I’ll be reviewing “The Well-Dressed Home” in the next few weeks. However, this is something important that they are involved in which is happening today. The Pablove Foundation raises money to “improve the lives of children with cancer”. It’s a noble cause, although tragic on how Pablove was started. If you’re in LA, you should go to this event, and if you’re not – consider a donation. The event is today, November 11th from 7-9pm.

ABC Carpet & Home in NYC sent us a notice about their new rug concept called Color Reform.

It’s a brilliant idea and the carpets are stunning. They are taking old worn out carpets, neutralizing the color and dyeing them with an over-saturated color, like the fuchsia above.

The carpets were unusable vintage rugs –  unusable because the color had worn out in spots, not because the carpets themselves were worn. Which means the new versions can be used on a wall or a floor. (I checked this and was very pleased to find out that they could still be on a floor.) I would love to have the lime one above in my dining area.

The previous pattern is still peaking through the color saturation, like history winking through.

The prices start at $799, which I can’t make a comment on as I don’t know rug prices. At the end of the day the value comes from whether you love the piece or not and think it’s worth it.

I came across Dioum African Art in New York City while cruising a street fair.  It was dark and this vendor was closing up but I couldn’t resist the beautiful baskets that shone brightly even in the dim evening light.  Well priced and well crafted, these baskets are definitely something to add to your collection or to give as a holiday gift to a lucky family member or friend.

Covered Basket

The basket shown above retails for only $120.00.  I can see utilizing one or more of these in a room as a colorful accent.  I have a basket like this that I use for my laundry, it’s aesthetically pleasing as well as functional.

Basket bowls range in price from $8.00 – $20.00.  Having a basket on hand is a great way to serve small dry goods like bread and crackers in style.

These are only a few of the wonderous things that Dioum African Art has to offer,  check out their site for more fun.

I can’t say where it is and I can’t say who owns it – but they are family and  I spent many a great weekend here growing up.  I can remember the smell of the house most of all. It always smelled like something good was either cooking, or about to be cooked. And it always felt homey – like sitting under a quilt while reading a fantastic engaging book during a Fall morning drinking a lovely cup of tea. And it’s the feel of this house I tried to reproduce when I designed my own.

I was there on a summer morning for breakfast with the family. Brunch was set out on the sideboard and everything else was on the table for a help yourself atmosphere. We sat on the back porch gossiping and catching up.

It’s not a huge or grand home. Just two bedrooms upstairs and 1 and a 1/2 baths. When you enter there are stairs directly in front of you, on your right is the living room (below) and on your left is the dining room (above). The room off of the dining room is the library / TV room.

Today someone would buy this home and knock down all of the walls to create an open plan space. Yet so much of that cozy feel is dependent on the confinement of the space. People have forgotten how nice a smaller room is to actually live in – a place where you can collect your thoughts instead of having them fly away in the expanse of it all. And it’s not that this room is small by traditional standards, but a McMansion it is not.

The morning of the breakfast – you can see this is a well used kitchen. That Viking range is so unbelievably sexy.

I love the chaos of food preparation on the counter and the calm of flowers on the windowsill.

The end of the kitchen is the breakfast nook. I love the red, which brings a strong energy to the place (and encourages cooking BTW). It’s hard to do red well – and this red is brilliant.

If I recall correctly the table is Italian and the wall prints are French. Isn’t this table stunning?!

Three fine French prints.

Upstairs is another great use of intense color. The bathroom is black and white with this intense dramatic purple ceiling. I fell in love with the ceiling, the patterned black subway tile trim and the gorgeous flowered black and white shower curtains.

I hope I was able to convey the feel of this house – which is so much more than just decor. It’s in the essence of the space and the way people live in it. I think we all have the house that inspires us when we’re growing up – and as I grew up living in a townhouse (all of them the same) I just loved this exotic quirky house when we came to visit. And promised myself that my own home would be like this someday. In the next few weeks I’m going to do a home tour of my own house – so you’ll get to see if I succeeded or not.

Yellow is one of the most vibrant of all colors making its name as a sunny addition to most decorators palettes.  Choosing yellow as a decorating solution is a way to add imaginary light to a dimly light space like a hallway or closed corner. Very popular as a color choice for kitchens and pre-baby rooms, yellow is a sure to make you smile.

Here’s a bright one from IKEA.

Color combining tips:

The power of yellow is outstanding when it comes to mood.  Adding this color in any shade is sure to lift your spirits.  There are so many great tones to choose from.  Some of my favorites are the softer yellows, the ones that make you swoon as featured in the kitchen below.  Mixing these soft tones with a shade or two deeper brings out the best of the rooms archetectual details. 

Yellow is vibrant when combined with black.  Wow, what a wonderful room setting from Better Homes and Gardens.

And yellow worked with blue is sure to inspire compliments every time.

Eva Guillet and Aruna Ratnayake have been working together in Studio Lo since 2003. Their most recent creation is the PANO chair.

‘PANO’ chair, counters plated filmed, water-jet cutting, assembly by tenon and mortise.
The shape of the PANO chair is almost entirely conditioned by a double system of constraints: the optimization of the matter, the absence of screws and bolts. Its assemblage, without adhesive, is based on the principles of lever, assembly in force and warped surface. The «share-cut» makes it possible to obtain two decorative elements for a cut.’

Last week I featured Studio Ubico founded by Ori Ben Zvi who creates furniture series out of recycled materials with a very fresh look. Ori uses reclaimed wood, mimicking ready made objects. Yesterday morning I got an email from Ori that a fresh design has come out and I simply had to share it with you.

This new line is called “Stortz” which apparently means “stump” in German. I couldn’t find anything on it on the net, it may be an old German word. Ori tells me that almost all the words to do with carpentry in Israel are in German since the very first carpenters in Israel were originally from Germany.

This fresh new design is a stool which doubles as a side table. It is made of cut offs and stumps which can be found in masses outside carpenters’ workshops in the area where Studio Ubico is situated (Florentine).

These stumps are then glued together, redesigned and polished off to create this fantastic looking stool or side table. An amazing thing about Studio Ubico’s new line is that not only 100% environmentally friendly, it also brings the aspect of social awareness. The stool-come-side table is manufactured in a factory which employs disabled people.

This one is called “Dodo” (don’t know why, maybe it has something to do with the bird that is extinct).

I really like that the legs are not all the same.

This one is called “Oli”.

Close up on “Oli”…

The steel band around the stool, implemented as a design element, is taken from bands that bind the logs of wood before it is first used by carpenters.

Well done Ori and Ubico Studio on another beautiful and ideological design.

Apartment Therapy is the grand master broohaha of all interior design blogs. To the best of my memory it was the first (feel free to correct me on that if I’m wrong) and it is by far the largest and most popular. The site was co-founded by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan, an interior designer based in NYC.

The blog even has a Mission “Helping people make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy by connecting them to a wealth of resources, ideas and community online.” And it succeeds – this site is a monster of information. Which is the best and worst thing about it. It’s a bit of a nightmare to navigate (my one and only complaint). But if you don’t mind clicking far and wide – what a plethora of beautiful images await you.

I had already written this post with all of the links to the articles each picture corresponded to and some witty content to flow around it. Apparently I’m an idiot and didn’t click on “Publish” or “Save Draft” because it’s not here. Hours of work – gone. Can I tell you how I wanted to scream when I saw that this morning?

So – I’ll say this. Apartment Therapy is an amazing site. They various sections such as kids, interior design, electronics, and environmental (green). The main area (interior design) is divided up by location in the US, so you can see what’s hot in Chicago as opposed to San Francisco or Los Angeles. The editors have a fantastic eye, some of the writers are brilliant as well – and overall there’s a reason why it’s the most popular design blog on the planet.

Now if they would only work on their navigation… Apartment Therapy – what all other blogs aspire to.

Generally, I try to stay away from West Elm.  I love their patterns and styling but the product is a bit cheesy and does not hold up to my stiff standards.  With that said, I came across these two patterns that I think look fresh.  Giant flowers and moths stand out as another bold statement in home furnishing trends.  Would I put this on my bed, I think not (well, maybe the flowers) but it is worth seeing just for the fun of it. 

What do you think?

Au nom de la rose in Montmartre. Yes, I was in Paris for the first time and I just could not pass up this gem of a store.

I know it’s not even close to Valentine’s or Mother’s Day but who says you need an excuse to love roses.

Even on such a cloudy, wet day bouquets of roses and petals can bring smiles to most.

Au nom de la rose has fragrant gifts, food products and cosmetics as well.

The saying: ” It’s all in the presentation” definitely applies here. And the scents emanating from the store were just heavenly.

Maybe this is the original “eye candy” – you can simply admire the beauty of roses  and let their extraordinary scents whiff about you.

And if you are  inclined to purchase they have an on- line store but at the moment only deliver in France.  I noticed they have stores in other European cities as well. Maybe you’ll get lucky.

Au nom de la rose is not only franchised but environmentally and ethically conscious as well. They have a keen commitment to protect roses and gardens in France as well as in Ecuador. The employees and entrepreneurs of the company  got together and formed an association called A Rosier Life which develops social and environmental projects, improving living conditions, protecting the environment and more.

Now that makes me feel even better.