Floor Envy

I die over this chevron-patterned floor. Not to mention the wonderfully moody photographs of this apartment of a super-creative Parisian couple. They took the photos themselves! Isn't the light wonderful? How about the colors in the photo above?


Old rusted letters from a Paris hotel sign that they found on the sidewalk makes.

Though such sparsity isn't personally my style, this is a wonderfully edited space.



This "bear skin" is actually a huge door mat, designed by the husband's company. I love the quirk factor in this bare-ish (haa pun was not even intended) place. The wife is creative director of this brand.

More photos on design*sponge

Judge it by the Cover

I absolutely do judge food products by their packaging, and here are a few recent favorites.


Chocolates designed by Sonia Rykel for Laduree. Feminine, stylish, luxe chocolates for the discerning, dare I say snobbish, chocoholic. Three-color illustrations on packaging always works for me.



I love French Bulldogs, and I love Laduree (for their macarons, but I'm not diametrically opposed to these truffles), so naturally, this box does it for me. Also how funny is it that they made a French Bulldog look fancy(ish)? I would name her Scarlett.




Particularly like the handwritten (looking) labels (and the sketches on the rosemary!) for Jamie Oliver's JME line.



Maybe things just look better in bunches, but I love this shot of St. Helena Olive Oil Co.'s olive oil bottles. Actually, generally anything made with craft paper and/or resembling a luggage tag is right in my book.

Click the jump for more...

Back to the Future

Isn't this video cool? It's a composite of time lapse photographs by early photographer Eadweard Muybridge. I think it's so neat that his stop-motion photographs are now able to be put back together to create very early motion-pictures..


Here are some of his works (1880s), which you may recognize, and which I love for a reason I haven't put my finger on. Also of note, he influenced Sol LeWitt early on... a fascination with process?










Ok and lastly, going forward in time again, can you see how Muybridge influenced Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase (1912)?

I Do Love a Stylish Man

7 favorite shots from GQ's 50 Most Stylish Men of the Past 50 Years



(The descriptions are great too if you click for full size.)















via fashion blog Maison Chaplin, which I discovered on Nick's blog, and I do tend to listen to anything dear Nick recommends.

Mann Takes it to the Wall

Charlotte Mann gives a new meaning to "mural," as well as to "pen and ink drawing." She takes her pen and ink directly to the wall, and makes a mural not depicting some unrelated subject matter, but rather, an imaginary version of what the wall could look like, or what the rest of the room could look like were there not a wall right there.





(Click for a larger image.) For a Peter Jensen show, she created this backdrop using all images from Tina Barney's photographs. According to her website, every detail, down to a cigarette pack, can be found in Barney's book Theatre of Manners. Do check out Tina Barney as well, her photographs documenting her family and friends' lives is fascinating.


This room literally had a desk and a file cabinet and nothing else. She created quite a little world in ink! Love the details.. the barcelona chair, the Chanel book, the model helicopter...


PS- Yes, that is a Lil' Jon reference in the title.

Colorscope

This is fun-- without clicking on the image to make it legible, pick your favorite colors. Then click to see it larger and read what they say about you. It's like a Seventeen Magazine quiz for grown ups*.

It's from the Paper Source blog, and it is made using their product palette, and I think they did an amazing job selecting colors for their palette that look good together. Almost any three you put together look good!! Even if they are really odd combos! All about the same level of saturation and tint/shade (see more about the color sphere here**).

*read: "nerds"

**remember what I said about nerds?

Interiors >> Wrapped Up in a Book(shelf)

I sat next to Rebecca Orlov, a contributor for Apartment Therapy LA, at an event at the Pacific Design Center last year, and she told me something fascinating. She said that two of the most searched terms on Apartment Therapy are "mirrored bedside tables" and "windowseat."

Apparently, those two things strike a chord with a lot of people. Have you noticed how some things just do that? Like certain antique cars-- there seem to be certain elements of design that just universally resonate with people.




And then we have the things that just totally resonate with ourselves. For me, Vespas and Mini Coopers. They are the perfection of transportation. My list could go on and on, there are certain things I obsess over like that, that I think are perfection in their respective category. I guess that's a lot of what this blog is about.

But anyway, one of those things for me are built-in bookshelves that wrap over doorways, sofas, windows, you name it. If it's a bookshelf, and it wraps up and over something, I like it. No, I love it.


I am in love with this bedroom. I don't know that I'd ever do my own bedroom so feminine, but I die over the wrap-around bookshelves. Duh, I know, but these are really awesome: they wrap around a corner. And a window, and a door. In fact they just envelope this whole bedroom. Imagine how basic this bedroom would have been without them-- just a little box. And I love how that one wall just gets a teeny bit at the top and how the books are stacked clear up to the beams. Love the deep salmon color, the oil painting, the plain vintage-looking linens, and the toile screen.

They wrap over a windowseat, that's extra points.












Moral of the story, if you're going to build in bookshelves, build them up and over something. Anything. Snug a sofa in underneath them, take them up and over a doorway, whatever. It will make the room ten times cozier.

Update: See Part II of this post here.


Top image from Atlanta Homes Magazine, 2nd is FPN via Cup of Joe, 5th is Charles Faudree, 6th is from Skona Hem via Desire to Inspire. Others are old scans and I don't remember where they're from!

Go See:

I can't get over how much I loved Crazy Heart. It's understated, subtle, touching, and poignant. I actually rewatched the trailer AFTER I saw the movie, just to sort of, relive it for a minute.

And now I'm in love with the soundtrack. The song in the background, The Weary Kind, by Ryan Bingham, is SO GOOD-- even if you don't care about watching the trailer, just listen to this song.

How Tin Got Its Groove Back

Loving this image of old tins being used for plants nestled amongst the books. I love retro packaging, especially tins (coffee, tea, cigars), and turning them into vases is a great use!






(Bottles too-- I saved an image a while ago that I now can't find of old brown bottles lined up on a mantel with white flowers coming out of them that I absolutely loved.)



I like this idea for using tea tins too...


1st, 4th, and 5th images from Design*Sponge, second from Martha Stewart, others from Flickr

LeWitticisms

Sol LeWitt's Wall Drawing #1167, Dark to Light (2005) at the Venice Biennale


When you get as close as this guy did, you realize that the whole thing is made up of graphite scribbles.





I saw this at the Italian pavilion at the Venice Biennale (which I have an unending, and possibly even growing, obsession with) in 2007. This is interesting if you notice the date of the work, which is 2005. And it's on the wall, it wasn't brought in on a canvas... so it was executed in 2007, but the date is 2005.

That's because LeWitt's work was all about the idea, which he explained through written instructions and then handed off to others to execute. LeWitt was actually one of the artists who verbalized the premises behind Conceptual Art, and in his "Paragraphs on Conceptual Art," he writes:

"When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes the machine that makes the art." (Artforum, 1967)

So in 2005, he came up with the idea that became the machine that produced the art in 2007.


Wall Drawing #1245 (2007), first installed at PaceWildenstein

His work in general raises all sorts of interesting issues regarding art that I won't delve too far into here since this isn't a class, but I can't help but point out a few interesting things:

• The work is all scribbles, which are sort of the definition of "my kid could do that" art, but they are controlled scribbles, carefully planned and executed to create an overall effect. Unlike abstract expressionist art, this is emotionless and devoid of individualistic expression.
  
• Also, he doesn't do the execution, breaking down the idea of the artist as a solitary genius and sole possessor of an intangible talent. However, it's interesting to note that early Renaissance masters also had entire workshops of artisans execute their works.
• The work could be reproduced countless times, based on the instructions. But if it isn't authorized by him, is it a copy? Or is it still art? Is it still valuable?
• 
  
• 
• Even though LeWitt said his art was not meant to be beautiful, there is something beautiful about the scribble pieces, and their visual power in person is surprising given the methodical, process-oriented nature of the work. I for one wanted to stand and stare for a while.
• Finally, I think it's interesting how he was obsessed with pointing out the flatness of the picture plane, which in most cases is actually the wall. This is directly opposed to pre-Modern art, in which the artist wanted to create a believable representation of 3d space within the picture plane that looked like you could walk right into it. Instead, LeWitt is saying "Look, it's just a wall."
  

Hair Like a Present

Tavi and Jane Aldridge are pretty awesome, but they ain't got nothin on Augusta. Like one-name-only Tavi, I'm pretty sure Augusta will make a name for herself as just AUGUSTA. She's my sister's four year old daughter, and I can't get enough of her.

This morning, she did her hair "like a present" -- wrapped up in bows.


And she layered different striped components and tucked the shirt into the stretchy body-con-esque skirt. Like the outfits, the hair, and the makeup, the poses are all her. She needs no instruction.



Last Thursday, for school, she borrowed a shirt from her mom's friend, Monica, to wear as a dress, which she belted, natch. Over a crochet tank (seen peeking out above and below the shirt/dress). Plus short-sleeve sweater and jacket. She's all about the layering. This outfit necessitated a happenin side part and a little eye makeup.


Feelin a little boho/bag lady/country for school on Tuesday, with an attitude to match. No accessory was left unconsidered in completing the effect.


Lady Gaga, are you paying attention? This is how you do the no-pants thing. Just pretend you are wearing normal pants, and wear a classy button-up with the collar popped, then tuck it into some crazy layers on the bottom. Girlfriend knows how to work some boots.




Here, we see the little sweater (over a hoodie) and pink cowgirl boots again, but today she's feeling a little street, a little sassy, ultra girly, for a sort of overall Dukes of Hazzard (J. Simpson version) meets Bring it On feel.


Now if you'll excuse her, she has somewhere to be.

"There is no blue without yellow and without orange"

-van Gogh



My attraction to this image required self-analysis. I'm a blue fanatic, especially navy. And I normally don't like yellow. It just doesn't do it for me, it always seems either too country or faux "Provence" or whatever. Especially with a floral print. Risky.

But how MASTERFUL is this use of yellow?? The glam gold lamp (brilliant, that's what really does it for me) and big gold watch save it from being too plain-Jane preppy, the navy border makes it crisp and sophisticated, and the coral colors mixed in brings it to life.

Doesn't that van Gogh quote apply to this color story??



PS, Kate Spade is a genius. I'm sure of it. And, I like her kitchen. The black and white striped cushion reminds me of Jenna Lyons (here), and I'm pretty sure they are like style-soulmates, or at least cousins.



See all of the Spades' apartment, which is now a blog-world classic, on Mrs. Blandings.