Teresa's Profile

Absolutely. Over the last few months, I've been painting the interior of my new house. So far, the living room is a lovely warm gray with a much softer gray on the ceiling. In the office, I painted the walls a creamy yellow with a pale, pale blue on the ceiling. Both rooms have white crown molding that does a nice job of setting off the colors.

Next up is the kitchen. I'm planning on gray walls with a sunny yellow ceiling. With the white cabinets and soon-to-be soapstone counters, it should be lovely!

My boyfriend was constantly bringing the bathroom glass into the bedroom to use for water at night. He was very impressed with the glass carafe set I picked up at Homegoods for about $6. I placed the carafe and matching tumbler "lid" on a small white lacquer tray. It protects his newly refinished nightstand from any drips. Inexpensive solution that looks good, too!

Before my boyfriend moved in with me, he lived in a house with his cousin and brother. One day, as he was unloading the dishwasher, I saw the toilet bowl brush in with the dishes. Apparently, his cousin thought that was a great way to get it clean. Needless to say, I avoided meals at his place after that.

In my book, dishwashers are for DISHES.

My dream is to have an entry hall with a black & white marble checkerboard floor. Someday...

In the meantime, for an example of a more upscale version of the checkerboard floor, check out the September issue of House Beautiful. There's a gorgeous floor composed of white marble paired with a blue-ish gray limestone. Absolutely beautiful.

Elizabeth B - It's actually "Magic Cover" brand contact paper. Lots of places have it; I believe I saw it at Target recently.

The room appears in the May issue of Traditional Home. According to the resources, the wall and ceiling are custom by Thomas Blee-Carlyle through Zarin Fabrics (212 925-6112). In the magazine photo, you can see that the walls are not actually a single tone; it almost looks like venetian plaster.

As for the lamps, they are the "Farfalla" at uttermost.com.

Want the best price ever? Costco. Box of 50 black velvet hangers for $18.99.

Not a designer piece, but oh-how-I-love my vintage metal barrister bookcase. I had never purchased any furniture costing more than a hundred bucks, but I was living with my mom rent-free while going to school and had a decent job and a few extra dollars in the bank. While browsing a local antiques store, I came across a Globe Wernicke grey metal 4-level stacking barrister bookcase from the 60s. $420 later, it was mine!

Since then, I've seen them selling for a heck of a lot more, but I won't ever get rid of mine. I love how all my design books are protected behind glass and how unbelievably sturdy the dang thing is. Did I mention that it looks incredible? Love!

I have a vintage steel barrister bookcase in my home office. I wanted to cut down on the amount of gray in the room, so I lined the back with a natural-colored grasscloth wallpaper. It's most noticeable behind the shelf I use for display, but it also looks fantastic peeking out from behind books on the other shelves.

Really lightens the look of what could be an oppressively heavy piece...

Local nurseries. Many grow their own plants, and they have varieties that the big box stores never get. I have ordered from mail order sources in order to get a rare plant that I can't find locally, but the plants are usually bare-root and quite small. I like to pick the healthiest, most vigorous plant from the nursery.

That being said, if you just want some marigolds or other annual and have a tight budget, you can probably get away with HD or Lowe's. I just don't tend to use a lot of those kinds of plants in my garden. Be careful when buying shrubs or more expensive plants from the chains, though. They are often horribly rootbound and not well tended.

I've seen pallets of plants sitting inside my local HD for days before they are moved outside. Going from 70 degrees to 38 can't be real good for a plant. Same goes for houseplants. I saw a bunch of tropicals sitting outside in the garden center in freezing February before being moved inside. Eek.