The House that SATC Built

Since I've already written about Carrie and Big's apartment in the new Sex and the City movie, I thought it would be fun to take a look inside the home of the original Carrie Bradshaw, Candace Bushnell. ELLE DECOR just posted these photos and I'm so happy! This is one of my all time favorite apartments. It was published in 2005 and it's another one of those rare examples of a timeless interior. With help from interior designer Susan Forristal, she and her husband created a jewel box in what was a wreck in Greenwich Village. I especially love all the pale colors and touches of gilt in the living room. It looks like a soothing oasis to escape the craziness of the city! For more details, check out the online article. Enjoy!

Photos by William Waldron

Sex and the City 2: Chairs for Sale

This morning, one of my readers asked about where to find the chairs featured in the new Sex and the City 2 film and the answer came a short time later. Nicholas Manville the head of the Decorative Home Department of Bergdorf Goodman emailed me to let me know that the actual chairs from the film were sitting on the 7th floor! How exciting! After lunch, Grant K. Gibson, who is in town from San Francisco, and I headed over to check them out. They are a little hard to find since they are sitting outside the elevators on the 57th Street side of the 7th floor but are worth the hunt. The chairs were designed by T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings in the 1940's and can be yours for $16,500! If that's out of your budget, you can always go sit in them so you can say that you sat in the same chairs as Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex and the City 2 ! You just might want to stop on the second floor first for some Louboutins to complete the experience!

Sex and the City 2: The Interior Design Review

Even though the film won't be released until May 28th, the Sex and the City 2 hoopla has already begun. While the fashions will probably steal all the scenes, I am interested in the sets, specifically Carrie and Big's apartment. While there are some views in the trailer, I was able to find a few more photos online that give us a look at the living room. Not sure where the upholstered pieces are from but that floral pillow is the Paul Smith Birdie Blossom cushion from The Rug Company.

In this better shot of the living room, we get a good look at the coffee table. I've never seen anyone display books standing up on a coffee which is interesting. If you can zoom in, the books themselves are interesting too. They include Walton Ford; Lewis Carroll; Tracey Chevelier; Sol Levitt, 100 Views; The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco; The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger; Poe & Fanny by John May; Voices of Time: A Life in Stories by Eduardo Galeano; All Yesterday's Parties: The Velvet Underground in Print 1966-71; and last but not least, Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence. Quite an interesting assortment of reading material and those were only the titles I could make out!

In this photo of Big reading the paper on the sofa, you can glimpse the foyer wallpaper in the background. Anyone know the artist of the gold painting?

This is a slightly better view of the foyer wallpaper which I could not identify so lucky for me one of my readers, Jenny of Fancy Pants Design, recognized it as Oiseau in Chocolate by Katie Ridder available through Holland & Sherry in New York. That is very exciting for Katie! I love the black doors too!

I apologize to Sarah Jessica Parker for posting a photo of her with her eyes closed but I wanted to show the draperies. On first glance, it looked exactly like the Zoffany fabric that my friends Mercedes and Alberto of Etos used for their Lenox Hill Neighborhood House Gala table but on closer inspection, it looks like a lace overlay on another fabric. Or that could just be a weird shadow. Not exactly sure. The hyacinths and roses hint that the scene was set in spring too! So pretty!

This shot of the dining room table and kitchen is interesting too. The fabric on the dining chairs is Belgravia from Lee Jofa which is exactly the same as the pattern of the Belgravia wallpaper from Cole & Son available through Lee Jofa. The tile in the kitchen is interesting too. It doesn't really look like something Carrie would pick out but perhaps her decorator suggested it!

I wish I had better photos of the bedroom but here you can see that Thomas O’Brien's Hallings Secretary from Hickory Chair! I bet he will be very excited when he sees that unless he already knows about it. The wallpaper here is also by Cole & Son, the Rococo Damask pattern. You can also glimpse a little of the headboard in this photo too.

Thanks again to my readers who identified the headboard fabric as Velvet Gate Tuxedo fabric from Kravet. The pattern is similar to a fabric named Riad by Windsor Smith for Kravet.

In this view of the bedroom, you can see that they are using the Hallings Secretary as a television stand while in the previous view of it, it was set up as a desk. You can also peek into what I am sure will be the scene stealer in the film, Carrie's closet!

It appears that the left side must be for Mr. Big since it's a darker wood while Carrie's side is all white and illuminated. Now let's just keep our fingers crossed that the film is as interesting as the interiors!

Sarah Jessica Parker: Back in Vogue

I live for the third Wednesday of every month when Vogue arrives on the newsstands here in New York. The May covergirl is Sarah Jessica Parker who is of course promoting the release of the movie Sex and the City 2. While the cover is lovely, it's the photos inside that caught my attention. SJP was photographed by Mario Testino at The Beacon in Jersey City. I love crumbly old buildings and the juxtaposition of the old interiors and haute couture is pure perfection! Whether the film will capture my attention as positively as these photos remains to be seen!

Photos by Mario Testino for Vogue