Friday, January 30, 2009

Thinking outside of the box yeilds outstanding (and cost effective) design solutions!



This picture is evidence that when you refuse to accept the usual run of the mill pieces that all the chain stores sell, you can find something that is unique to your personality and style. The owners of this space searched high and low for a media cabinent they could live with, that would reflect their taste. They spotted this cabinent at a salvage store outside of the boston area. It was originally intednded for a kitchen and was much larger, but they decided to cut it in half and use the top as a console and the bottom as a media cabinent. The result is a very funky one of a kind piece that is hundreds of dollars less than anything you would find at a retail chain! Don't be afraid to look at salvaged pieces and think up upcycling them to a modern use- you are doing good things for the enviornment and your wallet all the while enhancing your unique style!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Movie Review..."The Women"


I normally don't review movies ever, but I had to comment on the movie that I purchased off of pay per view last night. I was looking for "Mama Mia", because everyone says you HAVE To see it, but it's not available yet for some reason. I always wanted to see "The Women" and with the star studded cast, I knew that it had to be a LEAST decent, so I wouldn't be wasting my money.
I love, Meg Ryan, Annette Benning, Bette Midler, Candace Bergen, Deb Mazar, Deborah Messing and Jada Pinkett Smith...so I knew that it couldn't be bad. Eva Menendez is one great actress in this flick as well, and I'm not too familiar with her work, so this was the first movie that I have seen her in (I think).

Mary (Meg's character) is well played as the wealthy/coddled/daughter of a father whom she works for designing caftans for elderly women. Her husband is a successful hedge fund manager, who her best friend, Sylvie(Benning) discovers he is sleeping with the perfume sprizer girl at Sacks (Mendez)by way of the overbearing loose lipped manicurist(Mazar). The plot continues as Mary finds out about her husband's infidelity through the manicurist, is angry with her friends for NOT telling her, they struggle with this for days, gets dubious advice from her mother (Bergen) and on and on...the usual story.

There are several characters in this movie, all strong actresses and the movie could of gone on for hours...the result is that several of the characters are undeveloped and somewhat weak...(pinkett smith's lesbian character doesn't seem to fit too well)and Messing's character is there to show how many children one person can possible have (?), well no, Messings character does reveal during the chaos of giving birth to her 5Th child that she too, was unfaithful to her husband and that he forgave her.

All in all, a cute movie, what I expected and I love, love, Meg and am thrilled to see her back in the movies that she is loved for. I cried during this flick, especially due to the tenderness of the friendship between Benning and Ryan's characters (felt very real to me), and most importantly Mary's finding her talent through a series of setbacks, but then again, I cry at Disney movies!

Love Affair With Red


Don't be afraid to lose the color red in your overall design of ANY room in your house! Red is bold but, if used in small doses if you are just getting used to warming up to using bold colors, is VERY effective and will elevate your mood! Start with one wall in a small room or paint a closet or a bathroom first to see how it effects you. Many surprising colors go very well with red, including deep purples and even turquoise!
Discover what delights you. The picture above shows a red toile chair that we inherited from Nick's parents. At first it dominated any space that it was in, but I learned over the years to mix the color with many others and it worked! The chair is now an icon!

Sadly, Domino Magazine is going away...


I just learned that my favorite design magaizine, Domino, the hip modern three year old shelter mag will fold. So sad. The descison is based on the fact that many of the readers were becoming dissapointed that a lot of their ideas were far fetched and way too expensive for thier demographic. The economy is also being blamed. I liked the mag for it's fresh ideas and laid back attitude. It gave me great ideas, but not anything I could afford to buy either!