I’ve never purchased art for the matting, until now. Set a quarter-inch deep with a massive white border, the matting makes this tiny picture seem so grand. Prints rarely even come this small (or warrant such a big frame) but if you look into the collectible world of early 20th-century cigarette trading cards, you’ll find more. Scenes of beautiful women, baseball players, cinema stars, and other popular imagery used to be printed on stiff pieces of paper and slipped into cigarette packs to keep the fags from bending and add a little Cracker-Jack surprise to the smoking experience.
Though I would have probably purchased this frame even if I didn’t adore the card inside, the 1940s subject matter was a definite selling point. A Japanese woman lounging nude in a living room, with jelly rolls proudly exposed, sitting on a side table admiring her red high heels—what’s not to love? Plus, the Marimekko-like blue floral carpet is pretty spectacular. The simple pen drawing is wonderfully graphic and the scene a bit mysterious.
I found this piece of art at this adorable boutique called Bucks County Dry Goods in Lambertsville, NJ but you can be sure to find antique cigarette trading cards on eBay, as well.
When my grandmother passed away a few years ago, my aunt Chris decided to decorate a room in her honor. Perhaps the most touching design concept I can possibly think of, the room is filled with Grandma Bunny’s favorite things: family pictures, her signature rabbit tchotchkes, her best dresses, and–my favorite–her hand mirror collection.
For anyone charmed by this idea but equally short on supply, 
In designing our new apartment, a lot of elements are still fuzzy but one thing I’ve always known is: Each bedroom will have a wallpapered accent wall. Maybe this is because wallpapering is practically forbidden in the land of renters, but it is most of all an excuse for wild pattern. If placed right, it can be the surprise in the room. I chose two fantastically bold prints but put them on the least visible wall, so you have to round a corner or do a 180 to notice them.
For the guest bedroom accent wall, the shimmer and pop of 
I had the papers picked out for months but the motivation to hang them didn’t come as quickly. The more I read up on the topic and the more I talked to those who’ve wallpapered, I felt the consensus was: Get help. Even Good Housekeeping: The Complete Household Handbook, a publication known for its consumer empowerment, suggests hiring a professional! Nervous but not discouraged, we bought the supplies, primed the wall, cut the paper to size, then plumbed, pasted, booked, hung, shifted, smoothed, trimmed, and sponged until it was done at one o’ clock in the morning. And that was only one wall.
Albeit time consuming, the process is not as difficult as everyone made it out to be. It just takes an incredibly meticulous and patient person–thank you Mike for getting me through this–and a love of pattern.