Happy New Year!

Here is just a sneak peak at some of the decorating and cooking and baking I did for my mini New Year's Eve party. I've had an immense amount of fun getting ready for this party so I hope everyone has a good time.



I have a sneaking suspicion that 2010 is going to be a great year. Just a hunch. Have an amazing New Year's Eve everybody! Be safe, be good to yourself, and drink lots of Champagne!


Alicia B.

The Ice Storm

I am not a patient person. Detailed oriented, yes, if I'm interested in the subject. It's usually the destination, not the journey for me. This does not always work out so well for me or for German girl who often fixes my mistakes. If , for instance, I want to download some pictures,I do, regardless of what else is happening on the computer at the time. As a result, my little camera had very little room for images 'cause it was full of music I had inadvertently loaded. Yesterday i was reading one of my favorite blogs ( and you know who you are) and i jumped up, took some pics , went to download them and somehow got the entire September 2007 blog postings downloaded to my pics. Good God, it took German girl about an hour to clean up that one. So now I am to close all sites, take a deep breath and turn on the camera. Okay, okay. There's a resolution for you, or rather for me. Slow down and try to capitalize . Oh, and never say no to a merengue! Happy New Year!

Masquerade

The bright young thing mentality: the penchant for fantasy and masquerade had become an expression of the disregard they felt for the immediate past or the immediate future. They lived -or tried to live - outside their time. Philip Hoare, Serious Pleasures, the life of stephen tennant

New Years Eve is the perfect time for fantasy. What do you want your life to be this coming year? Or fantasy could be as simple as dressing up in costume for the evening: full of high hopes for the future and escaping the past year.

Fantasy is not dead, it survives.

Whatever form your fantasies take or whatever you may wear, I hope you have great New Years celebrations!

Happy New Year!

The Swedish way of celebrating New Year's is slightly different from the British way. We wear our best part frocks, have fireworks at midnight and party ALL night long with good food and drink. And good company of course! If our cocktails turn out good we'll post them over at Blossom & Bill's for sure.

Happy New Year everyone!

A modern renovation

Featured in the March 2008 issue of Metropolitan Home magazine was an example of a city apartment with great bones which was renovated efficiently and beautifully. The great bones were there, natural light, outdoor space and tall ceilings on a high floor.Jeffrey Povero, an architect in NYC, renovated the space for himself and his partner in a 1914 hospital buiding which had been converted to apartments in the 80s. The space was a bland box when he found it, but he saw promise in the 11 foot ceilings and views of the brooklyn bridge. I'm sure the huge terrace and three exposures didn't hurt either!

What started out as plans for minimal renovations turned into a gut job, as these types of jobs often do. Why do anything half way? While not a small apartment by New York standards at 860 SF, it still had to operate efficiently for the two.I would buy a rat filled shoebox of an apartment for that terrace. Amazing! I'm in love with the walnut paneling Povero had installed behind the fireplace (top image) and in the kitchen below and with the acres of white marble. I would have used a beefier countertop at the island though I think.....it looks fragile and skimpy.

Povero wanted to create a modern men's club, which I think reads very strongly. While a bit minimal for my personal tastes, I think the apartment is stunning.

One thing Povero and I share is a love of organization, although he takes it further than I; his books, seen above, are arranged in Dewey Decimal order! He worked for years at Robert Stern designing libraries: I suppose that will do it for you!

Mirrors were used in the apartment advantageously to reflect the light and views and make small rooms feel bigger. The photo below looks like 2 rooms almost!

The closet is also a work of supreme organization. How many closets get published in magazines? I drooled over this.....

Even if it's not your style, I think everyone can appreciate the work that went into this space!

photographs by Peter Murdock

Honest Scrap-tastic Award

About a million years ago one of my fave bloggers, Claire from High Gloss Blue nominated me for the Honest Scrap Award and I've taken my sweet time accepting it. It's New Years Eve so I figure I'd better get to it before the year is done. Thanks Claire! Basically for this award as you all probably know, I have to reveal ten things about myself and nominate seven other people for this award. Here goes! #1) I HATE revealing things about myself on my blog. I tend to say little tidbits but nothing major so maybe that's why I took so long making this list.

HOT SAND.

#2) I'm insanely fair skinned by if I could lie on the beach all day with a book (and a cocktail), I would do it in an instant. Don't worry, I'll still be wearing SPF 45. Really.

A postcard from Malta

#3) On that note, I've wanted to go to Malta (and lie on the beach) since I was a senior in college and I learned about Caravaggio and how be painted and became one of the Knights of Malta.

A dress made of Skittle wrappers! WOW...

#4)I'm a candy-a-holic. I know candy is bad/will give you cavities but I would rather eat skittles than chips or any other snack. And unlike most candy-a-holics, I don't care for chocolate.

OY.

#5) This one is SUPER juicy about me. Wait for it...I hate valences. I think they are worthless and ridiculous looking. If you don't like the ugly window moldings, install new ones and if you want to block the sun, go for broke and actually get shades/curtains. Those sad frilly valences are worthless.

This is a beach in La Jolla. Gawgeous.

#6) This one is also juicy. As you may know I'm a relatively uptight East Coaster but upon some somewhat recent trips to California I'd LOVE to end up there. I always thought I'd love to end up in Connecticut (and I still could), but after spending some time in San Diego, I fell in love.

#7) I love preppiness. I love to dress in pink and green and I love preppy interiors too. This one by John Loecke is so perfect! The pinks the greens and the sunny yellows are perfection to me.
#8) I'm a collector. When I was little, I used to collect rocks. I had a mini collection by the side of the road and I even had a Rock Tumbler that was set up in the garage. Please don't stop reading this! Yes, it's true. Anyway, now I collect fun things like fabric, frames, demitasse cups, as my mom says, "old junk from antiques stores", minks, and antique books and buttons! You never know when you're going to need these things!

#9) I have a massive crush on Jim Carrey. I've always liked him because he makes me laugh in his movies (Liar Liar). And even when he is in serious movies (Truman Show), he's an amazing actor and SO CUTE. Don't judge me, I stand by my opinion.

Who looks so pretty in fur? Martha.

#10) Ah, the last one! A dear friend of mine reminded me of this a few weeks ago. When I was in 7th grade I got a "layered" haircut and a few boys made fun of it and called me Martha Stewart. I ended up crying but now if that happened I'd be more than flattered. Martha is an amazing role model and such an inspiration. Thanks so much Claire for getting me to reveal embarrassing things about myself! Though I am in love with interior design, I do have many sides to me as you have just learned. Although as this blog is centered around interior design, it is much of what I think about. I hope you all learned a lot today and forget about the whole "rock collection" thing. Yikes.

I'm tagging the following people. And if you've already done it don't worry, I think I'm the last person who hasn't done this yet.

Penny Rounds
Eclectic Interior Design
Developing Designs
Shoebox Decor

Alicia B.

Made For Walking

have i no life if i'm not working? or am i so busy living it i don't take pictures? our sunday spring day has flown and we're left with sunshine and bitter cold winds. sunday i felt like gardening, monday and tuesday, i felt like cuddling up on the couch with the lab and reading book after book. but out we've gone, twice to the gym, and my muscles are screaming ( with joy? ), shopping, actually clothes shopping, new boots for both of us. born for her and uggs for me. we've gone out to lunch, which sure beats sitting around a cluttered design table in the back of the shop eating leftovers. we've gone out for breakfast and out for coffee. now we're going out to dinner at a neighbor's. swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes, green beans and ligonberries prepared by his new swedish/american girlfriend. all we're bringing is fresh baked bread and 3 chairs. hurray for after the holidays!

Christmas is over! Time to start thinking about shedding our clothes and go skinny dipping in lakes and stuff!

New Camera

The sad news is that my old camera (2002 canon powershot sds) finally died yesterday and I'm in the market for a new one. The good news is that I get to take advantage of updated technologies, mainly size! My old camera was small for the time (basically pocketsize) and has performed really well, but as the years progressed smaller versions were being released. As I like to carry my camera around with me all the time, size is so important -it must fit in my pocket!

I'm thinking of replacing it with the same model, unless anyone has any other suggestions, the Canon PowerShot SD780 IS. Is anyone familiar with this version of camera?

It also comes in 4 colors and I'm having a difficult time deciding which I want to go with . I value your opinion: what color would you chose? Silver, black, red or gold? I'm leaning towards gold (shown)..... and shying away from red which I feel is a target when traveling. Thoughts?

A Green for Winter

As I was working out in my head what colors I could use for my New Year's Eve party (which has taken a turn in a more relaxed direction), I was thinking what would be holiday but not Christmas? My colors were silvers, whites, and greens. I think the sparkle of the silver with the green color would be just festive enough but not scream Christmas at the same time. I've also been seeing light greens nearly everywhere against whites, gilt woods, and silvers.

This interior by Nate Berkus may be in my top 20 favorites and not just because of the patriotic moment in the back. The tiny pops of green among the neutrals is very subtle but makes the room fresher.

I saw this chest in the Wisteria catalogue today and was instantly enamored. It's so simple but it has so much texture.

This is a little vignette from a Lynn Morgan interior. Even using a plant is a great way to add green to a room. Like I said above, I'm super drawn to the metal tones with green.

This is really bringing the outdoors in in this Eddie Ross interior! The ferns are so sweet and natural with the brass lamp.

In this rustic and mostly white/creme interior, the green from the plants softens it. I love that layered display on the mantle. From Country Living.

This is a perfect neutral holiday scene. Even if it's not Winter these colors look warm and fresh. Bierly Drake.

An interior using Anne Selke fabrics has more light fresh mossy greens with a faux bamboo upholstered ottoman. I adore her fabrics; they're so fresh and whimsical.

These interiors are certainly inspiring for my little NYE get together. I'm thinking of using some of my same trees that I have for Christmas but remove the red elements and replace them with green. Perhaps the green theme is a good one for New Years as well; turning over a new leaf for a new year, that sort of thing. I'll let you know how it goes when I get back to New York and things get a little less abstract.



Alicia B.

Penguin Splash

 

 

 

 

This delightful child's loft space was first featured on the blog Ma Cabane Celeste . A splash of ISAK Penguin wallpaper helps to bring the room's personality alive. Clean, fresh and new but also traditional and homely.