happy spruced up saturday! my desk!

when you sit at your desk as much as i do, it’s so important to keep everything that’s on display looking as lovely as possible. i keep a lovely framed photo of my clothes by sarah loken diagonal from my computer. in front of the frame sits my pens, pencils, stamps, ink, high heel scotch tape & a calendar in the form of a french bulldog. flooded in sunlight, my adorable items are as happy as i am to be sitting with them.

xoxo, julie

happy spruced up saturday! my mini bar!

inspired by reading about elsie’s bar cart (a beautiful mess) i realized that i wanted a bar in my home. i didn’t think i had room, but after going through all of my belongings, (rearranging and reevaluating) i found some on a shelf and filled it with syrups (homemade! so easy!) drink umbrellas, cocktail straws and wine corks! now, it was time to add alcohol. i bought one bottle of vodka, tequila & (bourbon) whisky to add to the bottle of gin a friend had donated. now i’ve got it all! i wanted this to be done by summer and now that it is i love it! i’m still on the lookout for bitters, a cute ice bucket and a vintage cocktail shaker…in time.  now i just need someone to clink glasses with! cheers! 

xoxo, julie! 

happy spruced up saturday!

the cutest pillows in the world have arrived! spruce up your home by shopping for them now! enjoy!

xoxo, julie!

 check them out on houzz!

happy spruced up saturday!

so, you want to have a photoshoot? do you have your photographer? do they have full studio equipment but no studio to shoot in? are you on a budget and don’t have the ability to rent a huge studio? DIY, baby.

Katrina & I started shooting back when we were still at Pratt…and had pratt studios to rent for free. when we graduated we were stuck. where do we shoot? we had two photo shoots (this one & this one) at a friends house and laid down sheets that the models stood in front of. they worked in the moment, but it really just didn’t work at all. when we were setting out to shoot my circle skirts, we didn’t know what to do. we needed a space wide enough to roll out seamless paper, but also long enough for katrina to stand back and get the right frame. i volunteered to clear out my apartment (which is super open with no division between rooms), turn it upside down and into a photo studio. we weren’t sure if it would work, but it did. i cleared it all out- putting some furniture in my hallway, my pattern table against my desk, garment rack in the bedroom and lastly, putting my couch in the kitchen. we rolled out the seamless and katrina set up her lights. boom. free photo studio. this is where we shot my 2012 video look book and on thursday, where we shot a bunch of new product for my home decor collection for my store. (photos coming next week!!!) it works so well that i can’t believe we didn’t think of it sooner. it would have saved SO much retouching time. it’s amazing. seamless is about $60 and after using the white once, only used about half the roll. $30/shoot is not bad at all. it takes about 10 minutes to shift my apartment around and i do not mind messing with my place at all. when you see the photos, you’ll have thought we spent thousands on the space rental alone. we didn’t. but i can’t wait til we are able to.

xoxo, julie!

happy spruced up saturday! 

pop chart lab is a company full of my new obsession, infographs. infographs have proven to be my favorite thing to hang on my walls because they are interactive with their viewer and promote conversation and interest among so many different kinds of people. they are wonderful gifts to give (i’ve given 2 and got 3!) and are so fun to look at.

this is an image of a gifted print i received on valentines day(thanks, ash!) by pop chart lab titled “heartbeats”. inside each circle is a depiction of a song, about a heart. my friend, ashley, works for them and she is a design genius. check them out!

xoxo, julie!

happy spruced up saturday!

while home this week i redid my mess of a bedroom by painting a drawn on, sprayed on wall with chalkboard paint. 

now all i need is some chalk! back to brooklyn tomorrow! woo hoo!

xoxo, julie!

happy spruced up saturday! 

last week i received a new roommate. she’s white, she’s quiet, and she hasn’t put on any clothes since she moved in. her name is valerie and she is my new mannequin! i moved her into my living room and she loves it! 

see my dog, speculoos? he’s quiet too. like his beret? he’s a french bulldog. 

xoxo, julie!

happy spruced up saturday!

have inspiration boards in your house? switching up what’s on the board will give your wall a totally different look. i recently rearranged mine to be half in color, half in black and white. i love it!

xoxo, julie!

happy spruced up saturday!

i am way too excited that i have a magnetic knife strip in my kitchen. what a classy joint! for $13 at ikea, you really can’t go wrong! always utilize your wall space when you do not have much storage, it’s even better when your storage looks nice! 

Happy Spruced Up Saturday!

i see a full-on home decor collection coming out this year…stay tuned…

in the meantime, though, you can purchase these NYC pillows here!

xoxo, julie!