DIY

diy acrylic rod

Without a doubt, one of my most popular DIY's ever has been my acrylic rods.  Well, they are DIY-ish, but more importantly, they are timeless, fabulous, and affordable.  You can find the original post that started it all here, and if you do use the tutorial, make sure you say "hey" to my buddy, Kipp, and tell him I sent you.  I don't get a commission or anything (although I should, ha), but he has always been kind to me and provided awesome customer service to all of you who have called.  (as you have told me) UPDATE:  Kipp's contact info!  He works for Nationwide Plastics in Dallas, and they will cut, polish the ends of your rods (if desired) AND ship the rods straight to your door.  They are open Monday through Friday 8-5, and his number is 214.239.3870.  Just call and ask for Kipp. My living room has gone through a number of changes since I first posted the rod tutorial nearly two years ago.  And yes, I'm going to post the full room eventually, but I am still tying up a few loose ends before I photograph it.  You can see in the photo below from a couple of years ago that my rods have changed a bit.  Plus the paint color, curtain fabric, and hardware are different.  : ) Then... AStoriedStyle-DIYAcrylicRod6 Now...

how to clean brass hardware Hello Friends, pardon my absence the last couple of weeks while we wrapped up school (which was way busier than I imagined - whoosh!) and dealt with our porte cochere ceiling collapsing on our car (more on that later), not to mention my continued recovery (I'm feeling much better by the way, and am very close to being released by my doctors!). This past Saturday, I finally sat down to tackle a task I had been needing to work on for quite some time - cleaning the hardware on the campaign built-in for our Master Bathroom. This is a "before" picture, and this vintage campaign piece turned bathroom built-in, purchased at Scout Design Studio in Dallas, has had a major face lift since the photo below was taken. [caption id="attachment_7807" align="aligncenter" width="306"]scout design studio scout design studio[/caption] As you can see, there is A LOT of hardware to be cleaned here.  Over 50 pieces...But I was undeterred at the beginning.  After all, this is not my first go-round at cleaning campaign hardware.  I've done it millions of times. I promptly pulled out my Brasso and started scrubbing.  At first, I did not remove the campaign hardware from the main piece, simply because those brass T's and L-shaped pieces are a beating to get off without bending them.  (I often recommend not removing campaign hardware for this very reason)  However, after scrubbing and scrubbing with Brasso, I quickly realized this was not going to be an easy job.  Therefore, all of the hardware was removed from the furniture piece very, very carefully.  Once I had all of the brass hardware on a flat surface, I switched to Bar Keepers Friend and started scrubbing. I was surprised, yet again, to see my cleaner was not denting this grime at all. So that's when I decided to pull out all the stops.  If you have beyond dirty brass hardware, these are the steps you need to take to ensure the quickest, most efficient way of bringing these brass beauties back to life.

When I was in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago, I got to tour a modern loft outfitted with furniture solely covered in Sunbrella fabrics.   The loft was beautiful, but I was especially taken by the baby's breath flower arrangement.  The lighting is not the best in this cell phone pic, but the arrangement was really interesting in such a modern space.  And it looked good, folks.  Real good. AStoriedStyle.com I know, I know, baby's breath has gotten a bad rap.  But it can really be beautiful.

the knot

Baby's breath, also known as gypsophila, was introduced in the US in 1828 when gardeners from Britain introduced several of their favorite garden flowers.

first come flowers 

An instant hit in the States, baby's breath became a symbol of everlasting love, innocence, and purity.  Opinion differs on how gypsophila became "baby's breath".  Some say it was  given the moniker because of the sweet smell, and others say the name was prescribed because of its delicate appearance.

[caption id="attachment_8305" align="aligncenter" width="360"]martha stewart martha stewart[/caption]   The arrangement in Atlanta stuck with me, so the week I returned home, I bought three bunches of baby's breath and got to work.

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