Alicia B. Christmas Decorating

This is the sort of thing that I do when I'm not doing homework lately. I'm loving decorating for Christmas with little pine trees scattered about, my advent calendar and my latest addition: this gorgeous little fir tree with a tartan accent! Next stop is hanging the lights.

This is the before shot. This fabric is actually a Lee Jofa fabric sample and the ribbon is a red gros grain that I keep on hand.

And voila! I think it looks perfect on top of my little stack of antique books. I think the plaid adds a very old and cozy feel to my Christmas decorating this year.

If you need more tartan inspiration, check out Eddie Ross's bit on HGTV (one of the rare moments that I was really inspired by HGTV--sorry!!) where he decorated Kathy Lee's home in Greenwich CT, and Claire at High Gloss Blue's tartan tablescape. Both are fabulous!

Alicia B.

Living Room Decluttering Project

As I've mentioned many times before I like to collect stuff: small objects, books, design mags, vases, etc. This is all well and good but I have a minuscule living space so from time to time I have to reassess and make things look a little bit neater. This time, I had to take a look at my open bookshelf that is full of DVDs do something about it. I also have a huge chest full of fabrics in my front hall that is getting quite full so I decided to make a "door" for my open shelf.

I'd been dying to use this gorgeous Matthew Patrick Smyth fabric from Schumacher for something and thought it too neutral for throw pillows but for this purpose, it's perfect because it's subtle. The green is faded enough to coordinate with the green of my bookcase.

I love to iron! I had to iron it, then fold in the edges and make sure they were crisp and perfect before I sewed it into a rectangle to cover the bookcase.

Woo! Late night sewing!

I had to get these little hooks and screw them into the frame of my bookcase in order to hang my fabric panel up.

Next I had to put these little grommets into my fabric. Before you do this on your fabric, take a scrap and practice. You need to make a tiny hole about the size of an eraser tip in the fabric, then put the bottom half of the grommet down, put the fabric hole through it, then put the top of the grommet on that, take a hammer and whale on it. Funny moment: I did all that except I wasn't hitting the hammer hard enough so I had to go back to the hardware store to see what I was doing wrong. I wasn't hitting it hard enough so the burly hardware store guy just told me to "put some muscle into it."

How perfect does that little grommet look? I know. So.......

Here it is! (Don't judge my TV. Clearly I have other priorities.) I may still have stacks of magazines around but at least they're organized (Martha Stewart in one pile, Domino, Blueprint, and House and Garden in another etc). And whats that on the floor?

It's the little Charlie Brown Christmas tree!

I know this doesn't change the fact that I need to edit a wee bit in my living room/my life, but I think it simplifies that area of the room and and pretty fabric so what more do I need right now? Now I'm off to collect glass tiles for my project because I finished the floor plan last night! Modern is still not my preferred style but it sure is fun to see what other materials are out there--I'm learning a lot.


Alicia B.

Dining Table Gossip

This is the dining table that Bunny Williams designed for the Kips Bay Showhouse.

I was so sorry that I couldn't make it to the Holiday House 2009 Showhouse; a tablescape show house on the Upper East Side, but I read a fun article about it in the NY Times. It sounded like a glamorous event to be sure but the main thing that I took from it was a fabulous quote from one of my favorite designers Bunny Williams. In regard to dinner and seating she said, "First off, hosts need to separate husbands and wives. Nobody does that anymore, and I think it’s disgusting. I don’t want to sit next to John (her husband), I want to get in the cab with him later and gossip." Oh Bunny, you are too hilarious! And of course, she's right. Bad form. Anyway, here are some gorgeous dining rooms that you can all gossip about later in the cab.


Here is Bunny Williams's table that was inspired by the Summer Solstice! So gorgeous and I love the colors--they look delicious. If you want to see more pictures, Heather from Habitually Chic was lucky enough to attend the gala and take amazing shots of everything there. Check it out HERE. Also, oddly enough she did a post on dining rooms today too...weird.

A simple X-based table with two benches, this dining room is simple and glamorous with the glass top on the table. By Tom Scheerer.

I normally hate a skirted table (yes, it's not a popular opinion, I know.), but for some reason this one is really working for me over this round table. Maybe it's the cheery yellow fabric in the otherwise muted, soft shaded room. By John Peixinho.

This traditional looking design by Eric Cohler is soft and unstuffy. I think that shade of blue freshens up the room that is fully antiques and plush fabrics.

I'm not sure why all of a sudden I'm drawn to round dining tables, but I am. I especially love the pewter vase full of flowers. Barry Dixon.

Not LOVING the rug there that Barbara Westbrook chose, but how can you not love the shade of grey against the gilt wood frames. Swoon.

Just a little flash of what must be an incredible dining room by Bunny Williams, I'm loving the yellows and that rug is exquisite. Yes, exquisite.

This post really makes me wish that my kitchen table didn't function as a dining table, craft table, drafting table, and counter top. It would be amazing to be able to throw a dinner party in a formal dining room but for now, I can blog. These are sure inspiration enough and now I must get back to my drafting table which is covered in fabric swatches right now! You can gossip in comments, thanks.

Alicia B.

My Charlie Brown Christmas Trees

It even snowed, making my weekend even more amazing!

In my fantastic weekend in Philly/Chestnut Hill, PA, my friend and I toured a few houses that were decorated for "The Holidays". Some were inspiring, and some were disastrous. I don't have much room in my apartment and not a lot of time either so I have started with a few mini mini trees. They are branches that are stuck into a cut off stump from a tree that sold. They are like the ultimate Charlie Brown Christmas trees, and I got three of them!

These little guys will be displayed on my chest in the front hall area. They are the left overs from the Christmas trees and are all alone and sad! I had to pick up a few! I put a little red gros grain around that one above. I'm going to get some mistletoe, and another mini tree for the living room. No fake trees here because I love the smell of pine. This is only the beginning and I'm certainly feeling excited for the Christmas season. I just need to stop getting distracted with decorating and figure out gifts for everyone....OOPS. What do you guys think?

Alicia B.

Friday Faves

Woo! It's Friday! This was a great week with Thanksgiving leftovers, the charm of the Holidays approaching, and business at work and in school. I'm slowly having my design soul crushed by the fact that I have to include a circular bed in the master bedroom of my latest project for school SO I'm going to need some Friday Faves inspiration!

I adore this simple Swedish style Christmas decoration by Edie Van Breems. She owns her own antiques shop in CT, and I'd love visit it sometime soon. This is from the latest Country Living.

I saw these precious ballet flats in the window at Bloomingdales and thought, I wonder how many times I've done that to shoes, sweaters, etc with a real bow from a present. These are simply adorable and by Kate Spade.

This is another store I'd love to visit, Branca, in Chicago. Alessandra Branca has incredible style and I'd really love her new book for Christmas. HINT.

Despite the fact that I have lots of work to do, I'm off to Philly/The Main Line tomorrow to visit my friends and their new baby! I can't wait to meet her! We are going on a tour of a few houses that are specially decorated for the Holidays--I'll take tons of pictures for you guys. Have a wonderful Friday and an even better weekend!


Alicia B.

Snow!

I just heard word from my girls (my sisters) that it's snowing in Chicago! CONGRATULATIONS! It's 60 degrees here in NYC and I could not be more jealous of them. Send some snow our way, we're ready for it. Isn't this little Snow House from the new Anthropologie catalog dreamy? From HERE.

In other news, my project for school is taking over life again and my professor now wants me to use a circular bed in the master bedroom because I mentioned curves as an architectural element. As you can imagine, I'm not happy with that idea, but I'm doing research to make it less "70's bachelor pad." Wish me luck!


In other other news, I made a successful sale from my photography show in Farmington, CT at the Millrace Bookstore! What did I sell, you ask? The photo above, Red Shadow.


Alicia B.