Bed Accessories: How Much is Too Much?

Andrew and I have only lived in two apartments together, and moved the same bed, but somehow we continue to accumulate more and more bed accessories.  What are "bed accessories," you ask? These would be sleeping pillows, sham pillows, accent pillows, and blankets.  We now not only have all of the above, but multiple of each. 

In total, we have two "regular" pillows each, which means 4 pillows stay on our bed every night while everything else gets tossed to the ground.  We have four "sham" pillows, two that match the white duvet, and two with the Dusen Dusen quilt pattern.  We also have two sheepskin covered throw pillows from Pottery Barn, and then one small flower pillow from Takashi Murakami that I bought in Japan. And that's it! I believe, at this point, 7 pillows is the limit. I just don't see how it could look balanced after that. Fewer than 7 is probably ideal, but this is where I am in life today.

Attending a Virtual Wedding, At Home

It looks like virtual Zoom weddings are here to stay.  I had the pleasure of attending my ading's (basically a sorority "little," but for Filipinos) virtual wedding earlier this month and I wanted to make my virtual attendance an event.  Because what else is there to live for at this point in the pandemic?

Rotate Birger Christensen Dawn Polka Dot Puff Sleeve Satin Dress

Rotate Birger Christensen Dawn Polka Dot Puff Sleeve Satin Dress

I bought this Rotate Birger Christensen dress because of its iconic #RHOBH status: both Lisa Rinna and Kyle wore this polka dot puff sleeve dress to some event during filming unintentionally matching.  This is the SECOND Rotate dress that RHOBH wives have worn to the same event - it's clearly a stylist favorite and that is reason enough for me to buy the dress (so long as it's on sale and not $300 ha).  Did I have an event to wear the dress to? No.  Once I got invited to this virtual wedding though, I knew that would be the perfect time to break it in.  I LOVE this dress. 

How to Frame a 36 x 36 Designer Silk Scarf

Confession: I own a large square silk scarf that cost an exorbitant amount of money (to me) and I have worn approximately 3 times (maximum).  I have always wanted to frame it, because it is BEAUTIFUL, but getting a custom frame that size was expen$$$ive.  

I saw that Kathleen Barnes at carriebradshawlied.com had framed a similarly-sized Hermes scarf that was making a statement in her living room, that she acknowledged would have cost a fortune to get custom framed but she found an acrylic alternative on Etsy. I loved it! I had the 36" x 36" frame in my Etsy cart for a long time, but even the $350 price tag for the frame was still a little steep for me! 

About the scarf: When I visited Gucci Garden in Florence in April 2018, I knew I wanted to buy something to commemorate the trip, but I didn't anticipate spending 400 euros on a silk scarf.  However, travel makes you do silly things. I rationalized it because I didn't have a silk scarf this size, I loved that it had a cat/tiger on it, and I LOVED that it spelled Gucci with a Y. 

I hemmed and hawed about the frame, and thought maybe it would go on sale, and decided I could be patient.  I've also been perusing eBay pretty often for custom-sized frames (per a recommendation from Krista Robertson, who ALSO got a scarf framed although not in this gigantic acrylic beast) and came across a listing for a custom acrylic frame that looked very similar to the Etsy version, but around $100 less.  I immediately made sure they had a size that would fit a 36x36, and added to cart.  You can find it here (eBay seller alpinamfgllc).

 

The frame arrived a week or two later, in a gigantic and very heavy box that I thought might kill me when I was trying to bring it up the stairs.  It sat next to my window in my office for the next two weeks, because I could tell it would be a two-person job and required drilling into the wall...aka I needed Andrew to help me and it would have to wait until we were free on the weekend.  I finally bugged him enough to get him to hang it last night, and boy was it a struggle.

Home Styling Flashback: Westwood, Los Angeles Apartment Tour

My first Los Angeles apartment tour! Welcome to a blast from the past, one of the original posts from another iteration of my blogging self, "Best, Isabella."  I lived in Westwood, Los Angeles, CA when I was in law school at UCLA a few years ago.  It was a great time and I miss LA dearly.  Below, please find my first foray into home decor blogging, a post originally published on November 28, 2017.  This was the first apartment I was really proud of and the first apartment I ever paid for on my own, while living on my own, and I will always be proud of it and look upon it fondly.  Please bear in mind I was still in my Disney phase and working on a tight budget. Enjoy!

Surprise, I'm leaving LA. I got a new job in San Francisco at the beginning of December, so I'm moving out of my apartment and into my parents' house for a bit. I was in such a rush to leave my current job and move home that I hadn't really thought about how much I loved my rickety old apartment (my cousin Emily calls it "vintage"). I've lived in several apartments before and I've never been so sad to leave one-- probably because this is the longest I've lived in my own apartment (over 2 years) and also probably a little because I'm not moving into another apartment, but I'm moving home. This apartment had really become my own, and despite the gross carpet and minuscule "junior bedroom," I will really miss it. Before I started packing everything up, I tried to capture my favorite parts of the apartment to share and also to look back fondly on.

A LOT of the pieces I've had since I started college. A LOT are also from Ikea.  Some things aren't shown because they just aren't in a cute state, or just aren't cute, generally.  One thing I've noticed about house/apartment tours is that the photos are always curated to show the best parts of a home, not all parts. You never really see someone's hamper or dish rack, and for some reason you can always find some staged freshly sliced bread. 

I'm really obsessed with looking at how other people decorate their living spaces. Notably, I always seem to be looking for inspiration on The Everygirl, ManRepeller's Real Cool People, Real Cool Apartments, and the home tours on Cup of Jo.  I hope eventually someone can find this post and get some cool inspo from it too!

San Francisco Apartment Update: One Month's Progress

We've been in our San Francisco apartment for a little over a month now, and I think it's safe to say that I have gotten a lot done in this short amount of time.  It's amazing what some existing furniture and will to decorate will do!  While I'm feeling comfortable and at home in our new space, there is still a lot to be done, and I think the rest will come slowly but surely.  For now, I wanted to share what we have managed to put together in the space to date.  

Our couple decor vibe is urban modern with hints of humor.  I typically run everything by Andrew but I try to manage to add the tiniest little bit of glam eclectic since I buy everything anyway.  This new San Francisco apartment is approximately double the size of our Rockridge apartment, so we needed to buy new furniture to fill the space. It helps that I have been dreaming about accent chairs and dining tables since we were in our little 400 sq. ft. apartment so I was able to pull the trigger relatively quickly, especially when I found things on sale during Black Friday. 

LIVING ROOM.

Chairs: CB2 | Couch: Wayfair | Rug: Overstock | Coffee Table: West Elm | Marble Placemats: CB2
Arched Mirror: Homegoods (similar) | Nesting tables: Pier 1 | Three-bulb lamp: Ikea
Needlepoint Pillows: Jonathan Adler, Catstudio | Blue abstract pillows: Dusen Dusen | Love YSL print: Etsy
Candleholders: Amazon | Hobnail Planter: Amazon

This is one of my favorite vignettes (if it can even be called that, being so large) in the apartment, because it is the most done ... other than the candlesticks without any tapered candles in them. I've been meaning to buy pink or red tapered candles to put up in celebration of Valentine's day, but alas, here we are with a singular forest green candle in one of three holders. 

These Goop x CB2 chairs have been on my lust list for a while now. They are so large and comfy and I would sit in them every time I went into a CB2.  We had already signed our lease by Black Friday but we wouldn't be moving in until mid-December.  I went ahead and ordered the chairs and our new dining table because CB2's buy more save more sale was too good of a deal to pass up.  I ended up saving around $550 on the two chairs and the dining table! That's almost the price of one of the items!  While I will admit this is more than I've ever spent on furniture before, it is furniture that I have been thinking about for months if not years and they bring me joy to look at, sit on, and use. If anyone else is considering buying furniture from CB2, I would also advise waiting until one of these sales. I shall report back if they happen on any other occasion other than Black Friday. 

I'm also still looking for the perfect pedestal table to replace that Pier 1 table between the CB2 chairs, which is just sort of a placeholder for now.  I currently have my eye on this one from DWR. 

Andrew's Office Makeover: Concept

While we initially moved into the City because Andrew thought he would be reporting to work in-person, COVID and the City had other ideas this January 2021.  Now that he will be working remotely TOO, we needed to give him a nice office space to work out of so that he could feel comfortable and efficient for his new job. 

Office inspo from Emily Henderson

The main decor items that we already have to work around include: 

This pillow: 

Ralph Lauren

and this chair mat:

Amazon

Here is the room we initially envisioned would house our peloton but will now be housing a working Andrew: 

Unfortunately for me, the room does not give enough clearance at the top for any sort of arm movement while on a peloton, so now it lives in what would have been my cloffice (closet/office) and made it a goffice (gym/office).  Fortunately for Andrew, now he gets to share the triangle room with our vacuums as his very own office. 

As you can see, it needs some help.  I, of course, spent lots of time thinking about how the space could work better and what could be added, sourcing some items/options for him (below) and even including my own rendering of my vision for the space.

Our New San Francisco Apartment!

Renting an apartment during COVID has been an experience for sure, but we're City folk now and I'm ready to let my inner interior decorator shine.  Over the next few posts of this blog, you will get to see a before and after of my new San Francisco apartment!  I've been so excited to decorate that it has consumed all of my waking moments for the past 3 weeks.  It's starting to get to the point where I feel like taking photos of it and sharing with the world, which I think is a pretty good sign.

Full disclosure: This is NOT what our apartment currently looks like, although it is a nice colorfully decorated apartment belonging to the previous tenants. I didn't get very many photos of our current apartment while empty, and this photo was taken when we were still touring the apartment and deciding whether we wanted to rent it or not.  As you'll see from the pictures below, this is a much more palatable photo. While this decor is definitely a lewk for some, it's not necessarily our vibe. I'm excited to show everyone what we have turned it into! 

This new apartment checked many of the boxes as to what I was looking for: 

• Great natural light
• Extra bedroom for office space
• Room for a dining table and additional living room seating
• Dishwasher 
• Walking distance to Pac Heights shops and restaurants

One thing it didn't have: an in-unit washer and dryer. But hey, a girl can dream.