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Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by Nicole Corradi | | Posted on 1:13 PM

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Thanksgiving snuck up on me this year. I'll be spending my evening tonight fighting holiday traffic and rockslide detours as I drive down to South Carolina to spend the holiday weekend with my family. The 8+ hour drive will be worth it, though, for the time spent and delicious food that I intend on eating entirely too much of. ;) I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving with loved ones and great food!

-Nicole


Color Match Paint? There's An App For That.

Posted by Nicole Corradi | Posted in , , , , | Posted on 1:05 PM

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Get inspired, take a photo, ColorSnap™ for iPhone does the rest.

If you've struggled with trying to coordinate paint colors in the past, you're not alone! A lot of people have a hard time making a final decision and if you're slightly color blind (which about 1 out of 4 men are) then it's even more difficult. I came across an app for the iPhone today, though, that makes the whole process a piece of cake.

This app, from Sherwin-Williams, seems pretty cool. You take a photo of something that inspires you and it matches the colors in the photo to one of their paint colors. It makes creating color palettes for your space really simple. The app even gives you a preview of the color, the paint name, and the RGB values.

I'm a Blackberry girl (until next year when the iPhone comes to Verizon, or at least that's what I hear *and hope*) so I can't test this out on my own. If you download it and try it out let me know!

Click here to Download it for your iPhone!

Piña Ghouladas and Bleeding Cupcakes, Oh My!

Posted by Nicole Corradi | Posted in , | Posted on 12:57 PM

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Halloween is a fun holiday; it's the one weekend every year that you get to dress up as someone or something else without other people thinking you are crazy. It also comes with a lot of fun "tricks" and "treats" that aren't typically suitable for any other day of the year. Check out these creepy Halloween treats and learn how to make them yourself!

Piña Ghoulada


Courtesy of Martha Stewart.


Bleeding Cupcakes

1) Bake cupcakes using your favorite recipe.
2) Once cooled, dig a small lump of cupcake out of the top. Set the removed chunk aside.
3) Pour a little bit of an edible, reddish, runny substance, such as strawberry jam or cherry pie filling, into the hole.
4) Re-insert removed chunk.
5) Frost the top (thereby covering up the evidence of step 2).
6) Dip a toothpick into some of the leftover jam (filling, sauce, red icing, etc.) and stab the top of the cupcake twice to give the appearance of fang marks.

Courtesy of Michael Singer.

Wine Lovers, Drink Up!

Posted by Nicole Corradi | Posted in | Posted on 11:37 AM

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It reduces the risk of heart disease, promotes the absorption of antioxidants in food, helps metabolize fat, and decreases the risk of osteoporosis and stroke.... plenty of reasons to enjoy a glass of wine daily, right? Well, not that you need any more convincing, but in recent years another benefit to drinking wine has surfaced! This one has nothing to do with your health, though. A company called Jelinek Cork Group offers a beautiful and Eco-friendly flooring product that is produced from recycled wine and champagne corks.



The corks are cut into 1/4" thick circular discs and glued to a paper net backing which is then applied to the floor using glue and grout. This type of flooring is great because it is water resistant (and not slippery) and anti bacterial which makes it a perfect solution for potentially wet areas such as saunas, showers, bathrooms and kitchens. It is also extremely durable which makes it a great solution for areas with high traffic like the restaurant shown below. On top of being a green product (it is 100% natural) cork is also loved for it's soundproofing and insulating qualities.



The cork can be stained any color and paired with colored grout as shown below.



James Velez of Habitus NYC (a retailer of Cork Mosaic) sums it up well, "It's un-tampered virgin cork; its features are the same as the bottle stopper; it seals in the liquid, making it water resistant. So you can use Cork Mosaic on your shower floor, for instance. I actually know of someone who used Cork Mosaic on the deck of a yacht."

Photos courtesy of The Cork House, Domino, Habitus NYC, and CorkStore.

"Be faithful to your own taste because nothing you really like is ever out of style." ~Billy Baldwin

2009 HOMEARAMA

Posted by Nicole Corradi | Posted in , , | Posted on 12:31 PM

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The 48th annual HOMEARAMA showcase begins this Saturday, September 12, at noon in Mason, OH! Typically the showcase is held each year in June but this year, due to economic conditions, the location had to be changed and the dates pushed back. There are only 5 models this year for the same reason. The new location is near I-71 in the community of Carmelle. The homes are beautiful, as they always are, and are available to be purchased. One has already been sold, but the other four are still on the market. The showcase runs from September 12-27 with a furniture and accessory sale following on the 28th. Tickets are $9 or you can purchase them in advance at Kroger for $7.

My favorite of the five homes, just judging by the photos, is Model 01- The Nottoway. It's 5,819 square feet and has some really beautiful & unique architectural features. It's on the market for $799,000.





For more info/details, visit the official website.

"Be faithful to your own taste because nothing you really like is ever out of style." ~Billy Baldwin

How to...Redo Your Closet

Posted by Nicole Corradi | Posted in , , | Posted on 11:24 PM

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Charlton Fascitelli, author of Shop Your Closet, gives some basic tips in her book on how to get your closet up-to-date and more organized than ever. I couldn't agree with her suggestions more. In fact, I've been walking myself through these steps at least once a year for the past 8 or 9 years, so I am proof that this system is satisfying and works! It's really quite simple, honestly.

Before you get started, you're going to need to pick a time when you can dedicate a weekend or at least two full evenings after work to sort through your current wardrobe. It may seem like a lot of time but trust me, you will need it! We're all busy people, so if you are serious about doing this you will need to make it a priority (put it in your Blackberry if it helps! I don't know about you, but for me nothing is official until it's in my BB haha). If you don't make it a priority, you will just keep putting it off or you'll get started on it when you don't have time to finish, which will leave you with a big mess and a lot of frustration. (I was guilty of this several years ago... it was a chore to get ready every morning until I finally set aside time to finish the job. Learn from my mistakes- make it a priority & set aside plenty of time!)

When you're ready to get started you will want to sort your clothes into three piles:
1. Give away
2. Throw away
3. Keep

The "throw away" pile is for anything that is damaged and cannot be easily repaired(this SHOULD be a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised what some people hold onto). You can decide what to put in the "give away" pile by asking yourself two simple questions: "Is this something I would buy today?" and "Have I worn this in the past 12 months?". If the answer to either of these questions is NO then it goes in the "give away" pile. Pretty simple. Any items that don't qualify for the "give away" or "throw away" piles can go into your "keep" pile. If you end up with a giant "keep" pile and can't seem to part with anything then it's time to call in a friend. Someone with a good sense of style that knows you well can give you an outsider's perspective and make sure you don't hold onto anything solely because you got a great deal on it.

The next step is key to a visually pleasing, organized closet... Purchase matching hangers! Having a hodgepodge of hangers is a sure way to leave your closet looking sloppy. Get rid of any wire hangers and plastic garment bags you may have acquired from the dry cleaners. Not only are they eye sores, but the hangers are also too weak to hold any garment properly.

Speaking of properly holding garments, make sure you use the appropriate hangers with the garments they are made for (hang coats on a coat hanger, pants on a pant hanger, etc). Also, hang like with like.... Keep your shirts with other shirts, pants with other pants, coats with other coats, etc. Within each of these categories you can seperate the garments even further by grouping them by color. Doing this will make it easier to visualize possible outfits. You should always leave a little bit of breathing room between garments, too. When you jam too many things in a row they end up wrinkled and difficult to look through.

Finally, hang your clothes so that they are all facing the same direction. It makes it easier to find things and looks a lot neater.

The one exception to hanging is sweaters; They tend to lose their shape when hung so they are better off being folded.

These two closets are good examples of an organized, fresh closet:





It may sound like a ton of work, but it's really not as bad as you might be imagining. I guarantee it is worth the time spent!! You will be in closet heaven every morning once you're done and it will be so much easier to put outfits together and find what you're looking for. It saves a lot of time and stress in the long run.

"Be faithful to your own taste because nothing you really like is ever out of style." ~Billy Baldwin