mirror mirror on the wall

Ikea is Swedish for evil. No, that’s not true it’s actually an acronym for the man who started it. Similar if I was atnj ( Andrea T New Jersey) or atmh( Andrea T Mount Holly) not as fun! I recently had quite an exciting journey to Ikea. My mother was babysitting my Nanny so we had to trudge her along. I just had to go to the marketplace to get a frame for my friends wedding gift you saw in a recent post. Ha! Just a frame…..45 dollars later… 2 frames, a mirror, new cutting board, new trash can for bathroom, shower liner, some fabric, etc. The brilliant part of Ikea is the As-is department. Sometimes the stuff over there isn’t exactly as-is. Like the mirror I bought. 3.99 sure it didn’t have any hooks to hang it from but a nice sizeable mirror for 3.99! Score!

I’m playing around with my walls as I am entering Apartment Therapy’s cool small spaces contest and I have a professional photographer coming on Wednesday to take pics for airbnb! Exciting! So, I was hanging my new mirror when I realized the 3.99 mirror nearly fit in my wooden gomi-frame.

So I tapped some nails around the edges

Duck-taped the mirror in place and voila!

I’m quite pleased with myself and my new mirror mirror on the wall!

feeling kinda sappy

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a gorgeous wedding. It was my kinda wedding, I love the couple, I loved the venue, nothing was too over the top, like goldilocks it was JUST RIGHT.  It was just like the couple too. The perfect wedding complements the couple and shows you a little about their style. Just like your home is a reflection of your style, this wedding was a real reflection of their elegance and simplicity.

I loved the arrangements on the tables, so I much I now have two bouquets of white irises in my house! I also totally dig the mirror.

The arrangements on the tables were sakura, white irises and white tulips. Here are the irises, I love how the arrangements are not fussy. They are simple, in clear tall vases with stones supporting the flowers.

I am in love with the preppy-ness of this rug. If you look closely you can see racquetballs and racquets around the border! The red of the room. The club chairs. I love it. Not sure I could live with red walls, but I loved it for an afternoon!

These little pretties dotted the tables on the dance floor. Simple yet elegant.

I will always remember 4-10-11 as a splendid day!

she did what?

You must be wondering where did those white curtains from the closet go?

Because you know I love to play switcheroo. I took these extra long babies and pulled my first ever younghouselove inspiration-idea! younghouselove.com if you have not visited it yet is truly one of my fave design blogs. I read it faithfully every day. Right after my darjeeling, nyt’s, apartment therapy and then yhl!

They stress that raising your shower curtain flush to ceiling makes for a more dramatic effect. It is true it really makes the bathroom seem more posh and hotel-like. It also amazingly enough makes the room which is tiny…seem bigger and taller. For some odd reason the ceiling is lower in there then the rest of the apartment.

I used to have sheers from my old bathroom up in there…until the long white prince erm I mean the new white long curtains came to live in the loo.

So you can see the hideous glass door I live to loathe. That rod is also heavily painted in/bolted to the wall and it’s removal might demo the entire bathroom so it remained. I bought a new tension rod at Target for under ten bucks. Also note a green obi border inside the shower. My sister found that on the gomi a hundred years ago when she first moved to Japan. Together my sister and I are the gomi girls oh so fierce and mighty.

Excited aren’t you? Can’t hardly wait to see my “office” as my father would say.

Isn’t it a dramatic difference? Well I love it. White isn’t for everyone, but I love it in small doses.

Here are some more shots of the bathroom so you get an idea of the room

The above pic is Madame Takara’s fave pic of my entire home. She loves the combination of items. Hence why I chose it for the top of the blog.

This next pic is shows how common day items can become art

So go crazy and have fun with your bathroom!

one is silver and the other’s gold

Anne recently told me her husband thinks  that using trash/found items is insane and she gets NEW things because of it. Must be nice right? I do like the occasional new item. My mother did housewarm me with these pretties when I first moved in

Messy house pic! yes, I am a human being, sometimes my house is messy. Shock! Gasp! I know. these blue cubes are lovely. They are from target and they are my copycatchic version of the much pricier crate and barrel version. I used to keep reusable grocery bags in one and blankets in the other. Now I keep airbnb.com guest supplies in one and the other has home decor items and fabric I have yet to use!

This duvet cover is from Ikea. It is aptly named Andrea! Who knew I was swedish? Seriously Ikea have you really run out of names? Or did you just not want to name me Desiree because it sounded too “ethnic” ( thank you father!)… You might also have seen this duvet cover on television. It is the mom’s duvet on the great british tv show Skins in season 3 and 4. It is also the oldest daughters duvet on Modern family. Both ladies obviously have impeccable taste. Note that the boat pic used to live over the bed. I change stuff around….A LOT….often after trips to Maine… The Andrea sheets are my fall-winter sheets. The vintage marimekko I have decided are the spring sheets.

So, yes while I love old and foraged I do appreciate some new things from time to time! As my fave tune goes from brownies… Make new friends, but keep the old one is silver and the others gold!

funny the first boy I ever kissed was named Ross

I adore Ross. No, Ross Paul I am not talking about you. It was great yes I was finally kissed and you introduced me to “Duck Soup”. However, this isn’t about that part of my life, that is another story, a book Rebecca thinks we should write, or another blog perhaps?

Ross, dress for less, is one of my favorite stores. The omen that I had moved into the greatest apartment was when I ran into one of my neighbors, who happens to work at…..ROSS! She is a riot. The only downside to Ross is, it’s a lot like dating. You have to stalk, I mean put in a lot of energy. You have to go once a week or so. You cannot have an agenda either. You might have to buy a calvin klein business attire dress even when you are unemployed because well it’s awesome and a steal. This sort of loyalty pays off. Sometimes Ross showers you in so much goodness you have to take a cab home. However, sometimes the two of you have hit a rocky patch and you walk out of the store alone.  Without a  cheap thin plastic bag full of goodies, eyes misty with tears and head to Reading Terminal Market because a canoli is the only thing that will console you. p.s. hold the powder sugar….it just gets all over you.

Ross brought Mr. Turtle into my life. I love him ever so….

Here he is hanging out at my old apartment, oh so fancy delancey. He loved the view of the garden, made him think of his childhood. Now he lives on top of the rinnai, which he enjoys, it’s like sunbathing. Sometimes, when he is feeling anti-social he hangs out in the bookshelf. The beauty of Mr. Turtle is, he was under ten dollars. However, finding an appropriate lightbulb for him……what an adventure

Another Ross beauty is my orange boat pic. This pretty was also under 15.00. Note the postcard from Sara gorgeously framed in a frame Katie Bryner gave me from Christmas. The Picasso underneath is framed in a piece of wood from the trash. I think it was from a large appliance? It was a perfect square so home to the fitz-carlton it came.

So, throw caution to the wind and get thee to a Ross. You never know what you might find!

break on through

Reader, if you ever want me to do something…..tell me I cannot or that it might take two people or I should call my landlord. Because I live to then come back to work and say ,”Ha! You told me I couldn’t take the doors off my closet by myself! Guess what I did friday night!”

I looked at two apartments, this one and a beauty with high ceilings and exposed brick, but only one teeny tiny closet. A girl, even a gal like me with a very edited wardrobe, needs a closet. This place has two. One big old closet, with an “attic” over top and then a teeny sliver of a closet where my winter coats, boots and my beloved vacuum live.

So, one friday night. I came home from a crazy day at my old job. I think I made some dinner. Might have had an adult beverage or two. Thus the door tackling began. I first checked ehow.com and googled the subject. Curious how thieves break into your house, google it. So ehow told me in an old building like mine, I could just take the pins out. Ha! That worked for ONE of four hinges. Double doors my friends, double doors. So I wound up unscrewing the actual hinges from the wall. It only took maybe an hour tops with my cheapie horrible dollar store screwdrivers. Yes, I know I really need to invest in proper hardware, but I get by!

At first I hung my fave tablecloth from MT up as a curtain for the closet. Then I bought curtains at target on sale for I think 13.00 or 11 bucks, some odd number, but I was excited at the price. They were too long, so I temporarily hemmed them. Until another Target trip I found an awesome cloth shower curtain on sale. So here is the progress of the closet in all it’s stages from baby to the beautiful gal with her braces off ready to start high school…..

messy house pic….how embarassing! Note the ugly wooden doors in the right hand corner, this is the only pic I have of them….I really guess I hated them!

You get an idea of the attic…which is excellent for luggage, my fan, and other items.

TADA!!!!!! Marvelous right? Don’t you love the big A’s? The A,L,T, hooks have since been moved, but otherwise this is how the closet looks now. She is purty eh?

if it’s not from the trash….

As the title goes, if it’s not from the trash… chances are Sara sent it to me or Madame Takara gave it to me. Or I bought it at Ross. No, Ross is not funding this blog…….YET!

Sara commented on my sister’s facebook the other day asking where her tenugui was.  A tenugui is…… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenugui   However, they are really much more fun then the one shown on wikipedia. Sara recently sent me the new years one from my fave Japanese shop….. AT, or afternoon tea. It has bunnies on it for the eto or animal of the zodiac for the year. Currently I am using it as a table runner. Will take another pic of it soon, but you get the idea.

I am very fortunate to have such generous friends with marvelous taste. MT, madame takara, has been very generous with my giving me frames, trincuts ( long story another blog!), towels, bedding, linens, scraps of fabric. My delicious sheets are from her. They are vintage marimekko. I simply adore them….

Aren’t they grand? Can you believe they are nearly forty years old? MT bought them in Harvard Square. What she and I love is that her “vintage items” are getting a second life.

Back to Sara, or Sara Tokyo as MT calls her because I have two close friends named Sara! See this is good you are starting to learn the characters who color my life! She is always sending me postcards, which I made a new years resolution to follow….so far Andrea 1 Sara 4or 5? She even survived a major earthquake and managed to send me a postcard! Horrible friend right? Her postcards are always frame worthy often the stamps are just as amazing. I am often soaking the postcards in teacups to get the stamps off! Here are a few of my faves….the first one I just adore because it reminds me of one of my favorite places in the world Kamakura, MT and Sara. It is now framed an on the wall I show in my first blog. try to find it!

This is a wall of postcards I made from wood scraps on the trash, a few nails and of course postcards from Sara. I was inspired by one of my fave blogs, www.younghouselove.com

These postcards are very special as well. The rose one is from MT, and the top two are from Sara. the top one had a very special message on it!

Sara and MT you are the best! I cherish your support and your friendship! Sara also requested a house tour…..coming soon! stay tuned!

gomi girl

Gomi is the Japanese word for trash. I love it! Much better than trash picker or dumpster diver, just call me gomi girl. Japan is simply marvelous for trash. I’ll have to have my good friend take a picture of my sister’s china closet, it is simply chock full of gomi-dishes. You see some Japanese believe in bad luck. Every culture has it’s superstitions I suppose. If they break a dish or bowl in a set they simply set out the rest on the trash. The magical things you can find on the gomi pile in Japan is endless.

I used to live in a rather posh part of Philadelphia. As the song goes, albeit about Delancey in NYC, isn’t it fancy on old Delancey? Glorious gomi to be had on and near Delancey Place in this here Philadelphia. I found a framed Dali, a bread machine ( i put it back on the trash after my ex told me it was not a good model), lamps, books, the neatest bookends ( from umbra…will post a pic of them another day) as I still have not figured out a proper use for them!, a great pot for making soup….the list goes on!

In my new digs, the gomi is good on my walk home from my friends house and this winter was excellent for clementine crates. Clementine crates are slowly fading away now, seems lots of companies are making ones from cardboard or just packing them in netting. I love clementine crates! They are perfect for towels, tools, anything really! Plus they stack so well. See pic to see a clementine crate re-purposed as a lovely kitchen towel holder!

I love staring at my new walls and pointing out how much is GOMI!

beginnings

They say what you wanted to be as a child is what you should do as an adult. As a child I drew fashion designs. My sister who is nine years older than me would show them to her friends. Later on I was fortunate to go to Parsons fashion shows as a high school student. I never learned to sew however. So, I suppose I took to the next design focus. If I couldn’t make clothes I could design my surroundings.

One of my idols, Julia Child, states you should never apologize. So, I’m not sorry I do not have a picture to show you my high school bedroom. However, it was pretty cool. I am fortunate to have some family heirlooms which before it was even en vogue I was intermixing. I had a wall of quotes behind my bed I constantly added to on strips of white paper. I wasn’t allowed to make nail marks at that point….so scotch tape was my best friend. On to college I learned the beauty of decorating with old calendars, tapestries, a steam trunk as a coffee table, and the joy of your roommate moving out!

I reside in Philadelphia. I have lived in five different spaces here, but my current studio apartment is my favorite. I love my home. Love is not a sufficient word sometimes. I love my home like a first born child? Like a soldier who would die for their country? I’m not kidding. I love it…even the slopping floor in the kitchen and the stupid sliding doors in the bathroom. As Mark Darcy would say to Bridget Jones “I love you just as you are”….well sure I would love to rip out the kitchen cabinets, but shh don’t tell my apartment that!

So let me introduce you to my apartment, which I refer to sometimes as the Fitz-Carlton ( I live near Fitzwater street) This is my newest addition to my home. My wall of wood and muted tones….as the rest of my home is a bit bright