One thing I’ve wanted to change for years was the right alcove. There was a marble shelf there that came with the house. Sure, it’s nice to have a marble shelf I guess, but it was impractical. I could put some things on the shelf, but all the rest of that space was wasted. I put up some display boxes from west elm on the wall, but they were purely decorative and didn’t hold anything. What I wanted was for that alcove to be a little library for all the books that were overflowing in my house. So I got a contractor to remove the marble shelf and spackle the drywall. While he was at it, I had him remove the marble on the fireplace because I had bigger plans for it.

Once the marble shelf was removed, I bought some IKEA shelves to go in that alcove. The width of that space was 65 inches, and the IKEA Bergshult/Granhult shelves were 63 inches wide. Perfect!

However, since the shelves would be holding heavy books, I needed very strong drywall anchors. I checked around the internet and found someone who recommended Toggler TB Drywall Anchors because they hold 143 lbs. I have to say they worked great for these shelves. I bought five shelves and spaced them 12 inches apart, and at the bottom I bought a media cabinet to act as a sixth shelf and storage space. I bought this cabinet on Target.com, and I should’ve listened to the reviews that said it was difficult to assemble. It was a bear.

The instructions were indecipherable and many of the holes were not pre-drilled so I had to do a lot of guessing. The fact that I finally got it assembled in one piece, albeit with one drawer that did not line up with the rest, was a miracle.

Now for the rest of the living room wall. I had been wanting to work with adhesive wallpaper murals because I’ve used them on other decorating projects. I like how easy they are to install without having to deal with paste or water. I was looking online for inspiration, and I knew I wanted my fireplace to have a big impact. My first thought was to put up a mural of Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” which one of my favorite sources, muralsyourway.com, had available. But then I found a mural of Marie Antoinette on a website I had never used, limitlesswalls.com, and I knew that was it. I had visited the Marie Antoinette exhibit at the Conciergerie in Paris this past January, and I was very inspired. This was meant to be!

With Marie Antoinette designated for the fireplace, I had to then decide on wall murals for the remaining walls. I decided that the 18th-century painting of Marie, along with the bookshelves, could possibly make the room a little stuffy, so I wanted contrast in the other murals. So on muralsyourway.com, I found a modern geometric abstract pattern with pops of pink, and a macro photograph of some pink flowers to tie everything together.

To make sure it all looked good, I did a rendering on Photoshop to see how all the elements worked. Doing this step was invaluable. The rendering helped me decide what color to paint the wall behind the shelves (navy blue). And I pursued other floral photographs, but no matter what I tried, this one looked the best. The Photoshop picture also inspired me to keep going with the makeover project even when I was having doubts. Here is the rendering:

The first mural I put up was the Marie Antoinette. It came in two panels, so I got some help lining up the panels so the face was not distorted, and I think we did a pretty good job. If you’ve ever put up wallpaper that’s in panels, you know there’s a last step in which you cut a line in the middle of the overlap and peel off the overlap. I did not do this because I had just cut off the tip of my finger in a kitchen accident a few weeks earlier (that’s another story; worry not, the doctors glued it back together with surgical foam), and when I’ve done this before, I did not like the seam. So I skipped that step, and you really can’t tell there’s overlap. The only tricky part was cutting around the fireplace opening, but that just took a straight edge, razor blade and patience.

The second mural, the geometric pattern, was very easy to install. I picked it partially because the pattern could easily be divided up, which would be helpful around the window. Please excuse the mess in the picture. You know how messy you get while redecorating.

Now was the really challenging part — putting up that big floral mural on the soffit above the other walls. I was originally going to climb on my piano and put a step stool on it so I could reach that high. But the mural came in one long piece rather than separate panels as I expected, and there was no way I was going to be able to juggle a 19-foot long mural by myself. I called a few professional wallpaper installers I found on yelp, but they refused the job. They said it was too hard. What? How was I going to do this then? Well, it so happened that I was having some plumbing work done at the time (a burst pipe in the walls; another story for another time), so I asked the plumber if he would help me put up the mural. He said sure. Here he is performing a miracle.

When he finished installing the mural (in less than 30 minutes, mind you), I gasped at the lusciousness of it all. It was even better than my Photoshop rendering.

And it looks even more dramatic at night.

I appreciate my living room in a whole new way now, and it reminds me that change is good. It takes a little bravery, some imagination, a pinch of creativity — and a plumber who is willing to go the extra mile.

Ram-don is a noodle dish mixing two packs of Korean instant noodles: Jjapaghetti and Neoguri. The hybrid’s name is thus “jjapaguri.” It turns out the people who translated the dialogue into subtitles were afraid western audiences wouldn’t know what jjapaguri was, so they called it ram-don, as if that would make more sense to us.

There are a few websites that show how to make their version of ram-don, so I took tips from them to make my own. I went to my local Korean market and bought a few packs of Jjapaghetti and Neoguri (there were lots of them on the shelves so they were easy to find), and was excited to make it.

This is what the two packages look like. Jjapaghetti is spelled “Chapaghetti,” I guess to help us figure out how to pronounce it. The picture on the package didn’t look very appetizing to me.

Here are the open packages. Chapaghetti is a thinner noodle that resembles ramen. Neoguri noodles are slightly thicker. The package calls them “udon type noodles” but they are not the fat udon noodles that I know and love. Chapaghetti comes with three packets: a vegetable packet, a soup base and an oil packet. Neoguri comes with two packages: a vegetable packet and a soup base.

The ram-don in the movie included a very bougie form of steak that is only available in Korea. I just bought a sirloin steak at Gelson’s, which was bougie enough. I cut it into cubes and seasoned the meat with salt, white pepper and sesame oil. Then I cooked the beef in a cast iron skillet and set it aside while I cooked the noodles.

Heat five cups of water to boiling. Then drop the two dried noodle disks into the water along with the vegetable packets for each. Stir frequently until al dente.

Drain the noodles, reserving a cup of the water. Place the noodles back into the pot along with the reserved water. Heat to simmer, adding the full Chapaghetti soup base and half the Neoguri soup base.

Stir frequently. When the sauce has thickened, add the steak cubes into the pot with the noodles. You can add that oil packet from the Chapaghetti package now.

I garnished my ram-don with scallions and some enoki mushrooms. Next time I may try some baby bok choy or snap peas.

And how did it taste? You know what, I really liked it. It was flavorful without being too salty, and it was better than top ramen served dry with the soup base, which I do like from time to time. So I would definitely make this again. It sure made me appreciate “Parasite” a lot more.

The thing about grey heather fabric is that even when it’s in the shape of a blazer, it still looks like a sweatshirt. So it was time to play “Project Runway” and make it work. Here is the finished look:

I’ve had these fabric samples that I used for the Menswear Apartment makeover I did a while back, and I’ve been saving them because they’re such cool fabrics. I have pinstripes, houndstooth, and even fabric with martini and cosmopolitan recipes. Hello! They should not be hiding in a storage closet. So I finally decided to put them to work embellishing my blazer.

I decided I’d embellish the collar, lapels and pockets, but I knew there was no way I was going to sew the fabric on them. Hurray for fabric glue! I used Beacon Adhesive’s Fabri-Tac. For the collar and lapels, I cut pieces of fabric that were bigger than I needed, glued them to the blazer, and then trimmed the excess. That was way easier than cutting pieces to the exact size. 

I started with the collar first, and then did the lapels. I did not bother finishing the edges. I wanted a deconstructed look. (That’s what they say on Project Runway when they don’t have time to sew.)

For the pockets I cut the fabric pieces so they were just slightly smaller. Then I cut out some fusible web the same size and ironed the fabric onto the pockets. I could have glued the pockets too, but the fusible web gave me better adhesive coverage for this larger area. 

And look at the fun surprise in the back.

]]> https://jonathanfongstyle.com/decorating-your-insulated-lunch-boxes-for-back-to-school/feed/ 2 https://jonathanfongstyle.com/prank-packs-my-favorite-find-at-the-national-stationery-show/ https://jonathanfongstyle.com/prank-packs-my-favorite-find-at-the-national-stationery-show/#comments Thu, 05 Jun 2014 06:56:02 +0000 /?p=1495 I was recently in New York for the National Stationery Show/Gift It/Surtex show. There was a lot to see, but I have to admit that a lot of it blended together, and after a while my eyes started to glaze over. Some of the trends I noticed: hipster typefaces, woodland animals, $##@*ing expletives and retro campers. Yes, the end of civilization as we know it.

While I love paper, cards and stationery, my main purpose in going to the show was seeing if there were any unique items in the gift aisles – and I don’t mean the Korean bulgogi/hot dog mash-up concession stand next to the gifts. Again, not much stood out, and when vendors saw that I was a designer instead of a buyer, they either ignored me or glared mighty daggers of death at me.

But one product stood out and really got me excited – Prank Packs, from a company called 30 Watt. Plus, the guys in the booth were nice to me. Probably because they’re from Minnesota.

Prank Packs are fake gift boxes, so when people unwrap their gifts, they see a fake gift for something ridiculous like the Crib Dribbler feeding system. If you’ve ever had to sit through a baby shower where they open gifts and everyone says “how cute” after each gift, you will appreciate these Prank Packs. I can’t wait to give the Crib Dribbler box to someone and see how they react. Of course these are just gift boxes, so the real gift would be inside. But I have a feeling that people will like the box more than the actual gift. (One time at a baby shower I was assigned the task of writing down every gift giver’s name and what they gave. I just wrote “crap,” “crap,” “crap,” and “crap.”  Well, that’s what it looked like to me.)

Here are just a few of the fake boxes:

Particularly hilarious is the text on the boxes. As a former advertising copywriter, I really appreciated the absolutely preposterous body copy that was written with such conviction. For example, the Crib Dribbler is perfect for stew and cocoa! Stew! I love it.

Right now, they are available at Amazon and on their website, and they sell for about $7-$8.

I can’t wait for my next white elephant gift exchange. That gives me an idea: maybe they should sell a fake gift box of a White Elephant – a rare pygmy live white elephant inside each box!  Ahh, pranks for the memories.

By the way, do you all know Hometalk? It’s a home and garden social networking site that features great bloggers sharing their projects. Join it. I’m on Hometalk, so that should be reason enough, right?

Anyway, I hosted the Pinterest Party at the Michaels in Hawthorne, California. It is a big, gorgeous Michaels store. The staff helped me set up the party right at the front entrance, so I knew we were gong to have a good time.

In advance of the party, I made a retro TV picture frame (click here for tutorial) with materials I bought at Michaels. I set it on the table, and when people walked through the front door, many of them wanted to make one too.

Here are some of the finished masterpieces.

Since I am in this month’s issue of “Where Women Create” in the “Men Who Make It” feature, I had an impromptu autograph-signing session. We got all the copies available in the store and they sold out!

What a fun way to spend the afternoon. I love to create with people. Creating is the opposite of destruction. And when we get together to create, we manifest a positive force in this world.

Thanks to everyone at Michaels and Hometalk for making this possible!

Note: I am not being paid by U Star Novels, and I have not received any free product from them. They don’t even know I exist. I just found them through a Google search, tried it out, and loved the results, so I wanted to share the idea with everyone.

Here are some photos of the finished book.