EASY BREEZY: ISLAND STYLE FROM INDIA HICKS FOR HSN

Photo courtesy of India Hicks

Island dweller India Hicks has four children, a boutique hotel, The Landing and store, The Sugar Mill on Harbor Island that carries her jewelry collection as well as an assortment of stylish caftans, printed beach bags and other colorful pieces for Bahamian living.

Filled with easy essentials, such as nautical art, raffia-edged pillows, throws and bedding, the new India Hicks collection Island Living for HSN is available today. The tightly edited, breezy collection is en point, sticking to mainly soft goods--- blue and white and pale hues in patterned pillows, linear bordered bedding and cozy throws.  It captures the island idyll lifestyle that Harbor Island is to nonchalant beauty and walking Ralph Lauren ad as well as heir to British design royalty (her father was the famed British interior icon), India Hicks.  She is one busy gal who does everything with easy style.

Photos courtesy of India Hicks

Her Harbor Island bedroom served as inspiration

 Photos and magazine tears line the wall above India's chic little campaign writing desk

A corner of the living room mixes textural natural woven baskets, a bergere made casual and a neatly arranged tablescape, a display trait she surely inherited from her father David Hicks. Tablescapes were his thing.

Harbor Island Decorative Pillows come in a pair

Marine Like Decorated Pillows with the now-iconic octopus motif

Tradewinds Euroshams with raffia flange can also make a nice addition on an over sized sofa

The bedskirt is pretty great, it would look just right on my spring bed, it's simplicity would complement the colorful edged shams

The Harbor Island Quilt set would work well broken up with solid white bedding

These diamond throws are so well priced that each chair could have it's own for chilly nights

Bring the island sealife back with you, a framed whale will remind you of trips to the ocean 

A series of seashell and seaweed prints on a navy ground are basic and pretty for summer houses that need a seasonal spruce up

THE 2013 KIPS BAY DECORATOR SHOWHOUSE LINE UP

The Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse is back in a townhouse on the Upper East Side this year. I for one, am pleased. I know modern apartment buildings show how people can live in more realistic environs with the ideas the designers dream up, but I love the townhouse format for its old world New York feel. The chosen location, 161 East 64th Street,  will be transformed this coming May 7th through June 4th. This year's showhouse chair, Bunny Williams brings her years of expertise and Kips Bay involvement, ensuring it will be another wonderful year. Sponsored by industry leaders, those generously participating are 1st Dibs, Architectural Digest, Benjamin Moore Paints, Hearst Design Group (comprised of Elle Decor, Veranda and House Beautiful) magazines, fabric houses Kravet, Koroseal, Scalamandre, Schumacher and appliance brand, Kitchen Aid. This is the charity's 41st year of the showhouse, a major event that ensures enriching after-school programs for underprivileged children get the necessary funding.

Here is the lineup of participating designers, some, such as Eve Robinson and Gomez and Associates are back in the showhouse fold, and others, like Kristen McGinnis and Robert Brown are making their debuts. 

Congratulations all:

Andrew Suvalsky Designs

Barbara Ostrom Associates

Christopher Peacock

Dineen Architecture + Design PC

Eve Robinson Associates

Felicia Zwebner Design

Garcia / Maldonado

Gomez Associates

Huniford Design Studio

Jack Levy Design

Judy King Interiors

Kathryn M. Ireland Textiles & Design

Kristen McGinnis Design Inc.

Monica Rich Kosann Photography

Nievera Williams Design

Robert Brown Interior Design

Sara Story Design

Stephen Mooney Interiors

West Chin Architect, PLLC

CONTAIN YOURSELF!

With the arrival of spring comes cleaning, changing over to the spring wardrobe and bringing fresh colors into our homes. Here are some ways to get it together, and store your stuff in style.

Powder coated metal baskets from Lostine keep small things in order. The tri-level baskets keep things at eye level. These age great for fruit and vegetables in the kitchen.

Lostine also creates larger baskets that resemble those farmers have used for ages to collect potatoes, these in bright colors to add some zing to office or children's rooms.

With a large caning pattern,  nesting Skalny baskets have a delicate look and do their job with elegant ease.

Photo courtesy of West Elm

This dipped basket from West Elm is terrific looking. Made of rattan that is dipped and woven together, the baskets have a fresh take with an ethnic and modern sensibility.

Bamboula Ltd Turkana ethnic woven baskets are made in Kenya. These richly textured baskets come in a variety of colors and can be used as waste baskets or to store tools. They add such a great dose of pattern.

 Bamboula's red and white Sisal Cylindars in Poppy come in a set of 3 and work well for small things.

 Teal is such a popular color this version would be at home in so many interiors.

The orange is pretty great too.

Using mod geometric fun patterns to create tabletop items and cotton canvas storage bins, Pehr Designs creates square and round bins to keep it together, and even fit on Ikea shelves.

COVETED BAMBOO CHAIRS FOUND: RED EGG

The sun bleached version I found at Brimfield that was refinished and recovered in Robert Allen fabrics

Photo courtesy of Ashley Whittaker

The vintage bamboo barrel chair. The chair that launched hundreds if not thousands of Pinterest re-pins. The chair has been in demand for some time, and here is a place you can get them shiny and new, in a wide variety of punchy colors. Originally launched in the 1960's, it was commonly used around a game table.

Red Egg, a wonderful little company started by Carol Gregg, is making their Indochine bent-bamboo chairs in the Philipines, in the classic way, with cane seat and kiln dried bamboo, and finishing them in High Point, NC. If you have been coveting this intricately detailed style, it can be had!

The Indochine Horseshoe Armchair

The Indochine High Back Chair

The Indochine Armchair in Peacock

Available finish colors

GET GROWING: CONTAINER GARDENS FROM PENNOYER AND NEWMANN

With the weather warming up, many gardeners are starting to think about their gardens, terraces, porches and container gardens. That being said, here are some beautiful, lightweight options from Pennoyer and Newmann. Made from easy to drag around resin and fiberglass composites, their highly detailed designs are cast from original planters and vessels found on estates around the globe. It is so nice to see how many new designs they have created since they started in 2003, and their aesthetic will suit stark modern and traditional settings equally well. They were the first company in the US to create stone resin replicas that resembled the lead originals.  Planting in containers allows for a variety of plant options and you can see how transformative they are in these city container gardens shown here. If you happen to live in NYC, stop by their new showroom at the New York Design Center to see them in person and begin to envision your garden coming to life.

Photos courtesy of Pennoyer and Newmann

Square Planter with circle icon

Conical Strap Pot

Elizabethan 

Dutch Planter 

Whiskey Barrel 

Conical Strapped Egg Cup 

Compote Bowl 

Squat Planter 

Lattice Urn with or without a lid is the chicest thing ever

They even do custom monogram plaques for planters- such a chic way to make it your own

THE BIG BLOOMS OF PAUL LANGE

Photos courtesy of Paul Lange

Art imitates life and life imitates art. Art also has the power to transform, unite, as well as be uplifting.  In floral photography, the life of a single, gorgeous bloom is frozen in time, giving each detailed, flower everlasting life. Capturing flower stems at the peak of perfection is former fashion photographer Paul Lange's specialty. A single, robust bloom, shot against a stark white backdrop makes them look as though they are floating, while the large scale of his work captures every detailed petal's crease and frilly edge with magnified clarity.  It just so happens that Lange works with some of my favorite flowers, including peonies, anemones and poppies- so I was instantly smitten with his over sized prints named for women.

You may recognize the Hudson Valley, New York-based artist's work from Vogue, or perhaps you have seen his work hanging in Aerin Lauder's new Aerin offices, when they were featured in Architectural Digest.  The magic in Lange's work is that it captures ephemeral moments of a flower's life cycle- a flower almost in bloom, at it's most perfect, and towards the end of it's greatness, as it is about to drop it's petals.  The impact of these color saturated photos is undeniable- hung as a single piece or as a grid they make a BIG statement. I have shown only an assortment here, and his website reveals even more flowers that are part of his Big Bloom series. Since he prints his photographs himself, you can order them directly, and specify size. They are just happy-making, smile-inducing art and a nice way to start building a collection around color. Plus, it is a great way to kick off the month of April.

Francesca, 2012

Veronique, 2011

 

Evelyn, 2013

Laura, 2011

Christina, 2012

Marquerite, 2012

Paulina, 2012

Rachel, 2010

Consuelo, 2013

Miranda, 2013