Cleanup on Aisle Five!

Accessories are my favorite, no matter what kind. You can have fun with accessories- go bright, go funky, go with an insanely dizzying pattern, it's all good!

Keeping the above proclamation in mind, I love collecting dishtowels. As soon as I got my own place, I began snatching them up. Striped ones, holiday ones, vintage-inspired ones... The list goes on. They add a much needed dose of color to an otherwise generic and bland apartment kitchen. Here are some of the ones that have caught my eye lately...

I love the depth of the plum color and I'm always a sucker for batik! Bubble chain linen tea towels from 5 o'clock Crows via Etsy, $26 (P.S. There are more colors available!)

Nothing says whimsy like a Marimekko print! Kippis Tea Towels (set of two), $22.50 via Finn Style.

I always pick up two or three towels when I go to Crate & Barrel. At 4 bucks a pop, why not? Salsa Stripe Dishtowels, $3.95 each.

This reminds me of the trip my hubby and I took to Acapulco. Growth Spurt Dishtowel, $16 at Anthropologie.

These are classic kitchen decor. May vintage labels never go out of style! Italian Kitchen Towels, $5.95 each at Sur La Table.

Silver Belles

It's great to have beautiful silver flatware, but to be honest, it just doesn't get enough face time. I think it's time for fancy silverware to get more exposure, and, it seems, others agree with me.

All the elegance with none of the upkeep... Grain de Couleur Couverts Tea Towel (also comes in fork or knife designs), $39 @ The Conran Shop.

I adore this chandelier for a breakfast nook. So country chic! Even better, it's made of vintage silverware. The appropriately named Eat, Drink, and Be Merry Chandelier, $4800 @ Anthropologie.

Kitchen Couture

Stockholm Floral Apron from Anthropologie; Bib Audrey Cupcakes Apron from Jessie Steele.

Nothing like a sexy outfit to inspire the urge to bake! Or I could just fake it, pick up some cookies from the bakery, light a cinnamon candle, and throw on one of these babies. Either way...

Abigaile Apron from Funktion; Orla Kiely Apron from Target; Wobble Stripe Apron from Cath Kidston.

Waste Not

Even if you don't consider yourself to be "green", recycling is an easy thing anyone can do to prevent waste. After you empty that jar of jam, instead of tossing it in the garbage, rinse it and recycle it. It only takes a few extra minutes (if that) of your time and there are tons of places at which to drop your collected containers if your neighborhood doesn't collect it for you. Earth 911 will help you locate recycling centers in your area.

That being said, the toughest part of recycling can be keeping everything separated so that you can drop it off later. Of course, you don't need anything fancy- labelled trash cans would do the trick, but here are some great containers I found to keep your recycling organized.

If there are only one or two people in your house and you don't have a lot of garbage, these stackable baskets are a cute way to sort your recycling. I like them because they're inexpensive, come in lots of cute colors, and don't take a lot of floor space. Basic Stack Baskets, $6.99 each, The Container Store.

If you have a larger family and enough room for several slim garbage cans, try the SimpleHuman Slim Step Garbage Cans from Crate & Barrel. They'll hold a lot of recycling so that you don't have to drop it off every other day. $39.95 each.

If you really require a space saving design, or if you love to hear your aluminum cans crunch, try the Ecopod. There's a hole in the top for cans or bottles, which you can crush and then collect in a container in the bottom. Also, lift the lid for paper and glass storage. Unfortunately their online store isn't currently open, but check back if you're interested.

You can recycle more than plastic, metal, glass, and paper. If you want to take your recycling to the next level, start composting. I've blogged about the NatureMill Indoor Composting System before, but it's worth another post! Just drop in your leftover food, coffee grounds, etc. and two weeks later you will have recycled fertilizer perfect for tending to your plants. As soon as I get a house, I'm getting one of these! Starts at $299. $399 for the above model.

There Are Sinks...

...And there are SINKS. This is the latter. It is created with tiny stainless steel tiles which are laid by hand for a beautiful mosaic sink. Truly original. Find it at LinkaSink.

Last Call for Ice Cream!

The Sora Bowl from Bodum as featured in Martha Stewart Living. Photo via ATNY.

If it's getting cooler in Houston, that must mean that summer is officially winding down. But there is still enough time to sit outside for a couple bowls of Blue Bell (or "ice cream" if you haven't had the pleasure of eating Blue Bell.

Ice cream bowls are a fun thing to shop for because 1. There is a good possibility you will be eating ice cream soon if you buy one, and 2. Because there is no reason for them to match the rest of your dishware, let alone each other. So go nuts! Go bananas! Go any kind of topping you can think of to put on a sundae! You're waistline may not thank you, but your taste buds will!

Eclectic ikat bowls from Anthropologie.

Feeling festive? Polka dot bowls bowls bring smiles! From Wrapables.com.

Sophisticated speckled ice cream bowls from UnCommon Goods.

Whet Your Appetite

My soon-to-be husband is turning 30 soon, and that calls for some celebrating. Not the "Uh-oh, somebody's getting close to the top of the hill!" kind of celebration, the "Here's to 30 years of good family, friends, and you birthday boy" kind. First on my list is deciding how to decorate and, more importantly, what to feed our guests! I found some very helpful books on that subject and thought I'd share the wealth...

For a casual, comfortable party, I love Katie Lee Joel's book The Comfort Table. She promises easy home cooking and she delivers. If your goal is to serve familiar dishes to friends and family, this book makes that task easy. It's especially great for sit down dinners because her entrees are mouthwatering!

For a more exotic palette, try the recipes from The Big Book of Appetizers by Meredith Deeds and Carla Snyder. There is a lot of selection so you can pick several to make from the 250 recipes with no problem at all. Also, they give great instructions for each recipe on making things ahead so that you aren't panicking the day of.Now this is an idea I can get on board with. Of course, sushi is a more expensive route to go, but it looks impressive laid out on clean white plates, its healthier than a fried mozzerella stick (not that those aren't blissful from time to time), and it's not impossible to make with a little practice. I'm planning on serving a couple of things from The Complete Book of Sushi by Hideo Dekura, Brigid Treloar, and Ryuichi Yoshii. And, hey, if I screw it up, I can still eat the mess- it's a win-win!

Don't Forget to Say "Thank You!"

When someone is kind enough to let you stay in their home, whether for one night or one month, it's common knowledge that you should thank them. When the trip is an extended one, it's generally expected that you thank your host or hostess (or both) with a gift. The longer the stay, the more the gift. Here are some ideas for the next time you find yourself on someone's couch (or, if you're lucky, in their guest room).



A Weekend Stay:
We always had a lot of weekend visitors at my house growing up. Usually aunts and uncles passing through town on their way to another destination. Occasionally, an old friend of my parents coming for a short visit. When you find yourself on a visit like this, bring a little something to say, "I know you're going to tidy up like a madman before and after I leave, so thanks for the extra effort."


Something small will suffice, like tiny bud vases from Crate & Barrel (only $2 each!). You could also try a set of Port glasses for a wine-loving host, a cute printed dishtowel (Anthropologie has great ones) for a domestic host, or nice notecards with which they can write thank you's for their visits!


A Weeklong Vacation:
Once you are staying with somone for an entire week, you're probably disrupting their schedule at least a bit. There are meals to be made, sheets to wash, and daily entertainment to be prepared. When you are staying with someone for that amount of time, put more thought into a thank you gift. They've worked hard!


For the host that likes to get outside an grill, put together a gift basket with a few of these gourmet barbeque sauces from Williams-Sonoma. Get a small piece of jewelry for a fashion-loving hostess (or host). A coffee table book on a favorite subject is usually something people want, but may not get for themselves. That's your chance!

The Month Long Move-in:
If you're staying for a couple weeks to a month, some big time kissing up is required. Your host may love to spend time with you, but they've still have to change around their schedule for you more than just a couple of times. Get something you know they'll love- something they may not just get for themselves. Your gift to them should be a splurge!


I love these Orimono Pillows from Anthropologie. The bright colors will add a lot to a room and certainly brighten your host's day after the extra cooking and cleaning they've done! To give your hosts a break after your visit, get them a giftcard to a nice restaurant- enough for some good wine, a delicious dinner, and dessert. You could also snag a couple tickets to an event they would love- a concert, a play, the ballet, etc.

Thanking your host will not only make you feel better about imposing on them, it will also guarantee another stay at their home if you need it! And don't forget, it's always necessary to send a little note after you've left to say one final "Thank you!"

Everything But The Kitchen Table...

A preppy kitchen booth with extra storage below is always handy.

Lately, I've been hunting for the perfect kitchen table and chairs. Something small enough for my little apartment's dining room, but still enough to fill the breakfast nook of a house in the future. I really want a clean and modern round table to surround with industrial metal or mix-and-match antique dining chairs. Luckily, I have lots of pictures to serve as inspiration in my search!

A relaxed and airy breakfast nook at Amanda Peet's home.

A simple and rustic booth in a breakfast nook.

Tres minimal... Straight pieces of wood and chairs with just a little curve.



A nook with a view at the home of Billy & Katie Joel.



Granted, this takes a little more effort to build a bar out from the counter, but the combination of marble and colorful barstools is fantastic.

Eco with Ease

I just got back from the most relaxing vacation in San Jose. Nothing but a long weekend of sun, family, and good wine! From the second I stepped off the plane, I noticed a few differences in this sunny state. For example: When my sister and I pulled into her driveway, I noticed a large assortment of trash bins. When you live in a city where many neighborhoods still don't recycle, seeing so many recycling bins is an interesting sight. So, here is the deal with the trash bins. Each house has two (yes, two!) giant blue recycling bins. Obviously, recycling is smiled upon in California. Then each house also has two large bins for yard waste like grass, leaves, and branches (maybe for making mulch?). Finally, each household receives one smaller bin for everything else. And that is it for the week. So, if you don't recycle, you will be struggling with your garbage!

I thought this whole concept was pretty interesting and I wish my neighborhood made it easier to recycle. I would recycle a lot more than I do now, if I didn't have to lug everything to their respective bins all the time. And until I moved out on my own, I didn't realize how much trash one person can produce! I think I've found a solution to reduce the amount of waste I put out. While perusing my Daily Candy, I found the NatureMill Indoor Composter. It will fit in a standard cabinet (perfect for apartment dwellers like myself), uses little energy for its composting adventures, and doesn't emit a stench of rotting food.

That will take care of all of the junk mail, leftovers that nobody ate, and those cookies I made, then felt guilty about eating, so I had to throw them away. Two weeks later, I will have a nutritous fertilizer for my porch plants and probably extra for the planters by my complex's pool! I like to share the wealth, after all.

After that, it's just glass and plastic and I'll be an Eco-heroine! Easy as pie!

It's About That Time...

Get ready. It's about that time. Put on your work gloves, tie your hair back (if need be), put on your old, holey jeans. It's time to Spring Clean! I dread this time every year. I know it needs to be done and yet it's always such a daunting task no matter how clean I keep things during the rest of the year. There comes a time every year when papers are overflowing, small objects are roaming freely, and closets are a disaster area! Don't take everything on at once. You'll just get burned out. Pick one area from each room in your house and tackle it. These goodies from The Container Store will help you on your way to a cleaner home. Let's start in the kitchen:



My number one problem in the Kitchen is overflowing cabinets and I bet most of you would agree. How do you find one tiny ingredient in a cabinet full of cans, bags, and boxes? The best investments (and small ones at that) I've made for my pantry are turntables. Pick double stacked or single turntables and nothing will be out of view again! So goodbye to buying those expensive little spices over and over again because they get lost in the cabinet chaos!






I don't have a whole lot of storage in my one bedroom apartment. What I do have is four teetering stacks of DVD's. Every time I try to pull one out of the stack, the rest come tumbling down. I'm heading to The Container Store to pick up an Overdoor Media Rack. My extensive film collection (does Office Space count?) will stay out of sight until I choose to pop some popcorn and lounge on the sofa for movie night.





Closets can be scary. Old clothes, stinky shoes, that renegade sock that lost its mate. When I buy my first house there is one investment that I can't wait to make. A custom Elfa closet system. You know they're serious when it's called a closet SYSTEM. I half expect it to be motorized! Bring in your measurements and create a whole labyrinth of storage to suit you. You'll never be stuck holding one lone shoe sans partner again.





If there's one thing I can't get enough of it's yummy smelling soaps and shampoos. For some reason Head & Shoulders just doesn't wake me up like Citrus Pomegranate Ylang-ylang Body Wash does. So, to stow all of these bathtime goodies, I use a Tension Pole Shower Caddy. It has tons of space for couples or, ahem, single people with an extreme bath product addiction.





Ah, kids. Wonderful, loving... messy, loud, home destroying. Put your kids in their places (or their stuff at least) with some bright and cheery drawers. If you have a place for everything, everything might make it to its place.*

* Will probably only last for a day or the amount of time your children are at summer camp.

Why is it that when you want to hang something you can never find a nail, but when you don't need one they are all over the place? You can ponder that if you want, but I'm just going to fix the problem with See & Store Containers. Fill the containers with little nuts and bolts (literally) and stick them to the magnetic strip. No more frustrating searches through every small container in your house!

You may not have a lot of papers, but it seems like a lot more when they're everywhere. No matter how much paperwork you have, you need a place for it. Come tax time next year you'll thank me! Get a file- small and portable, or a large cabinet. Add some whimsical folders (or very serious ones if you choose), label, and sort. Then, the next time Great Aunt Suzie sends you one of her lovely (what is this junk?) care packages, you can find her address quickly and send her a lovely thank you note!

You are so careful when you break out the good stuff that nobody clinks glasses during the toasts and you haven't invited Bob over since the Great Plate Crash of 1986. Take as much care when your china, glasses, and flatware are in storage as you do when they're in use. Get some storage cases to keep them safe until the next holiday. Just remember to give your clumsy sister a paper plate.

At one point in everyone's life, they will mess up the laundry. Whether it be opening the washer to find a sea of pink where there used to be white or pulling your favorite dry-clean only cashmere sweater in a dryer full of cottons (how did that get in there?!?!), we've all had our moments. Prevent those moments! Invest in three sophisticated baskets lined in cotton for your colors, whites, and dry cleaning. I've been using this system for years and I haven't had one mishap/meltdown since!

Happy Spring Cleaning!

Gadgets for Girls

Since getting engaged, two things have been on my mind constantly: what will I wear and what will I ask for? It's the only time in my life I can give people a list of things I want and actually expect to get them all. I've been perusing my favorite kitchen shops in the quest for the perfect registry- Crate & Barrel, Sur la Table, Williams Sonoma- and here are my favorite "gadgets" for the kitchen. And these aren't just eye candy. These are things you will actually use again and again.

Let's start off simply. Nobody likes the cleanup involved after cooking. So take some of it out of the equation. Do your chopping right over the sink and forget about juices running all over your counters. Throw the whole she-bang in the dishwasher and your cleanup is finito! This Red Gripboard is from Sur la Table.

I just happened upon this little baby today and I can't wait to get my hands on one. Prepping your food is almost always the most time consuming part of cooking (unless you have a sous chef at your side), so anything you can use to get through the chopping, slicing, and julienne-ing quickly is fantastic. This de Buyer Mandoline from Williams Sonoma will slice and dice to your hearts content. It's like a tiny version of the huge slicers that butchers use to slice your meat at the grocery store. Make sure yours is dishwasher safe like this one because you'll use it all the time!

Ahh, the microplane. There is no better gadget for grating than this! Forget big bulky graters when you are zesting your favorite citrus fruit. The greatest thing about them is that they are inexpensive and a staple at kitchen shops. These red Microplane Graters are from Sur la Table.

While making dips for a party this week I borrowed my big sister's Mini Prep and what a difference this thing makes! What would normally take an hour to make took 5 minutes (no kidding!). Just throw your food in, give it a few pulses, and you will have prefectly chopped food ready for cooking. As one who hates chopping, I anticipate using this one all the time. My fiance/onion chopper will be so happy. Get your Cuisinart Mini Prep from Crate & Barrel.

Here it is. The grand daddy of all kitchen appliances. The one tool every woman lusts after. The KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer. Literally, art for your kitchen. This vintage looking mixer will free up your hands every time you bake. Just throw in your ingredients and watch it mix! It's a must have for anyone who fantasizes themselves a Martha Stewart in the making. But that's not my favorite part. It comes in a plethora of colors (I picked Persimmon)! Go bright, go neutral, go goth, whatever! I'm registering for mine at Dillard's.

I'm on a smoothie kick lately. Good for me, bad for my overexerted blender. Washing a bulky blender every morning is no fun. So I'm getting this SmartStick Hand Blender from Crate & Barrel. Now, instead of filling my dishwasher again and again, I can just toss the ingredients in a cup, blend, blend, blend, rinse, and drink! It also attaches to a mini food processor if you have some hardcore ingredients to blend.

Last weekend, I made a trip to Home Depot to pick up some flowers and herbs to perk up my porch. I love using fresh herbs because they taste so much better in food! The only part I hate is mincing them. Herbs are almost impossible as they are tiny and a bit slippery. Well, that's history now. Enter the Herb Mill from Williams Sonoma. Just stuff your herbs in the top, turn the crank a few times, and out come freshly minced fresh herbs to freshen your food (did I say "fresh" enough there?).

I don't know about you, but I think from now on I'll be cranking out five course dinners in 30 minutes or less every night now. You can bet every one of these puppies will be on my registry. Now, I wonder how my parents would feel about moving the wedding up to April so I can get all the goodies on my registry now!

Kohler Products for Less!

ProMaster Kitchen Faucet

ProAvatar Kitchen Sink

Spa Tower

Estate Freestanding Bath

Escale Integrated Top and Basin

I'm a big fan of Kohler. They make excellent bathroom and kitchen fixtures with timeless designs. Instead of going to your local Lowe's store to buy your favorite, personality defining Kohler product, try shopping online at PlummerSurplus.com. PlummerSurplus.com is one of Lowe's major suppliers for bathroom and kitchen fixtures. So if you ever special order a Kohler bath tub from Lowe's, you'll be receiving a package with PlummerSurplus.com on it. Do yourself a favor and save 10 - 20% (not including sales tax) by going direct to PlummerSurplus.com!


Kohler Rialto Toilet - Lowe's price: $329, PlummerSurplus.com's price: $278




Kohler Santa Rose Toilet - Lowe's price: $298, PlummerSurplus.com's price: $248.05


For more inspirational ideas from Kohler, check out the photo gallery of the 2007 Dwell Harlem House Project.