trending now: trim, tufts and tuffets
hey guys, how’s your wednesday? i’m catching up on my work and still a little jet lagged. i’m taking a break to go through more shots from the show. funny when you edit how it starts to take shape. this above was done by a gorgeous italian company who designed lamps and just had these in the booth for guests. she did them in creme taffeta and piped them with black patent leather. they were so hot!
i was definitely into contrasting trims and piping, it’s a great old look that’s always fresh. there was plenty of eye candy from slipper chairs, hooded, wing backs, leather, vanity, stools, benches and ottomans.
it’s clean and highlights the lines whether it’s a lot or a little.
i don’t think i’ll ever get tired of tufting done well. this white chair has pretty chrome cabriole legs.
and i’m always on the lookout for little vanity and boudoir chairs.
these were on rollers (above) and this pretty christopher guy has lacquer feet.
i love the bright gold leaf legs on this piece but benches are a whole other story. better run, time for dinner, have a great night!
so ready for bed
The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret. ~Charles Caleb Colton
hi guys, another full day at the show and it still seems like i just skimmed the surface. the last thing i want to do is go back tomorrow, especially with the flea markets on but i just didn’t get it all done. today i focused on finding the perfect bed for the AD show, something that will be a crown jewel in the booth. these were a couple of contenders.
this show weird, the more you see, the more there is to see. hall after hall, mega booths galore, no wonder my clients burn out and start to hate my guts after a few hours! i’m starting to crash myself but will carry on.
the books are always my favorite part of the show, maybe tomorrow after the twice-over i’ll get a chance to go through some of them. maybe even leave early and hit the fleas, that would be the perfect day. ok well, i’m definitely at my limit today. good night!
a few favorite things
well a few hours in the right big white tube and you are suddenly en paris. the show is enormous, spectacular, innovative and inspiring. my first stops were to see old friends. i adore the geniuses at koziel.fr who blur the line between real and trompe l’oeil.
others were getting in to the action this year, these had a bit of an edge: trompe l’oeil doors, some with grafiti via gdcreation.com
beautiful things were of course around every corner like these handmade comforters in silk satin from holland.
and my camera died at christopher guy but i’ll be back tomorrow, it was stunning.
anyway it’s not late but i went straight to the show from the plane. i think i was the first one in so i’m beyond tired. more a demain, bonne nuit from the streets!
setting the stage for new hollywood glamour
above images via munna
hi all, happy sunday! i hope you had a wonderful weekend. it’s a great time of year when there’s not a lot of pressure and there’s time to just chill. still, i’ve had nagging thoughts about the upcoming maison objet show in paris next week. it’s the event to hit to get inspired and check out great design from all over europe. somehow i just can’t justify it since i haven’t even cracked open the bags of vendors, pricelists and business cards from the show in september. till tonite, that is!
images below from christopher guy
i’m starting with a couple of my favorite designs (ok more than a couple) that remind me of the 20s and 20s. sleek and moderne with a bit of whimsy, dorothy draper meets jean harlow to create the ultimate cocktail. i find that era of furniture delicious… maybe i’m just obsessed!
most of these pieces seem to have walked right off a movie set, i love films like dinner at eight, swing time, top hat and so many others that had such gorgeous backdrops. there’s more to see every time you watch them!
anyway i guess these were my interpretations of it tonight. it was fun to go through the designs and start to update my site by adding to the collection.
obviously there’s an infinite world of design out there but i stick with my little niche in the boudoir. i love the smaller furniture and the intimacy of it.
well this is the tip of a giant glacier. maybe you love furniture and playing dress up with your boudoir as much as i do, so i’ll keep on digging through the piles of papers.
i can’t help but feel our grandma’s really knew how to live. they had such great muses and icons to look to for their inspiration though, how could they go wrong? i guess the least we can do is pamper ourselves and create a little niche of our own. a place to feel pretty and special, set your own stage and be the glamour girls we truly are!
frames via tpa
well i better run, it’s almost midnight. have a great night and suite dreams!
being there now
hi guys! i hope you’re doing well on these balmy summer nights. a lot’s been going on but mostly i’m trying to just unwind from all the shows, traveling and moving around. for the first time in longer than i can remember, i don’t have to go anywhere, do anything, plan a trip for at least 90 days. seeing that much open space in my future is making me think about how to spend the time.
anyway, it’s been a couple days and the ol’ florida home design and remodeling show has come and gone, but i did promise a post so i’m sticking to my word. as you may know, it was the exact days as the maison objet so i just took a deep breath and went in, determined to appreciate where i was instead of wasn’t. i guess i had low expectations, but was surprised that it was both informative and had a little bit of flavor here and there.
this booth was probably the only of its kind, a furniture company with some pretty pieces. i fell in love with this big white lacquer table.
i think what surprised me most was that i was drawn to the stands that had solutions for greening a home. this guy was so passionate about green roofs that it was contagious.
and i had no idea that concrete was such a pollutant and that there are solutions.
there were quite a few really pretty accent pieces
and every show represents its townspeople’s needs
i died for this slab!
and was inspired by the enormous amount of work some of the vendors shared.
it wasn’t huge but i did get my fill.
and discovered some great resources like the company above.
best and most ironic of all, they were giving away florida design magazine. today i happened to flip through it and saw this image from the maison objet. i guess i didn’t miss much. yeah right!
but that was a valuable lesson learned. buy tickets early to all events you know you want to do (holidays, shows, etc). that way you have no excuse but to go. i just bought my ticket home for christmas and next is the show in january. hope to see you there!
ps i was about to get back to work but just heard from trish and had to share a little of her blog, it’s the inspiration i was craving!
i needed that
hi everyone~as promised, we got our correspondent shots from madelyn of paris perfect who made it to the maison objet and took these wonderful photos for us. thank you, madelyn, you are my heroine, i felt like i was there!
this woman is another super power (like erica) living an incredible dream in paris.
and her coverage of the show was superb. she said there was a lot of violet, black and orange.
i feel relieved.
she also mused it was ‘Hard to think of a whole theme – some retro 60’s, but that is a French thing. They grew up with Louis XVI and love the American modern. So you’ll always see some of that in France and Italy’.
she also tells me she’s meeting with erica for coffee this afternoon. i introduced them. (big smile)
we met last spring when i was researching the chicest paris apartments. she’s an american who has two kids and a hubby, and still has time to look at swatches on montmartre, a tour de force you will be very happy to know when you’re in paris.
i feel satisfied now, that was a real treat.
love the tied books
so that’s it pour le moment. mille grazie encora madelyna!
have a great afternoon guys. i’m about to embark on a 90 day adventure at home so i’ll be back soon with the goings on!
ps for a little more on the show, check out la times’ blog:
latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/maison-objet
yes, that’s needlepoint!
and if you still haven’t had your fill, this is pretty wild!
http://www.google.com/hostednews
access.decorati.com/2009/02/19/a-visit-to-the-maison-objet-trade-fair-in-paris
the next best thing
hi guys! as you know i was heartbroken and have been whining about missing the paris show. and i’ve had time to think about why. i just get so much inspiration from it, and missing one is like missing a fleeting, one time only work of art; a brilliant gathering of design all under one roof. truth is i have so much info from so many shows i haven’t even touched including pics i never even edited from the past couple years. i dug around and found these from ’07 and ’08.
the great news is that both erica from the last post and madelyn who i’ll introduce in the next, are BOTH gonna go and have agreed to take pics as our correspondents!
this is at least motivating me to go through my stuff and really refine.
well, as fate would have it, the florida home show is on right now, woo hoo, and we live around the corner from the miami beach convention center, so i’m going tomorrow. obviously the design is a smidge different than paris but i’m gonna make the most of where i am right now and see if i can get find inspiration there.
thank you erica and madelyn, can’t wait to see what’s new!
happy weekend everybody!
this moveable feast
image via heylifelookatme.blogspot.com (turn down the volume)
clearing off my desktop, this one from beautiful thing to share
hey guys, how’s your day been? mines had highs and lows but it’s pretty leveled out right about now. whew.
do you have one of those friends who always finds the best stuff and passes it your way? i do. it’s bonnie of loveyourplace.blogspot.com. (she’s working with me on the vanity for humanity project and has a ton of great old vanity pics up on her blog right now that i had never even seen). i was saving some bedroom shots (don’t we all)? after shetold me about a contest that all the best is having to design one. but who could ever choose? i love the diversity of the boudoir and have made that particular obsession the core of my business. but don’t think i could ever pick one favorite.
this one’s from living etc but if you know who’s blog i nabbed it from please let me know.
this is via trish at trouvais (another bonnie find full of eye candy, beware)! she has pics from one of my favorite books, TheBed by Alecia Beldegreen (below) and has become a new blog friend.
well, i’m a little rushed cause i just booked my cheap ticket to paris (nothing like procrastination to force a girl to move it along). it’s just that so much was going on that i almost called it off, but thankfully the stars are aligning.
i’ll be covering the maison et objet, another banquet of beautiful eye candy and design for the fabulous emag, parisien salon. linda is the creator who i met through blogging and lives just across the bay here in miami. we were kindred spirits the moment we met. turns out we have a mutual friend in erica of haveninparis who i met last may along with madelyn of parisperfect.com/gigondas. i’m excited to be staying with both of them again. here’s my first stop:
there’s some in between time that procrastination has left open in the middle of the trip but I’m going to see what the universe throws me. may be back at lorraine’s for a couple days. i’m going to work on the Private Paris Apartments book, get my dose of inspiration and fall in love all over again. funny how paris calls in the fall.
i still have a lot to do and am trying to beef up the boutique before i leave and close out orders. (especially before i get sucked into even more stuff at the show)! i just listed some curtains, a year after the ad show. it’s such a work in progress.
theparisapartment.com/boutique
anyway emails are coming in faster than i can type and better get back to work. i don’t want to stress out while i’m there and leave on friday…more soon!
on with the show
hey guys, i was about to sit down with a stack of paperwork but then i thought: you do that all day, why not do something more creative that you actually enjoy? i’m almost guilty, like i have to have all my work done before i can blog which is a bit of RnR for me. it’s weird! so…the paperwork will wait til domani and i can have a little time here.
i’ve been pretty busy, but also reaping the relaxing rewards at the end (or beginning) of the day. it’s such a dream to live on this beach. it is SuPer HoT and i love it!
but as usual, nyc is calling me back right in the middle of the summer. i guess you can’t chill in paradise forever. if it wasn’t for a great reason i just couldn’t do it, but i had an offer i couldn’t refuse. i’ll be there for about 3 weeks in a minute to do the nygif show with leigh from papillion linens.
leigh sent me a set of dreamfit sheets to try out, they’re amazingly soft and organic to boot
i knew her line from past shows and always admired her collection. (she was the first to do smocked top curtains). when i posted a photo of hers we started to chat and became fast blog buds. turns out we had tons in common. when she asked me to use some of my pieces for her booth i about died. the show is impossible to get into and her booth is across from kelly wearstler for Sferra and john robshaw. and that’s just the tip of that iceberg!
she’s such a pro. instead of sweating it she hired id810designgroup.com to help her plan out the booth. (it was their brilliant idea to use lucite, lucky me). i’ll meet the girls when i get to the city and everything comes together. they have great style and i’m excited to see the details they have planned.
so i’ve been getting my site fattened up and working on making the pieces.
we’ll be using the bookcase for displaying her gorgeous linen linens,
and we’re using semi-precious stone chandeliers to accent each area
between the beds, over the desk
and in the seating area (this one will be hot pinks)
the above are some of the stones the artist, meredith uses to make the chandi’s.
and you may remember these staples from the a.d show. but leigh’s going to show them in linen upholstery, navy and schiaparelli pink! (total non sequitir: schiaparelli.com is fabulous! i just discovered it when i googled the spelling of her name)
anyway there are countless other details but that’s it for tonite. i think i’ve had it and need to kick back, my RnR looks a lot like work, good thing i love my work! have a great night!
can we talk?
i need a shoulder. hi alll. i have to interrupt this whirlwind trip through the state of endless charm for a moment of paralyzing reality. those of you who know me, may remember our ‘dollhouse’ wallpaper from the AD show and the dollhouse furniture shoots from awhile ago. well blogs can be dangerous if you give up too much info and now someone else is doing ME better than ME! i’m feeling guilty for taking time off when i should be working on this, it was obviously a great idea and someone else is running with it!
www.swad.com.au via creativeflairchic.blogspot.com
not that it’s not the cutest thing in the WORLD, but…
i get too excited with new ideas and i can’t help but blog, but maybe it’s not good thing to put it all out there all the time just. truth is that it makes a girl want to just give up. i won’t but thanks for letting me vent.
and to think we almost went to burning man, now who has time?…i’m suddenly back in work mode! honestly thank you for listening, i sound like sour grapes even to myself but it’s a real wakeup call. all the projects we all have can be picked telepathically or otherwise up by someone else. the time is now!
