DIY: Revamping Tired Furniture

The days of picking up a great bench or armoire at a Christie's auction are completely over. I loved redecorating my room during high school and Pratesi had my credit card on file. It was so easy to pop in for brand new sheets, throws and pillows. Those day are over and now I'm left to my own devices.

 

 

I went to a garage sale in East Hampton and bought a cute little bedside table. For $10 how could I say no? Anyway, it was clearly in bad shape but I decided I would restore it. No, I have never done this before and do not know why I thought it would only take me an hour. It didn't, by the way.

I knew that I would need to sand it so I stopped by a hardware store after work (I had never been to one before - no it wasn't full of great shopping). I went to a local one near my job - but you could also get everything at Home Depot. So I bought the sander and some sand paper and felt quite proud of myself at how handy I’d become. I went home and cut a piece of sandpaper and put it on the sander. After a few minutes nothing was coming off- obviously I had purchased a broker sander! Just to make sure I knocked on my super’s door to ask his opinion. He informed me that no, it wasn't a faulty sander, I had just inserted the sandpaper upside down. I marched back to my apartment annoyed - don't you agree the directions really should have been clearer?! Anyway, now that my sander was set up correctly I was able to easily sand the top and drawers after removing the gross, broken knobs.

 

Not planning ahead, unsurprisingly, I went back to the hardware store to buy some paint. After asking a million questions to my new friend, (no, he was not particularly interested in the before picture of my table, but I showed him anyway) I finally purchased some white, glossy paint and paint brushes. Back home I went to paint - it took two coats by the way. At this point I pretty much consider myself a professional painter so feel free to email me if your apartment needs painting.

 

 

Finally the fun part - buying the drawer knobs! I scoured the Internet for the perfect knobs and found them at Urban Outfitters.

 

I couldn't help myself and bought a little bowl to match the knobs.

 

 

I was finally ready to screw in the knobs and enjoy my new bedside table. After doing this with my hands I realized I needed a tool to tighten the bolts on the inside of the drawers. I went, yet again, back to the hardware store (I consider myself a regular). Apparently, I needed a wrench for this step and no, sadly, they didn't have any pink ones.

Finally I was done! So I moved my finished piece next to my bed AND IT DIDN'T FIT. I called my mom in tears - and her advice was to measure furniture before purchasing it. First of all, that was obviously not helpful at this point. Second of all, I can guarantee she doesn't even know what a measuring tape looks like, Harold, her interior decorator, handles that.

 

 

Not to worry, I moved the table to the other side of my apartment and turned it into a makeup table! I now need a tiny stool - I will keep you (and Jose, my BFF from the hardware store) posted.

Perfectly Glossed Kisses,

Sutton

L.A. Photo Diary

Sutton and I are embarking on a mission to become bicoastal - we've decided it's the next step up in our fake-it-til-you-make-it high-end lifestyle. LA and New York go hand-in-hand, what one has, the other doesn't. New York has its fast pace, biting attitude and grit, LA has sunshine, laid-back easy-goingness and...did I mention sunshine? And so, some photos from the latest LA trip...

I'm not a food-grammer, but these pancakes were ridiculous. They were actually bigger than my head - and delicious. I valiantly made my way through almost one. (At the Griddle Cafe on Sunset)



Did something a little touristy and took a tour of Warner Bros. studios just for fun - and found the Central Perk set from "Friends"!

Stumbled on the Bluth car at The Grove...

And that controversial statue in San Diego.

Handbags and Hugs,

Astor

Kiss Marbleizing Pen & Polish

As I'm sure you know by now I LOVE doing designs on my nails. Recreating the perfect designs I had done at salons is a challenge but so worth the effort. I have a million nail polishes and nail tools, so it's no surprise that I needed to try Kiss's Marbleizing pen and polish kit.

The kit has everything you need to create a beautiful marbleized design. It includes an instructional booklet, three polishes in the same color family (each polish has a normal brush) but it also has a dotting tool.

 

The first step is to use the middle shade and paint your nails using the nail brush just like you would with a regular polish. You want the polish to be wet for the next step so I did one hand at a time and followed with step two. After finishing this manicure I would recommend only doing one finger at a time - and I will do that next time as this will create an even better marbleized manicure. But what can I say? You live and you learn.

 

Before waiting for your nails to dry you will want to use the lightest color to place two to three dots on your nail. The top of the polish has the dotting tool, no need to dip it - you just squeeze the bottle and the color dots out through the needle-like tool.

Finally, you will take the darkest color and squeeze the pen tip to swirl all three colors which makes the marbleized design. While I loved the finished design on my nails ,I know it would have come out even better if I had done each step one nail at a time but I was too lazy and impatient. Have you ever heard the saying "The lazy man works twice as hard"? Well, shout out to my Dad who says that to me all the time because this was a perfect example! (On another note, how rude is he?).

These nail polish pens can, of course, help you to make a marbleized nail design but the possibilities for them are truly endless. I also used them to make a cute polka dot manicure, but you can also create flowers, lines - really any design is possible!

Perfectly Glossed Kisses,

Sutton

What We're Wearing

Today I am wearing LypSyl Intense Protection LypMoisturizer. And I am OBSESSED. What drew me to this product at first is the packaging - how cute is the little bee? I also love how big the applicator is - with a quick swipe your lips are completely covered. Yet this is only the beginning, it has a light honey scent and leaves my lips so hydrated. Chapped lips are one of my biggest issues and this balm zaps all dryness away. Most importantly this balm has SPF 15 and that is a must for summer.

Perfectly Glossed Kisses,

Sutton



I'm obsessed with this Carven dress and that was a pretty big surprise to me. I saw it online and it had the figure-flattering appeal of a potato sack - in fact you might call a potato sack slimming by comparison. I don't know what made me try it on in the store, since I was sure it would make my hips look like they were hiding balloons, but I did. Lo and behold, it is so flattering. I am the biggest advocate of online shopping but this dress proves that sometimes, going to the store is a must. I would have passed this dress by, never seeing that it's actually a striking example of beautiful tailoring - the draping is insane in person, and you can tie the front for whatever kind of silhouette you want. You can find it at Saks. The jacket is Urban Outfitters, the shoes are Asos and the bag is Reed Krakoff.

Handbags and Hugs,

Astor