T-minus a few hours until it’s time to clock out and prep for a weekend of imbibing. So while you’re checking off your list of liquors to chill and cocktail recipes to experiment with, don’t forget the glassware. And no, red plastic Solo cups don’t count. Try this affordable multi-hued test tube shot set for a paltry $14. It’s cutesy without veering toward kitschy territory. Or if you’re looking for something you won’t mind leaving on your bar stand post holiday festivities, opt for these black pewter animal head topped shot glasses ($32). It may seem precarious but tip them on their heads and the glasses will keep balanced. We promise. Then there is the InsideOut shot glass ($48) for the design minded amongst you. Happy red, white, and blue day!

Test Tube Shot Set

Pewter + Glass Animal Shot Glasses

InsideOut Shot Glass

Playground chalk goes indoors this season as dual purpose home décor. Take for instance a trio of artfully sculpted chalk pieces ($8) made to resemble Roman columns (that’s Doric, Corinthian, and Ionic for the historically inclined) in stark white or neon hues. Or even a trio of sculpted Roman busts I kid you not. Definitely not your schoolyard bucket of chalk that’s for sure! Keep them tableside or use them as an excuse to finally get a bucket of paint and create your own chalkboard wall. That’s not to say you can’t stick to the tried and true by bringing it outdoors to draw yourself a game of hopscotch.

While I’ve always been one to turn to IKEA whenever I need to add a pop of color to my white-on-white walls, there’s only so many floral prints you can oogle before your eyes start to glaze over. Luckily for me I recently turned to Urban Outfitters’ new Print Shop for my wall candy needs. This recent collaboration with international artist community Society6 dishes a curated collection of gallery-quality art prints all starting at $25 for a small 17” x 23” print. So far my wall is peppered with this falling man watercolor print from Kristal Raelene Melson and this green twist on the signature “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster. But if you don’t find anything that suits your eye, there’s always fan favorite 20×200 with its collector-quality artwork which always have a 200 print edition for $20. The only downside is when you’re #201!

Those Jonathan Adler aficionados who’ve ogled his white ceramic creations and balked at the price can thank Urban Outfitters for its pleasantly inspired glaze horse lamp. Same ceramic base and white on white appearance, but for a much more eye-pleasing price point. The only difference is that Urban Outfitters’ creation is more youthful with a toy-like quality while Adler’s creation is more like a stallion with a long mane and harness. But since the former costs a fraction of the price, My Little Pony it is!

Real:
Horse Lamp, $495

Faux:
Toy Horse Lamp Base, $32

Anthropologie is doing its part to promote Earth Day with a bevy of garden focused products and free workshops in celebration of the green thumbs amongst us. To promote the importance of planting and urban gardening, it has stocked its windows with garden-centric tools of the trade. For the fashionable gardener, there are floral print gloves designed by Brit textiles wiz Celia Birtwell. And those wanting to read up on the subject can turn to author Richard Reynolds’ coffee table tome ($25.99) all about “guerrilla gardening” (the act of illicitly gardening abandoned lands if you’ve never heard the phrase). But for those not afraid to get their hands dirty, there is always satchels of gumball-sized wildflower seed bombs that can be tossed into your garden. Specific to your region, you can opt for the West Coast, Mid-West or stick to the East Coast blend, which is filled with baby blue eyes, baby’s breath, and blue flax. But don’t forget Earth Day itself! Anthropologie’s Rockefeller Center outpost is playing host to an interactive workshop with local farmer Annie Novak, co-founder of the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Greenpoint. Reserve a spot for tomorrow’s presentation and you’ll get to do some hands-on potting whilst sipping organic refreshments. Make an RSVP by calling the store at 212.246.0386.

When: April 22 from 3PM-7PM
Where: 50 Rockefeller Center

Draughtsman Gardening Gloves, $20
On Guerrilla Gardening, $25.99
Seed Bombs, $6

Line averse shoppers need to get thee to the last day of the Hermes sample sale. The avenue-long lines have now disappeared along with their supply of H-logo enamel bracelets and heels but a few gems remain. I had a relatively short wait (no worse than a checkout line at Trader Joe’s) to get into the sale. Though the sales girls told me those much coveted H-logo bracelets had long gone, there was still a small supply of floral and ivy printed bangles ($267 small, $297 medium, $306 large). The small leather goods section was filled with lock and key diaries for $705 (a less expensive journal sits in the back for $35 though it sports a flimsy plastic cover stamped with a Hermes logo). The shoe section mainly consisted a table filled with unwanted boots ($800) covered at the calves with curly fur and bare shelves dotted with oxford heels and geometric cut out sandals. (Please someone with size 39 feet take these gorgeous brown oxfords marked down from $10000 to $400.) Though be sure to get there early. As I exited, those in line around 5pm were told by the staff that they might not get inside even though it officially closed at 6pm.

Designers show off their sophisticated takes on garden variety household wares by lifting them from their common origins. First up is a simple broom and dustpan molded of polypropylene to resemble a flat sheet of newspaper. Its creator Ole Jensen discovered that newspaper and an erasing brush made for a much simpler cleanup inside his clay-covered workshop. And while you may think this is another kitchen necessity, the fire red object that looks like an extinguisher is actually a modernized take on the watering can complete with a hose-inspired spout. Forget the Crock-Pot with this pod-shaped slow cooker that turns the humble cookware into a mod pod-shaped terracotta contraption. But most revamped of all is a “gold bar” doorstop that is certainly an upgrade from a wedged sliver of wood.

Dustblade & Broom, $20

Watering Can, $96

Slow Cooker, $64

Gold Doorstop, $67

During my past Marrakech phase (it involved plenty of votives and Moroccan lanterns), I had my eye on Philippe Starck’s famed Prince Aha stool. What kept me averting my gaze was its $110 price tag. Regardless of the fact that it was a stool on one side and a side table or foot stool once flipped over, its multitasking qualities couldn’t overcome its triple digit factor. Imagine my surprise when I spotted what I thought was the same exact stool-turned-table on Urban Outfitters albeit for a fraction of the price. Can you tell which one is the real thing and which is its $78 doppleganger?

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Answer: Exhibit B is our budget friendly winner.

Hourglass Side Table, $78
Prince Aha Stool, $110

Wendy

This week, The Selby goes home with W magazine design director Edward Leida whose midtown pad looks like a hybrid of retro and sci-fi futurism. Little did we know it was possible to combine those two looks until we saw his warm wood panel walls that work as a backdrop to funky gadgets from the ordinary (floating cabinets and pod light fixtures) to the extra-terrestrial (an alien head-shaped glass sculpture and a Unidentified Foreign Object that looks like a perforated flying saucer). But for those lacking a budget fit for Arne Jacobsen chairs, here are a few ideas on how to outfit your space to replicate that past-meets-future look. Choose from the more obvious pod like touches (a lamp or a table that doubles as a seat) or a crafty tongue-in-cheek set of beaker vases that look like a science experiment.

Eva Desk Lamp, $20 

Pod Table, $110

Laboratory Flower Vase, $14

You can even go more old school than Leida’s 1970s era Braun calculator with this clunker thrown in for good measure.

Retro Calculator, $9.99

Knowing that I might incur the wrath of animal lovers abound, I have to say my latest obsession is the look of antlers. Now we’re not talking the mammoth kind that could double as an oversized and taxidermied animal head. I recently stumbled across a photo of interior decorator Rita Konig’s living room which featured a slender pair of antlers hanging above her mantle that dare I say it looked refined. Though I definitely won’t be perusing for a pair myself because of the slight cringe factor, I have to say the antlers added some dimension to the surrounding wall art instead of looking like a monstrosity. For now, I’m considering a piece of PETA-friendly cardboard taxidermy that has that “dead-thing’s-head-on-the-living-room-wall thing going on” but without “the whole going out and killing something for the sake of decoration” feel to it as Urban Outfitters puts it.

Giant Cardboard Taxidermy, $52