Badass Home Tour - Lauren of Studio Sven

Last week, I was talking about how much I love a black statement wall in the bedroom. This week check out this killer dark wall in the dining room! I love the feel of this room - cozy, glamorous, vintage, modern and interesting. Lauren from Studio Sven was featured on Apartment Therapy for her beautiful home that mixes antique and modern items. I was blown away with the style mix in every room and had to share. There are even some IKEA pieces in the mix that I challenge you to find, because she does an amazing job of using the method usually used in fashion of mixing inexpensive and expensive things to pull of a high end look.

Shop Statement Chandeliers

Image source + product info at Apartment Therapy.

Shoes on Shoes on Shoes - Creating Your Dream Closet

If you had asked me which celebrity closest I would want, I would not have guessed Ashley Tisdale's. And while that still holds true from what's in the closet (Olivia Palermo's please), I am definitely coveting her amazing set up and space. I mean check out that shoe wall!

InStyle

Designer, Lynn Nigro's, Parisian styled closet would have been a better guess, but any chance of me picking her out of the crowd would be slim. More envious shoe racks and this time glamorous see-through drawers.

Being that it's Hump Day, which on Decor-Eat means it's the day of the week dedicated to home makeovers (as if I don't dedicate every other day of the week to dreaming about decorating my apartment), this Hump Day Home Makeover, I'm planning a weekend project for CT and I. It's one of the few we will have in town for the next month (phew - travel posts are in our future), so of course I'm already in overdrive planning which home decor projects to tackle. I have planted the bug that a trip to the Container Store is needed, and have been accidentally and as it turns out strategically leaving my shoes in the kitchen or in a messy pile in my room catching CT's type A personality's attention. Ultimately making him the perfect partner in crime for the weekend project. I want and need a shoe rack, and need more shelving for folded clothes and purses.

The Coveteur

Here are some pieces I think help make the perfect organized dream closet.

IKEA Hack Gold Etagere

Happy Hump Day Everyone! In honor of hump day, I'm sharing my latest DIY project. It's one of my favorite kinds, an IKEA hack.

Every now and then a piece of IKEA furniture really blows up among the DIY community. Last it was the RAST dresser, and now the VITTSJO series. The series offers a lot of great pieces to redo from coffee tables to shelving units. I picked the single shelf to redo for our living room since it's the perfect size for the wall next to the couch.

This do-it-yourself project is really simple, and just requires some time and patience. 

Here's what you'll need:

Cost around $25

And the VITTSJO shelf from IKEA 

Cost - $40

The first step is to prime all of the pieces.

Next, spray each piece with the metallic gold spray from every angle and allow to dry. I did about 2 coats with just the one can. I used a painter's mat and wore a face mask to make sure I didn't get any spray paint on the ground and didn't inhale the fumes. You can also wear protective eye wear.

 Once dry, you will need to assemble the piece following the instructions and spray the heads of the black screws that show. Once all pieces are gold, spray all of them with the shellac finish, and let dry.

Here's the color and texture up close.

That's it! The hardest part for me was really just finding the time between a new job and new home to get outside and spray the pieces through all the steps. I love the end product and it fits perfectly in our new space. I decorated the shelves with items we already had and a few birthday presents (see pig and hostess book). I love the look of this kind of shelf with a lot of magazines or books, so I'll be collecting those of the next few months to add to it.

In other news, our building took the sign down from our window and we now have an amazing view of the city!

Peacock Chairs - Hump Day Home Makeover

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Well if I wasn't already sure that bohemian chic is my preferred style of home decor, my new obsession with peacock chairs confirmed it. I love that they bring intrigue and juxtaposition to make any room interesting and unique. As with any new piece of home décor I find on my wish list, I love to look into how the item came about. What era it's from, what country it's from.

As you might have guessed the peacock chair has a long history dating back to the age-old craft of basket weaving with wicker and rattan. It gained its popularity in the US and England during the Victoria Era in the 19^th century coming from East Asia. In the 1960s and 70s, wicker made its way back into the spotlight as exotic and ostentatious peacock chairs hosting some of the entertainment industry's leading ladies in its lap. 

Brigitte Bardo

Stevie Nicks + Christine McVie

For today's Hump Day Home Makeover, I'm sharing how I would style this chair in a room to get a vintage rustic glam look.

 TWO | SIX

{ History Source }

Hump Day Home Makeover - DIY Faux Malachite

Well it's not quite technically still Hump Day Home Makeover (thanks to the slowness of my WiFi), but I'm gonna run with it...While most people watched and tweeted about how boring the Superbowl was the other weekend …I tackled a new DIY project. 

As I’ve said before DIYing in the city can really be exhausting. Hopping from the East Village to Midtown to LES and back over to Flatiron to pick up supplies, and makeshift supplies at that. In a city that has everything, the lack of craft stores really says it all. New Yorkers don’t craft. I mean after endless marathons of Friends and SATC was anyone every crafting??  Turns out the consistent snow storms have brought the DIYer in me back out. And what better way to easily get my DIY fix than to makeover an existing piece of furniture, my kitchen table. 

I read around different blogs for tips on how to tackle this technique and picked out my supplies - a hand sander, Benjamin Moore Advance paint in an aqua color (Misty Green), polycrylic protective finish in clear, teal, green and black acrylic paints, paint jars, a medium sized brush and two different sizes of fan brushes. First things first, I cleaned the table, lightly sanded it and applied the misty green paint. I let it dry for a few hours and applied 2 coats.

Once it was dry, I mixed a dark green color by combining the green, black and polycrylic together, and another for the teal + polycrylic. To create the malachite look, I alternated between both colors and different sizes of the fan brush creating swiggly circles in loops. It actually was harder for me to get a handle on the technique than I thought, but I think the best piece of advice was to keep your wrist lose and the paint wet so you can adjust swiggles and colors as needed. I started on one side of the table going from top to bottom.

The fan brushes with the dark green and teal colors made a nice pattern over the misty green letting it show through in the design. This really gave the design depth making it look more like the real deal.

In the end, I really love the table and the idea of making it more of a desk and recipe browsing station in the kitchen. 

Faux Lucite Chair // Moroccan Pillow // Artwork

Hump Day Home Makeover - Kilim Rugs

First, I’m talking about ditching shampoo, and now these super bohemian rugs… maybe CT is warranted for calling me a hippie... This past weekend, the kilim rugs really caught my eye with their bold colors and patterns at the Brooklyn Flea Market. So much so, that I am still thinking about them 3 days later. 

When a piece of home décor is so bold I sometimes worry that I will get sick of it or that it will dictate a certain style that I will also get sick of. With today being hump day home makeover, I did some digging for some kilim rug inspiration, and think I’m even more obsessed with these rugs than before. And convinced that I have to have one. These rugs definitely make a statement and scream culture, class and spirit to me, but are also surprisingly versatile. My favorite combination is a orangey pink pattern with some dark accents in the print against a dark wood floor. The mix of colors lets the rug pop without overdoing the space. 

sources from left to right 

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7

SHOP KILIM RUGS

Canopy Beds / Hump Day Home Makeover

My parents have this fantastic hand carved cherrywood canopy bed. Despite loving to swing around the bed posts or jump on the bed as a kid I never really gave canopy beds a second thought. But they must have been all the rage in the 80s/early 90s, because now that I think about it my sister had one too...

With the size of my bedroom, a canopy bed is only something I can dream about having. But until then, I'll lust over their dreamy appearance that really makes me want to rejuvenate and hunker down in bed.

image sources

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Hump Day Home Makeover / Conquering Clutter

I have really been envying organized bathroom cabinets. A weird thing to envy, right? 

Ok, but hear me out.

When my college friends stayed with me the other weekend, they laughed at having to sit diagonally on my toilet to avoid the 10" inch shelves in front of it. So yep, having the space for a bathroom for a cabinet would be amazing! If you get the right pieces you can really mask clutter and necessities for a chic look. 

For today's Hump Day Home Makeover, I've picked out the top 7 things I'd buy to conquer clutter in a bathroom. Fill the shelf with your pretty perfume and hairspray bottles - they can double as necessities and decor.

1. Blue Mason Jars - Cost Plus World Market  | 2. Vintage Rattan Basket - eBay

3. HEMNES Cabinet - IKEA  |  4. Trish McEvoy Makeup Brushes (Brush Pack)

5. Black Polished Pebbles  |  6. Hobnob Tumbler - Anthropologie

7. Rolled Towels  | 8. CB2 Wire Basket (similar)

Inspiration:

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Hump Day Home Makeover / Lindsay Souza Of The Pursuit Of Style

I had to share Lindsay Souza from The Pursuit of Style's home featured on Glitter Guide for today's Hump Day Home Makeover. I often find pieces or rooms that I want to duplicate in my own home, but the whole house?! That is rare. Lindsay's style is fun, bright and eclectic mixing unusual patterns and colors to create a fun and spunky space. 

I. am. obsessed. 

Scroll down to get the look, and check back tomorrow. 

Purple and red mix?

Yes, please.

Toile and Ikat = perfect. And I LOVE the cutout on the left.

Throughout the entire house you'll see turquoise accents. From lamps to flower pots.

I also really love her art choices that feel very Matisse influenced.

GET THE LOOK

1. Regeant Octagonal Nutmeg Wall Mirror - Zinc Door

2. Vetro Tortoise Glass Table Lamp - Lamps Plus

3. Quadrille, Kazak Fabric, Orange Pink on Silk

4. Henri Matisse Original Lithograph - Live Auctioneers

5. Flared Top Vase - West Elm

6. Chinese Chippendale Chair in English Liliac - Wisteria

7. Red Lacquer End Table - New York Design Center

8. Framed Toile Print Pillow - Horchow