Summer Savings at Diane James Home

In honor of summer, Diane James Home is offering Habitually Chic readers a special 15% discount on all their fabulous flowers and plants. Just use code HC2010 at checkout! Happy Shopping!

XL Numerar Desk

Materials: Numerar Worktop (246 x 62cm) / Vika Kaj Adjustable Leg

Description: Me and my girlfriend needed a new desk. A large one. So that we could work at it together. Inspired by this post, we decided to go for a Numerar worktop (length 246cm). We thought it would look best to use as few legs as possible so we mounted some wooden beams we had left to our wall for the worktop to lay on. On the one side where there is no wall we attached a Vika Kaj adjustable leg to the worktop. The result is surprisingly stable!

For some unknown reason our walls are not 100% straight. This allows for some neat cable management as can be seen on the pictures.

Hope you like it.

~ Oscar, The Netherlands

Wonderful in Wiltshire

I really enjoyed taking some time off this weekend to enjoy the American Fourth of July holiday. What's funny is that there would be no America without the British so I figured why not post a fabulous English manor home today. Also, if you watched Wimbeldon for the last fortnight, you know the weather in England in summer can actually be quite lovely. This wonderful home in Wiltshire belongs to Juicy Couture co-founder Gela Nash-Taylor and her husband, Duran Duran bassist John Taylor, and their family. As an American, I'm always fascinated by English homes since they contain so much history and from the article in Vogue, it sounds like Gela really enjoys her country retreat. I mean, who wouldn't love dressing up in the tweeds for a ride straight out of Gosford Park. I think I might add a manor house to my dream list of future homes. Cheers!

Photos by Francois Halard and Norman Jean Roy for Vogue

VASTLIG Topsy-Turvy style planter for $2

Materials: VASTLIG

Description: This works best with younger plants, though I have transplanted full size plants into this upside-down configuration without too much problem.

Tools: Scissors, plant, dirt, boxboard or cereal box-type material-(you can use felt too.) A pole for hanging your plant.


1. Look at your plant and decide if you want to push the roots up through the bottom or if you want to push the plant down through the bottom.

2. Get you VASTLIG bag and cut a X on the bottom. It should be as wide as the branching leaves on your plant or the root ball. You don't want to make this too big or the plant will fall out. But you can make your X smaller in the next step.

3. Cut the boxboard or felt to fit the bottom of the bag- it doesn't have to fit exactly, but it must be a few inches bigger than the X. This is a collar.

4. Cut collar from the edge of the boxboard or felt to the center, and when you get to the center, cut a circle shape. Set this aside.

5. Now put your plant through, then grab your collar and nestle it down into the bag so it holds the roots and keeps them from falling out of the X.

6. Add dirt and water and you are done.


P.S. Ikea for City Gardening!

By looking at Ikea items in a different perspective, I have used them for my city garden.

VASTLIG- bag as upside-down planter

FNISS-waste basket as deep root planter

EVERT- as deep root planter

SMYCKA- tied together as plant supports

TROFAST- as shallow root planter

~ Ninjarita, Minneapolis

Japanese Skala

Materials: Skala Tray

Description: I liked the design of the tray, but I thought it was a little boring and I didn't think the finish was very durable. I often eat at the coffee table especially when Glenn is gone so I thought a tray would be useful for carrying my dinner and glass of wine.

We have an entire drawer full of travel brochures, maps, tickets stubs and all sorts of Japanese memorabilia since we've lived here for 18 months. I thought it would be fun to use all of this to dress up the plain tray.

I used Modge Podge to glue down the paper scraps and then 5 coats of the Podge on top. Waiting for it to dry between each layer. I had high gloss Modge Podge so it has a glossy finish. I hope we have it for a long time and it reminds us of our time here.

See more of Kelly's Japanese Skala tray.

~ Kelly, NAF Atsugi, Japan

Our Country...

"May the sun in his course visit no land more free, more happy, more lovely, than this our own country!" - Daniel Webster

Happy Fourth of July!

I've been busy the last few days styling one of my projects for a photo shoot today for Rue Magazine, a new online magazine that will debut this September. I am very excited for you to see the final design and can't wait to see all the other great interiors in the magazine. But right now I am going to take a much needed break and enjoy the Fourth of July. I hope all my American friends have a safe and wonderful holiday!

Photo by Francois Halard