Style Lush

I'd be happy to give you my mailing address

By Maggie

Style Lush Readers, I have NINE MILLION THINGS GOING ON. Selling my house! Preparing for a week of single parenting! Potty training! My husband working full time and going to school on the weekends! Plus all the stuff I can't write about because I was STUPID and decided it was okay if people in real life read my blog. WHAT WAS I THINKING? 

It's been a particularly stressful couple of weeks, dear readers, and in a moment of calm I sat down with my laptop and started to "window" shop. Retail therapy makes everything better, right?

1. A red velvet cupcake from Trophy Cupcakes in Seattle, $3
2. Blooming wreath flower kit from Paper-Source, $19.95
3. Mosaic coasters from ringmosaics, $35
4. Strapless embossed dress from J.Crew, $140 
5. Silk tie-neck dress from Banana Republic, $110
6. Splendor, by Anna Godbersen, $17.99  (perhaps I should just go get the copy I have on hold at the library)
7. That Gal brightening face primer, $28
8. Teal lotus flower modern clutch from Upstyle, $70

{photo credits: Trophy Cupcakes, Paper-Source, ringmosaics Etsy shop, J. Crew, Banana Republic, Powells.com, Benefitcosmetics.com, Upstyle Etsy shop}

Favorite cut flowers

By Maggie

When I used to work near the Pike Place Market I came home with fresh flowers every week. There are a dozen flower vendors selling whatever's in season - dahlias were my favorite. But ever since I gave up my paycheck and became a stay at home mom, flowers are no longer in the budget. But now we are taking on Project Sell The House and fresh flowers are practically a requirement, right? RIGHT. 

My favorite cut flowers are splashy Gerbera daisies, the brighter the better. These were my go-to flowers for our open house last week. I love them splayed out in a tall glass vase...

 

...bunched tightly in a short vase...

 

or even just one stem hanging out in a bud vase, like this one on my desk. 

I tend to favor big bright flowers of one variety in a plain glass vase - daisies, dahlias, hydrangeas and peonies are my favorites.  What are your favorites?

And check out this What Kind Of Flower Are You quiz at This Garden Is Illegal. (I'm a sunflower!)

{photo credits: joyflowersandevents.com, teleflora.com, me} 

What's on your desk?

By Maggie

When we first moved into this house, my "office" consisted of a giant Ikea tabletop in the guest room while my husband got the full use of the actual office downstairs. Then we had kids and I lost my fantastic-for-art-projects "desk" and found myself stuck with the dining room table. Since THAT was a total bummer I talked my husband into buying me this perfect-for-small-spaces desk from West Elm. LOVE. 

 

This desk has been crammed next to my side of the bed, crammed between my husband's desk and the treadmill in the office, and now it lives next to the couch in the living room. Since this is pretty much the only space that is ALL MINE, I wish I could keep it cute. However, please take a gander at the extreme lack of cute: 

 

The sad thing is? This is pretty cleaned up. (I'm practicing for showing the house!) 

Usually there are stacks of paper on either side of my laptop - the mail, magazines, notes to myself on one side and bills and receipts on the other. I had one of those paper sorter thingies but I, uh, have too many papers for those. Everything I finish and need to file goes on the pull out tray, hidden out of sight for six months until I remember to file them. 

In THIS picture we have, on the left, one glass vase, left over from my wedding, in which I will stick some red and orange gerber daisies come house showing time. Next to that is a confiscated toy. Also a magazine and a cookie. I need snacks when I pay the bills! On the right I have a galvanized tin full of different kinds of pens, a flashlight and a ruler. The pink tin is full of scissors and multicolored Sharpies and yes, I use all of these pens on a near daily basis. I LIKE PENS. There's also a tape dispenser I didn't put back in the drawer, my cell phone, my iPod shuffle and my favorite notepad. There's usually WAY more random junk on this surface (and tons more hiding behind the computer monitor), but I worked hard to put stuff away in preparation for showing the house. Would you believe this desk was all cleared off just HOURS ago? Containing nothing but a shiny computer, two cans of pens and an empty vase? I have no idea how this clutter happens. The only thing I'm sure will disappear is the chocolate chip cookie.

My desk has to be flexible. I can't hang anything on the wall above it because I'm always moving it around. There's not enough room on top for filing or storage. I try to keep a photo of my kids in view, but it always gets knocked over. One day it will have a room of its own and all the cute things it deserves, but for now it makes do with a slice of the living room and status as the surface on which Important Looking Papers Go To Die. 

What's on YOUR desk?

{photo credit: West Elm}

Reader help: Wealth corners

by Maggie

We are going to put our house on the market in the next couple of weeks. HOLD ME. I am equal parts elated and terrified, not least because of the pressure to make my house pretty. I mean, it's pretty enough for me, but who knows what kind of HGTV-educated, crafty, actually-knows-what-the-word-'vintage'-means sorts are going to be traipsing through my house? I am not pretty enough for them.

I had a realtor in here telling me what I'd need to clean up and put away. He pointed out two corners in my house - the farthest corner of my kitchen and the farthest corner of my living room - and told me these were my "wealth corners". If you Google 'wealth corner' you get all these feng shui links (gak) but I'll just say these are the 'focal point' corners in my house and the realtor said I want to make sure these look good. The living room one is fine - a bunch of plants, some photos, trinkety stuff that's not too trinkety, etc. But the kitchen one has been giving me grief ever since we moved in. 

WOE:

 
Wine bottle and tiny cake stand happily agree to pose for scaling purposes!

I've lived in this house for nearly five years and I still don't really know what to put in this corner. Wine bottles live there most of the time - the first several years in series of unsatisfactory wine racks I eventually sent to pasture at Goodwill. Now they stand at attention behind a heavy red platter I picked up on sale at Pottery Barn. I put fruits and veggies in the platter along with anything else that winds up in the corner and needs a home. It's deep, so it's not a good place for appliances, and it's shallow because of the cabinet above, which means a lot of the wine racks I like won't fit. 

I change it up every so often and try to keep it looking neat, but now that STRANGERS are going to be dropping by and INSPECTING things, I need some ideas. They don't have to be practical, just PRETTY. I have white cabinets, black counters, white walls (with one brown wall, which I hate, but not enough to paint around all the cabinets) and cherry red accents. 

I have a red cake stand? Maybe a red vase? But flowers under the cabinet seem kind of strange. Some sort of wide and shallow bowl? Help a decor-challenged girl out, Style Lush readers!

When white dishes feel boring

By Maggie

All of my dinner plates and most of my serving plates are white, and whenever I play pretend-set-the-table, the plates are always white. Food looks best on white plates AND plain white goes with every color and every style. Dinnerware is expensive and takes up a lot of space, and I'd rather have nice white plates and a closet full of patterned and multicolored table linens than drawers full of dishes that can only pull off one look. 

That said, I love looking at dishes. I would like to own all of these. I prevent myself from buying anything colorful or patterned unless it's a serving piece or dessert plate or fun little bowls, but maybe you have room in your cupboards or need to upgrade?

 

1. Audrey Red Dinnerware from Bed, Bath, and Beyond
2. Porto dinnerware from World Market
3. Camille dinnerware from Crate and Barrel
4. Regent Narrow Band dinnerware from Crate and Barrel 
5. Lenox Simply Fine "Chocolate" Dinnerware from Macy's
6. Cherry Blossom dinnerware from World Market
7. Paradiso set in burgundy/cream from Target 
8. Mikasa Red Berries dinnerware from Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Tablescape: Valentine's Day dinner for two

By Maggie

Light some candles, put on a cute apron and cook a fabulous dinner for just you and your sweetie on Valentine's Day. 

1. I love this tulips-and-red-hots centerpiece from MarthaStewart.com (learn how to make one here.) You could also mix this up with candy hearts or pink roses.

2. A perfect crisp white tablecloth. Maybe a little boring, but white will make...

3. ...your red accent dishes look amazing. Choose red serving pieces, like these red soup crocks, perfect for an easy yet super impressive French onion soup.

4. A nice simple martini glass for the pink cosmopolitans you'll mix up in... 

5. ...a sleek stainless shaker. Two super classic items you definitely need in your cupboards. (Along with that white tablecloth!)

6. Sprinkle some red heart confetti around your place settings.

7. I love this antique bottle opener from Pottery Barn. I think it might make a pretty gift as well.

8. White tapers would look beautiful in these red glass holders. I'd group a set of these at one corner of the table along with the centerpiece when you put out the rest of your meal. 

{Photo credits: marthastewart.com, Crate and Barrel, World Market, Target, Amazon, Pottery Barn, Pier 1}

What Should I Buy? Roaring Twenties costume party

By Maggie

Because I am bored and winter doldrummy, and also because we had to cancel our annual Christmas party when my sister decided to get MARRIED on my party date (HOW DARE SHE), I talked my husband into throwing a totally different party next month. A St. Valentine's Day Massacre party. With casino games. And bathtub gin. And FLAPPER DRESSES.

I should be concentrating on how to best turn my house into a Prohibition-era speakeasy, but I am spending an embarrassing amount of time online looking at flapper dresses. Anyone else out there who loves to dress up all crazy-like? I KNOW it's not just me!

There are all sorts of flapper costumes out there. Like these: 

Left: $29.99 at Amazon.com  Right: $39.99 at Amazon.com

But I'm kind of thinking I don't want a costume. No, I think I want a crazy expensive ACTUAL FLAPPER DRESS. Like these:

 

Left: $378 at Unique Vintage  Right: $168 at Unique Vintage. 

But I think I'm going to settle for this one:

$29.80 at Forever 21. What do you think? Not 1920s enough? Too fringey? I'm thinking the price is right and all I need to do is fling a feather boa over my shoulders and find myself a cigarette holder at the party store. Now to look up a bathtub gin recipe...

{Photo credits: Amazon.com, Unique-Vintage.com, Forever21.com}

Toy storage - or lack thereof

By Maggie

This morning I visited a friend whose baby is not quite old enough to destroy the house with Legos and Little People, and I sat on her lovely armchair in a lovely living room, seething with jealousy. One day my house will look nice again! In the meantime, I obsess over toy storage solutions. 

Not that I have any good ones to share - sorry! I live in a smallish house and we do most of our playing on the second level of our townhouse, an open rectangular space that comprises the living room, dining room and kitchen. As the kids get older their toys come with more parts, so I am constantly rearranging and reworking the living area toy storage. 

After Christmas I picked up some cheap storage tubs at Target for their new zillion-piece toy sets. I stack them in the built in shelves next to our fireplace (former home of the electronics that now sit on the mantel, SIGH.)

Legos in the green tub; a wooden train set, Mr. Potato Head and Play-Doh sets in the tubs below.

And these shelves used to have books on them, but a few months ago I bought these giant fabric bins (at Target, again) to house random toys and the ten tons of Thomas train tracks we inherited when my husband's coworker found out we were having a boy. Any extra random toys get tossed in the basket next to the shelves. 

 

We used to have this toy shelf set up downstairs (Target! Again!)...

...but moved it into the tiny hallway upstairs when we bought the wooden kitchen we keep right next to the real kitchen. (Which is also where we store all the toy food and dishes.) We keep books, puzzles and blocks in this organizer, great for keeping the kids occupied when I do upstairs housework. 

I will never be happy with our toy storage solutions until someone builds me my huge basement playroom and I never have to sweep Play-Doh crumbs from under my couch again, but my assortment of baskets and tubs will do for now. My kids can pull them out and take them down by themselves (except for the train tracks, because I am not kidding about the ten tons) and they're easy for picking up and putting away. Well, in THEORY it is. In PRACTICE I am not sure how you get a two- and one-year-old to put away Mr. Potato Head without constant interruptions for Time Out. 

How do YOU keep toys from swallowing you whole? 

{Photo credits: ME and Target.com}

Save the wine!

By Maggie

I'm not usually into froofy wine gadgets - I have three or four fancy shmantzy bottle openers living somewhere in the cabinet above my refrigerator and a drawer full of stoppers - but someone gave me a wine vacuum for Christmas and I LOVE IT. 

Vacu Vin Stainless Steel Wine Saver gift set, $19.99 on Amazon.com 

If your household is able to polish off a bottle of wine before it goes bad, this might not be for you. But I'm the only lush wine drinker in my family and I often find myself dumping bottles down the sink. TRAGEDY!

I gave this wine saver a try, despite my Silly Wine Gadget Suspicions, but I now throw out the corks and use the vacuum's stoppers instead, every single time. It's awesome! I haven't had to wave goodbye to my wine as it sloshes down the drain since. 

The wine savers on Amazon range in price from $6.99 to Are You Kidding Me? Highly recommend!

{image credit:  amazon.com}

Boots you won't have trouble zipping up

By Maggie

Several years ago I hit up a department store shoe sale with a friend. At the time I was attempting to transform myself from Pajama Pantsed College Student to Young Professional, and wearing a lot of skirts to the office. I had noticed a lot of other Young Professionals downtown wearing boots with their skirts and for the first time in my life (certainly not the last!) I was experiencing a severe case of Boot Lust. So when my friend and I spied a pair of knee-high black boots in our price range (cheap!) we both tried them on. They looked awesome on my friend's slender legs, but I could barely zip them up. I bought them anyway - because I COULD zip them up - but it wasn't long before the cheap fake leather began to pull away from the zipper. Each year thereafter I kept my boot lust to myself and never tried on boots in a store again. It was just too embarrassing.

Then I discovered shopping online. I KNOW! Style Lush readers are totally turned on to Zappos, I KNOW. I am slow! But for any of you larger-calved girls out there who can't even bring themselves to THINK about knee-high boots lest you start wailing and gnashing your teeth (it wasn't just me, right?) I bring hope! You can wear cute boots too!

All of these picks are from Zappos (because it's one of the only sites that tells you the actual boot circumference, at a size 7 at least), they're under $150 (almost!) and made of real leather - none of that stretchy shiny stuff, or giant elastic panels that scream WIDE CALF! They're also pretty safe choices, but I figure if you finally find a pair that fits, you want them to go with everything.

1. Fitzwell Coira, $128.79, 15" circumference. LOVE these. My first pair of wide calf boots were Fitzwells and I got a zillion compliments on them.

2. Type Z Stella, $150.95. This boot has a 14.75" circumference which I still think is kind of small, but I love the braiding on the sides.

3. rsvp Brenda, $144.00, 15" circumference. SEXY! Love the stitching on these and the super pointy toe. I couldn't pull these off but I bet YOU could!

4. Gabriella Rocha Achava, $135.96, 15.5" circumference. I really like the band at the top of these boots.

5. Lumiani Magnolia, $118.29, 15" circumference. I like the black suede.

6. Lumiani Castalia, $122.36, 16" circumference. These are a little funkier and it doesn't look like you'd get the Cankle Effect (calves fit perfect, but ankles are baggy) at all with these.

Start showing off those muscled legs, ladies!