Colin Cowie Chic, The Guide To Life As It Should Be, by Colin Cowie, is a pretty little book. Small in size, the texturized dust jacket paper is embossed in a rich brown croc print. The pages are filled with bright fuchsia and avocado blocks of text and color. The photos inside stay true to the color scheme throughout. Even the black and white images are actually brown and white.
The content is just as easy to peruse. Colin Cowie is a professional stylish who presents a lifestyle that is indulgent, carefree and above all, glamorous. The first three chapters are dedicated to organizing the home with a heavy emphasis around entertaining. Later chapters cover travel, office politics, identity theft, exercise, fashion and even how to avoid a hangover.
My home is my refuge, my playground, my base of operations, my pride and joy. I use my living room sofa, my dining room table, my very best china. My crystal stemware, and every single one of my favorite things as often as possible– and I do so with pleasure and gratitude that they’re mine.
Couldn’t agree with that more.
Today’s Washington Post held some good news. A few of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams furniture pieces are now sold at Bloomingdales in Chevy Chase. What’s so great about that? Simply put, department stores run SALES.
Last week I wrote about the exterior architecture of a house dictating the interior design plan. On an trip to Borders yesterday I found a great book about the styles of homes common in America.
The Houses We Live In, An Identification Guide to the History and Style of American Domestic Architecture, General Editor: Jeffery Howe, is filled with nearly 500 pages of tightly packed text and information, but could easily pass as a coffee table book.
The photos are rather amateurish, and in many cases down right amusing. It is obvious most were never even in the same room as a copy of Photoshop. Many photos are faded and no attempt has been made to take out cars, trucks, power lines, or bystanders. It is actually as much fun looking at the 20 some years of car body styles as the architecture styles. And the clothes on the people! Oh My! (Is that a ManPurse in the photo above?) The general editor admits in the Preface that he took most of the 600 photos himself in his twenty year attachment to American homes. The dust cover states,
[Howe's] longstanding interest in architecture is matched by his interest in photography and digital media; his digital archives of the images of American architecture were among the first on the Internet.
Anyone with even a passing interest in American History will enjoy owning a copy.
A conversation with some good friends around the pool inspired me to list those little things that make my life easier. I call them my Creature Comforts. Items that help me create my haven. Can I live without them? Of course, and I never forget how privileged I am to have them. I really do have an attitude of gratitude every day…
1. My Cuisinart Coffee on Demand Coffee Maker. Programmed for a few minutes before I need to get up, I have a nice hot cup of energy before a thought even enters my head.
2. The roomy upholstered chair in the Kitchen just for drinking said coffee.
3. My daily newspaper subscriptions. I know my hometown wasn’t THAT small, but getting the Washington Post on the driveway everyday still feels like a luxury.
4. My feather bed.
5. Thick, fluffy, white towels. And having a husband who remembers to throw them in the wash every now and then.
6. A rocker on a porch.
7. Foray mechanical pencils. Weird, I know.
8. Hallare Tealight Holder from Ikea. I have had it for like 6 years, and I love watching the straight line of flicker every bit as much as I did the day I got it. I think I spent 6 bucks on it.
9. My Trollbeads. It started as jewelry, and went from a collection to a community.
10. My Mirra desk chair. I can sit in front of the computer for hours. And sometimes I do…
I finally have had a moment to read my Domino Magazine from June/July. Disgust kept me from getting past page 18.
Printed here is Deborah Needleman’s editorial where she gushes on about how great her parties are. Well, trust me, if I were invited (yeah, like that is going to happen) I would have left by dinner.
Check out the photo.
The guests are smoking while the food is being eaten. And the caption says, and I kid you not,
Kicking back, Interior Designer Kathryn M. Ireland (p. 78) loves meals where the children can mix with adults.
I am certainly no saint, but please, smoking at the table with children? In an editorial page?? They couldn’t find another picture? Or are we to think this is cool?
I am stunned by the location settings in the CB2 catalogue that I blogged about yesterday. I find it interesting and amusing that no effort has been made to HIDE the fact that the furniture is being photographed on a set in a warehouse. And some of the sets are unbelievably beautiful.
This wood slate wall would be a dream come true for me, the self appointed queen of texture.
The white painted brick sets a clean background.
Have you ever seen such wonderful wainscot? It works well with the herringbone floor.
A wall of logs…
The first hint that we are in a set…Notice the exposed platform. The Stage Floor Lamp and the jet black walls complete the illusion.
Why not just turn our mock walls around? So bold!
And finally here, have we the photographer? Tatted up with the studio lights in the background. The designers of this catalogue certainly made me spend more looking through this book than I normally would. Will it result in a sale?
I received my new CB2 catalogue yesterday in my huge stack of mail. (I have been gone 10 days. Many of those without Internet or even cell service.)
This collection of white dishes and serving ware caught my eye. You may have read before that I am nuts about pure white dishes. The best part of this collection is the price. CB2 sells these for $2.95-$6.95. The large rectangular platter is $14.95.
CB2 has two stores in Chicago, one in New York and one in San Francisco. Anyone ever been?
Shopping in Ohio for my daughters’ birthdays today, I spotted a very nice display in Sears for the Land’s End division.
Obviously, the Land’s End department caters to a very different crowd then the regular tools and what not. The entire area is decked out in a nautical theme–bad pun, I know!
A navy sofa piped in white, two matching club chairs and a coffee table in heavy rough pine create a sitting area. I love the huge jars of rope, sand and river rock.
Today’s Target Circular featured a Quilt and Tote Set in bright Pinks. The set comes in a reusable bag, that certainly resembles the Vera Bradley duffle my daughter’s BFF brought with her on our Ohio trip.
I can see this set in a teen room, or in a Beach House Guest Room. Smashing with chocolate brown walls, don’t you think? It is available in Full/Queen or King sizes for only $54.
Wanting for my sister to return home (when I only traveled 7 hours to see her…) I flipped through her current Wine Spectator. On page 17 I noticed a well plated pork belly appetizer sitting on a Chilewich placemat.
I had forgotten how much I love Chilewich Plynyl. Apartment Zero in DC first introduced me to these vinyl products, finely woven to rival cotton. I have recently also admired Chilewich area rugs in Richmond at La Difference.
Sandy Chilewich has created innovative floor coverings, table ware, and handbags by weaving vinyl like other fibers. The result is durable products which combine contemporary function with organic style.
I see a Market Tote in my future.
