Vanity

A few months ago when I decided to sign up for my course in Interior Design, I realized that I had a project right in front of me. Going from apartment to apartment with different roommates in Manhattan after graduating from college, I didn’t really have the luxury of decorating the way I would have liked to- I was just trying to pay my rent on time. However, since I have finally moved into my current apartment in Westchester with my husband, a place that I feel at home in, I realized how exciting Interior Design is and how much I missed it.

Over the years, I have helped my parents do some updates in their home and even in high school, I redid my room multiple times (and rearranged it whenever I was bored & needed a change, which was often…).

Looking around my room recently, I saw the makeshift vanity that I created from a Container Store folding shelf & a make-up mirror in a different light. The clutter grew to the point where it no longer looked organized no matter how I arranged everything- it was a hot mess. So, I started doing some research and came up with a design solution that I’m super proud of.

My new vanity is 2 separate pieces that I put together- the bottom is a 3-drawer table that I bought on Overstock.com, and the top mirror/drawer combination is actually from Pottery Barn Teen. Both pieces were bought with great deals, and I set it up against the focus wall in our bedroom, where it really pops & brightens everything up.

"Vanity" before... 

Vanity After!

Also, just rearranging the furniture in the room created a ton of space that I never realized I had. We were also able to (very comfortably) fit in some additional furniture, so we added a chair & side table that we purchased from one of my favorite places in the entire world, Home Goods.

My next challenge is going to be trying to fit a home office somewhere within my 900-square foot apartment, so hopefully I have the same amount of luck with that project! 

Wedding Season comes to an end...

This past weekend I attended my sixth wedding of the year (yes, that’s right, 6- not a typo). They ranged in location from Connecticut to Long Island to North Carolina. It was a big commitment, especially since I attended most of the bridal showers & bachelorette’s, but I have to say that we had a blast at every single one... Every bride was stunning & we got to celebrate and have really good times with friends & family.

I’m pretty fortunate that I actually love weddings & almost everything about them. I would have to say that my favorite part (aside from the open bar) are the speeches by the best man & maid of honor. I love to hear what the people closest to them have to say about the bride and groom. I do hold them to a pretty high standard, though, because the speeches at my own wedding were pretty amazing… if I say so myself.  

The best wedding is the one where you can really feel the personality of the bride & groom come out in all of the details. Since my own wedding was less than a year ago, I can really appreciate the time & work that goes into these little things but I feel that it’s very important- I’ll share more tips + some of the things that I did/made in future posts, since I learned a lot. My wedding favors were mason jars filled with mixes for either chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin cookies (filled by hand with love). I also made the tags with stamps from Paper-Source (an amazing store for crafts & stationary- definitely check it out if you haven’t been) and with lotsss of help from my bridesmaids (thanks again Amanda & Morgan!). 

Mason Jar Favors from Left: 1) Stamped tags to be tied to lids, 2) filling jars with cookie mix, 3) finished stamped lids

I really believe that you don’t need to spend a fortune on a wedding to make it special. With a little time, creativity, help from your bridal party and lots of research on Etsy, it can be done pretty efficiently.

I’m looking forward to the break we have now so that we can spend some time relaxing, but don’t worry- there are 2 Save the Dates on my calendar already for 2014- Bring on the next wedding season!

Just the Beginning...

Taken from the South Street Seaport, New York, NY

As most people do, I have many different passions & hobbies. Some of mine are Interior Design & Home Décor, Baking, Wine, Photography, Nature and Fashion, among so many more. So, I have decided to start channeling my creativity by translating these passions and hobbies into a blog that I can share with others out there who enjoy the little things in life and want to be inspired by them.

Family & Friends have always encouraged me to blog, but I also think that it’s a good time in my life to start. I have been married for almost 1 year- 2 weeks until our First Anniversary!, we are in the process of hunting for our first home- which I absolutely can’t wait to find and decorate, and I have made an accidental hobby out of attending weddings- we went to 6 this year!

Having finally decided that it is time to get back in touch with my more creative side and see where it takes me, today I finished Unit One of my Complete Course in Interior Design, which I am taking through the New York Institute of Art & Design. I have always been passionate about Interior Design and Home Décor and found the first course to be very informative- 5 more units to go until I receive my certification! Whether this turns out to be a continued hobby or turns into a career, I certainly won’t have any regrets about learning more about something that I love.

I also took a photography composition course with one of my best friends recently, and hope to continue to develop my photo taking & editing skills. Above this post is one of the photos that I took during the class. 

The goal of this blog is to focus on documenting my path to learning more about Interior Design & getting back in touch with my creativity - I can’t wait to share!