Chic Shelf 2

Y'all, last week, major dreamzzz were fulfilled when I scored a lucite shelf to display my Dansk cast iron candleholder hoard on:

Now, this fabulousness needs to be hung, and hung well-- if y'all know what I'm talkin' about! OH SHIOT! Seriously, the candleholders are cast iron, so safety must be accomplished here, but I'm certainly not sacrificing chic-ery in the process either. I'm not THAT giving! I want the shelf to appear as if it's floating on the wall, like this:

I've seen those brackets for glass shelves-- surely there's something out there for an 8' long shelf? I mean, 8' is pretty standard in terms of shelf length, right? Here goes PJ down the diy rabbit hole...see folks, this shiot happens to me ALL THE TIME. Cool idea, then trying to find the pieces and parts to make said cool idea a reality-- isn't always cool. In fact hardly EVER. Many, many a day/week/month is spent searching all over for the right piece to make an idea work. And more oft than not, I have to end up making what I need. Guess that's how I got my DIY groove on in the first place. Custom IS next to Godliness. But for this, I really didn't sink too much time into finding a potential bracket, b/c we were already trolling Big Reuse when we found the shelf, it didn't take too long to uncover this baby, which, naturally, someone had put in a corner...the SHADE:

This is a chrome, glass door metal bracket of sorts (think it was originally intended for a shower door?)...it's almost as long as the shelf and has pre-existing mounting holes. It's almost a perfect fit on one side of the shelf. And it's only $8. This place is SERVING ME SERIOUS VALUE, y'all!

There's gonna need to be some hardcore safety mounting to my wall for this scenario-- but honestly, y'all, ALL mounting should be safe -- YES! I'll also have to secure the lucite shelf from below (note the pre-existing holes on underside of bracket) for even more OCD safety. In theory, this SHOULD work. I think. Dylan, cast here as 'hunky engineer', seems more confident about this method, but kindly reminds me that the SAFEST solution would be to use L brackets...how thoughtful. 'Cause y'all know looking at a narsty bracket holding up all my cast iron sculpture is the very definition of artful display. But what if my L brackets were pretty AND functional? Enter lucite L bracket from stage right, betch:

Are you kidding me with THIS? GORG! The problem here is these brackets are custom and run $15 EACH. I need at least 4. Kinda spendy for me, since the shelf was only $5. Then I started thinking about alternate L brackets made from metal that I wouldn't mind looking at and immediately I thought of brass! Holla! If y'all aren't aware, brass is baaaaaack! Way back. And the combo of brass and lucite is giving me a raging case of style chills. Taking to the interwebs like a brass bat outta hell, here's what I dug up:

Simple, straightforward and available in a few sassy finishes from Signature Hardware, but the polished brass shiot cost $32.95 EACH. How rude.

These antiqued brass babies from Liz's Antique Hardware are also kinda hawt:

But at $95 EACH they got real ugly, real quick. Damn! Why has brass gotta break a betch?! These kids from House of Antique Hardware are cute, and at $11.95/each, they're not cra cra, but I'm not convinced I could write home about them:

Then, I started searching for generic, simple brackets that I could potentially spray paint gold. Rabbit hole, right? SEE!!! Though, gotta say that the spray on metallics don't always melt in my mouth. But then shut the F&$K y'all, look what I found on Ebay! WHAT?!?!?!?:

2-set of vintage Baldwin brass shelf bracket babies for $10 value dollas!!! Betch got me 2 sets (total 4 brackets) for $20 + shipping!!!! Now, that's some good and tasty, DIY y'all...Yum!

I mean. #brassobsessed. Needless to say, I'm MORE THAN happy about these brackets and how amazing they're going to look paired with my lucite shelf! Be sure to check back for the big brass betch REVEAL soon!

It's Thursday...and THAT Means...

Thrift Whoring has gone down, in a BIG WAY, y'all! Here's a round-up of the latest 'liscous from my recent troll:

Wedgewood, Limoges, Italian rock crystal and shut the F&$K YOU ironstone transferware!?! Y'all won't believe what all this YUMMY set me back?

$24.87 VALUE DOLLARS! Salvation Army made me a satisfied thrift whore to-day! What's your latest score?! And YES, I do want all the steamy PICS!

Target Time!

Y'all, on-set today styling some fun vignettes for an upcoming Target social media spot...check out the hawtness:

Look at this festive scene that's just SLAYING this 'family' with all kinds of Holiday cheer:

Why is only half the wall styled out? B/c that's the only bit of wall y'all are gonna see when this shiot goes 'live'!

We also served up a bathroom sink moment:

Everything is hung so low b/c the star of this shot was all of 3'8" tall, y'all! AND NO, Betch, it wasn't ME! Here's how it was framed on the monitor:

Then we tricked out a little bedroom scene too:

This one looks a little janked for a kids' room, but it was an added shot so y'all know we had to WERK with what was on hand...but I think it's still festive & fun...y'all know we had to pull out the ole, 'hang the holiday cards from a ribbon' trick...HAWT!

Oh Fa La La La La...La La La KITCHEN CUTENESS:

Somebody was slung up, baking Holiday Dreams:

Awwww, Tender! Check out Target.com in the next couple weeks y'all to see the final spot! Lurv!

Betch-Slapped by Brass!

Last week there was the cutest little mid-century dresser featured on Free Shiot Friday, and this week, it's this dining set! Presenting Brass Regalia Realness:

She isn't even attempting to trick y'all into thinking she's real brass, but cleaned up, re-upholstered in something fab and given a new glass top, she could help you WERK your hostess skillz beyond belief:

The table base design is giving us all kinds of Dynasty...it's on it's side on the end:

Happy Friday, y'all-- now go out and score some Free Shiot!

Free Shiot Friday!

Y'all, this little lady greeted me on my way out of my building:

How sweet! Just minding her own business, all cute-like with hits of mid-century details, trying to stay out of everyone's way behind that gate...I sure hope someone scoops her up & takes the best care of her with some fab paint job or a refinish...she is FREE after all, and it IS Friday! Enjoy!

These lovelies

Are the final wallpaper selects for another Alchemy Eclectic interior project I'm twerking on, y'all! Can we just say hashtag wallpaper hawtness?!?

And yes, those are my HAWT pink shut the F$&K you shoe laces peeking in! Stay tuned to see the rooms where these wallpapers end up! Holla!!!

Weekend Almanac

Thrilled to share some prop styling I did for this story running in a new magazine called, Weekend Almanac:

Some other morsels, enlarged for y'all's viewing pleasure:

"Finders Fare", shot by Jacob Pritchard with food styling by Corey Belle...it was an awesome lakeside shoot, even when we had an uninvited guest bear briefly join us-- no shiot! Betch, even Bears want to eat from a stylish table too!!! The magazine is brand new, so go grab y'all-selves a copy!

Boo Yeah!

From banal to beauti-mous, my Battery Park City executrix got exactly what she wanted:

Bam biotch! Obvi, the 'blurred lines' happening in the above pic weren't intentional-- I'm clearly no photographer, y'all. and some key items that weren't on either proposal ended up being winners: that fab chesterfield sofa, perky floor lamp and luscious rug...but that's how the process werks...I present client with my ideal picks, they love or hate & when necessary, we throw down like Crystal & Alexis, all "Dynasty" like, until sufficient style slapping and shoulder pad tearing has been achieved...

I loved curating her existing killer art collection in fun and unexpected ways throughout...oh and LOOK y'all, the pooch even got his own spot to chill:

This sexy media console below is giving me FULL LIFE!

And this hottie mid century inspired leather armchair below gives my gal that hit of leather she lusts for, yet in a toned & tight silhouette-- I'll take some of THAT!

I angled her desk/dining table as well as her newly painted (& papered) bookcase to shake things up a bit. Remember that when your arranging or re-arranging your own furniture-- trying things on an angle could be the unexpected genius solution you never considered ...LURV...here's a close-up of the bookcase-- that's the clients' own pattern design that we had printed on adhesive-backed vinyl! It's subtle but SO CHIC and was uber-easy to do!

and

This divine blue velvet scooped side chair and mirrored side table (actually one of a three-piece set; the other two live on left side of sofa in first pic. awesome way to budget stretch-- buy a 'set' and break it, up for multiples) were scored from Joss & Main-- they are such a great source for crazy affordable 'liciousness-- become a member NOW biotch!!! (They do curated limited-run sales, so sorry there's no direct link for these items...you gotta get 'em when you see 'em on there!)

Given her budget and the limitations with being a renter in a strict-ass building like hers, overall, the space looks incredible! Upon seeing it for the first time after install, my client commented, "I feel like someone creative lives here". I'd say my job was done.

Today...

three years ago, I married my best friend...and this went down in front of our custom designed, toile-printed, Step & Repeat:

Hands down, the best day of MY LIFE! #WERKBETCH!!!! I love you, Dylan!

Furniture F*CKFEST, y'all!

Sometimes all the good us Thrift Whores do for the community comes back to us! Like this feast I stumbled upon at a Salvation Army furniture warehouse sale. BEYOND:

And oh shiot-- Look, y'all: that betch brought her portable cart along! WERK SHOP LIVE Hunty Blue Blouse!

Look at all this LIFE:

SHUT UP MARBLE DINING TABLE!!!

And just F*CK YOU China Cabinet all chic and shiot:

REALLY?

Oh yeah, y'all...REALLY:

ANOTHER. MARBLE. TABLE. WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE???

Them. Damn that was GOOD! Happy Whoring, y'all!

Get all up in that

Some whores are seeing New Order in concert tonight!

If you only have 5 minutes per phone call...

Then biotch, better make it count by taking your call in one of these babies:

YES! Gorg, right? These booths are just BEYOND sassy, with their new paint jobs...and look at the floors too:

These are painted in the company's logo colors using Benjamin Moore's Impervex latex enamel paint. It's water based, so the dry time is substantially less than oil based enamels, but it still took me about 4 days to WERK these two ladies out! Red being the absolute biotch of a color that she is to paint with, and b/c every surface in both of these booths was some kind of weird laminate-y horrid glossy surface, I had to use a primer. I used Benjamin Moore's Stix Waterborne Bonding Primer, which sounds like some sort of torture method. It too is water-based, so it was really easy to use and dried really quickly. Here's what that step looked like:

I hit both booths with two coats of primer. Then painted both out with at least two coats of paint each. The red lady was all kinds of finicky, as pointed out earlier, so of course she ended up getting like 4 coats. Honestly, I could of done even more, but she wasn't the only thing on the agenda for this office makeover, the selfish skank! The linoleum floors got some love by being scrubbed and then reconditioned with a generous coating of boiled linseed oil, which is just God's gift...that stuff works on ALL KINDS OF SURFACES...AMAZE!