apartment envy, part 1

via design*sponge

via apartment therapy

wicker trunk - yes, please

This is the inspiration photo I'm using (wish it was better quality, but oh well). I think it's from design*sponge or apartment therapy (of course). I think I want to have the creamy white walls of the kitchen cabinets and paint my furniture the green color. My two drawer sets need an update of paint anyway, so I think the green will be nice.
Wish List alert...this wicker truck from target. It's actually pretty affordable! not right now, but maybe eventually...would look so great at the foot of my bed.

Also, before I forget, an archived DIY from design*sponge...i want to make a bunch of these as coasters for outside.

Fabric from Ikea that I love. I bought a bunch of the blue and white stripes (bottom) and want to make my bedroom curtains from them...also make a new awning cover for outside. Project time!

new apartment!

Woah, been awhile since I was here. July was pretty crazy - but, hooray! A new apartment has been found in Brooklyn (Williamsburg). It rocks.

The problem with moving in is that I want to paint/renovate/furnish everything now but that's just a little impossible. This is not helped by the fact that in preparation to move I scoured designsponge/apartment therapy/ikea literally every 20 minutes to get new ideas and decide what kind of style I'm attuned to the most. I have set a fairly strict budget for initial costs to spruce up my bedroom and the patio (hell, yes).

For posterity and I'm putting up before pictures of what it looks like now. Stay tuned foraftershots once I do everything I want; for now, at least...

Before (aka...right now.)

My bedroom, from the doorway. The window looks out to the patio.

Bedroom, from the window.

Patio! This is looking from the top right corner of it, then from by the fence looking into the windows (window on the right is mine). I've got big plans for this!

birch tree walls

now that the move is immienent (where to? who knows.) i can actually seriously start thinking about how i want to decorate my new room. this is awesome. i had already been thinking about a cool grey palatte, but this adds a beautiful new kick. though, i am worried that it might be too cold in the winter.

found this via designsponge - a before and after feature.

Post No Bills, Post Pretty Art

saw this project on the wooster collective blog.  they explain it better than i do (and you can check out the site of the artists collective, AK.AW).  

i'm a big fan of interesting and meaningful street art - art that adds to the environment and betters our urban experience - so i really love this.  the michaelangelo adoption rocks.  (title?  the creation of whatever.  awesome)

pancake & franks

new letterpress design studio i stumbled upon (i think via design*sponge?).  anyway, love the cards, love the name.  pancakes & franks, based out of san francisco.

yella dog press

oh my god.  someone get this for me now.  from the yella dog press, based in little rock AK.

vintage maps (kind of).

i love maps.  i just bought the first manhattan one from kates, and it looks awesome in my apartment.  someday when i have more room i'll get/hang more, for sure.  also, super cheap - only $4.50 each.

egg press

when i'm stressed out at work i usually walk over to the kates paperie on third ave and 74th and touch all the pretty things there.  today i was stressed AND had to pick up a thank you card, so i went over and got an adorable card by egg press.  i checked out their website when i got back to work, and they have lots of pretty things.

blackbird letterpress

excellent idea - printing on a moleskin notebook. note to self. made by blackbird letterpress, based out of Baton Rouge.

april heat.

"And yet this has been just the right kind of warm spell. The warmth seems fragile, easily dispelled by the night. It lacks the ingrown, acrid tang of the heat that feels like August come early, the kind that embeds itself in the asphalt and drifts down the subway steps and piles up in stale corners all across the city. The breeze rises in the late afternoon, and that’s that."

-- April Heat editorial, NY Times

it's a beautiful day

hooray!

via: gothamist

the wizard of oz

it basically took every ounce of restraint for me to not post all of the images from illustrated in full colour throughout 's post on these wizard of oz drawings.  the book they came from "was published as part of Splendour book series in 1958 by the publishers W.H.Allen London."  what a find!  and he only paid £1!  so insanly jealous.  my four-year-old self is so so so excited.

r. nichols

another find at powerHouse Books. these cut paper cards by r. nichols are super sweet and he has a million different designs. i'm partial to the nyc-themed ones (of couse) but there's one for every day, mood, or party.

tall cow

i love these cards from tall cow. they have a ton of hand printed greeting cards which are super cute and pretty simple, design wise. plus, the color palette is gorgeous. i think they're screenprinted, but some of them could easily be linocuts, which makes me think about my own work - they're really in line with the silhouette sytle i like.

i found these cards when i was shopping at powerHouse Books in brooklyn. very cool store.

i think i agree.

via: graphichug

street sign message

this was an image on gothamist a couple months ago; i think it's outside a shop somewhere in manhattan. i like that it's handpainted and a little imperfect, and the message, of course.

desmond and the tutus

anyone that knows me is already sick of me talking about how much i loved my visit to south africa. my wonderful friends there introduced me to desmond and the tutus, a rocky-indie-pop-ish band. they're exactly my style, and i think if we met in real life we'd probably be best friends. i'm also obsessed with their album cover and the posters/flyers they've made recently. i don't know who designs them, but i'm working on finding out!