Displaying posts labeled "Support"

MORE BOOKS!!! I will admit I have another favourite of the books that were recently sent to me from the folks at Vendome Press. It is City of Angels: Houses and Gardens of Los Angeles by Firooz Zahedi and Jennifer Ash Rudick.

This book is total eye candy at its finest. If you are a lover of art you especially need to get online and order a copy immediately. The best part about this book is that many of these homes I had never seen before. They belong to an eclectic mix of film producers, artists, photographers, architects, interior designers, musicians and were designed by the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright, Peter Dunham, David Netto, Madeline Stuart, Mark D. Sikes and many more. Kelly Wearstler’s Malibu beach house, Hutton Wilkinson’s Santa Monica ranch, Pamela Shamshiri’s MCM Schindler house…the dreamiest of homes that include the most incrediblly eclectic art and furniture I have ever seen.

Next up is Inspired Design: The 100 Most Important Interior Designers of the Past 100 Years by Jennifer Boles (of The Peak of Chic blog). Every one interested in interior design should scoop this one up. It’s like an encyclopedia of the best of the best in interiors.

The designers included in this book are those who changed how we live and whom we’ll never forget. And some newbies who are currently making their mark in a big way. Americans Francis Elkins and Tom Scheerer, Brits Kit Kemp and Veere Grenney, amazing women such as Nancy McLelland and Bunny Williams. Names you know and names you must if you don’t. 100 years of the biggest and best.

Another gem of a book I received was Dior and His Decorators: Victor Grandpierre, Georges Geffroy, and the New Look by Maureen Footer. I was sold on the cover photo alone.

Here is another shot of it because it may just be THE BEST PHOTO EVER.

Victor Grandpierre and Georges Geffroy were two Parisian interior designers most closely associated with Christian Dior and this book is the first look at these 2 and their relationship. It also recounts the evolution of Dior’s aesthetic as a revolutionary fashion designer and aficionado of interior design, with his New Look unveiled in 1947. It was about creating a modern sense of elegance mixed with refined traditions of the past. Grandpierre and Geffroy brought trompe l’oeil, tiger velvet, antiques and saturated colour into the interior designer scene. It was rich, sensuous, refined. The author was provided full access to Dior archives, which makes this book a treasure, and a keeper.

Last but not least is Island Hopping by Amanda Lindroth Design with photos by Tria Giovan. If you love the tropics, or dream of living in a tropical paradise like I do, then this one is for you.

Interior designer Amanda Lindroth founded her firm in Nassau in 2010, and has become a key designer for island dwellers in Lyford Cay, Antigua, Belize, Harbour Island, Palm Beach and other jaw-dropping locations. Her aesthetic is airy, relaxed, a joining of colonial and island influences that bring together white walls, bold fabrics, cane furniture, canopied beds, straw matting etc. This book is basically a getaway to a Caribbean island in book form. Way cheaper than a trip!

The Vendome Press is one of the best publishers for interior design books (IMHO), and they have come out with a whole pile of awesome reads lately that I got my hands on and want to share with you. This one is possibly my all-time favourite book. I kid you not. American Originals is by esteemed photographer William Abranowicz so you know already this is going to be good!

In William’s book he shares some beautiful and unique homes he’s photographed, the likes of Ellen & Portia, John Mellencamp, Robert Couturier, Jeffrey Bilhuber, Bette Midler and Martha Stewart to name a few. The homes are to die for, his photographs are perfectly composed and if that wasn’t enough, I love that he discusses his personal interactions with the homeowners which was fun to read about. If you’re going to buy one book this year, I’m telling you it must be American Originals. It took me 5 minutes to get beyond the first 5 pages I was so smitten. (Bonus: This book comes with a slipcase so it can stand upright)

Next up is Cabana Anthology byMartina Mondadori Sartogo. This book celebrates the first 10 issues of Cabana magazine, which I unfortunately have never seen nor read.

It shares some of the most extraordinary personal statements in interior design, architecture and lifestyle, and this book showcases some of the best from these first 5 years of Cabana through an extraordinary mix of topics, interiors, objects, and visual essays from contributors ranging from Justine Picardie, Patrick Kinmonth, and Christian Louboutin to Lauren Santo Domingo and Gianluca Longo. Photos are by talents such as Miguel Flores-Vianna, François Halard and Tim Beddow. A bonus with this book – the cover is fabric! The ultimate coffee table book.

Another book I received was The Gardens of Bunny Mellon by Linda Jane Holden with photos by Roger Foley. If you have any interest at all in landscape design, you need to get your hands on this book.

Rachel “Bunny” Mellon and her very wealthy husband had many homes – in New York, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Virginia and Antigua and the gardens she designed for each were exquisite. Despite not being formally trained, she ended up with such a talent for garden design that she created outdoor spaces for President Kennedy, including his grave site and photos and details of each are included in this book. Also included are garden plans, sketches, watercolours and archival photos. The author’s text is based on extensive interviews with Bunny before her death in 2014 at age 103.

Last book for this round is Nora Murphy’s Country House Style.

Nora lives in Newtown, Connecticut and has turned her historic saltbox house into the epitome of a stylish country home. Her blog, website, e-magazine, strong presence on social media, and increasing visibility in print media and on TV are dedicated to this style and she brings it home in this book. Now country style isn’t really my thing but this book is really beautiful and many of the spaces I really love. I can’t help but crave a cottage so I can delve into this easy and comfortable aesthetic.

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We all know and love the iconic magazine Wallpaper*, the ultimate authority on everything design and architecture, fashion, travel and art. Imagine if Wallpaper* opened an online store with the hottest, most covetable design pieces from around the world? OMG! Well you don’t have to imagine anymore. Get yourself over to WallpaperSTORE* pronto. It’s the world’s first curated design store with the best in living, tabletop, workspace, lifestyle and Handmade. As Wallpaper* says it’s “our very own creative market place for design, WallpaperSTORE* stocks, wraps and dispatches our pick of the finely formed and forward thinking from around the world.” AND there is worldwide shipping and easy payment options.

With designers like Aldo Bakker, Ettore Sottsass, Jasper Morrison and Tom Dixon to iconic brands like Georg Jensen, Bitossi Ceramiche, Vitra, Established & Sons and Gucci you may just find yourself with a wish list as long as your arm. I know I do. Here are just some of my favourites.

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I’m crushing on anything by Marta Sala Éditions. The lighting, the furniture, the objects are a marriage of functionality and intelligent design. Beautiful, top quality, crafted with care and attention to detail.

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Of course I had to save a few pieces from Dante -Goods and Bads to my wish list. Contemporary and elegant with an industrial aesthetic. I’m besotted with the ‘Minima Moralia’ room divider.

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Just a few more because I can’t stop. I love good design and WallpaperSTORE* is a treasure trove of the very best pieces from those at the forefront of modern design. Enough of my favourites. It’s time for you to click on over and lose yourself in the hundreds of designers and brands and the thousands of beautiful things for you and your home. Tell me what is on your must have list.

P.S. You can get 15% off purchases with the coupon code WDTI15

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Inspired by WallpaperSTORE*

Trying to find and create more space in any home can be tricky. Even more so if you live in an apartment and have little to play with in the first place.

Fortunately the experts at MADE.com have produced a clever guide to getting the most out of your space and bending the rules so that even if you can’t create more space – it will look like you have!

Every room is different so they have come up with some unique tweaks that will work best in these specific places:

Living Spaces

When it comes to increasing space, plants are an afterthought if even considered at all. Hold on a second – they not only bring oxygen into a room and add colour, they can create depth and dimension depending on the décor and design.

Nobody expects plants to adorn a small living space so if plants are present, it can’t be a small space can it?

A quick and easy solution if you are a renter and can’t make or afford any structural or colour changes to your environment.

Outdoor and Balconies

Anybody can add decorative touches like lighting and flowers but what about adapting to the available space?

A simple idea is to use lower furniture, especially on a balcony. Rustic, rattan chairs or loungers or a bistro set of hardy resilient but charming chairs and tables are the perfect place to see the sun go down in those long summer evenings.

Bedrooms

There is a lot of space to be had in bedrooms if you know where to look. Specifically using the space that is usually hanging around above the bed!

By raising the bed, you suddenly free up areas that can be used to store clothes, shoes, toys, consoles etc. If you can raise the bed high enough you could even create enough room for desk space and a mini-office.

Offices and Hallways

Talking of offices, while you may not be able to replicate an open-plan design, you can maximise your own space to have a functional modern workspace within your home.

Utilising existing areas that would appear to be useless space at first glance is a great idea; what might be too small for a printer or router could be ideal for stationary or books. Some basic joinery and carpentry et voila – a quirky shelf space any hipster would be proud to put their books in – if they still read them.

Bathrooms

Traditionally the smallest room of any property, sometimes space cannot be increased so other solutions must be found from necessity.

Changing the colour and materials within a bathroom can create a light and airy feel and the illusion of a greater area. Alternatively by utilising luxury materials such as polished marble a bathroom will attain a spa or hotel quality that means space is readily sacrificed for the quality of the ambience experienced.

Kitchen and Dining Areas

A smaller kitchen or combined food preparation and eating area can be a challenge to keep clear and clutter free so the ingenuity of the spacial engineers at MADE.com really stands out.

Cutting surfaces, drawers and tables can foldout and be stored snugly when not in use so any aspiring chef can have all their materials and surfaces within easy reach when they need them, and they can literally disappear when they don’t.

Also taking a pragmatic view to storage in a kitchen can yield amazing results. Why use up floor space with a wine rack when one can be suspended from the ceiling with a minimum of fuss, also creating a Mediterranean style focus?

You’ll be toasting your increased dining area in no time!

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This post was contributed by a guest writer.

It has been a while since I shared anything happening around my house but unfortunately there hasn’t been much going on because I LOVE SUMMER and there is no way I’m going to spend what little free time I have not lounging poolside. I have insisted that since my husband and I don’t take any vacations over the summer that we do something fun each weekend and lately that has been visiting some flea markets. As a result I have some photos of my finds from those jaunts and a few other purchases I have made lately (nothing major though as I also need to sell off some furniture to make room). I also received some new books that I wanted to share.
Let’s start with some of the new bits and bobs I have acquired. First, up is a photo of a spot in my living room where I now showcase some pieces from my main squeeze and the best collector of vintage fabulousness there is, Rhett Baruch.

The purple steel cube sculpture and brass vase on the mantle are from Rhett. Now 2 of the coolest things I own. Also new is the curved glass vase on the floor I picked up last weekend at the McHaffie Flea Market. The perfect lead-in to a photo of all my scores from that trip:

As much as I try, I can’t seem to quit collecting West German pottery so there are 3 new pieces of that, along with some glass, some studio pottery and a couple of animals to bring some of the wild in. 🙂 The glass and WGP is from Sherry and Gordon’s awesome booth Off the Wall Retro.
Another recent trip was to Montreal to check out the St-Michel flea market. I always score there but no furniture though which was a bummer. I did however come home with this:

I’ll show you where I put most of these. (The light is yet to be installed in my media room. I have a little painting project for in there too so I’ll share that once it’s completed).

That adorable little black glass lamp is lighting up my dining room sideboard. (Most of the items on there with it are from Vanier Moderns)

That 80’s funky pedestal is now a plant stand in my dining room.

The solid marble (!!!) pedestal is in my foyer topped with my gorgeous new West German vase (with smaller vase on the tulip repro table, and a Chinese plant pot I found at Value Village for $3.99).

Not sure what to do with this pretty white pot so I stuck it by my plant table so the next time I buy a big plant I’ll remember to plant it in that. 🙂

Two new pieces of art fit perfectly on my neutral toned gallery wall in the bedroom. Top right is the one I picked up in Montreal and the woman’s head up at the top is brass and wood on burlap – LOVE – from Off the Wall Retro.

I almost didn’t buy her but someone left a DM on my Instagram story about her and I realized what an idiot I was so I ran back and snapped her up. (She’s an original so they priced her at a whopping $30). I hung her on this wall so I can see her every time I walk down the hall to the main bathroom.

Oh – and I repainted my kitchen! (In case you missed this in one of my pets on furniture series) It was a dark blue before and I frankly am not a big fan of blue. I used up some of the leftover paint from my dining room makeover – Farrow & Ball’s Picture Gallery Red. Get this – I hate red more than blue! This red though is out of this world. I absolutely adore it. Such a warm and cozy colour. Now I just need to get some new cabinets and a decent stove and I’m all set! 😉

Ok now on to the new books. Tuttle Publishing sells the cutest little books about gardening that I absolutely love. These 2 make wonderful additions to my growing collection. The first is Miniature Japanese Gardens that shows you how to create simple Japanese-style container gardens using inexpensive plants and materials that are available everywhere. Diagrams demonstrate how to organize the plants, and step-by-step instructions on how to build and care for your mini gardens. (By Kenji Kobayashi)

They also sent over the book Stylish Succulents. I adore succulents so I was stoked to add this to my pile of gardening books. This one could have been called “planting for dummies” because it describes each step of making some of the most beautiful succulent arrangements I have ever seen. It even shows you how to make a succulent wreath! So freaking cool!!! This one is by garden and green interior designers Yoshinobu and Tomomi Kondo, collectively known as TOKIIRO.