Million Dollar Decorators

It's been a crazy month and things don't look like they're going to be slowing down any time soon (for which I couldn't be more grateful). Last night I got home from working at around midnight, exhausted. I promised myself I was going to go straight to bed, but when I remembered that I had the series premiere of Million Dollar Decorators recorded. I told myself that I would just watch a couple of minutes to get a feel for the designers.

I don't really know who I was kidding. Of course I watched the whole thing and didn't get to bed until 1:30 am.

My schedule lately leaves very little time for TV, but somehow I'm going to justify this as work education. I have been a huge fan of Mary McDonald since my first job as a design assistant in Laguna Beach. I would flip through House Beautiful on my lunch break and one day I came across an interior designed by Mary. I fell in love and have been keeping up on her designs ever since. I was a little afraid I wasn't going to like her, but she actually seems very cool. Her and Kathy Ireland were my favorites to watch, but I enjoyed the overall repore that the designers had with each other.

I know reality TV isn't always reality, but I still appreciate the look inside these designers scope of work and clientele.

Million Dollar Decorators airs Thursday at 10/9 c on Bravo.

Keri Russel's Brooklyn Brownstone

The WB show Felicity came out when I was in high school and my sisters, friends, and I would watch it religiously. I continued to not miss an episode until the show ended my junior year of college. Every relationship problem I have ever had (and there have been many) can be linked back to a Felicity episode. Through the four year series, J.J. Abrams seemed to cover it all in a sincere and realistically comical way, which made it so relatable to me. (The cute boys didn't hurt either.)

I've been a huge Keri Russel fan ever since and was delighted to read about her home on Elle Decor's website. 

She decided on a brownstone in Brooklyn and did a complete remodel under the convenient direction of her contractor husband. (Maybe I should look in to getting one of those.) The house is adorned in reclaimed wood cabinets and side tables and other creatively repurposed materials.

Get the full scoop here.