Garage Heaven

Annie Selke, owner of Dash & Albert (the BEST rug company) and Pine Cone Hill (bedding turned lifestyle company), is one of those people who make things happen. She gets design for real people and is a woman who appreciates order.  We got to see Annie's sense of style in her monthly column last year in House Beautiful magazine when bought then renovated a house following a divorce which meant down sizing slightly and reordering her life.  Of the 12 columns, my very favorite was her two car garage that also acts as her entrance. It's fun yet orderly and made me smile. Who wouldn't want to drive into this every day?

It gives ideas for small space dwellers too like keep design in unexpected places (aka closets and nooks) and bring in color to add some sizzle, especially darker spaces.   Annie has a book coming out in two weeks so if you like this (and her companies) consider pre-ordering a copy on Amazon. 

Live large, 

Frances

Ps Annie, hug the dogs for me!

Home offices

The time has come.  The bills are stacked and life's to do's have piled up so time to take care of personal business but it's so much more fun to do that in a space that's fresh and inspirational.  Trying to create such a zone in my small abode, I turned a closet into a TINY home office and tried to make it fun by painting it pink, putting up meaningful memorabilia and jazzy office supplies but it's gotten old so I'm looking for new take on how others set up their home office.  Here's a few that caught my fancy.

Bigger in square footage than the others, this one has the room to spread out but I do think the floral shades and hits of burnt orange feel fresh.  Love the black painted bamboo chair. 

Another room that uses beige to great success is this room. Same feel but obviously lot smaller space.  Works well, I think....

It seems the kitchen is the new hub of the family so it makes sense to have one in the kitchen if your space allows.   Love how the desk has a hit of chevron to give a design statement even if only on the drawers. 

OK this picture has made it's rounds on the blog world but it's exactly the sort of office set up that I have... a converted office right off the bedroom. Love the glam factor & sense of order.  

The West Elm Parson's table keeps me in order now so I liked seeing how another home office sets theirs up.  I like the color palette but wonder where she keeps her office supplies. 

Gosh, to have a whole room.... I like this set up too and the pale green is nice though I'd need a better chair. 

There's the IKEA desk that shows up in most dorm rooms. Love the red legs and hit of wallpaper.  The   clock decal on the back of the door offers some humor which is always helpful when writing bills. 

Thanks to The Office Stylist who was my best resource for real people inspiration. 

Live large, 

Frances

Mimi Takes Manhanttan

Two months ago, a blond walked into the start up magazine that I am working at to begin her summer stint as our Style Department's summer intern and I knew immediately the fun had started.  Mimi was brand spankin' new to NYC, coming from the interior design program at LSU.  Hailing from outside New Orleans, I wasn't worried about her handling the characters of New York (I mean, New Orleans if FULL of characters, if nothing else) but conquering the subway system was another thing.  Being handed assignments Day 2 that sent her scouring the city meant she had to jump in with all her weight or she might not survive the fast paced environment of magazine land.  Her gig was hard because there wasn't any real "job" description or intern handbook that could pave the road for her. She was the first so she had to ask a lot of questions and be a quick study.  After she'd been there a few days, I sat down with her to talk about what she wanted out of the experience.  I told her that my expectation for her summer wasn't that she return to school with new design sketches or a loaded Rolodex or being able to name off every interior designer in the city but rather to be curious about life around her while she was here.  She'll make the contacts, get the inspiration for new projects and learn the big wigs in the design community if she learned to be really curious about life.  I wanted her to explore NYC as hard and deep as she could.  Hit Broadway, walk everywhere, eat weird foods, visit different boroughs, hit the museums-the list went on.  And man, did she take this advise and run with it.  She started a delightful blog,  Little Girl, Bigger Apple. She walked the Brooklyn Bridge, hit the Met, fell in love lamb meatballs tapas at Alta and hated shopping on Canal Street (understand that) and supported local businesses with gusto.  She did most of it by herself too, leaving work at 6pm after a full day to continue her nighttime city exploration. When company came (and boy, did they), she'd take them to favorite haunts and shared the experiences in her blog. 

Like the teacher learning from the student, coming up with places for her to check out, got me seeing the city with new eyes again too.  Walking the Highland the other night, I felt like I saw the city as she would have seen it and loved it.  I've become a new fan of Rockaway Beach with it's-brand-new-this-summer-foodie-boardwalk and clean beaches.  Rather than toss out an off Broadway special offer for a new show claiming to be "too busy" I actually bought a ticket.  I found myself looking in Time Out and New York Magazine for new, interesting things and dissatisfied with nights not filled with something fun.  Her sense of adventure made me proud.  

At some point, we started depending on her so much at work that she got the nickname "boss".  We felt like we were working for her when she cracked the whip on a task and she developed a sense of ownership of her work which we loved.  Sadly, she left us on Saturday to return to college where, no doubt, more adventures are awaiting but I sure feel blessed to have had her in my orbit this summer.   Needless to say, the Style Department now holds a Very High Bar for incoming interns.  The non-curious need not apply. 

In honor of Mimi, here are five new things I discovered this summer:

#1  Rockaway Beach-A bit of a haul on the subway but soooo worth it.  Clean beaches, nice crowds, a DJ that plays good tunes and really yummy food on the boardwalk. 

#2  Late evening picnics in Central Park. I've always done picnics during the day but I joined friends one summer night at twilight and it was truly magical. 

#3  Richard Serra's Drawings at the Met.  Just stunning (and yes, the McQueen exhibit next to it was worth the weight too). 

#4 Drinks overlooking Central Park at the new Design Museum. It's a small, charming museum with a penthouse restaurant/bar view worth visiting. The piano player is tops too!

#5  Free yoga at Union Square is a hoot and nice way to start to the day. 

Live large with eyes for new adventures, 

Frances  

What's cooking in the kitchen?

On the hunt for new recipes, I stumbled upon this lovely blog, Big Girls, Small Kitchen, perfectly suited to us small kitchen folks.  Here's the skinny on them:

Aren't they adorable?  And good for them for finding joy in starter apartment kitchens.  (Besides, while I may not be in my 20s anymore and I've lived in five or so apartments, the kitchen doesn't seem to be getting much bigger from my first walk up.) Who says you have to have a kitchen island and every tool known to man to produce great food anyway?  As a design nut, I'm always interested in how folks use and organize their cooking space. Here's how they did theirs:

(I agree with Phoebe's love of her Le Creuset). 

I, too, have only 1 drawer so understand how thrilled she must be with her new kitchen.   Thanks for the inspiration, girls! 

Live large, 

Frances

Supper's Served

Maybe it's too much time reading Food & Wine, Saveur and Food Network but I can't get out of the kitchen.   With the best of summer on sale at the green market, it's the time of year that I crave friends hanging out on the sofa drinking Arnold Palmers and eating tomato pie + ice cream sandwiches.   Luckily, friends have been humoring me to join the summer feast so I have reason to break out the cooking guns.  Saturday, my market basket was brimming with scallops (for ceviche), corn (for corn pudding) and tomatoes (for bruschetta or BLTs or tomato pie or gazpacho - I can't decide).  The problem with this kind of cooking is when the party is over and I'm faced with a random mix of foods in the fridge. What's a girl gonna do?  

She's going to go over to gojee for a frugal chef's answer to a prayer.  This ingenious site allows you to plug in what's in that fridge or kitchen cabinet then scans all the blogs and sites for recipes to use what you have.  You can even link up to your grocery store card so it knows what you're buying. Really hate one ingredient?  It lets you list so you won't get sent any recipes with that ingredient.  For this techno newbie, it's like Bourne Identify meets Julia Childs.  Happy Cooking!

Live large, 

Frances