Shop Local Montclair

I'm often bragging to my friends and family about how wonderful my neighborhood is (which in case you did not already know, is Montclair, NJ) and attempting to convince them all to move here. Within walking distance from my front steps are great restaurants, grocery stores, fitness facilities, the library, an art museum, and a bunch of great independent retailers. Stores include home decor shops like semplice and Color Story Home (both of which I love), my favorite children's clothing store Minnow and hands down my favorite adult clothing store Cisco Station (which always has a great collection of Orla Kiely bags, dangerous), as well as many antique and vintage shops, knitting shops, shoe stores, wine shops, paperies, the list goes on and on.

It's sad to say that my lovely and diverse neighborhood could be in danger because of the horribly scary economic climate in which we are living. Independent retailers get hit harder and faster than the big box and chain stores and those big boys are even getting hit hard. Stores like Linens 'n Things and Circut City are going out of business and everyday I am bombarded with emails offering me at least 20% off from this retailer or that. What can you do to halt the process of more and more empty store fronts popping up around town? Encourage people to support their local retailers and shop locally this holiday season. Kelly DelRosso (co-owner of semplice) has come up with a creative way to do just that.

With the cooperation of neighboring shops she has founded ShopLocalMontclair. Kelly explains that "After almost 11 years of business, we have never had a Pre-Holiday Sale. But, after a walk through the mall and the daily barrage of emails from chain stores, it seemed evident that our customers will expect local sales as well." She, as well as neighboring shops, recognized that there is strength in numbers and that it would be more beneficial to put competition aside and work together. This is what led to the creation of ShopLocalMontclair, a place where almost 30 shops are advertising pre-holiday sales that will change on a weekly basis. Along with stores there are local restaurants that are offering discounts or a free gift if you show them a receipt from one of the participating shops.

If you live in the area take some time to look around the site, I'm sure you will find some sweet deals and the added benefit of being able to cross some loved ones off of your holiday shopping list without having to set foot in a mall. If you live in northern New Jersey you know the malls around here are god awful this time of year. And for those of you who may be reading this and don't live in the area think about your own local retailers and how they could use your support during these difficult times.

As soon as I found out about this campaign I knew my weekend plans were set. I can't wait to spend the afternoon strolling around my lovely neighborhood with a few girlfriends, getting a jump start on my holiday shopping, and having a yummy lunch (or perhaps brunch) at Raymond's. Especially since, as the website says "shopping locally...is one of the energy efficient, heart-warming, self-sustaining contributions you can make to your community."

Here are some links articles about the Shop Local Montclair campaign:
Baristanet - November 19, 2008
Montclair Times - November 20, 2008
Montclair Kids - November 20, 2008
ShopLocalMontclair - Press Release

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Ebay Finds

I've been searching around ebay again (what else is new) and stumbling upon a bunch of great stuff that I can't justify buying. So instead I'll share my finds with you.

How great is this perpetual calendar and clock combo? It would brighten up and office or entry way. I'm actually thinking about how this can be turned into a DIY project. If I work it all out you know I'll be sharing it with you here.

Danish Modern Home Office Wall Calendar Clock

Next up is this fabulously tufted Hollywood Regency bench. How'd you like to sit on this to put you're shoes on every morning? You can't tell from this photo but the legs on this bench are also pretty fabulous.

Hollywood Regency Vintage Bench

I saved the best for last. This amazing danish sectional. I'm dieing for this sofa to be in my living room tomorrow. Normally I'm not a big fan of loose back cushions on a sofa but these look so neat that I could definitely love with them. Problem with this piece is that it will definitely need to be reupholstered. The close up shot shows that the fabric is pretty worn and stained. Since it's already $1,200 I can't really afford the investment of having it reupholstered.

Classic Med Century Modern Sofa Daybed

Since it's Friday, I suggest you also kill the afternoon searching for great ebay finds. Please share anything fabulous you find!

New Furniture!

Check out our first real furniture purchase for the condo:

I have to work on my photography skills and once again please excuse the pile of saws that shows up in the corner of the photo. I feel like I say that a lot here. Anywho, this is the modern storage console from West Elm. I guess some people wouldn't consider West Elm "real" furniture, but for us it was the first substantial piece of furniture we've purchased for our new home. Actually to be totally truthful, we didn't purchase it my mom did. Isn't that a totally excellent birthday present. So for a short review, I'm totally in love with it. Even though I had to assemble it myself it is a really solid piece of furniture. The wood veneer is a gorgeous color and feels like it won't ding very easily.

I'd like a matching pair of lamps for this piece; possibly something gourd shaped. I did find this great pair of lamps on ebay that I'll be watching like a hawk.

Hopefully they don't get to far out of my price range because I think they're just about as close to perfect as I'll be able to find. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

28 Things to Do Before I Turn 29

Right around the days following my 28th birthday I found this post over at The Other Tiffany. She got the idea of making a list of things to do during her 31st year of life from the Simple Lovely blog. I thought it was such a great idea that I must do the same for myself. Making New Years Resolutions is such an arbitrary act but setting goals for yourself to achieve during a year of your life makes sooo much sense. So here's my list of achievements, everyday tasks, goals etc. that I would like to do before I turn 29 (in no particular order):

1. Update this blog at least once a day every weekday


2. Grow, further develop, and market the catering company that I have started with two of my friends


3. Further develop my design skills; take more interior design courses


4. Try a new dessert recipe once a month (this one is tied to #2 since I am the pastry chef for the catering company)


5. Kiss my boyfriend every night before bed, like a real kiss


6. Clean up the outdoor space on the side of my condo building so we have a place to garden, bbq, and hang out with the dog


7. Exercise 3 days a week


8. Bring lunch to work everday (but I'm allowed to forget one day a week)


9. Learn more vegetarian dinner recipes that a meat eater would love


10. Wake up earlier than I do now so that I time to myself in the morning to work on projects or blog


11. Wear a watch everyday (need to get my watch battery replaced)


12. Buy a bunch of those prints that I have stashed in my etsy favorites folder


13. Plan another trip to Greece this summer


14. Learn to speak Greek


15. Wash clothes more often so we don't end up with 6 loads to do at once


16. Have friends over for dinner at least once every two weeks


17. Take the dog for longer than 10 minute walks


18. Paint the living room, finally!


19. Organize all of my blog files, social networking accounts, photos, etc.


20. Develop my html editing skills so I can make my blog all fancy


21. Get my e-design business off the ground


22. Start an etsy shop selling home goods


23. Actually finish one knitting project (I should bring it on the train like I see those other ladies do)


24. Watch less television


25. Organize all of my design magazines and piles of inspirational tear sheets into binders


26. Participate in Community Supported Agriculture by purchasing a share in a local farm


27. Get a Katie Holmes bob


28. Shop for less but better quality clothing and take better care of items I already own

I think this list might be a bit ambitious but guess it can't hurt to set high goals for yourself. I'll definitely keep you updated on my progress.

The Humble Abode

A way, way, way long time ago I told you that my boyfriend and I bought a new condo (our first home) and promised some photos of the place. The time has finally come for me to share my home, it took me about a year to do so. This post will have all of the before photos and in later posts I'll break down our progress room by room. Here's a photo of the living room/dining room area. It's a really nice open space and it's basically what sold us on the place. It must have been that because it certainly wasn't the interesting architecture. Who was the first person to decide that a fake brick chimney was a good idea anyway?

Here's another photo of the living room and dining area. You can see the entrance of the kitchen, the end of the hall is the entrance to the two bedrooms.


And here's the glorious kitchen. It actually was much more horrible that it appears in this photo. Use of space was ridiculously awful and that stupid soffet wasn't even attached to the cabinets. It's all gone now though, we've definitely made the most changes to the kitchen. I'll update you on that soon.

This would be terribly uninteresting bedroom #1. Now it serves as the office/craft room. The surprised looking photo subject is my wonderful boyfriend Nick. I'm sure he'll come up in future posts so you might as well be introduced to him now. Everyone say hello to Nick.

And this is terribly uninteresting bedroom #2 which is our bedroom. The only difference between these two rooms is about a foot in width which is why we choose this room for our bedroom.

And then there's the bane of my existence. The bathroom. Isn't she lovely folks. Normally I'm not a yellow hater but yellow does good awful things to your skin so it's not pleasant trying to do make up in the morning. On top of that, the yellow tiles on the opposite wall are totally different shade of yellow. Then there's the bubble in the wall that is the result of a terrific drywall patch job done before we moved in. I could go on but I'll spare you for now. Maybe one day we'll be able to afford to gut this thing and make it all sparkly and new.

I'll post photos of what the place looks like now next week.

Weekend Accomplishments - Round Two

My second weekend project was inspired by a before and after I saw on Design*Sponge a week or so ago. A blog reader sent in info on a revamped to a rather uninteresting stool from Ikea. The photo below is of course the after. The before was an unfinished pine Ikea stool that had seen better days. The stool was repainted and the steps decoupaged with Japanese paper; for the complete post click on the after photo. Not only do I think the end result of the project is totally sweet, it gave be a great idea for a piece of furniture I had hanging around half finished.

I bought this little chest of drawers from Ikea several months ago with the intentions of having it serve as my landing strip. It's the RAST three drawer chest and was only $39.99. The chest comes unfinished so I though I would paint the outside of it white and the drawer fronts a sunny yellow. As you can see I got as far as painting the exterior white (since we had left over white paint hanging around the house) but never got the yellow paint. I also ordered pretty coral color knobs from Anthropologie. Anthropologie has such a gorgeous assortment of hardware, if you're ever looking to update a piece of furniture that's a great place to start.

Please excuse the horrendous looking door frame and pile of saws next to the chest. We always seem to be in the middle of a project. The door frame has actually been fixed (only took a year) since I took this picture.

So with my Design*Sponge inspiration, I decided instead of painting the drawer fronts I would cover them in fabric. I have this illness that causes me to constantly buy fabric without having an actual project in mind to use it for. Because of this I had several (okay six) yards of assorted Joel Dewberry fabric lying around my studio. The project ended up only taking about 1/2 yard of fabric. Here's the tools I used, nothing fancy or scary.

Off came the drawer fronts and out came my staple gun. I used the little kitchen knife the make the holes for the knobs to go through. I'm pretty impressed with the fact that I got the pattern of the fabric to run level left to right and match relatively well on each drawer. So here's the finished product, what do you think? You can see the wood grain a bit through the fabric but I decided I don't mind. It's actually more prominant in the picture than in real life.

Total cost for the project was about $81 ($40 for the chest, $36 for the knobs, and about $4.50 for the fabric).

Weekend Accomplishments - Round One

I was actually able to scratch a few projects off of the list this weekend. I love the sense of accomplishment you get when you can call a project done. Though most of the things I worked on this weekend can really be called "done, well sort of".

First up, the coffee table project. Originally I had my sights set on the Bradshaw Coffee table from Room and Board, isn't she lovely, but ultimately decided that it was just too pricey from me. Besides, as much as I love it, at 42" it's a bit too large for my space. So, off to ebay to find a vintage mid century piece that would have a similar feeling as the Bradshaw table. After a very tedious ebay search for the perfect table (which I found several times but too many auction end past my bedtime or I would just plain forget to bid on them) I finally found it. Here it is in my living room:

I plan on having a 32" - 36" round glass top made for it but I was too excited to wait for the top to use it so for now it has the rectangular top from my old coffee table. Oh, and I am aware that little area rug looks ridiculous under the table, it is by no means permanent. So now for the actual project. I decided that I wasn't ready to just throw away the old coffee table, I've been working harder to find more creative uses for the things I own. Here's what the coffee table looked like before:

I purchased it at Target several years ago. It's not bad looking though this photo actually makes it look like it is in better shape than it really is. What you can't see is that my wonderful puppy chewed the crap out of one of sides. Plus the "wood" is really soft so it has several bumps and bruises through out the years. My solution to fixing the beat up parts of the table:

Cut them off! Now the table will serve as a bench at the foot of my bed. It still seems a bit wide so I might cut one more section off. Since it is Target "wood" furniture, it was super easy to saw through. The unfinished side will be facing the bed so I'm not even going to bother finishing it. I'd like to make a cushion to go on top and them I can really call this project done.

le souk - Pol's Potten Lamps

Oh happy day, the lovely flower lamps from Pol's Potten are back in stock at le souk and I am about to order two for my console table. Now I just have make up my mind about what size I want; I keep going back and forth between the small and large size. If only there was a medium size then this decision would be so much easier to make. Either way, I'm definitely placing my order today. I would hate to have them sell out again because I'm in a non-committal sort of mood.

I just wanted to take this moment to applaud the great customer service that I have received so far from le souk. Although I have not yet placed an order with the online shop I have had several conversations via email, all of which have been quite pleasant. I contacted the shop for information about the possibility of adapting these lamps for use in the U.S. and receive some great advice. Also, when the lamps were sold out, I sent and email to le souk letting them know I was interested in purchasing them and got an email this morning that they were back in stock. Every time I emailed the shop I receive a prompt (say day) and friendly reply. Paying this much attention to customer service is something that many online retailers do not do but is so important. Because I have found so eay to communicate the the retailer I am looking forward to placing my order and would definitely shop from them in the future.

Makool Loves You

And I love Makool. I just discovered this etsy shop and I am totally smitten. I hadn't initially planned to discuss fashion on this blog but I think it's okay to break the rules a bit especially when you come across something this lovely. The dress below is by far my favorite of the collection, the combination of soft gray and deep plum is gorgeous and so right now. The dress looks so easy the wear but it would be impossible to not look fabulous in it. At $675 its a bit pricey for me, though by no means unreasonable, especially since the dress is made special order by Makool to your measurements. The second dress pictured is also available special order and is about the sweetest thing I've ever seen. I'd love to have it for my annual New Years Eve party, would I be the most fabulous hostess?

Makool also sells items that are not special order and therefore totally affordable. For instance, this Johansen dress is $168, vintage blue glass buttons and all. Not bad for a one of a kind piece. You can feel confident walking down the street that you most likely are not going to spot another person in the same great dress that you're wearing.

It turns out this etsy shop is the second store for the Makool clothing line where you will find some extreme discounts as well as some special order options. You can also shop Makool at store.makoollovesyou.com. Almost forgot to mention the best part of it all, both sites offer free shipping on U.S. orders. Happy shopping, perhaps you can consider it a "Go me, I voted today" gift to yourself.

Like You Could Possibly Forget...

Just in case you did, it's Election Day! I'd love to pretend that I am one of those people that doesn't care who you vote just as long as you get out there and "Rock the Vote" but I'm not. Obama Biden '08!

Photo Credit: Etsy.com