interior glass doors: 2008-10-12

Why Don't You...

Why don't you check out some of these amazing museum exhibitions this weekend now that they weather has turned cold!

I still can't believe I haven't been down to the New Museum to check out the first American retrospective of artist Elizabeth Peyton's artwork. There are over 100 of her works on display so you might want to allow extra time for viewing. I know I could stare at her portraits all day so I just might have to!

In addition to Van Gogh, MoMA also has a wonderful exhibition entitled Kirchner and the Berlin Street which chronicles the street scenes of German Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner that were painted between 1913 to 1915. They are considered some of his best works so check them out before the show says auf wiedersehen on November 10th.

As someone who's studied art history, I have many favorite artists and Vermeer is chief among them. The fact that there are only 35 known works of his art in existence and that The Frick owns three of them always amazes me. These three paintings have not been seen together in over 10 years so this is a special treat. Just make sure you get there before November 2nd!

One of my readers was kind enough to remind me that the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum has a lovely exhibit of 19th-century watercolor interiors from the Thaw Collection on display through January 25, 2009. They are so beautiful and intricate that I can't believe they are watercolors!

Everyone keeps telling me that I have to check out the Giorgio Morandi exhibit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know much about this artist so that makes me want to see it even more. Morandi is touted by The Met as "one of the greatest 20th-century masters of still-life and landscape painting in the tradition of Chardin and Cézanne." Pretty impressive!

When the Design Director of Bilhuber and Associates, Kevin Isbell, asked me to be his plus one to the book launch party for Defining Luxury:The Qualities of Life at Home, I didn't have to think twice! Jeffrey Bilhuber is already a design legend and his new book is beyond gorgeous! The photographs by Trel Brock pop off the page! I never realized that Jeffrey Bilhuber used so much color so that was a welcome treat! It was fun meeting Trel and hearing the stories of how Jeffrey and his team would work all week and travel to the shoots every weekend! A lot of hard work went into this book and I can guarantee you will enjoy it!

Jeffrey Bilhuber defining luxury at Bergdorf Goodman

As I alluded to in my Gossip Girl inspired post, the November issue of Domino has a great feature on bloggers and while I not profiled, I was very honored to be included as one of their noteworthy blogs. I won't ruin it and tell you who made the cut because I am sure they want to announce it on their own blogs but I know you will enjoying peeking into their fabulous homes. Thanks Domino!

Spotted...

domino

Habitually Chic here, your one and only source into the fabulous lives of Manhattan's design elite! Which up and coming designers and bloggers were spotted at the Domino Book of Decorating launch party at The Conran Shop tonight and who will be featured in the pages of the November issue? I'll never tell so I guess you'll have to wait until your copy arrives. XOXO, Habitually Chic

I have been crazy busy with my home renovations, so unfortunately my posts have been less frequent. Here are two wonderful transitional spaces from Banks Design Architecture. They are my inspiration to remind me of the light at the end of the tunnel.

In a few weeks time I will post some of my personal before and afters! Until then I'll be waiting for the dust to settle and the paint fumes to clear!!!

Operación : un hogar más agradable

Antes de pasar a enseñaros cómo estóy dejando la habitación que comenté en elartículo anterior , quería mostraros el " reciclaje " que he hecho de un cojín que también va en este sitio.
Tengo unos cojines que hice cuando me casé , a juego con las cortinas de entonces, que también confeccioné para mi salón. Ahora , con el tiempo, están algo desmejorados . Por eso decidí, cubrirlos con una funda y que hicieran el uso de relleno. De esta manera me evitaba tener que hacer una funda - relleno a medida.

Para ello, cosí dos telas de patch y sobre ellas otra de lienzo .La estampé con pintura para tela en marrón oscuro con sellos que tengo de scrap, una hoja y una serie con el tema de los pájaros. Luego añadí una cinta que le venía al pelo , de las que compré en Perpignan, de esas que gustan cuando las ves pero no sabes muy bien en qué la emplearás .

Antes de pasar a enseñaros cómo estóy dejando la habitación que comenté en el
Para cerrar los laterales , otras cintas en marrón oscuro ¡ y ya está !

Es una forma rápida de darle otro aire a un cojín , evitar hacer trabajo de más y aprovechar esos restos de tela que nos van quedando .

I guarantee that no client could get a hold of their interior designer last night to discuss their decorating emergency because everyone in the industry was at the Williams-Sonoma Home store opening party! The place was packed with more than 800 guests and I ran into old friends and made a few new ones during the night. I was very excited to meet Ron Marvin who's apartment is a favorite. I think my excitement might have scared him a little so sorry about that Ron! Ashley Whittaker couldn't have been sweeter and also has a few bachelor clients which was funny to talk about! My friends wouldn't let me leave until I talked to my design idol Steven Gambrel. He and I actually met briefly late last year so it was funny to give him my card and tell him that I styled it after his! Eddie Ross and Ondine from Top Design were also there, as were my friends from Flair. So fun! I unfortunately missed getting a goodie bag though! I hope there wasn't anything too fabulous in it!

I was also very surprised that the team at Williams-Sonoma even knew about my blog, let alone that they were as excited to meet me as I was to meet them! Above are just some of their amazingly talented team from San Francisco including President Dave DeMattei, Patricia Sellman, Monelle Totah, Abigail Jacobs, and Kirsty Williams. Missing was Amanda who I hear is a big fan of my blog! (Sorry you couldn't make it! Email me and we'll chat!)

Williams-Sonoma Home is a welcome addition to the New York marketplace. We often source items from the catalog and online so it will be nice to now be able to go into the store to check things out in person. I especially loved the shagreen boxes and all the sparkly accessories! Stop by and see for yourself the next time you are near Columbus Circle! You won't be disappointed and then on your way out, you can pick up an espresso maker, bundt pan or cookbook in the regular Williams-Sonoma store. One stop shopping at it's finest!

I don't know if I ever mentioned before that the Bachelor started his own finance company in March and also happens to work on Wall Street so needless to say, things have been a little tense around the Bachelor Pad for the last few weeks. I've also had to finish up the living and dining areas while trying to spend as little money as possible. It's also hard to get excited about your newly decorated apartment when you're not sure if you're going to have a job to go to. At least the bachelor has kept his sense of humor and was able to joke about having a nice apartment to sit around in if things do go bad. But I'm sure he'll be fine. We have to keep thinking positively if nothing else. I'm also positive that the television wall above looks much better than it did before (see below). Sometimes less is really is more!

Before Photo

Another great marriage of art and fashion are the limited edition Homage to the Square scarves from Hermes that depict six of artist Josef Albers paintings from 1964 and give new meaning to the phrase "wearable art." The German born Albers, is most well known as a Bauhaus artist but he also designed furniture and typography, accepted architectural commissions, published poetry, articles and book on art, in addition to lecturing and teaching.

"Albers became a prolific artist, known primarily for his "Homage’s to Squares." Although he disavowed style category labels, he is credited with influencing the movements of Geometric Abstraction and Minimalism. He was also one of the first modern artists to investigate the psychological effects of color and space and to question the nature of perception. Indicative of the impact of his work is the fact that he was the first living artist to have a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in New York."

"The square was the ideal shape for Albers’ "Homage’s," series. Squares were mathematically related to each other in size, perfect for superimposition, shapes that never occur in nature--thus assuring its man-made quality. Albers intended that the colours in his "Homage’s" series react with each other when processed by the human eye, causing optical illusions due to the eye's ability to continually change the colors in ways that echo, support, and oppose one another."

"I've handled colour as a man should behave. You may conclude that I consider ethics and aesthetics as one." - Josef Albers

¡Sorpresa en el correo !

Hace algún tiempo que Issabela quiso ofrecerme generosamente unas madejas de Fabra Coats que casualmente heredó de una antigua mercería de la familia. Estaban dentro de una preciosa cajonera muy bien conservada que enseña en su blog, ¡ una joya ! ...... Encantada de recibirlasle envié mi dirección con la sorpresa de que junto a los cuatro colores incluía también esos pequeños accesorios de bordado que tanto me gustan. Hechos a ganchillo y a juego ya los tengo luciendo en mi habitación de costura .
¡¡¡¡¡Gracias Issabela, leí tus letras manuscritas con una sonrisa en la cara!!!!!! De felicidad , claro.

Someone left a comment once to "get back to design" when I posted about fashion but the point of my blog has always been illustrate that art, design and fashion are all intertwined. No one is this more evident than in the home of fashion designer Amy Smilovic who decorated her home in Greenwich, Connecticut, with the same bright colors and fabrics from her Tibi clothing line. Not only was she inspired by her own collections but by other fashion houses including Marni and Chloé. The project also led to a line of rug and a line of wallpaper at Flavor Paper. As she found out, you don't always have to stick to the decorating "rules" which always leads to the most exciting interiors.