Showing posts with label American mags. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American mags. Show all posts

Tuesday, 22 February 2011

Greek columns, reinterpreted









Speaking of Greek style interiors.







The current issue of US Elle Decor (February/March) sports on its cover a set of Ionic style columns framing with great but not absolute symmetry a home office desk.

Flipping inside, we can see that the design comes from a Park Avenue penthouse apartment arranged maasterfully by classic American decorator Bunny Williams. The outcome is fresh and contemporary, yet welcoming and very elegant and distinctive.

I received for Christmas Bunny Williams' Scrapbook for Living which is fantastic and the kind of book one hopes to read from talented legends like Ms. Williams, and now sits side by side with my almost worn out copy of An Affair with a House that I absolutely loved.

It does seem though that Ms. Williams appreciates Greek style, which explains her trained eye for elegance and balance, as in her office, photographed for Lonny magazine, I can see a lovely bust of Perseus.

What I also found very interesting and instructive, is this part of Ms. Williams' description of the decorating process.


To forge a connection between the interior and the wraparound terrace, she installed blue glass on the ceiling to mimic the sky and added architectural detail with a framework of tailored zinc beams. “It took us 20 tries to get the size of the bolts in them right,” she says with a laugh.
And also:
 “I never would have looked at that table 20 years ago, but it’s essential to see pieces anew, to refresh your eye.”
Isn't it wonderful that a professional of Ms. Williams' caliber, is so open about her process, and her great attention to detail?




All in all a lovely feature and a copy to keep on my shelves.




love, Irene

Monday, 27 September 2010

Pumpkins galore

via Cajoline scrap
Tick-tock. We shall be having some rain tomorrow. Autumn is on its way! Let me see what I like about Autumn... Yes, I like the colours first and foremost.


Ina Garten's pumpkin cupcakes with maple frosting via House Beautiful


gorgeous pumpkin pillows with how-to at Martha Stuart

Halloween Pumpkin Stencil from The Graphics Fairy

Just so that we get into the mood...

love, Irene

Sunday, 1 August 2010

American Beauty: Bunny Mellon's garden







Mellon, photographed by Henri Cartier-Bresson in her Oak Spring garden, 1962.



Bunny Mellon
Bunny Mellon and her husband Paul in a 1967 photo (The Washington Post)

Rarely seen and never photographed, the Listerine heiress, widow of billionaire art collector Paul Mellon, Mrs. Mellon, who is now in her 90s, [turns 100 this month] is famously reclusive and famous for her love of the decorative arts, maintaining homes in Virginia, New York, and Osterville that are fully staffed at all times so that she may arrive (via her private jet) on a moment’s notice with everything prepared for her. A stickler for getting things the way she wants, she once built a large swimming pool on her Osterville estate only to decide when it was finished that the deep end was on the wrong side. The pool was dug up and completely reconstructed to her specifications. A great and loyal friend to Jackie Onassis she was (privately) famous for her extravagant gifts to the former First Lady. When Jackie took up watercolor painting, Mrs. Mellon gifted her with a metal paintbox which held, in place of the brush, two gold earring loops and in the place of each color there were two precious stones with hooks for the earring loops — sapphires (for blue), rubies (for red), emeralds (for green), diamonds (for yellow), etc. A number of years ago Mrs. Mellon built a beautiful mansion with courtyard in the East 70s and is actively involved in maintaining its perfect interior design with a full-time personal interior decorator to assist her.
{VIA NY Social Diary}

Bunny Mellon's estate in Virginia. Read full story in Vanity Fair, August 2010


P.S. If you are looking for a book to take you through summer heat in a most pleasant way, I highly recommend Wild Designs.Very pleasurable, perfectly romantic, I was looking forward to take it in my hands every free moment I got. Hint: it involves gardening!


love, Irene

Tuesday, 7 April 2009

Love Domino Style-Last issue

Happy Turtle


Hello,
I hope everyone had a lovely week.
Have you seen any interesting posts about Domino lately?
I have found three Flickr pools to indulge myself in the beauty od fresh, spring fragranced interiors.

Today i'd like to ask you whether you got to leaf through the closing, March 2009 issue of Domino. If you did, why don't you post some pictures on your blog or photostream? Let me know if you do! I'd love to see what they made of the last issue. Apparently they had a feature telling the stories behind the homes of people during different decades of their life. A very American Vogue concept.




Photo credits: With thanks to: curlyjazz, onbradstreet, kimhas6cats, and annieloveschris.
Also read this article from Apartment Therapy.

Have a bright week ahead!

Tuesday, 31 March 2009

Love Domino Style-How did you Domino?

Happy Turtle


Hello Domino loving readers,

Can you recall the excitement of getting your copy at the newsagents'? Or did you subscribe?
Did you open your copy on a bus? At the nearby coffee shop? On your desk at work, perhaps?

Did you carry it everywhere with you, sipping sneak picks whenever you could?


Did you run home
or did you hide it like a bone to read it later?

with good company.

Did you keep your copies, too?


Photo credits: with thanks to citizen c, redhearts, champagne chic, shannalee, sunnygirlwi (mocha+magazine=bliss) and laurie:liquidpaper (domino: my drug of choice), via Flickr.

Tuesday, 17 February 2009

I love Domino style-Paint me beautiful

I love Domino Style

Hello dear friends,
I hope you all had a lovely week. A big Thank You to those who stopped by and those who e-mailed a word of encouragement. I really appreciate it!

Today I am not going to post from my Greek "Domino" collection. (You may read my first post on a random issue here). I am going to post (with permission) about the work of an artist I came across early on in my blogging and who has remained a stable favorite of mine.

Most of you are familiar with Anne Harwell, the charismatic artist of works of stylish interiors, including her iconic chair.

Anne of annechovie has been featured in the Domino website in the past. Her work had been chosen for the magazine's on line gift print gallery.

Her style and flair are instantly recognisable. She knows her subject, its demands and limitations. With her confident hand and her eye for detail she captures the particulars yet she never fails to communicate the overall impression, the feeling of a room or of a collection of objects.


Some of her works are inspired by Domino features or commissioned by clients. Her happy disposition fits perfectly with the magazine's deceptively carefree atmosphere. Here is a sample of her work inspired by original Domino features:







Isn't she amazing? Isn't it amazing how a magazine has inspired so many people to create anew kind of interiors, beautiful, fresh stylish and affordable, while at the same time it has inspired talented people to create beautiful works of art out of its pages?

Thank you, Anne for capturing our favorite magazine's style so beautifully!
Anne Harwell's blog can be found here. Click here for her etsy shop, where you can pick her prints, and here for her Flickr pages.Enjoy, and share the love!

Tuesday, 10 February 2009

I Love Domino Style

I love Domino Style

Hello, style lovers, and welcome to the "I Love Domino Style" meme.
Our aim here is to share our Domino love and to show the people at Conde-Nast how much we appreciate our favorite magazine and that we want it back.

I am going to start Domino Love with the January 2007 issue of Domino (Greece). Domino was the first interiors magazine to use famous people on its cover, instead of the usual room shot. That particular cover featured a young Greek actress, participating in one of Greek TV's greatest successes.

Quite interestingly, Editor-in-Chief was Paulina Sarri, a fashion photographer and stylist. She is now Editor-in-Chief of the Greek edition of House and Garden.

As the decline was becoming apparent, new blood was called in. Spyro Soulis, an Architect educated in London, was the host to the one and only interiors transformation show on Greek TV, now a thing of the past, too. He was called in to offer his practical, down to earth advice. In this issue he is being introduced by the editor and advises on how to achieve "Manhattan style".

"Manhattan style" is illustrated by a real life apartment in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece.



Piero Fornasetti items are a perennial favorite of Greek interior designers and stylists in the last 20 years. Domino always chose to present interiors that were modern yet classic and fresh, always infused in beautiful light, as shown in the pictures above.

What also makes Domino special is its introduction of detailed inspiration sheets and 'how to's.

Above, where inspiration came from for a school-type kitchen.
I liked how the editors presented their choices. Even the contents page was original, picking the most special pieces that one ought to read.


Interesting books were also handpicked covering all of readers' interests.

Some of Domino's favorites from the January 2007 issue,
So Far, So Goude
A Room Full of Toys: The Magical Characters of Childhood
Africa
New Decor
Vitamin Ph: New Perspectives in Photography
Larousse Encyclopedia of Wine

Then, there was the fun stuff, like those stickers that were helpful in marking one's favorite pages from garden to presents to entertainment. They also provided a playful, girly touch. Design is a serious business, but it is also fun, Domino seemed to say.

Even restaurants were chosen and presented not only for their menu but also for their stylish and fresh interiors.

In the January 2007 issue Domino hosted a feature on the new generation of Greece's most sought after furniture and interiors shops. They were photographed with their favorite coffee tables.

Last but not least, my favorite page by one of my favorite style setters. A Rita Koenig kind of article, with personal character, that Miss D had began as a newspaper columnist some ten years ago. I loved it! In the January 2007 issue, "Holidays with a French scent".

I hope you enjoyed that first tour. I look forward to visiting your blogs and sharing the Domino style!

Also, don't forget to stop by and say hello to our button designer, Tara. I believe she did a great job capturing the Domino spirit! Stay tuned, more surprises in store!

Classy Bling

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