Tag: <span>accessories</span>

Around the World Travel and Design blog
If you haven’t noticed, HoneyTrek.com has become my new labor of love. Seeing Design was meant to be the aesthetic arm of our blog about our 4,685-day (and counting) honeymoon around the world, but the style and stories behind each of the 80 countries and 700+ places we visited can’t be separated from our journey to find them. HoneyTrek chronicles the twists and turns of our unconventional path and everything that inspired us along the way. Stunning architecture, charming homes, chic designs, talented artisans, exotic cuisine…these tenets of Seeing Design can all be found over on HoneyTrek…but within a context that means so much more than what meets the eye.  We couldn’t be more proud of HoneyTrek (and all the press it’s been getting!) so we hope you check it out and join us for the adventures to come!

 


If you want to catch up on our past two years of world travel, watch this video, full of highlights from a trip that has truly changed our lives.

 

honeytrek 2014
Even though we are back in the States we still have 12 more countries-worth of stories to share, so…

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Places Projects

With 2,900 exhibitors and hundreds of thousands of products displayed at the New York International Gift Fair, the trends can’t help but reveal themselves. If last season’s trend doesn’t make an appearance again, it means nobody was buying it. When the same look keeps turning up, it was a best seller. And when hundreds of manufacturers start exploring the same motif, together they are carving out a trend.

Here’s a glimpse at what’s in, what’s out, and what made the cut for the decor of Spring 2009.

DOMINANT TREND: Faceted Mirrors

Not only was the above mirror by Artecnica one of my favorite pieces at this year’s New York International Gift Fair, but faceted mirrors were one of the biggest trends we saw.

Another fragmented mirror by Global Views

SOMETHING BREWING: Hats

Hats have left the fashion category and are posing as home decor. These antique helmets from Bobo Intriguing Objects are purely decorative but I also saw top hats being used as champagne buckets and bowler caps electrified for pendant lamps.

DYING DOWN: Ikat

At the last two markets, the bold running colors of Ikat seemed to cover every piece of upholstery available at the Gift Show. But at this market, this plate was all I found left of the trend. Here, Home James has freshened the over-played textile technique by applying the motif to a new medium, dishware.

TRENDS THAT WON’T DIE: Sea Life and Birds

Cutesy octopuses and seashells are still everywhere. However, I thought this take from Eloquent Ink brought the tried- and-true trend to a refreshing sophistication.

I admit these Thomas Paul plates are still charming; I would just love to see his graphic shapes and colors around something other than another dove.

A TREND I NEVER WANT TO SEE AGAIN: Guns

Amazing enough there were a lot of gun designs at the show. If I’d only seen one, I might let it slide, but this glass piece in combination with the other manufacturers’ sculptural weaponry really disturbed me.

A TREND I WANT TO SEE MORE OF: Flat Pack

Though I’m not crazy about the look of these lamps, the flat pack design caught my eye. I hate packing peanuts and the Styrofoam that comes with product shipments, so I adore that this product from Wabnitz requires very little packaging and energy to ship.

Etc Finds

It’s late January in New York City and to buyers, editors, and wholesalers that means Gift Show. It’s one of the largest accessory and home design fairs in the country and where I’ll be spending my weekend. I’ve been receiving promotional emails all week from manufacturers trying to lure us to their booths with sneak peeks of their wares for 2009. And it’s working.

I always like to stop by my friend Aviva Stanoff's booth; she's just lovely and a brilliant textile designer.

I know Teroforma for there glassware but now I want to stop by to see their new venture into wooden serveware.

Two's Company always has tons of fun stuff and it's all very reasonably priced.

I can't resist these cut-out votive holders from Tord Boontje for Artecnica.

The Vellum booth is truly luxe and dreamy and they usually serve champagne at the end of the day. I'll be dropping by around sunset.

More to report when I return home next week.

Etc Finds

two piece VanityFlash back to three weeks ago and my backyard was a DIY testing ground for nine painted-furniture projects. The paint has since dried, the hardware been screwed back on, the bugs picked out of the air-dried paint, and the furniture has been moved inside. Some of the projects were just paint touch-ups and others, you’ll see, were a decorative overhaul.

(Above) This desk and mirror just needed a fresh coat of white paint. They go so nicely together, I think I’m going to buy a little stool for it and use the setup as a vanity in the master bedroom.

after red mirrorThis antique beveled mirror was originally a natural wood color, but we painted it poppy red to match the wallpapered accent wall in our guest bedroom.

before yellow tableWe loved this Macky Blue sideboard’s tin top and exposed tin bread drawers—despite its brutally chipping framework. We bought it knowing that, even with serious sanding, this piece couldn’t be smoothed over. So we vowed to try our best and chalk the remaining rough spots up to “character.”

process purple table horizontalThough the original paint job had a palette like a Greenbay Packer, the two-tone legs were really inspiring. We painted the piece plum but left the feet primer-white to match the tin top.

after purple tableI still have dreams of having a tall chinoiserie china cabinet in my kitchen, but for $100 and a fun weekend project, this is a cute placeholder.

process buffet paint stripping anneThe greatest lesson I learned from Painted Furniture Weekend Part 1 was: NEVER strip furniture. It was the most disgusting, toxic, arduous yet deceptively easy project I’ve ever attempted for my home. The majority of the paint may gum up and peel off nicely, but the other 40% is a battle to get off the wood.

before buffetAfter stripping two sides of this piece, I abandoned ship and just went on to sand the front and top.

after buffet
Note: Please ignore heinous boob tube TV on top of sideboard and ugly equipment below.

As you can see, our entertainment center is not ready, but we’d like to ultimately use this sideboard as a media console (when we buy a TV from the 21st century). To do this properly we’d take the top two drawers, cut off the fronts, and reapply them with hinges so they fold down for easy access to the DVD player and fold up to cover unsightly equipment.

Another project added to the list.

Projects