Greek Key Love

HOT Greek Key pillow from The Well Appointed Home for $300. A complete steal!

I've always loved Greek Key patterns but lately I can't get enough and crave some Greek Key in my apartment. It's a classic pattern that gains a resurgence every now and then. It's also so easy to incorporate into many different styles; traditional and contemporary.

This bed looks SO incredibly comfortable with a super cushioned upholstered headboard, adorable throw pillows, and a soft Greek key pattern on the bedspread. By Eric Cohler.

Eric Cohler LOVES Greek key. The pattern in the marble mantle is just exquisite. I also love the striped wing chair with the nail heads and pop of orange in the pillow and blanket.

In this lovely bedroom by Nate Berkus, he adds more geometric elements with a unique Greek key pattern throw pillow. I love floral pillows but I'm thinking I might get a Greek key pillow for my living room.

Ann Nicholson used a simple Greek key carpet in this amazing outdoor room. Don't miss the little Greek key detail on the coffee table either!

Phillip Gorivan used two Greek keys over the sideboard to add height to the wall.

I love Palmer Weiss's soft pretty preppy interiors. The rug in this living room is bold yet soft and really grounds that lucite coffee table.



OKAY, let's shop!

A strong Greek key patterned shower curtain from Overstock.com for only $24.

If I weren't renting, I'd definitely consider this intense wallpaper for my small bathroom. I love it! If you're not ready for something quite so bold it comes in white and taupe for a more subtle look. From Jonathan Adler for $195/roll.

This hurricane resting on Greek keys that I saw on Mrs Howard Personal Shopper is especially unique.

I've been looking for a new duvet cover and this one is simple but has a pretty blue Greek key detail. From Williams Sonoma Home, the duvet is on sale for $278!


LOVE LOVE LOVE this Greek key business/calling card! From Pixelimpress on Etsy--only $20 for 50 cards!

This small rug with a Greek key border is especially bold and graphic. From Ballard Designs for $55 in a 2 x 3. It's on sale too!

Shades of Light is one of my favorite lighting stores. This simple sconce has a fun Greek key pattern on the back. Love it!

Are you all in on my Greek key love? I mean, I know I'm going overboard with the "stuff" but it's so fun! I promise I won't buy all of it. I would really love a Greek key throw or a new duvet cover for my bed. There is so much you can do with it and you can go subtle, like add Greek key trim to your drapery, or go bold and have a Greek key rug. Do any of you have Greek key in your home?

Alicia B.

"I like gluing things to other things."

REALLY? This is a from an article in the NY Times, "A Las Vegas Mansion, Glue-Gunned to Perfection". Playing it fast and loose with the word "perfection" aren't we? The Hartland Mansion, originally two houses, were combined to create the largest mansion in Las Vegas in the 1970's. Larry Hart, armed with a glue gun, took it upon himself to redesign it. Las Vegas is over the top times 10 and as you can probably tell already, DIY'ed to the max. Everything is glued together! The "bones" of the house are spectacular, but let's take a little tour through, shall we?

I love the floor and the architectural mouldings around the door and ceiling. The drapery gathered ceiling is RIDICULOUS, but it's Las Vegas, so it needs to be over the top.

A small indoor pool!

Call me crazy but I'm SERIOUSLY petrified by this room. There are way too many nutcrackers in here. I love collections, don't' get me wrong, but if I walked into this room, I'd stop and slowly back out of it.

One of the 13 bathrooms in the home, this one is heart themed...get it? Heart? Hart? Okay, you get it.

Much of the house is said to be inspired by Versailles. This is the master bedroom. I can barely look at the swans much less the wall to wall pink carpeting but let's get a better look at this bed...

This bedspread apparently weighs 34lbs, ornamented with pearls. Woah, on second thought, let's get out of here.

Did Larry Hart put the mirrors on this piano? You bet he did! He glued each and every one on there. Apparently he started this at an early age, gluing pearls onto his mothers high heels and eventually designed shoes for Ginger Rogers and Dolly Parton. Wow.

This is called the "Velvet Room". Can you guess what is velvet and what is glue?

Okay, I know I'm being snide but this is so over the top! You really must read the article, this family's story is both funny and tragic. The Harts are from Texas and just like most Texans they seem larger than life. They own a house with 13 bathrooms but love to shop at bargain stores! Have a great weekend and please don't get inspired and glue pearls to your bedspreads!



Alicia B.

Friday Faves

Cheval from my newest photos. www.aliciabdesigns.com

How about this snow, huh? People have been complaining about all the snow, but it's February! It's prettier than rain! I can't wait to take some pictures of this on my way to work. Anyway, it's Friday so let's have a little fun...

I saw this designer, Kendall Wilkinson, in the latest Decorati newsletter. I loved this bright blue wall with a tree painted behind it sort of like a headboard.

This is such a classic traditional scene with the antique chair and the gallery wall with ornate frames but Jonathan Adler makes it really fun with the oversized floor lamp and bold geometric rug.

I've been going over this whole house from Traditional Home by Ruthie Sommers over and over. It's colorful and light and these fabrics are so gorgeous. I love the rusty red zebra on those twisted back chairs.

I really must say that as I look out my window (into an icky courtyard of fire escapes) this snow is really just gorgeous. You might even go as far as to say MAGICAL. Might this snow thwart my plans of going to the flea market? Possibly. Not to worry though, I may just stay in over the weekend and sew pillows. It's every girls' dream. What are your plans for the weekend? Have a wonderful, magical, and snow embracing weekend!


Alicia B.

Dresser Top Organization

Like I said on Monday, Spring is just around the corner and do you know what that means? Spring cleaning! If you're like me though, you love doing spring cleaning all year round, so it's okay at any season. My main source of cleaning angst is the top of my dresser, where I keep nearly EVERYTHING that has to do with make up, hair accessories, or jewelry. I keep it contained (sort of) but it's gotten out of control and something had to be done about it.

This is pretty much rock bottom. ROCK BOTTOM.

Too much is happening here.

The first step is taking EVERYTHING off the dresser and deciding what needs to be on top of the dresser and what doesn't. And also what needs to be thrown out. Putting things into categories helps to prioritize.

Here it is all cleaned off and Lysol'ed. A clean slate!

Phew! This is MUCH more organized looking.

Things are much more contained now. I took my old tray (my new one takes priority on the coffee table) and put my bangles, headbands and bead necklaces inside the tray because they are not easily contained with out it.

I bought that cute Florentine tray at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market and now all of my hair accessories live there.

I constantly have a twistie around my wrist JUST in case. Aren't these colors cheery?

I bought these 3 glasses and 3 Spanish plates at Housing Works the other day. I didn't end up using the Spanish ones but the glasses came in handy.

This one hold my lipsticks.

All my (faux) pearls in one place!

Here are my bangles sitting atop some Farrow and Ball wallpaper sitting inside a wooden tray!

These buttons were stuffed inside a tiny coin purse that was bursting at the seams. Now they are sitting in the open in a silver awards cup that I won last year. It leaves room to collect more buttons, too.

Headbands! I love the colors of my headbands and wanted to leave them on my dresser.

Here is another glass with dangly earrings hanging from it and some necklaces inside.

This was certainly a tough project to take on, but I'm glad I did it. It's well organized now. Everything has a place and most importantly, I've left room for things to change and for things to be added. It also helped to prioritize. Do I need an empty prescription bottle hanging around? Nope. Do I need my lip glosses front and center? Yup! What do you think of my new dresser top?


Alicia B.

DIY Tray for Spring

I have many many projects around my apartment and the weekends are a great time to get them done. I found this great wooden box (below) at a thrift store for ONE DOLLAR. Obviously when I saw it, I had big plans for it.

This is the box I got, except without the yuppie wooden toy fruit.

I wanted something fun and bright because Spring is coming! I can feel it, I don't care what that little varmint says about his shadow.

I got this pink called "Heart to Heart" at the hardware store for $3.99. Perfect.

I painted the whole thing even though I knew that I was going to put fabric down on the bottom. I gave it two coats.

I got this fabric about 2 years ago at Mood and I've been wanting to use it FOREVER. I thought that it would really make the pink pop. I cut it to fit the little wooden tray and....

Voila! I took a little spray adhesive and did a light layer before laying the fabric down in the bottom of the tray.

I replaced the other wooden tray I have with this fun poppy little one on my coffee table. I'll probably change the display on the inside but we'll see. That's what is fun about a little tray like this: It cost me about 5-6 dollars in the end and if I don't like it after a few months, I can a) carefully repaint it or b) switch it out and bring it back another time. For now I really love it though, it's brightening up my living room and making me think of Spring.

Have a Happy Monday!


Alicia B.

Friday Faves

Wow, I love four day weeks. I think that's how weeks are supposed to be. Four days of work and then three days of weekend--perfect. Anyway, though it's been very very cold and we're bundled up here in New York as much as we can be, I can feel spring is coming right around the corner. I'm sure I'll be saying that for another month and a half but, who cares?! It's something to look forward to, yes?

Sometimes you have an amazing architectural feature and all you need to do is paint it gold. This little niche is so simple and breathtaking. I found this designer from a wall street Journal article about design: Three Best Ways to Follow Trends, Not Fads. This interior by the extremely talented Tracy Morris.

Last night while I was watching Lindsey Vonn (LOVE) and the Olympics, I was flipping through my Axel Vervoordt book. I was blown away by this bathroom. The architectural detailing, the intricate woodworking, the colors, and the lighting are so unique. You don't see interiors like this every day.

Remember when I said that Spring is coming? I'm right, right? I love this cute jersey dress from Boden for $128

It's good to look forward to something, right? For me this weekend I'm looking forward to the possibility of seeing my sister who is back in my time zone playing squash! Hopefully I'll be able to take the train to see her, and see her win. Design-wise, I'm doing a slow (very slow) decluttering in my apartment; kind of like spring cleaning! What are you all up to? Anything design?

PS-This is my 403rd post! Can you believe that? I can't.


Alicia B.