LIGHTING COUTURIERS: BRAND VON EGMOND

I've recently discovered Dutch lighting design label Brand Von Egmond and have fallen in love with their Coco Collection (of course) which is comprised of various lighting elements embellished using black and clear crystals to resemble antique jewelry wrapped around feminine silhouettes - more specifically, a collection of lighting inspired by the necklaces worn by one of my heroines, Coco Chanel.

Gorgeous, no?

PANTONE COLOR REPORT & FABRICS FOR FALL

I was intrigued to see Pantone's Fashion Color Report for Fall and read how influential names in the fashion, design and beauty industries were interpreting it for the upcoming season. Due to the difficult financial times, designers and consumers alike have been drawn to classics and neutral colors that can be re-used and repurposed rather than a new must have. So along with Pantone's interpretation of the Fall color trends, I also really enjoyed reading the thoughts from designers on how the current economic conditions are affecting their thinking on color.

Taking a cue from this list, I thought I'd compile my favorite fabrics in similar hues.

I could see using Kourin by Clarence House on a throw pillow for a pop of color.

Kumpara, another from Clarence House, has such a crisp, bright freshness to it just as endive and coral do!

The mazelike key of Brighton is has such textural depth, strengthened by the red.

Though this Donghia linen - Shangri La - is deeper than purple orchid, I had to include it.

The color lagoon has such a peaceful, dreamy quality befitting its name.

Beginning to have a little bit of a love affair with green and am drawn to woodbine as a shade, though I haven't yet incorporated it into my current redesign, you never know...

Cluny

From Duralee...

I love being able to make bold statements with classic patterns such as this High Voltage Chevron from Schumacher.

And this stripe from Christian Fischbacher.

What do you think of the Fall color report? Any favorites that you plan on adding to your home or wardrobe?

HAPPY HOUR: HONEY NEGRONI

My best friend just returned from a trip to the south of France and Spain, bringing back with her (among other things) a taste for Honey Negronis. The key ingredient is Campari which I love for its unique and distinctive flavor. 

HONEY NEGRONI

Ingredients

*  ¾ oz. Campari

* 1.5 oz. Gin

* ½ oz. fresh lemon juice

* 1 tablespoon honey syrup*

Preparation

Shake all with ice, strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange slice.

* A good honey syrup uses three parts honey to one part water. Heat and cool before adding to the cocktail mix.

LITERARY LOVELIES

Arranging my book collection by hue was a design feature that I think added an incredible pop of color to the redesign of my home library that I completed earlier this year. Always on the look out for new things to do utilizing books, I found a couple of ideas that I love.

The easiest being of course to use a few of your heftier tomes as risers. I particularly like how the font type and colors of the books chosen in the photo below are a perfect balance with the paint color.

Can't bear to part with volumes in your collection but have run out of room on your shelves? Why not try creating a shelf or end table from them?

I've always been drawn to customizing traditional chandeliers with pages from favorite books - I like the idea of those words being bathed in light.

This fixture is very similar to the one I installed in my husband's coffee shop.

WHAT I'M READING: TOBI FAIRLEY'S DESIGN SUMMER CAMP

I was so pleased and honored to be asked by the incredibly talented and always lovely Tobi Fairley to contribute a blog post to her Design Summer Camp series. I've really enjoyed reading the posts from contributors across the blogosphere and renowned interior designers - if you haven't had a chance to take a gander I highly recommend it!

Emily Johnston of the Material Girls blog wrote a laugh out loud love letter of sorts to the Girl Scouts and the color emerald green that is keeping me in stitches.

Here are a couple of pics from the post to tease you...

RAMBLINGS: ALLY OF FROM THE RIGHT BANK

Along the road of my career and travels, I've been extremely fortunate to meet and work with an array of incredibly talented people. Ramblings is my way of picking their brain for more insight and juicy tidbits to share with you.

Ally (AKA Alek) is an artist, traveler, serial mover, and design blogger. She's a former contributor at Apartment Therapy and currently a regular guest blogger for Seattle Homes & Lifestyles Magazine’s blog.

I love the story of the naming of Ally's blog - Ally started her blog From the Right Bank after she moved from the right bank of Paris to Seattle and named it From the Right Bank to the Left Coast. Ally tells of patting herself on the back for coming up with such a clever name. Until she moved to Atlanta. She says she didn’t see that coming. So now it’s just From the Right Bank. That story makes me giggle every time I read it. Ally describes her inspiration as stemming from being "obsessed with homes my entire life. Mine, yours, total strangers’, grand, rustic, urban, rural . . . I love them all!  I used to rearrange my room constantly as a kid and never really stopped; I always look at real estate listings when I’m on vacation; and I could watch House Hunters International all day long. And I have."

Ally says that "If there’s one thing I love more than design, it’s traveling.  It’s what fuels and inspires me so when I’m not rearranging the furniture, I’m most likely planning my next big adventure. If it requires a visa and an immunization or two . . . even better! I’ve been lucky enough to visit over 40 countries so far but I feel like I’m only getting started. I have a feature called Traveling Thursdays  where I share great design hotels and special places to stay, take you along on some of my travels, and discuss other fun travel-related things." 

What is your greatest extravagance?
Flying first class internationally.


What career would you pursue if you weren’t doing what you do now?
I always wanted to be on Broadway. I'd also love to work for House Hunters International in any capacity. You hear that, HGTV? I've got lots of expertise and ideas. Okay, call me.


Which living person do you most admire?
Jimmy Carter.

What three things can’t you live without?
A really good bed and linens, a good moisturizer, and my iphone.


What is your guilty pleasure?
Watching the Hot Topics on the View.

What is your favorite color combination?
It changes almost daily but if I had to pick just one, it would have to be black and white.

What is the favorite room in your house and why?
Every room in my house is in progress right now so I don't have one yet. But in my last house, it was my dining room because it was just the perfect mix that I strive for in my home and it contained a lot of pieces that have special meaning.

What is the most memorable event you’ve attended and why?
I saw a funeral procession in Bali and it was a spectacular celebration involving an entire village. It showed me an entirely different way of looking at life and death.

What would people be surprised to know about you?
I like country music!

What is your biggest pet peeve?
When people stand too close to you in lines. Seriously, why do people do that?

MARTHA STEWART'S CHALKBOARD WALL CALENDAR

Of course, Martha has to create her own beautiful take on a chalkboard wall by adding a custom calendar with paint you can make yourself.  Here's her how to:

Martha Stewart Custom Chalkboard Paint Wall Calendar

Tools and Materials

Black chalkboard paint

White chalkboard paint

Pencil

Measuring Tape

Painters' Tape

Make Custom Color Chalkboard Paint

Wall Calendar How-To
Martha used 4 shades of paint to make her calendar. You can use as few as 2 shades for a checkerboard pattern.

1. Paint entire wall with store-bought black chalkboard paint; let dry for 1 to 2 hours.

2. Mark the perimeter of the calendar with a pencil (to accommodate 8-inch squares, ours measured 48 inches high by 56 inches across).

3. Using painters' tape, mark off the B squares according to the diagram below.

4. Make B paint by mixing 4 parts black chalkboard paint with 1 part homemade white chalkboard paint. Paint B squares. Remove tape. Let dry about an hour.

5. Repeat process for C and D squares using the proportions pictured above.

CHALKBOARD WALL PAINT

Chalkboard paint is a wall element that's been with us for some time and I know there are those out there who are bored with it. However, when I saw my good friend John's use of it in his new home in his dining room - ceiling included - it renewed my interest in it. I love the idea of being able to cover a wall in ever changing artwork, inspirational phrases or signatures of loved ones who have visited.

Here are a few of my favorites...

It helps to have talented friends to bring their flourish to your space.

I love this clever idea of hanging an empty frame on the chalkboard wall to accentuate an area.

RUGS OF INTEREST

Clearly, I have floors on my mind today. So I began looking at area rugs that won't break the bank (ok, maybe I'm fibbing a bit there) and here's what caught my eye.

ABC Carpet & Home has a new range called Color Reform comprised of repurposed vintage rugs that have been stripped of their original color and then over-dyed to create rich, vibrant and oversaturated colors and patterns. The results are striking.

Personally, I've always liked the style and texture of hides. I've had a traditional zebra hide in my living room for ages. And I'm finding myself drawn to these laser cut and handstitched hides that give rugged traditionalism a decidedly modern spin.

From ABC Home

And a gorgeous ombre from Neiman Marcus

Of course you can never go wrong with traditional patterns such as a chevron and Grecian tiles.

FANTASTIC FLOORS

This year I've been redesigning my home room by room and piece by piece - one aspect that I'm just beginning to tackle is floor covering. I have hardwood floors throughout that I love but want to break up a bit both by rugs and texture directly on the floor. I recently treated the floor in the master bedroom - pics to come, I can't wait to see what you think.

So...here are a few floors that I'm drooling on, I mean over.

I love the high gloss ebony floors that Nate Berkus gave areas of Katie Lee Joel's home. It's chic and grounding.

Living in an older home myself, I've always been a lustful of chevron and herringbone hardwoods - it just says craftsmanship to me.

I'm playing with the idea of bringing texture to the floor by painting a pattern directly onto them - I'm not sold yet but do admit the idea is intriguing.

I'm drawn to the color of the floors in this clean and simple bathroom. I may have done something similar to the floors in our master...

Cork is emerging as a great green alternative with a wide array of finishes, patterns and textures to choose from. This dramatic cork floor caught my eye.

Oh, this bedroom! The peaked roof! The glam gold chandelier! The bright, clean white monochrome! And those floors - the polished gloss practically sparkles! *sigh

I have a long distance love affair with polished concrete, I think its a great look in so many spaces but its just not right for me. However, that being said it's incredible here and works so well within the mix of contradictory elements in this gorgeous dining room.