Designer to Watch-Erin Martin

We stumbled upon the work of Erin Martin the other day and we think we're in love! 

Her work is organic in a very sophisticated way.  The words "organic" or "sustainable" get thrown around a lot these days but very few people get it right.  We love her use of natural materials, muted colors and texture variety.

Her designs seem very original too-as no two houses are alike.

Here is a sample of her work:

To see more of her work, visit Erin Martin Design.

Read more »

Cool Upholstered Bed

A couple of our favorite things for the day:



1) Laced up boots from Nine West ($209)
2) Modern Upholstered Bed from Brownstone (appx $1800 for queen, $2000 for king-COM)

Read more »

Thom Felicia Rug for Safavieh

Interior designers are like movie stars.  When they are hot you see them everywhere.  Then a few years later they just disappear.

Thom Felicia is definitely hot now.  He has a wide range of licensed products as we've mentioned in previous post--ranging from Kravet fabrics to furniture for Vanguard and now rugs for Safavieh. 

His rug collection is actually very affordable.  Very young and hip too.  A 6 x 9 rug is about $600.  Very reasonable don't you think?

Here are some samples:

To see the rest of the collection, please click here. You can find pricing and product information in our modern rug section.

Read more »

Vogue September Issue-A True Economic Indicator

If you watch the news and read the papers, you can get reallly confused. One day the housing index is up, the next day it's down. One day the stock market roars for some weird reason, the next day it tanks for other weirder reasons.

And you know what the best economic indicator there is?

The Vogue September issue.

We just got it today and it's nice and fat again. True, you have to flip through hundred of ads to get to some flimpsy content, but the nice part about that is, advertisers are spending money again! Which can leads to all kind of good things.

And we don't know about you, but we are having this frugality fatigue, big time. Enough already with all this self-deprivation.  Sure, the way we spend money is forever changed, but if you really really want those Channel clogs and you don't have to cut into the rent to pay for it, why the heck not...

So here's to Vogue, and to better times ahead!

PS There's a lovely feature on an art-filled apartment.  Click here to see the slideshow.

Source:  Vogue

Read more »

Pretty Chinoiserie Wallpapers and Prints

A while back we fell in love with a vendor called Jardins En Fleurs.  We probably blogged about it once.  They make beautiful, beautiful Chinoiserie paintings and accessories.  The problem was, it was so expensive it was impossible to sell.  The company closed down shortly after--a victim of the 2008-09 economy, evidently.

Anyway, we get this email the other day from Belle Chasse home and it has a very similiar look and feel.  Alas, we found out it was found by the same founder of Jardins en Fleur.  He has great taste, we must say.

The line is more affordable now.  If you are looking for pretty Chinoiserie prints, it's a nice choice.

Here are some samples:

For product and pricing information, visit Belle Chasse (beautiful hunt)'s web site.

Read more »

Decorating in White

It's hard to believe summer is almost over.  Here in LA it's scorchingly hot, but stunningly beautiful as well.  There's nothing like driving down the Pacific Coast Highway late in the afternoon, with the blue ocean on one side and the mountain on the other...so gorgeous, it makes us so happy to be alive.

But we're getting off track here...

If you are a reader of this blog, you probably know we're crazy about white.  Especially when it's hot outside.  White has such as an amazing cooling effect, and it's so neutral too...

Here are some of our favorite white interior photos from photographer Per Gunnarson:

So simple and pure.  Don't you think?
To see more of his work, click here.

Read more »

Crazy for Stripes...

We're so in the mood for stripes lately. It's modern.  It's striking.   It's fun.  It makes your eyes pop.

Here are some great designs using stripes with either wallpapers,  fabrics or paint:

Images from Elle Decor

Images from MyHomeIdeas

Some pretty striped wallpapers:

Source: Matthew Patrick Smyth Wallcoverings for F Schumacher wallpapers.

Read more »

Fabulous Beatles Chairs from Andrew Martin

Have you seen the work of Andrew Martin?  An UK -based designer, he has that really cool, quirky, crazy English taste that we love.

Here are some new fabrics that just came out for Lee Jofa.   Wouldn't they be fabulous as pillows too?

Love them!

PS We apologize, we don't have the pricing for these yet as they are so new.   We'll be posting them on our Lee Jofa Fabric section as soon as they are available.  In the mean time, if you need it right away, drop us a line.  To see more of Andrew Martin's products, click here.

Read more »

A great source for interior design pictures...

With so many decorating magazines closing lately, we find ourselves starving for pictures of amazing rooms.  A good alternative is interiors designers' and photographers' web sites.  Often you can view their portolios as a source of inspiration.

Below is one of our favorites, Pieter Estersohn.

PS For more pictures, visit DiggingDecor-it's full of interior design pictures (well, not quite full yet, but it's on its way :)   It's a social community network for people who love to decorate. The site is new so we'll need all the contributors we can get!   If you love decorating, come join so you can show off your portfolio, share resources and make some friends.

We hope to see you there...

Read more »

Fabulous Black and White Chair

We're loving these side chairs.  Upholstered in black and white, it really adds some jazz to an otherwise neutral room.

Images via Traditional Homes.

The fabric on this chair is from F Schumacher--it's a little expensive, let us warn you.  Fortunately for a small chair like this you should only need 3-4 yards.   The pattern is called Gordian Weave and it comes in three different colorways.  It is a little bumpy though, as the knot pattern is raised quite high.

You can find it in our F Schumacher fabric section.

Read more »

Thom Felicia Fabrics for Kravet

Thom Felicia is one of our favorite designers, mainly because his designs are very liveable and very approachable.  

Here is a fabric collection he did for Kravet that we thought are quite nice.  The prices are not too bad either (about $99/yard but you usually can get it for much less).

To see the rest of the collection, click here. Pricing and production information can be found on our Kravet Fabric section.

Read more »

Picking Colors for Your Decor

Don't you find coordinating colors to be the hardest thing to do?  It's really is a headache, actually, trying to get a paint to go with the fabric that coordinates with everything else.

Robert Allen has a very nice tool that we thought you might like.  They have different room themes already mixed & matched for you.

See below for some samples:

To see more, click here.

PS The paint is from Sherwin Williams. You can also search for fabrics from Robert Allen site from the link above.  It doesn't give pricing information, but you can find that on our  Robert Allen fabrics section by entering the name of the pattern in the search box.

Read more »

One Very Cool Arm Chair

It's usually a good idea to add a couple of arm chairs to your living room configuration.  You can do a really fun fabric to punch in some colors ; add some dimensions of the room by varying the height so it's not so flat, and perhaps most importantly, style it up a bit.

Here's a really cool one that we like:

The chair is made by Jessica Charles, a division of Hancock and Moore.  The price depends on the fabric, but it ranges about $1400-1600 or so.

Read more »