*** THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED *** Scroll down to see who won!
Let’s face it, sometimes it’s hard to find unique, one-of-a-kind duvet covers. Whether you’re looking to add some personality to your own bedroom, revamping the guest room, or just like having an extra comfy duvet for movie nights and overnight couch guests, DENY Designs puts the creativity back into bedding.
Today, they are giving one lucky reader a custom queen duvet cover with the design of your choice (a $183 value!). DENY’s custom duvet covers are made with ultra soft machine washable microfiber fabric. Make the duvet cover uniquely yours by choosing from their awesome collection of over 250 designs including graphic art, photography, watercolor and cool textures. Here are just a smidgen of my and Ash’s favorites…
During our last giveaway, we switched it up a little and test drove a new and improved way for you to enter giveaways. We had some great feedback from you guys so we’ve decided to keep it around. If this is your first time using the system, here’s how it works: To enter the giveaway, either log in with your Facebook account or enter your email address (as always, your information is kept private). Once you’re logged in, you’ll be shown the entry requirements set by yours truly. Click the “Do it!” button, answer the question and click “Enter!”. Now that you’ve entered, you’ll see some optional entry options. To gain additional entries and increase your chances of winning the prize, you can do one or all of them.
My first memory of Audrey Heburn was when I was about 12 years old. My family was on vacation at Disney World and we were at MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios, but it will always be MGM to me!). In one of the gift shops, there was a huge, larger than life portrait of her on the wall in her iconic black dress, wide-brimmed hat, and oversized sunglasses. A year or two later, I watched Sabrina for the very first time and I was immediately hooked. I was an official Audrey Hepburn fan. Today, we’re going around the house of one of the most memorable Audrey films, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
The movie takes place in the heart of New York City and Audrey’s character (Holly Golightly) lives in an apartment in a four-story brownstone.
Even though she’s been living in her apartment for about a year, Holly’s decor – or lack thereof – was very sparse and looks as though she just moved in.
The shelves were pretty much empty and a majority of the furniture that she did was is made up of suitcases, wooden crates and boxes. Little did the set designers know that would be “in” fifty years later. Oh, and you can’t forget the bath tub sofa!
Like the main living area, Holly’s bedroom was pretty simple and bare. My favorite part of the bedroom is her vanity. It looks so interesting and full of sparkly things. I’d love to know where all of those perfume bottles are now!
If you look real closely, you’ll notice that the vanity was actually made up of old pieces of wood…
One of my favorite features (actually, I don’t think you’d call it a feature…?) is how Holly converted her mailbox by the front door into a mini “prep station” complete with a mirror, lipstick and perfume. In college I always had the urge to stash a tube of lipgloss in my campus mailbox.
I couldn’t write a Breakfast At Tiffany’s post without including a screen shot of my absolute favorite scene when Holly and Paul Fred go to Tiffany’s to get the ring engraved… “This, I take it, was not purchased at Tiffany’s?” … “No, actually it was purchased concurrent with, uh, well, actually, came inside of… well, a box of Cracker Jack.”
Later in the film, Holly sets her sights on the wealthy future President of Brazil, José Luis de Vilallonga. Trying to gear up for domestication, Holly takes up knitting, cooking and fills her apartment with “real” furniture… and a bull’s head.
Here’s yet another screen shot we can’t be without. Ever since we got Bentley, I cry at this scene because I can’t imagine letting him off into the street alone like Holly did Cat. But they, including Cat, live happily ever after.
Now for my favorite part of Around the House posts! Here’s my take on Breakfast at Tiffany’s:
The brownstone in Breakfast At Tiffany’s, located on East 71st street in the Big Apple, recently sold for around a cool $6,000,000. All of the exterior shots as well as some interior shots were filmed here.
I wonder if the new owner has a cat… ; )
Movie poster found here (btw, it’s 27×40 and only $29.99!). Audrey & bathtub sofa photo found here. Images from the actual Breakfast At Tiffany’s house found here and here.
As promised, I’m here with the full low down, the ins and outs, the whole kit and caboodle of the Martha Stewart storage furniture in my office.
We purchased these pieces a while back and I’ve spent the last two weeks (off and on) finally unpacking my last few boxes of office stuff and organizing every nook an cranny of my new storage furniture. I’m not an avid crafter or scrapbooker – so I don’t have piles of glue, stickers, and other crafty gadgets – which is probably what this furniture was intended for. Instead, I have things like greetings cards, paper, envelopes, a Sharpie collection, 3-ring binders, art prints, magazines, files, and a few “crafty things” here and there.
On the inside of the left door is a bulletin board. I’m planning on making a large inspiration board to go near my desk for graphic design and home decorating projects. That being the case, this hidden one is mainly for stuff on my wish list (like those awesome glasses at the top) and old family photos I like having around. On the opposite door, there’s a chalkboard. I really like the concept of having both, but for some reason, I can’t seem to get chalk to actually write on the board. It’s almost like the “chalkboard” is made from something smoother than chalkboard material. I looked over some product reviews, and it seems some people have had the same problem. No worries, though! We’ve got wet erase chalk markers! I’ve actually really enjoyed using them as a substitute for the usual dusty chalk.
Let’s start on the left side of the hutch… At the very top, I’ve got one of my favorite belongings – an antique camera my Uncle Jerry gave me when I was 17. I think it’s nice to have a few sentimental things mixed in with practical useful items. It makes whatever you’re doing easier on the eyes and more fun! Next to the camera is a small white and coral bowl that holds glue sticks and a hot glue gun. The next shelf down is my craft paint stash. The paint brush cup was a plain red pencil cup that I bought from Pottery Barn about four years ago. I painted it coral to go with the coral/blue/gray/white motif I’m working toward. On the bottom shelf are my three go-to binders for (almost) everything that goes on around the house, along with my utensil caddy turned Sharpie/pencil caddy (more on that here).
On the bottom, there are two sliding drawers. They’re nice to have so that I can corral all of my random odds and ends. The drawers slide all the way out, too, just in case I want to take the entire bin to another room for some reason. To make them even more functional, I added brackets (more on that here) to label what each one is holding. I love these because I can change the labels as my needs change. Right now, I’m using one for magazines I need to go through and the other for things I may want to frame or put on the big inspiration board when that goes up down the road.
Now, for the left side…
On the top shelf is a box where I keep all of our important receipts. When the box gets full, I just file them away. Easy peasy! I reused yet another pencil holder from Pottery Barn to hold my washi tape collection. I love using clear containers for stuff like this because it’s colorful and fun to look at. Next is a small collection of my favorite home design books, held up by my crazy easy DIY bookend. Then, I’ve got a box that holds all of my phone/camera/battery chargers, a shiny stapler and tape dispenser set and another favorite antique camera.
The next thing down is my favorite feature of this furniture: the flat-file drawers. I love, love, love these crazy deep drawers – 25 inches deep to be exact. Thanks to the dividers that came with the unit, there seems to be a place for everything.
In an effort to help keep things tidy and organized, I labeled each drawer with using my label maker. I can’t resist a labeling opportunity!
The depth comes in handy when storing our art prints and mailing supplies for the Etsy store. I love when it comes time to ship a print out and all I have to do is open the drawer labeled “Mailing Supplies” and there’s everything I need to put it together.
Now we have the smaller of the two storage pieces, the Craft Space Storage Cabinet. It’s not as deep as the other cabinet, but it still packs a big punch in the storage capacity department. With the exception of the bottom drawer, this is where I keep all of my paper goods and paper-related items — greeting cards, notepads, the printer, cardstock, envelopes, and so on.
I added more bracket labels to keep things organized in this piece, as well. The bins on the door are where I keep all of our greeting cards. If I ever have more than what fits in those bins, I have too many. Also adorned with bracket labels are the sliding trays inside. I have one tray for cardstock, one for envelopes, and one for “pretty paper scraps”. They are so convenient and they pull all the way out so I can take them wherever I’m working in the house. The large cubby is perfect for the printer. When I realized it fit, it was like a magic Disney moment! Now that we know this will be the permanent home of the printer, Greg is going to drill a small hole in the back of the cabinet for the wires. Under the printer are two baskets: one for printer ink and the other houses my totally normal collection of notepads and small notebooks. Actually, the collection used to be much larger. When I was in high-organization-mode last week, I pared down the collection to only what fits in the basket – with a little room for one or two new ones. Like with the greeting cards, if I have more than what fits in the basket, it’s too many and time to purge again. I have to have these rules for myself or you’d be seeing me on Hoarders next season.
Lastly, under the cabinet are two drawers. In the top drawer, I keep larger paper products like contact paper, poster board (along with poster markers) and small blank canvases.
The bottom drawer isn’t 100% organized yet. It’s where I keep my little stamp collection as well as extra office supplies. I want to wait until it fills up a little more before I get the containers and dividers it needs.
Well, that about wraps up the current state of my office organization. It’s a work in progress, but truth be told, I’m loving every minute of it. Are you an organizing junkie too? Can I come organize your house when I’m finished with ours? ; )
