Design Manifest's Dream Loft

My newest home design blog obsession is Philadelphia interior designer Naomi Stein's Design Manifest. After seeing her amazing loft in Design Sponge, I read back pages and pages in her blog. I think she is so talented. That blue wall with the pink desk in her loft is the best!  Naomi's whole aesthetic is like that, an unexpected mix of girly/preppy/boho. I don't know how I can ever decorate my home, I can't choose between this or clean lines and Mid Century Mod (as seen via another home design blog fav, Manhattan Nest).

I'll just live vicariously through Naomi for now. Luckily for me, she's working on renovating her new cottage now, and I can't wait to see the end result.

[Previously in Home Design Crushes: 47 Park Avenue]

Images from Design Manifest, shot by Courtney Apple Photography

Dreams + Hard Work

I love this poster from Brown and Barkley, found via Refinery29 DC. Other people must like it too because there is only one left!

Can You Hear the Beat of My Heart?

Who What Wear's latest "Ask a Stylist" column with the designers from Current/Elliot has a lot of great tips, but I couldn't get over the A.P.C. heart-print cotton tee they recommended.  It's the sophisticated version of the heart prints we wore growing up, don't you think?  I would wear the A.P.C shirt on days I'm feeling ladylike, and this awesome Laugh Cry Repeat tee in white if I wanted a girly shirt with a downtown vibe, maybe with black jeans and moto boots.  Edgy heart print - it can happen.

Here's some more options I heart (haha): the Laugh Cry Repeat tee in tote bag form, a cute ASOS cardigan with heart elbow patches, what may be the most adorable sweatpants ever, and of course, Comme des Garcons canvas heart high-tops.

Denim Jacket + Little White Dress + Metallic Sandals

So I've been wanting to have more fashion content on my blog, but I feel like a jerk taking pictures of myself and posting them on the Internet (I told this to Debie and she said, "umm, you HAVE seen fashion blogs before, right?"). Also I am definitely not a model.  But despite all these obstacles, I'm plunging ahead with an outfit post.  I put a lot of thought into this particular outfit, and the barista at the coffee shop complimented me on it, so we'll start here.

I admire women who can wear a million accessories and patterns at once and have it look good (like Song of Style), but I try to only wear one or two crazy fun things at once.  What could be more classic than a denim jacket and a little white dress?  The crazy part comes in with the sandals.

I wanted to buy these metallic sandals for months and made a special trek to get them when they went on sale. Love them!  Pretty comfy and you can get them for a better price now.  But if you buy them, whatever you do, do not let your shoes touch each other because the silver can rub off. Oy vey!  Learn from my mistakes.  The shoe department at the Chevy Chase Bloomingdale's hooked me up with a new pair after mine got scratched within four hours.  The new pair is holding up better.

My earrings are supposed to be pieces of coral (well, plastic pieces of coral) but Joe said that they look like chicken feet.  What do you think?  Now chicken feet are all I can see.

Oh yeah, I got bangs! Did you know that, according to the NY Times via Cup of Jo, 2012 is the year of the bang? 

Here's the before picture, where I was rocking 4-inch roots and praying that it looked purposely ombre.  Stefeny at Fringe in Georgetown worked wonders.  PS - her expert tip is to spray a big of hair spray from far away and then curl the bangs over the cylinder of the can.  And yes, I brought in a photo of Zooey Deschanel to illustrate the bangs I wanted #cliche.

I was a little scared about heavy bangs, but as long as I style them it's working out.  Anyone out there jumping on the bang-wagon?  Hahaha, apologies for that one.

47 Park Avenue and Bulletin Board Decision

Over the past two months, I've been following the steady progress of the most amazingly gorgeous home renovation blog, 47 Park Avenue.  The writer/designer/owner doesn't include much text, but the images are so beautiful they'll practically knock you over.

I love how dramatic everything is, with the dark walls and saturated colors, but it's still whimsical and fun.  It's been interesting to see the blogger gradually add furniture, fixtures and decor.  Just when I think it's looking perfectly finished, bam, he'll throw up a stuffed zebra head on the wall.  You definitely have to check out the whole blog, but here are some of my favorite rooms from the home.

OK, so this is about the only thing I can replicate from his home on my particular (read: miniscule) budget - a black corkboard!  This desk layout is sick.

All images from 47 Park Avenue

My mom forced me to clean out my room a few months ago. (My room at my parents' house is just as it was when I was in high school. Completely untouched and authentic.  Sort of like the Julia Child kitchen at the Smithsonian.  It's as though a preteen Adele could walk in at any moment and start playing with a Tamagotchi).  But I realized I could recycle my old high school corkboard at my new apartment.  Here it is:

Gosh, it's embarrassing to even put my photo next to the previous ones, ha. So that's what we're working with at the moment.  The room has all white Ikea furniture, if you can imagine that.  So if I paint the corkboard black, will it be too much, like a scary black hole in the all-white galaxy of my room?

Should I pick something more colorful or use white stripes, like these pretty corkboards here?

Image from This Little Street

Ann Taylor Perfect Pointy Pumps

My Ann Taylor shopping trips continue - last Monday, I needed to find some grownup clothes and shoes.  Most of my shoes have vestigial buckles or pictures of cartoon dogs on them, so this is a huge step forward for me.

I needed something that was decidedly conservative, so Ann Taylor seemed like a good bet.  I know this is the store of choice for D.C. careerist types.  My roommate who works on the Hill used to wear Ann Taylor almost exclusively.  She even wore it when we out clubbing at a sketchy warehouse.  But I've avoided Ann Taylor thus far, mainly because I hate buying work clothes.  This shopping trip impressed me, though.  It seemed very on trend, lots of neon everywhere, but in a restrained boss lady way.

I ended up getting these shoes - what do you think?  The saleswoman who helped me picked out an entire outfit for me, including the pumps.  I put them on and they were the most comfortable heels I've ever worn.  "I'll take them!" I said.  Then I looked at the price.  This sent me reeling, because I was expecting a tag similar to the $5 pants I just bought at Ann Taylor Loft.  I had no idea their shoes were this much.

Oh well.  Wish I had used a coupon.  They won't go out of style, so I feel better about it.  I wore them all day and stood in them for one hour straight and they didn't obliterate my feet so I'll give the Perfect Pointy Pumps a thumbs-up so far.  Anyone else wear Ann Taylor shoes?  Let me know if this was a good buy or not in the comments.