Fashion 101: Dressing like an Ivy League Sorority Girl

Yesterday night, while idly perusing my guilty pleasure site (celebrity gossip), I came across this hilarious, jaw-dropping, envy-inducing article. Basically, it was a six page fashion doctrine filled with a harsh commentary touting the evils of plastic and satin cocktail dresses for those weighing over 130lbs.

Poor grammar and Blair wannabe behavior aside, this girl is pretty on point with her fashion advice. Some of her mantras are plain common sense and rules that I used to follow when I was young and single living in Southern California. It has been many years hence since I've accessorized on a daily basis and I can't recall when I last spritzed on perfume. I suppose I should have been affronted by her attitude but instead, I thank her for reminding me that I need to take care of my appearance.

Inspired by these young early-twenty girlies, this morning, I spent a little extra time to make myself presentable.

* I wore a thin long sleeved stretch t-shirt underneath shorter cardigan. (Tops: check!)
* My jeans are of the straight variety (I don't pull off the skinny jean look well).
* Accessories include my diamond solitaire ring (I get !!! for that because she likes rings), a Tiffany pendant necklace, and pearl stud earrings.
*Make-up included sheer tinted moisturizer, subtle champagne and pink eyeshadow, blush, and sheer rosy lipstick. Light & fresh. Whaddyaknow...I do feel lighter & fresher.
*Shoes- though not Tory Burch, I'm sure my black leather Cole Haan slippers will suffice just fine in her book.
*Hygiene- Always clean hair anyway, but I blew it out and spritzed on perfume.

There! Now I should look like a Cornell Sorority Girl! Yay! The goal of my life has been accomplished!!

Actually, all joking aside, I DO actually feel better about myself today. I look like myself--the way I used to when I cared about things such as my appearance. If this article taught me anything (accessorizing aside), it is that I once took good care of myself and that should start doing it again. I spend so much effort decorating the house that I have forgotten to take care of myself. I didn't think I was old enough to have a dated style, but I do. It's a mid-2000 style rut. Times have changed and I need to catch the train back on to the present! Does this mean that I'm going to go out and purchase skinny jeans and ankle boots? Probably not. But I will look out for some longer flowy shirts ( the girl is so right about longer shirts) and some costume jewelry.

Hallway at work!

Remember my previous post about discreet shoe storage? Well, after some measuring, debating, hemming & hawwing, we decided to bite the bullet and go with the IKEA Hemnes shoe cabinets! This picture was our inspiration for a pretty yet practical way to store shoes.



Our entry way is not defined and the front door opens up directly into the dining room. If we had a little a nook or cranny that separated the room better, we would not have gone to such extremes. A simple bar shoe rack would suffice. Since we didn't have that extra bit of house, we had to simulate a hallway to distinguish the dining room. Was it a lot to blow $200 (not including the mirror and little decoratives) just to store some shoes? Totally. Originally, we were concerned that the white manufactured composite so well- favored by IKEA would look cheap or garish but it actually blends in with our moulding and trim well enough to pass for a built in at first glance.



The runner in front of the cabinets provided a place for people to walk onto to remove shoes without getting the carpet dirty. I did like the bright cheerful colors of the bright floral IKEA rug but it was too large for the area. In the end, we got this brown striped runner for it's form (stripes to form a hallway for the eyes to follow down into the living room) and function (machine-washable and a color that hides stains well).
Each "cubby" (as the husband quaintly described them to our guests) stores at least 2 pairs of men's shoes and more for daintier shoes. The cabinet itself took ages to put together, even for a lego champion such as my hubby. There was an insane amount of tiny pieces that put this contraption together but he did it perfectly. Of course, I cannot leave well enough alone and persuaded the husband that we needed to line the bins to make it easier to clean. I had an ulterior motive of course. No plain contact paper for me! Enter Target! We got this lovely green paisley and a white with blue and brown polka-dots print and alternated between both to line the cubbies.



We had about 25 people at our housewarming and it was such a blessed sight to see all but a few pairs of rain boots on the landing. We still have a ways to go before the entry way feels "complete" but it is so nice to sit back and give each new addition it's rightful period of admiration.

Purple Plague

{edit at 1/5/10}

Two walls of the study painted. Still hate plain purple. Went back for a bolder greyed purple instead.

{end edit}



I have a confession to make.

I hate purple.

I used to like it as a child but I met too many people who are seriously obsessed with the color purple. One lady I worked years ago covered her work area in purple: purple stapler, purple gel typing rest pads, purple chair, purple notepads, purple stickies, and plastic purple jars filled with purple ink pens. I don't see people as obsessed with...say...orange...but I have met or heard of people (Prince, anyone?) who seem to harbor some type of crazed manic obsession for purple.

I generally try to stay away from purple as much as possible but if I hate purple so much...why, oh why, did I decide to paint an entire room in pure purple? Well, for starters, I cannot seem to escape it. Other then certain wimpy pastel shades of lavender, Purple is generally a flattering color on me as it is on most people with yellow tones. I have several items of purple clothing and even more shades of purple eyeshadow. My vanity seems to outweigh my distaste.

Recently, hubby and I have been trying to choose the right color to paint our study. The hallway leading into it is a pigmented warm beige. We wanted the hallway to transition seamlessly into each room. We debated between pale grey, light blue, light olive green, or even red.

Red was quickly tossed to the curb. It was overly used in the earlier part of this millennium and was often heinously used as a single "accent wall". Red is also the color of anger, passion, and makes people alert and hungry. Not the right choice at all for a studying sanctuary.

Pale blue was the next choice and nearly won the day but we purchased the house with 3 blue rooms already. One blue room, an awful neon Tiffany blue, was quickly obliterated but a bright princess blue bedroom remains. I actually don't mind the Princess blue (like Disney happy blue) and think it'll be really cute for our future kids. Hubby is fighting to repaint that too but we shall see about that! Neverthehless, we both agree that there is already too much blue for yet another blue room.

Green was quickly banished from further usage so that left me with purple. Purple, in small quantities, is also a fun accent color in an otherwise neutral colored room. That isn't surprising since most neutral furniture and wall colors are beige and we are no exception. The carpeting in the study is a warm honey color and purple looks so good with yellow tints. After reading through various design magazines, we bit the bullet and went for it.

Our first trip to Home Depot yielded a wimpy pastel pink test paint. The second trip was too dark of a gray. For our third (and final) trip, we took a copy of House Beautiful magazine with us and color matched the shade of purple they considered one of the top colors for the year.

There.


Now that 1/2 of the room is covered in purple, I am again having second thoughts. A little patch of purple is not intimidating and it actually looked more grey but an entire room in grape hyacinth is truly a sight to behold. Once it dries, deepens, and the decorations move in, I may like it more but for now, it is a LOT of purple. It is certainly bolder then anything I usually do and change is good. Besides, I have become a master painter since we bought this house and I can always repaint it down the road. I may even augment it with some lovely purple damask though a la dwellings & decor:



Yes, I am liking the purple damask wallpaper. I think it will do the purple room some good.