Hey iMaggers!

Whether I'm at a furniture store or a flea market, I’m often drawn to the most expensive option, without even knowing its price. From the magazines to the blogs, the beautiful work of the crème of the crop designers screams out to me: "Keep dreaming!" It's safe to say I'm not the only one with this problem. Why must the most beautiful things come with a price tag that looks more like a social security number? The little people deserve luxury, too! It's not fair!

That being said, when I see someone do something super creative on a budget, I appreciate that far more than anything that could be done with an unlimited supply of cash. I'm so impressed by people who see potential in the unconventional, and create something out of it. And that is really what great design is about – being creative within certain means. Taking nothing and making it into something beautiful.

Paloma, from La Dolce Vita, blogged about this today: She featured pictures of the interiors of a multi-million dollar listing and gave tips on how to achieve some of the looks on a budget. Brilliant! You can check out her post here.

On a similar note, I will be shooting a few segments with Cortney and Robert Novogratz from SIXX Design tomorrow. With seven children, they have built a development and design firm, flipping properties in Manhattan. And their work is absolutely beautiful. I will be going to their house to find out how to recreate their looks without emptying out your bank account. After all, buying beautiful furnishings is one thing, but creating them makes them uniquely yours.

Tune in for pics – soon to come!

Hey iMaggers!

Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Derek and Lauren from Smarts and Crafts. I spoke with them about their new book, Wallpaper Projects. You can read the Q&A here. They have done some incredible things with wallpaper, opening my eyes to interior design I had always thought of as either kitchy or way too country.

I mean, I'm a product of the '80s, and many of my childhood memories have a backdrop of interiors left over from the '60s and '70s. This includes but is not limited to: bright yellow metallic shapes, neon green stripes and faded florals. At the house I grew up in, my parents pretty much painted every room (detox from their own childhood I suppose), except for the bathroom and their bedroom which had pastel flowers that evoked a certain early '90s doctor's office feel, if you can relate. I don’t know, my experience with wallpaper had never been that inspiring.

But now, many artists are using wallpaper as a new medium. It's no longer your token floral or stripe. It has become its own art form. And with so many options out there, it's yet another way to express yourself. Whether a print or pattern is on the wall or covering your lampshade, wallpaper can dictate the tone of a room. And while for the most part, wallpaper is more expensive than paint, investing in a couple of rooms in the house gives your home depth and further defines your style personality.

So, with my new found interest, I searched the blogosphere to see what kind of designs are out there. And there is a LOT from which to choose. I broke it down into three categories, based on style, and chose a few of my favorites for each.

And remember, if you can't afford to do the entire room, consider doing just one wall, the top half of a wall with baseboard on the bottom half or wallpaper accent items with some of Derek and Lauren's ideas.

Hope you enjoy!

For traditional types:

Left: Mod Green Pod; Center: Trove; Right: Farrow Ball

For modern mamas:

Left: Rachel de Joode; Center: Jocelyn Warner; Right: ferm Living

And for the bohemian spirits:

Left: Trove; Center: Graham & Brown; Right: Madison & Grow

PS: For the record, my parents have lovely taste, and the doctor's office disasters are long gone. Next time I'm back up in Boston, I'll be sure to take some pics to prove it.

Hi there iMaggers-

I love finding interesting ways to store your stuff. And if you're like me, who lives in a "cozy" Manhattan shoebox, unconventional storage solutions are the name of the game. So you can understand my joy when I found this wall sticker from ferm living.
How cool is that? Just slap it up on your wall, hammer in a few hooks wherever you fancy, and you have a coat rack that uses no space whatsoever! You could even string some lights around it for the holidays.

And while buying the sticker is probably the simplest route to take, this look could easily be accomplished with an exacto knife, poster board, a pencil and black paint. Simply sketch a tree (or any object for that matter) on the poster board, cut it out with the exacto and tape the cutout to your wall. With your pencil, trace the cutout onto the wall, remove the posterboard and get painting!

Other looks I love:

For more storage solutions, check out iMag's At Home section.

Happy weekend!

Hey iMag-ers!

Got plans this weekend? If not, head over to West Elm this Saturday, June 20 for a preview of their fall line. Get there before opening to see the goods and get great design tips from their experts. Make sure you call your local West Elm to RSVP, and get 10% off all purchases made on Saturday, just for showing up early!

I'll take this opportunity to share a few of my faves for the fall!

Left: Curl up in these cotton quilts - machine washable!
Center: Pair candles with this woven wall art for a cozy feel.
Right: Come late September, swap out your summer shams for this awesome Ikat pillow cover!

Happy shopping! And enjoy the weekend!

xxB

Some girls love shoes, others go crazy for handbags, and then there are those whose Mecca is the makeup counter. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy splurging on style every now and then, and I understand the importance of investing in quality cover-up, but these things aren't generally driving me into debt.

Instead, you can find me drooling over home décor. Ever since I was little, the idea of building a home and filling it with fabulous treasures found everywhere from the flea market to Ikea has always made me smile.

That's why I've started Dish & Decorate, the newest section of the iMag blog. In an effort to help people (myself included) create wonderful spaces, I'll provide ideas and advice from my own bag of tricks, as well as through the looking glass of others, experts and amateurs alike. More importantly, I hope you follow along and share YOUR design successes (and setbacks), from which we can all gain some insight and inspiration.  After all, everyone's style is different, and there is no right way to do anything when it comes to decorating.

That said, I believe your home is a reflection of who you are (the main reason why I try to make my bed every day), no matter your budget, and therefore, you should fill it with things that make you happy. For me, this means photographs of the people I love and the memories I've made, my favorite books, paintings of Paris my mom bought in 1973 while she studied there and my bird pillow, to name a few. The best part is, these are all things that cost me very little, yet mean so much to me.

Bottom left: My dad in the early 1970s, Top right: My mom in the late 1960s

After all, decorating is expensive! Sure, living out of the Pottery Barn catalog would be pretty nice, but I'm here to argue that you can have it even better than that. Comfort is character: I believe that just like assembling a wardrobe, or getting physically fit, building a home is a piece-by-piece process. A room should tell a story and each item should play off another. "Wow, where did you find those shelves...?" "Funny story, they’re pieces of driftwood I found on the beach…." Or "This is a beautiful photo…" "Oh thanks, I took that on my trip to South America…"

Pretty soon, your home will be a collection of all the things that make you, you. Of course, it's always a work in progress. You'll switch furniture or swap pillows and your aesthetic will evolve as life goes on, but you'll be able to surround yourself with all the things that have made up your life, and in that way, your style will be all your own.

Tune in to our new "do it yourself" series on the at home section for ideas on how to cultivate your own style without spending a fortune. And if you have any good tips or photos, send them in and we'll post them!