Hot Off The Press !

Finding Inspiration

Hey !

I am constantly saving Instagram images for inspiration.  Taking bits and pieces and filing away to revisit.  Vacation ideas, food ideas, and just images that make me feel good.  I will find the simplest of things to help spark inspiration on projects.  Couple of favorites I thought I'd share today, a few of which are really helping me with an upcoming project !

Ca' Pietra Tile

@ca_pietra_

I adore this one - pattern:  Spitalfields Ceramic Retro Star in Black.  It's aged finish would be the perfect choice for a little project I have in mind to create that look of aged old Paris.  Sign me up too for the copper pipes and brass plumbing.  Adore this.

Ca' Pietra (here) and (here)

O'Brien Harris Cabinetry

@obrienharriscabinetry

This jumped out at me as a great visual to show my client with regards to the cabinet color and materials I want to incorporate in their new kitchen, paired with the floor color planned.  We are also using metal doors and windows as well and a gorgeous brass mesh on the pantry doors.

 O'Brian Harris (here)

While I like to think my design boards give a pretty good visual - It really helps to have a photo to show as well.  Pretty excited about this installation with one of my favorite long time clients.

She mentioned wanting this kind of hood.. great image to show the cabinet color, metal windows and amazing hood all together.

This brass shelving too is something I want to bring into their Scullery.

There is a great, large scullery from the dining room to the kitchen.  We are doing slightly darker cabinets, flat front with a custom brass shelf to the ceiling.  Super moody and dramatic.

And the back splash something new I came across and in love with !

The powder room will be pretty yummy.  I started off by wanting this gorgeous Hermes wall paper.. but alas, they discontinued the colorway.  Then I came across this one by Clay McLaurin Studio

This pattern is pretty perfect for this house and paired with a marble and brass sink.. hello.

Clay McLaurin Studio

@claymclaurinstudio

Clay McLaurin was established in 2013 many of his beautiful patterns are nature, travel and history inspired.  Vintage fabrics are also sourced from travels world wide.

 I love his interpretations !

This project is coming up at the end of the year and it should be a beauty from the 1st floor to the 3rd!

Oly Studio

@oly.studio

Huge fan.  Have been for a long time.  Follow their page regularly.  Love everything I see.  Saw this image and realized I have both elements in this upcoming install.  The paper, by the fabulous Kelly Wearstler (here) and this fixture we used in their original foyer which I plan on swiping and moving to the new house in the sitting room. 

Recreating the master bedroom and . . .

Moving the Oly Fixture to the new sitting room.

This should be a cozy space to get away from the huge family room, just a little corner to relax.

But follow Oly, there's so much to love.

This project is coming up at the end of the year and it should be a 

beauty from the 1st floor to the 3rd!

John Derian - West Side

Hello !

Who fell in love with this 19th century Federal-style home that was, for the most part, falling apart?  John Derian of course.  I receive Cultured Magazine and there as a great bit by Mieke Ten Have from last summer... (here) that tells the story.... 

“Sometimes I get these building crushes,” says John Derian of the row of early 19th-century whitewashed buildings on Christopher Street in the West Village, where he opened an outpost of his East Village design mecca earlier this year. Derian—who started out as a purveyor of glossy decoupage accessories with a charming, if not slightly off kilter, 19th-century spirit—has become the go-to for handmade goods for the home with a romantic touch and a vintage quality.

“Retail is weird. Traffic is down, staffing is hard, but still, I thought, OK, this is meant to be,” he says, describing the space—which he had his eye on for years—as a kind of “divey old pet shop.” With a seashell-embedded fireplace in the back and rear garden, it reminded Derian of his home in Provincetown, while the front he found reminiscent of Astier de Villatte, the cult ceramics atelier in Paris with whom Derian often collaborates.

Derian is a brick-and-mortar bulwark in a retail landscape that shifts as quickly and ominously as quicksand. Since opening the East Village location in 1995, the shop has expanded, as have the makers and categories Derian sells. Whether it be lush and tactile paper flowers by Livia Cetti, whimsical drawings by Hugo Guinness or folkloric silk scarves by Nathalie Lété, Derian has a knack for finding and representing designers that interiors aesthetes fall in love with and glossy magazine editors rapturously cover.

“I have said in the past that I like looking at things. I like that sort of curiosity, and I think we need it in a way. It is an experience going through these handmade, textural things,” he says. “My shop is a destination.”

And that is the ethos of his brand: a store for people who know about it and understand it. His West Village outlet is a continuation of that theme. With 18th-century wainscoting, walls boast a “cracked, peeling patina,” achieved by using three kinds of varnish. A back room has densely patterned floral wallpaper from a collection Derian recently launched with Designers Guild. He also had custom shelving made for the austerely luxurious, milky-white glazed black terracotta Astier de Villatte collections he sells. “There is a sense of history, of authenticity, in this place,” he says.

While Derian is instinctually inclined towards past eras, he’s not in denial of contemporary demands either. “I relaunched my website a month ago; it looks great,” he says. “I had to work with people who understand it because I wasn’t sure how… how do you create a tactile place online?”

In spite of the less-than-rosy Manhattan retail outlook, Derian is optimistic about his new neighborhood. “Feedback has been positive,” he explains, recalling several recent remarks from long-time residents. “They tell me ‘all the shops used to look like this one, and now there are no more.’”

His new place on the West Side (18 Christopher Street) is filled with everything I love and when Kate and I made our way over there on our last day in NY, it took everything I had not to scoop up another big stash.  I really hate shopping on line when it comes to accessories.  I love to touch and feel and if a showroom is this gorgeous I will create a morning around it.  I love to soak up the entire vibe.

This tiny, 500 square foot space is packed to the brim with accessory heaven and I am a bit of a collector.  On each trip to the city I wander in and no doubt leave with something. 

I have had my eye on these and wanted to see in person.  Loved.  Who else loved, my girl Lauren.  Picked two, couldn't resist.

When looking to style up a kitchen, dining .. or just about any surfaces you won't leave empty handed.

Another reason for the visit was to see his new wall paper line with Designers Guild.  I carry that line and was curious ...

John's new line through Designers Guild is so pretty and seeing in person inside his beautiful space made it even more so.  While I can order a sample or get a book, being in the room filled with these textiles it seriously get my wheels turning.

photos (except for a few....  by Stephen  Kent Johnson)

Thanks John for a lovely morning !