Blog Posts by Valerie Rains, Shine staff

Photo Credit: Nantaka JoyAllow me to welcome you back from your (hopefully) long, relaxing holiday weekend with a little office cheer in the form of The Most Beautiful File Folders In The World. Design whiz (and righteous blogger) Joy Deangdeelert Cho's Nantaka Joy paper goods line now includes recycled-paper kraft file folders detailed with gorgeous copper and silver floral and leaf patterns. Not exaggerating, they are like jewelry for your desk. I especially love the combination of rough brown paper with shiny, feminine details, which I've been appreciating in the notebook form for some time, but unfortunately could not justify purchasing because I already have a stack of about six blank notebooks in my desk waiting to be used. The folders are sure to cost more than plain manila versions, but these are maybe the only designer folders I've seen that actually seem worth it. Available only at Anthropologie stores; get 'em while you still can.


Photo Credit: Nantaka Joy

More Inspirational Office Moments on Shine:
Charming hand-held

Of course, there is apple-picking and fall fashion and reading smarter books and going to afternoon movies without feeling like you're wasting precious hours of sunlight-I am looking forward to all of these things, for sure. But fall is shaping up to be a good time for interiors, too, so I wanted to share a few things in the world of home and design that have me on the edge of my seat right now:

Photo Credit: Target ad via RemodelistaJohn Derian's line of bargain-priced decoupage housewares for Target, coming in September. (Here's hoping it looks as classy as his expensive stuff, because the last time I bought something of his-as an anniversary gift for friends-it nearly bankrupted me.)










Photo Credit: selectismThe NYC branch of the incredibly stylish Ace Hotel, whose Portland location we've already gushed about. Again, I hope that they manage to hold to their not-as-expensive-as-they-could-be rates, even in crazy-overpriced New York City. Coming this winter. [via Notcot]









Photo Credit: NightwoodThe arrival of the low cabinet that I ordered from my enduring design crush

Photo Credit: claregraham.comKnowing my ongoing obsession with Scrabble (and no, I do not mean Scrabulous, which is completely different and inferior!), a sweet friend sent me the link to Los Angeles designer/artist Clare Graham's amazing Scrabble tile- and board-based constructions. (Graham also dabbles in collecting and stacking up and gluing together buttons, bottle caps, yardsticks, and paint-by-numbers art, which I happen to love and a lot of you happen to hate.) If you have a few minutes you were planning on procrastinating through anyway, spend them clicking through Graham's site-it's like a museum of childhood detritus-turned-sculpture, and some of the pieces will really surprise you if you let them. There's even stuff that's not entirely kitschy, like the stacked-Scrabble-boards side table (below), which I would strongly consider putting in my house (and also think I might be able to replicate with a table base from Ikea and a few unwanted game boards from yard sales and eBay; I'd probably add a Plexiglas

Photo Credit: BonbonkakkuWhat with the recent spate of print-it-yourself books, the explosion of Gocco fan clubs, and the resurgence of craftiness in general, it can seem like the perfect time to take on making your own printed fabrics. And it is-if you want to add a few one-color repeat patterns to a solid background. If, however, your aspirations are a little loftier, you might need some assistance. Finnish web site Bon Bon Kakku can take the manufacturing work off your hands, leaving you to focus on the purely creative part. The only catch? Your design has to be good. The site runs a monthly contest for new fabric designs; submissions are judged by online votes, and the winners are put into production and sold in the site's online shop (25 Euros per meter). In addition to having their ideas turned into honest-to-goodness products, winners also get free fabric, and shoppers/voters can sign up to be alerted when a pattern they like goes up for sale. Click through the slide show at the bottom of this post to

Photo Credit: Elise RijnbergFormal table setting skills may have gone the way of, well, eating formal dinners in one's own home, but sometimes you get that urge to cook a big meal and invite a bunch of friends over, and you want to have all the forks in the right place. A handy tool for those of us (ahem) who have no idea where the oyster fork goes is Dutch designer/photographer Elise Rijnberg's tongue-in-cheek embroidered-diagram tablecloth. (It's unclear from her site whether the tablecloth is in production or available for purchase, but it's still fun to look at!) [via Notcot via Style Files]









Photo Credit: Elise Rijnberg
What about you? Do you ever do formal table settings, or are you just lucky if your family is actually sitting down at the table and eating together? And do you even own all of these utensils? Comment away.

More Party Favorites on Shine:
Graphic neighborhood posters=great housewarming gifts
Funny gift tags to add to the obligatory bottle of wine for the hosts
Customizable banners let you get all kinds of messages across

Photo Credit: Mary T./Shelterrific...if I had only known this trick for packing them: An empty egg carton makes a perfect carrying case for party- or picnic-bound mini cupcakes. It's one of those so-obvious- you're-embarrassed-you-haven't-been- doing-it-all-along ideas, but I'm blaming my oversight on the fact that I have an inexplicable and long-standing aversion to eating eggs, so I probably wouldn't have a 12-pack carton on hand when I needed it, anyway. Thanks to Shelterrific's Mary T. for sharing her discovery (and to Seattle bakery/coffee shop Coffee to a Tea With Sugar for exhibiting such genius in the first place). The last several birthday parties I've baked for could've been so different...
[via Shelterrific]

Do you have any tricks for transporting party foods? Let's hear 'em!

More cupcake obsession on Shine:
A glass cake stand sized for a single cupcake
Lacy, cut-out cupcake wrappers

I don't think anything even needs to be said here about what a pain moving can be--how it's expensive and exhausting and fraught and can lead to arguments and owing your most-muscled friends a lifetime supply of pizza and beer--so instead, I'm going to focus on all the handy supplies and accessories that can make the whole undertaking just a tiny bit more fun. Click through the slide show to get all the goods, then tell us: What's your secret to an easier (or more fun) move?

More little ways to make your life easier, as seen on Shine:

Replace half-empty paint cans with a touch-up paint dispenser

Tablecloth weights keep alfresco dinner parties in place

The Dry-Erase refrigerator

6-in-1 container opener

Biodegradable trash bags

A space-saving step ladder/ironing board combo

Photo Credit: LeSportsacI can't possibly be the only one (over age 12) who still gets the powerful craving for new pens and notebooks when fall starts rolling in, can I? This year my back-to-school wish list has expanded to include elaborately patterned sticky notes, like this unicorns-and-headphones style from LeSportsac. (Maybe I should just dig up the O.G. Lisa Frank stuff and accept the fact that I am clearly regressing?) Side note: When was it decided that all fancy sticky notes must be sold in multi-size "booklets" with protective "portfolio" covers? Was it because they figured no one would pay $12 for sticky notes otherwise? Have they heard how much regular school supplies add up these days?




Photo Credit: LeSportsac
But back to the point: Do you get the urge to buy yourself school supplies (or, ahem, a back-to-school wardrobe) at this time of year? And if so, what's on your shopping list?



















More ways to make your home office prettier:
Cute old-fashioned pencil sharpeners
Vibrant binder clips (a d.i.y. project)
Off-kilter (but