Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Gift Guide 2009: Home

It's no secret that I'm a Real Simple-subscribing, gaga-eyed home design freak. I read design blogs and tape paint chips to the wall and have committed entire pages of Dwell to memory. I've decided to start up this years Gift Guide with a few things I love and covet for around the home.

(Click image to enlarge)


1. Palmistry Reading Chart (20x12 in.) $6.00 This is from the amazing LA shop Necromance, which I've mentioned here previously, and am obsessed with. I really want to hang this in my closed-in porch, since I don't have an office with built in bookcases next to which I can prop the frame up against the wall (which is really the perfect spot for it, right?)

2. Nordstrom Acrylic Throw Blanket $48.00 I've been shopping around for a nice throw for my couch. The couch is on the smaller side, and if I use the Slanket I kind of drown in it. This is still cozy but can be folded and wrapped around you (or a few) without risking being strangled by Slank-sleeves.

3. Aerolatte Mooo Milk Frother $14.00 I'm so obsessed with this. My neighbor, who frequently invites me over for coffee, has one and I get so excited every time I use it. It's a magic little wand that froths your milk without steam, and without you having to wrestle with a confusing espresso maker. They're typically stainless steel, but I like this one because it's cow-print, and if you have the choice, you should ALWAYS choose an animal print.

4. Hamilton Beach Candy Apple Electric Kettle $40.00 This is a kettle that I just bought a few weeks ago, and I can't imagine how I got along without it. I used to make tea one cup at a time in the microwave, but I decided that if I boiled an entire pot of water I would end up drinking more and, in turn, become healthy and beautiful. Keeping a kettle on the stove seemed a little too staged model home for me, but an electric kettle like this looks cool and also satiates my gadget-lust.

5. Pill Capsules $4.00-7.00 These are large containers shaped like pills for you to tote your drugs in. As a giddy pill-popper myself, I'm always looking for something cute to contain my various medical concoctions. They're also sort of cartoonishly chic, I think.

6. Vanity Fair's Proust Questionnaire $16.00 One of my favorite features of Vanity Fair is the last page, where they feature a celebrity answering a selection of questions from the famous Proust Questionnaire. This book compiles 101 of those interviews with everyone from Norman Mailer to Aretha Franklin. There is also an online tie-in where you can take the questionnaire yourself and see which celeb you most resemble (I'm 94.78% similar to Michael Caine).

7. "Return" Poster Print (14x19 in) by Nikki McClure $9.00 Nikki McClure is an amazing artist who creates prints by cutting into a single sheet of paper with an X-acto knife. I've loved so many of her pieces, but this is probably my favorite. In fact, I had a calendar of her art a few years ago, and after the year was up I kept the month with this art displayed for another year. Now that she's doing posters I can still display this print without the embarrassment of having a calendar page from July 2007 on my wall.

8. Jonathan Adler Dolls Canister $28.00 I must be a real pillhead, because I didn't realize that I had two pill-centric items on this list until now. Whatever, this is just as cute and just as necessary. This reminds me of these labels that I also NEED, but this canister has a more 70s-Virgin Suicides feel, which is what every home needs, right?

9. R&M Dinosaur 6 Piece Cookie Cutter Set $10.00 Oh, how I wish this were a set of cookie cutters designed by the Famous Baking Brothers, R and M Dinosaur. But it's almost as cool that this is a set of dino shaped cookie cutters. I've had a set of dino-cutters since I was a little SarahTops, so I speak from experience that they are kick ass. Plus, you can ice a santa suit on one of them and call it a VelociSanta.

10. Running Deer Rabbit Figurine $24.00 Etsy seller The Runny Bunny combines old figurine molds to create new creatures that are simultaneously weird, fascinating, and precious. All of these works of art are fantastic, and once I choose which one I like the best I'll finally have one of my own. So far I just love them all too much to decide, which is a great endorsement, if you ask me.

Happy gift giving, you crazy wackadoos!

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