Escape from Brooklyn: Buck's County, PA

You know what makes my face melt in home-decor happiness? My friend Danny Seo's home in Buck's County, PA. He was kind enough to host my girl Sonal and me for a little visit over the long weekend, and I think I spent 50% of my time with my camera around my neck, exploring every nook and cranny of his magical, thoughtfully designed space (parts of which are featured in his new book Upcycling).

I sort of want to live in his brain. (And also his kitchen. And his workspace. And his living room.)

5 Shops to Bookmark ASAP

1. Made In Design - They've got everything, and everything is cute.

2. Alder & Co. - Sweet Frenchy-like home and style items.

3. Design Delicatessan - Can't read a thing on the site, but the wares look wonderful.

4. The Vitrine - Another shop dedicated to small production and handmade products. (I never get tired of these!)

5. Warby Parker - SO inspired by the mission of this company. For every pair of glasses + lenses they sell (all are just $95 each), they deliver one pair of glasses to someone in need. (Plus, their vintage-inspired frames are super-hot.) Go go go!

Image sources: Artecnica - Themis Quintet Mobile from Design Delicatessan; Felt Key Chains from Alder & Co.; OMHU Canes from The Vitrine

Throw-pillow talk

My apartment and I are don't agree on everything. For example, I believe my apartment should be a three bedroom-three bath plus living room, dining room, and gourmet kitchen with a large outdoor space and a dog. My apartment, however, insists on remaining a small (but chic) studio with a "two-butt" kitchen (my Grannie's description) and a tiny can-fit-maybe-three-people-standing-and-no,-not-a-dog balcony.

The a-p-t and I, however, DO agree on one thing: we need some new pillows up in this joint. Here's some adorableness that we're both currently considering:

Chair pillows, $45, by studioooij (could you just DIE?)

Linen pillow with ink blot design, $98, Uniform Natural (more happy death!)(P.S. This is the front-runner)

KALAIDASPOKE Linen Cushion Cover, $50, bestillshop at etsyScholten & Baijings - Dark Pink, $256, shop.gessato.com

Oval Geo Print Pillow (cover), $30, carlossantiago at etsy

Blah Blah cushion, £55.50, Donna Wilson

Images linked to their sources

How PowerPoint made my home pretty

If I could have the pleasure of drafting a memo to the men and women who designed and built my apartment, I would say this: "Nice job on the flooring. Appreciate the spacious-ish bathroom. Enjoying the nook next to the closet. But for the love of all things holy, why oh why would you ever place the phone for the front desk almost smack-dab in the middle of a nicely sized wall that is just asking--ney, PLEADING--to be adorned with with beautiful pieces of art?"

This issue has plagued me for several years. And to be honest, I've just let it sit there and mock me, naked and white--unused, underutilized, and boring the heck out of me. So recently, when 20x200.com (one of my favorite art sites) had a sale, I decided to stick it to my big white wall (er, literally AND figuratively).

I purchased three pieces that I thought would go together nicely as a color series: "Squeeze" by Gary Petersen, "Curvilinear Time" by Jessica Snow, and "Shill" by David Corbett (as you may recall, I gushed over David Corbett in an earlier post). [Sidenote: At one point, I thought it would be funny to do a series on telephones. But then, I realized that I just didn't want to own several art prints of random phones. So that was out, and color was in. And color always wins.]

True my somewhat OCD-ness, I then got to work trying to decide how to hang those suckers around the annoying phone. And how did I do that? Digital photography + PowerPoint.



The above are some shots of my computer screen. I took photos of my white wall as well as individual shots of the framed pieces of art. I then inserted all the photos into PowerPoint slides, making the wall photo large and in the background, and re-sizing the framed art to how they'd fit on that wall in real life. And then I just played around.

I came up with several different ways to hang the pictures together as a series, and I am so glad I did. I originally thought I'd just hang them side by side in a long, horizontal line, with the phone acting as part of the series. But playing around with the photos on my computer showed me a better solution. Here's the final result:

I picked this option in the end because it's interesting, a little unexpected, a bit off-center, and, if you could see my whole studio, it helps reinforce where the kitchen ends and the living room begins (always nice in a small space). I also like how it looks like it's trying to sneak a peek around the corner at the bookshelves.

What do you think? And how would you have dealt with the giant white wall?