While buying a crazy cute pair of shoes from Madewell over the weekend, I was momentary distracted by a rather genius decorating idea. The shop featured a collection of wooden handheld mirrors displayed on one wall near the dressing rooms. Some were so antiqued that the glass was no longer reflective, but I thought it’d be great idea in a bedroom, a guest bathroom or perhaps an entry way — anywhere where you might want to stop to check your lipstick quickly! A quick search on Etsy shows that these are relatively easy to gather, with most priced under $20. Still, with spring flea market season upon us, it might be more fun to do a scavenger hunt and find your own. They key would be to find ten or so that worked well together.

Do you have any great collections you’d like to show us? We’d love to see them!

I just finished hanging crown moulding and adding taller baseboards to the master bedroom. Ouch. Definitely used muscles I haven’t used that way since the last time the husband and I tackled crown moulding together. We also took the leap and changed the walls from almost white to a warm gray NatureMandalas to hang over nightstands (I’ve raved about Allison’s work before), but still needed a small piece of art for the opposite wall. Which brings me to the oil landscapes. Although there’s lot of original oils on Etsy for under $100, Carol Schiff’s work caught my eye, especially the marsh paintings. My soft spot for watercolors remains, but I’m looking forward to adding an oil to the mix. The smaller framing cost will be a nice change, too! (Sorry, no before pictures of the bedroom. We tend to leap before I think to snap pictures. As soon as it’s finished, I’ll post some after photos.)

What kind of person decides to make a butter dish in the shape of a lobster WITH a flapper girl riding on its back? I don’t know, but he or she goes in my book as a genius. If I had $150 laying around, this 1920s extravaganza would be mine. Since prudence rules this day, however, the lovely combo could be yours. A quick search on ebay turned up another funky Art Deco piece of kitchenware in the form of a full-skirted woman as napkin holder. Charming though she is, she doesn’t quite capture my heart like her lobster-riding friend.

As part of our newly freshened up Shelterrific design, we are going to be featuring an artist a month on the site and in our header. This month’s artist is Massachusetts-based Catherine Nolin, whose work we fell in love with via her Etsy shop. With ornately decorated rooms, wallpapers, patterns, and fancily-dressed ladies, they conjure up fantasies of tea parties in grand estates. Our favorite, however is Tree of Life, which you see on our header, with its exotic birds and flowers.

We asked Catherine to tell us a little about her work, and her where her sense of decorating flair comes from.

Your work features a lot of elaborately decorated rooms. What inspires them?
When my parents did a big living room makeover it made a big impression on me as a 8 year old. I remember being involved in the process looking at swatches of fabric, carpets, and paint colors. When it all came together it was quite a thing. When I create an interior I am pulling together all those elements and I just love it.

What’s your favorite room in your house?
My favorite room in my house is the living room. We painted the walls a dark olive which was risky but turned out to be the perfect backdrop/ canvas for all the eclectic furnishing we have collected over the years.

How would you describe your painting style?
I don’t quite have a name for my style although some have said contemporary realism.  I am very inspired by Matisse, Vermeer and Hopper to name a few. I learn something everyday when I paint.

For more information about Catherine Nolin and her work, visit her website and Etsy store.

My husband gave me (well, us) a wonderful gift for Christmas. A set of Eva Zeisel’s classic dishware to go with the gorgeous gravy boat and serving dish we already have. We’ve been coveting it for years, and have been making the splurge. It is so delicate and simple. Design at its purist.

This morning I read in The New York Times that she passed away, at the age of 105 (!) after a lifetime of doing what she loved and bring delightful objects into the world. We have written about our admiration for this remarkable woman and her work before.

Tonight, I’m going to serve some Swedish meatballs in this bowl, and toast the New Year in Eva’s honor. — Angela M.

Previous posts on Eva Zeisel:
A peek in Eva Zeisel’s studio

Ode Eva Zeisel

I love it when one of my style constants becomes a trend, like leopard print this season. That’s why I have a great feeling about 2012. One of my favorite colors — reddish orange — has already been declared color of the year by Pantone. They are calling it Tangerine Tango, but lucky for me it looks exactly like the color of the Eames Eiffel chairs we splurged on for our dining room last year. So for the next year our dining room will be THE place to be! Hooray. Imagine the fabulousness when I wear my new Jcrew Minnie pants in Vibrant flame and my Kat von T lipstick in A Go Go red. Yes, friends, I already have all these Tangerine Tango-ish shades at home. I am all set.

If you are not already a orange worshiper like myself, perhaps now is the time to start. I recommend picking up a Pantone color of the year mug, $25, and starting a new tradition. In just a few years, you’ll have yourself a vibrant set. — Angela

Will you be adding Tangerine Tango to your life? Let me know.

Right now, switching to cloth napkins is pretty low down on my green list. We’ve given it a go three different times but until life is a little less chaotic, it’s not practical for us to do every day. So after throwing in the towel yet again summer, I searched in vain for something that would keep more than a handful of napkins in easy reach without taking up a ton of table space. No go. Then I was flipping through old tear sheets and saw the now-familiar toast rack used as a letter holder idea. Eureka! A seller on Etsy had an antique silver toast rack and tray for under $20. Thanks to the size, we can have 50 or so napkins on the table. And as luck would have it, the tray, which was made to hold small pots of marmalade, is the perfect size for salt and pepper or the oft-used bottle of Tabasco. You can find toast racks with trays on the usual sites — eBay, Etsy and Ruby Lane — starting for around $10. — Sarah L.

I’ve never been one for traditional cast iron – I just don’t have the patience for keeping it in tip-top shape. But ever since I splurged on my first piece of Le Creuset (on super clearance at Macy’s, if memory serves) a few years ago, I’ve been smitten with cooking in enameled cast iron. Expensive though it is, enameled cast iron is unquestionably my cookware of choice now, for nearly everything but crepes and fried eggs. It has just enough non-stick properties to make clean-up relatively easy, browns food beautifully, heats evenly and holds onto that heat well, and is so bright and cheery, it’s a joy to look at in my cupboards. Plus, the stuff is virtually indestructible. In fact, I still have two pieces of enameled cast iron my grandmother gave me years ago, that she had gotten from her mother. While there are a few chips here and there, they still cook perfectly.

Are you a fan of enameled cast iron? Do you have a favorite line? I tend to remain partial to Le Creuset, if only because there’s an outlet 45 minutes from my house (if you have one nearby, get on their mailing list – 30-40% discount coupons are prolific!), but I’m always curious about Staub, and some of the excellent vintage enamelware out there (all perfectly fine to buy, just make sure there aren’t any chips on the cooking surface). I recently found a piece of Dansk at Goodwill, and brought it home, but it’s incredibly thin, which means it’s screaming hot in a matter of seconds. Great for stir-fry, but not much else.

Have you tried enameled cast iron? Do you have a favorite brand? And if you collect it, I’m curious – do you stick to one color, or do you go for the rainbow effect? –Becki S.

This week I saw two stories about bookshelves suggesting they are going the way of the record player and rotary telephones. It seems that in the dawning era of electronic books (and I am the first to confess: I LOVE my Kindle) that bookshelves are becoming obsolete. Both Time.com and The Economist wrote about Ikea’s plans to remake its famous Billy bookcases to contain all sorts things besides books. The shelves are becoming deeper and they’re getting optional doors – all the better to hold things that aren’t books, like tsotchkes (and I am the first to confess: I LOVE tsotchkes).

In our house, we still have a lot of novels and other assorted paper products, like magazines, kids books, cookbooks, photography books. But it’s true that they are not the only objects that live on our shelves. When we staged our apartment to sell, in the photo above, we cleaned up the bookshelves so they contained very few books. Our realtor thought this would be more appealing.

These days, I find myself drawn more and more to old books and first editions. Is it the nagging sense that classic printed matter is becoming more precious? On our mantel is a first edition of EB White’s This is New York, a must have and read. I’m not buying fewer books now that I own a Kindle. Rather, now I am buying books that I truly treasure and want to have and hold and display. And for those, I need bookshelves.

What about your home’s future? Will bookshelves still have a place there? — Angela M.

Among the pile of September catalogs ready to launch us into the fall is Anthropologie’s stunning Issue 9. We’re not entirely sure where it was shot, but a story from Stylist last year hints that creative director Trevor Lunn and his crew were heading towards Mongolia. Judging from the vibrant textiles and textures sprinkled throughout, we’re guessing that’s right. If you’ve ever seen a story about a Mongolian Yurt (like this one on Flickr) or the movie Babies you will recognize the gorgeous patterns and embroidery. We’re keeping our eyes open for more behind-the-scenes info on this catalog (let us know if you find any), but in the meantime, we’re gonna drool over this one till it gets sloppy.