In our early decorating days, I spotted three gorgeous sets of vintage leather suitcases at a yard sale and swooned on the spot. After I saw this picture (above) in the new book by the DIY goddesses of Salvage Studio, I wasn’t dreaming of jet-setting with the butter-yellow hatbox and teal steamer trunk; instead I had a vision for my bedroom storage. I loved the texture and shapes that the tower made and the romantic notion of travel it presented. However, in the scheme of small-space solutions, I knew that this Jenga dresser was not the best purchase.
Months had gone by and I thought that I was over my fantasy of suitcase sculpture. Then I saw this armoire by Marten de Ceulaer, a man with a similar vision but a much more modern and practical application. With this design he has taken the logistical nightmare out of stacking and unstacking the luggage and crafted a one-piece unit with similar lines and handles.
It’s debatable which version is more charming, but if you want to find an old sweater at a moment’s notice, de Ceulaer’s takes the cake.
In honor of Mothers Day, I need to give my mom some credit. If I have good taste, it started with her. An East Coaster by birth, a former resident of Tokyo, and a Los Angeleno of thirty-five years, my mom Robin has taken the traditional look, peppered it with Asiana and given it a West Coast cool. She is a great collector, ruthless bargain hunter, brilliant DIY-er, and a woman who knows her style. As I was growing up, she dragged me to antique shows, flea markets, flower markets, fabric houses–and I may not have loved it at the time but now these are the places I get my inspiration.
Though we had a formal dining area and a kitchen table, we still spent most meals and nearly all our chats around the butcher block island. When Mike and I moved into our new condo and were presented with an empty kitchen–I knew an island would be the answer to a warm and inviting space.
This sitting room is an extension of the kitchen. Ill never get sick of this color red.
This is her sitting room, one of the many places blue and white dishes can be found. Flow blue, Canton, Willow, transferware–you name it, she’s got it somewhere in the house.
The obsession of hanging blue and white plates led to a less discriminating love of china in all colors and backgrounds. The pattern hanging here in the dining room was actually my great grandmother’s dinnerware.
Chintz may be where our tastes diverge. It’s just too traditional for me to ever use in my house but I can completely appreciate that wing chair when paired with the red linen velvet sofa.
In recent years my mom has been cutting back on her antiquing but recently she spotted this adorable tufted green chair and couldn’t resist.
They are repairing the elevators in our office building and it just gave me the craziest idea for a chandelier. When I came to work the other day one of the elevator doors opened to an empty brick shaft. I peeked in and three light bulbs were dangling on long cords with bright yellow plastic cages around them. They looked so modern—I could envision them perfectly over a Saarinen dining table. I love the way they mirror the shape of the bulb, the shadow the cage casts, and the stark industrial edge they have about them. In the middle of my fantasy about decorating the SoHo loft I don’t have, the elevator doors shut. And I had no photo to show for it. So for the past two weeks I’ve been getting off on random floors hoping to catch more repairs in progress. But today I got my photo and a whole adventure to go with it.
