Add a personal touch to decor, gifts, and a little something for yourself
It’s time again for fresh ideas that elevate the everyday.
Give it a swirl
Adding style and polish to a bunch of mismatched vases can be as simple as, well, adding polish. Nail lacquer, which floats on water, is an ingenious medium for marbleizing ceramics. And the design possibilities are endless: We used pastels, but you have hundreds of options at your fingertips.
Sources:
Pure white ceramic vases, from $39 each, westelm.com. Teardrop white ceramic bud vase, 5 inches, $4, jamaligarden.com. Essie nail polish, in Turquoise & Caicos, and Sand Tropez, $9 each, essie.com. Sinful Color nail polish, in Yolo Yellow, $2, walmart.com.
How-to:
1. Fill a plastic bowl with water, then carefully pour in a quarter-bottle of nail polish (too fast and it will sink; too slow and it will get brittle before you dip). Add additional shades, and swirl with a toothpick.
2. Dip in the part of the vase you want to marbleize, and twist it to transfer the pattern. Set the vase on paper towels to dry. Once the polish is totally dry, use nail-polish remover to clean up any stray marks.
Fringe festival
Tassels are having a moment, and no wonder: The lightweight embellishments make a big sartorial statement when worn with summer basics. And while they look high-fashion, they’re low effort. For the earrings, just slip fishhook-shaped ear wires through ready-made tassels, then squeeze the metal back together. Or add mini ones to a chain for a soft, swinging necklace.
Sources:
Ear wires, in sterling silver, $5.25 for two pairs; and in 14k-gold filled, $7.75 a pair, firemountaingems.com. Tassels (similar to shown): TopAccessories21 mini tassels, 1 inch, in light camel, $2 for 10; and silk handmade tassels, 2.3 inches, in coral, $2.50 for six, topaccessories21.etsy.com. Nature Beads silk handmade tassels, 2.3 inches, in rose quartz, $3 each, naturebeads.etsy.com. Tintin Beads Chinese-knot tassels, 6 inches, in canary yellow and aqua, $6 for two, tintinbeads.etsy.com.
Cheers to Dad
If your Dad is the toast of the town, help him mix a sweet whiskey smash or a mean Manhattan with homemade cocktail cherries.
1. Boil 1 cup tart cherry juice and 1 cup sugar over medium-high heat with 1 split vanilla bean and seeds until reduced by half, about 8 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup Luxardo maraschino liqueur and 1 dried bay leaf.
2. Pour mixture over 2 cups pitted fresh sour cherries (or drained sour cherries in light syrup).
3. Cool, seal and refrigerate in jar at least a week. Partner it up with a bottle of nice whiskey (try Nikka Coffey Grain; $65, astorwines.com) — for a gift that only gets better with age, just like you-know-who.
Shake it up
Iced lattes evolve quickly from summer indulgence to an expensive habit. For a quick at-home version, make ice cubes from one part cold-brew coffee concentrate and two parts water (to keep your drink from getting diluted). Fill a cocktail shaker with plain ice; add 1/2 cup skim milk and 1 teaspoon sugar. Vigorously shake until foamy. (The sugar makes the milk thick and frothy— you’ll be amazed at how well this works.) Put the coffee ice cubes in a glass; add 1/4 cup cold-brew coffee concentrate. Strain foamed milk on top, and relish every sip.
As you like it
A reversible linen curtain is brilliant in its simplicity, thanks to the small loops tacked onto its lower corners. Leave the shade down to keep a room cool, or flip it up and attach the loops to hooks you’ve screwed into the sides of the window frame. You’ll let in light and reveal a pretty contrasting color, no cords needed. (For the how-to, go to marthastewart.com/linen-curtain.)
Source:
B&J Fabrics Italian linen nylon double-face, $70 a yard, bandjfabrics.com. Trim Trends cotton twill tape, 1/4 inch, in ivory (for loops), 25 cents a yard, missouriquiltco.com. Solid brass shoulder hooks, 1 inch, $1.25 each, myhardwaresupply.com. Ellery Swivel Glider chair, in Dawson Bone, $999, roomandboard.com.
Address questions to Ask Martha, care of Letters Department, Martha Stewart Living, 11 W. 42nd St., New York, NY 10036. Or go to www.marthastewart.com/contact-us-form. Please include your name, address and daytime phone number.
Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate
This story was originally published May 30, 2017 at 9:31 AM with the headline "Add a personal touch to decor, gifts, and a little something for yourself."