Daily Living

Hip, Hip Halloween!

Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday! When else do you get to be whoever you want, see the inside of all your neighbors’ houses, and receive tons of free candy? I love everything about Halloween: the costumes, parties, trick-or-treating, colors (orange and brown…how chic!), seasonal foods (pumpkins, squashes, apples, mushrooms), and smell of the air. Though Halloween has always appealed to me, experiencing it now through the eyes of my children is amazing. I love sharing the long-standing traditions established by my family, the penultimate of which is the visit to the pumpkin patch. When I was a child, this was a simple affaire. One afternoon, usually sometime during the week of Halloween, we would drive out to an empty parking lot that was “transformed” by hay and orange pumpkins. We would pick out our favorites (one each!), and head home to carve, and roast the seeds. Simple yet powerful, this is the stuff memories are made of… Times have changed slightly. Today, parents seem to be on the lookout for bigger and better experiences for their children, and I’m as guilty as the next type-A, over-achiever. I try to keep most urges under control…but I can’t resist the Underwood Family Farm Fall Festival.

Last year was the first year we visited the Underwood Family Farm in Moorpark. All it took was one visit, to create our own tradition. My children are hooked. They are in love. They cannot wait to go this year. And I don’t blame them—the place is amazing, and worth the 50 minute drive from our home in Brentwood. This year we’re going sometime on the 13^th or 14^th, because it’s Tractor Weekend at the farm. My three-year-old son is particularly excited about the antique tractor parade (which happens at 11 am, 1 and 3 pm on both days). If tractor parades don’t strike your fancy, don’t worry there is much else to do at the farm. During the festival you can walk through acres and acres of already picked pumpkins, gourds and squashes (and you can get a wagon or a wheel barrel to cart your selections), ride on kiddie rides, get your face painted, listen to live music, eat fabulous food (don’t miss the mini donuts—freshly fried!), and take a tractor-guided tour of the farm. If you’re more industrious, you can also pick your own produce. In October there are many crops to gather including the obvious pumpkins, squash and gourds, plus beefsteak tomatoes, Valencia oranges, green beans and salad greens. Most items that you pick are priced per pound. Oh, I almost forgot! This year they’ve added pig races and barnyard stories… Come on! That’s reason enough to check it out (I for one have never seen a pig race…and that’s something I’ve got to remedy…never seeing a pig race, is like leading an unexamined life!).

Hope to see you there! Sooweee!!!

New Home for Calypso

I'm SOOOO excited! Calypso Home just opened at the Brentwood Country Mart. (I was ecstatic when the Calypso boutique opened in the mart last summer, but it's nothing compared to what I'm experiencing now!) Christine Celle is just what Los Angeles needs. The founder and vision behind everything Calypso, Celle has an eye for style. She travels the world bringing back textiles, furniture and exotic objects to our neck of the woods. You'll not only find items from obscure locales, but also items from talented designers and vendors such as Angkasa, Michael Aram, John Derian, Les Indiennes, Maison de Vacances, John Robshaw, Thomas Paul, and Judy Ross.

This Next

So looking for design products on the web? Spending endless hours searching and just finding junk??? Well, check out the new way to browse online: www.thisnext.com. I may know some of the staff (okay, my husband is one of the founders), and am definitely partial, but this site rocks and has some very COOL stuff on it. Like this table lamp from Orestes Suarez, stools from BeiMoDian, and floor lamp from  Nicholas Furrow. And ThisNext's not just about furniture, there's plenty of stuff to buy in all catagories!

Delicate as a Butterfly

I met Shannon Shapiro of Moth Design at the Pacific Design Center recently, and was immediately impressed with her business card...it's a wonderful green square with half of a white moth on it. Striking! Memorable! It got me to visit her website and check out some of her lighting, which is imaginative, inventive and whimsical. Now I'll have to go visit her showroom in Sherman Oaks... If it's anything like her cards, it will be worth the drive. (PS Shapiro's designs are represented by both trade showrooms and retailers across the country and in the UK.)

Sommer Forever

Interior designer Ruthie Sommers has an eye for style. She can find any old thing, paint it or recover it and voila it's perfection! A rising star, Sommers has been published in a wide variety of national magazines (including two different issues of Elements of Living!), and is getting more popular (and therefore more difficult to hire!). Luckily for us anyone can get a sense of Sommers' style by visiting her chic boutique, Chapman Radcliff Home on La Cienega in Los Angeles--or if you're not in the area, check out her section on 1stdibbs.com. But don't worry, Sommers' fabulous finds won't break your bank. She's confessed to me that she wants good design to remain affordable, and she follows this through by not marking up her price tags with a heavy hand. For a client of mine I found a perfect vintage coffee table for only $300! (In the end I did bring the price up a bit by having it painted a high-gloss Hermes orange, but under Sommers' direction that stayed reasonably priced as well). Mind you $300 is not necessarily her typical price point, but everything Sommers offers is a good value. I recommend the shop to anyone who is looking for that special something...to me Chapman Radcliff is a real find.

Desirious Furniture

Manhattan is moving west one chair at a time... For the past 10 years, DESIRON has been a must-visit destination in SoHo. For us folks who now live in Los Angeles (I'm speaking of myself, of course), we no longer have to wait for the odd trip across the country to lounge on DESIRON's hip, and oh-so-comfortable furniture. This past June the company opened their 5,000-square-foot showroom on Robertson Boulevard in West Hollywood.

With a family history in ironwork, owner and designer Frank Carfaro creates clean, simple, modern designs. The materials that go into each of his pieces are rich and varied. Ingredients include metals (of course!), as well as hardwoods in a plethora of finishes (from natural to black oxide), topped with a luxurious new textile line that includes 75 different fabrics (everything from vinyl and mohair to silk and linen). Best of all, each piece is bench-made by artisans at the company's factory in New Jersey.

Though you may not have had the opportunity to visit either of the bi-coastal locations (yet), chances are you've already experienced DESIRON's furniture, as it graces many fashionable spaces, such as Nobu and Ritz-Carlton. If not, check the company out online, or get yourself dressed up and go out for sushi.

Secret Sources

According to "The Secret Source is Out" by Kimberly Stevens of the New York Times,  the interior design market is shifting to a more open society. (I've known this was coming for years, that's why I started my first magazine about sourcing back in 1999!). Though perhaps not totally new news to people in the industry, it's still good news. It means that products are more available, and you don't necessarily need a resale number to buy fantastic product. Though it's moving in the right direction, the market is not quite transparent yet; you can get into the PDC and the D&D (two of the most famous design centers in the country), but it's still a bit tricky to buy. That's where the Internet comes in handy. There are various sources that allow you to gain access to "trade only" merchandise.  For example, the fabric above is a Tree of Life print from Lee Jofa. Lee Jofa makes its home in design centers around the country, but this particular print and others from the same manufacturer are available at www.decoratorsbest.com.

Started in 2004 by interior designer Barbara Karpf, Decorators Best sells (mostly traditional) fabrics and wallpapers from trade manufacturers such as Robert Allen, Ralph Lauren, Waverly, Kravet, and of course Lee Jofa. Like regular trade showrooms, Decorators Best will allow you to reserve fabric, see cuttings for approval and ship your order directly to the workroom of your choice. Decorators Best can also order additional fabrics than what is on the website (you just need to send them a style number -- I'm not sure if this works with all manufacturers).

Though I'm trained as an interior designer and still do some interior design work, I do not actually have a resale license -- I can get one quite easily, but it means you have to collect sales tax from your clients, and that is just a major pain! So I am terribly thrilled about the latest developments in the market, and cannot wait until we are like London and Paris -- civilized cities where anyone can buy anything!

CA Boom

As promised, I've been meaning to blog about LA's latest independent design trade show: CA Boom which happened at the beginning of this month. The event just celebrated it's third year, and while the show is new, they've certainly made some headway. This year they had in excess of 7,500 attendees, and just over 100 exhibitors (compared to 5,000 attendees and 70 exhibitors last year). So while it's still a small show, it's growing.

This was my first year attending CA Boom, and I can say that despite it's progress, they still have a way to go... The setting, the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, is fine, but a bit rundown and dated. It's also a very small venue, if the fair wants to expand they need another space. One nice thing about the intimate size is that you can comfortably and easily see it all in an afternoon, and you can really stop and chat with all the vendors. And don't get me wrong, there are some very quality exhibitors at CA Boom. Many of whom I had not known, such as Carolyn Mendoza, a contemporary metal artist from Venice who makes some organic artworks out of welded steel and various patina techniques (see below).

Another new discovery for me was Think Forward, the brainchild of Vladimir Sierra a Los Angeles-based digital artist. After a trip to Spain in 2000, Sierra became interested in mosaics, and wanted to figure out a method for creating unusual and interesting tile configurations. After years of experimentation, Sierra created a methodolgy that he calls "ukiyotiling" (named after traditional Japanese woodblock prints which also inspire him) that allows him to create complex ceramic mosaics through procedural algorithms. You can go with one of Sierra's designs, or bring him a photograph from which to work. Below is Sierra's "Spanish Wave."

In addition to new found discoveries, there were also some well-known exhibitors that I admire and respect. NanaWall is one such company -- they make walls of glass. A friend of mine is renovating a Malibu house right now and hoping to use NanaWall to open up the house to the elements, and let in a bit of beachy air. This company has been helping clients create better transitions between outside and inside since 1986, and their products are customizable, flexible and quite elegant.

And lastly, another of my favorites was Velocity Art & Design's (a great store in Seattle, and a terrific web resource for modern design) Modern Playhouse. This was SO cool, I really wanted one for my kids. Check out the photo:

All in all it was an enjoyable afternoon, and I'm curious to see what happens next year...

California Bungalow

Okay, a slight deviation from my usual entries, since I'm now adding real estate consultation into my professional mix, I figured it would be fun to put up unique or quality listings that I see when I'm out on caravan (every Tuesday afternoon real estate agencies hold open houses for brokers and agents to preview properties for their clients). I was out today, and most of what I saw was overpriced and/or ugly. But after several dogs, I came across what I think might be a diamond in the rough. Built in 1950, it's a small (approximately 1,500 square feet), two bedroom, one-and-a-half bath bungalow with a very retro feel. It's on a gorgeous street in the Pacific Palisades, with a pretty decent view of the ocean as well as the local park with a trail head leading down the mountain. Another piece of good news: the house is on a fairly decent sized, mostly flat lot (approx. 6,926 square feet). There are some disclaimers on this property. The listing agent Judy Orsini of Coldwell Banker says that the buyer must verify the square footage of the lot and the structure(s) (there's also a small detached "guest house"), and it is a TRUST SALE, no court confirmation. The price is good though. It was going to list at $1,575,000, but just before it went on the market they decided to go with a lower asking price of $1,485,000. Not currently a family-friendly house, but if you build up or out, it will be right at home with most of the other two-story houses on the street.

Made the Shade

Albioncourt is a super cool company based in London which let's you easily create customized lampshades. You pick your size, your shape, and your material. They started with shades, made out of "found" papers, such as the wallpapers pictured above, but they now also do digitally printed shades with cool photographs (check out the black & white lime slices below -- that would make a sublime shade, if you ask me). And you can even submit your own artwork (the website has detailed instructions on doing this). For non-trade folks check out their retail site Lightingworks.