Giveaway Winner! - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

Congratulations to Donna, who wrote in: "Love this! Sounds like you've got your weekend planned out!" We'll be emailing you about your prize shortly. Thanks to all of my readers who entered the contest!

Giveaway Winner! - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery Giveaway - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

If you’ve been drooling over the gorgeous new Martha Stewart Home Office™ with Avery ™ line of products, now is your chance to enter to win your own and get your home office orderly, organized, and looking great. If you haven’t seen the journals, labels, tags, files and more, zip over to your nearest Staples or see the entire line here.

Five lucky grand prize winners will receive a Premium Shagreen Journal, a $25 Staples giftcard, and a package of NoteTabs. Seven runners up will receive a Premium Shagreen Journal and a package of NoteTabs.

How can you win? Become a follower of MS_Living on Twitter and retweet MS_Living Martha Stewart Home Office™ with Avery™ Sweepstakes between 12 PM ET on February 16^th and a minute before 12 PM ET on Febuary 17^th.

Include both "@MS_Living" and "#mshomeoffice" in your retweet. See full rules here.

Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery Giveaway - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

More cakes and colors - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

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1 Red Fruit Summer Pudding

2 Vanilla Rice Puddings With Glazed Oranges

3 Marbled Lemon Tart With Sage Cornmeal Crust

4 Honey Saffron Panna Cottas With Bee Cookies

5 Pistachio Pound Cake With Drippy Icing

6 Rich Chocolate Cake With Ganache Frostings And Truffle Egg Nest

7 Blueberry And Buttermilk Tart

8 Spring Cupcakes With Sugared Flowers

All this talk about cake this morning got me thinking about an article we did in Martha Stewart Living magazine (May 2007) called Spectrum of Sweetness. We invented a group of recipes that are colorful, sweet, AND delicious. Now, although I don’t cook or bake, I can appreciate a good dessert when I see and taste one and these are among the best of the best.

Check them out and look online for the recipes.

Also, do not forget to pick up the May issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. It's the annual color issue and covers everything from picking a palette to new neutrals and the power of paint.

More cakes and colors - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

It’s Monday - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

Reader question day. And there are quite a few this week that I need to catch up on.

For everyone who emailed about my closet, thank you. I think I answered all your questions between this post and last.

Mary MacGregor wants to know where the bins in my closet are from (the ones holding the shoe and cleaning kits): containerstore.com, frosted totes, $2.99-$3.99

Katie, from Method Home, is curious about the motion-sensing LED lights in my closet: sylvaniaonlinestore.com, $15

Julie Natale, the valet rods in my closet are from californiaclosets.com, email for pricing.

My black rubber field boots, William Lutz, are from Aigle and the green are Asprey.

Laura McGowen: you can buy acid-free tissue paper for storage at amazon.com.

As for my bedroom:

To everyone who asked: The throw is vintage.

To bridgemcw at bmcwilliams@wowway.com: It was much easier for Eric Beare to build the canvas in my apartment as its size would have been awkward to get into the elevator and I was not about to have it craned through the window!

As for my sofa:

Thank you to everyone who voted for my sofa. It was pretty evenly split between the Wyeth and Probber. However, as fate would dictate, I saw yet another sofa that I liked above and beyond those two. I would love to reveal the design but I think I will wait, dear readers, for another day. Especially because it is out with the upholsterer.

Finally, there have been a lot of requests for the floor plan of my apartment. There has been great debate as to whether it should be published, as there are privacy concerns for myself and fellow building tenants. So, for the moment, I am going to decline publishing the floor plans. But who knows…that may change.

Get ready because the March issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine hits the stands this week and my column is all about paint. So, this week’s posts are all about paint and my apartment, from color choices to application.

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1 The bins are from the Container Store.

2 The motion-sensing LED light is from sylvaniaonlinestore.com.

3 Slide-out valet hook from California Closets.

4 The throw is pure vintage.

5 Eric Beare had to build the canvas in the bedroom or I would have had to crane it through the window. Yikes!

It’s Monday - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

Spring Showers - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

With spring, comes showers.  In keeping with my spring themed posts, I thought it would be fun to do a twist on April showers.  Here are some great shower images.

I absolutely love my shower. It's so serene. The perfect place to start and end the day. (marthastewart.com)

A shower with no enclosure really opens up a small bathroom. (elledecor.com)

The rustic and utilitarian elements of this shower make it so interesting and beautiful. (marthastewart.com)

The random pattern and mixed sizes of tile make this shower unique. (decorologyblogspot.com)

This outdoor shower belongs to Decorating Editor, Rebecca Robertson. Perfect for showering off after a day at the beach. (marthastewart.com)

Spring Showers - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

Book Friday: Shabby Chic Inspirations and Beautiful Spaces - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

In her seventh book, Rachel Ashwell Shabby Chic Inspirations and Beautiful Spaces (CICO Books, $35, cicobooks.com), Ashwell tours twelve inspiring homes in the United States and United Kingdom. I love the use of soft, muted palettes throughout the book. Every room is somehow cosy, yet sophisticated. Take a look at a few beautiful photos from the book. Happy Friday!

Photo Credit: CICO Books

Book Friday: Shabby Chic Inspirations and Beautiful Spaces - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

Sneakers Gone Stylish - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey

Has anyone else noticed that women (and men) all over LA and New York are running around in platform sneakers inspired by the Isabel Marant style? Sneakers are so stylish now, they're no longer reserved for errands on the weekends. So why don't you ever catch me in them, you ask?

I'm strangely self-conscious about my feet in sneakers -- I think they make them look gigantic. I'll go out on a limb with my olive green New Balances but that's about as adventurous as I get. So here are some of my favorites; I'll never wear them, but maybe I can live vicariously through you.

Take the Adidas Gazelle. I saw them featured in a magazine the other day and love the look, but they remind me so much of my childhood.

I always like high-tops like these Jimmy Choos, but I feel that I'm already too tall and skinny and I think they just elongate me. Something I just don't need.

Of all the popular styles, I am easing into the dark sneaker. These Common Projects sneakers are so comfortable, and classy enough that I could walk into a nice store and not feel like I'm improperly dressed.

How do you feel about style-conscious sneakers for grown-ups?

Sneakers Gone Stylish - Home Design with Kevin Sharkey