Rhinestone Retro Rehab

I rehabbed a few pairs of damaged vintage deco earrings today and made a cuff bracelet to match with a salvaged beaded appliqué from a beat-up vintage dress from Salvation Army.

Earrings: I removed both the clip-on backs and post backs from the 2 pairs of earrings, to start. With fine, but heavy weight fiber wire I strung the earrings together and fastened them to new, stainless steel (hypo-allergenic) earring hooks. Side story, my grandmother wore the long rhinestone-cluster ones—that look like lincoln center’s huge exterior chandeliers—to Nixon’s inaugural ball in the late 60’s. They are my absolute favorite but were both missing a bead at the top… and were clip-on.

 

Here’s what I did to make the bracelet:

 1. Using crazy glue I secured the beads around the edges and trimmed excess fabric and thread.
2. I traced the appliqué onto the back of a leather sample (I used turquoise for a pop of color) and cut the leather smaller by an eighth of an inch all the way around so that it would not show from the other side once bent into shape.
3. Using thick, heavy-duty woven art-hanging wire and a pair of wire cutters, I ran a spiral around the leather piece—with about a half-inch setback from the edges—and secured it in place with hot glue. (sorry, forgot to shoot his part!)
4. Once the wire was set in place on the leather, I ran a bead of hot glue around the outside edge of leather piece and several more lines along the center and then adhered it to the back of my beaded appliqué. I pressed firmly on both sides to secure them together.
5. Once glue had cooled and set completely, I bent the piece to form a cuff and fit it around my wrist an adjusted as necessary.

Wardrobe Function

Hot off the Oscars, everyone’s talking about ‘what they wore’, but I’m more interested in where they hang it all when they get home. What does that space look like?

Everyone’s got their daily routines and ideally, their zone. My husband, Ryerson, and I just brought ours to life. We sold our fab little 20’s colonial tudor this fall and bought a bigger/older project: an 1805 farmhouse in Franklin Lakes, NJ (yes, BRAVO Housewives territory).

Moving whilst crazed at our jobs was traumatic at best, so we focused our weekend-warrior energies on getting our private quarters finished first. ‘Oasis of organization & comfort’ has been our mantra. As usual, we took the job very seriously and built ourselves some totally over-the top closets. Ry turned the existing walk-in into his own personal haberdashery (sans valet) and I took the liberty of transforming our off-bedroom office into a gallery of glam. I’m a jeans, boots and blazer gal by nature but this wardrobe-chapel is making me see things in a whole new light.

Interior Design & Styling by moi, Meredith McBride Kipp
Photography by Laura Moss
Closet construction by Ryerson Kipp et moi

My coveted Billy Haines slipper chair from the 40’s makes a great statement piece.

Hot pink clutch and gold leather wrap bracelet by cousin Ted Kruckel at Gigi New York. Gorgeous Key Tassel candle (my favorite gifting item) by friend Elad Yifrach, founder of L’Objet. Tray by Royal Limoges from my factory tour purchases in Limoges, France a few years ago during Pairs (Maison et Objet) market— OBSESSED— bought the Asian-laquer-red china to match. The giant wishbone is by Nima Oberoi. I can’t remember where I picked it up, but it was a must-have-you moment. Looks like you can buy it at a number of places now, here’s one.

I rewired and cleaned this pretty, old chandelier (estate sale purchase) to add a little classic romance to the space.

Using a level, I simply hammered rows of nails into the wall to create a display for all my casual accessories. It’s much easier to accessorize when you can see all of your options. This is an easy project I highly recommend. I chose the wall that is usually hidden by the open closet door, but if you are doing this on a more prominent wall, you might want to get pretty brass hooks or decorative knobs to use instead, just to give it a little more polish.

I have too many funky old broaches (this one is Kenneth Jay Lane) lying unappreciated in a drawer, so why not use them to accentuate your boudoir decor?

I used a mixture of brass knobs for my accessories drawers.

Standard options for accessory organizers tend to be tacky, so I like to hide everything in drawers. Here, I’ve used a simple, modern desk accessory to hang all of my hoops and dangling earrings. It’s a great way to display and store them.

To purchase the full story (with before photos) for editorial or commercial use, it is now available at Red Cover.

Creative Commons License
amerelife.com by Meredith McBride Kipp is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

© Meredith McBride Kipp and amerelife.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Meredith McBride Kipp and amerelife.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Dangling Karats


LOVING the jewelry of designer, Arielle Ratner. She lives and works (out of her home studio) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and spends her weekends riding her horse, Tycoon, in the “farm country” of Pennsylvania, where she hails from. She’s completely adorable:
What do you love about Williamsburg?
This neighborhood has everything a young artist wants; inexpensive and eclectic restaurants, interesting nightlife and music, and great parks. It is close enough to get to Manhattan, but far enough away.

Favorite local spot? Lately I’ve been obsessed with the Roebling Tea Room. They have one of the best burgers in town, a great brunch menu and delicious Bloody Marys!

Name someone in the industry that you admire. Pippa Small: she is a designer first and foremost, but also an incredible philanthropist and a successful role model in jewelry micro-financing. Like Pipa, I have large goals of giving back and I try to accomplish this by donating a percentage of my profits. In an industry that can be very exploitative to their workers, it is important to give back.

Favorite travel destination thus far? Brazil. The lifestyle, the people, the food, and the energy of the country is unrivaled by any other place that I’ve been to, and it’s an incredible place to find design inspiration.

Anything else you want to mention? Can you get me a date with that Edward Holland?

Photo with horse: Ryan Moore. Jewelry and studio portrait: Annabel Clark

Knot your everyday craft…


I just returned from Belize abuzz with new ideas and envious of all the Belizians I met— expats and central-Americans living off the land, long-haired hammock-set retirees, and free spirits sailing the turquoise waters with but a solar panel and a fly rod.
A quote I will carry away from this trip—seen spray painted on crumbling concrete breakwater—“not all those who wander are lost,” is befittingly a J. R. R. Tolkien sentiment, penned for The Lord of the Rings. Two such wanderers I encountered were stationed in Caye Caulker—for a hot minute—selling handsome handmade macramé jewelry and enjoying the current surroundings of what Belizians call the “island of hippies” (detail shot above). Originally from Spain, Alejandro travels endlessly, hawking his unique wares wherever the wind takes him.
His work made me think of these outrageous necklaces (below) that I saw in a little shop in Sayulita, Mexico 2 years ago (pre-blog). Despite my match-making hopes, they were not Alejandro’s pieces. He has not yet traveled through Sayulita—but hopes to, as many people (not just I) have recommended it to him—also a haute hippie hotbed wrought with west coast (US & Canada) expats.
On the macramé note… Eleanor Amoroso, a young London-based designer is doing some crazy shit with macramé and knotting. J’adore her work. Here are a few of her pieces from Spring/Summer 2012 (top) and one (literally) from her graduate collection in 2011 (bottom) that she launched her brand with. Check out more of her 2012 collection in British Vogue.