High/Low Style

They should make blinders for Target like they do for carriage horses; that way I wouldn't go in needing to buy paper towels and walk out 2 hours later with 3 shirts, a new pair of shoes, towels, a yoga mat, and 2 DVDs (sans paper towels).

I'm not into politics. I'm into survival.

I can't help myself...Target is just so full of damn cute stuff. Particularly fun is when they have guest designers or curators--high-end brands who do a collaboration with Target to cater to the masses. Do 40-year-old moms in middle America care about Prabal Gurung or Derek Lam? Probably not. Do I? Who knows. All I know is that on my last quick Target trip to buy cat food right before the holiday season, I got very distracted by a silver Marc Jacobs pouch purse, a Diane Von Furstenberg dress, Band of Outsiders cookie cutters, for Pete's sake, a Derek Lam skateboard, and what we've all been waiting for, an Oscar de la Renta pet bowl.

I was somehow able to walk out without buying any of these things, but this caught my eye this week:

Target's partnering with modern furniture designer Blu Dot to create TOO, an affordable line of furniture for plebes like us! Granted, Blu Dot isn't prohibitively expensive for good-quality craftsmanship, but it does hover slightly above the levels that I can easily dole out money for. Not everything is a clear hit in the line, but there are enough cute things in their line that it's worth taking a second look.

For example, I love the bright yellow and dove grey on this TOO lounger, and the clean lines of the steel against the blocky cushion. It's a mere $220 (on sale from $299). Beat that, Ikea!

And how about this sideboard? I'm loving the whitened birch and the aqua sliding door. Again, so clean and simple, and only $225 on sale (regularly $299). We coud use this in our entry way by the front door.

Once I get rid of the huge monster of an '80s desk in my office, I'd love to have something bright and bold like this steel yellow TOO table. Nothing like a pop of color to fix my home decor humdrums. It's only $245 (on sale from $349). Imagine all the novels I'd write if I had this color desk to sit at to drum up my creativity.

Compare this to a similar table that's a graphic pop of color on Blu Dot's site that's currently going for $699.

I currently hate our living room couches and am dreaming up my next sofa, which I want to be modern and simple, yet comfortable. I love the clean, modern lines of this TOO couch. Very mid-century mod. Can't you just picture it in Don Draper's office? This baby is only $449! Unheard of outside of Ikea.

And compare it to a similar Blu Dot couch (not on Target), at regular price: $1,699. I think I might actually prefer the Target version's design (though the Blu Dot one looks slightly more comfy).

 This TOO trio accent table is uber cute at $75 (normally $99)...

...and reminiscent in design (though not as beautiful) to a trio table being sold on Blu Dot's site for $400:

 I LOVE this TOO office chair. It's like R2D2 lived in the Mad Men era ($220, normally $299):

I also love its unpadded cousin in walnut ($180, normally $249). So sleek and clean and modern, yet warm with its wood tones:

Here is his fancier (and arguably prettier) cousin on the Blu Dot site, going for $799:

These TOO pieces are only available online via Target.com only, so luckily you can avoid picking up two bathmats, a new dress, stationery, and bulk-size Cheez-its while looking for it in store.

Wedding Registry Guilt, Ice Cream, and Beds, Oh My!

We started putting our wedding registry together last week, and BOY is it fun to walk through a store with a scanner and -- ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! -- indiscriminately choose items that would be fabu in our new home together.

Stands and delivers.

My married friends and my parents have convinced me, against some of my anti-consumerism and anti-materialism instincts, to just cave in and accept that we will need things to build our new home together. Ikea, after all, will eventually fall apart, and I don't want to be using the same 20-year-old, threadbare sheets that I brought back home last time I raided my parents' closet. Once I accepted this fact, I could revel a bit in finally getting a chance to have those grown up things I've lusted after for most of my adult life-- a Kitchenaid stand mixer! Le Creuset cookware! A Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner! Part of me still feels guilty asking for these things; after all, who needs an ice cream maker? And then the other part of me that's telling me to relaaax and just enjoy this wedding ritual is saying, "Yes. Your summer evenings will be spent savoring the delicious fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream that you and your husband made together on a Saturday afternoon." So BAM. There it is. Ice cream maker: ZAP!

Mmmmmmmm...marital bliss.

One thing I've been having a hard time finding is some decent bedding. For Alex's sake, I'm trying to veer away from my girly instincts (ix-nay on the Anthropologie-ay) and find something that's modern, a little more masculine, but still fun and airy and light. Now that my revamped French blue dresser and these cute patterned curtains are the dominating factors in the room, I need to find something that will go with that. Here are a few candidates:

I love the yellow and grey combination and the modern take on floral for these sheets from the LoftHome Collection at The Company Store. Plus the reverse pattern is very cute.

This is probably way too ornate, but I'm always drawn to the bright yellow and the peacocks on this duvet cover from DwellStudio. At a $350 price point, I also feel bad for putting such an expensive thing on my registry.

For some reason, I keep being drawn to poppy red stripes as well, though I probably would get tired of these after about a year.

Anyone got any thoughts or favorite places to buy their bedding?

Bedknobs and Broomsticks

I'm horrible at sleeping. The slightest movement--fiances a-shifting, cats a-leaping--wakes me up. This got worse since we moved into our new place. In the move, something wacky must've happened with the mattress, and ever since then I felt like I was sleeping on a slant and rolling into a pit in the middle of the bed.

OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a little. But imagine my delight when Alex decided it was high time I quit my complaining and decided to treat us to a sturdy, good ol' fashioned bed. After much research, I decided to settle on the new Bennett bed from Room & Board.

It's the perfect mix of modern, sleek, and light and rustic / sea breezy, and actually looks much nicer in person than on the website's photos. Unfortunately, the angle I can get in our cramped (and unfinished, design-wise) bedroom doesn't do it justice...

Excuse the awful picture. Not sure why our comforter looks all striated either. Why am I even bothering to post this?

This is my first platform bed. I've slept on many uncomfortable things in my life-- couches, air mattresses, hospital seats, a wooden bench while stranded in Milan's train station overnight-- so this feels like a little slice of heaven.

Loving the Process

As an actor, I am so inundated with daily rejection and hope that's here one second and gone the next that it's nearly impossible to be...well, present all the time. Where will I be three years from now? On a TV show or serving grande mocha lattes to undeserving reality show stars? Will I ever make it? How did I do on that audition yesterday? Am I going to die poor because I'm not saving enough now? I spend so much time fretting over what will and what may never be (thank you, Led Zeppelin) that once in a while I need to tell my inside voices (I call them my crazies*) to SHUTTHEHELLUP while I go do some yoga and breathe and just...be. Enjoy and focus on the present moment because that's the only thing that really matters right now. How can you be present in a scene when you're thinking about tomorrow? This is where the new-age hippie dippie west-coast mindset comes in handy. Ohmmmm....

I don't really meditate tarot cards, don't worry.

*I also don't really call them my crazies. That would be crazy.

The same goes with living space. I spend so much time frittering over detail in our new nest that sometimes I forget to just live and enjoy the lovely things about our new home. It's good to step back every once in a while, put down that endless To Do list--install curtain rods, install cuter hooks, repaint the chairs, plant a window box--and just enjoy where we live, even if it is a work in progress.

I've never been one to try to remake a place all at once. I'd rather have my living space be constantly evolving and filled with objects that have meaning to me, rather than knick knacks I picked up in bulk at West Elm in order to have my room "finished." Early British designer William Morris (not the big 3 agency now merged with Endeavor) once said, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." I've tried to follow that mantra, although not always successfully. There are a few broken chairs and swag bag-comped free DVDs of schlock like "Bad Lieutenant"--the Nick Cage version--that would attest to that.

But in honor of Morris, the socialist with a knack for making homes look beeeyootiful, I'm spending some time today to revel in some of the spaces I find beautiful in my home, finished or not. And I'm proud of it, GATdammit.

First, our most used room of the house. Here's my living room when we first saw it right before moving in:

woooooooooow a living roooom

Here it is, today.

zing!

It's an oasis where I spend daytimes rehearsing acting while the cats look out the window at the street, and evenings with my beau listening to the Beach Boys' "Smile," watching The Wire or Downton Abbey, or doing the New York Times crossword on our new iPad. How decadent! How deliciously bourgeois! The giant lamp and the mid-century regency chair I found on Craigslist from a collector and reupholstered myself. The cowhide rug I found on my first ever solo vacation to Buenos Aires, Argentina. My crazy gaudy-gorgeous regency table I also scored on Craigslist for an amazing deal by a woman who needed to get rid of sharp corners in her house for the sake of her quickly-learning-to-walk toddler (it was damaged by the movers, argh). And the good ol' Ikea Expedit shelf on the left has fixed our perennial stranded doorway shoe/sock problem by adding baskets that serve as His and Hers shoe drawers.

Note the kitty in the mirror. He's so vain, he probably thinks this post is about him.

Our faux fireplace mantel is always a work in progress. I placed some stuff there while we were unpacking and it's stayed there ever since. That's a Jonathan Adler miniature whale ornament gifted to me by my good friend, Shirley. That scary line drawing print of freakish demons and naked people on horses is something that Alex loves--and that used to hate--but have grown to love in context in its place on the mantel. And that photograph to its right--you probably can't see it-- says "It's the computer that brought us together." And it was.

Alex had been wanting a record player for a while so I found this Crosley beaut on the recommendation of my friend who is a musician and has tons of style. I liked it because not only did it sound good (besides a record player, it is also a radio, CD player, and TAPE DECK--whaaa?!) and looks perfectly mid-century cute and in place with the rest of the living room.

Here's our dining room when we first saw it:

And here it is now:

Still working on it, but getting there.  It's a lovely place to have breakfast while perusing our ever-growing pile of daily Variety. The painting was done by my dad, who's a chemical engineer-turned-artist. My beloved mid century chairs are also a score from Craigslist from a collector. Even though I love them aged and how the green paint has chipped over time, they are getting creaky and will have to get replaced soon (wedding registry?). I want me some gorgeously designed Hans Wegner wishbone chairs. One of these days, too, I'll be able to swap out my imitation Ikea Docksta table for a real Saarinen tulip table. You know, when I have an extra $1800 in my pocket. Oh look at me now, I'm already thinking about the future again. Think present! Now! NOW!

I'll end on my favorite view in the apartment, which comes from our bedroom, looking out onto the garden.

It's the perfect spot to cozy up to on a rare rainy day in LA.

but I don't wanna go to school, mom!

Well, there you have it. I'm present and stuff. Now what do I have to do tomorrow? I'm gonna go make a list.

Home, Sweet Home

This began as a DIY home design blog, at least in the mind. I'm the kind of girl who spends waaaaaay too much time looking at design blogs, browsing furniture websites, tearing out pages from the Anthropologie and Room & Board catalogues and dreaming about the day I can make tons of money, if only to finally buy a Bauhaus lamp or that gorgeous Eames rocker or Draper dresser I've had my eye on. Saving for retirement or investing in my future kids' education? Pssshhaaww.
But before my procrastinating arse finally got to starting up THAT blog, things happened in a whirlwind this past month. For one, this cat lady got engaged. Here's an example of how my life has changed.

1 Year Ago:
Me, on a Friday night, to my cats: "Yessss! Looks like Billy Madison is on TBS again!" [stuffing face with Trader Joe's jalapeno cheese curls]

Today:
Me, on a Friday night, to my cats and fiance: "Yessss! Looks like Billy Madison is on TBS again!" [ordering food from Palms Thai, where they have the Thai Elvis impersonator.]

"Shampoooo is bettah!"

Yeah, ok, so while the everyday stuff hasn't changed that much, living with somebody is a whole new ballgame that's given rise to a slew of new questions. Like, who makes the bed? How often should we run the dishwasher? Do Ghostbusters books belong on the coffee table alongside art books? And dear god why are there socks everywhere?

While my dude and I will go back and forth on nitty gritty responsibilities (him: take out the kitty litter, run the dishwasher; me: do all the cooking, mop the floors)*, he's given me full reign to design our living space. Woot! A Noguchi table here! A granite kitchen island there--oh wait, we're still poor. But hey, at least now we have 5 rooms--2 bedrooms, a living room, dining nook, kitchen, bathroom, and small garden. Plus plenty of potential. And that's what I'm going to document here--how I'm turning this blank canvas into a home--a nest, if you will--for the both of us.

Before I begin, a bit about the two of us:
We live in Hancock Park in Los Angeles, where I work as an actress, writer, and a freelance editor. He works as a comedy writer for a new Comedy Central show. This means, the two of us work at home. A lot. Which means, things need to be functional, comfortable, spacious, and conducive to creative thinking. Anybody who lives with a work-at-home partner knows that it's easy to get on top of each other or to while away the entire day on Facebook if there aren't designated spaces for specific usages. So my goal is to help us carve our new cozy little duplex into a home/work space that's both beautiful and serves as a writing office as well as a rehearsal space.
Here's the place when we first saw it. We picked it out among a slew of results from Westside Rentals. The pictures were grainy and few, and most of them showed the place as super cramped and not that attractive. But I had a feeling that maybe this was a hidden gem whose pictures didn't do it justice, so we went to check it out.

The bedroom overlooking the garden.

Living room with a faux fireplace

Dining nook with her leftover furniture

Can't stand this kitchen, but hey--washer and dryer! Score!

My favorite room, the office. Note pencil portrait of previous tenant. Very creepy.

Not horrible, right? But also, not cute. Yet. I see a lot of potential. Two rooms, and a PRIVATE GARDEN. (read: summer wine parties!) And I'm gonna detail on this blog my journey (wins and failures) on the way to beautifying this space into a warm, comfortable, gorgeous home for me and my beau.

*Said beau notes that the dishwasher is a portable one, so "running it" actually denotes quite a lot of labor, like connecting the hose to the sink, etc., ok, dammit? Also, I'm the first to admit that I'd offer to clean the entire house, scrub the tub, mop the floors, and clean the toilet before wanting to take out the kitty litter. All that talk about toxoplasmosis freaks me out. Nobody wants cat worms, dude.