Lately I’ve been dreaming of having a party and the guests being wowed by my lovely table-scape. Of course my friends are really more of the beer and BBQ kind, but its just a personal dream of mine. Alas doing a wonderful table setting means actually owning things like table clothes, matching dishes and other [...]
Archive of posts filed under the Research category.
A Quick Guide To Wall-Mounted Shelves And What Not To Do!
At some point in your life – perhaps this has already happened – you will install wall-mounted shelves and then an hour later they will fall out. It’s ok. It happens to everyone. It happened to me the other day actually. I was trying to put up a shelf in the kitchen and the result [...]
2ndFloorLiving’s European Vacation
A lot of things have been going on lately which explains why my posting has not been exactly like clockwork. So my apologies to anyone out there who is getting tired of waiting on my ass to post something. Unfortunately, you guys are going to have give me a few more weeks of laying low [...]
Designer Profile: Billy Baldwin
If a B-list actor is the only thing that registers when you hear the name Billy Baldwin, then you are missing out on one of America’s most famous interior designers. Name: Billy Baldwin (1903 – 1984) Best Known for: His work on Cole Porter’s Waldorf Towers apartment, especially the library which featured custom designed brass [...]
Is it Winter or Spring? Either way stay happy and healthy with the help of Sacred Vibes and aromatherapy!
I live in the ever growing Ditmas Park neighborhood in Brooklyn. In the past year, our neighborhood has acquired many things one of which is an herbal apothecary store called Sacred Vibes. I live next door to this shop and have been curious about it since its opening. So when it came to some herbal [...]
Adventures in upholstery class
Last week I took my first upholstery class as part of a month long series. And…uh it was hard! But it also felt good using my hands and power tools. For this class we are each making our own ottoman from scratch, meaning we each were given a wooden frame to start with. This first [...]
Well Well Well I’m not the only one talking about inspiration today
I guess great minds think alike…therefore 2nd Floor Living must be gaining on Apartment Therapy (uhhh not quite), but whatever. Today they posted an amazingly apropos post about how to collect inspiration. Read my last post and be amazed at how connected these are! Check out Apartment Therapy’s advice here.
Finding your style & working it on a small budget
Last weekend a friend of mine asked me for advice (which was very flattering). Her problem is that her apartment is full of stuff, but it is stuff that she has inherited from her parents or just randomly acquired over the years. So she was wondering how to make her apartment feel more designed [...]
Space Planning! I’d be a better person if I did this.
I’d like to publicly apologize to my downstairs neighbor. Sure, you sometimes play loud classical guitar music late at night, but I’m most certainly worse. I have the bad habit of rearranging my furniture whenever I am bored. So, I’m sorry. I’m a bad neighbor, but I can’t help myself. Ever since I was a kid [...]
Waltzing through Art Deco paradise with Fred and Ginger
If you don’t already know who I’m talking about when I say “Fred and Ginger” then let me inform you that I am talking about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers – two of the most popular movie stars during the 1930′s. The other night I was watching one of their films, The Gay Divorcee (1934), [...]
Designer Profile: Madeline Weinrib
Our newest designer profile is about none other than Madeline Weinrib – an inspiring textile designer who lives and works in New York City. Company: Madeline Weinrib Atelier History: She is the great granddaughter of the founder of ABC Home & Carpet – the mulit-floor, multi-building design mecca just north of Union Square in Manhattan. [...]
Designer Profile: Wary Meyers Decorative Arts
The second installment of our Designer Profile series is the design duo Linda and John Meyers or Wary Meyers Decorative Arts as they are officially known. I am very excited about sharing their work with you as not only is it incredibly unique and inspiring but it also relies heavily on reusing found objects (from [...]
Quatrefoil: Its old and its everwhere!
A Quatrefoil is a symmetrical shape that has been around for thousands of years. As far as I know, Dan Brown has never referenced it in his books, but it certainly has enough history to be part of a mass religious conspiracy. It was often used as an adornment on Gothic cathedrals during the Middle [...]
Materials Tutorial: Rattan and Wicker
Do you ever have a moment where you go “ohhhh now I get it”? I just had one reading about rattan and wicker. Recently I wrote about Golden Girls-inspired rattan furniture but in the back of my head I was wondering…how do I know this is rattan and not wicker? Turns out rattan is a [...]
Designer Profile: Kelly Wearstler
This is the first “research” post! Hopefully these write ups will teach us all (me included) about great designers and design movements of the past and present. Even though we have small budgets, I think it is valuable to know what is happening in the design world. Each individual piece of furniture in the images [...]
