Old, New, Borrowed, Pink.

The summer is here and that means one thing, time to redecorate. I've been hanging pictures, draping my dress form, and viewing various sites to determine what direction to go in for my room. One in particular is a shoe company called Keller whose spring/summer shoot drove me to minimize and streamline to a color palette that is understated and cohesive. The mood of Django Reinhardt's music contributed to the overall look as well as the items I salvaged from my sister's room like the bibb necklace and her barnacle inspired lamp which she made (bravo, sis). All of these things come together to form a space that finally has a homey, eclectic feel. Welcome home, Jo, welcome home.

Keller shoes

Soft Rock.

I have recently discovered a French design company called Smarin, that features some very innovative, modern furniture. The collections include Smarin's Livingstones, Mobileshadows (shown above), Livingislands, and Liquid to name a few. All of the products are designed by Stephanie Marin who strives to bring nature back into every day living. Certain items, like Liquid, are actually phosphorescent so they are great for the outdoors or for late night reading. Incroyable, no?

Smarin's neo Livingstones

Liquid

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Øver the Top.

In Øerstad, Sweden, there is a modern "neighborhood" called the Mountain Dwellings composed of 80 well designed housing units. Each home has a 970 square foot astro-terrace that gives each resident the feeling of owning a pent house. The building has been designed so that the homes are facing the sun to receive optimal amounts of heat in their extremely cold climate, while the parking deck is located underneath them. Overall, this seems like an über way to live life; surrounding oneself with efficiency and good design.

The parking deck

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The Nouveau Novos.

The Novogratz family in their revamped Manhattan home

I am proud to announce that 9 by Design is coming to Bravo TV this Tuesday at 11 pm!!! The long anticipated show is going to feature the couple, Bob and Cortney Novogratz along with their seven adorable children and highly innovative lifestyle. From their incredible collection of art to their flair for entertaining, the whole season will be a feast for the eyes and will become must see TV every Tuesday evening.

Bob and Cortney have been turning old New York buildings from wreck to ravishing for the past 10 years and have built quite a collection of masterpieces through their company SixxDesign. They have a very distinctive eye for pairing the old with the new, the modern with the rustic, and the current art with kid art. Their homes are like a gallery: chic, stunning, creative, and the ideal place to raise a brood of seven!

The two know how to play up color and have added their effortless cool to what it means to settle down and raise a family. See more about their work in their book, Downtown Chic, and make sure to tune in every Tuesday for an inspiring season of 9 by Design!

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Mauvalous.

Jamie Drake closet; Isaac Mizrahi Spring '10

"Always and forever any and all shades of mauve, lilac, and purple. I am also thinking about maroon glace, mossy greens and bitter chartreuse greens, dead shrimp, Rose du Barry and magenta."

-Hamish Bowles, European editor-at-large of Vogue, describing his favorite colours

This season, everything from head to toenail is light, ethereal pastel. The main colors on the palette for our springtime canvas range from burnished yellow to hyacinth and everything in between. Don't feel like lack of color will dumb down your style though, in this season and in this economy, less is more and your muted tones will act as a breath of fresh air and stand out amidst the white noise of saturated color.

J.Crew Palmera ruffle cami

Essie nail colour Lilacism

Peter Som Spring '10

Essie nail colour Van d'go

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4

Literary Living.

Alright. Years ago, my sister and I had a strange obsession with watching shows much beyond what would usually interest children of our age. My sister watched Julia Child's "The French Chef" as early as 5 years old and the two of us got into the Travel Channel a few years later. Our favorite show was "Samantha Brown's Great Hotels" and we watched excitedly, dreaming of all of the fun places we planned to visit. One of them was a beautiful hotel that I still remember vividly to this day called the "Library Hotel". This lovely hotel in Midtown Manhattan boasts of 10 floors, each designed to represent a book genre and every room given a number as if it were in the Dewey Decimal System. For example, room 800.005 was "Fairy Tales" on the Literature floor, room 400.001 on the Language floor was dedicated to "Slavic", etc. Not only this, but every room carried out the theme of its name. Obviously this made me very excited as a little girl because every room felt like a storybook brought to life. So, I have vowed to one day stay at this small literary hotel across from the Library of Congress and completely immerse myself in the wonders of the written word. This, my friend, would play a large part in my happily ever after.

The "Love" room on the Philosophy floor

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Young at Heart.

I love anything made with children in mind, especially books devoted to raising well-mannered, stylish children who love the City and beautiful living. This is probably why I am so drawn to Eloise at the Plaza. The 3 books I have shown here encompass a great wealth of knowledge for adults and children alike. The first, This Little Piggy Went to Prada, is a great learning tool for any label lover and her daughter to go through at bedtime. The illustrations are beautiful and the references I assure you could not be found in any other children's book. The second, a new favorite of mine, was written by a young man who "wanted to get some things straight before he was old and uncool". So, he started a blog aiming to remember all the things he wanted to teach his future son. The blog was then discovered by publishers and was converted into the book Rules For My Unborn Son. His advice ranges from "Enough already. Learn the rules of cricket," to quotes from Noel Coward like “Wit ought to be a glorious treat like caviar; never spread it about like marmalade." And lastly, number 3, or should i say sixx. The creators of Sixx Design, Bob and Cortney Novogratz moved their family to Manhattan several years back to pursue their love of interior design. Since then, they have had not six but seven children and have several homes that they live in throughout the year. Each house is extremely modern and kid friendly, reinventing what it means to make a home homey and how settling down doesn't mean losing your style.* Listen to the kid in you and read through these books and think of a few rules of your own that you want to instill in your children.

This lovely book spins nursery rhymes like Row Row into

"Front row for the show

With the Harpers Team.

Head to toe in Moschino,

Mummy looks a dream."

Witty words of wisdom from one gentleman to his son

The Novogratz display how to design with kids in mind

in their book "Downtown Chic"

*The Novogratz are scheduled to have a reality television show premiere on Bravo called 9 by Design coming April 13, keep a look out!

Sources 1, 2, 3, 4

Dude, Where's My Couture?

Although this article was published a few months ago in Vogue's September issue, I am still utterly inspired by it. Gela Nash-Taylor, the co-founder of Juicy Couture, gave the lucky Plum Sykes a tour of the grounds of her new country home in England, Wraxall Manor, and may I say it is breathtaking. This is the sort of life I would love to experience every day: riding my horse in jodhpurs, throwing an intimate dinner party with a few Texan socialites, then dashing to throw on a black satin Prada frock with black Louboutin booties and a red alligator Hermés cuff on each wrist, glorious! Gela, I admire your hard work and where it has brought you, bravo!

Wraxall Manor

The drawing room and Gela's daughter's room

Gela and her rocker husband John Taylor of Duran Duran

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Homage to Hamish.

Mr. Bowles with Carolina Herrera

I have recently become OBsessed with Hamish Bowles. I read an old article about him in the UK Times and I am astounded by all that he has done in his life. He has been such a grand figure in the fashion world for the greater majority of his life that it becomes very difficult to name all of his accomplishments, but I shall attempt to. At 13, Bowles' unusual interests in fashion paraphernalia began to emerge. He read British Vogue religiously, collected chain mail purses, and was fascinated with Edwardian style shoes. Needless to say, he was the male version of Tavi in the 70s. Hamish won a contest at 19 to assist in editing an issue of Harpers and Queen, where he became the fashion editor at the age of 22, phenomenal. From here, Bowles was invited to work for American Vogue by Anna Wintour after she saw a spread of his London apartment in Harpers and Queen magazine in 1992. Four years later, he was launched to the position of European editor-at-large replacing the ever exuberant André Leon Talley, who in turn took the same position at American Vogue. Hamish has edited about 7 books, including "Vogue Living: House, Gardens, and People". Anna Wintour dubbed him as, "one of the greatest chroniclers of fashion and decor or our time." He has innumerable contacts in New York, Paris, London, Jaipur, and Tangier, ranging from Queen Rania of Jordan to the Lacroix family. He currently has reign over Vogue Living and he lives in New York, Paris, and London. Sensational, dashing man. I cannot wait to one day hold a conversation with him and talk about his lovely, editor-at-large life.

Hamish's Parisian flat

Sources 1, 2