Carrie's TV Cabinet in Sex In the City II

A couple of people have contacted us about the TV cabinet/desk in Carrie and Big's apartment so we thought we'd tell you where you can get it.  It is designed by Thomas O'Brien for Hickory Chair and it's called the Hailings Secretary.  




To see more product specifications click here.

Carrie's Bed in Sex in The City II

Did you see Sex In the City II this past weekend? We thought it wasn't as bad as the reviews said it was... Seriously, don't you think the critics take this movie a bit too literally?  After all, the movie is all about the clothes and the fantasies...

Anyway, did you like the bed in Carrie's and Big's apartment? We do. And we know exactly where to get it too.

The bed is made by Vanguard Furniture and you can see it here (it is shown as tufted but it's an optional feature.  You can get it untufted plain as shown in the movie.  The nail heads can be changed to polished nickel  as well).

The fabric, which is what made the bed, is by Kravet Couture and it's called Velvet Gate, pattern number 29868.  Shown in the movie in black/white, it is also available in other colorways. The fabric is a linen/velvet combination. Very, very pretty in person.  You'd love it.

The fabric is priced at $149/yard but you can get it for $104/yard at the Kravet fabric section on our site. Enter the pattern number "29868" (the quotation marks is recommended for precise search) and you can see all the colorways available.

Gorgeous Beach Shell Chandelier from Currey

We're crazy about this new beach shell chandelier from Currey & Co. Isn't it marvelous? Can you see this with a white linen couch and white-washed floor? You'll need a very high ceiling though. This chandelier is huge!

The size is 37rd x 64h and the price is $5750 including shipping, a little expensive, perhaps, but oh it's so worth it.

This will be posted on our Currey Chandeliers section soon so please check back for more info.

Designers We Love

With the death of so many design magazines of late, we thought we'd share with you some of our favorite designers' web sites.  They are full of beautiful photographs and great ideas that you can steal :)

Note:  Click on link to go to the designer's web site.

Jan Showers-Soft, pretty designs.

Kelly Hoppen-simple, modern, luxurious designs.  Muted colors, simple lines.

Orla Collins: Modern, luxurious.  Simply divine.

Rabih Hage-Scrumptious, luxurious. Rich colors, modern lines.  Marvelous details.

Nini Andrade Silva- Zen, modern.  Ethnic.

Michael Reeves-Simply divine!  Mostly modern but some traditional too...

Let us know if you like this list and we'll make it a regular feature in our blog in the future.

Ultra Cool Barstool

We're digging this new barstool from Nuevo. Look at the base. Isn't it the coolest ever?

The barstool comes in black, brown and white leather. The base is made of solid stainless steel. It sells for $400/each.

Classic Japanese Room Design Interior

Japanese room interior design always dominated by wooden color and materials, in traditional Japanese home design, there is always use shoji as room devider or wall, that specialized for their four seasons, but Japanese room interior design, we seldom see the ornament of Japanese culture.

Black and White Kitchen Interior Classic

Black lacquered units form a graceful peninsula in this contemporary kitchen. A line of three black-and-white canvases adds interest to the back wall. This classic white kitchen has been given a modern edge by using black, glossy brick-style tiles for the splash back, and a black glossy granite worktop.

White painted cabinetry has been built around the chimney breast to create an elegant statement in this classic style kitchen, while a granite worktop is a practical touch. White units are contrasted with Farrow & Ball-painted walls for an ice cool statement in this classic kitchen. Black Venetian blinds and a white tiled floor with black inlay are stylish touches.

Wonderful White Bedrooms Design Classic

I have to admit that I am more than just a white admirer! As white is the ideal colour to give you a blank canvas on which to work and create stunning interiors, 9 times out of 10 I will elect to choose white as the main stay and foundation of every room!

I think it's because white always gives a crisp clean look to a room, which can be teamed with any other colour and still look spectacular. There is more to white than you may first imagine as even white has a wide range of different shades and hues.

Terms such as winter white, ivory white and not forgetting the paint ranges which were very popular a few years ago which had a hint of colour with white as the basis. Apple white is a beautiful colour which provides an all year round look of freshness. Rose White is ideal for bedrooms as it gives a gentle soft look to a room and of course a touch of blue and white are ideal partners for bathrooms.

However, you do have to be careful if you only going to use white otherwise it can actually look very cold hence the expression ice white! We've all seen enough of the white stuff outside in recent days and so rather than your interior turning out to be a slushy snow colour you need to be careful which shade of white you choose!

White bedrooms create a look of peace, calm and serenity. Bedding sets in white are ideal, if you are fortunate enough to have a bedroom which has a bay window lightweight voile curtains hung from white bay window poles add a graceful charm which is easy and inexpensive to replicate.

Beautiful Classic Interior Living Room Design

Every one can be need inspiration with beautiful classic interior living room design pictures

Classic Interior Design Home

Home interior design, upload feito originalmente por Remodeleze

Traditional and Classic Kitchen Cabinets With Glass Knobs

People of all the ages had a strange affinity to traditionalism in their lives. Whether it is occasional apparel or something to do with their interior art deco, giving a traditional touch defines and adds value to an otherwise hollow style. The trend of using traditional designs for interiors became more popular since 1990s.

Nevertheless, the advancement in technology has changed the face of traditional art by that time. Thus, the traditional choices were recognized with uniqueness and antiquity. And today when it comes to interior decoration antique and weathered designer items, real or imitated, are considered as a treasure.

In case of cabinet hardware, traditional designs and makes are highly in demand. It gives an entirely different look irrespective of the furniture type used. Changing the cabinet hardware like pulls, handles and knobs is one of the most economical methods of interior makeovers. It brings about a great visual impact several times higher than its cost. Nowadays, families who need to sell their old homes, adopt this technique of makeover so as to give their interiors an impressive finish for their prospective buyers. It is most effective in case of kitchen makeovers because maximum numbers of cabinets in a home are found in there.

One method of giving your kitchen a brighter and sparkling clean look is to decorate it with classic glass cabinet hardware. It is best suitable for small and dark kitchens. Glass absorbs and reflects light in certain quantities which increases the average luminosity of the space around. The effect may not be sufficiently apparent but it is the basic law of physics and it certainly exists. Glass knobs and pulls have a strong aesthetic aura that cannot be matched with metals or polished wood. And also there is a great deal of difference between traditional glass knobs and the modern ones. Most of the vintage glass cabinet hardware is made of foggier glass and sometimes they are mixed with alloys like brass that gives it a colorful finish.

But pure glass items were always in more demand than colored ones. Today, crystal cut glass knobs are manufactured that looks more slick and shiny. However, the soft glowing effect emanated from the classic style glass knobs is something unexplainable attractive. Even today glass knobs are manufactured to imitate the olden days but still they look different from the antique pieces. This is the main reason why antique glass hardware is still in high demand. The weathered and faded look that comes from natural aging of glass and longtime exposure to the atmospheric elements, gives the evidence of their antiquity. This makes them really invaluable and unique. More than utility, they shine as a marvelous piece of olden artwork.

Common design patters in glass knobs include star burst and sunflower types. However, global knobs with a smooth finish always had a great demand.

A Few Days Visiting Philip Johnson Houses

We've had Philip Johnson on our minds for the past few days, first because of a tour of the Glass House on Thursday and then because of an open house held by the Damoras, who have put the Johnson-designed house that they own in Bedford, New York, on the market.

The Damoras held an open house yesterday. It was a busy event that featured a talk by John Johansen, a chance to see the house, and an exhibition of some of the late Robert Damora's terrific architectural photos. You can see more details about the house here.

Our tour of the Glass House was fantastic. One of our guests, an architect from Munich, told the tour guide that it was the best architectural tour she had been on anywhere.



We were there on Thursday, a warm, sunny late afternoon, spring turning into summer. Our guide emphasized that Johnson was a landscape architect as much as an architect of buildings, and the land was as beautiful as the buildings. A small part of the property is maintained as lawn but most of it is meadows, copses, streams, stone walls in a near-natural state that present different textures, shadows and shades of color where ever you look.

It was a beautiful way to spend a late afternoon. We thank Christy MacLear and the staff of the Glass House for accommodating us.

The photos here are of the Glass House from above, showing the swimming pool; the living room; the painting gallery; two shots inside the sculpture gallery, with its incredible shadows; and the Glass House from slightly downhill. - ta

Love This Bed!

We are digging this bed from Noir Trading. It's so unusual, don't you think? Upholstered in burlap, It's available in queen, ca king & eastern king.

We don't have pricing info yet but  if you  need help with it info drop us a line.

Where Did You Get That? Green Nighstand

JWe were researching ideas for a client's baby room and came accross this picture from Elle Decor.

Image via Elle Decor

Don't you  love the fact that it's not all pink?  If you like the green nightstand, you can find them at Bungalow 5. In addition to green, it comes in pink, red, white, beige and black as well.  Produc specifications and pricing info can be found here.

Visit Johnson's First House, May 23, in Bedford, New York

Note that I corrected the date: It's Sunday, May 23

The Damora family, which owns and is trying to sell the first house that Philip Johnson designed on commission, in Bedford, New York, have put together an event to drum up interest: they're holding an open house on Sunday, May 23, from 1 to 5 p.m., and have lined up John Johansen to do a talk and take questions, at 2:30.

Johnson and Johansen, of course, knew each other when they were designing houses in New Canaan, after leaving Harvard. Johnson died in 2005, at age 98; Johansen has got to be nearing 140 by now (that's not actually true -- he'll be 94 next month, although he does sport a Methuselah-like appearance).

If you go, you'll also get a chance to see photos taken by the late Robert Damora, a renowned architectural photographer (that's his photo, above, and you can see more at robertdamora.com). Walter Gropius, in fact, called him "the best photographer of modern architecture in the country." (Johansen is married to Gropius's daughter, coincidentally.)

I called the event an open house but because space is limited, they'd like you to RSVP, to the William Raveis agent who is trying to sell the house: anthony.ardino@raveis.com.

The house, by the way, is next to the 36-acre Tobias Preserve, a nature preserve that the organization I work for, Westchester Land Trust, owns. There are no trails but if you go to the Damora house you might want to check out the preserve too. -- ta

Falling Prices

What a difference a year makes: this house in New Canaan, designed by Victor Christ-Janer, was listed at a shade under $3.5 million a year ago (it was on the New Canaan Historical Society's Modern House Day tour last May). The property is beautiful, there's a cottage and a garage with an apartment (if I recall correctly), and the house itself is nice though not spectacular.

Now it's being offered at $2,199,000. That's a 37 percent discount, if I did the math right. Is that because of the recession or because of an inflated view of what the house was worth? Probably a bit of both. -- ta

Where Did You Get That? Geometric Wallpaper in 9 by Design

Do you watch 9 by Design on Bravo?  It's on Tuesday night and it's about a couple in New York with 6 or 7 kids and their design business.  They are self-taught designers making a living by fixing houses for other people and flipping houses themselves. 

Anyway, if you watch the show you'll see that the show's opening has a geometric wallpaper background that is also used in their living room (in purple!).

 If you like that pattern, you can find it at Cole & Sons Wallpaper.  It's called Hick's Hexagon and comes a few colorways.

To read more about Sixx Design, click here.

Where Did You Get That? Graphic Wallpaper

We saw this picture via Coco + Kelly today when were trying to do everything possible to procastinate working.  You see, when you run your own business there is no such thing as a day off! 

But we shouldn't complain.  We love, love working for ourselves.

Anway, if you like the wallpaper shown here (it's very bold and dramatic in person), you can find it at Cole & Sons wallpaper. The pattern number is 77/1102-CS and it comes in three colorways.

Beautiful Antique Reproductions from Eloquence Inc.

We don't see new vendors very often in the last few years. We imagine starting any new business, and especially home furnishing business, is tough. This is why we were so happy to see a new one that we really like at the High Point show -- Eloquence Inc.

Based out of Santa Monica, CA, this company makes antique reproductions that are really, really pretty. It's the kind of furniture that you want to have if you were living in, say, an Ialian villa or something. Although in Los Angeles, where we have many Spanish Mediteranean homes that were built in the 1920s, these would look amazing as well.

Here are some samples:

To see the complete line, visit the company's web site.

So pretty...

We saw this picture from Vanity Fair today and we just love it.  It's under the slide shows titled "Oscar Moms".  The picture is of a young Audrey Hepburn pushing a baby carriage (were baby carriages this big in the sixties?).

We also just finished watching a couple of episodes of  the "Real Housewives" series and thought about the contrast of how the women look there vs here.  Enough with the Botox, hair extensions, bad French manicures!

Doesn't Hepburn look so beautifully natural?

Image courtesy of Vanity Fair

Small Businesses Are People Too...

A friend of ours who runs a small drapery wrote us an email to vent about a particularly nasty client of his. The woman was referred to him by a friend.  She insisted on meeting early in the morning, so to get to her house at 10am in LA traffic, my friend has to leave his office at 8am.  He spent a couple of hours the night before picking out fabrics for her.  Once he got there, she proceeded to tell him that she only wants to have someone measure the windows for her so that she can buy the window treatment over the Internet.  Mind you, she wants to have the measurement done for free! 

Another friend of ours owns a restaurant in San Francisco.  We don't know if you know, but this is a particularly trying time for the restaurant business.  Our friend is struggling to survive.  At any rate, there was this group of four young guys.  They ordered a noodle dish and the dish had a tiny thread (that was used to tie the dry noodle together).  My friend apologized and made a new one.  When the check came, they demanded that the whole meal, including 2-3 bottles of wine, be comped!  My friend explained that that is not possible, but she would comp them for the appetizers.  They proceeded to stomp off and left the waitress no tip.  Then wrote a Yelp review about it.

One recent customer of ours ordered $4000 worth of merchandise, then proceeded to cancel/return/refuse 80% of them, leaving us with restocking fee, shipping fee and opened merchandise that we now have to salvage. 

Which leads us to the question, is common decency dead?  Do people feel that merchants exists to be abused and used?  Is common courtesy only goes one way-from the merchant to customers but not the other way around?

If a customer experiences bad service, and we have many times ourselves, there are many outlets they can vent to.

Yet if a merchant gets used/abused like this, all we can do is vent privately.    Yet the same customers will go elsewhere and repeat this deplorable attitute to other businesses.  Most small businesses that we know, especially retail/restaurants are working fingers to the bone to survive day to day.  Having this type of customers just kill us.

We wish sometime that people understand that businesses are people too.

PS We do have a lot of many good and amazing customers that we just love.   To them, we say thank you from the bottom of our hearts.