Repurpose.

One thing that every apartment dweller will tell you is that when you don’t have a ton of space to work with, creative storage solutions are key.  When I first moved to New York, I made a point to only buy furniture that had a storage element to it. My entire bedframe lifts up to reveal a storage space where the box spring should be as well as space underneath the bed for rolling storage bins, my TV table is a credenza where I store candles, books and pictures, my couch is a daybed for overnight guests with drawers beneath where I keep extra sheets, books and crafting supplies, and I’ve devoted an entire small dresser to jewelry storage.  I know that it sounds a little nutty to have a jewelry dresser, but when you have a jewelry fetish such as mine, a jewelry box is like a 1 bedroom apartment for a family the size of the Duggars (aren’t they around 20 kids and counting now? You see my point, always growing, space is at a premium).  

I haven’t outgrown my space yet, but certain pieces always end up out of the dresser more than they are in, so I wanted to get something to allow me to have those pieces in easy reach to grab on my way out rather than search through drawers and trays to find them.  

Enter the Elk.  I saw this pretty baby, by Twos Company, on Burke Decor’s website (a pretty snazzy home goods website that I’ve found myself perusing often since discovering it a few months ago).  While they display it as a modern and humane take on a mounted animal head (of which they also have deer, gazelle, rhino and ram), I saw much more in store for him.  Thus, he became my unexpected take on a jewelry display.  

Now my heavy-rotation jewelry doesn’t have to just lay on the dresser, but hangs nicely off of his antlers, waiting for me to snag that one last necklace, bracelet or ring to throw on on my way out of the door (these days Chanels old adage of “always take one thing off before you leave the house” can be shelved until the terms “arm/neck party” are no longer heavily used in the fashion scene).  He does his job well.  So well, in fact, that I should probably name him so that I can thank him for his effort by telling him how dashing he looks in my jewelry and thank you ever so much for letting me borrow it back for the day. I think I’ll go with....Elton the Elk. 

Frugal Flowers.

When one lives on the Upper East Side, especially when said one is not of the financial prowess of the typical Upper East Side dweller, one learns quickly that most lovely things used to decorate the home in this neighborhood are quite pricey.  Case and point:  Diane James floral arrangements.  

Photo courtesy of Gracious Home

I was perusing Gracious Home’s Bed & Bath store one day when I spotted a slew of lovely floral arrangements, and was very pleasantly surprised to see that they were silk flowers in a hardened substance made to look like water.  What genius!  Beautiful arrangements that you never have to change the water for or see whither and die!  The only maintenance on them was dusting them off!  This was certainly something I could justify purchasing, right?  Oh, so very wrong.  To my chagrin, the price tag on these lovelies was anywhere between $350 for a small arrangement to nearly $600 for a dining room sized one!  Feeling a bit peeved at the audacity of their price tag, I set out to stick it to them by doing it myself, doing a better job at it, and doing it for much, much cheaper.  

I knew where to get silk flowers and vases, having pleasantly stumbled into the flower district before, so I started where I always start:  the internet.  I googled every possible combination of words to describe what I’d seen until I finally discovered this magical little epoxy that hardens to resemble water.  I quickly ordered some and set out to find suitable silk flowers.  After purchasing, arranging, and nervously mixing and pouring the epoxy (I was never a whiz at chemistry so mixing sticky chemicals has me a bit on edge), what came out was a lovely pink peony arrangement that my mother quickly coveted and then commandeered from my apartment to adorn her newly decorated bedroom. 

Taking the hint that I had a certain knack for this flower arranging business, I began making these arrangements, taking floral inspiration wherever I could find it.  The particular one below is one I made for my grandmother on her birthday.  Modeled after Kate Middleton, the new Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding bouquet and my grandmothers love of lily of the valley, I was quite smitten with the outcome of this particular piece.  The highest of compliments came when I was transporting the gift to my grandmothers home, and was asked by two women if I was bringing the bouquet home from a wedding.  When I replied that I had thrown it together myself with no training in floral arranging, AND that it would never die, I was met with utter bewilderment and questions of commissioned pieces.  I think the moral of the story in this case is:  if you can’t afford it, make it, and in turn, surprise yourself with a previously unforeseen talent! Recession-proof decorating at it’s best!