Solutions for a small kitchen

After I moved into my tiny studio, I started paying a lot more attention to interior design because the place needed some personality to make up for the lack of square footage (although the small space has turned out to be an advantage – I can Swiffer the entire place in about 45 seconds).

Before I discovered a blog or bought Elle Decor, I researched feng shui to learn the principles of design from the time-tested standard and realized I have totally been missing one of the most basic and easy-to-follow rules of space layout and here it is: Imagine your place flooding with water, starting at the front door and rushing through your place all the way out the back door (or window). If there is not a natural path for the water to flow, you’ve got bad energy and some rearranging to do. Genuis!

My galley kitchen, according to my Google research, had some serious feng shui issues. I got right to work applying the principles, adding layers of light, organizing my bakeware, and handing unused appliances over to Goodwill. The one rule I got stuck on was making the kitchen the center of my home with space to seat friends. My tiny 2-seater table wasn’t going to cut it.

I spent weeks reading design blogs until I discoved the perfect solution: A stainless steel island! Then, I spent a few more weeks trolling Overstock and Craigslist. When I spotted this Ikea DACKE island for $80, I immediately called a minivan taxicab to take me to pick it up (didn’t you know D.C. Yellow Cab is also an effective moving service? Door-to-door service and even some heavy lifting, free of charge). That night, I put the island together and it was worth the hours spent agonizing over which screwdriver fit where. It has room for 5 stools, storage for my pots and pans, and immediately pulled my apartment together into a little home. Thank you, Sweden.

 

 

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Saturday (sweatpants) style

 

I’ve been wanting to try the tapered-sweatpants-for-day thing but have yet to find someone who has done it well. I originally stopped this girl in Eastern Market because she was holding a red leather doctor bag I’ve been deliberating about for months (from Madewell) but really loved her whole outfit from the sweatpants and mens canvas jacket to her cool camel leather brogues. I can’t wait to copy this, just need to hunt down a cool pair of heather gray sweatpants first. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push([‘_setAccount’, ‘UA-46889504-1’]); _gaq.push([‘_setDomainName’, ‘thestyleheist.blogspot.com’]); _gaq.push([‘_trackPageview’]); (function() { var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true; ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

Political Style

 

My latest inspiration is Laura Dunn, a Huffington Post contributor and author of her own style blog Political Style. She’s cool, stylish, loves photography, etc., but I really love her for building a side business as a freelance writer who has established a serious range, expanding from analyses of John Boehner’s sartorial choices for Politico to covering women’s issues and domestic and international political-cultural news. Writing about fashion and style is an easy hobby to maintain while you’ve got a day job – there’s no reseach required and you have to try pretty hard to be wrong or controversial. Evolving from a once-in-a-while fashion writer into an independent freelance journalist with serious credentials takes talent and time, and all the while maintaining a healthy appreciation for sequins and feathers major confidence. I want to be her.

Anyway, Laura has a cool series on her blog called Discovering DC – I like to read it to get new ideas of places to check out in my adopted hometown! She interviewed me about what I love to do in Eastern Market and I was so honored! You can read the Q&A here!

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Boyfriend jeans

 

Is it wrong that I wore this outfit three days in a row? And that this is the only outfit I packed for this weekend? When I was in France I saw lots of ladies wearing oversized tees with baggy boyfriend jeans, plus heels to add a little je ne sais quoi. I fell in love!

I’ve been hunting around for the perfect oversize tee that’s big but not sloppy. Harder than you’d think. When my mom was in town, we found this awesome French Connection breton shirt and I bought it two sizes up – it’s the perfect oversize tee and I have literally been wearing it everywhere.  It also makes for easy weekend planning – this plus a pair of boyfriend jeans a pumps took me everywhere from Costco to Saturday night drinks, no changing required.

Prps jeans, Nine West heels, Pulicati bag.

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Stock up for spring: ZAMRIE on MYHABIT

 

 

 

 ZAMRIE is one of my favorite lines and I am 100% biased. My BFF Ashley designs it, but she has the fashion pedigree to warrant my love of all her stuff (she worked at Zac Posen and obviously picked up a thing or two about quality tailoring). 

Anyway, ZAMRIE will be on Amazon’s Flash SALE site today through Friday! This has been my sweet friend Ashley’s biggest hit yet! (Ok, in sales terms – getting on Oprah’s favorites list was pretty amazing.) I want to make sure I shared it! ZAMRIE items will be anywhere from 45-60% off. You can sign up here: www.myhabit.com. I recommend the wideleg pants.

 

Also exciting is seeing my copywriting skills repurposed (I wrote her Web site’s ‘About’ page and love seeing my concoctions like ‘timeless pieces for women that are both fresh and classic’ reused, in lights.)

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For the birds

 

Meet Grace from Chicago – we spotted her at Eastern Market back in December and she was nice enough to pose for a picture. I loved her classic camel coat dressed down with leggings and a messenger bag, and her cool combination of neutrals (and that her bird print matches her outfit perfectly).

This inspired me to dress down my own dress coat. I have a camel wool wrap coat sitting in the back of my closet that I reserve for wearing with dresses to fancy places. I pulled it out to replace my day-to-day coat, an ugly puffy number that I’d been wearing all winter. It was a much-needed upgrade. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push([‘_setAccount’, ‘UA-46889504-1’]); _gaq.push([‘_setDomainName’, ‘thestyleheist.blogspot.com’]); _gaq.push([‘_trackPageview’]); (function() { var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true; ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

Vintage dresser

Vintage is just a fancy way of saying really old, and very used – both qualities that I prioritize when hunting for furniture.
I am anti-Ikea. For some reason, it is important to me that my furniture has character. This dresser has plenty. I love that it is so SOLID and HEAVY, that it has dovetail drawers and  curved wood. And I love that my mom took one look at it and told me to hold on to it for life. It was a $50 Craigslist find. I meant to refurnish it, but decided that I kind of liked the distressed-from-years-of-wear look. It fits in perfectly with my crooked kitchen cabinets and hodgepodge collection of furnishings I’ve picked up at Goodwill, flea markets, and the curb. It’s my favorite piece of furniture, the place where my never-used TV collects dust (ok, I use it just for my Tracy Anderson DVDs), where I organize my jewelry for the week, and display my favorite cowboy boots that are equally as distressed. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push([‘_setAccount’, ‘UA-46889504-1’]); _gaq.push([‘_setDomainName’, ‘thestyleheist.blogspot.com’]); _gaq.push([‘_trackPageview’]); (function() { var ga = document.createElement(‘script’); ga.type = ‘text/javascript’; ga.async = true; ga.src = (‘https:’ == document.location.protocol ? ‘https://ssl’ : ‘http://www’) + ‘.google-analytics.com/ga.js’; var s = document.getElementsByTagName(‘script’)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();