AMY PREISER

Amy Preiser is an editor at AOL’s home & garden site ShelterPop. Originally from Long Beach, California, she now decorates her Brooklyn apartment with DIY reupholstered chairs and designer pillows – perfect for throwing cheap chic dinner parties. She’ll decoupage just about anything, and wears at least one bow a day.

Z: What’s on the top of your holiday wish list this year?

AP: Every rug from our story on designer rugs (if I have to pick one – blue ikat by Charlotte Moss)! I already have crazy patterned rugs at home, but I’m itching for a change.

Z: If you could have any piece of art on Zatista.com, regardless of price or size, what would it be and why?

AP: The piece I love is super affordable: “48” by Sharis DeJaynes. I can’t draw or paint a straight line to save my life, so this feels kind of magical. I’m crazy about the scale of it. It’s long and non-obtrusive enough to hang in that awkward spot right over my TV. The mix of colors means it will match everything in my living room but it’s simple enough that it won’t compete with the other patterns in the room.

Z: What’s your favorite holiday indulgence or “guilty pleasure”?

AP: I’m obsessed with gingerbread houses – my friend throws a party every year where everyone eats way too much sugar and constructs wacky houses (most notably, a Frank Lloyd Wright structure). My family just started getting into gingerbread houses too. My dad is a contractor and my nephew is a toddler, which means there’s always a big power struggle. This year AOL built a life size gingerbread house that we’re donating to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever worked on.

Z: What are some things you like to do to your home or apartment to make it feel like the holidays?

AP: My favorite trick is buying bouquets of mums or anemones from the deli and cutting them down to fill 20 bud vases with two blooms each. I line them all up on the window sill and to me, it looks more creative than a bunch of flowers in a vase. I also changed the throw on my sofa to Bliss Living’s “Joy” throw and I swapped my bedsheets for a flannel set. When entertaining, nothing beats filling up my Jonathan Adler bird bowl with pigs in blankets. I think it’s charming to put dipping sauces in plain white teacups, especially since I don’t own dip bowls. Most importantly, I have to make sure I have a massive reserve of pigs in blankets because they go fast!

Z: Are you going anywhere special this holiday season? If so, where?

AP: To the same place I go every year, Southern California. What, it’s supposed to be cold during winter? I’d much rather hang out with my family, sans jacket. Of course, we still take part in chilly weather traditions – hot cocoa, a cozy fireplace and fluffy scarves for Josh and Zoey, my supremely cute nephew and niece.