TOTAL TRANSPARENCY: INVISIBLE FURNITURE FROM PAGODA RED

Made in Beijing, July Zhou takes traditional Chinese Ming furniture forms and reinvents them in crystal clear lucite. The handmade, highly- detailed pieces glow with a lacquer like luster. Adding a piece to any interior brings a modernist sensibility and a dash of cool factor. The pieces have just launched at Betsy Nathan's Chicago-based Pagoda Red booth at 1st Dibs on the 10th floor of  The New York Design Center. Her Chicago store is a must-visit destination, so I am sure this will be too.

Photos courtesy Pagoda Red

Summer Palace Altar Table

Pair of Blue and White Invisible Chairs 

Summer Palace Low Table 

Summer Palace Square Table

Forever Roundback Chair

Invisible Stool

The Mirage Stool has color on the underside of the lucite that gives it a glowing red presence

BACK TO SCHOOL: CLASS PORTRAITS

School portraits are endearing for a host of reasons. Bad hair, outfits and expressions notwithstanding, the awkwardness of it all turns to charming once you can look back and laugh.  Artist Angela Rossi's Beat Up Creations Mixed Media Portraits are a laugh-out-loud riff on the theme, where instead of wily children, she has replaced smiling faces with soulful faced animals.  Dressed in era-appropriate 1970's and 80's looks of the day, turtlenecks, corduroys  and plaid shirts were standard garb. They take the lower school years to high art, printed from pigment-based inks on archival paper they are framed in gesso-painted pine frames. You can find them at Michele Varian online.

They are genius.

Photos courtesy of Michelle Varian

Rachelle 4th Grade Cockatoo

Andrea 1'st Grade Giraffe 

Billy 2nd Grade Goat 

Hunter 3rd Grade Hound Dog

Katie Kindergarten Cat 

This is the only time I will ever show a cat, I promise

Mary 3rd Grade Gazelle in the very same teal Oshkosk corduroy overalls I had

Princess Pinniped of the Caspian Sea, Sea Lion 

Tony 6th Grade Tiger Cub

PARIS ARRIVE A NEW YORK: MARCHE AUX PUCES HITS BARNEYS

If you didn't make it to Paris for Maison Objet, with a side trip to the famed La Marche Aux Puces flea market in Clignancourt, you are in luck, because it has come to you.  Barneys New York is saving you the price of a plane ticket, and the cost of shipping a container home. After mining through hundreds of decorative objects and antiques, Dennis Freedman, creative director of Barneys New York, cherry-picked his favorites to bring back to New York. Three stalls have been set up in Chelsea Passage on the 9th floor of the store, filled with unusual original pieces, ranging from a mod orange 60's chair to architectural salvage to funky metal sculptures from the 1930's. The range of styles, priced from $200 to $5000, makes the assortment worth seeing, since once its gone it's gone baby gone.  It will be there till mid-November, vite!

Photos courtesy of Tom Sibley

One of the three dramatically lit stalls

It's all in the mix

Need an arched window from a cathedral?

There is a bit of everything

The metal bird is fabulous

It's fun to see the diversity of materials

Displayed gallery style, you don't have to fight the pushy crowds here

BRING IT TO THE TABLE: TIME TO NETWORK

Real Estate and Interior Design: working together on transforming people's lifestyles

On Wednesday September 19th, the women of design networking group will have its 2 year anniversary.  Lana Lawrence of Anthony Lawrence Belfair always gathers industry leaders to inspire. Join panelists Alexa Hampton of Mark Hampton Interiors and Dottie Herman from Prudential Douglas Elliman in dialogue moderated by Jim Druckman of the NYDC.  For their event, the focus of the  evening will be interior design and real estate, the crossroads of the two, and how they can help each other.  Topics with include: how important is the interior design potential of a home to real estate transactions? Should staging occur at the middle or high end level? Referrals, do they work? How important is real estate as a starting point for a designer taking on a new project?  A bonus is the Luxe Box from Luxe Magazine,  a detailed directory for home buyers that  brings together real estate companies, interior designers and home furnishings manufacturers. BiTTT members will receive complimentary tickets to the evening. Come one come all to network, see your friends and learn, to the

Cliff Young Ltd showroom 505, at 200 Lexington Avenue on September 19th at 6:00pm. Purchase your tickets here.

SEEING: PATCHWORK PRISM KALEIDOSCOPE

Look, and you shall find. It only takes seeing something a few times to start to recognize it as a trend. That's what Suzy Slesin of Pointed Leaf Press, the brilliantly creative and effervescent former Editor and Chief at Oprah Home Magazine would say to me, and she's right.  In this case, I have been seeing this patchwork/prism/kaleidoscope pattern trend bubbling up. I like the fresh geometry to it, let's see if it evolves in a bigger way. 

Dransfield and Ross always amazes with pillows galore, like this new patchwork shards prismatic pillow.

Photo courtesy of Ferm Living

A totally different color palette from Ferm Living.

Photo courtesy of Ikea

Perhaps blue is your hue? Deep blue velvet this time of year is, well, just right. Ikea's Stockholm Triangel Pillow does the job nicely.

Photo courtesy of Edit

Harlequin silk fabric by Australia's Edit through Studio Four. It's watercolor effect and unusual colors are mesmerizing.

 Photo courtesy of Urban Outfitters

Feeling crafty? Urban Outfitters Kaleidoscope Patchwork Quilt is neo-Americana.

Photo courtesy of CB2

Step lively on CB2's Colored Crystal Runner it's like having your own disco runway minus the flashing lights.

Photo courtesy of Furbish Studio

The Neon Summer Pillow from Furbish Studio for a close up take.

MEET JOHN ROBSHAW TODAY AT BLOOMINGDALES 59th ST

If you happen to be in Midtown East this evening from 6-8pm, swing by Bloomingdale's to meet Indian textile guru John Robshaw, where he will be sharing his fall collection of blockprint bedding and pillows from the JR and main collection. It is worth a visit, since John can help you mix and match patterns to your heart's delight.  If you can't make it, you can always pop in to shop the assortment in it's new home on the 7th floor or shop it online at Bloomingdales.

READY SET DECORATE: OKL'S VINTAGE MAKEOVER CHALLENGE

Certain things in life require minor adjustments, tweaks if you will. Styling surface areas is one of those places tweaking is a must. Playing with scale, height, volume, color and texture to achieve the right balance is part of the game. Getting it right is always a work in progress. Creating something appealing and functional takes time and effort, like most things in life. Interior designers can spend days arriving at the correct balance of books to objects when styling bookshelves. Why should other surface areas be any different?
I was recently asked by One Kings Lane to take part in their Vintage Makeover Challenge for their Live, Love, Home editorial section. The task?  To re-work an area in my home,  layering in vintage items from their ever-varied, constantly-evolving Vintage and Market Finds assortment. I chose my nightstand to makeover, because it is a spot I use every day, and I wanted it to be functional, pretty and inject it with a dose of the unexpected. After I submitted my makeover area, Vintage Buyer and all-around style connoisseur Andrea Stanford of One Kings Lane set about selecting the items to bring a bit of zing to my bedside table. 

The results of her vintage selects and my styling are seen below, in a step by step guide to the art of the "try it out and see" school of styling. What she sent was a surprise, so when it arrived, I got to work.  Starting with a blank canvas,  I set about creating a layered effect to get a bit of sparkle, a lot of color and a functional spot to do more than just hold the remote control. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

I set out knowing exactly what space I wanted to transform.  My nightstand. It needed a freshening, and it was the perfect spot to delve into.

I added, subtracted, shuffled and stacked till it fit well and looked balanced.

 

The final touch was the addition of a bright pink hydrangea bloom to fill out the curvaceous teal vase with a round, voluminous mass.

Surprise! The goods!