Designers' Brew

Burned out.

2010-03-06T19:35:00.004-05:00

So we've pretty much stalled out on our apartment search... none of the ones we saw last fall were right, and the only listings Allen has sent me in the last couple of months that look decent are places we're several thousand dollars a year away from being able to afford. To which I respond, "gosh baby, this place will be awesome for when I get hired to design the interiors on the QE3 and you get signed to replace Kevin Eubanks on "Leno: Let's Try This Again." I'm not stressing about it.

But last night I did dream that we went to see a stand-alone house in some top-secret corner of New York City, with a big lawn and huge mature trees overhead, and a huge pool in the back yard. I think it must be like the Room of Requirement in Harry Potter--no one knows it's there until you're standing nearby, thinking, "damn I wish there were a secret house with land, a yard, trees, and a pool." And then it appears.

Meantime, I'll take this one:

Anson Smart photography

Jonny Valiant photography

Informal poll.

2010-02-25T21:20:00.004-05:00

Who thinks working out eight days in a row is what caused me to succumb to rhinovirus 2010.2? Second cold of the new year. Dismal. I am not one of those people who's sick with neverending bronchiosinusitisitisitis all winter long; I've always been sort of cocky about my immune system. So much for that. But at least I was feeling an itty bittle stronger, with a little more spring in my step and a little more force in my pull... before the day I woke up sick and snuffly.

In unrelated, but much more exciting and design-related news, Karly at Design Crisis is selling a limited-edition run of her gorgeous horse print! I bought one. So should you.

The Standard Wet.

2010-01-28T21:38:00.009-05:00

So over the last week and a half, I've been gradually coming down off the most amazing sugar-rush of a weekend: the gorgeous and wonderful Miami wedding. I will spare you the cavalcade of group photos of people you've never met, but you do need to get an eyeful of the Standard Miami Beach, where we and our friends stayed.

Some of these photos I took and some of them I didn't, but since I have become the Laziest Blogger on Planet Internet, I'm not going to list the links. Most of them are screen caps from the hotel website.

The Standard chain bought the old Lido Spa Hotel a few years ago, renovated it, sold the property at an impressive profit to somebody else, and now leases it back from them. They still have the old Lido name on the building--in fact you have to look hard to see the Standard name (and no, you can't see it at all in this photo).

The lobby and restaurant interiors are classic (and gorgeous) midcentury... all weekend long I felt like the only thing I was missing was a cigarette holder dangling languidly from one hand.

lounge area by check-in

main restaurant seating

Our room was modest, but appealing; because I ~~am an idiot~~ was too eager to get out to the pool, I didn't think to take any photos of it--and the mirrored shower stall--until our crap was already strewn all over the place, but here's some pics from the web site to give you an idea.

The "wet" rooms on the ground floor come with their own outdoor soaking station. Very hedonistic.

After we dumped our stuff, we went bounding out to the pool to meet my friends:

(well, I bounded; Allen followed at the sedate pace of a normal human being), stopping for a quick inspection of the spectacular garden:

swings for quiet reflection

the fire pit

god, I love vacation

The Promised Land!

Oh, and the pool, you guys.

It literally snuggles right up to the dock overlooking Biscayne Bay, so people in enormous hot-rod speedboats kept buzzing past while we were sipping our drinks, waving at all the pool-goers.

It's built like a mini faux-beach, with a gradual slope that's very conducive to just sitting butt-deep in the water and chatting.

There's a delicious open-air restaurant that serves you tasty snacks and cocktails as you lounge (which is basically my definition of heaven).

It is ALSO open 24 hours. So naturally we were there every night, from after the wedding-related parties until one or two in the morning, guzzling wine and drifting in the water.

Preferred attire for shuffling to and from one's room and the spa--or the pool late at night--is the big fluffy hoodie robes they leave you in your room. We decided we looked like cult members.

waiting for Special Kool-Ade

The spa was gorgeous, and mysterious (as in, it was a mystery to me how and why sucking hot steam into my lungs or burning the skin off my body in a 150-degree cedar box is enjoyable and/or beneficial), but lying on the warm marble slabs in the hammam and listening to the thumping of the HVAC system was far from the least enjoyable thing I've ever done.

it took a little convincing to get me to pose for this photo, but eventually I agreed...

The wedding was gorgeous and joyful, the bride divine,

and if it hadn't been for the $5 price tag attached to it, I would have brought this wee packet of joy home with me from the minibar:

Here's to love, Miami style.

Note to the flat-chested girls.

2010-01-18T19:45:00.003-05:00

"Creating the illusion of volume"... ur doin it wrong.

Austin odds and ends

2009-11-19T22:57:00.000-05:00

First, I need to share with you a highly sought-after piece of photojournalism:

This is the only known photograph of the elusive Raina, in her natural habitat (TOGO!)

Next, one of the many gorgeous stores we visited, Threshold, which was full of goodies from Kartell, Missoni, Autoban and Maharam:

A scenic view of the shooting range:

Just because:

And now, a mystery. What do you suppose was contained in these innocent brown goodie bags that KP graciously left out to welcome us to her stylin' guest room?

I'll never tell.

South Congress

2009-11-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

For me, actually, it's a basic grasp of English.

2009-11-13T19:09:00.005-05:00

So, recently a very well-known and well-respected patriarch of interior design deigned to participate in an NYC showhouse, which apparently he does not typically do. His concept for the apartment was a modern interpretation of Vermeer (which, if you like that sort of thing, I did a pretty nifty post about here). One of his spaces included the following vignette:

That's his own "artwork" there on the wall over the chairs. I bet you'd like a closer look at it, wouldn't you?

I'm just going to give you a moment to savor the whole rainbow of flavors of wrong that that is.

Unspeakably pretentious, self-aggrandizing, poorly-executed--it looks like the tentative cursive of a fourth-grader--and misspelled.

EPIC FAIL.

Headin' South!

2009-11-05T11:56:00.004-05:00

Ladies and gents, in a few short hours I am catching a jet plane down to Austin TX, where I will spend three glorious days hanging with Erin & Karly and Raina, shooting skeet and hunting bargains while wearing high heels and guzzling margaritas.

Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Contractor special!

2009-11-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

So we haven't had any luck finding a place that's sufficiently run-down for us to be able to afford it plus the cost of the required spiffage. Though that would be my ideal scenario, I don't think it's going to happen; any spiffing we do will have to be pretty far down the road.

This article on fixer-uppers in the NY Times grabbed me with its header image of a picturesquely bedraggled Jackson Heights pre-war; in about 19 seconds I had refinished the floors to a rich walnut-brown, swapped out the light fixtures, torn down the terrible wooden valances over the windows and repainted it all some wonderful dark color.

Despite its shabbiness, there's something somehow appealing about the kitchen:

But the bathroom has no redeeming value. Those sinks with the separate hot and cold faucets are among the stupidest inventions ever created by man. When I lived in England, I found them everywhere I went. Why, limies? Why?

Here's a taste of the other tantalizing dereliction on display in the article. This is an utterly destroyed apartment in an income-restricted building in Hamilton Heights (I told you).

The salary cap for an individual buying the unit is about 65K, and in a master stroke of logic, the co-op has listed this apartment for $150,000 as an all-cash sale. The only difficulty I can perceive with this is that, although we can all agree that most people who live in New York City and make $65,000 a year have $150,000 in cash set aside to buy an apartment, it's possible at the outside that they might consider, say, putting 50% down on a $250,000 apartment that doesn't look like it witnessed the Harlem Nailgun Massacre.

This is an lovely place on Riverside Drive; gnarly and banged up, but the views would almost make it worthwhile. Riverside with a view is pretty much my ultimate Manhattan dream.

We took this weekend off, but we've got appointments scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, so I should have some more hair-raising tales for you soon!

Vindication.

2009-11-02T22:45:00.003-05:00

When I went to check out the Highline (a highly-anticipated repurposing of a defunct elevated train track into a brand new public park) this summer, I came to the unpopular conclusion that it's wildly overrated and might, in fact, actually kind of suck. Granted, it was crowded as a Black Friday sale the day I went, but still, I thought the plantings were kind of drab (yes, I know they are native, and in my experience, native to the NYC area usually = drab), the confined space was uncomfortable, and I stumbled repeatedly on the curbs and the little undulating fork-tines of concrete.

Now, full disclosure: I was wearing 4.5" platform boots at the time. I'm sure they didn't help. But I absolutely felt that the low, subtle curves of the edges of the concrete were terribly designed--it's very hard for your eyes to register that there's a shift in the terrain, so you've stubbed your toe or turned your ankle before you even realize there was something you had to look out for. Both my coworkers separately had the same experience.

And now, a 66-year-old woman who broke her ankle in a bad fall on the park is suing the city and the Parks department. I am absolutely convinced that all the idiots leaving comments to the effect of "shut up and quit whining" are not only soulless maggots who apparently think fragile-boned senior citizens deserve what's coming to them, but have never actually set foot in that park and have no idea what they're talking about. It's a terrible design. I'd hate to be the person on the hook for the money they are going to have to pay out because of it, both in settlement of the suit and in remediation of the actual problem.

Spoooooookyyyyyy...

2009-10-30T21:45:00.004-04:00

I wish you spooky dreams of creaky floors, wind whistling through trees, branches scratching against the window.

Happy Hallowe'en, everybody... watch out for ghosts!

gracias Pillow Mint ;)

It's Friday!

2009-10-30T07:00:00.000-04:00

Paul Raeside photography

And I'm lazy. Gotta go gird my loins for another weekend of house-hunting. That's right, I said "gird my loins." Chew on that.

Apartment #7: The room with the view.

2009-10-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

All right, bloggenkinder--let's get right down to business.

This business:

That would be the view from the bedroom of the 12th-floor apartment we looked at this weekend. The corner bedroom. This is the view out the windows on the other side of the room:

That would be Park Slope, lower Manhattan, New York Bay, and Jersey.

At this point in our visit, Allen was like, "um, baby, are you going to take any pictures of the actual apartment?"

It's fine. It's nice. Pre-war, with the pros and cons that come along with that. Kitchen was recently renovated; not my taste, but totally unobjectionable:

Location of the kitchen, bedroom and giant window in the living room force you to do that couch-floating-in-middle-of-floor thing, which I don't really love,

but there is room for a real dining table:

Bedroom is short on closet space, which makes me nervous, because as you may have heard, I like clothes. Shoes in particular.

By the way, though, that photo was taken with no lights on in the room, because you don't need them, because remember?

Yes. So. Moving away from the windows once again, there were some other things that worried me a little, like the cracked and scabbed paint I spotted here and there:

Can it be fixed? Absolutely. Do I really want to, if I don't have to? Nope.

And the worst thing? We can't actually really afford it unless we start renting out the Fato (who would want to rent her, and for what, I'm not really sure). The price itself is actually slightly less than the soul-stealer, but the common charges are almost $500 a month more. Having a doorman and elevator would definitely be nice, but it's not worth an extra 6 grand a year.

I'm finally starting to get discouraged, you guys. We've seen 28 apartments (granted, several of those were multiple units within the same building) and we've run through all the available listings in our price range. The prices out there are not bargain-basement; far from it. I knew we wouldn't be able to get everything we wanted, but I did think we'd be able to get closer than this. It is seriously demoralizing.

New York, in pattern.

2009-10-27T07:00:00.001-04:00

Images 1-5 are the Highline; 6 is the Intrepid. Yes, I have used the buoyancy-enhancing, technological doping mechanism known as "Photoshop."

Around the world in infinite colors.

2009-10-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

Ran across this the other day while sourcing for a client, and it stole my heart. 'Spensive, but not breathtakingly so; $200 at DWR.

Thus was launched a search of 1stDibs and Ebay to see what other cool globes might be lurking out there; after all, globes, like flags, seem like the kind of graphic object that's rife with opportunities to make unexpected design statements.

Surprisingly, there wasn't a ton of good stuff. My favorite was this vintage aviation globe, rocking in at about 2 grand:

Remember? I had a little globe that looked just like this one when I was a kid; although it can't be 80's vintage, because Eastern Europe and the Balkans look surprisingly organized.

I dig this elegant Deco globe:

and this big, mostly useless, blue one:

This one would look perfect in a musty old wood-paneled library:

And this next one, well, this is some craftulence I can get behind. No owls, Orla Kiely prints, or crochet in sight: just silver paint and disembodied heads. Yes, please.

And this? Well, this is just me seizing the opportunity to post one of the most enduring, breathtaking images I've ever seen on television.

So say we all.

Apartment #6: the Manhattan project.

2009-10-23T07:00:00.001-04:00

Now, although we have been looking at apartments in Brooklyn up till now, we could, technically, buy in Manhattan. This could happen in one of several ways:

1. Hold up an armored car.

What? Somebody does it at least once a week on CSI: Miami.

2. Develop a Nigerian wire scam.

3. Scale the vertiginous heights above 96th street. (Literally--half the neighborhoods up there have the word "Heights" in them. Lest we forget we're at the top of the island.) Or, a really scary possibility:

4. Dip into the uncharted waters below the 600-square-foot mark.

As Allen and I both work in lower Manhattan and possess a remarkable cubic footage of books, sound equipment and guitars between us, the Nigerian scam is looking better and better.

Still, a fifth option has presented itself: get a fixer. We saw a place the other day that's in a great location, close to the subway (an express stop, even!), great neighborhood, nice doorman building. The apartment had great pre-war bones.

I know that you know that there's a "but" coming. And here it is:

Da-daaaahh!

Also:

This bathroom floor consists of small hex tiles that somebody has painted over with white paint. Home improvement with white-out. Somewhere, somebody on Design Sponge thinks this is a great idea.

All the doors, trim and moldings in the apartment look like this:

Except for the cable wires that trail all over the apartment, caked to the wall with 30 years' worth of gunky paint. This is the kitchen "window":

And this backsplash might be worse than the Kutesy tiles at that other apartment:

A cornucopia of bas-relief fruit!

Whoever retrofitted the bedroom with this additional closet thought carrying the partitions to the ceiling was "too expected":

It wasn't all bad. For one thing, it's amazing how much bigger 800 s.f. feels than 700. I love the ceiling beams, moldings (catnip!), and yes, those are herringbone floors you spy in the living room.

If we had an extra 80 grand to spend on a new kitchen, bath, and a thorough sand/patch/paint job, it could turn into a beautiful apartment, though the fact that it's on the ground floor, facing north, on a block packed with tall buildings, means this is as much sunlight as you'd ever see:

Unfortunately, the straight-up cost of this one would mean stretching our budget till it shrieked in agony, so there would not be a red cent left for reno.

So, onward and (upward?)

Good angles.

2009-10-22T07:00:00.001-04:00

We lived in Annapolis, MD till I was six, and I think my memories of the historic downtown district are one of the earliest elements to have shaped who I am as a designer. Lush gardens, charming townhouses, timelessly graceful Georgian architecture. And the sidewalks--I remember looking down at my feet scuffing over the worn red brick herringbone sidewalks and somehow just understanding that the pattern was beautiful.

thank you Dan Miller, random photo blogger, and your friends at Google Image

Lately, ever since spotting it in the Grande Dame apartment and in the Roman & Williams apartment Raina posted the other day, I've been having a major jones for herringbone floors.

Not to be confused, I have learned, with chevron-pattern floors.

But whether chevron or herringbone, I love it any way you slice it. I love it unfinished:

The City Sage

Y'all can read, I don't have to say where it's from

I love it clear-finished:

Skona Hem

Lucas Allen photography

I love it caramel, and I love it chestnut:

NY Times

Kikette Interiors

Google has all the anwers

I love it deepest chocolate:

Marie Claire Maison

But most of all, I think, I love it walnut:

You look like you came from Marie Claire Maison...

Things That Inspire

Roman & Williams

Marie Claire Maison

Desire to Inspire

Roman & Williams

Upper cabinets: an argument in nine acts.

2009-10-21T07:00:00.002-04:00

Brought to you by Living Etc.

Apartment #5: You must be kidding.

2009-10-20T07:00:00.002-04:00

It's an interesting time to be house-hunting. After a year of collective national hysteria over the housing market and the economy in general, apartment pricing in New York City these days seems to display a confusing mixture of leftover doldrums and wild, premature optimism. This next house falls into the latter category.

It's a weird little duplex carved out of the top two floors of a historic brownstone, for a total of 800 square feet. In the photos, it looked pristine. The layout looked reasonable, the kitchen outdated but workable. There were fireplaces, and moldings everywhere (moldings to me are like catnip). "Roof rights!" trumpeted the listing. And did I mention it was in a brownstone? Like the Jenna Lyons house that everybody gets moist over. Only about a quarter of a brownstone, but still. Sounds great, right?

It's a terrible house. The hallways and central staircase are in pretty poor shape, and are packed with the other tenants' bikes and random paraphernalia. Inside the apartment, the original floors were ripped out of the main living area and replaced with plasticky-looking high-gloss urethaned oak.

Kitchen looks worse in person:

Someone renovated the living area powder room, poorly:

Restoration Hardware: the Rikers Collection! I mean, that is just the most depressing semi-expensive bathroom I've ever seen in my life.

Here is the spiral stair to the top floor. Broken ankle included at no additional charge!

Upper floor landing:

Aaaaaand master bathroom. The reason the last owner chose to renovate the powder room instead of this is... what?

This is the master bedroom. Closet is off the rails, dudes.

Well, still, you may be saying, it's not so bad. Roof rights is pretty sweet. We could have parties! On our roof deck! Parties!

Parties where we hand out prizes at the end of the night to those of our guests who have managed to climb up and down the roof access ladder without plunging to their deaths down the staircase below.

Sigh.

This apartment is miles away from the train, in a semi-ramshackle building, and it feels about 25% smaller than it is. Yet it costs fully 10% more than the gorgeous place that I loved.

The good news: apparently the recession is over!

Luscious.

2009-10-19T07:00:00.001-04:00

From New York Magazine.

Please don't let this become the next "Keep Calm and Carry On."

2009-10-14T07:00:00.001-04:00

Confession: I bought something I saw on Design Sponge. Famille Summerbelle's beautiful NYC print. This whole apartment hunt process has me so in love with my city, last weekend's subway apocalypse notwithstanding, that when I spotted this I was head over heels. It's going to look gorgeous... somewhere.

Now, please, Internet, don't go stampeding out to buy it.

Apartment #4: the soul-stealer.

2009-10-10T21:27:00.010-04:00

I want to live in this house.

We've never seen anything like it in our various hunts for rentals and purchases, and I'm certain we won't again. The current owner gave it not just the quickie kitchen & bath treatment, but a thoughtful, thorough, well-designed renovation. It's a tasteful modern update to an old townhouse building, which retains the best features of the old space while improving the layout and fixtures to make it a more comfortable and sophisticated apartment. Every corner of space is well-used, and not a penny was wasted on pointlessly show-offy brands or fittings. But enough talk. You want the good stuff, right?

First, the layout. Coincidentally, the mirror-image unit on the floor below is also for sale, so I can actually show you the comparison of the original layout (right) against the renovated one.

Oh, little apartment, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

1. I love thy kitchen.

With its industrial range and hood (2), open shelving (3), bright window (4), black-finished drawers (5),

splashes of gleaming Arabescato (6), butcher-block work/bar dining surface (7),

recessed floating shelves (8)

stately retro faucet (9) and clever built-in bookcase (10).

11. I love thy pantry/utility closet for its (12) washer/dryer, yards of shelf storage (13) and open space to store vacuum/broom/etc without wedging them uncomfortably in with our clothes (14).

15. Thy bathroom is perfection of the highest order. A glass shower stall opens up the whole room visually (16) while banishing moldy shower curtains to the dark ages (17).

A potentially awkward ledge condition becomes a convenient bottle-rest (18) with the addition of a gorgeous tilt-mirror (19), and a blazing three-bulb sconce (20) ensures plenty of light.

Below thy classic pedestal sink (21) is the black mosaic floor (22)--in keeping with the tradition of hex tiles in buildings like this, yet a fresh, appealing update.

This is the only area where we have a potential problem. Why, little apartment, are you so little right here? In the living room department?

But, let me continue cataloging your virtues: ample recessed lighting (23), chocolate fudge floors (24), exposed brick (25).

What lies beyond thy twin portals?

Heaven (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31).

I love thy spacious, sunny bedroom (32)

Fireplace (33)

With its peculiar green and red marble (34) and cool Deco etching (35).

But soft, what light down yonder hallway breaks? It is the kitchen. (Actually it is the recessed lighting in the hallway (36) and the antler chandelier (37)).

I am smitten, friends. My baby has some reservations. It doesn't look like this will be our home.

Apartment #3: the Grande Dame.

2009-10-10T17:55:00.007-04:00

Switching gears again, the next apartment we liked was a 800 s.f. 1BR, located on the 12th floor of a huge, genteel pre-war building on one of the most classic streets in Brooklyn. Great layout, plenty of space, and I was amused that the owners seemed to have chosen the exact same paint colors for their living room and bedroom that Allen and I did for our current place.

The kitchen was a different story. (Cue sad deflating balloon noise.) It's spacious--there's room for a wee breakfast table in ADDITION to the normal-sized table in the main room--and it was recently renovated. Problem is, we don't like what they did.

That, my friends, is a bona fide Kountry Kute. I don't mind the beadboard cabinets, but I'm not digging the cutesy painted tiles in the backsplash, and then--woe of woes--those tile counters. I don't want to get 20% of my daily cardio from scrubbing grout lines on my kitchen counters. And the flooring is a dirty tan, aggressively patterned porcelain tile with heavy dark grout. Now, clearly it's not nearly old enough to warrant ripping out based on disrepair, and it's not so bad that we couldn't live with it. But as my baby succinctly put it, "I feel like this is a granny kitchen."

And while I'm picking nits (what a yummy expression!), let's play a little game of Photo Hunt. Can you find the thing in the picture above that's making my left eye twitch? Hint: look below the counters.

Spot it? Try this photo:

Somebody decided to use a completely different kind of hardware on the drawers as they used on the cabinet doors. Satin nickel knobs + antique bronze bucket pulls + same kitchen = fail. And I bet that's a garbage pull-out to the left of the sink, but using the bronze bucket pull right next to the nickel knob, and in a different alignment, makes it look like the owner was performing home improvement in a Henny-fueled haze.

The living room flooring is one of the high points: original old-world herringbone. So elegant.

The apartment also has a real foyer--so unexpected and gracious in comparison to the other 95% of NYC apartments, where the front door opens directly into the living room.

Love those pre-war details... the moldings, the chair rail, the beautiful recessed-panel doors... that don't close properly because they've been repainted too many times to fit into their jambs...

Here is the hallway leading to the bath and bedroom. Again, I love the way this gives real separation to the public and private spaces. I don't fancy having guests sitting on my couch and staring right into my bedroom.

Lovely bathroom, with what look like original tub, sink, and tilework. (Don't worry, there's a separate shower behind the door.)

The bedroom was generously-sized and bright.

That flash of green you see through the window here?

The crown jewel of Brooklyn: Prospect Park. As our front lawn. Not too shabby.

Apartment #2: the sexy newcomer.

2009-10-07T07:00:00.003-04:00

This might very well be the only new-construction apartment I post. I never like them. Don't like the cookie-cutter vibe, and I usually find them overpriced for the quality of the construction and finishes. Not so this place: it's beautiful and well-designed. Just... (say it with me now) small.

2BRs, 820 s.f., 4th floor (elevator!) W/D in apartment, shared roof deck. Unlike a lot of new construction, it feels like someone put thought into it: the layout takes the best advantage of the space, the materials and fittings are unexpectedly nice and overall it's really bright and welcoming and open.

The corner of the living room is two giant windows, one of which opens onto the bite-sized balcony:

I love that the island is all at counter-height, rather than having the dining side be at bar height. Not only is counter height more comfortable to sit at, but doing it this way gives you a much bigger work surface.

Glass tile backsplash. Nice big chunks of counter on either side of the stove, which is super helpful when cooking.

More glass tile in the bath, and I squealed when I saw the Lagos Blue on that vanity top (though the vanity itself could be bigger--where does our toothpaste go?). Also, Raina, does that really count as a vessel sink?

The master bedroom is exactly big enough for our bed, a dollhouse table, and nothing else.

Nice closets though. Note how high the doors are--closets with low headers just create pockets of inaccessible space at the top. And that is my cute baby!

Bedroom window, showing balcony and cool city view beyond.

Second bedroom. If you stretch enthusiastically in here, you will touch the walls. But yes, that is another little balcony outside this room. This is where our two friends who smoke will go to indulge in their secret shame.

Beautiful flooring. This is the 4th floor unit, which is the one we would, in theory, be bidding on; we're expected to pay 40K more for the privilege of moving up 10 feet from the fourth floor to the fifth. I was in love with the dark chocolate flooring on the 5th floor, but the 4th floor has caramel/toffee, which is awfully pretty.

Flooring aside, there's no doubt the 5th floor is better--it's brighter, cause it's higher than the building next door, and you get the beginnings of a view. But 40K better? I don't know about that.

Apartment #1: the modest starlet.

2009-10-05T21:18:00.008-04:00

So Allen and I kicked off our personal Housing Stimulus this weekend by slogging around Brooklyn in rain and shine to no fewer than nine open houses. We saw new construction and pre-war construction and everything in between, at the top and bottom of our price range. Here's the recap:

1. Apparently apartments in New York City are expensive.
2. Apparently they are also small.

Who knew?

Here is the first place we saw that was at all viable.

Nice pre-war building (yay!), in a quiet, lovely neighborhood (yay!), part of a co-op that shares a gorgeous private garden (yay! tomatoes!) on an upper floor (yay! sunshine!) with no elevator (holy heavy grocery bags!). 2BR, 1 bath, 750 s.f. Wee. But beautiful. Check out the brand-new kitchen:

Non-city dwellers may not appreciate exactly how incredible this kitchen is, so to put it in perspective, let me tell you that for the past three and a half years I have been living with slightly over three square feet of counter space. I am not exaggerating in the slightest. I have a sink, then about a foot of counter space, then my stove, then about another 9" of counter. That is all. We have two teeny drawers that hold our forks, knives, spoons, and daydreams, and nothing else. Drawers, you say? There don't appear to be any in that lovely kitchen up there, although those two white circular objects represent another item of unimaginable luxury: washer/dryer. In the apartment. Not a five minute walk away. But anyway, back to the drawers:

Looky there! They've got us covered. Whoever designed this kitchen did a very, very nice job. The finishes are simple and inexpensive but the overall effect is polished and really appealing. Want to see it again? Course you do:

But, unfortunately, that was the high point. The living/dining room is bright and airy, but small.

Simple but attractive bathroom--those are sagey green penny tiles on the floor. It's amazing what a little paint can do, no? This bathroom would be 10 times less attractive if it were all white.

Master bedroom: small. I have a feeling I am going to keep saying that over and over again throughout this process. Maybe one day I will cease to be disappointed?

Second bedroom: smaller. But, fine. This would be an office anyway. Mirrored closet door actually did add visual space to the room.

Ultimately this place was a little on the high side of our budget, though not out of reach. A big part of me thinks it would be more fun to buy the place that needs the fix-up love and turn it into something gorgeous. I mean after all that is what people pay me to do. And I LOVE kitchens and baths.

Stay tuned!

Help wanted.

2009-10-02T18:54:00.002-04:00

Dear Internet,

This is your chance to shower me with advice. We're taking the plunge and buying a place. Gimme whatcha got.

Fall pallette

2009-09-30T07:00:00.001-04:00

It was a dark and stormy night...

Martyn Thomas photo

Jonny Valiant photo

James Merrell photo

Chris Tubbs photo

Catherine Gratwicke photo

The Mad Hatter's Tea Party

2009-09-29T07:00:00.001-04:00

I don't usually like interiors this fussy, but the broad streak of Monty Python/Lewis Carroll running through it is what does it for me, I think. All images via Shootfactory.

Casamidy F/W '09

2009-09-28T07:00:00.000-04:00

Do I sound like a fashion blogger yet? I've been catching up with Rumi's adventures over at Fashion Toast and have concluded that I missed my calling--when you're an interior design blogger, no one sends you free shoes. This seems like a missed opportunity. Sessy shoes are highly, highly relevant to my interests.

I did, however, get a nice email from Jorge at Casamidy, thanking me for my giant fangirl gush of a post about their beautiful furniture, and offering to send me a preview of some of their new pieces. These are my favorites.

Metal-trimmed baronial headboard in lush ochre velvet:

Groovy ancient-Greek looking stool--what a great alternative to the decorator-standard X-frame stool:

Overscale lantern that throws a beautiful shadow pattern onto the ceiling:

Blond leather/wood version of the Symi armchair, set off by smoky gray upholstery:

and this boho little bench with lovely metal swag detailing:

This company is one of my all-time favorites; I can't wait to see what other new pieces they introduce.

2009-09-22T07:00:00.003-04:00

Though I love color, there's something to be said for a clean, pristine white bath. The trick to keeping them interesting? Mixing in just a little subtle color and pattern, some touches of darkness to serve as a counterpoint to all the white.

Zach Desart photography

Roman & Williams

Designers' Brew archive of mysterious student favorites

You can take your Carrara and...

Marie Claire Maison

Ellen Silverman photography

RIP Domino

Little House in the Woods

2009-09-21T07:00:00.000-04:00

So after a couple gorgeous, relaxing weekends upstate this summer, I am having fantasies of Allen and I starting our weekends this fall by loading the Fato, protesting bitterly, into our (imaginary) car and heading up the highway to our (fictional) Hudson Valley cabin. Several hours of obsessively scouring realtor.com yielded a listing for this incredible house, in Bearsville, NY:

It's perfect, right? The chimney, the view, the solitude, the quiet--I can actually taste the crisp, chilly air on my tongue.

The interior needs a little bit of TLC.

Now, maybe your knee-jerk reaction, like mine, is to run screaming for an industrial-size tub of white paint, but I think with some cleaning and decluttering, the woodsy paneling can be kind of lovely and atmospheric.

Suzy Hoodless

Kikette Interiors

Lucas Allen photography

Suzy Hoodless

Jonny Valiant photography

Suzy Hoodless

Celerie Kemble

Jonny Valiant photography

What about you guys? If you could have a weekend getaway house, where would it be and what would it look like?

Dreamy fall getaway.

2009-09-19T09:00:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago I spent the weekend packed in a tiny cabin in the woods with five of my best girlfriends. After the obligatory squealing slow-motion lingerie-clad pillow fight, we settled in for a crazy nonstop 48-hour bender of ~~cooking, light drinking and highly competitive board games~~ boozing, picking up locals and graffiti-tagging the downtown historic district.

The cabin we stayed at is one of my favorite places on earth: halfway up the Hudson Valley in Saugerties (home of the beautiful Saugerties Lighthouse), it's in the opposite direction from the Hamptons, both geographically and 'tudinally. It's teeny and cozy and warm, and the owner seems to have a soft spot for the same homey retro vibe with in I have decorated my own house. Pics are from the owner's web site.

The cabin

The living room

Somebody else's breakfast, and, clearly, somebody else's kid

The kitchen

The sleeping loft

On Sunday I dragged the girls to the Woodstock flea market, where I picked up these treasures:

Still Life with Smoking Loon

Good morning sunshine

The flea market man shamelessly lied to me about the functionality of that clock, by the way. "Hey! Guess what's right, twice a day?" Allen asked me one morning, as I staggered out of the shower. "Your new clock!"

Then, inspired by the cabin owner's cute atomic-pattern dishes, I hit Etsy. After nine years of living with my post-graduate dishware concept--plates from Pearl River in varying sizes and patterns but the same range of deep blue tones (because when I was 21 I was too cool to have things that matched)--I suddenly rebelled, and am now the proud owner of eight full-size dinner plates in the Canonsburg Temporama pattern.

So cute! So mod! I also got some mugs--which are so small that I had to refill my coffee four times at brunch last weekend--and some bowls that could only efficiently feed the Fato. Cereal? Salad? Forget about it.

What is with that? I understand that vintage clothes seem smaller than we're used to because Americans of the Naughties are all slobbering, recumbent lardballs etc. etc. blah blah blah. But every time I look for cool vintage glasses online, I'm brought up short by the fact that the damn things are scaled for the Dormouse as opposed to an actual fully-grown human being. I bought these lovely blue glasses a while back, intending them to replace our motley assortment of bar glasses, and when my friend Jen came over for dinner shortly thereafter, I proudly presented her her wine in one of the new blue goblets. Two sips later, she smiled politely at me and said, "May I have a little bit more?"

I think I prefer SuperSized entertaining.

The British are coming! The British are coming!

2009-09-17T20:50:00.009-04:00

First it was Lower Broadway and Topshop. And the rather lamely-named Topman. Now we've got Brit boutique hotel chain Firmdale Hotels opening up the Crosby Street Hotel on... yes. Crosby Street.

Owner/designer Kit Kemp has brought her trademark touch of modern English whimsy to the design--the bold colors and patterns are such a contrast to the usual subdued, calming, sophisticzzzzzzzzz... that you tend to see in hotel design. I adore the charcoal gray and purple together; that that orchid Maharam printed felt is one of my favorite fabrics on earth, and to temper its girliness with a menswear stripe in the wallcovering is genius.

Kemp is a master at mixing patterns harmoniously--I count seven different patterns going on in this space below, none of them shy, but the overall effect is incredibly unified.

The whole thing, however comes crashing down in the bathrooms. I had commented previously on how atrocious the Firmdale bathrooms were, and I'm still holding out a wee sliver of hope that the bathroom photo on the Crosby website is just a placeholder until they get the actual bathrooms shot, because man.

Wah-wah. DOOOOOOOOOWWWNERRRRRR.

What kills me is that clearly they've got a pretty great budget--you're not spec'ing $100-a-yard Maharam fabric if you don't--and this is what they do with it? Ugly gray stone tile? You could put together a 1,000 times more appealing bathroom with white subway tile. Or even just a fun color of PAINT.

Dear Firmdale Team. Please see below for examples of glorious hotel-esque bathrooms. Watch and learn. You can do better.

Tom Scheerer

Marie Claire maison

House Beautiful

Twig Hutchinson stylist

Kikette interiors

House Beautiful

A roof over our heads.

2009-09-14T23:20:00.004-04:00

I just did a swim workout after several weeks away from the pool, which is one of the most emotionally demoralizing and physically punishing experiences known to man. My arms feel like linguini. So, a simple post to send you off to Tuesday: some sweet, sly, wonderful, cunning little attic spaces tucked under the eaves.

Skona Hem (and also, I will take that snoozing gato)

Elle Decor UK?

Living Etc.

James Merrell photography

Skona Hem

Cross-pollenization

2009-07-09T22:26:00.006-04:00

I'm pinch-hitting for P at What Possessed Me today, as she frolics on volcanic plains and gets baked on mineral fumes in the Blue Lagoon.

I wonder if they have any open-water races there?

Good bones.

2009-07-09T21:52:00.004-04:00

Materialicious

Marie Claire Maison

Desire to Inspire

Office for Word and Image

Ingo Horror

2009-05-09T14:00:00.001-04:00

Ingo Maurer's Zettel'z fixture first appeared in my life when I was a starry-eyed design student, and I employed it over a French deco dining table in an Upper West Side brownstone:

If you're keeping score, those are Biedermeier chairs, an Asian-influenced stone console table, Russian Constructivist and turn-of-the-century graphic art, an overscale po-mo dentil molding, and an unremarkable cream rug (which I now know better than to ever put near a dining table, hoooo no). This was during my Mixmaster Phunk phase, if you hadn't guessed.

But the beauty, looseness, spontaneity, and simplicity of this fixture are remarkable: I've adored it for years. Until I had to put one together, that is.

That thing is a BITCH. You have to run each of those little metal rods through the central mesh cylinder by hand, judging the height and angle, correcting misfires, and locking it into place with two diabolically small and slippery rubber stoppers, all while teetering precariously on a step ladder (or kitchen stool, for some people). It takes a LONG TIME. I was working on one for a client last week and after a couple hours of picking away, felt reasonably confident I had arranged the rods in a satisfactorily full and firework-like fashion, even though I had a curiously large number of them left over. Then I put the papers on and realized it was still only halfway full. So, like Sisyphus taking hold of his boulder for another go, I sighed and climbed back up on the stool. Only to ping my client in the face as a rogue rod-stopper went zooming out of my hands.

Oh, I love my job.

The only light fixture more painful to put together than the Zettel'Z is the Bocci, which we also did for this same client:

All those tiny floating orbs of dewy light come at an agonizing price, namely hours upon hours of time. For this same (very patient and trusting) client, we did a cluster of six of the five-orb fixtures, to create a fairy-cloud feeling over her dining table. It was very important that the globes not be aligned symmetrically, but instead with subtle variations in height and location, and that is just NOT the kind of thing you can draw up on CAD, you have to look at it in real life, in the real space, with the real fixtures. Which meant that I had to sit with the electricians for several hours while one of them held each fixture up--and those bastards are heavy--and the other measured the hanging distance for each orb, slipping it up or down according to my instruction. And that's not counting the time it took them to actually cut the wires, lock them in place, and install all six fixtures.

I left the site for a while to get some lunch, and when I came back I ran into one of the electricians outside. He reared backwards in alarm, making the sign of the cross in front of his face to ward me off, before retreating cautiously into the building, never taking his eyes off me.

Did I mention to you guys how very much I love my job?

Acid trip

2009-05-07T08:00:00.000-04:00

My love for chartreuse is absolutely unholy. But how can you not love a color that's so vibrant, yet looks so good with everything?

It spikes neutrals like a shot of tequila:

Kate Hume

Pierre Jean Verger photography

And lifts deep chocolate brown into the sublime:

Desire to Inspire

Looks unimaginably luscious with peacock blue:

Living Etc.

Abigail Ahern

Jamie Bush

And pretty much everything in between.

Tria Giovan photography

Annie Schlechter photography

Weekend? What weekend?

2009-05-04T01:16:00.004-04:00

Sorry it was such a slow week on the DB last week... I got back from my cousin's wedding Sunday evening, and then spent that and every other night of the week working on/fretting over/worrying about the client installation I had on Friday. Which went smoothly.

Mostly.

As smoothly as any of them ever do.

Then, in advance of an upcoming visit from two of my favorite blog goddesses; I spent all day Saturday doing housework. My goal, admittedly a modest one, is for the girls to walk into my apartment and not collapse in hysterics at the idea that somebody lives here who gets paid to tell other people how to make their homes beautiful. But the entire day? How is that possible? How is it possible that one woman, one man, and one cat, could have accumulated THAT MUCH dirty laundry and junk?

Sunday was spent catching up with friends (everybody give Mama J a big congratulations for divesting herself of a beautiful NINE-POUND baby girl) and helping Allen ease back into the northern hemisphere after yet another trip to Argentina, and there you have it... I am once again behind on my daily posts of hot lighting, sexy chairs, and swoon-inducing spaces.

So all you're getting today are some shots of beautiful Virginia on a late spring afternoon, plus documentary footage of my family enthusiastically defacing the bride & groom's getaway vehicle.

So extreme was the economy of this particular lodge that they ran out of room in the budget for the G and the E. But hey, I guess in a recession, you gotta cut corners where you can.

Oh, and the bear at the top? Don't even ask.

Home Cookin'

2009-04-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

I'm heading down to Virginia again today, this time for my cousin's wedding, so I'll leave you with some gloriously imperfect countryfied kitchens to see you off into the weekend...

Marie Claire Maison

Marie Claire Maison encore

et encore

God I'm boring

I do look at other resources, I swear

it's just that MCM always has the most incredible kitchens

though now I'm afraid I've totally shot my wad on great kitchens

Lookit! This one's from Apartment Therapy!

this one found via Simon on the Side

Simon Watson photography

The worst part is, I'm MISSING the home-smoked pulled pork and homemade barbeque sauce at the rehearsal dinner Friday night. (Though it's not actually being made in Virginia, it's being made in Maryland by my aunt and cousins and imported over state lines... don't ask.) I didn't want to take the day off so I'm heading down after work. Think of me dodging truckers along 81 and whisper a little prayer.

Al fresco dreams...

2009-04-23T08:00:00.000-04:00

Along with riding in a helicopter and visiting all 50 states, sleeping outside is on my list of Stuff I Wanna Do. Not in a creepy tent way, I'm talking Al Fresco Luxe. On a mattress, with sheets, and running water just a short walk away.

My first choice? A rooftop terrace with one hell of a view. Doesn't this look like the very definition of heaven? Just you, a cozy bed, warm blankets, the sea, and the stars.

Nicolas Matheus photography

Gauzy mosquito netting makes this one a perfect spot to while away a warm summer's evening...

Marie Claire Maison

And then there's this place, which, with its mattress AND hammock, is a palace for sleeping!

Domino

Sleep and the Art Wall

2009-04-22T00:07:00.000-04:00

Too tired for big narrative. Just got back from pool. Am slow and out of shape. Is time for sleeping.

Instead of big narrative, please to look at pretty pictures of art walls and beds. Antitoxin for grandiose, mega-styled "focal walls."

Nighty night kthxbai.

Thomas O'Brien

Design Sponge

Domino

Cheryl Tague, via Alicia B Designs

Marie Claire Maison

Head Over Heels

Wary Meyers

Stacy Bass photography

Fairytale lighting

2009-04-21T08:00:00.001-04:00

You all know by now that I'm a lighting junkie with a special weakness for clusters of bubbly glass pendants, but for this post I want to shift gears a little. Spring is giving me fairy daydreams, so I've pulled together some whimsical, delicate chandeliers to show you.

First up is Moooi's Light Shade 95, which creates a sophisticated play of transparency and reflection:

I spotted this tulle-shrouded beauty in Cote Paris... don't know who makes it, or where it's installed, but it's dreamy.

Perfect for Cinderella's ball, don't you think? Meanwhile the Nocturne chandelier from Ponoko takes a walk on the darker side of your dreams, with a sharp black silhouette that's more sculptural statement than functional lighting:

ZNP Creative's Spaghetti chandelier manages to work a lot of ethereal beauty out of bare bulbs and electrical wire:

Tord Boontje's Future Flora for Artecnica are straight out of A Midsummer Night's Dream:

Can't you just see Titania frolicking in the glow of those pendants?

Venturing even further into the realm of fancy is the Orchadia fixture from M. McKenna--it's now been discontinued, because it was apparently too delicate to survive interaction with actual humans (fairies only for this one, I suppose), but it sure was beautiful.

And less ethereal, but more literally evocative of flight, is the Icarus fixture, again by Boontje for Artecnica. At 65" high, it's pure sculpture. Just try not to think about the sad fate of its namesake.

Thanks again, Susy.

2009-04-19T10:00:00.000-04:00

Every time I go to Susy's blog, I either get sucked into desperately, nail-bitingly craving something she features, or desperately craving something she features before giving in and buying it. Last time, I picked up a killer pair of earrings and a necklace that garners me compliments every time I wear it, courtesy of Antigenre. Now look what she's got me obsessed with, from Lauren Haupt's designs at locallibrary:

Sundrop earrings

little wings necklace

black lotus earrings

how it falls necklace

I love the way she contrasts metal with rich, textural wood--it's a light touch of earthiness, but the sleek shapes keep the pieces from wandering into hippy-dippy kumbaya territory. Unfortunately for me, I have zero upcoming birthdays, occasions, excuses to spend money, etc., but next time I do you better believe I am hot-tailing it back here, to scoop up one or two of Lauren's pieces.

Special delivery!

2009-04-17T08:00:00.001-04:00

Lookie what was waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday?

Here's a close-up of the return tag, filled out in architectural caps, in case you don't already know what it is:

IT'S A PREZZIE FROM RAINA!!!!

Which contained my very own copy of Vogue Living Australia:

which Raina's very short personal assistant randomly selected* I was to receive during her recent giveaway.

Here's a sampling of the beauteosity held within those pages:

Why do the images look so wonky? Oh, because I had to take photos of the pages in order to post them, since our one semi-operational computer spits blood every time we try to install a device driver on it, which means I can't use my scanner. Did I mention that everything in our apartment is broken? Except for my grandmother's teak coffee table, visible as the background in the very first image. Ahem.

Still, I'm hoping to be able to share the pics with you before too long... Allen has been performing reiki on my laptop and we are cautiously optimistic that it may be back up to speed for the weekend. Send good vibes.

*Pea, you didn't tell anyone else how you got to go to the Wiggles concert, did you?

Richly feminine: Vigèe-Lebrun

2009-04-16T08:01:00.000-04:00

Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigèe-Lebrun was the court painter at Versailles during Marie Antoinette's reign, and one of the finest (and most prolific) early female artists. She achieved uncommon success with her portraits of the European elite, through her skillful blend of accuracy and flattery in reproducing a sitter's features. Her best portraits have a vitality and directness to them that I find entrancing.

Madame du Barry

Flora Douville

Hyacinthe Gabrielle Roland

Axel Vervoordt

self-portrait

House & Garden

Portrait of a Young Woman

Jacob Termansen photo

Luisa Maria Adelaida de Borbon

Office for Word and Image

Marie Antoinette

Twig Hutchinson stylist

self-portrait with daughter

Marie Claire Maison

Anybody have $12 million?

2009-04-15T08:00:00.001-04:00

My dreamhouse is for sale.

All the furniture can go but the space is perfection. Full article from NY magazine here.

Whew.

2009-04-13T21:39:00.006-04:00

It's been hectic as hell the last few weeks. I think I'm going to have to break it down for you in numbers.

Lightning trips to the southwestern-most reaches of Virginia: 2.

Hours spent on a hard, unforgiving car seat: enough to make my ass hurt.

Miles driven and/or bussed: about 2,000.

Of these, miles driven in a blind, shockless panel van with only a radio for music: 1,000.

Times switched "Kiss Me Through the Phone" off the car radio with a horrified scream: countless.

Times cursed truckers playing grab-ass with other truckers on 81: way, way too many. Boys, it is simply not fair to sit in the left lane doing 64 miles an hour because you just had to pass that dude who's doing 61.

Items of furniture, artwork and miscellaneous crap I inherited from my grandmother: 16. This is a good thing; I have previously documented her excellent taste. Plus the fact that several of these pieces are my mother's paintings, and the fact that my apartment now closely resembles my grandmother's living room, where I spent a tremendous amount of time when I was growing up, make me really happy. However certain facts remain, including the following:

Coffee tables Allen and I own: 2.

Coffee tables Allen and I have room for: 1.

Coffee tables in front of the sofa: 1.

Coffee tables looming pointlessly in the middle of our kitchen: 1.

Silent, passive-aggressive battles of will ongoing as to whose coffee table* will meet with an untimely end on the sidewalks of New York: 1.

Club chairs Allen and I own: 3

Club chairs Allen and I have room for: 1.5.

Slim, sexy midcentury club chairs with tough, wool tweed upholstery that I was hoping might supplant the big, boxy, uncomfortable club chair belonging to Allen that hasn't seen the light of day since entering the apartment, due to its upholstery being Gato anti-matter, i.e. leather: 2

Club chairs the Fato has enthusiastically adopted by joyfully digging her claws into and thoroughly furring the tough, wool tweed upholstery: 2

Likelihood that Allen will say something along the lines of, "Baby, how about we get rid of my giant leather club chair in favor of these slim, sexy midcentury ones you brought up from Virginia?": 0%

Hours Allen spent helping me unload and bring in furniture and other crap, even though he doesn't want it and sees no place or need for any of it: 1.0

Computers Allen and I own: 3.

Computers Allen and I own that have died in the last three weeks: 2.

Computers Allen and I own that reliably work: 0.

Open-water races my cousins and aunt have bullied me into: 2.

Open-water races I have swum before: 0.

Weeks until the first of these: 6.

Miles swum in the last three weeks: 1. It took me 28 minutes. In a pool, in warm (ish) water, with neat little lane lines, a turn and a pushoff every 25 yards, and no waves or fish.

Freelance projects I've started: 1.

Entries in my obesely bloated google reader: google has given up counting in despair and will only tell me it's over 1,000.

*more on that later. oh yes. most definitely.

Spring is coming.

2009-03-25T23:45:00.006-04:00

So I lied. I am going to post this week after all.

beautiful Rosie

I'm way behind on posting, and work, and life in general, because I found out on Sunday that my grandmother is very seriously ill, so I zoomed down to southwest Virginia to see her. Since we got word of how sick she is, she's been surrounded by family, who have been reminiscing with her, reading to her, showing her photos from long ago. She's had a long, full, healthy, happy life, full of love, she's not suffering from her illness, and she's having the best farewell to this world that any of us could ever hope for. So instead of feeling sad, I'm filled with joy--joy at being blessed enough to have been born into a family with so much love for each other. It's evident in the fact that all of us were there, in the care my aunt and uncle were taking to fill her last days with love and vitality, and in the happy smile I saw on her face as she listened to the laughter of everyone who was gathered in the next room.

sweet Ginny

It's also evident in the boxes upon boxes of old letters, photos, diaries, sketchbooks and mementos that she has painstakingly saved through the years, many of them from her own grandparents and great-uncles and aunts. I found a thick folder of letters written by my mother, who died when I was 13, almost 17 years ago--letters from before she met my dad, where she gripes about whatever dopey guy she'd happened to be dating; letters from their early married years, where every word vibrates with love for him; letters written while she was pregnant with me, which are full of excitement and anticipation, and letters written as I grew up, which chronicle my antics and my achievements with equal pride. She was only with me for a few short years, but she showered me with more love than some people find in a lifetime.

Badly behaved, L-R: ass-kicker/troublemaker; designer/opinionista; Army captain/hell-raiser

And I'm also thinking about spring. My mother died in the spring; but this year, just two weeks after her death anniversary, my cousin will be getting married. All the fruit trees are in bloom in the lower Shenandoah Valley; spring is working its way north, slowly but surely. It's coming around again.

No posting this week...

2009-03-25T09:58:00.002-04:00

I'll be back on Monday, nuttier than ever, promise.

New angle on midcentury furniture.

2009-03-20T08:09:00.002-04:00

Mads Mogensen photography

Do you have a flag?

2009-03-20T08:06:00.000-04:00

Perhaps I'm a little premature--the Olympics aren't for another three and a half years--but lately I've been kind of digging on that bright, showy emblem of Britishness, the Union Jack. It's instantly recognizable, and has been used to mark empires and steal nations for hundreds of years. The bold, crisp color and pattern are classic, but the flag's design really transcends the ordinary when it's roughed up, chopped up, and stood on its ear.

Designers--British designers in particular, unsurprisingly--find splashing its bright stripes across furniture to be totally irresistible. I love the offhand, deliberately imperfect application on this Dan Marty chair:

and I dig the way the pattern becomes almost abstract on this chair in the Ben Sherman store.

It goes over-scale on this boss wing chair from David Met Nicole,

and technicolor in this Jimmie Martin version.

The flag's motif also translates well to faded out, vintage-y treatments like on this Jimmie Martin sofa (found via The Urban Lifestyle):

uber-manly Andrew Martin Chesterfield,

Halo's chair for the Spice Girls via Alkemie,

and leather cushion from Coffee and Cream.

Vivienne Westwood, mistress of all things punky and British, delivers in fine form with her VW Flag rug for The Rug Company:

and her compatriot Alexander McQueen tarts up a pair of booties with his nation's flag, in glossy patent leather and suede.

Luxury Brit sportscar maker Lotus takes the flag for a spin with a custom wrapper on its Exige 450 model:

But I think I prefer the far more humble, and far more typically British application: a mini. (Unexpected fact: a search for "union jack mini" on Flickr yields 567 results.

Flickr Frrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrra

Not in the market for a new vee-hickle? Let's check out what Etsy has to offer. I love Pam Glew's Kate Moss print:

and I'm digging the Westwood vibe on these cushions from Designer Cushions (should you go to the shop, don't be dissuaded by the fairies and hunting foxes--the Union Jacks are in there).

Google led me to these deconstructed Union Jack cushions from Etsy seller Tim Neve, who has since disappeared... Tim, come back! Your cushions are rad!

And I have one more sweet shot of Brit bad-assery, the image that inspired me to make this post: this Union Jack print by gorgeously talented graphic designer Scott Hansen of Iso 50.

I love everything about it: the colors, the subtle bubble detail, the subtle vintage feel.

Oh, and you get bonus points* if you recognized the Eddie Izzard reference in my post title.

*Bonus points will be taxed at 90%. God save the Queen!

Still cold. I am still cranky about it.

2009-03-19T08:02:00.004-04:00

Why can't I be eating a leisurely breakfast out on my back porch/terrace/deck?

Elle Decor

Marie Claire Maison

Skona Hem

Scott Weston

House & Garden

Marie Claire Maison

Oh yeah. I live in New York. And it's going to be in the 40s again today.

Let's talk about clothes.

2009-03-18T08:09:00.003-04:00

Why is it still 40 degrees outside? I want to dress like this:

Paul Smith

The Sartorialist

Punky B via This Time Now

You can find me lounging here (all images Marie Claire Maison):

Sigh.

Summer, please.

2009-03-17T08:19:00.002-04:00

Brought to you by our dearly departed Domino.

Windows to my soul, continued

2009-03-16T08:00:00.001-04:00

Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects

photo Richard Powers

Desire to Inspire

Kikette Interiors

photo Nicolas Matheus

The brevity of this post means I actually did something with my life this weekend. Hurray! I'll be back on form shortly.

WWJDIY?

2009-03-13T08:00:00.007-04:00

Hello team... hope you all had a chance to check out my guest post over at Design Crisis! I had a blast doing it, and am still knee-wobblingly hungover from the high-proof fabulousness that those girls serve up.

However, I have managed to drag myself out of bed, grunting and clutching my head, in order to bring you a brief visual essay on why it's occasionally good to just go ahead and buy something, or pay someone, instead of trying to do it yourself. Especially if you have no idea what you're doing. I'm going to call this DIY Gone Wrong: When Wood Glue Attacks!

Design Sponge (whose name I cannot now type or read without thinking about contraceptives, so thank you Raina, thank you very much for that) had a post the other day about a DIY version of an Anthropologie table that a reader of hers made.

Leaving aside the fact that it's totally not my taste, it looks like a reasonable facsimile, right? More or less?

Look again:

First of all, the table looks a little unfinished without a top like the Anthropologie one has, don't you think? Especially once you see it in profile--what's going on with that weird lip at the front and back of the top?

Secondly--and this is the most glaring thing to me--check out that little decorative frame detail on the side. Because she had neither the knowledge nor the equipment to miter those pieces of frame--nor, apparently, the eye to realize that not mitering them would make that frame look seven different kinds of effed up--she just kind of stuck them up there, one edge against the other.

This is what it should look like:

See how the corners meet? And the thing is, she could have just used a small picture frame--all the cutting work would be done for her, and it would look just right.

Also, check out the very top of the side of the table--see those dots? (Forgive me for going all Perez Hilton on you.)

Those are screw-holes that she didn't realize she should fill with putty and sand out before painting. When you blow the picture up you can really see how wonky it is.

And while the original table is far from a masterpiece of handcraft and joinery, look what a nice sense of texture the varying molding details add, especially because of their subtle variation in tone and pattern.

Whereas the DIY table is flat, flat, flat. Slapping a flat coat of paint on an old or cheap piece of furniture is not necessarily the magic bullet that the craft mafia insist it is. The depressing thing is, this girl apparently spent half her weekend working on it, and it still looks awful. Believe me, if it looks this bad in the photos, it looks a hundred times worse in real life. I genuinely commend her creativity, but can't help wishing she had done a little more homework first--she would have had much better results.

Stunt casting.

2009-03-12T08:00:00.003-04:00

Hello bloggenkinder! I am over at Design Crisis today--I'll be the one right above Kate Moss's Golden Bajingo--with a roundup of spectacular pool/house combos. I love the smell of chlorine in the morning!

Pixel nation.

2009-03-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

So, as a warmup for my guest post over at Design Crisis, I've pulled together a roundup of avant-garde goodies featuring one of my favorite new design motifs: pixels.

The front-runner on the trend has got to be Spanish wunderkind Cristian Zuzunaga, who first riveted international audiences with his masters thesis at Royal College of Art, a collaboration with fellow student Peter Smith:

Moroso didn't waste a second in capitalizing on his talent, commissioning him to create this groovier-than-thou Pixel sofa in 2008:

He followed it up with a limited-edition run of custom fabric for Ligne Roset (the giant room-sized sectional is kinda ugsters but I am head over heels for the side chairs):

a line of too-gorgeous-to-cut wrapping papers for Lagom:

and a showroom installation for jewelers Belmacz:

Zuzunaga's next collaboration, with furniture designer Christophe Delcourt, was unveiled at this year's Maison et Objet, where pixellation seemed to be one of the themes of the day.

That's Zuzunaga above; DB readers, with their finely honed sense of taste and aesthetics, will immediately note that he is far from ugly. I think I might have a little crushola.

So, um, moving along, the actual work:

Holy smokes do I want to spec those chairs for someone. They're amazing. The sofa makes me want to fling myself on it and roll around like a gato:

Some of the other elements from the Color Patch installation at Objet & Maison:

Installation by Danish fabric powerhouse Kvadrat:

and post-it mural by Benedicte Bailly:

Which segues nicely into Duncan Wilson's Pixel Notes wallpaper:

Interactive! Peel as you go!

So, if you're craving a little pixellation in your life but are hankering for something a little more substantial than the Zuzunaga wrapping paper, how about one of these glorious possibilities?

Heal's has killer pixel bedding that's a dead-ringer for the Zuzunaga designs:

also from Heal's, this glamorama Jewel Spectrum pendant:

Want some pixels with your breakfast? Used to be available at Elsewares, but seem to be sold out... fingers crossed!

The DC girls first alerted me to these amazing prints by Andy Gilmore--totally groovy and totally affordable, available at his Etsy shop here:

or, since we're all on recession budgets, how about a little simple desktop beautification, free of charge? I spotted these incredible pixelly images on Le Divan Fumoir Boheme--they are packets of pastels.

They have the same abstraction and radiant color as the Zuzunaga prints, and I love them, and they are free! Can't beat that.

Not yer momma's photo wall

2009-03-09T08:00:00.002-04:00

Listen, the photo/art wall concept is lovely, and has been celebrated and documented on enough blogs to fill the phone book. So I'm not here to talk about the best way to lay out the pieces, or whether to have matching frames or not, or how to achieve a harmonious composition.

Instead I have a feast of images of wild, overgrown art walls, that skip the frames and the negative space in favor of a wall-to-wall riot of color and imagery. Whether it's achieved through decoupage, sticky-tac or straight up thumbtacks, the look is bold and colorful, and screams "my creativity literally cannot be constrained!" Not for the faint of heart or short on inspiration images. Behold:

A visual paean to the sexy ladies of the world:

photo Gaelle Le Boulicaut

you could always add some three-dimensionality to your art wall with a dead frog, who beckons you to take a closer look:

photo Tom Mannion

pay no attention to the gaping sinkholes in the ceiling:

photo Rachel Whiting

the English country house version of an art wall (those are all early 20th century magazine & catalog pages):

NerF Archives

for a kitschy turn, how about vintage paint-by-numbers?

Olive Talique's flickr, via Please Sir

Whether tiled or painted, the jubilant effect is the same:

Photo Rebecca Duke

This one does actually employ frames and negative space, but the overall impression of barely-controlled chaos qualifies it for this post:

photo Tria Giovan

And at the other end of the spectrum, I'm digging the monochromatic, graphic effect of this one:

photo Jan Baldwin

Wanna see some up close? Course you do.

Sparkdance's flickr

MarcwithNS's flickr

Scrum-shee-uss. I think I'd love this approach especially in a kitchen--wouldn't it be great if someone could make laminated, cleanable photo-wall wallpaper? I'd be on that like a fat kid on cake.

Does "retro" rhyme with "hell no?"

2009-03-08T10:43:00.006-04:00

See, this is why I have not regularly read Apartment Therapy in years. I had recently added it to my reader, out of a well-intentioned but perhaps misguided desire to keep current on any relevant or interesting posts about resources, and this is what I get:

Good Questions: What Would You Do With This Bathroom?

The options we are presented with by the anxious homeowner, who doesn't mention budget constraints as a concern, are:

1. Leave the green alone and try to coordinate in some way.
2. Reglaze the fixtures.
3. Replace everything.

A fourth, and incredibly obvious, option immediately sprung to my mind; namely:

And yet, throughout the course of 73 comments, I saw remarks like "avocado is back in style again!" (in hell, maybe), and "I think the green is attractive in an Orla Kiely way" (lady, I think you're insane in an insane way), "the avocado tub can be a 'statement' in the bathroom!" (since when is statement a synonym for eyesore?) and my personal favorite, "you should leave it in and live with it because it would be environmentally unfriendly to tear it out just for aesthetics."

Wow, really? The Green Police now are not even letting people tear out hideous 30-year-old bathroom fixtures that are ugly, depressing, and diminish resale value? Come on people, get a grip.

Windows on my soul...

2009-03-06T08:00:00.001-05:00

Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects

photo James Merrell

photo Richard Powers

photo James Tse

Marie Claire Maison

Patkau Architects

Architectural Digest (how often do you see THAT credit below a photo on this blog?)

Fernlund Logan Architects

photo Richard Powers

Pink Attack!

2009-03-05T00:05:00.002-05:00

It has been utterly frigid & miserable up here lately, and after I left work I was too demoralized to handle the thought of diving into an icy pool, but didn't want to skip a workout entirely, so I decided to head to Barnes & Noble to see if I could find a bargain-bin Pilates DVD to do in the warmth and cheery brightness of my own home. Pilates for Badgers, maybe, or Pilates for the Unambitious but Vain. I went a bit deer-in-headlights when I got to the fitness aisle, because every cover in sight featured a peppy mystic-tanned woman with blister-pack abs and an aggressive grin, all of them beckoning me to pump, shred, and blast myself into a gumby-limbed Fit-bot from Planet Zutron. I had to go and seek refuge in the shelter magazine section for a while just to get back to my Happy Place.

So, after going in only for the Pilates DVD, I eventually exited Barnes and Noble with the following (I have heard this described as Target Syndrome, wherein you enter the store with one or two necessary things in mind and leave with nine times that amount of objects, usually not including the thing you came in for):

1 Pilates for Beginners DVD

1 recent issue of Living Etc. (I know, obvi, about the image gallery, thanks to Raina's informative back-link, but wanted the ads and resources too)

1 combo pack of BARBIE PINK MOLESKINES!

What happened to me? I'm not a pink girl. I am industria-glam with a couple strong ounces midcentury modern and a shot of scruffy boho (although, according to Sproost, I am 100% Vintage Modern--their widget determined this through process of elimination, because I objected to Frenchclectic, Manly Mountain Lodge, Rustic Revival, Classique Generique, Wine Country Bland, "My Concept Is Zen," Cottage Chic Oxymoron, Hollywood Couture, Modern (Don't you mean Contemporary?) Elegance, Arts and Craftulence, There Once Was A Man from Nantucket, Traditional Country Corn-Fed and, had they included it, Bravura Modernism).

Maybe it's the advent of spring. I guess I may as well go ahead and get it out of my system.

Cough

photo Debi Treloar

Herk

photo Tom Leighton

Sputter

photo Bart Van Leuven

Sneeze

photo Brian Park

OK, all done. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Late winter mood.

2009-03-04T15:05:00.002-05:00

photo Waldemar Hansson

Desire to Inspire

photo Kamilla Bryndum

photo James Tse

Whoopsies! Completely forgot to include the attributions at first. NKP, you are very sweet for thinking I could have taken these. Perhaps in my next career change.

Beauty in balance: Gateshead Millennium Bridge

2009-03-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

Following in the footsteps of Saarinen's Arch, the Burj Al Arab, and every daydream of Calatrava's that ever took flight, the Gateshead Milennium Bridge in Newcastle, UK is a masterpiece of advanced engineering and breathtaking beauty. The fundamentals of engineering--loads, stresses, tension and balance--get me decidedly hot under the collar, so the simple principle that operates this bridge just captivates me.

The entire thing relies on the tension between the two halves of the bridge, which is maintained by the cables. When a boat needs to pass underneath, engines on either side of the riverbank cause the bridge to pivot on its axis point, and the even distribution of weight between the two swooping curves does the heavy lifting.

Like so:

The gentle rise and fall of the footbridge in its resting position account for so much of the grace of the structure--imagine how much less dynamic it would be if it were just flat.

Another beautiful touch is the lighting underneath, which casts a reflection like a glowing Cylon spine onto the river's surface.

I think maybe when I head to London in 2012, I'll take a little detour up north to see the bridge in person. Karly, you in?

Get your industrial here (glam sold separately).

2009-03-03T14:00:00.000-05:00

Photos I took of north Williamsburg while researching the neighborhood for my thesis.

This was more than two years ago though... it it likely to be entirely overrun by hipsters by now.

Kitchens au naturel

2009-03-03T08:00:00.002-05:00

House & Garden

Inside Out

photo Per Ranung

photo Tria Giovan

Blue shadows.

2009-03-02T15:05:00.000-05:00

A word to the wise:

2009-03-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

1 hr Pilates on Saturday + 2 hrs/4000 yards swimming on Sunday = first-class seat on the Pain Train. It's astonishing the amount of discomfort that can be generated by muscles I didn't even know existed on the human body.

Also, the Y pool yesterday was so murky it was like swimming in pond water (although, now that I mention it, I shouldn't be too picky, since if my cousin gets her way I'll be swimming in every pond, lake, river, bay, canal, quarry, ditch and drainage pipe between here and Florida).

But in the mean time, here's a few pools where I'd rather be clocking my laps.

Glass walls and a view of the skyline? I'm there.

La Purificadora

This one reminds me of a subterranean Roman grotto:

Office for Word and Image

Crisp black cement and white lane markers reverse the usual order of things in this mod Piet Boon-designed pool:

Piet Boon design

The mega-glam pool at the Haymarket gives new meaning to the phrase "wet bar":

Haymarket Hotel

Lookit! Three of my favorite things: exposed wood, trusses, and chlorinated water:

Axel Vervoordt, via La Lampshade

And my favorite of all, a brilliant, sunlit aerie on top of the world. complete with gato:

Bart Van Leuven photo

Any of these warm, sunny, gorgeous waterholes would be so much more appealing than my cold, dark, murky little pool. Yeah, yeah, whine bitch moan.

Soho loft voyeurism

2009-03-01T10:00:00.001-05:00

NYC nighttime window-gazing is a favorite pastime of mine.

Don't they just titillate you? It's like the interior design/real-estate equivalent of side-boob.

Bubblicious!

2009-02-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

I present to you: a love story in three acts (so far).

Act 1: Fall 2004, the concrete bomb shelter some call "FIT." A starry-eyed design student spies these images (from Elle Decor, I think), thus igniting her ongoing, passionate love affair with clusters of glass pendants. Photography by Pieter Estersohn.

Act 2: Summer 2008, ICFF. The same girl spies, at ICFF, a dazzling constellation of softly glowing stars: the Bocci pendants. Clients across the greater metro area brace themselves.

Act 3: Fall 2008. Girl meets Niche Modern. Together, they make sweet, sweet music.

What lies ahead, in this deathless romance between one woman, and the glowing silica orbs she loves? Only time will tell...