Jessica Swanlake's Profile

Display Name: Jessica Swanlake
Member Since: 4/11/08

Latest Comments...

Boozy icing? It is like you know me.....


Winter Recipe: Whipped Eggnog Loaf Cake Recipes from The Kitchn
12/7/12 11:59 AM

FYI: the Archivist Candle (Greenmarkey Purveyor's Co.) in Sea Salt scent is seriously amazeballs.


Gifts that Hosts & Hostesses REALLY Want Readers Choice Holiday Gift Guide
12/5/12 6:46 PM

We use duck tape to keep our dryer door shut. Enough said.


Win: Washer & Dryer from Amana Holiday Giveaway
12/3/12 3:16 PM

I saw this down at Detroit Mercantile in Eastern Market and have been dreaming ever since. Please, santa, please! I have been good enough, comparatively speaking.....


Win: Great Lakes Quilt by Haptic Lab Holiday Giveaway
11/30/12 3:45 PM

What a beauty! Fingers crossed.......


Win: Geneva Model S Holiday Giveaway
11/20/12 5:02 PM

Winning this is the only thing that will save us from having to buy a horrible looking high chair- we are too broke at the moment to buy anything pretty.....


Win: Tavo High Chair by Monte Design Holiday Giveaway
11/20/12 5:00 PM

I suppose my husband & I have our own bathrooms. The one I have dominion over is attached to our bedroom. He keeps all of his gear in the bathroom in the basement- which sounds strange, but he has an office in the basement where he writes and hangs out and stores his clothes (our closet is tiny). It works great- especially since he is a proponent of the "if it is yellow let it mellow" philosophy and I prefer a clean bowl.......


Couples with Separate Bathrooms
9/10/12 1:18 PM

Saraphim, if you are looking for smaller owl bookends, I got these at Barnes and Noble (with a half off coupon!) and they are a super adorable alternative-

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/home-gift-white-owl-resin-bookends-set-of-2/18685063


First Look! Patch NYC + The Curiosity Shoppe at Target Target Home
9/10/12 10:08 AM

I have yet to break my "wretched" iPhone 4, but almost as heartbreaking was that I bought a beautiful etched bamboo case (saved up for months to buy it) and immediately dropped it on the hard linoleum floor in our conservation lab. The phone was fine, but the beautiful case shattered. Needless to say I now go function over form and have a hideously, bouncy, black rubber case that has saved my phone numerous times since.

My husband's iPod got smashed when the doofus left it in our beach bag and my daughter, who loves to collect rocks, tossed a softball sized stone on it. A blessing in disguise since it finally broke him of his Angry Birds addiction....


Tales of Broken iPhones
9/10/12 9:57 AM

Do yourself a favor and skip the Eames rocker if you are over 5'2. I have one that we use for our computer desk and there is no way I would use it to rock or nurse a baby. I am 5'7 and the thing ends at mid back, giving absolutely no support. It is cute though.

I am debating between the Poang and the Ryder Rocker from West Elm. Has anyone actually sat in the Ryder?


Rockabye, Baby: 15 Gliders & Rockers for the Nursery
6/25/12 8:44 PM

If I were a dude, this would be my dream house. The wee army men just kill me.


Joe's Curiosity Shop Shotgun Apartment
House Tour

11/23/11 10:44 PM

@MandyDavis. That does sound harsh, you are right. I did not mean to insinuate that their family life is devoid of joy- I hope they are quite happy. Who wouldn't be with such cute babies, right?
It is their home I find lacking, physically. Everything is just too curated. It seems too planned. For all the color and texture, it is generic- there is no sense of the actual people who live there, outside of the fact that they like to buy nice things. It is hard to explain, but sometimes you get a happy feeling looking at a AT tour, even if it is not your style, but it is lacking here. It is like looking at a movie set- pretty, maybe, but empty.


Perry & Lestat's Colorful Romanian Home
House Tour

11/1/11 10:19 AM

Seriously AT, if we wanted house tours of ridiculously wealthy socialites we would look in whatever is the Euro version of In Style. Not to sound like a hater, but I would have rather seen a "normal" home of an actual Romanian. To see how an average person deals with what this fellow was complaining about (high prices, red-tape, etc.) would be really interesting.

That aside, it is obviously carefully curated and designed, with plenty of irony and cleverness and flair, but it is absolutely devoid of any sense of joy. Especially the nursery. Speaking as a mother, that is seriously bleak. Hopefully they will change that up a little bit before the children grow up- no one wants to live in a magazine spread.


Perry & Lestat's Colorful Romanian Home
House Tour

10/30/11 12:39 PM

My husband knows that if he is going away for more than 24 hours he is going to come home to some a freshly finished decorating project. He never wants to start these things so I wait until he is gone and paint rooms, refinish furniture, build a dog house or something like that. I love being "single" and staying up until 4 in the morning painting trim, listing to the BBC and eating cold carryout noodles.....


The Secret Habits of Suddenly Single People
9/21/11 5:13 PM

I was checking out online at 7:30am when the site crashed and I lost my cart. Such a bummer! I actually drove to a store and got there 5 minutes after the store opened and everything was already gone. I did manage to get my daughter a pair of wellies (cute!) and found the ceramic set of serving bowls (MEGA cute). An employee actually came up and asked me what I was looking for- she offered to go in the back and find the blanket I was trying to get for my sister's wedding shower. Of course it had already gone out and was swept away in the sea of voracious 50 year old women that cleaned everything out. You would have never known that I live in one of the most economically depressed areas in the country by the way they were going at it...

As to people blathering on about buying "real" Missoni, I own a "real" scarf and the quality of it is very similar to the ones they were selling for $19.99. Try not to be so full of yourselves- why rag on people for wanting something pretty that they can actually afford?


Missoni For Target: The Sad & Sold Out In-Store Look
9/17/11 11:38 PM

I have lived in two houses that had "activity" in them, including my current home. I am used to it- the first house was a little scary, but not threatening. This house seems more interested in us- it usually tries to get our attention in some playful way. Now there might not be anything wrong with your home, but you have to ask yourself if you would be comfortable sharing your space if there is something there. This might sound cheesy, but energy is energy- it has to go somewhere. I personally would not want to live in a space where someone with such sadness chose to "disperse" her life's energy, but that may only be because I am more "sensitive" to such things. Whatever you chose, good luck!


Would You Buy a House with a Dark History?
Good Questions

9/10/11 12:43 PM

I collect rocks and other strange natural bits- it started when I went to Savannah and walked down the street that is made up of rocks from Ireland that were used as ballast. The sailors paved the roads with them so they could always feel close to home. That was just so beautiful it stuck with me.

I have bits of slate from Welsh mines, a smooth rock from the first time I saw the Pacific, some petrified heather & moss from the Orkney Islands, a sliver of a broken wall from Quebec- you get the idea. They are all beautiful on their own- add the memories attached to them and they are pure magic.


Special Souvenirs: Collections From Your Travels
7/9/11 5:54 PM

How utterly bleak. I am sure the parents are charming.


When Is Minimalist Too Minimal?
1/20/11 7:54 PM

I recovered a vintage folding screen I found at a garage sale and put it in front of our crate. You can't tell it is there unless you are looking from the left side and adds a little interest to an otherwise boring corner.


How Can I Hide or Disguise a (Big!) Dog Crate?
Good Questions

1/4/11 6:56 PM

I did this with some wool tartan my grandmother brought back from Scotland- she held onto it for thirty years and never figured out what she wanted to make with it before she passed away. It looks so much nicer than some lame tree skirt from Target. I took leftover scraps of it and some red courduroy and made my children stockings- now we have a really nice reminder of gram every time we get ready for the holidays.


Look! Simple Tree Skirts | Apartment Therapy New York
12/14/09 11:10 PM