Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Time for a Change

This is like arsenic in your husband's coffee. Set out a couple of these once a week and he'll be gone in no time.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

John Derian

Here it is. My JD Moment. Ba-da-bing.


I would take any of these Hugo Guinness prints from JD...
but three would be thrice as nice.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Completely Ridiculous Purchase

Just ordered 8 yards of this ikat silk from here for outdoor pillows. I know. It's trendy and it's silk but it's cheap...and sooo cute.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Schwing Tai Ping

My client just got home from Italy and needs cheering up. Luggage still in Florence.

Hopefully, this will do the trick. This is the sample for her custom entry rug by Tai Ping that just arrived. Bendir carpet in creamy wool cut pile with chocolate silk accents. Yum.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

When Bad Things Happen to Good People

1950s Chinoiserie lamp from 1stdibs.
Meet pillow fighter extraordinaire Griffin.



Nickname. Dead Meat.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Sayonara Sumer

Thursday, September 17, 2009

The Gravy Brain

A client of mine took out some whopping school loans to go to med school.


Years later, he has become one of this country's leading surgeons...with some of the most open-minded patients.


...which has allowed his wife to hire me to help decorate their home...


Altar table by Dotson's Antiques in Coburg, vintage Chinese screen from a local thrift store, Greek Key stools by Madeline Stuart covered in Larsen's Soiree Velvet and vintage chartreuse and turquoise Chinese lamps...from moi. I hated to let those go... fortunately, cocktails clank in that room often...allowing me to reconnect with my old friends.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Lost City


Check out these wild embroidered fabrics from Lost City.
A classic...with an edge. Like me. They look expensive. Nickname. Lost Wallet.









Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Rooms & Gardens

When I was in Santa Barbara I stopped by Rooms & Gardens. The look is very appropriate for Southern California. The focus is on dark walnut and ebonized woods, light slipcovers and ethnic accents. I love it.

This chair in the window is covered in Peter Dunham's Shanghai in Imperial.


John Robshaw bedding.

Pillows made from vintage Saris and blue and white lamps spruced up with raffia shades.


It makes me want to throw on a Sari and do this.


Simple glass hurricanes, mercury glass compotes and metal Indian trays...


...which would be really lovely to serve tea on...like this...cause this is how I entertain these days...by the seat of my PANTS.


Loved this cute little spindle desk chair.


The whole store is like throwing a white tunic and a turquoise and coral necklace on over a deep dark tan.

Speaking of turquoise and coral and tunics and deep dark tans...


Great vintage papier mache wastebasket and striped dhurrie.


Loved the shell planters.


Don't look at me like that...


...because I STILL like ceramic stools.


I also like trays because they unify random items. This scalloped wicker one is great.


Also, I loved these simple but beautiful tabletop items...mercury glass votives, Mexican glass goblets, blue and white dishes and ticking napkins.


Take a trip and check it out.


Note: All photos of India via Steve McCurry's website.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Hoard Almosts Rhymes with Fjord


It's the end of summer... I have lost control of everybody. I have surrendered. So I marched on over to my storage unit to reorganize. I had to get a piece of something. Something that was quiet and didn't say mom mom mom mom mom while constantly darting around. Midget Fort Makers. Giant Mess Makers. Award winning little people that excel in destruction.


So...off I went...where I lined up all of my little soldiers row by row and stack by stack...


...and... when I couldn't quite get everything put back in and ALMOST asked the storage guy for a bigger unit... I stopped. I thought. I listened to the silence...telling me...I must have a sale...because I have a problem. I have way too much shit.

I don't think that I am a natural born hoarder. It is a learned behavior. My rationale has been that we will have a bigger house. A house with a proper master bath, a master closet, a real entry, a dining room that isn't just a hallway, a kitchen that works for a gathering of friends and not just a production zone, a family room that isn't a shoebox. You know. A house with this and that and that and this. Well, life isn't so bad. You don't get everything. My neighborhood is the best...prone to 5:00 cocktails and late night (should probably be in bed) cocktails, kids galore, doctors and lawyers aplenty (emergencies crop up constantly) and sidewalks.


So...the moral of the story is...the grass is always greener and where there is really green grass there might be a really big house filled with a LOT of really great things but at the end of the day what do they have? A neighborhood filled with cocktails and friends and kids and sun and sidewalks and tree swings...


and blackberries and socialized medicine and free legal advice...? I don't think so. I'll keep my brown grass and my cocktails and my neighbors and my blackberries...


Thank you hood. I am 100% positively going to probably maybe sell all of my pretty little things saved for a rainy day in a town where it rains 137 days/year and get back to living this life. Today. Here. In my perfectly fine but teeny bit too small house. In. My. Hood.