Unveiling The New Do!

This will be my last post before the weekend. I am cooking for the rest of the day because my brother, sister-in-law, and two nephews are in town and I am cooking dinner for them and my parents. Should be a lot of fun. But before I get to work I wanted to show you my new hairstyle:



It is really short! I forgot to put setting lotion in my hair, so it ended up a smidge frizzy. Here is a snap of the whole outfit:



The dress looks kind of vintage, but it is actually Nanette Lepore!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Hampton Designer Showhouse: Great Room by KA Design Group

The Great Room designed by KA Design Group at the Hampton Designer Showhouse was also one of my favorite rooms. I think mostly because the design is what I wish we could have done to the Hamptons house I worked on last summer. It's full of really great textures and colors that act as a wonderful backdrop to the drop dead gorgeous art! According to the designers Kenneth Alpert and Andrew Petronio, they designed the Great Room in a style that is the "softer side of modern."

I really love the center table in the room that seems to anchor the room and can be used for meals or games as well as display.

The color scheme is chocolate brown and white with pops of pink. The walls are a beautiful Venetian plaster that reflects the light while the chocolate brown upholstery on the chaise chairs has a great nap that absorbs light. The pink curtains are a hot pink taffeta that help set the stage for the "eclectic blend of modern antique furniture."

Here a small Julian Opie sculpture perches a top a marble topped side table.

My absolute favorite aspect of the room are the three large Bing Wright photographs that extend the room like windows. The wicker furniture also reminds you that you are near the beach.

The designers were able to borrow an amazing collection of art from Salon 94 including two Marilyn Minter photographs, one of which is seen in this vignette.

You can see an example of another natural and traditional material used in a novel way in this room. The grass cloth was cut into squares to cover the cover ceiling and is juxtaposed with a very modern light fixture.

This room is probably not what people would immediately think of for a beach house but it illustrates that there are different styles for different people. I like to think of this room as what an art collector who lives in Manhattan might want live when they are away for the weekend. And you can certainly take a lot of great ideas from this room for your own home. Bon Weekend!

Photos by Heather Clawson

Destination: Isle of Wight

For my final post on retro vacations, I thought we would travel across the pond to the Isle of Wight and this amazing company called Vintage Vacations. From what I could gather, this stylist in London purchased an airstream trailer from the States and had it shipped to The Isle of Wight where she and her partner refurbished it and started renting it out. How fun is that? But they dont just have vintage trailers, they also have an old mission, a shack and a beach bungalow. Check it out:









Wouldn't you just love to stay in any of these abodes? Here are some various pictures of the interiors:

Trailers:




The Mission:






The Shack:




The Bungalow:




What lovely and quaint rental homes. I would love to stay there someday.

The Agony And The Ecstasy

I have been dying to get a little vintage romper to wear around and I thought I had found the perfect one on EBay:


And I lost the bid! I was so disappointed.

Fortunately I found this:



And I won! It even comes with that funny cap which I think I might make into a scarf or lapel pin. Anybody ever seen something like that before? I have seen nightcaps, but not something to be worn with a romper.

I will be sure to post pics when I wear it.

Bachelorette Pad Update

We interrupt our Hampton Designer Showhouse coverage to update you on what 's been going on with my bachelorette pad. I was there today to accept delivery of the new faux-bamboo etegere that I found last week at Elizabeth Bauer. The original plan was to replace her existing short bookcase with a taller one and we discussed the Oly Stella Shelf but this one was less expensive and works perfectly with the artwork. Sometimes it pays to wait until you find the right piece.

A few people have been asking me to post more about my work and I'm going to make more of an effort going forward but it's hard to show photos if you have any hope of getting a project published. Someone actually stopped by the bachelorette pad today to scout it for a photo shoot so hopefully you will be seeing the entire finished apartment published in a few months. I don't think this photo will ruin anything though because we still need to buy accessories and I will restyle the bookcase. A decorator's work is never done!

bachelorette pad before

Walk Like An Egyptian

I got a new dress from EBay, and I thought I would wear it today. You like?



It has a funny Egyptian print all over it olive green, burnt sienna, and mustard yellow.



I am going to the hairdresser this afternoon (big cut!) so I didn't want to set my hair. I just twisted it around and added a flower. I can't wait to get my hair cut as I am getting another 3 inches cut off. Last time it was easily 5 inches, so this will be the shortest it has been in a long time. I am hoping with shorter hair I can curl it faster and the curl will last longer. We shall see.

Hamptons Designer Showhouse: Rooms by Katie Ridder

Sometimes it is the smallest rooms in a showhouse that make the biggest impact and that is definitely the case with designer Katie Ridder's butler pantry and bathroom in the Hampton Designer Showhouse this year. She is lucky that she had her own great line of wallpapers to choose from but how many people would really wallpaper a butler's pantry in real life? Usually they are such a small room that they get overlooked in the design process but with this bright cheerful paper, it becomes a jewel box.

One of the other designers in the house mentioned that she at first felt sorry that Katie Ridder got such small rooms but clearly she managed to do a lot with the wallpaper and accessories.

When you walk down the hall, the room makes you smile as you walk past it.

It's hard to photograph powder rooms well but you can get a sense of how cute the sailboat paper looks in a house by the beach! Small rooms are great places to make a big impact with wallpaper and take chances with pattern because there is less of a chance of a homeowner getting tired of the design since they see it in small doses.

Photos by Heather Clawson

Destination: Mackinac Island, Michigan

When I was about 12 years old my parents took me to the most magical place on earth- and no, it wasn't Disneyland. It was a place called Mackinac Island (pronounced Mack-in-awe) where there are NO CARS! Everyone walks, rides a bicycle or rides in a horse drawn carriage! I mean did you ever? We stayed at the world famous Grand Hotel, setting of the cult hit movie "Somewhere In Time", which if you haven't seen it is totally worth putting on your list of movies to see.




The Grand Hotel opened in 1887, and as far as I can tell, is pretty much exactly the same now as it was then. The front porch is considered to be the longest in the world and has extraordinary views of the hotel's garden and beyond that to lake Michigan.



What I like the best about dining at the Grand Hotel, is you must dress up for dinner! Isn't that the best! Around here, wearing your 'fancy' jeans and heels is considered black tie. LOL!



Isn't the dining room divine! Can you imagine what Kelly Wearstler would do with it if she got her hands on it!

The other cool thing about the hotel is their bedrooms- each one is different! I remember my mother and I walking the halls while the maids were cleaning rooms so we could peer into each one and see how they were all decorated.





There are tons of things to do on the island. I remember taking a carriage ride to see all of the restored Victorian homes. I thought they looked like wedding cakes!







I also remember bicycling around the island visiting all of the historical places like an old military fort (my brothers loved that) and the coolest natural arch.





As you can tell, I thought Mackinac was amazing and I cant wait to take my kids to visit this island where time has stood still.

Hampton Designer Showhouse: Dining Room by Marshall Watson

The dining room at the Hampton Designer Showhouse is directly to your right when you enter the house and Marshall Watson has created a fabulous room to greet visitors! According to his description of the room, his firm decided to take the architectural details of the room down a notch by adding "rustic textures and natural linens, accompanied by both vintage and antique furnishings that command a strong presence."

There were a lot of wonderful details in this room including the English oiled walls, the monogrammed slip covers/place cards on the Spanish chairs, and the natural edged table.

I often see dining rooms in real life that look unfinished because no thought was ever really given to them since they are rarely used but this room doesn't leave any wall empty. The art and furniture around the sides complete the overall design wonderfully and make it look like a room you would want to use everyday!

There were a lot of lovely flower arrangements in the showhouse.

The most unique element in the room is the light fixture that lighting designer Mark Figueredo (MF Custom Lighting and Design, 631-329-5033) created from "bee skeps." It adds that natural element that any house near the beach should have to make it feel a little more casual.

At first I thought the wired flatware was part of the design until I remembered that sometimes showhouse visitors think they should be able to take home a souvenir. That happened to designer Garrow Kedigian at the Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse this year and he was very upset because the item taken was a sentimental object picked up in Paris. So this is a good time to remind everyone that the designers who participate in showhouses often borrow items from showrooms or their own homes and they must be returned so please do not steal anything! If you need a fix, you can always buy something at the gift shop!

UPDATE: I came across this great article today by Marshall Watson that describes exactly how much work goes into participating in a showhouse!

Photos by Heather Clawson