I'd like to welcome new ::Surroundings:: sponsor Invighting Lighting! Among their many offerings are these spectacular chandeliers. The one above is the same as those that hang in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. I was there only one, in the 7th grade to attend La Boheme and seeing these works of art rise up into the ceiling signaling the start of the performance was a memorable and inspirational experience.
Other offerings include:





Please visit Inviting Lighting to view more. I so appreciate them and all my sponsors for their support!

How cute are these Kravet fabrics - both called Lady Day? I just ran across them and am so enamored I wanted to share.

Kravet fabrics are available to the trade.

This month's Architectural Digest has a fascinating piece about the Metropolitan Museum of Art's newly renovated Wrightsman Galleries. The piece focuses on their recreation of an embroidered fabric - embroidery by Marie Antoinette herself - that once graced a suite of furniture by Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené for use by the Queen at the Chateau de Saint-Cloud, a 17th century palace that Louis XVI purchased for Marie in 1784. The Chateau was burned, but amazingly, some of the furniture still exists, as does a sample of the original embroidery.

The Met owns a berger chair, a daybed and a fire screen. They contracted with Chelsea Textiles in London to recreate the original floral embroidered pattern as upholstery fabric.

One of their big decisions was whether to use a white ground fabric or an "aged" color to match better with the 200+ year old patina of the furniture. Ultimately, they decided to go with a fresh white, which will naturally age over time.


These scans don't do the AD images justice, so head on over to the newstand if you want to see them in fine detail!

Photography for Architectural Digest by Billy Cunningham.

Hable Construction has teamed up with Bella-Dura to create a line of vibrant, fashionable, and eco-savvy fabrics suitable for in-doors and out-. Bella-Dura is a by-product of post-industrial waste comprised of synthetic fibers with amazing performance qualities that require no additional chemical treatments. Starring qualities of the fabrics include anti-microbial properties, stain-resistance, and provides 1,500+ hours of lightfastness. Bella-Dura fabrics are also recyclable.


This line is available to the TRADE ONLY and several NEW styles are in the mix. Such pretty, pretty patterns!

Every wonder how to estimate yardage needs for a large scale pattern on fabric? I wrote a detailed post on this very subject over on The Upholstery Blog. Check it out here!

Miniature Chairs Set

Dimitra & Bill of Up To You in Toronto sent word of these cute - and tiny - reproductions that they are carrying. There ar four different designer sets (9 chairs in each set,). Designers represented include: Eames, Mackintosh, Mies van der Rohe, Prouve, etc. Each set of nine chairs is $95 and there are a total of 36 chairs available at $12 each.

These are great alternatives to the Vitra chair minis, which I saw at Conrans in Paris a couple of months ago. (I've been waiting for a chance to use these images!)



What is it about tiny things? So cute!

The folks at NBC Uni and Bravo have finally released a little more information on the upcoming season 2 of Top Design. In January, they announced that the show had new producers - Magical Elves - who produce Project Runway and Top Chef. That was a good sign. Season 1 had many, many problems.

One of the first changes they've apparently made is that the show will have a host - model and design enthusiast India Hicks. The rest of the S1 cast will return - Todd Oldham as design mentor, Kelly Wearstler and Margaret Russell as judges and Jonathan Adler as the head just. I'm with Tom & Lorenzo - hopefully JA will have dropped his smarmy "See you later, decorator" line when contestants are sent home.

The show is scheduled to air between July and October 2008.

By far, my most popular blog posts have been my "Get that Look" series where I have profiled beautiful movie interiors and how to break them down and get the look in your own home.
While I still intend to do these posts over here on ::Surroundings::, I have created a new home ::Silver Screen Surroundings:: where I will focus exclusively on movie set decor, including the set decorators and who they are inspiring.

In addition to my "Get That Look" posts, I'll include lots of still images for fun and links to many other online articles and images.

::Silver Screen Surroundings:: is still a work in progress - I'm still copying my existing posts over there and updating some of the links - a bloggers work is never done! But I invite you to hop on over and let me know what you think!

Now, all we need is the popcorn!

Modernemama has received her prize from my recent contest and was kind enough to send me some images and do a post over on her blog. Glad you like it Modernemama!