Blogger's Home Tour: Michelle's Manhattan Gem

When Michelle Adams of Rubie Green and MABelle moved into her first "real" New York apartment, she couldn't wait to decorate- she wanted to create a space that was serene and relaxing, but also totally fun and chock-full of her favorite pieces. Michelle started out by building a foundation of basics such as furniture, rugs, draperies and shelving in neutral colors, which then allowed her to inject her favorite patterns without making the space feel cluttered.

Once she got the basics down, she then filled her home with her favorite pieces - be it something silly she found at a flea market for five bucks, or a really great piece of art. She is a hardcore bargain shopper, so almost everything in her home is purchased from outlets, flea markets, or sales. You may have seen Michelle's home featured in Jonathan Adler's Happy Chic contest, (which she won 3rd place in!), but here is a fresh look at one of my favorite homes.

"Believe it or not, you are looking at my kitchen! Haha, it's a good thing I don't cook! I decided instead to store extra linens in my cupboards, and make the hallway into a gallery wall of my favorite images. I've mixed goofy flea market paintings with inexpensive Etsy finds and photos of my friends and family. I've even got my parents prom picture hanging up! I love how it tells guests a little bit about my life, and is also highly decorative. "

"Here's my teeny bedroom! As you can tell, it doesn't get any natural light (bummer!) and it's so small that I had a hard time taking a decent photo! The headboard was custom made for a Rubie Green shoot and I'm IN LOVE with it! It's actually much higher than it appears, but since I have no storage space in my apartment, I had to put the bed on raisers which makes the headboard appear shorter. (Just wait till I move one day...it will be gorgeous;) The Ikea bookshelf is also one of my favorite pieces, and when I moved into my new place I had the choice of getting rid of this large piece (ummm...yeah right!) or squeezing it next to my bed. So I chose the latter. The goofy ceramic horse on top makes me happy- I found it at a flea market and my dad cannot understand why I hang onto it. I tell him that true love is blind."

"The left side of my living room makes me happy :) My favorite chair from Williams Sonoma Home (which again, I scored for $66 bucks at the outlet!!) is upholstered in my very own Rubie Green Mary print, and is the first piece of furniture that I've ever had professionally upholstered! I had plenty of things upholstered for photo shoots at domino, but never for myself so it felt very...grown up to finally do it for my own home :) The bookshelf also makes me happy- it's the Sapien bookshelf from DWR and people are always afraid it's going to topple over! So I chose to put a delicate bird statue on the very top! In the nook next to it, I placed a West Elm Chunky Parsons Console which was slip covered for a domino shoot (one of the many perks of working there!) and now I hide all my office uglies under it like my printer and supply bins. It's also nice to run cords behind it without having them in sight. Speaking of cords, the Jonathan Adler Bel Air Lamp is something I absolutely treasure, and I scored it for $100 at his annual sample sale! Finally along the walls, I have framed some of my favorite pieces of Rubie Green Press"

"In the photo of my living room above, I hit up the Pottery Barn/Williams Sonoma Home outlet for most of my larger pieces! The curtains were a whopping $11 each, the rods about $15, the red bamboo chair $66, etc etc! My rug and coffee tables were also steeply discounted finds at the PB outlet, and I scored my little lucite side table for $40 at the CB2 outlet on the same trip. I pretty much did a victory dance all the way back to my rental car! The artwork above my sofa is also very special to me. I asked for the Milton Glaser "I heart NY" poster for Christmas, after seeing it in Elizabeth Blitzer's home featured in domino. The piece in the middle is an original watercolor that I scored for $40 at the Elephant's Trunk flea market. Finally the piece on the bottom is a print of Beacon Hill that I picked up at a print shop in Boston. Boston makes me happy so I always like looking at this print. "

"Here's a close-up shot of my shelves, which I set up since I love to create small vignettes! I filled my three shelves with my favorite pieces, which make me happy. The bust is from Oly (yes, I'm a bit obsessed with Oly if you haven't noticed!) and the necklace draped around it is from my all-time-favorite store, J. Crew! I picked up the little red and cream box to the right while I was in Florence this summer at a paper store called Johnsons & Relatives and the Laduree box is a treasure I begged my friend Lauren to get me on her recent trip to Paris! It was filled with macaroons, which we ate in about ten minutes...! The framed fashion print is actually a postcard from IKEA (not kidding!) that famous fashion illustrator David Downton licensed to them a few years ago! I hope to one day have enough money for an original work from him. Lastly, above you can see a glimpse of my all-time-favorite tray! It's a faux snake print by Two's Company, and I picked it up at Global Table in Soho."

"Here's a close-up of my coffee table! I'm in love with this shot of Audrey Hepburn, and also love how the colors all compliment each other. The lacquer box is from my domino days from Pacific Connections, as well as the Annick Goutal candle. The nautical bottle opener is something I picked up this summer in Capri for $9 at a souvenir shop. "

Thanks Michelle! Be sure to drop by Michelle's blog, MABelle and have a look at her fabulous earth-friendly fabric line, Rubie Green. For more photos of Michelle's home, including additional rooms and detail shots, check out the constantly updated Blogger's Home Tour Flickr set here. Feel free to subscribe to The Love List to keep up with new homes as they are posted.