Guess what!? I am now selling my Instagram coasters on Etsy. They are categorized into different themes and sold in sets of four for $20. They will be a purchase you won’t regret – enhancing any table scape, looking amazing underneath your drink, and lightening up the room in general! Check them out on my Etsy page. This page can also be accessed from the Chatterbox homepage.
If I lived in a bigger apartment, the first thing I would have would be a mini bar. Having one is a great asset for entertaining and when done right, they make for cute decor. My ideal home bar would be feminine (but not too girly), colorful, feature some kind of glass or wood furniture in an unconventional form, and have all the basics. Here some ideas I found on Pinterest.
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I love the idea of decorating an apartment so that the walls are full of pictures and prints. It’s a good way to show personality in a home. Here are some images – a mix of photography and print – that are inspiring me lately, to both decorate my apartment and become more skilled at using my camera so I can print photos myself. Society6, Shoppe by Scoutmob, and Etsy are all websites I love for finding great pieces of art.
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I’m someone who needs to have my nails painted at all times. If I don’t have nail polish on, I feel naked. Luckily, I have a pretty big collection of Essie and O.P.I., so I don’t need to get manicures that often. Despite this, sometimes I get bored of all my nail polish and I need to try something new. Enter nail art. After seeing this picture, via Lo Bosworth’s Instagram, I went on a wild craze and decided that I finally needed to try nail art myself. All afternoon I sat thinking anxiously about the options ahead of me and as soon as I got out of work I sprinted to the closest Duane Reade. Although my true desire was to do something that looked like Emily’s of Cupcakes and Cashmere, pictured below, my spur of the moment decision and lack of funds left me with Sally Hansen Salon Effects. Later I found out that this is what Lo used so I was extra joyous. The pattern I used is called Spring Fever, but I can’t find it on the Sally Hanson website. Sephora has some great patterns as well. Applying the nail stickers was super easy. I just fit them to my nails and filed the rest off so that they fit perfectly. The stickers also didn’t chip for almost a week, but taking them off was rather difficult. Since the stickers are actually made from nail polish I used nail polish removed and about a century later, only a few spots of residue remained. Despite the struggle that it took to remove the stickers, I would definitely use them again when I’m feeling the need to jazz up my day.
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We had lunch from Le Pain Quotidien at work a few months ago and I took the plywood tray that held the desserts back home with me. The wood was a really cheap material but I figured I could turn it into some sort of better looking tray for almost no cost. I primed the tray to help reinforce the wood, and then painted it a light sea foam green that I mixed from my own paint collection. I finished the edges with some gold paint so it looked a bit more polished and then sealed the tray again. It was so easy and I can’t wait to use it for appetizers. Plus, it didn’t cost any money!
My collection of plants has been steadily growing since I purchased a miniature cactus from a random grocery store in the East Village last fall. I now am the proud owner of an African Violet, basil, and a jade. About a week ago I became extremely bored looking at all of the ceramic pots lined up at my desk so I decided to spice things up and paint them. Painting the pots with acrylic paint was quick and easy, but I do not recommend doing what I did with the first two test runs: painting the pots while the plants were in them. It was literally a dirty struggle. I primed each pot with Mod Podge and then whipped up a few colors with acrylic paint mixed with a matte medium. For an even finish the pots required two coats. I wanted to use some of the gold paint I have had for a while so I taped off two triangles on each pot and painted them gold. Once the paint had dried I slowly peeled off the tape, leaving the gold triangles. I recently saw a similar version of gold-leaf pots on Glitter Guide that I might try later in the event that I buy more plants. Pot painting is an inexpensive way to decorate your apartment, or better yet, your cube at work where things can get really drab looking.
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