the history of the home: Anthropologie's Rittenhouse Square location

Anthropologie’s store on Rittenhouse Square was originally the Fell-Van Rensselaer House. Sarah Drexel Fell (yes, of that Drexel Family) was widowed and then married Alexander Van Rensselaer. The house was completed in 1898. The original Tiffany dome and a ceiling with portraits of Italian Dodges, as well as fireplaces and some details remain. Click the photo to view 10 photos taken as demolition was beginning on the interior as its life as a family home ended. Watch out for the shot of the fireplace that seems to hang on the wall as you walk up to the 2nd level of the modern day store.

Cozy City Home

Right now I’m working with a couple who are looking to purchase in Center City Philadelphia- and the search started with an amazing home. A quick walk from Rittenhouse Square- this trinity home (a Philadelphia Registered Historic Home no less!) on 16th Waverly appears to have popped out of an architecture/home decor magazine. Check out the 2nd bedroom, which the current owner uses as a den- complete with exposed wooden beams, original hardwood floors- and a wood burning fire place you can’t see in the photo.

If you know anyone who is looking for a place with character in the heart of center city that is 100% move in ready- let me know!

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DIY Christmas Gift Ideas: Boot Stuffers

If you’re like me, you have a few pairs of tall winter boots that you kick off at the end of the day into a pile by the door or at the bottom of your closet. Who really takes the time to put them back in their box or re-stuff them after every wear? I came across a time consuming boot stuff DIY that involved sewing and cranberry seeds… but who has time for that? After some more research- I found this cute and super easy DIY on lovemaegan.com using empty water bottles and some faux fur to create really cute tassel topped boot stuffers. An even easier way to pull this off is to use pool ‘noodles’ cut into the desired length and cover those with faux fur, faux sheepskin, or any other thicker fabric (tons at joann’s fabric). Top off with a tassel- or pom pom- and you are good to go!

Click through the photo to go to Maegan’s post!

Can I move in?

I don’t think there is a thing I would change about this apartment. Check out the tour on apartment therapy: amazing outdoor space with vertical succulent garden built on an upright pallet, meticulous gallery wall in the bedroom set on amazing wallpaper, fun quirky pillows, color coded book shelf, globe collection……….such a happy place

One man's trash....

…is Sophia’s new entrance table! I got a crazy excited text tonight after my friend found this gorgeous wood end table sitting out with someone’s trash on her drive home through West Philly! You would never guess walking in the door to this gorgeous scene that the table was free!

Garage with roofdeck in the city!

Imagine city living in Philadelphia.. with your very own GARAGE! …… which has adorable ivy that is hiding… A MASSIVE ROOFTOP DECK!

One of my co-workers is listing this home in South Philadelphia later this week for under $300,000. The home itself has 3 bedrooms and 1 bathrooms aside from the glorious garage and deck. If you know anyone interested let me know!

Customized Shelving

Lacking closet space and have shelving from IKEA littering your walls? This apartment Therapy post gives you 9 ways to customize or spruce up plain jane shelving. Don’t want much work involved? Take their decorating tips of using monochromatic knick knacks on each shelf to keep it stream lined. Up for a project? Cue the leather strap detailing or ombre paint! Click the photo for more ideas

Why I want to learn upholstery

Another installment of the renovation of ‘Oh Joy’s’ new studio by Emily Henderson & Sam Gluck re-affirms that I reallyyyyy want to learn how to upholster furniture. And find a reason to search vintage stores for furniture. These chairs are amazing, but wait till you see how not-awesome they were before. Purchased for $80 each and then $80 to re-upholster. Click the link for the story.

Can I please move in?

This, my friends, is something I could move right into. Colors, patterns, design, a happy thing every place you look! Designers Emily Henderson & Samantha Gluck designed and decorated blogger/creator OhJoy’s new studio and revealed section 1 today: “The Living Room”. I tend to buy bright and colorful things, and realized from reading this post that I should therefore paint any walls where I live a neutral like gray or white because:

“if you are someone who loves color then you are going to tend to buy things that are colorful, right? So if you paint your walls a bright color and you are buying colorful furniture it can go ‘Willy Wonka’ or ‘SpongeBob’ really fast”

Duly noted!

Oh Joy Blog: http://ohjoy.blogs.com/
Samantha Gluck: http://samanthagluckinteriors.com/
Emily Henderson: Just click the link!

DIY peacock chair

I was trolling Craigslist for no good reason, seeing what interesting furniture I could find that I had recently seen in some blogs. There were a few wicker peacock chairs listed in the area, which reminded me of this awesome DIY on the blog designlovefest.com earlier this year. They used gold spray paint and yarn to give it new life. Click the link to see how they did it and what it looked like before! If you want to give it a shot- I can help you in finding one on Craigslist!

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