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!

Alchemy Eclectic project reveal: Mekanism

Can y'all even handle all this hawt-ness being slung at you??? SO EXCITED to share the pics of one of my recent interior decorating gigs for this NYC office of this awesome ad agency called, Mekanism. HUGE shout out to Kelly Marshall who photographed the hell outta the place! GORG! Check out the interiors section to see the rest of the space (more screams for Tech Director, Dyl, for creating/managing/tolerating me & website/gallery realness)!!!

Another day, another Alchemy Eclectic interior...

Y'all are lookin' at a screen grab of one of the shots (by fab photog Kelly Marshall) from another one of my interior projects:

This is a detail pic of a bar, that I made from an old armoire from Salvation Army...

Check back soon for the hawt REVEAL shots of the rest of the space! HOLLA!

The Little Black...Nightstands!

A few weeks back I admitted, with gusto, that I painted wood...in copious amounts...all the time. And these Craigslist scores started like this:

Then were primed like so:

To turn out like THIS, Betch:

I mean...are y'all seeing this????:

WHAT?!?!

How insanely glossy gorgeous did this paint job make the old hardware look? WAY Gloss, WAY!

Show me those curves...sexy-time, oh!:

These gals just went from frau to mutha-f$%ckin' WOW! Class, how many of y'all are gonna start paintin' your wooden furniture now? Consider y'all-selves properly schooled!

Banal 2: Style Served

On yesterday's episode, my adorbs client in a banal Battery Park City apartment needed serious style help w/her multifunction living & dining rooms. It's almost unfathomable: popcorn ceilings, gargantuan furniture...beige. OH-- the SHADE of it all! But, clutch your pearls, Betches...'cause things are 'bout to get correct-ed:

Proposal #1 above is just melt-in-your-mouth yummy...but WAIT, there's MORE!:

Proposal #2 is also scrumptious, yet giving y'all a melange of different flavors to make you whip your hair back & forth! Whip your hair back & forth!

What's happening in both proposals is that I'm trying to give the lady what she wants: hits of industrial & wood, a sense of 'lightness' w/slimmer profile furniture, color, reusing some pieces that WERK and several nods to her feminine bling side, which she didn't even know she had til I READ HER, all proper-like...

Check back tomorrow to see the HAWT reveal pics of what we ended up going with, but in the meantime...which of the proposals do y'all prefer?

Boudoir BACKSLAP!

Back in August, I posted about this amazing wallpaper (from Ebay!?) that was being installed in a master bedroom project I'm working on:

Here's the hand painted forest/barren-wood scene that it covered up:

OH! But then lovely was unleashed:

and:

With a dash of this shiot from ZGallerie:

And a pinch of this biotch from Horchow:

Glamour started sprouting all over this wall:

Then these ho's got slung up:

And there's ALL KINDS of 'licious happening in here now:

Yummy! And just wait until we're finished, y'all!!!

Forward Momentum

Happy Friday! Thought I'd end this week with a quick pic update of a clients new dining room light fixture...

Apologies for the poor image quality, but y'all get the idea of what's going on here:

This the Meurice Chandelier, from Jonathan Adler, in Brass, and I think It's pretty stunning! It's paired with this rustic and rectangular chunky farm table and this chic as sin paper from Tempaper! Gorg! I'll include 'to-buy' details later...oh, and that's superstar Henry already making good use of the new light by doing his homework! How inspiring!!!!

This, btw, is what we were dealing with BEFORE:

And...

We've still got LOTS more ground to cover, but I'm pleased as punch with how we're moving forward!!!

Happy weekend!