You may remember that the Downtown guys, known for their flamboyant modern edge and vintage furnishings, have embraced chintz. Here is a little peek at the fun, psychedelic spring windows of their chic L.A. shop. Included are flower-covered canopy chairs.

It seems that when you are a celebrity you know everything, or at least media shows that you know everything and you can do anything easily. For example recently actor Brad Pitt has signed on as the designer of a luxury eco-friendly hotel with Zabeel Properties, that will be built Dubai. The project, which aims to be an “environmentally sustainable” 800-room luxury property, will include Pitt as a designer working with GRAFT. “Whilst acting is my career, architecture is my passion” said Brad in a statement. Now I know that an architect has to study hard for about 6 or 7 years in college, to be able to create something, and  I really hope Brad isn’t the lead architect on this thing. It’ll probably collapse whilst they’re working on it. Finally I think that the company that started this project got Brad Pitt involved in this project for a big boost of publicity and not really for his designer services. What do you think ? Via Telegraph and People.

Post from: Interior Design, Home & House Design, Furniture

by Kelly Neidig.

Jennifer Comstock's flower watercolors are beautiful little modern art for any space in your home. The price is so good you can buy several.

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.

Our friend Jennifer Leonard of Nifelle Design is singled out for special attention at Sunset Magazine's Fresh Dirt section By Jim McCausland.

Visiting Jennifer and Justin Leonard’s garden in Portland yesterday, it occurred to me that this renovated garden is so inviting partly because it offers so many delightful places to sit.

Here Jennifer is pictured with her dog:



Jennifer is an interior designer, who it, appears, doubles as an exterior designer. She can be reached at:

Jennifer Leonard
Nifelle Design
The Portland Division of Wall Street Interiors
503.730.7117

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

san francisco-based designer lisa neimeth just released a beautiful new collection of homemade “diner” plates. available in a wide range of rich, earthy colors (i love the deep orange hue), lisa’s diner plates are available at stores across the country, or via email at lisa’s site. want a little more lisa in your life? click here to check out lisa’s home and converted chicken coop studio.

Bentwood accessories are stunning, simple creations in wood for everyday personal use.

The third season of Design Star 3 on HGTV premieres Sunday June 8th at 9pm.

I just took a look at the competitors and only a few are designer "want-a bees", meaning they don't have any formal training.

Here's a rundown of contestants:

Trish Beaudet - Owner and Designer of Finishing Touches Interiors by Design, Inc.

D. Paul DeRouen - Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Profession: Architectural Designer

Matt Locke - Bachelor's degree in history from Princeton. Current Job: Designer

Michael Stribling - Interior design major from Wade College. Current Job: Interior Designer/Business Owner

Jennifer Bertrand - Bachelor of Arts in education with an emphasis in ceramics; master's degree in teaching and leadership from University of Kansas. Current Job: Interior Decorator/Owner of Bertrand Designs

Tracee Dore - Bachelor of Arts in interior design from the University of Kentucky. Current Job: Residential and Commercial Interior Designer and Builder/Renovator, Tracee Dore and Company

Jerome Scottie Miller - Master of Science in civil engineering from North Carolina A&T State University. Current Job: Regional Property Manager at Charlotte/Mecklenburg County Schools.

Mikey Verdugo - High school diploma from Hialeah High School. Current Job: Police Officer

The winner will host their own show on HGTV. In addition, starting June 6th, viewers can begin entering for a chance to win a $5,000 shopping spree to Sears or a $5,000 gift card from Lumber Liquidators.



If you want to root for someone local, I'm afraid Matt Locke's home is the closest: Los Angeles, CA. Go Matt!

Bev & Mike
Landfair Furniture + Design Gallery

Vesper Jewelry offers these bird themed pendants that have a very vintage modern feel to them. I adore both designs.

In keeping with the chair theme for today I wanted to share this book on innovative new chair designs. I have always loved chair design and felt it is one of the signature pieces of furniture that has greatly benefited from modern design. It's sort of a litmus test of where modern design is at any period.

From Julie:

Machado and Silvetti Associates is a Boston firm that specializes in museums (Getty Villa renovation, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Provincetown Art Association and Museum) and urban projects; the founding partners are both from Argentina and both teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. They designed this cottage in Wellfleet, MA, on outer Cape Cod, which looks like the perfect studio for a pair of architects (note the drafting tables).

My fiancé’s dear friend Nancy moved to Joshua Tree, California, several years ago with her long-time love, sculptor and furniture maker Alma Allen. We visited the couple, in their newly built, nearly finished home, this past Christmas, and I immediately fell in love with their modern, bio-regionally designed, green home, which was built to suit the harsh, gorgeous desert climate. Nancy and Alma built the home together over the course of a couple years, with minimal outside help. Here, Nancy tells us about the trials, tribulations, and rewards of living, working, and building with your true love, and how their home has inspired their design sensibilities, future project ideas, and new, rural lifestyle.

Elka: Tell me a little about the process of designing your home.

Nancy: Alma had always wanted to build his own house and thought about the design for years. Joshua Tree provided a perfect climate to incorporate a large courtyard, which had always interested him. The protected outdoor area provides shelter from the wind and creates an area for plants that would be devoured by the local wildlife outside the walls. The design of the house continues to be a work in progress. The layout was changed from the original drawings in many ways while we actually built and we continue to explore possibilities.

E: What were your biggest challenges?
N: Living in a Streamline trailer for two and a half years as we built. The trailer is the polar opposite of the passive solar construction of our house. The trailer is hot when it?s hot and cold when it?s cold. Dealing with the Building Department and local water and power companies for new construction was also challenging. Building codes do not encourage or even allow some aspects of green building. Although you have to pick your battles, we learned to not take no for an answer from the power and water companies, who often give false information.

E: Now that your house is nearly finished, what are you especially pleased with?

N: We are especially pleased with the passive-solar construction of the house. With the large south facing windows (which face directly to Joshua Tree National Park) and more minimal east/west exposure, as well as the thick cement floors with radiant floor heating/cooling and a geo-thermal loop, the house stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. We?re also delighted with the homemade solar water heater which heats 250 gallons up to 140 degrees in the day and is currently maintaining a temperature of 115 overnight. (If we run the heating all night the temperature does go down as the tank is drained.)

E: Why Joshua Tree?

N: We had a shop for a few years in Los Angeles but grew tired of the daily commute and paying rent for Alma’s studio in downtown LA, our apartment in Silverlake, and our retail space in Venice. Alma and I are both originally from Utah and love the red rock desert. We considered moving to Southern Utah outside of Zion?s National Park, but Las Vegas would be the closest big city and we like our beer and wine. In Joshua Tree we are now only two hours away from Los Angeles, so we can easily have continuity with our work in LA, such as studio visits with Alma?s collectors.

E: What sort of interior features did you consider from both an aesthetic and practical point of view?

N: The fir tongue and groove ceiling. More work in some ways and less in others because it doesn’t require drywall and paint. Once it?s installed it?s done. It also breathes. Due to our very steep driveway, we were required to put in fire sprinklers, which have proven to be very practical for hanging lights!

E: Can you describe your interior design style?
N: Chunky minimal

E: What are your favorite objects in the house?
N: Alma’s sculpture. Fritz & Clara [the dogs]!

E: How about favorite furniture?
N: Alma’s furniture made from salvaged wood! I also love some of the vintage George Nelson cabinets.

E: What’s the hardest part about living here? The most rewarding?
N: The hardest part about living in Joshua Tree is the lack of good food. We miss abundant farmer?s markets and great restaurants, especially sushi…although we have more time and motivation to cook and recently I made my own kimchi! The most rewarding parts are the open spaces, wildlife sightings and the night skies. A giant tortoise tried to walk into our living room this week.

E: What are your needs, business-wise, for this space?
N: The space is comprised of two buildings separated by a large courtyard. The south area is living space and the north building is the wood workshop and sculpture gallery/office. Alma is also building a separate building with a steel frame for stone carving, which will house our solar panels as well as allow for cranes to move heavy materials. Separating the workspace from the living space will hopefully allow us to take advantage of increased tax incentives for solar-powered businesses.

E: What are your future building and renovation plans?
N: We?re going to build an outdoor shower using the solar water heater and the stone carving building.

E: Any advice to folks looking to build or renovate together?
N: Don?t do it… kidding! My advice would be to enjoy the endeavors that go wrong or not as planned as an unexpected opportunity for wabi-sabi - the beauty of imperfection and/or incompleteness. The epoxy that didn?t polish out of the cracks in the cement, the giant tub of permanent black dye that exploded… some of the things that caused tears while in the process turn out to be quite charming in the end.

Back in February we discussed using dress forms in the home for both practical purposes (sewing of course) and for displaying favorite items as more of a decorative element. I was pleasantly surprised when an email arrived today from decor8 reader Cathe Holden of Home Grown Logos who wanted to share her newly created dress-form-as-decor with us. Yay! DIY done right!


You can view her entire DIY project from start to finish right here, the finished product is shown above. Lovely job, Cathe!

(images from cathe holden)

Oil on canvas by Hannah Blunden.

$10.00 via dandeedesigns.

Without this note my Rome visit wouldn't have turned out half as lovely as it did. It was full of Kristina's tips about which areas to visit, where to buy the best cheese, where to go for eating and drinking... Before handing some of them to you, I'd like to ...

Love the simplicity and serenity of these two study spaces. Very lady like too. Left image is from Jed Johnson and right is from Jan Showers.

Alan Campbell

Domino, August 2008

Don't miss designer, David Netto's article about the incomparable fabric design icon, Alan Campbell in Domino's August issue. You are bound to know Alan Campbell's fabrics, but David Netto let's us in on the man. And as his godson, he knows a thing or two.

Alan Campbell fabrics in the Parish Hadley famous 1970's peacock blue room.

Domino, August 2008

Now that summer has officially started, you are constantly reading about the perfect packing strategy, perfect beach read, perfect hostess gift, etc.

For me, summer is simply the following equation:

Havaianas

+

 
margarita

+

Neil Young's Harvest

=

Wherever I go, this perfect storm of essentials instantly puts my mind and body to ease. Come to mention it, it would also make "the perfect" hostess gift. (Sorry, just slipped out.)

What does your summer essentials kit include?

A couple of weeks ago, I left Rena alone at Rare Device in the cold and windy San Francisco and headed for one of my favorite spots in the world: California's Mojave Desert.

I flew into Palm Springs (which is a treat itself) and met my aunt and uncle, who live about 50 miles outside of Palm Springs, near Joshua Tree National Forest, in the town of 29 Palms.

A sign entering 29 Palms

29 Palms is a bit of a sleepy town, and that’s what I like about it. I have returned time and time again for its clear, clean air, gorgeous sparse desert landscape, and mountain vistas. There isn’t a whole lot to do there besides hike around Joshua Tree, but this activity alone makes the trip worth it.

Joshua Tree National Park is one of the most special places in the world -- there is nothing else like it on the planet. (In fact, sometimes walking around the park you feel like you might be on another planet).

The famous Joshua trees of Joshua Tree

Before my aunt and uncle retired there last year, I stayed twice at the lovely 29 Palms Inn, a rustic, affordable, and beautiful accommodation in town, near the entrance to Joshua Tree Park.

Besides hiking in the park, there is some great antiquing and thrift store shopping in nearby Yucca Valley. And any kid will enjoy a visit to Pioneer Town, a cool movie set where they used to shoot western TV shows and films. If you like driving around and taking photos of old signs, the expanse between 29 Palms and Yucca Valley are chock full.

An abandoned homestead

Low on pretense and cost, high on hidden charm, gorgeous desert views and fantastic weather (especially in the fall and spring), 29 Palms is truly out of this world.

Mike at the Landfair Retail Focus has posted about 5 Things You Can Do To Survive and Thrive in Today’s Challenging Economy! Written by George Whalin, President and CEO of Retail Management Consultants, it offers five tips:

Be True to Your Principles.
Take a Critical Look at Every Expense.
Support Your People.
Get Closer to Your Customers.
Fix What’s Broken.

Good advice from an expert.

Bev & Mike
Landfair furniture + Design Gallery

Randomly surfing the variety of design discussion forums out there, I found a posting on HGTV's discussion board that "revealed" several of Panera Bread's interior wall colors. I never knew they were top secret, but I can't tell you how many times I have had a client ask for their colors. Instead of using these exact colors, I steer people towards using colors appropriate for their particular spaces that may be evocative of this franchise's visual look.
That warm orangey color is from Benjamin Moore called Golden harvest 2157-02


The gold color on the right is evidently Ben Moore Semolina#2155-40, just for your reference.
Love the blue and orange combo-isn't it cheerful? And really plays up the warm honey tones in the breads.These were the only pics I was able to snap at my local Panera Bread, as evidently, picture- taking in the store is not permitted. I was quickly asked to put my camera away. Probably didn't help that I was toting this enormous camera with large lenses... Not the most subtle of approaches- I don't think I'd make a very good spy!

this sunday, april 6th is the first day of the 2008 brooklyn fleamarket! i’m so thrilled to be a part of this fantastic community project, organized by the gang at brownstoner. every sunday from now till later this fall, a wonderful range of vendors will set up shop in ft. greene from 10am-5pm, rain or shine. in addition to a great collection of vintage sellers, clothing, food and accessories, i’ll be curating a section of the flea called the design*sponge collective. if you’re a reader of the site you’ll probably recognize the names of our vendors (artists like lena corwin (image above), sian keegan, wayne pate and many more) but it will be even more fun to recognize them in person! so if you’re in the nyc area this weekend please stop on by and say hi to these incredible artists. i’ll be out of town for this weekend but i’ll be back, manning the section, every weekend (or as many as humanly possible) for the rest of the summer. hope to see you there! a sampling of the incredible artists and products in the d*s collective are below. want to attend? click here for details.

[image above: bags and pillow by lena corwin]

[image above: bracelet by mollie dash]

[image above: fabric radishes by sian keegan]

[image above: there will be fabrics cut and sold by the yard from repro depot in the d*s collective]

[image above: reupholstered and refinished chairs from chairloom]

[image above: new coasters from sesame letterpress]

[image above: prints and tshirts from wayne pate at good shape design]

[image above: stationery from moontree letterpress]

[image above: tshirt from jezebel design (stationery will be available, too)]

[image above: photographs by john murphy]

[image above: cards and prints from foxy and winston]