Sunday Brunch: Eggs Benedict or Joe's O's

This is Sunday brunch over at the awesome designers' cottage. Eggs Benedict, stuffed tomatoes, asparagus, coffee cake with two kinds of homemade preserves and mimosas.


This is breakfast at The Cool House. Every day. The fact that it is served on Sunday morning does not make it brunch. I am starting to suffer from a massive inferiority complex. However that will not deter me from eating over at the neighbors' at every opportunity. Hell, I might even move in there permanently. Who could blame me? Everything is better over there.

Bonanza

Naming your new tile collection after a cult western TV show might evoke a retro vibe but it doesn't make it modern or stylish.
The Bonanza collection from Rako, via Trendir. A study in institutional peach.

An insight into our relationship

Some people have tons of patience and some like to poke and push to get results. Guess which one I am?
Modernemama: Honey, notice anything different?
The Guy: You cut your hair?
M: No


Thirty minutes later:
M: I bought another ball to go in the red bowl
TG: So that's what's new?
M: No. Can't you see it?
TG: I'll walk round the house.......

A few minutes later:
TG: Which room is it in?
M: This one.

Thirty minutes later:
TG: You vacuumed?
M: No
TG: Tell me...Please.

Thirty minutes later:
TG: I give in. Tell me
M: No
TG: I'm going to my computer.

The Guy thinks I will have blogged about the new addition to the den decor. The Guy underestimates my powers.

Next morning:
M: Worked it out yet?
TG: Back in a sec. .............

An hour later Polly needs to go outside and as he crosses the great room something catches his eye. I hear "Oh, wow". Apparently if he is staring straight at something it doesn't register but if he walks diagonally past it, it will jump out wrap itself round his consciousness. Whatever, he got it. Finally.


I got new silk drapes I like for the big window in the den, on sale at Pottery Barn. The color is "clay" and they are less bright than they look in the photo. I like them much better than the oatmeal ones from Crate and Barrel. They contrast with the onyx roman shades but not too much. It's amazing what a difference a couple of tones can make. The Guy, once he noticed, approved of the choice too.
So, which kind of person am I? If you guessed both with a side of torture, you win.

Hibiscus by the Garage

They are having a 50% off annuals at the local nursery so I scored three of these lovely pink hibiscus and three bone colored pots to put them in so I could beautify the garage


I started by buying just two yesterday and decided that looked odd so I went back this morning and got one more. Very luckily they had one pink plant left. Yesterday they had tons but at $25 for a 3' plant they were selling like hot pink hibiscus should.


This is something I'd been meaning to do since we moved here - to draw the eye away from the acres of asphalt and focus on something pretty. Something pretty and pink.

Crystals on the floor, and more

One of my recent posts, on Svarowski crystal flooring at the Domotex 2008 show provoked a whole "how do they do that?" storm so I thought I'd look more closely at the flooring.


The floors tiles are produced by Diametral Concepts in Glass, an Austrian company that uses a layer of Swarovski crystal mesh between two layers of glass, sealed with a patented glue so it always stays sparkly. It's superbly suited to hotels, nightclubs and casinos where the night lights show off the crystals to their best advantage. Diametral are pretty stingy with their images. For the moment you would have to visit the Gulf Countries or their website to see a stunning Barbie pink example, but a casino floor in Vegas may be swarovskied in the near future.


Of course you may want that touch of bling elsewhere in your house and Swarovski crystals can be used in many other architectural applications. Want an entire cystalized bathroom? Walls, lighting, faucets can all sparkle as in this bath by Kludi.


Maybe your kitchen appliances are looking ordinary? You could step up for the Swarovski crystalized fridge-freezer by Gorenje. Really, no room needs to be left bare - and I'm sure your milk and eggs will taste much better if they are stored in a crystal-studded refrigerator.

Competition Sunday

And through to the end of the month Create My Event is having a Fourth of July Traditions Contest to win this Inhabit Grass Stretched Wall Art from 2Modern.com.
It's stunningly simple to enter, just click the link and post your favorite tradition in the comments box. Easy, no?
Obviously my tradition on the Fourth is to hide away until people stop mentioning how the English got their asses kicked but I'm sure you can do much better than that....

Win more

Linda Merrill at ::Surroundings:: has a fab new contests sponsored by Artaissance. If you ever wanted a piece of custom art to complete your sitting room or bedroom now is your chance.
Just go to ::Surroundings:: and tell the internets what inspires you. It's that easy. Leave your story in the comments and you could win a gift certificate for any single item currently available on the Artaissance site, floral, modern, abstract - it's up to you. Competition closes Monday, May 12th and unfortunately for me I am banned from entering as I won the fantastic lamp time. Sad for me, more chances for you.

First of May

First of May, enter the Spring Flowers competition over at Create My Event today.
All you have to do is leave a comment with your best Spring decorating idea and you could win this gorgeous, eco-friendly Ailanthus pillow from Inhabit. It's made from recyclable materials, it's pretty, green and it could be yours...

I can see you

I'm supposed to be working (but there seems to be quite a bit of blogging going on including commenting on other people's blogs) so I wasn't really paying attention to where the small dog was.....


Yes those are my new pillows that she is happily snoozing against. I managed to shoot this before she woke up and guiltily crawled off the sofa.


Then I saw the reason for her contentment, and guilt. That's a scrupulously clean pot of what was formerly my lunch. Puppies. Such a joy.

Curtains

Or how I tried to decorate the master bedroom and ended up back in the den.
In the package of pillows I received from Crate & Barrel last week were two Taylor Panels in Pearl that I thought would be a good replacement for the non-functioning roller blinds in our bedroom. Damn inaccurate computer monitors! They were more oatmeal than pearl. I was going to return them when I remembered we had never come up with a solution for the large window in the den that looks out on the back terrace. We wanted something that would co-ordinate with the roman shades without being too matchy-matchy. So I held them up against the window and whadya know? They look awesome. I even got a clothes hanger, draped the panel over it and and hung it on the built-ins so I could see the effect from the other side of the room. Inventive, no?
Of course I now needed to get a curtain rod and the ones we bought in 2005 have been discontinued, but with the aid of the internets I tracked down the last Pegoda rods at sears.com.

If The Guy will help on Saturday I'll attach the hardware and hang the drapes and take photos. Until then there's a polyvore mock-up above.
The Crate and Barrel curtains are really nice quality (and in the Outlet section) so it would have been a pity not to use them but I still have to find something for the master bedroom so I can open the windows without a roller blind falling on my head.

Crate - for Renovation Therapy

I meant to blog this last week and then got busy and forgot.
I've always been a big fan of British designer Jasper Morrison. His Glo-Ball lamp is simple and beautiful, a work of art. And his Bus stop for Vitra is a mundane structure re-imagined as a breath-taking architectural piece.
But I think this is taking post-modern irony to the limit. $220 and he can't even think up a snappy name for his new product? Oh wait, $220 includes a copy of 'The Crate Picture Book'. Perhaps the book is worth $200 and the Crate $20?
If I had fourteen wine crates lying around my house I would be selling them as Jasper Morrison-inspired bookcases right now. And I'm sure reno can put together a tie-in book while she's about it!

Silver Screen Inspiration

When I saw Down With Love, the 2003 movie starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor pretty much the only thing I liked were the sets. I loved the whole candy-colored retro vibe in her space and the staid, spare modernism of his wood paneled room. Now I can recreate the surreal 60s look thanks to Linda Merrill's new blog ::Silver Screen Surroundings::.
Promising 'movie set decor, set decorators, and how to "Get that Look"' Linda's new blog has links to lots of design resources, including this Campbell Laird Flit #3 Print from 2modern design that I've long coveted.


I'll be checking in often to see what other movies sets will be offered up as inspiration. Two of my favorites: Woody Allen's Interiors and Ang Lee's The Ice Storm

Sabotage

The den is getting a makeover. I have a spectacular new lamp and two new red pillows


two new fawn pillows


and two contrasting neutral pillows. I took some photos to document the upgrades and then I went to upload them. This is what greeted me when I got back


At least she nudged the cushion off the sofa so she didn't drool on it.
Sometimes I wonder why I bother trying to make the house look stylish.

Red Frame/White Light

Red frame, white light


The inspiration?


The music

Win a Designer Pillow

2Modern Design are giving away this gorgeous Thomaspaul pillow currently on sale for $96. Just visit Create My Event and leave a comment with a creative Spring party theme idea to enter. Simple and possibly very satisfying. While you're there scroll down the page for my easy frozen yoghurt recipe. Also simple and guaranteed satisfying.
The competition runs until April 20 2008. Good Luck.

It's going to get a whole lot lighter

Look, look. Do you see what I see? Do you recognise that light? The sofa? The balcony? It's my living room.
I entered a competition over at Surroundings, a site run by designer Linda Merrill of Chameleon Interiors. Check it out, it's dedicated to all aspects of design - and there's plenty of information over there as well as lots of Insporn - it's full of lustworthy objects.
And what did I win? Why this absolutely gorgeous Jonathan Adler Carlyle Beaded Table Lamp offered by Croft & Little. It couldn't have come at a better time. I've been looking for a lamp to go here since I moved the old lamp to the master bedroom in the great art reshuffle. I almost bid on two lamps on eBay, despite the $0 in the lighting budget, one I forgot about until 10 minutes after the auction closed, the other I was going to do today. This is a gazillion times better, it will wake up that boring little corner in terms of light and style.
It would be very remiss of me not to thank the person who sent me to the competition at Surroundings in the first place, Susan Serra of The Kitchen Designer, whose blog I read avidly. If Susan were thinking of giving away a kitchen, especially a beautiful Hansen Kitchen, I'd enter in a heartbeat...

Beautiful Blog Things

A quick round-up of some beautiful blogs I've come across from my stats page or comments I've received via email.


The Rabbit Muse, a blogger from a jewelery maker and potter of pretty things living in upstate New York.


The Upholstery Blog from Heller Furniture, a Massachusetts based custom furniture and design firm.


Andeas Design & Scrapbook På Nätet, Andreas linked to a post I did a while ago on furniture that morphs into a room for 2Modern Design Talk. Unfortunately he linked it to The Cool House and not 2Modern, so I've been getting a lot of traffic from Sweden. If any of them need more information on the Casulo it's here.


Blink Decor's Decorators Dish has a post up about Pochoir Portfolios, a 1920s Moderne French Interiors exhibition at the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami. I love anything with Moderne in the title, obviously, but all the posts on the blog are inspiring. Check out this one on interiors from the film “Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day”.
Enjoy. I'm back to thinking about the vessel sink. The Red and Black is winning by a mile.

Go ahead, lick the screen

via Blinkdecor

French sisters Anouchka and Cassandra Lefebvre De Lange at Le Tramac take antique and vintage furniture and restore and re-upholster it in bright jewel-colored fabrics that just scream "Touch me".

Wow.
These pieces aren't cheap though, the cabinet is approx $2,500. But think what you could do with a junk-yard find, a few basic tools and some bright paint.
Don't they inspire you to take on another project?

Silver mosaic tiles

Porcelanosa Line Blanco wall tile with Mosaico Touch Silver accent (left)

While we were out shopping for floor tiles for the powder room last week-end I came across a new line from Porcelanosa that would work great as a backsplash in a modern kitchen or bathroom. Mosaic Touch, available in Silver or Graphite colorways, are 12"x8" ceramic mosaic tiles like the ones I put in the boys' bath last year, but these shiny beauties look like patterned stainless steel.


The advantages are the price, $6.50 per tile, and the ease of installation - just treat them like ordinary ceramic tiles, butter the back, stick them on the wall, pick a co-ordinating or contrasting grout, float it over, wipe it off and voila. It looks like mosaic but at half the cost and half the time.

Little yellow ball

I have no idea if it's a type of chrysanthemum but it came as part of a bouquet of flowers. I just know that it's tiny, yellow and unbelievably photogenic.