Blogfest in NYC: Design and the City Part 2

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Still dreaming about the amazing and inspiring designs that I saw at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House during Blogfest 2012. This hot ticket event is celebrating its 40th year for Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club and it takes place through June 14 at the Aldyn, a luxury building on Manhattan’s West Side at Riverside Blvd. and 63rd St. So, if you are going to be in NYC, do yourself a favor and hurry to see not one, but two adjacent 6,000 square-foot residences (with views of the Hudson, beautiful terraces and rooms done by some of the top designers in the country.

And if you cannot make it to Manhattan, let me share some of the rooms that inspired me. As a southwest Florida interior decorator and writer, I am always looking for new ideas and practical solutions for my clients and right now, my head is spinning!

Of course, these are fantasy rooms. But they inspire us to think and to not be afraid to dream, use our imagination and have some fun with our own living spaces. That's what it is all about, right?

Photo from Blogfest 2012

"Sleeping Beauty" by Zoya Bograd of Rooms by Zoya B is fit for a princess.

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Blogfest in NYC: Design and the City

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Confession: In one of my many fantasy lives, I live in a glamorous New York penthouse with views of the Hudson River, perfectly decorated spaces done by top designers, luxurious fabrics and furnishings to die for.

Photo of Wrenda Goodwyn of Spectacular Spaces at Blogfest 2012I met my dream this week at Kravet’s fabulous Blogfest 2012.

It was the Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse which is celebrating its 40th year for Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club. Considered the hot ticket in New York, it takes place through June 14 at the Aldyn, a luxury building on Manhattan’s West Side at Riverside Blvd. and 63rd St. Here, I found not one, but two adjacent duplex residences with views of the Hudson, beautiful terraces. And one even has a large pool and spa. The good news, they are both for sale: $16.9 million and $15 million. If I can scrape up the $$$ I would like to purchase both and link them together. The bad news: I have a long way to go.

But for now, I am content to dream about the wonderful thingsPhoto of ad for Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse that I heard and saw. Blogfest designers had exclusive access for the evening and we were hosted by Architectural Digest Editor in Chief, Margaret Russell. Highlight was mingling with the designers in each room.

As a southwest Florida interior decorator who works with homeowners who mostly want a contemporary, Florida-style home that combines old and new, I am always looking for new ways to combine color and textures for indoor and outdoor spaces. The showcase was a virtual feast.

Because the Aldyn is a modern highrise (each apartment is on two levels: 20th and 21st floors), there are no fancy architectural details in the structure so the 31 designers used amazing creativity in creating these masterpieces from basic, plain rooms.

Noted throughout the house: heavy use of beautiful grasscloth, lacquered walls and ceilings, mixtures of old and new pieces.

And while Tangerine Tango may be the color of the year, Green is the color at Kips Bay. Jade, emerald, grass shades...in paint, fabric and accessories. Beautiful.

My favorites...well there were so many.  But I could not get past the “Gallery” designed by Thom Filicia (Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, major designer, charming, cute and latest design crush!).  The open gallery connects to the living room, dining room and library and is lacquered in an amazing green that I am told is Benjamin Moore’s Cat’s Eye 2036-10. The color is stunning and shows what can be done in a very simple space.
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9/11 Memorial: Beautiful and forever sad

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This week I am in New York City for Blogfest 2012 with designers, photographers and writers from around the country for a whirlwind three-day design event.
 
But when I arrived yesterday, my first stop was Ground Zero and the 9/11 Memorial.

Photo of 9/11 Memorial 
It was almost full circle for me. 
 
On September 11, 2001, I stepped out of a cab at the Newark airport on the most beautiful of New York mornings. The two towers sparkled across the river.  In two hours they would both be gone.

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Travels: Gardens, wine, artists and a peek inside the lives (and homes) of friends made along the way

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The best part of traveling (for me) is having a chance to see where people live and what their daily lives are like. And along the way, meeting folks who give you a unique perspective about where you are.  And I am always looking for ideas that I can  bring back home.

Photo by Elise Hoogsteden-Roberts.So, when I took a train from the Wellington Railway station on a warm, sunny New Zealand morning, I knew that my day of visiting gardens and studios of local artists (and lunch at a winery) in the beautiful Wairarapa region, would be another adventure. A chance to peak into the lives of some talented artists and to take in the regions's beautiful gardens.

Elise Hoogsteden-Roberts, a photographer and artist from the Wairarapa area, shot this photo (above) that summed up my thoughts about that day.  Like this porch with New Zealand summer fruits, it was just a place that you wanted to be. 

Photo by Elise Hoogsteden-Roberts.As an artist, Elise makes fun and fantastic jewelry that reflect the region. Fruit Salad Gal is the perfect name for her business because...well, click here and you will see what makes her craft so unique.  Her work is fun and popular and she ships to many Americans who return home and decide that they must have one of these yummy treats as a reminder of their visit.  Fortunately, she has realized that she has something that visitors want and if you go to her Facebook page, you will see a great selection of photos of her work.   Photo by Elise Hoogsteden-Roberts.

After gallery tours with resident and perfect guide, Julie Kidd, meeting artists at their studios and seeing their homes, walking through beautiful gardens,  the day ended with a fabulous lunch and tour of Gladstone Vineyard. Salmon caught that morning, asparagus picked from the garden and wine from the Vineyard. I could have stayed there forever. 

New Zealand just gets better and better.

 

Sweet memories of a day in the Wairarapa...

Beautiful gardens.

 

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Travel New Zealand: Oh, the places I have been!

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Cover of Dr. SeussNever would I have imagined the places I have been! 
 
When I was growing up in Virginia, my father and I shared the same wanderlust.  We loved history and and combed through all of the sites in the history-rich Peninsula area. And he gave me my curiosity of people and how they lived and what they could teach us.  That curiosity has taken me to places all over the world that I expected to only dream about or see in movies.
 
I likely would not have gone to New Zealand if it had not been for a business trip  that allowed me to add a week at each end of the trip.  Plus several days on my own to explore (there is nothing better than landing in a new country and having some days to roam on your own!).  And I could not have known that New Zealand would find me (instead of the other way around), show me its very best, lead me to some new friends and teach me some things that will be with mePhoto of AucklandAuckland from my hotel room. forever.  That is the wonderful thing about travel.  You never know what you will find.  Whether it is a trip down the street or on the other side of the world.
 
So, on this day, I have arrived in Auckland after what seems like days of flying. For the next two days I will explore this city and see what it has to teach me!
 
I put on my sunnies (sunglasses)  and headed for the harbor. It was going to be an easy peasy day (no stress).  A chocolate box day as the Kiwi’s say.   What could be better than a box of chocolates? 

 

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Travels: Haunting and beautiful Mendocino on my mind

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Mendocino has cast a spell on me. A good spell.

It is probably the fact that it is a quaint, very rustic village that time has forgotten. Setting on a rugged Photo of Mendocinobluff overlooking the Pacific, two hours north of San Francisco, the journey to get to this paradise is not for the faint of heart. But the Mendocino coast rewards those who make the journey with a setting that is pure heaven.

Or maybe it is isolated enough that the 700 or so people who live there seem pleasantly far removed from what goes on in the world.  For a few days I was happily one of them. In this unspoiled paradise.

It is right out of a movie.  Literally.  Many have been shot in this picturesque town, including East of Eden.  The historic Blair House was the setting for Murder She Wrote.

But for me, it is always about the houses.  The people who live in them now and in the past.Photo of Mendocino House with Wildflowers

Mendocino was  settled in the mid 19th century during the lumber boom and then the gold rush. In the 1950's it was primarily an artist colony.  Today it has a handful of galleries, organic restaurants with names like the Moosse Cafe and a few shops.   The historic Mendocino Hotel where you can have a delicious dinner and wine overlooking the bluffs. A Mendocino beach with driftwoodbeautiful beach filled with driftwood.  Hiking trails at Headlands State Park that wind out to cliffs filled with wildflowers and overlooking the ocean and the village. 

The homes are an eclectic combination of salt boxes, cottages, Queen Anne and Gothic Revival. The town is on the National Register of historic places.

Nearby, you can go to Glass Beach and wade through the tidal pools and pick up bits of colorful glass left over from the days going back to 1949 when it was a public dump. Or take a scenic tour on the Skunk Train of the Redwoods east of Fort Bragg by the Noyo River.

But the best part is just being in the little village of Mendocino. Haunting and spiritual. It casts a spell  that follows you home and it lingers for a long time.