High Gloss Magazine

High Gloss Magazine

This year as part of my budget I have cut out a few of my many magazine subscriptions in order to save money. Fortunately free online style magazines are popping up all over the place. The newest one, High Gloss, is a must read. Founded by blogger Paloma Contreras of the blog La Dolce Vita, High Gloss is a monthly collection of fashion, interiors, travel and all things stylish. The highlight of this issue was the amazing dining room by David Jimenez inspired by the days of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack. My favorite part is how he divided the area into two sections with the use of a folding screen to create a cocktail and dining area, and come on how fabulous is that rug?

Home Envy- Anthropologie Sao Palo Bookends





Anthropologie Sao Palo Bookends

Pink has become the new it color for style this year. First it was honeysuckle when it became the Pantone color of the year and sprang up all over the spring runways. Now it has moved into the decor world in light and dusty shades seen in everything from paint to bookends. While an entire room painted even the faintest of pink is a little to girly for my taste I love the pop of pale pink that these bookends give. They would look great on black or white furniture so they are versatile in almost any room and they allow you to follow the trend without going overboard. That being said at $98 they are a little on the pricey side for bookends. Needless to say I will be searching Home Goods for a cheaper version.

ECOWASBAL-Fact or Fiction

ECOWASBAL

As someone who is always on the look out for ways to save money and to add simple ways to be a little greener in life, I was intrigued with this new product from Green Habits Amsterdam. The ECOWASBAL is a soap-less device that is used in place of conventional laundry detergent. Like dryer balls, you simply toss it in with the wash and let it works its magic. From what I can gather from the website, the magic is performed by small ceramic beads inside the ball. When these beads come in contact with water they create special ions that activate water molecules to release dirt from fibers. Your laundry comes out soft, fresh, safe and clean without any damage to the color or elasticity. The kicker is that the ECOWASBAL is effective for up to 1,000 washes, which the site says is the equivalent of approximately four years of washes. To put this into budgetary terms doing 1,000 loads of laundry with Seventh Generation laundry detergent (which is what I use) would cost approx $275. The ECOWASBAL costs $47.95 including shipping, however, it does say that for lightly soiled wash only the ECOWASBAL is needed, but with normal to heavily soiled wash it is recommended to use 15ml of detergent. That means you would go through five bottles of detergent throughout the life of the ECOWASBAL, thus adding approximately $86 to the cost. Even with the added cost you would still save around $141 with the ECOWASBAL. It sounds a little too good to be true to me, and if it doesn't work I have wasted $47.95 but if it does work it will save me $141. What do you think? Is it worth the gamble?

Look for Less-Kitchen Version-Kuhn Rikon Whisk

As a self-professed kitchen gadget geek and lover of all things fun and colorful, I was absolutely gleeful over the sighting of this Kuhn Rikon rainbow whisk at the Chef's Shoppe in Edwardsville.

Kuhn Rikon Rainbow Whisk

I was the opposite of gleeful when I saw that it was $16.00. Since my whisks usually end up smashed into a drawer in my tiny kitchen, I couldn't justify the price as much as I wanted to. Instead of purchasing it I was left to admire it and wait for the day that I had a bigger kitchen that it could call home. That was until I made a stop into the Target in Brentwood and saw this little gem.

On an end cap displaying Valentine's Day kitchen accessories there it was: the bargin buy version of the whisk that I wanted so badly. The colors were slightly different and not as bright but for only $3.99 I was in love. I can't wait to use it and until I do it will be right at home sitting nicely (and not smashed) in a drawer in my tiny kitchen.

Fireplace Upgrade-From Drab to Fab Part II

After making over the inside of my fireplace and killing yet another plant that sat in front of it, it was time to give the outside a makeover as well. In keeping with the collected eclectic feel that I have been trying to incorporate into my apartment I began searching for different items to group together. The first piece I came upon was the large orange Buddha head. I spotted it at the Home Goods in St. Peters and had to have it. I loved that it was a unique conversation piece with a great outside the box color that wouldn't clash with my red curtains. I also found the lime green urn there as well that played off perfectly with the orange of the Buddha. I found the large purple vase at the Home Goods in Ballwin and I found the last piece in my house. I took the vase from the table centerpiece that I had put together with glass bottles from Hobby Lobby. The combination of colors not only went with the room but they play off each other to perfectly frame the fireplace making it a centerpiece of the room. So next time you are trying to decorate a room or just a small area of a room don't worry about finding everything right way. Take your time and find pieces from different places and throughout your own home to combine to form the perfect look that is tailored to your personality.

Fireplace Upgrade-From Drab to Fab

 Before

 Candles at Crate and Barrel

After

This year my home makeover project for the fall/winter was fixing up my dull drab fireplace. I have lived in my current apartment for almost a year and not once have I used the fireplace. It just seemed like too much work to go get the logs. Then I wondered how easy they would be to light, would it smell up the house, etc. etc.. So I just left it as an ugly drab hole in the wall. With winter rolling around I decided something had to be done about it.

The fireplace is on the small side so my first idea to put one of those fireplace candelabras in there failed. My second idea was to make a "fire" out of pillar candles. I started by cleaning out all of the soot and cobwebs. Then I added some black river rock that I got from my mom's house, but you should be able to find some at Michael's or maybe even Lowe's. Next up was a trip to Crate and Barrel where pillar candles were surprisingly cheap. I grabbed four white votive pillars to make up the first row, two small wide, one medium wide, and two medium narrow pillars for the second row. For the third row I ran over to World Market for four large narrow pillars. For these I was able to use one of their $10 off $30 coupons that come in the mail, so I basically ended up with a free one. If you don't get the coupons in the mail you can sign up for their rewards program and they will send you one via e-mail.

I arranged them in the fireplace with the river rock around it, lit the candles and viola! My drab ugly hole in the wall became a fab cozy nook for cold winter nights.

Black Tie Bedding

Tuxedo Bedding from Anthropologie

Last night I was watching the genius that is David Bromstad make over a couple's bedroom on HGTV. After I got over the heart palpitations I had over a 19th century French dresser that had been painted a pale turquoise, I noticed the bedding. The bedding was from the Tuxedo Bedding line from Anthropologie. I think the great thing about this bedding is that it has a feminine look with the ruffles, but the cream color, brown trim and the resemblance to a men's tuxedo shirt from the 70's give it a masculine look at the same time. On the show they used a few pillows with the standard shams along the back. Next they layered a couple of pillows with euro shams in with a few textured teal pillows. Then finished it off  with a couple cream and brown printed pillows, and it looked amazing. It's a great look that really adds a lot of style to the room. So if you'd like to make every night a black tie night at your house the bedding can be found at Anthropologie for $268 for a queen duvet, and $88 and $58 for the shams.

As Seen on TV

Chuck Bass's bedroom on Gossip Girl

Photo:Luxuyliving.com

As I have previously admitted I am in love with the wardrobe on Gossip Girl but the obsession doesn't end there, I am also in love with the interiors on the show. One of the main items of my affection was the painting hanging above Chuck Bass's bed that was first seen in Season 2. I had been searching for a piece for my bedroom that was fun and funky with brown tones to match the bedding that wasn't your typical bedroom art with a landscape print or generic looking abstract. So needless to say when I saw the painting in Chuck's room I thought it was perfect and had to have it. I set out on a Internet search for what I hoped would be a reasonably priced print. After a great amount of searching I found out the painting was by Richard Phillips, a painter known for his sometimes over the top pop art pieces. I also found out that the painting was actually a cropped and let's say PG version of the R rated original titled Scout, making this piece Scout Crop. I also found out that the painting cost thousands of dollars. Definitely out of my price range, so sadly I gave up hope. Then one day I received an email from Intermix (a boutique in New York, LA and Chicago that also has an online shop) announcing that they would be selling art work from Works on Whatever featuring pieces from Gossip Girl. I immediately went to the website and found out that they were selling a print on canvas of both Scout Crop and the other Richard Phillips piece Spectrum that is shown in the stairwell of the Van Der Woodsen house (another piece I love) along with a couple of Jessica Craig Martin photos on canvas and a few other pieces seen on the show. The canvases sell for $250 with proceeds from the sale going to the non-profit organization The Art Production Fund. Since at $250 it was considered a big ticket item for me I slept on the idea. The next day I was still thinking about it so I made the purchase even though I could not see it in person and it was non-refundable. I can honestly say the only thing I didn't like about it was that the print doesn't bleed all the way off the side of the canvas so it leaves a quarter inch of white around the edge (which is fine for me since I have white walls but if you were putting it on a colored wall it might stick out more), that and it took five looong weeks to be delivered. Once I got up on the wall though it was perfect. It's definitely a fun, unexpected conversation piece and it fit right in with the rest of the art in the house. The brown and green tones blended in perfectly with the colors of the bedding and the pink sunglasses gave the room a pop of color. And with the originals costing thousands, $250 is actually a bargain especially since most cheaper art work of that size will run you around $100 anyway. So if you are looking for the perfect out of the ordinary piece for your place, I highly suggest Works on Whatever as a great place to start the search.

Miracle Machine

Homedics Garment Steamer

If there is one thing I hate it's cleaning. I hate it so much I think I might be allergic to it. I dread doing it so much that I am instantly depressed just thinking about it. I also refuse to do it at any other time then Sunday evening since I am already depressed about the weekend being over I figure I might as well just make it worse and clean as opposed to doing it any other day and ruining my day.

I group ironing into the category of cleaning, and there is only one appliance (the vacuum) I hate more then the iron. I am terrible at ironing and this fact is compounded by the fact that I refuse to buy a ironing board. My mother however is an ironing fanatic. She irons everything, even scrub pants. Who irons scrubs?!?!?! I thought that was one of the perks of working in a profession where you got to wear scrubs, no ironing. Anyway, my mother hates the site of wrinkly clothes as much as I hate ironing so after years of her nagging me about my clothes not being ironed properly she talked me into buying a steamer. Let me tell you best advice ever.

My mornings have become so much easier. I just pull out the steamer, plug it in, continue getting ready and in about five minutes it's ready to go. It comes with an extension that let's you hang your garment up right there and a shirt or a skirt takes less then five minutes tops to become wrinkle free. It's super quick and easy. Just be careful not to get your hand with the steam when holding the garment. It's also great if you have an outfit that has to last you all day. If you have a chance to run home between day and night, a quick steam and it looks like an outfit you just put on, and your out the door in less then ten minutes. I'm telling you it's a lifesaver.

I have never used this particular model featured above (the Shark model I have is no longer available) but it had the best ratings out of all of the garment steamers that were similar to mine. This one is $65 at Best Buy but you might also want to check out Bed Bath and Beyond to see if they carry the same brand so you can use one of the many coupons we all receive in the mail from them for 20% off. While $65 is not super cheap, trust me it will be one of the best investments you'll make. Especially if you hate ironing as much as I do. Added plus, you'll make mom happy too :).