now, so hopefully it’s still available in a few days!
You may also have noticed my great oatmeal colored leggings and that fun cotton scarf. And believe me, you’ll NEVER guess where they’re from! You’ll find out in my next post, so stay tuned!
Sometimes you find a great new thing but it seems like nobody else is in on the joke with you. I feel this way about Department of Eagles, whom have appeared on KCRW and just had a show at MOMA in NYC to premiere their new video, and yet it seems that no one I know has ever heard of them, and they’re phenomenal. It’s trippy folk music and it deserves a good listen, as well as a good watch. Check out their video for “No One Does It Like You,” directed by Patrick Daughters and Marcel Dzama. It’s eerie and incredible.
What’s also great about Department of Eagles is that though they are rising to success with their newest album “In Ear Park,” it’s not their first record. “The Cold Nose” was released in 2005 and, while sample-heavy, also features a few great folky songs like are on their newer record. Check out my favorite track, “Romo-Goth.”
There’s nothing so exciting as finding something new and great to listen to, especially when it feel like it’s “yours.”
My kitchen is probably where I spend the most of my time. It’s also probably the least likely part of my apartment to be CLEAN at any given point. Both me and my roommate HATE washing dishes and that George Foreman thing always seems like such a hassle to clean at the end of the day.
There’s not much that I can do about the cabinetry, the range, or the refrigerator, but the granite counter tops sure are nice for what we’re paying, so I don’t mind the rest of it. Instead I’ve taken it as an opportunity to ignore the gentrification of the building and give the kitchen my own quirky touches.
Everything is from Urban Outfitters, which I suppose is a little cliche and I’m sure everyone is noticing a pattern there, but I never pay full price for anything there if I can help it, so really all this stuff has great, fun style and was a total steal. The tray and fruit basket were $2 each, as were the doily potholders and the knife-themed tea towels seen in the first photo. Oh, we’ve since removed that little spice rack after realizing it’s an eyesore and we don’t really use it.
What you’re missing in the shot is a great canvas print on the wall that I also picked up from Urban Outfitters years ago on sale for $20 and on top of the fridge the perfect little wine rack that I finally ended up finding at Target from their line with Umbra, also for $20.
Also, I should apologize for my absence. I spilled a soda into my computer a few weeks ago, and as soon as I managed to get it working again, our internet connection started malfunctioning, prompting a visit from the cable guy a full week later. I should be back in full swing now, though.
I really do love my apartment. So if you didn’t get enough of a hint of that from the last post, now I’m going to show off my dining room.
My dining room is simple, sterile, clean. The chairs once again are from Modernica. We opted against bikini pads, but they’re beginning to grow on me in all their awkwardness. These were, again, a warehouse sale find. The table is the Melltorp from IKEA. We opted for the smaller table, because the dining room is only about 5 feet deep, and it didn’t hurt that this table was only $69.99. It’s versatile and if it gets beaten up from doing any projects, it can be easily replaced. But really, it pulls the room together.
The wall shaves are classic LACK shelves, also from IKEA. My roommate had them left over from her old apartment, and they fit my vision perfectly. The shelves are stacked full of milkglass vases from thrift stores, etsy, and garage sales. There’s a couple of Smart Candles from the MOMA Store as well. The salt and pepper shakers are vintage Napcoware from etsy. The place settings are these amazing plastic doily sort of things from Urban Outfitters– they were on sale for only $1.99 a piece. I picked up two more for in case I ever have company.
This was the one moment in which I was sad that our landlord painted the walls beige instead of just plain white! I guess the paint offsets the starkness of the decor. Check out that base molding, though. We’re so spoiled in this apartment.
To the left of the dining room table, out of the frame, is my ever mounting pile of bottles and cans to be recycled. Cropped for obvious reasons. I was going to make a big show of also some photos from my kitchen, but I’ve already rambled on quite a bit, so I’ll save that for the next post.
This my favorite part of my little casita. It’s just a two-and-a-half foot wall in my bedroom between my bedroom door and my closet, but I’ve made it mine.
OK, well it hasn’t had very much use yet. Usually the chair is only used if I have a third guest over for dinner and I need an extra in the dining room (we only have two). But this Eames fiberglass shell chair from Modernica is my baby– I prefer the look and feel of these unauthorized chairs versus the licensed reproductions by Design Within Reach. I wanted an H-base, but had to settle for this Eiffel Tower base because I got the chair from the Modernica warehouse sale. I am trying to get back into reading and I’m looking forward to making this my reading chair.
The throw is from Target, and even though it’s the same color as the chair, it’s just so soft that I don’t even care. The rug is from Urban Outfitters, and with a coupon I found it was only $10. The best part is that it perfectly matches my DwellStudio for Target duvet cover, which you can see a little peek of in the mirror– down to the color of the trim!
On the wall behind my chair is a pair of gold antlers, also from Urban Outffiters. I bought it on sale and the gold version is no longer available. I think it’s intended as a coat hanger, but I’m using it to hold all of my necklaces. To the right and above that is a silhouette of me and my (ex) boyfriend from Disneyland. I’m hoping to make it just a solo silhouette as soon as I’ve got a little extra time. They’re very affordable to have done (I think $8), and even the frame is from Main Street USA. This is the kind of souvenir you can pick up from Disneyland that ISN’T tacky! Finally, on the lower right is my beautiful vintage metal wall shelf. I picked it up for $38 from an antique mall in Old Towne Orange and thought I was being so clever by beating the trend and using latticework iron in my home design (I have a matching bedside table that I will show in another update). But lo and behold, not a month later, Urban Outfitters came out with their own version of my classic design. I’m trying not to be too bitter, because I try not to buy into Urban Outffiters trends if I can help it. Their reproductions of classic Mid-Century designs sometimes come across as pandering– their benches will never be Nelson benches, their sofas will never be Case Study Beds. Either way, their versions are cheap and sometimes a reproduction will have to do for our twenties– we’ll buy the originals when we’re in our thirties. I’m trying to fill my little shelf with various trinkets– for now there’s a Virgin Mary porcelain statuette that I picked up at a local thrift store (there was a matching one, but I passed on it), some candles from Pier 1, and various little bug things including a big matchbox from Anthropologie. I love bugs (in theory).
Well there you have it. A little slice of my little apartment in Eastside Costa Mesa. I’ll show little bits here and there in the future. I’m very proud of my little space and I see no reason not to show it off.
It’s really happening.
We have a new president. Here’s to America’s chance for a new beginning. Our nation has come such a long way to make today possible. I’m really at a loss for words. This is such an historical moment. Even if he did flub up the oath a little bit.
It’s official! DESIGN-BEE.NET is live! I’ve been working on this web site for a lot longer than I should have had to, but I think the effort paid off. There’s nothing like putting something together and then deciding you already want to completely re-design it from the ground up! C’est la vie! I’m a perfectionist, I can’t help it.
Please, have a look around at DESIGN-BEE.NET. I have a web portfolio, a digital resume, some links, and other fun stuff.
Christmas came and went without much hooplah. I got a few things, some that I wanted, some that I’ll stand in long return lines with, but really Christmas is a season to me, and it’s not a day, and I don’t really care about presents any more. It’s stressful, spending time with family, and while I’d rather not see most of them at all, I know that it’s necessary, even if it’s not always pleasant. I was going to post photos of my home decorations, but there’s really not much to be said– a couple strings of lights on the patio and a little 3′ aluminum Christmas tree with a sort of blue and green analogous color palette. If I have a moment, maybe I still will. Nothing like a Christmas tree that’s a little out of season.
In the meantime, I’ve been planning for the next big holiday which is, of course, New Year’s Eve. I’m 22 now and it seems that now that I’m grown and have my own place, what better way to celebrate than at home– avoid the crowds at bars and the checkpoints on the streets and enjoy Dick Clark(and Ryan Seacrest)’s Rockin’ Eve from the comfort of my living room.
I’m throwing a little get-together and I designed my own e-invitation. It’s nothing much but since it’s the first thing I’ve really done in a few months I figured it was worth posting. See everyone after the New Year! Have a safe and pleasant ringing in, and enjoy the beginning of 2009!
Let’s face the sad facts– I’m not in college anymore. But just because I’m a working lady doesn’t mean I don’t still love the kind of great independent music that college students listen to. It’s just that my main artery of having access to the new stuff has been cut off– leaving me to the lukewarm versions sold on MTV2 and local bands (which are undeniably great, but I want more!). Urban Outfitters is making it a little easier for me to stay hip(ish) by creating great packs of music for free. I get a sample of a bunch of great new bands and I get to understand that Architecture in Helsinki joke that the cute hipster guy with a pack of Lucky Strikes and a beard made at the bar last night.
UO has released two of their LSTN packs so far. LSTN #1 contains great tracks by bands like The Black Kids and Dr. Dog, while LSTN #2 has songs by Of Montreal, Peter Bjorn and John, and The Japanese Motors, a GREAT local band from here in Costa Mesa, California. Each pack contains 21 songs, all completely free of charge, and best of all for an anal nerd like me, when you upload them into iTunes, it puts them on the same “album” so that you don’t have 21 songs floating around all over the place, muddling up the stuff you already have. It also makes it easier to listen to them as a group!
Thanks, Urban Outfitters, for making it feel like I can be a cool college student forever.