New series on TODAY

The TODAY show team gets to go inside your home every morning, but now the tables have turned.

I am knocking on the doors of our anchors and correspondents to bring viewers into their homes in a new TODAY original series, "At Home with TODAY." Check out the first post in the series - and prepare to have major kitchen envy - as Natalie Morales welcomes you to her favorite room in her New Jersey brownstone.

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Coastline beach pics

A light drizzle fell upon the city last night as I walked home from work. It was just enough to make you want to get home, put on your sweats, cook some pasta and snuggle up for the evening. Which is exactly what I did. And while I love that, I'm already missing summer a bit. We didn't make it to the beach nearly as much as we had hoped, so I will have to live vicariously through these stunning pictures by German-based photographer Bernhard Lang.



He captured the colorful photographs high above the Adriatic coastline in Italy, showing rows and rows of seaside resorts’ beach umbrellas.



“The message might be to show the impact of human beings on the natural environment,” Lang said about the photographs. “On the other side, the birds-eye view reveals that we are just small creatures, not as important as we think we are.”



I would love to blow one of these images up and hang it in our apartment to get us through the colder months ahead!

Photos: Bernhard Lang

John Mayer poster

In five minutes on a weeknight, our house became a home.

Airstream trailer makeover

I currently manage TODAY.com's Home section and have been dreaming of featuring an Airstream trailer makeover for months. Finally, I came across the perfect one. A California couple purchased it in January and at the time, it was in dire condition. We're talking flat tires, broken windows, filled with trash and it even had "green slime."

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With one month and $3,000, the couple turned it around into a cozy home that they now live in full-time. You won't believe what it looks like today. See it here. 

New York Print

I have loved this Sugar Paper print ever since I spotted in it one of Jillian Harris' rooms.

Shine Those Boots

My Hunter boots have been in a sad, sad state since Hurricane Sandy. I've actually been fond of the scuffs and residue. They remind me of days spent in the Rockaways with my church. We helped residents by shoveling sand out of their basements, picking up moldy drywall by the handfuls and cleaning up what we could of the destruction Hurricane Sandy left behind.

But it came to the point where I knew these boots needed a little sprucing up. While Hunter sells boot buffer, I'm always looking for the inexpensive (read: free) way to get things done. I heard olive oil was great for cleaning up rain boots, so I laid out an old issue of The New York Times and got to work.

I laid my boots out flat and drizzled the olive oil along its surface. Then I scrubbed with a paper towel.

One down...



Voila! Almost as good as new.

I think if I had a few episodes of "Parks & Recreation" playing in the background and spent more time scrubbing the nooks and crannies, the boots really would look brand new. But hey, they're looking pretty good for 20 minutes and a bottle of oil!

Uncommon Goods: State Love Wall Art

I stopped by an Uncommon Goods event last week in Greenwich Village to see what upcoming products the online boutique has in store. I couldn't take my eyes off of this State Love Wall Art, which you can have made on one of many surface types and in any state you want! I'd love to get Colorado on the basswood. Maybe an early birthday present to me, from me??

Charlie Ford Vintage

My favorite Bachelorette and best friend Jillian Harris launched Charlie Ford Vintage on Monday, an online shop packed with vintage goodies. Along with her cousin Tori Wesszer and friend Alyssa Dennis, Jillian updates the site routinely with antique finds that are yours for the taking.



I love everything Jillian Harris, so I was dying to check out the site when it went live. Here are a few pieces that caught my eye:

^^^Canadian Impressionist Painting^^^

^^^Hudson Bay 3.5 Point Wool Blanket^^^

^^^Wooden Tea Crate^^^
^^^I'm so envious of the person that snatched up these 14K Gold Stud Earrings!^^^

How To Take Better iPhone Pictures

My friend Whitney Taylor posts the most incredible photos on Instagram, all taken with her trusty iPhone. “It makes for a good challenge,” she said about her efforts to use the iPhone as her medium, and it’s a challenge she’s conquering every day.

Today, she’s dishing out three tips for taking better photos using your iPhone…



1. Note your lighting. It really is all about having a good light source. Natural light offers the most consistent success. When indoors, it's key to open blinds and windows to allow for more light. When outside, mornings and evenings are best for shooting. My least favorite time to photograph is in the afternoon with the noonday sun. Also, one thing about the iPhone is if it’s low light at all, you tend to get a blurry image. It's essential to have a still subject.



2. Change your angle. When looking to make something artistic, a photographer must consider not only lighting, but the composition as well. The composition of an image can add a unique flare. Try to think of a unique angle, perspective or crop. Sometimes showing less is more. And sometimes documenting a small part is stronger than the whole.





3. Edit your photos. My favorite apps for editing my pictures is Afterlight. This app is the best “basic” editing app. It gives you complete control over all the image settings, including exposure, brightness, contrast, color saturation and temperature. This app also has a handful of good filters, but I always knock those down to about 50 percent. Afterlight is also what I use to crop and add white borders, allowing for a vertical and horizontal format.

Framing Scarves

I dipped into Madewell's Soho location last Friday and came across this charming NYC-themed scarf. Combine that with their 40% off sale items promo and I couldn't pass it up. While it looked gorgeous on, I have a hankering to make it into a long-lasting home decor piece.

It immediately reminded me of Kelly Bensimon (take a moment to reminisce about the good ol' days on The Real Housewives of New York..."I'm up here and you're down here"), who turned her Hermes scarves into pillows for her downtown pad.

I love the look but do worry about the scarf to be destroyed. I'm leaning towards framing it. It would be fun to do with this Madewell scarf too!

 Source: Natty Michelle

 Source: The State Of Things

Source: Shannon Darrough

I must get my hands on this Hawaiian islands scarf.

Source: Dooley Noted Styles

Manhattan Studios: A Little More Realistic Here

Over the last few months, I have Ellie Sommerville's studio apartment tour bookmarked on my computer for quick and frequent visits. If I opt for studio living, then this studio is my go-to guide for creating a peaceful, gorgeous, functional living space

Manhattan. Apartment. Love

I've been spending the last few weeks looking at apartments and studios within the New York City area on my trusty MacBook Air. Granted I can probably only afford to live in a box in Central Park, but it's fun to explore.

While the online broker photos can often appear bleak, I love seeing what New York residents are doing with their tiny, expensive rentals. I'll be featuring some of my favorites from time to time, beginning with Rubie Green founder Michelle Adams.

Her Upper East Side apartment is nothing new to the blogosphere, but if you haven't seen it yet, prepare yourself for some design butterflies.

Photos from here.

You can see a video of the apartment here. I absolutely love the charcoal bedroom walls, neutral tones and femininity of the space! Perfection.