On Trend: The Colour Purple

I'm noticing various shades of violet popping up here and there. It's a tricky colour to decorate with but always looks fresh when mixed with green or metal.

These examples are from the new Bloomingville range and a purple paneled room via Plush Palate.

That Zebra Chair

‘Iam only good for two things in this world,” Valentino once told me, “designing dresses and the decoration of houses. I am not capable to do anything else.” Valentino in August Vanity Fair.

Just had to show you this photo from Vanity Fair of Valentino's New York apartment. That Zebra chair is fabulous is it not?

Apparently Jacques Grange was called in to spruce up Valentino's fifth Avenue pied-a-terre, transforming it from '1980s ode to czarist-Russian opulence' to an all-white, lacquered wall gallery for his enviable collection of modern art.

God love him.... at 78!

~ a window seat for the girls ~

easy peasy...

a simple mdf board cut to size at Lowes

scrap wood glued & screwed to the side walls

a firm king size pillow

a pillow case from Homegoods

...that's reversible

a skirt that used to be a valance (held on with a tension rod)

one more time ~ before...

after...

approximately 12 minutes to do


(check out The Shabby Chic Cottage 
and the Shabby Nest 
& 
funky junk interiors

for other great ideas)

my dream kitchen

if i could build my dream kitchen i would build one with very few or no upper cabinets.  i like the look of shelving but think i could do without them completely.  while i was browsing through my kitchen inspiration files i realized how many kitchens i have saved that don’t have upper cabinets.

{meg ryan’s home in elle decor}

i love the task lights above the sink in this kitchen.

{elle decor}

so pretty.  this one is neck and neck with my favorite one.

{lonny}

{elle decor}

{elle decor}

{living etc}

{unknown}

{unknown}

and my favorite…

{ellen pompeo’s home in elle decor}

LiveJournal Tags: kitchens,ellen pompeo's home,meg ryan's home

Ideas Between The Covers

Thanks everyone for such thought provoking comments on blogs vs magazines.To me, this interaction is the most rewarding aspect of blogging. I often wonder about what people think of the stories I do for magazines. You send it off to the editor, it gets published and that's that. It's as if it goes right out into space...

Yesterday Simon and shot a great place down here on the South Coast which I might talk about next week when he processes the photos. We have a really nice story coming out in the next issue of House & Garden magazine, which I will write about shortly. House & Garden is looking really good these days and their website is a handy source for ideas - one of the better magazine sites, I think. The images above are some of my picks from H&G for inspiration for the farmhouse.

These top two rooms are going into my file for how I am going to deal with the huge space of the church hall which will be our kitchen, living and ding combined. Having photographed endless houses with huge open plan living areas, I have to admit I feel more inclined to make the space more cosy. How great is this day bed "box" inside a large space? This will go straight into my scrapbook!

This bedroom and bathroom combo is something I have been thinking about for our attic bedroom. I can see this will probably become my daughter's room when she approaches teen age. It has tented, boarded ceilings which would be a shame to break up with a bathroom wall. Should be the ultimate teen pad.

market: part 2 and a winner

we have a winner!!!  congrats to jan from the life of a future domestic goddess.  looks like she’s well on her way to getting the new duvet that she wants with her new $60 credit from CSNstores. 

thanks so much to all of you who entered the giveaway.

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market: part 2

i started sharing some of my pictures from my trip to the atlanta market yesterday, and i’m going to continue with some more today.

roost steals my heart every show.  all of their pieces have so much detail.  catalog images don’t do them justice most of the time, so it’s so nice to get to see them in person a few times a year.  felt was a big theme in the roost showroom this year and i was loving it.

sea life is very hot right now so bliss studio was dead on with their showroom.  they got my vote for the most inspiring showroom color scheme.  the blue and orange was beautiful.

vintage, vintage, vintage.  it was vintage heaven at vagabond vintage.

studio a is a new line carried by the southern accessories today rep group.  the recycled bamboo knot furniture pieces were so unique.

and the showroom where i saw my favorite piece of the whole market pretty much stole the show.  regina andrew.

 

and that’s about it for this market.  there were plenty of other showrooms that i visited, but i either forgot to get photos of them or my photos didn’t turn out well. 

hope you all enjoyed my little virtual walk-thru.

LiveJournal Tags: giveaway,atlanta market,vagabond vintage,bliss studio,regina andrew,studio a,roost

Blogs Vs Magazines

Am I really that old? I remember as a young designer in the art department at Vogue LIVING, we were shown this new American magazine that we all supposed copied OUR name. It was called Martha Stewart LIVING. We scoffed politely. These were the early days of the light and bright lifestyle magazines and the Aussies, perhaps because we live like that, nailed the look first. That was 20 years ago!

Martha was very clever. She took that look and made it her own in a market that was, and still is, about 15 times bigger. It's ironic to think that the girl at the helm of MSL magazine nowadays is an Aussie girl who was the creative force behind Donna Hay magazine.

What I am getting at however is what does the future hold for printed magazines in a world where blogging is catching on in a big way? The mags feed the blogs, but the blogs also feed the mags.

Do you still like the feel of paper and having a magazine on your coffee table to pick up and flick through ? Do you blog and read magazines as well?
What do design blogs do for you that magazines don't?

I'd love to know your thoughts.

market: part 1

if you haven’t signed up for the giveaway yet you still have time.  make sure you enter to win $60 from csnstores.com.  the giveaway ends at 6pm tonight and i’ll announce the winner tomorrow.

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this post about atlanta’s market from last week and the week before is slightly overdue.  it has taken me forever to weed through all of my photos.  i didn’t realize i took so many.  i snapped photos of cool things that i saw, but i also took photos of merchandise that i ordered.  all in all i have about 500 photos to weed through.  way too many!

i’m sure you all would get so bored if i showed you everything so i’ve narrowed it down to my favorites.

first of all, parquet flooring and rustic wood flooring in general was in quite a few showroom…barreveld, vagabond vintage, bobo, and more.  i noticed it in january’s show but i think it was in even more showrooms at this show.  it was very lovely.

{parquet flooring at vagabond vintage}

my favorite find for a new vendor was soleil de province.

they had amazing french style furnishings, linens and accessories. 

bobo always has such a beautiful showroom.  i could stay in there forever looking around.  i love the mix of antique objects mixed with the new ones.

and go home had some very cool vignettes.  the ghost bamboo chairs were fab!

to be continued…

LiveJournal Tags: atlanta market,go home,soleil de provence,bobo intriguing objects,giveaway

will’s bedroom and playroom revealed

i’m so excited to show you all a project that i completed about a month ago.  this project was so much fun to work on.  my client was AMAZING!!!  she was so fun to work with and so open to new ideas.  she was also super sweet.  i miss our daily emails and conversations.  it’s so hard to end a project because i know that i won’t be talking to my clients on a daily/weekly basis.  strangely enough i usually talk to my clients more than some of my friends.  that’s just the way it is.  my clients become my friends…they know about my life and i know about theirs.  it’s the absolute coolest relationship.

anyway, onto the stuff i know you want to see.

will’s room

so here is how will’s bedroom started out…(will’s new room was moved into caroline’s old room),

 

this was the design concept for will’s new room,

and here is how it looks now…

i had LH Photography come over and take a few photos for me because i’m definitely no photographer.  here are the LH photos.

 

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the playroom

next up is will’s and caroline’s playroom.  the playroom was originally will’s room and it looked like this.

it’s come a long way.  here is my original design concept.

and here is how the room actually turned out.

and the LH photographs.

LiveJournal Tags: my design,lh photography,kids' rooms