office

Well the peekaboo shelf arrived faster than a Jimmy John’s sandwich. And it’s perfect! Just what I needed for storage, a place to stow the printer, and some extra surface area (for paperwork and the like).



So I figured I’d snap a few good photos not with a camera phone to better paint the picture of how this space is coming together…

For the first time since I moved downtown five years ago, I don’t have a separate office in my apartment. Transitioning from 2+ bedroom apartments to a one bedroom has meant my living room is also my office. Fortunately, the transition to working in my main living area has been fine. I don’t have any difficult walking away when I’ve had enough work. I cook (yea – I do that now! What?!), walk the dogs, go to the bedroom to read, take a bath, or just kick back and watch tv, ignoring the ever-present desk and computer.



That being said, it’s not so much the living/working combo that bothers me so much as the lack of an organized work space. For storage and papers and product and shipping materials and files and office equipment et al. With the addition of a product line, managing part-time editors, and my new printer that’s lived on the floor for the past two months, I need to get my “office” in proper working order. It’s not just me, the ole iMac, and a glass of wine working late nights anymore.



So I’ve made a few small changes in the living space. Drastic to me. Barely noticeable to anyone else.



When I decided to move the desk by the window, I had it far over to the left, practically against the radiator. Notice you can fit an entire pouf between the desk and the end table next to the sofa.

Remember a few weeks ago when I promised you all posts documenting the before, during, and after photos of my apartment makeover? Then I teased you with a great detailed account of my bathroom project and have done nothing but sporadic fashion posts since? Yeah. Sorry about that…



Today we are finally on to the second installment!

My office/bar/sitting area, which as you can see from the photo above, is near the back of the apartment just before the kitchen.

AUGUST/BEFORE MOVE-IN: Given the built-in hutch and proximity to the kitchen, this room was clearly meant to be a formal dining room. But I had no use for a formal dining room and absolutely loved the windows, natural light, beamed ceilings, and openness of the space.

AUGUST/POST-MOVE-IN: So upon moving in, I unloaded all of my office furniture in this room. I really liked this set-up since it was so open but facing the window wasn’t an option since it was TOO bright, especially with the afternoon sun.

SEPTEMBER: True story. This is how I lived for a while. I called that big piece of cardboard my window treatment. It was an eyesore but a necessity. Even though my large wooden dining table from Fashion for Home was ordered and due to arrive in December, I needed a place for my interns to work in the interim, so I picked up the extra white table from Ikea with the plan of eventually using it as my desk. (I had pretty much destroyed my Overstock parsons knock-off when I spilled nail polish remover on it. But I ended up getting a new West Elm parsons instead (yippy!).) The dining chairs were a Craigslist DIY project from my last apartment-they have since been thrown out. And note the two small Ikea lack coffee tables off to the right-those were from our Everygirl How to Style a Coffee Table feature.

OCTOBER: You all voted, and the new chairs arrived from Euro Style Lighting. Actually, most of you voted for the white plastic chairs, which I agree probably would look great with my dark wooden table (not shown here), but I’ve been obsessed with the wishbone style for as long as I can remember. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get them. I clearly tidied up for their arrival.

NOVEMBER: The new table arrived. If I’m being honest, I don’t love it for this space at all. It needs a great colorful rug to go under it to break up all the wood. And I hated the row of rectangular tables splitting the room down the middle.

NOVEMBER CONTINUED: Here it is from the other angle, straightened up a bit and styled for fall.

DECEMBER: Truth be told, this room and I were at a stalemate. I had plans for every other room, but wasn’t quite sure how to tackle this. And one day, inspiration struck, and I decided I was going to do with it what I do best: recreate my office gallery wall and a splash of pink! This big mess was from shuffling everything around. See there are now two parsons desks in the photo above-my new one from West Elm arrived and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the old one (it’s now sitting in my sunroom/storage room). Oh, and I had finally gotten around to hanging some curtains! The rod was $28 from Target and the West Elm cotton canvas curtains were in my living room at my old place.

DEC. CONTINUED: Clean up that mess, rearrange the large dining table so it’s more like a work table and less like a conference table in the center of the room, add in another area rug I’ve had for forever, and the space is finally starting to take shape…

DEC. CONTINUED: Well, almost. This is actually quite sad to look at. Starting with the color on the walls.

DEC. CONTINUED: So the next day I ran out to Home Depot, picked up what I thought would be a lovely shade of blush pink paint, and went to work.

DEC. CONTINUED: Unfortunately, you can barely tell it’s pink. See the two wall colors above the kitchen doorway where there’s a chunk that’s still beige? Yeah, I know. I can hardly see it either.

DEC. CONTINUED: In the soft iridescent glow of evening lamp light, it looked kind of pretty.

DEC. CONTINUED: But overall it was just sad sad sad. Not to mention I didn’t even have enough paint to finish the whole room.

FEBRUARY: Still-Behr’s Musical Mist was the color the room was for my first photo shoot for our Everygirl career feature! It actually looks kind of nice here, yes? I got that cool arc lamp from Joss and Main using my credits. It perfectly finishes the space, don’t you think?

FEBRUARY CONTINUED: But if you looked reeeeally carefully at my career feature, you might have noticed in some of the photos that not all the walls were pink! I told you,  the single gallon of Behr’s paint wasn’t enough to cover the entire room. Fortunately, it was only the small area behind my desk and bulletin board that were left beige. Hardly noticeable, I think.

MARCH: To my complete delight, Farrow and Ball came to my rescue, sending me a gallon of their Middleton Pink paint, which I do declare is the most perfect pink in the world. Here is my office restyled for my home tour which went live on The Everygirl. The large wooden table was technically there for the first photo shoot, but we moved it out of the way since I didn’t want to reveal too much. So when our photographers Maura and John Stoffer came back over to shoot, they stepped farther back, getting more details into the shot to show a better perspective. You can also see that a little Ikea ektorp loveseat was added in on the right below the gallery wall. My roommate, who many of you probably know, Caitlin Brown, moved in in January and brought it with her. It works perfectly against that wall, as you’ll see.

Here’s the intern station. The framed photo is a shot I took of my own feet at our Kate Spade event. The colors worked perfectly. The neon pink candles are from A New Leaf and the candleholders are from Ikea. I really like the two shades of wood, but like I said, I would prefer to see this combination on an area rug. Unfortunately, adding a THIRD rug would be just a bit too much.

I didn’t want to overstyle my bookshelves w/ perfectly matched everythings. There’s usually a bit more clutter on the top, but for the most part this is what they look like. So this is what you get. Wooden storage bins are from Ikea. Magazine files are from Container Store. Binders are from Russell and Hazel.

The office bar.

Wish it had a great rug in front of it, but I own enough rugs as it is.

And there’s the gallery wall. Amazing how the Caitlin Wilson Textile pillows transformed this shot, bringing all the colors together. Again, the rug is the Sabine from Lulu and Georgia.

One last shot of my gallery wall. Let’s see if I can name all this stuff starting with the Vogue print and going clockwise…



1. Vogue print on canvas from Bed, Bath and Beyond

2. Rue Royale street sign bought in New Orleans

3. print of Paris buildings I bought on Etsy

4. oil painting purchased for $40 in a thrift store in Richmond, VA

5. LIVE WHAT YOU LOVE letterpress print from Heartfish Press

6. photo of Danielle and me at our Kate Spade event

7. the grey ballet flats in the black frame is a tearout from a J.Crew catalogue

8. I FEEL YOU print on canvas from Birdaria

9. yellow flowers is an Alicia Bock photograph that I received as a gift

10. the little photo in the grey frame is also a tearout from a J.Crew catalogue

11. the oil painting in the top left I purchased from an artist in Montmartre in Paris

12. wall clock from Joss and Main

13. wooden A I bought at JoAnn Fabrics and painted gold

14. letterpress print of Sears Tower from West Elm

15. random photo someone emailed me of a spool of pink thread-I actually meant to change that out for the shoot but forgot.



And because everyone always asks where that fabulous seafoam green lamp is from… I purchased it when I was 19. The lighting department at the local Macy’s Home store was closing and all lighting was 90% off. So I bought a $270 lamp for $27. I had absolutely no use for it since I was in college, but I loved it and knew I had to have it, so I stored it at my mom’s for years until I graduated.



This room is definitely an homage to younger Alaina, full of pastels, pinboards, and pictures. And I love it.



WALL PAINT COLOR: Middleton Pink by Farrow and Ball



Any questions? Ask ’em in the comments!

There’s a whole lot more where those came from. Details about how we launched The Everygirl, built the brand, and snippets from our lives after college. Spoiler alert: we were both very lost.



Read it now!



gorgeous photos by Stoffer Photography

you KNOW i love a good styling project. these “how to style three ways” features for the everygirl really take it outta me… but they are so worth it in the end. since everyone and their mother has this white lacquered desks, yours truly included, danielle and i had been talking about this project for the better part of a year. well, thanks to the help of furbish studio, lulu and georgia, design darling, see jane work, junkyard lighting, and of course, west elm, it finally came together! i present “how to style the west elm parsons desk” three ways.

…and there’s a whole lot more where that came from! it’s no secret i’ve been a longtime fan of the design star winner and hgtv styling host, emily henderson (example 1, example 2). so i’m so excited to have her share her career story on the everygirl today! check it out! cholk-full of great advice!





sorry for the radio silence, everyone! things are crazy around this end to say the least. trying to keep my head above water. i will have lots of good posts planned for you in the upcoming days. hope 2013 is treating you all well!



photos by kimberly genevieve for the everygirl

I spent all yesterday painting my office Musical Myst by Behr. And let me just tell you… fail. I went into Home Depot and selected a color I thought resembled Middleton Pink (they couldn’t match Farrow and Ball’s perfectly blushy hue since it’s a new color and not in their system). I was confident in my “no need to test it on the wall, I can tell what colors I like just by looking at the swatch” because that’s what I did in my old apartment with Behr’s Dolphin Fin grey and it came out perfect. And the Black Jack by Bejamin Moore paint I used on the wall in my old home office. Apparently I lost the magic touch.



When I finished last night, I thought it looked ok. Maybe it needed a second coat since you could barely notice the pink in a photo. But when I woke up and saw it in daylight, I realized it must have been the yellow incandescent lights making it look bearable. In the morning daylight, Musical Myst is looking purpley, almost w/ a neon glow in some light. Apparently my office has a lot of natural blue light. Not good. Don’t know what to do next… hate that I wasted an entire afternoon. C’est la vie.