ArchivesJanuary, 2012

When I said this week has been a flying circus, what I really meant was it was a Mickey Mouse Show… A super rushed photo shoot for an editorial possibility had me running like an absolute crazy person all over creation gathering props in record time to finish a house in time for the shoot.

Filling the car, dumping it at the site, filling it again, running home, to school, seats up, down and everything in between. Sweaty, unsightly, cranky, stressed, gathering perspective– only to lose it quickly– and like a dead animal at 7 pm. I was no good for nothing!

I went far and broad, all the usual retail stores, raided my own “stash”, my own house, friends’ homes, colleagues’ homes, and every vintage and antique store I could drive to, searching for that special thing that finishes a space. While I would like to think I was successful, it was partly at the expense of my sanity and general well-being this time. It’s always crazy, but this was something far beyond that. Details will come later…

In fact, I was three quarters of the way over a cliff, about to hit a sharp rock… When people say they think my job is so much fun, (well, it is…), I like to think of these times, and get a secret belly laugh. So, as I drove down Route 128 this morning, with a jammed packed car and a 5 foot rusted metal birdcage about to stab me in the neck from behind, I looked in the rearview mirror, late for my final day of photo shoots. I am embarrassed to admit that I snapped this picture of myself, which is worth a thousand words, if I do say so myself…

This week has been like a flying circus for me, and I apologize that I haven’t blogged each day. Thanks for your patience! I ran into Crate and Barrel today to gather MORE photo shoot props (you should see what I have been up to this week; it has not been glamorous, to say the least…), and I saw this rug, which I predict will sell out fast. I always talk about seasonal freshening. Well, here’s one simple tactic: buy this rug.

With a neutral backdrop, add pillows or a wildly colorful lamp and it will change your room. Imagine with all white or cream? In a mudroom. In a kitchen, family room, kids room, office.

I may “spring for it” for my family room. Loving the turquoise, orange and magenta plus chartreuse, brown, each tones and ivory. Cotton Dhurrie = Spring/Summer. The colors are fabulous. Much brighter in person than in this picture. The blues are more turquoise. The reds are more magenta. You get the drift.

Mom, are you reading? Order it online… or go out to the store by the airport, stat! See you tomorrow, friends!

I’m on a roll, and to distract myself from spending needless money myself, I think I will shop for someone else, how about… you? I am thinking about my darling sales person at Schumacher who has left to pursue a new career, here’s to you Sami! You will be missed! My sincere condolences, Timothy. We are here for you…

The fabric yardage alone on this chair costs almost as much as the whole chair:

I am loving the thought of these; a less-expected application of a much loved fabric. Top a cheap West Elm lamp for a custom look.

Can you say clever and cute? Schumacher as fashion, well, Timothy can tell you all about that when he wears his Schumacher trousers…

Unique use of China Seas wallpaper for the preppy hostess:

This was one of the biggest hits of the Concord show house: custom stockings. Brown may not be the most festive, but they are David Hicks and Kelly Wearstler…

And wait, there’s a brighter alternative..

Happy Shopping!

I don’t know what it is with the Dragon business in design. I suppose it’s an ancient theme, especially in Chinoiserie, that never gets tired. What does, however get tired is Schumacher’s Chiang Mai Dragon. I do LOVE it, and I have used it many, many times (in my own home included), but right now I am feeling like, “enough already…” I need a break from it, I suppose.

Enter the Dragons… I am a huge fan of Jim Thompson textiles, for their retro, Asian and 60′s hippy-chic vibe.

Staying true to Thompson’s own aesthetic, (he was a famous expatriated designer who lived in Thailand creating a fashionable textile business until an accident took his life), most of the fabrics are light, linen and have a great painterly quality to them; in fact they feel and look like art to me.

My client who was considering the Suzanne Kasler Paisley vs. the Chaing Mai in Aquamarine agrees. I sent her a memo of this JT dragon fabric to consider before pulling the trigger on the Chiang Mai (clearly, the dragon won that war…) and she went as nuts when she saw it! With this path, we can stick with many of the already chosen textiles for her family room, and of course the furnishings and rug. So, I guess you could say this new Dragon now has a home.