Um no, Ivanka

I like Ivanka Trump. She always comes off intelligent and as much down-to-earth as you probably can be having her parents. I also like the way she dresses, professional (when appropriate) and classy. However, designing residential spaces may not be one of her many talents. I was looking through a May 2008 Glamour magazine story I have where she gave her assistant's apartment a makeover. Yes, this place needed a new look, it was a one-bedroom apartment shared by two people with a full bed hiding the fireplace in the living room.



But the after was....well, see for yourself:

Click to see big.

All kinds of Over-The-Top, right?



Yes, that IS silver wallpaper on the walls. There are also two full-size painted cheetahs and a peacock statue in the silver, black, red, and hot pink room. See Ivanka's assistant, Darcy, right next to the peacock? Her quote in the magazine, "Now every time I come home, I can't believe I actually get to live here!" So, do you think she's really happy?

So why did I keep the story? Well, because of the kitchen. In another apartment, the silver spray-painted appliances and the mirror-mounted cabinet doors could look cool, right? I also like the curtain track to hide the kitchen from view when needed. I'm all about the kitchen-divide curtain. Otherwise, Ivanka-dear, this place scares me. I also wonder if I worked for you would I have the guts to tell you I didn't like it? I SO hope your assistant likes it because as they say on Project Runway, "that's a lot of look!"

Note: This was not an anti-Ivanka post. I DO like her.

The Kindness of Strangers

Agnes Bourne Design
I saw these pictures from interior designer Agnes Bourne on Desire to Inspire and I was struck by the green woodgrain on the cabinets. Yum! This would be a great way to update old wood or melamine* kitchen cabinet doors.

Luckily, the cool couple behind Something's Hiding in Here just revealed their easy technique for faux woodgrain paneling to ReadyMade magazine. They used it to give their bathroom an enviable new look. Someone could use this very easy technique with a little bit of sanding and primer to make a formally blah kitchen into something cooler, especially if you take this route and do it in a "not seen in nature" color.

I discovered this couple's apartment a few years ago on Flickr. I couldn't help noticing that they had painted their wood furniture much like I have mine, even their coffee table has the same lines as my bright yellow one.


Recently, I was struck by the color of their bedroom furniture, so I inquired what it was and it seems I wasn't the only person to ask. So guess what sweet thing they did? They shared the custom paint recipe for the color on their blog. I can now take this "recipe" to Lowe's and get this exact color for my bedroom dresser. Yes, the same one that I couldn't pick a color for. I knew I wanted a blue to coordinate with the bedside table but just couldn't find the right one but I think this is it. Now I just need to get myself to the store with this formula, get it mixed up, pick up the green paint for the living room armoire...and I'm in business!

Thank you Stephen and Shauna!

*I know there are specific primers that work on melamine to make this possible but I don't know which ones.

Hmm, about that wallpaper?

I just remembered that the cheap place mat decor currently on my kitchen cabinets has been falling off, so there is another place that removable wallpaper would look great. So, now I can link four spaces in my apartment together. A riot of color! This makes the possibility of this actually happening even more doable. However, that catalog of designs at Sherwin-Williams still freaks me out. If anyone was inspired to check it out from my last post and you saw any cute designs that could tie together a latte coffee-color door and trim color, off-white walls, and bright colors, please pass them on, OK? Here's some more help, should you seriously choose to take on the above assignment: Living room/entry closet (8-feet long) with the landlord-painted front door in orange (ignore the bronze hardware, I do). Pantry door and the curtain that will hide the kitchen from the living room, which soon will be installed to the left of the pantry. The magazine photo from Wish magazine is a more accurate representation of the color combo in my bedroom than this photo, actually taken in my bedroom; my closets and all the trim are that weird color on the bottom half of that wall. Neither of these colors are going to change.

C'est tres chic!

I have a great kitchen cabinet makeover for you this time.

What do you say about upholstered kitchen cabinet doors?

Sound like something out of your budget? Something too luxurious to imagine?

Well, what if I say no. It is just a very do-able DIY project from the sweet Veronique of Tres Chic Veronique. I discovered her blog after seeing an adorable dress she had just made on her Flickr stream.

Once the beautiful yellow and black Honeybee fabric from Etsuko Furuya's caught my eye and I got over the surprise that the fabric really was on the doors of her cabinets I knew I had to share this greatness with others. Her cool tutorial is here.

Another Refrigerator Makeover!

As I have become the girl that highlights all DIY refrigerator and kitchen makeovers (here, here, here, and here), I can't believe I waited until now to post this one.

This one was featured on Design*Sponge as part of her new DIY Wednesday segments.

My SHELTER suggestion: As an alternative to felt you can also use those colorful foam sheets found at Jo-Anns and Michaels.

Project created by the team at The Curiosity Shoppe

Yet another way to change your kitchen

What, you don't like the cupboards in your kitchen and can not afford to replace your kitchen appliances from the 1970's?

Buy $30 of paint and you problems will be over.

"The basic color scheme is a soft buttery yellow for the cabinets, with periwinkle blue on the cabinet handles. For the appliances, Susan Churcher used rust-resistant paint for metals. She painted the oven doors periwinkle blue then touched up knobs and dials in a bright orange enamel paint."
Check out the details at Sunset magazine.

Another papered refrigerator...

Paula Smail covered hers with a London A-Z street map.

How to wallpaper your fridge...

My 100th Post !!!
How much do I love Time Out New York? SO MUCH.

I first saw the NY travel guide after I had arrived in the big apple. That was way too late, you need this guide ahead of time so you can highlight and map all of the things that you want to check out when you get in town. Afterwards you need to take it home so that you can have the time to read the little articles that they produce for entertainment, like this one.

I remember Nick Olsen from an issue of Domino magazine where he covered his refrigerator in a floral wrapping paper.

Now, here he is in Time Out helping another New York apartment dweller do the same to her graffiti-covered fridge with the instructions included. Nick claims that it will be reversible and fine for renters.

Now their total cost came to $170 but that's only because they used $155 a roll wallpaper! One can easily do this project with less expensive but still gorgeous papers like these from Papermojo. These individual sheets range in price from $2-5 dollars for 20" x 29" sheets.








You should also check out TONY's Tossed and Found posts with the design team Wary Meyers. They take objects or furniture off of the NY streets and recreate them as new decorative items.

*For more inspiration, check out this older Shelter post about covering your cabinets with art posters.

The Power of the Imagination

I found this via the web, of course. From ReadyMade magazine's blog, to the designer's site, Jonathanfongstyle, to my little blog, and now to you.

When Jonathan Fong discovered that posters were 40% off at a museum's Andy Warhol retrospective, he decided to buy a lot of them and decoupage his kitchen cabinets.



His cabinets were plain white laminate (like most rental apartments) and he applied the posters using regular Elmer's Glue. If you rent, you can eliminate his last step of applying five coats of acrylic polyurethane and it should not be difficult to remove them with a good soaking and an abrasive kitchen sponge when you move.

Affordable design and unforgettable style.

Check out his book, Jonathan Fong's Walls That Wow: Creative Wall Treatments Without Fancy-Schmancy Painting, for more great ideas.