Ten Things

I often walk through my tiny apartment and smile to myself because our space feels so layered, interesting, and cozy. I like when spaces keep evolving. My eye is always sharpening, my taste becoming more mature. I like to re-arrange our furniture and tchotchkes to keep things feeling fresh. It's funny because friends are always commenting that things look different every time they come. You definitely don't have to spend money to do it either. One quick tip that changes the look of a room is to swap curtains with another room.

I was thinking about the little things that make up my home that make it feel personal and inviting. Here are my must haves:

1. books, books, books. Especially vintage ones with great covers and typography, and books about art, entertaining, food, and other inspirational topics. We have our "library" in the dining room at present so I've included a lamp on our dining table for easy browsing. I have a lot of oversize books on different artists so having a table close by is great.

2. "Fireside" candles from Bath and Body Works. I am not big normally on scents (especially ones that smell like sickeningly sweet desserts) but this one is so restful and instantly makes my home feel like hibernation time.

3. Lamps. Having control over the amount of light is really a must. During the day I love to let the sun stream in as much as possible, but at night I like a quiet, relaxed atmosphere with pockets of warm yellow to snuggle in for reading. Candlelight and garden lights on a string are also used throughout my home.

4. Faux fur throws to snuggle under when it's chilly. The one I have really doesn't look like fur at all actually but it's really soft and matches my couch. I would like to get a grey one with more of a fur-like vibe.

5. Pretty china bowls to corral little things like nail polish, lipsticks, and hair ties. I don't mind visible clutter as long as it is housed beautifully. Oh what am I talking about, I just don't mind clutter if it's stuff I love. I have always been drawn to spaces that seem lived in and house a million memories and treasured objects. I am a total thrift-store junkie, old-thing lover, English house-filled-to-the-brim admirer.

6. A stack of pretty fabrics to change the dining table covering on a whim. After so many parties I have accumulated quite a stash and it's so nice to have. I love to play with color and place settings on the table. If I designed tablescapes all day long I would be in heaven. This stack of fabric also comes in handy if I want to change out the curtain in the dining room. I have curtain hooks on that rod so I can use any tablecloth, sheet, or otherwise unfinished piece of fabric on that window.

7. A place to display my shoes. I change this every so often. Right now they are hanging on a bamboo ladder I painted white. I've had them lining my fireplace mantle or taking over a cute bookshelf. I like them best close to the full length mirror so I can easily try different outfit combinations.

8. Photos and Art. I love gallery walls and mixing photos and artwork together seems very natural when hung in multiples. I seem to tuck things into the frames later too, so the layering is always a little undone and natural. My favorite part of our apartment is our non-working fireplace because it has a great classical mantle that houses an ever-changing display.

9. Layering curtains. Back to curtains again--I like to have a sheer or semi-sheer curtain hung flat (not bunched) across the window and then a pretty rod with thicker curtains hung over that. This way you can have privacy during the day when you let light in and at night when you close the thicker ones. It's fun to play with pattern on the sheers too. Our current curtains are pink and when the sun streams through them in the morning it turns the whole living room a flattering, pink glow-y color.

10. Stackable dining chairs. Since we do entertain a lot and have such a small space to do it in, we use great stackable chairs in a modern white design. When I was planning my dining room I really wanted to do a traditional table with a modern chair and I didn't want them matchy-matchy so I ended up with a black pedestal table and white industrial plastic and steel chairs. This way we can use the chairs outside or any where about the apartment when we have guests (or as a desk chair) and then stack them when not in use. Life savers.