Josef Albers Inspired Roller Shades! DIY!!

Flipping thru the channels yesterday I caught a moment from "The Slaughter Rule". Check the shades!! Either some genius set dresser painted the shades or these actually existed. Either way you can make your own by masking and painting directly on cheap white roller shades. Just make sure the paint is transparent enough to let the light in. Albers Inspired. Seventies for sure. 

My Mothers Kitchen: A Stove In An Island.

1970 something. And this is my mothers kitchen. She designed it. A large picture window over the sink. A giant mirror on the wall the same size. The massive copper hood. A stove in an island. Two tone butcher block. Mustard yellow vinyl placemats. Bruer Cesca armchairs. Oh the wood ceiling! the track lighting! the terracotta flooring and backsplash! And her knives in a glass box by the sink. There she is in her batik apron looking very chic. I love her. She's my mom.

and here is me and my dad enjoying the kitchen that mom loved. But remember its not where you cook its what you cook. Things change. Kitchens change. But food continues to be enjoyed.

Bedroom Ceiling Black Out!

This morning.. right in front of my nose... I found a small rusty finishing nail on my pillow. From the 1890's. It fell out of the ceiling. Thats IT! Paint it Black... And SEAL it too! Next time I will have to hire someone. I am buff now.. but damn that hurt.

Kitchen Makeover!! How to change it up with out spending a million bucks!

I didnt have a million dollars to spend.. but I had to lighten the dark kitchen in our new apartment. You cant always get what you want. I wanted: new countertops, new backsplash, new fridge, new stove and was desperate to rip out the drop ceiling. But I just couldn't afford it. So I came up with a solution that ran me around $1200.00 and offered a dramatic change. Spray lacquer the cabinets! This really picked up my spirits.

I took off all the doors, hinges, and hardware myself to save a little $$ and carefully numbered and labeled everything for easy restoration. I sent the doors over to my painters shop for spraying. When I was out of town they came over and sprayed the base cabinets. Love them.

If you want to do something like this in your kitchen there are a few ways to go depending on if you rent own etc. and the quality of your cabinets. You can go in with a paint brush or a smooth roller some semi gloss or pearl finish paint and take care of business. Or call a professional for spray lacquer.

Please email if you have questions about your kitchen or need a little advice about any room in your house! meghan@meghanduran.com.

Gettin' Spicy!! Gettin' Organized! Awesome adjustable cabinet organizer.

Today I opened my spice cabinet to an explosion of spices salts condiments and bouillon. I couldn't take it anymore. Time to get organized!! Its great to have all your spices organized when you cook so that you can see what you have and know where it is. In theory you should clean out your spice and herb storage at least once a year. Spices and herbs become stale and loose potency when kept too long. Whole spices retain more of their oils than ground spices so whole spices are generally good for a few years while ground spices only retain peak flavor for a year. It is easy to tell if your spices are still good by smelling and tasting them. If the flavor or smell is weak. Toss em. The first time i did this I found a jar of Cayenne that i had brought with me when I moved to NY from CA over 10 years ago!! it was about as spicy and aromatic as flour! You do want to keep dried herbs and spices away from heat and light and store them in airtight containers. If you have any unusual, hard to get, expensive herbs or spices consider storing them in the fridge - they will keep twice as long. My husband brought me a spice mixture called "head of the shop" from a spice market in Morocco - this is something that is unusual and hard to get so- Fridge!! Bulk herbs and spices that come in plastic baggies end up scattered all over the cabinet and create a mess. I washed out the old stale spice jars and reused them for my bulk herbs and spices. Bye bye plastic baggies. hello order. Once I separated the good from the bad and made sure everything was stored correctly... I bought this awesome Copco adjustable cabinet organizer - it has three tiers and allows you to actually see the things in the back of the cabinet!! You can use this in any cabinet and expand it across the width. It works great for your canned and dried things as well. Here it is below available at BBB. They also have a few versions at the container store. Its rad. Do it.

ANCHORS AWAY!!!!!

I woke up this morning at 6am with a text message from my girl Meaghan Montagano. In the middle of the night her wall shelf collapsed taking some nice chunks of the wall with it and leaving gaping holes in the lathe and plaster. She didn't want any visitors coming in thru the holes so I ran over and gave her a hand. It wasn't what was on the shelf.. it was how they were installed. Every hardware store in New York tries to sell you these self driving anchors cause they think you cant handle a drill. These anchors just DONT WORK in lath and plaster walls. They don't grab and pull out when bearing the slightest bit of weight. They are made for new construction drywall and even then they leave gaping holes when removed. I have banned them from my tool kit. When you are hanging something there is an array of anchors that are appropriate for each type of wall. Check out this article on fasteners from "This Old House" for the full breakdown. And when in doubt ask a handy friend for help!

REWIND!! SOFA REDUX!

This sofa was purchased by my friend and mentor Marla Weinhoff for "The Guitar" directed by Amy Redford. After the film wrapped they had a big prop sale and I talked a sofaless girlfriend into buying it for $150 bucks! When she moved to LA she gave it to me!!! And I couldn't resist a psychedelic redux!! Thank you Martin Albert Interiors! Crazy. Just Crazy.

LIVIN' LARGE... IN A TINY SPACE.

Photo by Marla Weinhoff. From the window of the Kravet Showroom

Today I have been bombarded by tid bits of media about how to maximize small spaces. I've lived in New York for 12 years so you'd think I would be a pro by now - but until 3 years ago I had always lived in gigantic lofts which allow you to accumulate without notice.. Now that i live in a regular sized apartment.. it has been a struggle and one everyone here goes thru.

In this weekends New York Times I read about a man who has lived in 348 sq feet since 1985.. Here we have a pro who knows how to make it work. The problem always is "things".. i mean we are people.. we love things.. they inspire us intrigue us and allow us to create a mood within our space.. a mood that contrasts with the outside world.. a mood that highlights our interests and personality. To be able to express this and live in 348 sq feet is a miracle and a gift. Multipurpose. Multifunctional. Storage and reflective surfaces. Mirrors. This seems to be an underlying theme for maximizing small spaces.

In my morning sift thru the news I landed on a blog called unclutterer.com. You can imagine what they help you with here. There was an article about a woman who had gone to clean out a storage room she had rented for 7 years. She threw away almost everything in the storage room save a few sentimental items small enough to fill a drawer. She did the calculations.. 7 years at $120 per month was $10,000. She had spent 10,000 storing a bunch of crap she threw in the trash. Like her storage unit many of us small apartment dwellers keep a bunch of shit we just dont need. Release it. Bye bye. If you dont love it use it need it. Let it go.

As I scrolled thru the rest of the unclutterer site I noticed a video about an apartment in Hong Kong. The space had been written up in the NYTimes over a year ago "24 rooms tucked into one".. Hong Kong Architect Gary Chang wins the award on small space living... in his own spaceship modern style he has transformed the 344 square foot apartment which at one time housed his entire family and a tenant! This is an architect employed everything he knew about architecture and small space living to create his dream. The video from Discovery Channels Worlds Greenest Homes is at the bottom. Pretty Crazy. The Transformer. Check it OUT>

YOU GOT TO CO-OR-DI-NATE!

IF ONLY!! We could order matching pajamas for everyone below!!! And since everything is coordinated why not the carpet too?

Just look at those prints. The wallpaper matches the drapes matches the bedspread matches the upholstery. And as a contrast we have the pattern in two different color ways! HA!

Oh Susan. Oh Roberta. Oh the balloon shades!!! Desperately seeking Laura Ashley.

And of course. Chloe Sevigny in tow. A nod to the decade she loves to follow.

But now, seriously, we must pay homage to the original coordination man John Witherspoon.

ADVENTURES IN TIME WITH THE DECORATING MUSTACHE

Well the outfit should tell you this is 1979 - The wall paint and lounge chair should tell you the same thing. This was all the rage then. So was the super rad outfit. I think I just saw that sweatshirt on the street yesterday in Williamsburg. Arthur Macdonald you look fantastic! Those shoes are whiter than white! And your stash is blacker than black!

Roof top 1979. Lets just say David Beckham eat your heart out. You wonder where Armani got the concept. Puhleaze! Arthur does it with authenticity. Look how he brought a blanket and sofa cushions to the roof. Hotness!!

And finally this masterpiece. It has to be 1980. Allentown PA. The shirt. The shorts. The belt. The socks!!! The fan on the side table. The crystal decanter with matching glasses. A moment in time caught on Polaroid. A+mazing.

All photos courtesy of Arthur MacDonald - contributing decor editor.

Pimpin aint easy.. but that living room needed a bi*%ch slap!! Marla Weinhoff extends her hand and whips it into shape!!

Before After
Marla Weinhoff a truly talented and accomplished production designer with an amazing eye for interiors was being taunted by her husbands living room. She would wake up at night and hear it calling out to her.."Marla?? are you there?? Can you hear me? Help me! Fabulize me!"

It all started at The Modern Show where we saw the amazing sofas that inspired us.... From Rue Auber. Edward Wormely for Dunbar with original fabric from the 1960's by Jack Lenor Larsen. With a little encouragement from yours truly..she bought them!! And so the makeover started! The dominos fell one by one... the carpet... the coffee table, the book cases, the dining table, the chairs, and before we knew it... THE WHOLE LIVING ROOM!!

Marla always told me a carpet is the soul of any room. So we started at ABC Carpet. She showed our friend Paul photos of the sofas and he directed us to a large burgundy gradated silk and wool carpet.... A nice background to compliment the wild sofas. With two sofas Marla thought - two coffee tables for sure!! After looking for a couple weeks she realized it may be cheaper to fabricate.. so she did a sketch and she sent it to Raphael over at RG Tile. Fossil Black Marble.. beautiful!!

We all know decorating a room can be expensive so Marla had to cut corners where she could... I convinced her to go to Ikea where we found the Besta shelving system. They had narrow 7" deep shelves for the major amount of paper backs that had to be stored.. We stacked the shorter shelves on top of the tall ones to give a floor to ceiling custom effect for a fraction of the price...

The TV console is also from Ikea and added a fun pop of color while providing storage for the thousands of playstation controllers that had been found littering the house..

We all love a Saarinen but the real ones are so expensive, new they have a 6-10 week lead time! Who can wait for that!? Here is a reproduction of the original tulip table from Room and Board in black marble. Amazing photo of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page from Led Zepplin by LesGuzman.

the repro tulip chairs are from Shop Seating. Marla used beautiful leopard fabric to cover the seats of the chairs and give them a custom feel!! Another trip to ABC revealed this beautiful camoesque silk and wool carpet for under the dining table...

Before After

A tall red velvet curtain conceals a little nook for storage while adding height to this now pimped living room!!! Looking good and everyone enjoying!! Hottness!

FIFTIES MANIA: A DECORATIVE TIME CAPSULE

My dear friend Arthur MacDonald has a decorative obsession with the fifties. He has toiled for years over his west village apartment creating his own manifestation of fifties decor... He has hand painted faux wall papers and linoleum flooring, installed faux brick walls and custom made bamboo room dividers, meticulously restored furniture and lighting, and sewn draperies from vintage fabrics... Arthur has done it all himself... and of course with a little help from his friends.. I mean REALLY!!!! SOMEBODY SHOOT A MOVIE IN ME!!!

"Lighting is the liveliest of the home decorating arts, and, by it's nature, the most important. It is also the most neglected. Without imaginative, creative lighting, even impeccable decorative instinct and the finest furnishings fail to attain glorious realization. Lighting is the touchstone, the unifying and vitalizing force, where even ordinary rooms are startlingly transformed, and special rooms achieve sudden, striking distinction!" - Arthur MacDonald

Dirty Martini Anyone?

Here we see the inspiration developed at a very young age... and as we know the home we grow up in shapes us for life!! Arthur below with his bothers and sister....

For location inquiries please contact meghan@meghanduran.com