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Posts by Allison Mezzafonte

My  name is allison and I am an editor here

Mini Designer Houses Auctioned Off for "Women in Need"

isaac mizrahi mini houseJust in time for the holiday season, here's some good cheer worth spreading. From now through November 30, CharityBuzz.com is hosting a live auction of celebrity and designer-created papier mache homes to benefit Women in Need, an organization that provides housing and support for homeless women and their families in New York City.

Each home is a one-of-a-kind creation designed by a smorgasbord of VIPs including Diddy, the Beckhams, Halle Berry, Oscar de la Renta, Donna Karan, Vera Wang, the Today Show anchors and many more.






The highlights:
  • a blinged out chopper on Diddy's roof
  • Isaac Mizrahi's sparkly get-happy bubble-gum pink creation (above)
  • Bobbi Brown's house made of eyeshadow and blush compacts: makeup brushes for a chimney! (below)
  • candy-wrapper covered house by Dylan Lauren, appropriately of Dylan's Candy Bar
  • lots of other awesome creations below
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http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf

Fabulously Designed Do-Good Houses

    Isaac Mizrahi house

    Isaac Mizrahi house

    Dylan Lauren, of Dylan's Candy Bar

    Dylan Lauren, of Dylan's Candy Bar

    Jennifer Lopez

    Cast of the Broadway Play Race

    Debra Messing

    Chris "Ludacris" Bridges

    The Beckham Family

    Lidia Bastianich, chef

VIEW ALL THE HOUSES HERE

Famous Homes, Design, etc, News & Trends, Cool Homes

Clever Home Cleaning Solutions

With a little bit of digging, and a lot of prodding, we pulled together some tried-and-true cleaning tactics, as well as some out-of-the-ordinary approaches to tackling the nastiest, most aggravating cleaning tasks that you hate to (but have to) do at home.

We've got the quick and easy solutions if you've only couple a few hours. But if you're ready to roll up your sleeves and dive in, we've got the down-and-dirty approaches too. Pick your poison and er, enjoy?

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http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

The Challenge
Baking and roasting pans with a layer of gunk that never seems to wash off no matter how hard you scrub.

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

Make Do
Soak with water and a dryer sheet -- overnight is best. We've gotten unanimous approval ratings on this one.

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

Go All the Way
Get to the problem before it even starts. Lay two sheets of aluminum foil across the bottom of the pan. It'll serve as a buffer and keep the food from sticking. We found this one from the trusty folks over at TheKitchn.com.

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

The Challenge
Globs of hair in the shower drain -- ick!

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

Make Do
A preventative measure courtesy of, er, us! Don't let it get there in the first place! (If you did, click on to the next slide). It seems pretty basic, but here goes: when washing, conditioning and wringing out your hair, pull through to the ends so that any hairs that come out do so in your hands. No need to trash them mid-shower -- you'll only soak the bathmat. Instead, stick the clump of hair to the shower wall (sound gross, but trust us this works). When you're done, rub it in a circular motion with your pointer, middle and ring fingers. It will clump up into a perfect ball of hair for easy disposal.

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

Go All the Way
If it's that clogged, you'll probably need a snake. Get instructions on how to use one at This Old House.

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

The Challenge
A dirty toilet bowl.

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

Make Do
Oh, sweet multi-tasking. Straight from Apartment Therapy. Kill two birds with one stone: clean your mouth and your toilet. Swish with an alcohol-based mouthwash and spit it into the bowl. Use a toilet brush and gently scrub the bowl. The alcohol helps kill germs and the mint leaves a nice scent. Another smart idea, drop a few Alka-Seltzer tabs in there. The citric acid and baking soda will clean porcelain the way it does dentures. Let it soak for about 15 minutes.

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

Go All the Way
Before hopping in the shower, douse the bowl with a cleaning agent (baking soda is a nice natural alternative). When you get out, it will be ready for scrubbing. If you have really stubborn stains, an old pumice stone is great. Our friends at CasaSugar swear that it works wonders. Wet the pumice stone and rub gently over stains. They suggest wearing a pair of gloves to reduce the "ick" factor of this one. Yes, we agree.
Bonus Round!
Bring in the blacklight! It will show urine salts and missed cleaning in and round toilets. Frankly, we'd rather not know.

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

The Challenge
Hard-to-reach dust build up in the grates of your radiator.

Dreadful Cleaning Tasks Tackled

Storage & Cleaning, Cleaning

Time Rewind: Can You Have a Stylish Dorm Room?

dorm room

Photo: Flickr user: chriskeefe

I don't know about you guys, but my college dorm room was anything but stylish. If I'm going to be painfully honest here (and yes, this is going to be painful), I had my share of decorating no-nos. I definitely did the tapestry thing. I believe it was tie-dyed and it might have said LOVE (hey! I said might have). My roommate and I had white Christmas lights in the window. We once painted wooden snowflakes many-a-colors and hung them from the ceiling with dental floss. We each had a body pillow, mine was plaid. In retrospect, why does anyone need a body pillow? Anyway...what dorm room would be complete without a corkboard. Mine was smattered with photos of me and my boyfriend. They were from our prom. Oh, sweet youth.

Being pretty far removed from college days, and even further removed from the days of sending kids off to school, I feel out of touch with what's cool on the back-to-school front. Given all of the technological progress that's taken place since I donned that cap and gown, I'd venture to guess dorms can be pretty damn cool nowadays.

Well, our friends over at StreetLevel confirmed my assumptions. Check out their guide on How to Have an Awesome Dorm Room. No tapestries here. Pinky promise.


Decorating, Your Home, Design, etc

Mary Lou Retton's Home on the Market

mary lou rettons home

Retton has cut her home's market price by ten percent after just three months for sale. Photo: Martha Turner Properties

After just three months on the market, Mary Lou Retton's Houston home has been reduced by 10 percent to $4.7 million, as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Ms. Retton, the gold medal Olympic winner, built the home with her husband in 2002. Having recently relocated back to Retton's hometown of Fairmont, W. Va., the family decided to put the six-bedroom, eight-bathroom house on the market. It's complete with a gym and a pool and it sits on two acres of land.

View pics from the real estate listing

Famous Homes, House Tours, News & Trends

Live Next Door to the First Family

house next door to the obamas

How'd you like to have President Obama as your next door neighbor? Photo: Matt Garrison Group

It's a home that comes with an undisclosed price tag and the hope of potluck dinners with the First Family. President Obama's next-door neighbors in Chicago have put their Kenwood mansion on the market.

The home is located at 5040 South Greenwood Avenue, a historic, affluent area situated between the lakefront, The University of Chicago, Washington Park and various proposed 2016 Olympic venues. It was originally built in 1906 by A.R. Clark, the original owner of President Obama's home at 5046 South Greenwood.

This 6,000 square-foot turn-of-the-century home rests on lot spanning over 12,000 square feet -- that's over three standard Chicago lots, according to the Matt Garrison, Managing Director for the Matt Garrison Group Homeselling System, a team within Coldwell Banker.

"It's unprecedented to have a home like this available next door to the sitting President," says Garrison . "Our marketing strategy is to get as much exposure to the house as possible without a price tag, give it four to six weeks and then see where offers start coming in."

In the first day of listing, the realtor's website had over 7,000 hits. A typical listing receives only 50 to 100 in one day. The group plans to identify serious buyers over the next several weeks. Once they've narrowed their search, the Secret Service will then step in. What they intend to do with candidates has yet to be discussed, however, it has been said that tours of the home will not be given until a screening by the Secret Service is complete.

The current owners are long-time friends of the Obamas. Bill Grimshaw is a political science professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology and his wife, Jacky, was Mayor Harold Washington 1983's campaign manager. Washington was Chicago's first African-American mayor.

The Obama's moved into their Kenwood home back in 2005, but the two families met back in 1993 when Mrs. Grimshaw hired Michelle Obama as the executive director of Public Allies. Once they became neighbors, however, the two families became even closer. "There was never a time that their girls didn't speak to us. They were extremely friendly," says Mrs. Grimshaw. "I have a special place in my heart for those little girls," she says, claiming they are what she'll miss most upon leaving her home.

One of her favorite memories of the First Family, was "Seeing Michelle outside leaning on one of the Secret Service barricades. I asked her what she was doing and she said, 'Teaching my daughter how to ride a bike'. I was so happy to see that even with all the secret service agents, life was normal."

So, how can the next neighbors expect to be greeted by the First Family? "With open arms," says Grimshaw, with the utmost certainty. "They'll be very protected and will get used to it. They'll just add another thing to their planning schedule," she says. "The Secret Service must know who comes and goes at all times."

Celebs, Famous Homes, Design, etc, House Tours, News & Trends

Will Madoff's Montauk Home Move Quickly?

bernie madoff montauk house

Sure, it's beautiful but is it full of bad vibes? Photo: Corcoran

As reports emerge about potential buyers and hoards of interested viewers, it seems as though Madoff's Montauk beach house may be snatched up faster than expected despite the circumstances under which it hit the market. The home, listed at $8.75 million, went on the market on Sept. 1 and already there are two confirmed bidders. As reported on CNN, it took only four days for Montauk real estate broker Joan Hegner to land two bids on the house and over a dozen prospective buyers. More are expected later this week. "We have people coming from Florida, from Germany," she is quoted as saying on CNN. "Since Tuesday, it's been bedlam. My poor dog is neglected."

We can't help but wonder: While the place is spectacular and the views breath-taking, would you want to live in a home tainted by the memory of what investors believe to be the biggest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history? All three homes after the jump!

Celebs, Luxury Living, Famous Homes, House Tours, News & Trends

Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack's $13.5 Million Carriage House

carriage house, new york city real estate

A view from the outside of this Upper East Side carriage house. Photo: Trulia

For many, having a vehicle in New York City is a big-time luxury -- no hailing cabs, no cramming on to overcrowded subway trains. Having a place to park it that doesn't involve dodging meter maids? Well, consider it a dream come true. Such is the case for John J. Mack, Morgan Stanley CEO.

Mack, with wife Christy, has reportedly purchased a $13.5 million carriage house in New York City's posh Upper East Side. For a moment, let's forget about the amazing third-floor garden that runs about 31-feet wide from the home's north to south end and the fact that there are over 9,000 square-feet to stretch out in. Why? 'Cause there's a 12-car garage on the first floor! (Did you hear that? That was my jaw hitting the floor.)

Now, I'd be avoiding the elephant in the room if I didn't make mention of the fact that reports of this purchase come less than a year after Morgan Stanley received its $10 billion bailout and less than three months after it was repaid. Make of it what you will, this home's got a 12-car garage in Manhattan and that is downright insane (not to mention a whole lot of gas money).

Pics after the jump. Assess for yourself!

Luxury Living, Famous Homes, House Tours, News & Trends

Bruce Willis Finds a New Place to Live

bruce willis emma heming

Bruce Willis and wife Emma Heming prepare for their next big move. Photo: AP

There's a new pad popping up amidst the glitz and glam of good ole Los Angeles and there's one "die-hard" celeb who's ready to move on in. After checking out the place, we can hardly blame him.

Luxist reports that Bruce Willis, along with wife Emma Heming, has purchased a unit on an upper floor of The Carlyle, an exclusive new high-rise located on Wilshire Blvd. in the heart of Los Angeles' Golden Mile. The building, scheduled to open this month, listed its penthouse at $5.4 million.

Willis' three-bedroom, three-bath unit is about 5,000 square feet and has a private elevator. The building itself boasts a whole bunch of lavish features including a $1 million Dale Chihuly chandelier. Take a look inside to see the building's incredible interiors. Pics after the jump.

Celebs, Luxury Living

Shopping for Area Rugs

Shopping

Clever, Creative, Quirky: My Gift Show Top 5

As you probably already know, us ShelterPop'ers have been covering the NY International Gift Fair going on now in New York City. Despite its name, the fair isn't just about gifts -- although many of these products, I'd love to get as one. Designers big and small come from all over the world to put their creations on display while store owners and buyers come to purchase goods that will then be sold in their stores.

As members of the press, we get to go and ogle all of the amazing creations we wish we could have in our own homes. Let me cut to the chase. This is the stuff I loved. Period. I think you'll agree.

1. The Boogie Woogie Salt & Pepper Shakers
Creative Danes, two Scandinavian designers, are the makers of these ingenious salt and pepper shakers that come with wheels so you can push them from one guest to the next at dinner. Bonus: they don't tip over. (I tried them, they're genius!)

Giving a whole new meaning to "Pass the salt and pepper!"


Design, etc, News & Trends

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