DIY BUILT IN GALLERY WALL

Our apartment building was built in 1905 and it was that old world charm that immediately drew us to it and made it feel like home. But there are some interesting quirks and design challenges that come along with that – not to mention the restrictions of being a renter. This nook (once likely a door that was sealed off somewhere throughout history) had just the top two narrow shelves installed when we moved in. And neither one was evenly spaced. To make it look more purposeful we decided to build out the rest of the wall, adding two more shelves that look like a match and filling it with frames of various sizes. It took me months and months more to actually decide on the photos for said frames – and if I’m being honest I’m still not sure that I am 100% firm in my decisions – but I love that it feels finished and I can easily swap photos if I’d like.

Each of the photos holds a special meaning for us and since it’s on the wall that sits between our living room and kitchen we look at it daily and wanted it to feel sentimental as opposed to filled with something like abstract art.

Above (from L to R): a photo of my late beloved Nan looking like the perfect 1940s pin-up, a photo of a sign we saw on a trip to Portland, Maine (I loved the typeface and the motto), polaroids from Palm Springs, Montauk and Manhattan, a happy bunch of chamomile (a favorite tea and flower!), a street in London next to a photo from a sunrise at the lake house (two of our favorite places), my niece and nephew, a postcard from one of our favorite restaurants in Charleston and finally – a photo we took in Copenhagen.

Below: two photos from our recent trip to Paris plus a classic car spotted in the East Village.

Below: One of my favorite pairings – this classic car next to a swan swimming through Hyde Park in London. Masculine vs. feminine. Man-made vs. nature. Two things of beauty in two completely different ways. Both were iPhone snaps – a testament to the fact that anything can be elevated to art in the right context.

Below: My Dad (the youngest on the left) with his two brothers in the 1960s and a photo from a picture perfect Fall day we spent in Amsterdam.

MY 10 YEAR NEW YORK CITY ANNIVERSARY

Today marks 10 years since I arrived in New York City. A decade of me and Manhattan (minus a brief fling I had with Los Angeles of course.. but doesn’t every New Yorker have that one winter that makes them consider rash things like leaving?).

I’ve been lucky enough to fall in love at first sight twice in my life. And the first time was at 17, the moment I stepped out of Penn Station into the glaring lights of Seventh Avenue. I grew up in Pennsylvania which is only a few hours away, but until my late teenage years all I knew of New York was the romanticized ideas I’d inhaled from classics like Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby, my favorite shows (Sex & the City, Friends, Will & Grace and Seinfeld) and the glossy pages of Vogue. One look though and I was as good as gone. The same could be said for the second time I fell in love at first sight. But today’s not about him.

I arrived so absolutely bewitched by this city it seemed like the feeling would be impossible to sustain. But then, like true love, it has against all odds gotten better with time. Of course, like any true love we’ve also had some tough times. There were the early (and if we’re being honest, middle) years when I was barely making it. Years marked by cheap pizza and expensive rent for the shoebox sized apartment where I was eating it. The year marked by a painfully broken heart and the subsequent years marked by bad dates and my stubborn inability to turn down a tequila shot. All the times I’ve watched friends hit their breaking point with the city (you can see it coming if you know the signs) and move away. To Nashville.. or New Jersey. Anywhere that doesn’t seem quite as crushing as this place.

But then – I’ve always like the hard way. In fact, when I think of who I was when I arrived and the woman that I am now – I actually credit New York with softening me. With teaching me that it’s okay to cry. Publicly in fact. It’s okay to falter or flat out fail. This city is built on both sweeping success and fantastic failures all mixed up in one. Life goes on. You find your way back to your apartment, sleep it off and try again the next day. Like any good New Yorker would do.

And in spite of the trials, New York has offered the life that I spent my teenage years dreaming of. It’s confirmed the notion that hard work is rewarded. It’s insisted that being exactly who I am will be good enough to get me the things I want in life. It’s given me the kind of blissfully good days and adventure-filled nights that I thought could only ever possibly happen in the movies. It’s such a part of me that I can’t imagine my life anywhere else. It turns out, real love can last forever.

Here’s to the another 10, New York. I can’t wait to see where our story takes me next.

THE STEELE MAIDEN BOOK CLUB: CHAPTER NINE

After a bout of slow reading this spring, I really hit my stride again as we kicked off summer. And I’ve got no plans to slow down. Doesn’t it feel like there are just a million great book out right now? Below, the books I just finished (from here on out I’m going to be using a 5 star rating system so it’s a little easier to explain how much I liked or disliked each one!) and the big stack that’s waiting on my shelf next. Plus – see all of my past book club posts here.

SHOP THIS MONTH’S BOOK CLUB:

Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly: Based on a true story, this book was set during WWII and followed the life of a New York socialite, a Polish woman and her sister who were sent to a concentration camp and a female Nazi doctor who worked at the camp. This wasn’t what I was expecting (without knowing the full story I thought it would be a little bit fluffier), but it ended up being unexpected and much more in depth. I like it but not sure if I loved it. (3.5 out of 5 stars)

French Exit by Patrick DeWitt: Short and sweet I read this romp of fiction in a single day at the beach – following an eccentric mother and her even more eccentric son as they flee New York and head to Paris. It was dark and witty and weird. Probably not everyone’s taste but I loved it. (4 out of 5 stars)

Maid by Stephanie Land: A memoir of a young single mother, sharing her descent into poverty and the ways in which the, often broken, system in our country keeps many there. It was a realistic re-telling of what life looks like when you clean houses for money that still barely covers the bills and work hard for a young child that you never have time to see thanks to the very same work. If you’ve ever for a second questioned how someone could end up on food stamps.. you need to read this book. I didn’t love it as much as other memoirs (Educated is hard to top for me), but I really liked it. (3 out of 5 stars)

Commonwealth by Ann Patchett: This book topped the stack for me. An unexpected telling of the intersection of two families across two generations. I loved her writing style, the characters, everything. (5 out of 5 stars)

Next month I’ve got ambitious goals. Black Swans by Eve Babitz (think Valley of the Dolls but non-fiction), Normal People by Sally Rooney and Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (both at the top of the best-sellers lists this summer and I couldn’t resist), Joan Didion’s Blue Nights (reflections on her daughter’s death – her book about her husband’s death ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’ is one of the best things I’ve ever read) and Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong (a story of reaching an age where you’re the parent and your parents become the children). Happy reading!

LET’S CATCH UP 6.2.19

I can’t quite put my finger on how or why but every single French girl we saw in Paris just looked so damn cool. It’s like this kind of undone, effortless confidence that they just exude that somehow makes everything they wear look better. The outfit above, on our last day in Paris, is probably the closest I got to their certain je ne sais quoi. A linen blazer and white cotton maxi dress (even better with the wrinkles), converse sneakers with cobblestone scuffs and a simple straw bag. We ate breakfast at Cafe de Flore, walked off the croissants across the Seine and then stumbled across this gorgeous little tucked away street. All was right with the world. Aside from studying up on how to master French girl cool and dreaming of a return ticket – here are a few other things on my mind this weekend:

  1. Every summer has its own magic – but doesn’t everyone have 1 or 2 summers in life that really stand out in their memory? I loved this New York Time article where 5 writers recount the ones that left the most lasting impression.
  2. I mentioned these perfect gold sandals over Memorial Day, and then I found them even further marked down here. Needless to say I’m still dreaming of them.
  3. Speaking of pinching pennies – I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing me talk about how much of a financials fanatic I’ve become this year – but if you’re like me and felt really overwhelmed by the thought of it all – I like this post on the basics regarding retirement funds.
  4. This week I’m going to a comedy club on Tuesday night for an all female-comic evening and then headed to the ballet at Lincoln Center to see their take on Jane Eyre on Wednesday. I tend to kind of hole up in the winters here so I like to make up for it in summer and get out and enjoy all this city has to offer every chance I can! I’ll report back on both events.
  5. I’m always way late to the game when it comes to beauty but I tried a hair mask for the first time recently (this one – sold in individual packets – you just apply after shampoo in the shower and leave on for 5 minutes or so then rinse) and it left my hair feeling brighter and softer. And smells so good! I’d recommend.

BEFORE/AFTER: THRIFTED DRESSER MAKEOVER

If you’ve been following along with the process – last April we moved into a new apartment. It was a year of transition and while I would have loved to immediately decorate the whole thing – reality intervened and for the first 6 months the bedroom was kind of in a temporary state. Case in point – we spent the year without a dresser of any kind, digging socks out of baskets tucked away into the closet and silently cursing our lack of dresser (okay, sometimes I was audibly cursing). The budget was being held for other more pressing things and I didn’t want to buy something inexpensive just to buy it. Our last dresser was from Target for about $120 and looked ragged and cheap just about as soon as we’d put it together. In this apartment I wanted to do things differently, practicing patience until I found pieces I loved and would grow with us for years to come.

Early in Spring I happened upon this dresser in a thrift shop while visiting my parents in Pennsylvania. It was $35 and in rough shape but I saw potential (Adam, for the record, did not.. but he came around). I love the thought of giving something a new life and not just accepting the way it currently looks as the way it has to stay forever. Especially with housewares, be willing to think of a new purpose for something or consider a small tweak that could make big impact. It makes for a home that’s way more interesting than having everything be straight out of the box, store bought.

I removed the old hardware, used an electric sander borrowed from my Dad to fully remove the old varnish finish and smooth out chips and dents then painted a chalky black color. From there I found simple, brushed gold drawer pulls, lined the old drawers with fresh contact paper and was nearly done when I realized that I needed something for the top. I wanted to be able to toss down my earrings or a mug at the end of the day without worrying about scratching up the paint.

At first I thought about having a piece of custom glass made, but since the whole project had been so affordable up to that point I kind of didn’t want to blow it all at the end. My Mom suggested a chic, oversized tray (I learned all my interior magic tricks from my incredibly resourceful parents) and that’s when I stumbled across this marble pastry slab at Crate and Barrel – almost the exact dimensions of the dresser top and I had already used marble contact paper to line the drawers! DIY serendipity. The entire project cost about $120 – for a beautiful, real wood dresser that is tailored perfectly to the space. Sometimes (okay a lot of the time) it pays to wait.

SHOP THE STORY: