Pick Me Up Mondays : Home Is Where the Heart Is

This heart-shaped welcome mat makes me feel bitter sweet since I'm in a long-distance relationship. Yes, going home would be nice for Valentine's Day. Spotted at Design Milk:

home is where the heart is doormat via Chiasso, $24

Smelling Pretty: Thymes Oolong Cassis Candle

Since college, I've been obsessed with fragrances and only recently picked up home sprays as an optimal way to keep my room smelling pleasant when I return home from a hard day's work at school. I discovered that Thymes Oolong Cassis candle is mad addictive

. According to the packaging: "the dark mystique of sweet cassis is stirred with aromatic notes of orange and bergamot and infused with the leaves of the black dragon – oolong tea." I picked it up Alphabets and didn't want to put it down. The floral notes on top of the deep rich tea aroma blends well -- it's calming yet enervating at the same time. I know, an oxymoron. Drinking tea itself can be that way though. My only reluctance was spending $26 on a candle. The fragrant aroma definitely imparts luxury, this ain't your Glades candle here. Since my apartment is small, I'm wary of using candles and found out that it does come in a fragrance home spray which is more optimal. Bonus points for pretty packaging, below.

Yoshitomo Nara in my Student Apt

There! I finally got my weekend art project done. You may recall this. What do you get when you've had Yoshitomo Nara's Oh! My God! I Miss You postcards that you've assembled in white IKEA frames but never got around to mounting? Well, you drag all 9 frames to NYC, dither, and finally get around to mounting it (sans nails) with the mighty help of 3M Velcro! My student apartment room is quite tiny so it's nice to have a major art element draw the eye in (and away from the clutter). All together, I'd say the total amount spent was less than $30 ~ the best part is I can easily dismantle this and take it with me to my next destination.

Ta da!

Woodland Creatures at your Dinner Place

If you love the outdoors and cuddly woodland creatures, then you're going to smile at the Forest Gump, a tabletop setting complete with salt and pepper shakers disguised as treetops and a porcupine serving as toothpick holders. Designed by Giovannoni Stefano for Alessi, Forest Gump is made of thermoplastic resin so the vibrant colors will hold up over time. Playful, fun, and with a woodsy modern motif, this table top setting is something I'd love to have for a fun dinner party or hospitality gift.  Available at The Future Perfect, $53.

Nom, Nom, Nom: Pac-Man HotHead Oven Mitts

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble. Indulge in those holiday baked goods while showing off your arcade gamer cred with these Pac-Man Oven Mitts. Made out of silicone, these bright yellow slim oven mitts are molded into classic Pac-Man shapes that are perfect to chase your family -- err, cookies with. I spotted them at Tate's Comics back in South Florida and tracked them online. Great for the next housewarming present for a fellow gamer geek. Available at ThinkGeek for $15.

Olympic Inspired Art For the Inner Olympian In All of Us

1972 Olympics Judo by Otl Aicher at L-Dopa Design, $360

Every four years, I get a thrill out of watching the Olympics (Summer, Winter, it doesn't matter). There's something magic about watching the nations parading in their uniforms, the best athletes competing in the world, and the sports drama that gets to me. As a designer, the sheer amount of promotion materials for the Olympics is dizzying -- merchandising, logo work, posters, etc. the list goes on and on. The designer Otl Aicher  created these Munich 1972 Olympics that are dynamic, colorful, and modern. They're excellent posters worthy of being hanged in your homes. Here's my favorites from vintage art/poster site L-Dopa Design

1972 Olympics Archery by Otl Aicher at L-Dopa Design, $420

1972 Olympics Shooting by Otl Aicher at L-Dopa Design, $350

I Love Pandas

I Spy a Panda Fight.

Snapped at Kinokuniya in Midtown Manhattan. The perfect coffee mug to starting off a kickass day! Must.Have.It.

Tromping the Pacific Northwest

Can we please take her home? While showing my brother around Seattle, we found this at Velocity Lab : Ursa the Wooden Bear designed by David Weeks for Areaware.  What a great gift to give a friend who loves the outdoors, craft toys, and earthy-organic things that can kill you. 

New York Times interviews Project Runway's Daniel Vosovic

Talk about two worlds colliding. Daniel Vosovic, Project Runway Season 2 finalist, gets a spread in New York Time's Habitats section. So, how does Daniel live it up in New York? The twenty-seven-year-old fashion designer shares a 5-bedroom apartment on the Lower East Side with four other roommates. Interesante.

Knock-off in Style: Budget Design blog

Despite a lack of regular updates, Knock-off in Style, is worth a look to marvel how derivative the world of design can be. Whether you are a frugal fashionista who wants good design at a low price  OR you're a design purist who is aghast at the rip-offs, there's plenty of mainstream examples here. Like that Eames chair? See it replicated from DWR to Crate & Barrel to Target. Talk about trickle-down economics.

Domino covers Seattle

Domino covers Seattle for October's latest shopping coverage: 

"The birthplace of pop phenoms like gourmet coffee and grunge, this Northwest hub is overflowing with indie fashion and design boutiques. Rita Konig scouts the next big thing." 

One of my favorite places that Domino mentioned? 

Deluxe Junk in Fremont. Beautifully displayed vintage furniture, piles of curios for you to sort through and decent prices. This place will keep you occupied. 

I love the vintage anatomy posters. 

The place is definitely inviting compared to other vintage shops. Fremont's loaded with tons of boutiques so it's a great place to walk and browse.

New York Times: Ask a student for advice on budget decor

On The Cheap: New York Times Slideshow 

Did you check the New York Times Style section today? I did a double-take when I saw their "Thinking like a Student" article,  an homage to innovative, budget decorating: 
"Consider, in these economically difficult times, that inspiring model of creative home design, the college student. No, we are not kidding...there is still much that can be learned from students who’ve managed to put together great looking places on what a grown-up might pay for a one-way ticket to Paris."


I'm a little amused that The Gray Lady talks about college students, or god forbid, budget decorators, as if they don't read the NYT. Le sigh.  

Click, Click, Click! Stedelijke Feestzaal Coffee Bar

Stedelijke Feestzaal Coffee Bar (2)

Originally uploaded on Flickr by gron51

Whaaaa? This coffee shop/lounge/cafe looks like a decorative mashup of Marie Antoinette, the Jetsons, and James Bond. Discuss. I dig the clash between the rococo and the white neo-gothic chaises, I'd nab those in a heartbeat. 

Halloween Already?

First, let me get this out : Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. It's like Christmas x Birthdays x New Year's Eve all rolled into one date:  Oct. 31st. So, I enjoy the efforts that retail stores put into the spooky holiday displays. But even I was impressed when I saw that the candle store, Illuminations, already had their Halloween displays up and running with tons of aromatic goodies in late AUGUST. That's gotta be a record in early festivity. So, what caught my eye at the store?
Try this elegantly festivive Edgar Allen Poe tribute: the raven wax candle, $12.95 at Illuminations
With the gothic trend, this decorative item is worth having on your bookcase or window sill year round.

My latest decor project

Settling into my new home, I dug up some art prints that I've been intending to display for a long time:

Yoshitomo Nara meets IKEA = awesomeness.
Ingredients:
Yoshitomo Nara's Oh My God! I Miss You postcard set
IKEA's white RAM 4x6" wood frames
Saw tooth photo frame hangers
Duct tape

That will pair well with my Harajuku Girls photo portrait I just framed with IKEA's RIBBA frame. Rolling on!

Stay Calm Poster reinterpreted

The Poster List must have been inspired by the Rock Gods to produce their interpretation of the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster that caught on fire in 2007-2008. Ladies and gentlemen, I present you: "Keep Calm and Rock On." What do you think? Perhaps, if you are a rocker daddy/mama, you'd like to hang this in the nursery? Otherwise, I personally like the Queen's message in the original (the WWII story behind the propaganda poster is pretty inspiring).  

Spiffy Bargain Finds

First: Can I give some love to Daiso? I discovered this store in downtown Seattle and raided it for some very cute housewares and random goodies to outfit my new apartment. Daiso is a Japanese bargain department store where everything inside -- think Target meets Container Store meets 7/11 -- is mostly $1.50 and tops out below $10. This is a snapshot of the storefront:

I found the cute bear cup in its kitchenware section -- right now, he's on my dining table to hold my sugar-packets. For a $1.50, I thought he was a steal.  Sweeeeet.

Then, I also found these metal trays designed for holding food. This metal tray was designed as a mini meal tray and cost $1.50. I keep it in my bathroom to hold toiletries.

Lastly, I was tempted to buy a whole rack of these milk bottles to improvise as vases and/or mini-carafes. Again, its a $1.50.  Pretty cute eh?
DAISO also had some random hilarious stuff like hamster-themed mini tissues and also this Halloween section where I could have dressed as a Japanese school girl.

Shake it like a salt shaker

Dig monkeys? Enjoy a tropical motif? Need a quirky housewarming present?  Go B-A-N-A-N-A-S with Alessi's Stefano Giovannoni's OrienTales banana "monkey bros" salt & pepper set, $36. These happy-go-lucky monkeys deserve a good home.

Apartment Therapy's Contest Giveaway

Check out Apartment Therapy's latest
giveaway with Kideko, a stylish children's bedding company. This is a far cry from my Care Bear bed sheets back in the day. Modern, graphic, and cheeky, there's something different for your personality: Love, Sunshine, Action, and Monster.  I'm loving the Monster (above) and Love line (below). Too bad they don't have it in adult size. But, for parents, I guess you can live vicariously through your kids.

Wall Decals for your (inner) child

When my eyes landed on these monstrously cute wall decals from Sparkability, I had to showcase these cute characters. Can I adopt the orange one? I love how he looks like he's desperately clueless (or lost). Maybe he needs to ask to go to the bathroom? The removable wall decals are great to brighten up a space for your (inner) kid and are low maintenance--if you wanna reposition, just peel it off and slap it elsewhere.

Monster Wall Decals vary in size, $21-$32 at Sparkability.

Also, if you're into Miffy or punk rock flair, take a look at the 12 inch long TokyoBunnie, $22. I'd rock that.