Interiors

LustList: A Fireplace in the Kitchen

With most of the country snowed in, wintry rooms have been on my mind, and it’s brought to mind one of the things on my life LustList: having a fireplace in the kitchen.

It seems like a no-brainer, why wouldn’t you want a fireplace in your kitchen, but apparently it’s pretty rare.  In all the images of kitchens I have saved on my computer (572 of them), there are only THREE with fireplaces (I save them when I find them)!

My sister actually has a fireplace in her kitchen, and I think it’s so wonderful on a cold night, when it gets dark early, to be in there cooking and hanging out with the wood crackling in the background.

Love the rustic-meets-old-money feeling of this kitchen… it’s actual form is pretty basic and definitely wasn’t laid out by a “kitchen designer”– it’s a big rectangle with no island, it’s not tricked out with built-in cabinets or a fancy sink, but it’s packed with copper pots, subtly dressed up with a big oil painting in a gold frame, and finished off with a La Cornue range.

Doesn’t it feel like it’s in a house in the English countryside where you actually might cook something you’d literally hunted and gathered on the property that day?  While wearing your Barbour coat and wellies?  (Although I do have one major gripe with it.  Click the jump if you want to hear it, or don’t if you’d rather just appreciate it for what it is.)

Kitchen at top from Domino Magazine (also love the painted wood floor in that one), unfortunately don’t have the origin of these other two… I’ve had them in a folder forever!

Ok wwhhyyy did they paint the ceiling in between the beams bright white???  Why?  And why the pin lights in the ceiling?

Interiors

Barbershop Revival

#1:  Old-school barbershops for men.

I don’t know why, since I’m not a man, but I really love the idea of old-fashioned barbershops for men.  I’ve mentioned this before, but I have an unexplained nostalgia for an era I didn’t live through when routine daily activities were glorified.  Like shaving.  Here, a barbershop in London called Murdock that is along the lines of Freeman‘s (below) in New York.

And for me, this begs a question.  I would say the female equivalent to getting a shave at a barbershop is getting a manicure– it could easily be done at home, but it’s nice to have someone else do it for you.  So why aren’t there classy manicure joints like there are men’s barbershops?  They’re all tacky!  Even the new trend in nail salons is the ultra-girly look (not feminine, girly, there’s a difference) where everything is pink and sparkly.  Ick.

This reminds me of the J. Crew Men’s store vs Women’s store issue… to me the men’s version is just so much cooler.  Why can no one get a grip on what classic, old-fashioned (but updated) femininity looks like?

Trend I Love #2:  Anything apothecary-looking.

Interiors

“I’ll breakfast in bed and then get straight up into the tweeds.”

Doesn’t this bedroom look like the perfect spot to stay snugged in for some coffee and a scone while you read the newspaper??  Everything about it says “linger a while”…

Rumpled and casual but elegant bedding, sun streaming in the window, that sconce you can pull around to aid the morning light, and you’ve got that charming old phone there just in case anyone needs to reach you.

Also l-o-v-e: the gallery wall behind the bed, the wood ceiling, the striped indigo pillows and striped sheet peeking out amongst an otherwise white (but textured) bed scheme.

(Title quote from Gosford Park)

Interiors

For the Blizzarded…

For those of you blizzarded in today, a few images to warm you up.  Although it’s the usual 65 and sunny here in California, it actually sounds fun to me to have a day of blankets, movies, homemade smores, books, hot chocolate, time to catch up on magazines, and baking (because I generally will if I’m inside all day). 

And definitely lots of candles everywhere if the power goes out … or even if it doesn’t.

Images from three favorites: Desire to Inspire, Design*Sponge, and at bottom, This is Glamorous (and it’s a Ralph Lauren room).

Interiors

Floor Envy

I die over this chevron-patterned floor. Not to mention the wonderfully moody photographs of this apartment of a super-creative Parisian couple. They took the photos themselves! Isn’t the light wonderful? How about the colors in the photo above?

Old rusted letters from a Paris hotel sign that they found on the sidewalk makes.

Though such sparsity isn’t personally my style, this is a wonderfully edited space.

This “bear skin” is actually a huge door mat, designed by the husband’s company. I love the quirk factor in this bare-ish (haa pun was not even intended) place. The wife is creative director of this brand.

More photos on design*sponge

Interiors

LustList >> Wrapped Up in a Book(shelf)

I sat next to Rebecca Orlov, a contributor for Apartment Therapy LA, at an event at the Pacific Design Center last year, and she told me something fascinating. She said that two of the most searched terms on Apartment Therapy are “mirrored bedside tables” and “windowseat.”

Apparently, those two things strike a chord with a lot of people. Have you noticed how some things just do that? Like certain antique cars– there seem to be certain elements of design that just universally resonate with people.

And then we have the things that just totally resonate with ourselves. For me, Vespas and Mini Coopers. They are the perfection of transportation. My list could go on and on, there are certain things I obsess over like that, that I think are perfection in their respective category. I guess that’s a lot of what this blog is about.

But anyway, one of those things for me are built-in bookshelves that wrap over doorways, sofas, windows, you name it. If it’s a bookshelf, and it wraps up and over something, I like it. No, I love it.

I am in love with this bedroom. I don’t know that I’d ever do my own bedroom so feminine, but I die over the wrap-around bookshelves. Duh, I know, but these are really awesome: they wrap around a corner. And a window, and a door. In fact they just envelope this whole bedroom. Imagine how basic this bedroom would have been without them– just a little box. And I love how that one wall just gets a teeny bit at the top and how the books are stacked clear up to the beams. Love the deep salmon color, the oil painting, the plain vintage-looking linens, and the toile screen.

They wrap over a windowseat, that’s extra points.

Moral of the story, if you’re going to build in bookshelves, build them up and over something. Anything. Snug a sofa in underneath them, take them up and over a doorway, whatever. It will make the room ten times cozier.

Update: See Part II of this post here.

Top image from Atlanta Homes Magazine, 2nd is FPN via Cup of Joe, 5th is Charles Faudree, 6th is from Skona Hem via Desire to Inspire. Others are old scans and I don’t remember where they’re from!

Interiors

Cans and Bottles + Flowers

Loving this image of old tins being used for plants nestled amongst the books. I love retro packaging, especially tins (coffee, tea, cigars), and turning them into vases is a great use!

(Bottles too– I saved an image a while ago that I now can’t find of old brown bottles lined up on a mantel with white flowers coming out of them that I absolutely loved.)

I like this idea for using tea tins too…

1st, 4th, and 5th images from Design*Sponge, second from Martha Stewart, others from Flickr

Interiors

Brick/Wood/Bookshelves/etc

Loving the cozy apartment of fashion photographer Carter Smith! I love:
-The dark painted built-in book case
-The assortment of objet and art on the bookcase
-Particularly, the art is framed on the outside of a bookcase
-That stack of eye-catching pink and purple books on the right. I know some people are soo over books arranged by color, but the styling touch of having a stack of bright books works here!
-The simple-lined sofa in wool upholstery (at least I think it’s wool… or maybe mohair velvet?) with nailhead trim… all in all very tailored looking, but not stiff.
-The beeaaams, oh the reclaimed-wood-looking beams and wide-plank wood floors.
-The black hide on the ottoman! Adds some shine against the grey wool, raw wood, and dark bookcase.
Don’t love the floppy floral pillows. Sorry. Hate to hate, but had to say it.

Below, more photos of his apartment, along with some of his work that has fall/winter feel similar to his apartment.

Love:
-The exposed brick walls.. I think I will always be a sucker for them…

In fact, I think that: Exposed brick + wood beams + sturdy, handsome antique furniture + any tufted upholstery (bonus if it’s antique) + Belgian linen, leather, velvet, and cashmere + a dash of mid-century French industrial + books everywhere + a little glamour in the form of shiny things === a winning combo for moi every time

Thus, I really like the mercury glass lamp above and the shiny chartreuse curtains. Well, I mean everything, actually. It’s not quite my perfect combo, but it covers many of the bases.

via This is Glamorous and Art + Commerce, Smith’s agency. Not sure who decorated his place… maybe he did!

Interiors

Val Verde

You know those kinds of memories where you’re not really sure whether it is a real memory, or a memory of watching yourself in a home video, or even a memory of how you imagined a story someone told you?

Well, I recall going on a hike with my sister soon after she moved to Montecito, when I was about 14, and that the trail, which she had found with a friend on a previous hike, took us right up to the backyard of an abandoned mansion.

I remember peering through bushes for glimpses of the mansion in its slightly decaying glory and my sister telling me that there were rumors that one of the descendants of the former owner still lived in there and tried to keep it up, as evidenced by the still-pruned shrubs and other such details. Supposedly sometimes hikers (trespassers) spotted someone swimming in the pool, but neighbors never saw cars come or go.

She also told me that in the 1920s, when the house was in its heyday, the owner often held glamorous days-long parties for celebrities up from LA and East Coast polo players who vacationed in Santa Barbara.

I asked her years later where that hike was, and she didn’t have any recollection of it, and said the story I described didn’t ring any bells. That is sounded somewhat like Val Verde, but that Val Verde was run by a foundation and that there’s no way some squatter lived in there.

Love the stripes above. The clock propped on the floor makes this shot perfectly eery.

Click for the rest:

Ever since, Val Verde has become woven into that memory as the images of what I saw, but I’ve never stopped wondering if I imagined what we saw on that hike or the stories she told me. Maybe we just went on an ordinary hike and she told me about Val Verde and I imagined the rest? Or did the whole thing happen, and she just doesn’t remember, and the hike and that mansion are still out there for me to rediscover?

I still think about it whenever I hike a new trail in Montecito, wondering if I’ll come across that old house… Interestingly, Ann Mitchell’s dreamlike photos of Val Verde, the black and whites above, capture the way I remember the house I saw… mysterious, shadowy, and intriguing.

Regardless, Val Verde is beautiful and worth sharing, and I’m convinced that whatever the case, Val Verde itself has some mysteries to it. From my research, I learned that Val Verde was built in 1915 by architect Betram Goodhue, and that it was the first single-home family built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style in the US. The landscaping was done by Lockwood de Forest, who also later remodeled the buildings.

It is called the best-preserved California home in this style, and is considered one of the finest examples of this style of architecture in California. It is also the best-preserved California home in this style, and is considered one of the finest examples of this style of architecture in California.

Tiles from the facade of a Middle Eastern building thought to date to the third century.

I couldn’t find much information about Henry Dater, the original owner who commissioned it, but I did run across the intriguing snippet that the house was “once a retreat for the nation’s gay cultural elite,” though it wasn’t clear during what years this was true. It was actually quite difficult to find information about the house, especially surprising given its architectural significance.

The next piece of history is that in 1955 Heaton Horth Austin, an heiress from Chicago, bought Val Verde as a wedding present for her husband, Dr. Warren Austin. The Austins started the Austin Val Verde Foundation, which preserved the property until it went bankrupt (after their death) just a few months ago.

Unfortunately, even while held by the foundation, it wasn’t open to the public because Montecito residents thought it would cause “traffic issues” to have tourists coming to see the house, even though traffic studies proved this wouldn’t happen. The only access to the home the foundation was allowed to give was through the few parties per year they were permitted to throw.

After filing for bankruptcy, seemingly because Montecito residents managed to block the foundation from any me
ans of making money, it was purchased by a Russian millionaire, Sergey Grishin, for $15.2 million in September of this year. ($15.2m? Only?! I’m serious! It’s a landmark and it’s like 20 acres!) He hasn’t stated what he plans to do with the property, and its fate remains a mystery.

Ok and lastly, what is this about? I came across this blurb is from a Santa Barbara Independent (our newspaper) obituary.
“Betty Gallagher, the wife of the first president of the Associated Press, who helped him run the Berlin bureau after World War II, died Thursday. She was 93.
She died at her home in her Val Verde Casa Dorinda home.”
Printed like that! With Val Verde crossed out! What does that mean? What do those writers at the Independent know?!


Images and information from Austin Val Verde: Impressions of a Montecito Masterpiece by Ann Mitchell and Jay Belloli, Austin Val Verde: A Montecito Masterpiece by Berge Aran, and the Santa Barbara Independent.

Interiors

Haute Colonialism

I have a general obsession with campaign-style everything, and my colleague Jill just turned me on to this French company, Starbay, that does awesome campaign-inspired furniture. I think we’ll have a few light campaign touches on the Los Olivos project, like a few campy (camp-like, not kitschy) folding campaign chairs with either leather or canvas seats, but the South Africa project is where I’m really hoping we can put some of these pieces center stage.

Of course you can’t go over the top since the safari-theme is already WAY overdone there, but a few pieces with historical reference here and there? Come on. This is where safari was born, you can’t not.

Who says you need hunting boots? He killed that thing in those white dress shoes. The linen suit, on the other hand, was pure practicality– it kept him cool!

Click the jump for the rest…

Travelling light is for losers.

You can see why it was handy that all that stuff folded up into a box/trunk-like shape!
Old travel photographs are from another favorite – Melville and Moon.

Here are the Starbay products…

Obsessed with this bar-in-a-trunk. Two of my favorite things: an in-home bar, and a trunk. Comes in croc, rattan, or canvas.

This is a chest of drawers! Real drawers!

Love the pull-out chair that fits right in when it’s all closed up.

You can just fold it all up and then it’s totally portable so you can take it with you and just put on your makeup right outside your office building!

Who doesn’t need a fold-out bar on the deck of their yacht? Sometimes it just takes waaay too much effort to go inside to retrive a drink. Especially when you’re midway through a midday stogie.

It sounds like I’m hating, but I seriously love this stuff. Their editorial shots are just sort of asking for it though.