Kitchen of the week, think lego, lego and originality.

Simon Pillard and Philippe Rosetti, two Paris-based designers spent a week covering this ikea kitchen island in legos.  With over 20,000 pieces of legos they certainly created something never seen before.  Quite unique and quite a task as well.  A perfect one to do with kids. Enjoy!
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sitting rooms furnitures






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Use what you love

This house is like therapy for sadness and uncreativity.  Full of color and interesting furniture, check out those chairs and that chrome cart bar next to the Lucite chair.  It's all about doing what you like and putting together what you love.  Many people would be afraid to use brass and chrome together but as the stylist Sibella Court shows us, it can be done beautifully.
I adore that big painting and the trellis wallpaper below makes this foyer inviting and cozy.
photos by Mikkel Vang via The City Sage.
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Kips Bay Show House 2011: Part Un



 A never miss event is always the Kips Bay Show House in New York.  I am always dazzled and inspired.  This year's show house did not disappoint.  It is a privately owned home.  Usually these homes are for sale.  The former owner of this 10,000 sq. ft. neo-Federalist style mansion was John Hay "Jock" Whitney.  A charming diplomat, art connoisseur, and bon vivant.  The family of Disque D. Deane, a creative financier, owns the home presently and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Mary McDonald knows how to make an entrance in her masculine meets feminine entry wrapped in lipstick red lacquer.



Turn the corner and you're met with Wayne Nathan's 80's inspired first floor stairwell.  Aakash Nihalani, a street artist, uses electrical tape as his artistic medium to create a sense of falling thru space.



My favorite room this year was by Celerie Kemble.  She gave me a lot of  "take aways".  The ceiling application is called verre eglomise.  It is painting or etching on the reverse side of mirror or glass.  Miriam Ellner did a breathtaking job creating a chinoiserie skyscape fantasy.  I only want to know, "what's going to happen to this ceiling after the show?"



The paneling is original Norfolk pine and was to remain untouched, so Kimble Interiors pulled out every trick in the book to add light and life to this already show stopping space.  A light carpet (hand stenciled sisal), fabrics, mirrored and gleaming surfaces, along with different light sources help achieve this.  Another clever little trick is the way Kimble Interiors incorporated the sconces into the frame of the painting over the fireplace.  I LOVED this touch!  Sometimes the beauty is in the details.






Matthew Patrick Smyth designed the dining room around the existing wallpaper, a graceful hand-painted silk.  It was a gift to the owners from the sister of Madame Mao.  The room was infused with a French and Asian  aesthetic.  Couture details in the drapes frame out the panels and draw attention to exquisite details.  The chandelier by Jacques Jarrige was made from a piece of brass to relate to the blowing branches in the wallpaper.






By New York standards the kitchen by Bilotta Kitchens is huge.  It even has an a joining butler's pantry!  You can never go wrong with neutral, textural and elegant.

      




The infusion of exquisite art-filled spaces was a theme in several rooms.   Richard Mishaan, a self described "art-holic", masterfully mixes well known artists' work with clean traditional lines in this 40 x 20 foot living area.  Not only did he incorporate a Fernando Botero (above the fireplace) from his personal collection, as well as a Damian Hirst series into the mix, he actually painted the two canvases on the opposite wall flanking the mirror (as opposed to the Botero which is flanked by gilt mirrors).  I loved this application of opposites.











join me upstairs in part deux ~ next time


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A couple in The City of Lights

I remember the first time I visited Paris it happened to be around my birthday which I got to celebrate on the Eiffel Tower.  Yes, I know, very turistique but it was my first time in Paris in my defense and we were a small group of girlfriends just mezmerized by the beauty of that City.  I remember how every corner I would stand I would say to myself, perplexed..." This City is like a post card, everywhere I see it's just perfect"  How could that be?  I haven't yet experienced Paris in a romantic way but I don't really think there is a need to physically go there with a partner to inhale the romance.  I think that is everywhere you go in The City of Lights, be that with special company or not.  How about you? How special was your first time in Paris?
All images by Ben Watts photography.
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computers table furniture






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Our Bath remodel process and how I"m keeping it clean

Sorry for these unattractive images after that gorgeous image of the Orangery.  But a promise is a promise and this is how our master bathroom is looking so far.  Our part of the job started on Sunday.  We covered the entire bedroom in clear plastic from floor to ceiling.  Literally there is not one small opening between tape and wall or floor.  That continued on to the hallway outside the bedroom and all throughout the stairs.  We decided to use our own blankets (One Tuff) because usually the ones the workers bring with them are full of dust that eventually spread around the house and the air.  That's why the stairs and hallways are vacuumed every afternoon after the workers are gone.  I know this is a pain but it's incredible how much this prevents the dust from going into the other rooms which are closed at all times.  We never bring our shoes inside the house; we usually walk around in socks.  Something I took after my hubby who is originally from Turkey, so, we've been using one pair of socks to walk up and down the stairs and a different one to go inside the rooms and in the living areas.  It may cost a few hundred dollars extra in blankets but it's completely worth it because it's going to save you from extra work once you take them off. This is how it went this week. On Monday they started ripping off the wall and floor tiles.  Tuesday, nothing happened because the plumber had an emergency and we had to wait until Wednesday for him to take out the ridiculously tiny-tiny "bath tub" I mean really...?
 By Thursday night the shower floor was built, the faucets were reconfigured a little bit and part of the concrete boards were up.  Friday, they're plastering and finishing covering the walls with boards. 
I'm excited, next week comes the nicer part.  The decision of how the tiles are going to be installed (horizontally, vertically?) Next week I'll show you the kind of tiles I decided to go with and I'll show you more pictures of the process.  I hope you're enjoying this long weekend!
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show case furniture






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Have a long and happy weekend

I promised to post images of our master bath but for some reason "Safari" is not letting me upload images to blogger.  I usually use Firefox but well, Google again, is giving me a hard time lately.  Next week will be a better one.  I'm glad I have these images saved for the longest time and finally I can make some use of them.  It'll be a long weekend here in the US and many people are already on their way to go somewhere.  We decided to staycation, so I may hang out around here sometime over the weekend and post some of the many many images that I have bookmarked and have noo idea what to do with them.  Whether you're staying or going somewhere have a great weekend and enjoy! 
All images from C Magazine.
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A Cool Orangery

Humans could be very complex, you know?  We long for summer hot days only when our bodies are freezing during the cold days and once they arrive, all we wish is to stay inside under the divine, most needed A.C.  Who can really marry our eternal love for summer with our little tolerance for hot and humid days?  Last night we had to sleep without A.C because our little one was not feeling well, needless to say we did not have a decent sleep.  So, I was thinking how wonderful it would be to get to spend the summer days inside an Orangery like this one where you get to see and feel like/the outside while enjoying the coolness inside.  The owners of this heavenly looking orangery are Fawaz Gruosi and Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele and when I first saw it in this current issue of Elle Decor, the first thought that came to my mind was that it looks like like it came out of a pure love story.  It's romantically classy.  The owners hung framed dry leaves on the walls and the ceiling is frescoed to make it look like ivy.  The birdcages hanging from the ceiling add that final touch of romance. Sigh  
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Bright, bold and beautiful

Hot summer days seem to have arrived for good and I can't be happier.
With that in mind all I can think of is of bright, bold and beautiful
outfits to spend the days in, take Lucas outside more often and enjoy
the late afternoon breeze by the river edge while watching him
play.  What are you looking forward to enjoy your summer
afternoons?

P.S. I'm posting from my IPad (not fun to type in this thing) because I can't log into my blogger account from my computer.  Is anyone else having this eissue as well?
Meredith Wendell bag, "make waves" bangleMissoni briga shorts, tricolour vamp shoe
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