DIY: IKEA Frosta Stool

Today I thought I'd share pictures of a DIY project I tackled this weekend: adding black and white stripes to an IKEA Frosta stool. This was a very easy project, and I'm very pleased with how it turned out:

First, I traced the top of the Frosta stool on a sheet of white contact paper and used blue painter's tape to mark the stripes:

Then I painted the "exposed" areas of the contact paper with black acrylic paint:

This is what the stool looked like before I placed the striped contact paper on top:

And this is what it looks like now: (!)

P.S. Please excuse the inconsistent quality of these pictures. I snapped these with my camera phone!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

image via Psychology Today (seriously!)

I couldn't be more excited about a 3-day weekend. My only plan? To relax as much as possible. And maybe to accomplish a few of the following items on my to-do list, in no particular order:

1. Give one of my IKEA Frosta stools a little more personality. (Maybe with black and white stripes?).

2. Check out the Barneys Warehouse Sale. (Last weekend of the sale = additional markdowns).

3. Brave the crowds and get a firsthand look at the John Derian for Target collection, which debuts in stores on Sunday. (If I want a chance at procuring anything at my neighborhood* Target-- Brooklyn's Atlantic Center store -- I need to get up in time to be there when the store opens -- at 8 a.m.)

4. "Window shop" at the Bloomingdale's Big Brown Bag Sale.

5. College football. College football. College football. (For more on my love of college football, check out Stilettos on the Gridiron, the blog I started -- and don't update as often as I should -- to celebrate, among other things, my love of college football.)

* I live in Manhattan, but it takes me less than 15 minutes to get from my apartment to the Atlantic Center Target by train. So it's in the neighborhood. Sort of.

Home Office Makeover: Oval Office Edition

Ever since the White House's big reveal of the Oval Office renovation earlier this week, the design community has been abuzz. The new look is very neutral and understated, but I think I like it.

Before:

After:

I'm digging that coffee table.

The view from behind THE desk.