paper lily

Golden Ripe Pineapples

2008-10-01T18:28:00.005-05:00

1970s Pineapple Lamps

As far as oversize produce goes, this time of year it's all about pumpkins rather than pineapples. And while pineapples may be out of season right now, if these pineapple lamps from the seventies are any measure, they're always in style. Once I get past how pineapple decor brings to mind a lounge singer crooning Barry Manilow's "At the Copa, Copacabana..." (maybe because of the delightful kitschiness of anything in the likeness of a pineapple); I picture these lamps in a room with dark woods and leather seating (where there is probably very little singing).

Martha's Pumpkins

2008-09-30T11:29:00.008-05:00

Give Martha Stewart a pumpkin, and she turns it into something that would make Cinderella's fairy godmother proud.

Marimekko for Autumn

2008-09-29T21:18:00.005-05:00

Whether in nature or on fabric, landscapes derive their splendor from the view- including this design from the 2008 Marimekko Autumn collection. Sheer and fluid, the swaths of color blend into a landscape that is as soothing as it is sweeping.

A Rosy Weekend

2008-09-29T00:08:00.011-05:00

Sunset Over the Mississippi

Sometimes good things really can be found, if not right in your backyard, then nearby. With this thought in mind, I made the short trip over to the Mississippi River for a change of scenery. I snapped this photo of the sunset while I was there.

Across the way, a woman wearing a black dress was playing the violin on a sidewalk strewn with rose petals. Her music and these red and white pattern lanterns greeted the guests of a wedding on the riverfront.

On my way home, I stopped at the best sushi place in town, only to find it closed for the night. I had wanted to photograph their very cool neon sign, but all the lights were off. The next night I was back in Chicago, where my sisters and I ordered Chinese take-out. Shrimp lemongrass is delicious.

p.s. I was also happy to find that Starbucks' pumpkin spice latte is now in season and back on the menu. Yum...

All photos taken by myself.

Gwyneth's Plum Role, Foodie in Spain

2008-09-25T00:24:00.003-05:00

photo: Ryan Opaz

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The premiere of Spain... On the Road Again, the PBS cooking/travel show with Mario Batali and Gwyneth Paltrow, has me thinking of Spain. I can imagine few things more divine than traveling through Spain and eating delicious food all the while. Who wouldn't want to indulge in the quintessentially Spanish pleasure of churros and hot chocolate (like Gwyneth and Spanish actress Clausia Bassols do in the first episode). I'm looking forward to what's to come on their road trip. The food is probably just the beginning of this feast. There's sure to be lots of art and culture along the way, too.

The companion cookbook for the series is titled Spain: A Culinary Road Trip and will be released in October. Episodes can also be downloaded on iTunes starting September 26th.

For the images in this post, I chose photos of some of the traditional foods of Spain. There is so much beautiful food photography out there, and I wanted to include some of those images from Spain here.

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Farnsworth House

2008-09-24T00:00:00.007-05:00

photo: Greg Robbins

The Farnsworth House on the banks of the Fox River outside Plano, IL has long known the struggles of staying afloat. Rising waters have plagued the Mies van der Rohe modernist masterpiece for much of its fifty-seven year history. For the sixth time since being built in 1951, the Farnsworth House recently flooded again. (This time the flooding was caused by heavy rains that swept the Midwest after Hurricane Ike.)

The house is now "out of the water," so to speak. Crews have been working hard to clear the damage. Landmarks Illinois, which oversees Farnsworth as a house museum, has even started a blog chronicling the progress that's being made towards restoring the glass house. Van der Rohe tried to account for the river overflowing by elevating the house over five feet off the ground on steel beams, but the extra height, unfortunately (and obviously) hasn't helped to keep it dry. Given the house's location, and past experience, it's almost certain that Farnsworth House will flood again.

There's always the option of moving the house to another location. But that's precisely the fate that preservationists who raised enough to buy the house in 2003 wanted to avoid. I'd like to see the house remain in its original location as well, but I know this may not be possible. The connection with nature is very important to the building. Mies van der Rohe designed his glass masterpiece to be experienced as part of the nature surrounding it. It wouldn't be the same somewhere else. The little, out of the way glass box house stands as a monument to modernist architecture in the United States. I hope it can be saved.

Contributions for the restoration and preservation of Farnsworth House can be made through Landmark Illinois.

photo: P. Hegan

goop.com

2008-09-23T03:12:00.010-05:00

Gwyneth Paltrow has just launched a new website called GOOP. From the description and categories (Make, Go, Get, Do, Be, and See) it looks like a design and living blog whose as of now blank pages will eventually be filled with Gwyneth's picks.

From goop.com:
“Whether you want a good place to eat in London, some advice on where to stay in Austin, the recipe I made up this week, or some thoughts from one of my sages, GOOP is a little bit of everything that makes up my life.”

Happy Autumn

2008-09-22T12:07:00.007-05:00

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Rain, Renegade, and Maramiki

2008-09-22T01:16:00.002-05:00

Maramiki at Renegade Craft Fair Chicago
photos via with a flourish

The weekend of the Renegade Craft Fair was a very wet one here in Chicago. It rained and rained and rained. It was enough to make you just want to stay in, and I did. From photos and blogs, it looks like the vendors did an excellent job of keeping their tents (and hopefully their spirits) up and dry-ish despite the rain.

Maramiki was one of the booths at Renegade whose designs really stand out for me. The work of textile artist, Mara Snipes, maramiki designs are drawn by hand and then screenprinted onto linen or cotton. The finished pieces have a very pretty, organic look. Pillows, sheets, printed yardage, and even notecards, are available for purchase through her etsy shop.

Sixties Style: Buttoned Up

2008-09-17T04:37:00.049-05:00

Mad Men

The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)

Mad Men is hands down my absolute favorite show on television. If you've watched Mad Men, you know that Sterling Cooper is in the business of making things look good. Appearances are everything at this fictional 1960s New York advertising agency, both in and outside of the office. The Sterling Cooper crowd want to live the good life. Its account executives may not be fabulously wealthy, but they do make enough to surround themselves with the trappings of success, even when they come at a high personal cost. (Pete Campbell must have swallowed hard when his wife, Trudi, talked him into accepting the down payment for an apartment they couldn't afford from her parents.)

Mad Men's story line is seamlessly woven together with its set design to capture the style of the era and reflect the aspirations of its characters. One of the fixtures of Mad Men's set design is the Draper's turquoise button-tufted headboard. Week after week, the distinctive headboard serves as a backdrop to the troubled marriage of Don and Betty Draper. Turquoise, velvet, and padded, the headboard is a paragon of sixties style.

A headboard similar to the one on Mad Men can be seen in the 1963 film The Courtship of Eddie's Father. The shape is somewhat different, but the color and tufting are nearly identical. The resemblance between the two pieces gives an idea of just how well Mad Men recreates the style of the early sixties.

Spring Green Tufted Cotton Swivel Chairs

These spring green tub chairs are another example of enviable, tufted furniture. The chairs, which are available through C.Bell and 1stdibs, remind me of Ruthie Sommers' green club chairs. Both sets of chairs even have white piping. Before Sommers re-upholstered the club chairs in a moss green colored linen, they were covered in white vinyl.

Designer Ruthie Sommers (Chapman Radcliff)
Photographed by Michael Weschler for Southern Accents

Photo: Michael Weschler

Renegade Craft Fair Chicago

2008-09-13T19:43:00.003-05:00

It may be a little difficult for me to get there, and it's been raining all weekend, but I should really find an umbrella and go to the Renegade Craft Fair tomorrow.

All the World's a Stage

2008-09-04T22:59:00.027-05:00

Political Letterpress Cards from Ella Studio
Barack Obama or John McCain:
a short, sweet or not so sweet way to let someone know what you think

The senator at the podium wants to be the next president of the United States. He speaks with conviction and heart. Nearly everything he says hits home with the crowd. Years of political stumping have honed what is likely an innate skill for him- acknowledging moments of intense approval with a well-timed, punctuated silence. The crowd, so large it fills an entire stadium, erupts in a roar of applause. The cameras cut away again, back to the senator. He is humble yet assured in the face of glory.

Back to the crowd. The oversize buttons, outrageous hats, and message splayed t-shirts that are the province of political flair dot the crowd like an affliction. And, of course, there are those who wouldn't be caught dead in a silly hat, let alone on television. These folks are dressed in what is likely their best versions of themselves and are often fashionable. This group includes the candidate's wife.

The senator has been speaking for some time now. He will be finished soon, but you'd never know it by the fervent energy of the crowd. They love him even more now. "Sen-a-tor, Sen-a-tor" they chant. In a moment, his wife, who has up until now watched adoringly from the best seat in the house, will walk on stage, followed by their children. Tonight, she is America's Sweetheart. Candidate and family bask in the glow. They extend their hands in gratitude to a lucky few before graciously exiting the arena.

The curtain won't close on this show for some time, though. It will be months before citizens head for the polls to vote. Let's hope we all take advantage of that right and privilege come November.

Adventures in Baking Bread

2008-09-02T11:54:00.011-05:00

photo: from the blog This Is What I See by Therese Brown

A couple of days ago, for the first time in months, I had a taste for eggs cooked sunny side-up. I like to dip bread in the yolk, otherwise it's just not the same. The only problem was that I didn’t have any bread left. Among the other food in the house were four eggs, a bunch of bananas, a pint of blueberries, fresh green beans, and tomatoes and eggplants others had grown in their gardens and given to me. Nothing to scoff at, but they didn't add up to bread. So in an uncharacteristic burst of motivation, resourcefulness, and discipline, I decided to bake my own. Going to the store to buy bread would have been easier, but that would have required getting dressed- in something other than my pajamas.

Being new to this whole bread baking thing, I proceeded cautiously. My Google search for "baking bread beginner" had turned up a recipe that looked almost fail-safe. I gathered the flour, yeast and other ingredients called for in the recipe, and set out to bake a loaf of bread. Stirring the batter until "the spoon chases the dough" took a while, and kneading the dough on a "floured board" even proved to be kind of fun. There was also the question of how much flour to add during both these steps so that the dough feels "smooth, not sticky to the touch." I braced myself for the inevitable mishap, but it never came to pass. The whole thing went off without a hitch.

Four hours later, the dough that I'd shaped into a bread loaf, complete with slashes, was now golden-brown and ready to come out of the oven. I was relieved, and probably would have been happy, if it hadn't been for my disbelief. The result was an actual, edible loaf of bread. Made by me. And it tasted good. Delicious, really.

As for the eggs, waiting the three plus hours it would take for the bread to be ready was not going to happen. So I ate the eggs first. Without bread.

Sex and Green

2008-06-11T13:49:00.003-05:00

Silda Wall Spitzer never got the chance to see her ambitious three phase project for greening and renovating New York's executive mansion to completion. As we all know, hubby, Eliot Spitzer, the then governor of NY, got caught with his pants down, cutting her term as the "first lady of green" short.

Being that it's an election year, who knows what other scandals will pop up. The Spitzer one- like all others- undoubtedly hurt his family. It's regrettable and more than a little sad. But eco-design isn't usually a casualty associated with political scandal. Things that are pretty and green will always have my vote.

Something Old Becomes Something New: Beck(y) City

2008-06-05T00:30:00.000-05:00

When a designer like Becky Hickey sees the possibility for creating art from discarded objects that would have otherwise been thrown away, the Earth becomes a little more of a beautiful place. Hickey salvages old skateboards, many of which are donated, and turns them into unique handcrafted accessories. Repurposing things that are no longer wanted is remarkable to me for its potential to help preserve the environment while giving artists the opportunity to express themselves and create new objects of beauty.

Hickey's sk8bags design project is also notable for the commitment Hickey makes to giving back. Part of the sales from the bags and jewelry she fashions from used skateboards is donated to Boards 4 Bowls, an organization Becky created to help communities build and maintain skateparks. There's a skatepark not too far from where I live, so I know- from talking to kids, how much they look forward to going there.

Walking on Sunshine

2008-06-04T00:07:00.002-05:00

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The sidewalk literally heats up when the summer sun comes out, but it takes a talented artist to make it smile. A work from the 2007 Savannah College of Art and Design Sidewalk Art Festival, this sunny sidewalk square is one of thousands created every spring and summer at sidewalk art festivals around the United States and internationally.

I've been to two of these events, and I was definitely impressed by the art. Especially considering the rough, uneven surface the artists have to work with. Professional artists create drawings alongside ones by children using chalk pastels in the tradition of 16th century Italian "Madonnari" street painters. There's always a nice mix of subjects and styles. Everything from abstract geometric designs to portraits and landscapes- to name just a few.

People are plentiful, too, and they're as much of a draw as the art. It's so sweet to see children and families enjoying themselves on a sunny day.

Eames Stamps

2008-06-03T06:58:00.001-05:00

Just two weeks until the release of the much anticipated Eames stamps the United States Postal Service announced back in January. The commemorative stamps, which feature iconic Eames designs, will be available starting June 17th in honor of the 101st birthday of Charles Eames. The pane layout of the 16 stamps is beautiful- perfect for framing. Rather than a traditional wooden frame, I'd choose a floating frame to complement the Eames' mid-century modern aesthetic.

For Some, Crocs Rock

2008-06-02T15:56:00.003-05:00

Photo: José Eduardo Silva

A small, ever-so tiny part of me wants to like Crocs. Maybe even embrace them. If I ever do come around and see the beauty in Crocs, it will have been far from love at first sight. At a glance, they're not pretty. Ugly is a harsh word, but when it comes to the fierce (and often funny) debate over Crocs, "ugly" comes up again and again as the adjective of choice when describing the plastic, brightly colored footwear.

Jessica of How About Orange recently posted about Crocs. Readers- including myself- weighed in on the relative merits of Crocs. Everyone seems to agree that the shoes are super comfortable. Whether cushy insoles can justify overlooking fashion in favor of function depends on who you're asking.

Here's what I had to say about Crocs (edited):

Acceptable reasons to wear Crocs include (but are not limited to) the following:
1.) Gardening
2.) You work in healthcare and are pairing them with similarly unflattering scrubs
3.) You're part of the under-12 set

Funny how each of these categories has something to do with the greater good- greening and beautifying the Earth, saving lives, and holding the promise of the future.

Golden Shots

2007-12-13T16:27:00.000-06:00

Not a speck of red or green anywhere in these gold-inspired holiday interiors photographed by Chris Everard, an incredibly talented photographer with an amazing sense of perspective (which I came across via Purple Area). I'm guessing that the photos were taken for a magazine editorial (Everard's work has appeared on the cover of House and Garden and in Living Etc.). I also wish I knew who the shoot's stylist was. He or she deserves credit for their part in helping create these gorgeous images as well.

More of Everard's work can be seen here. I was blown away by his portfolio on the Sarah Kaye Representation site.

Blueprint Bids Adieu, Too

2007-12-10T21:56:00.001-06:00

Earlier today, less than two years after the publication of its first issue, Martha Stewart Living announced that it will be closing Blueprint magazine. Blueprint will cease publication in early 2008 with its January/February issue, but its Bluelines blog will remain online. The news of Blueprint's closing comes on the heels of Conde Nast's decision to stop publishing House and Garden last month, giving another indication of the uncertain times facing shelter magazines.

It's a shame that Blueprint was such a shortlived publication. The photography and layout were always appealing, and although some found Blueprint's broad range of content, which included everything from interior design and decorating to fashion and crafts a little disjointed at first, the magazine definitely became more coherent and focused- in a word, better- with each issue. I liked them from the get-go, when they featured a model wearing wearing wellies and a skirt on the cover (and in an editorial) of the first issue back in May 2006. Blueprint made rain boots paired with a skirt or dress look like the most perfect and obvious of choices, even chic.

Pining Away

2007-12-06T19:24:00.000-06:00

Pineapple wallpaper, Studio Printworks (House and Garden, July 2007)

Brrrr! The snow has stopped falling here in Chicago (for now, at least), but it's still freezing outside. On winter days like these, I'm always happy to come back home and in from the cold. A house like Katie Brown's (of Katie Brown Workshop), with its Dorothy Draper-esque pineapple wallpaper by Studio Printworks winding up the stairwell, would also be welcoming right about now. Brown chose the pineapple print to "provide contrast from all the white in the living room" and because it's "a real treat for the eyes: the big pineapples are like a little hit of happiness." Even more so during the winter, when sunny pineapples- the stuff of tropical island paradises- bring to mind exotic locales and balmy weather.

Marimekko + H&M

2007-12-03T16:28:00.000-06:00

Marimekko patterns will be showing up on H&M clothing and accessories for summer 2008. The iconic Finnish textile and design company has licensed patterns from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s for use by Swedish fashion retail giant, H&M. The collaboration presents an opportunity for both of these Scandinavian-based purveyors of style, but it's up to H&M to work the vintage Marimekko patterns (which have been in production for decades) into clothes that will sell. I'm looking forward to seeing this collection when it hits stores in April 2008.

Color in a Cinch

2007-11-30T13:10:00.000-06:00

Eric and Elisa married on Bainbridge Island
via Offbeat Bride (photo: Courtney Brooke)

The tradition of brides wearing white is so customary in Western culture, that it's difficult to imagine a bride wearing anything but. Brides haven't always been married "all dressed in white," however. White has only been the bridal color of choice since the 19th century, when Queen Victoria popularized the color by wearing a white dress for her marriage to Prince Albert. Even then, only after the prosperity that followed the end of World War II did formal, white wedding gowns really take hold in bridal lore. Today, brides still overwhelmingly choose white, but with their own personal touch. The happy brides shown here all added a beautiful twist to an otherwise all white dress with sashes of color.

photo by Jenny Ebert via Something Old, Something New

photo by Sarah Sloboda via Brooklyn Bride

photo by Elyse Hall via Brooklyn Bride

Hable Holidays

2007-11-28T21:44:00.000-06:00

Hable Construction's bead fabric is a perennial favorite and a perfect pick for upholstery projects. At this time of year, projects around the house may call for something a little different, though. For decorating the mantle, Hable has wool-felt stockings to hang. Handsewn by a women's cooperative in Hungary, the stockings feature traditional holiday motifs like snowmen, candy canes, and Christmas trees, as well as designs associated with warmer seasons, like butterflies and poppies. The stockings are also available through another favorite, Garnett Hill.

A Ball of a Time

2007-11-27T18:26:00.001-06:00

photo: Zach Manchester

The hands of the Atomic Age-inspired Ball Clock point towards twelve wooden balls that tell the time- not just in hours and minutes, but of its mid-century origins as well. The rightful designer of the Ball Clock, however, may forever remain unclear. Designed in 1947, Howard Miller Clock Company (connected to Herman Miller) put the Ball Clock into production in 1950 and credited it to George Nelson. Although known as the "Nelson Ball Clock", the atom clock later came to be regarded as the collaborative effort of several legendary H. Miller designers, developed over a late night of drinks and sketches, with Irving Harper being key to its inception. Only even that version of events may be inaccurate. Harper has said that the account had been assigned to him from the beginning. Enigmatic as the design of the Ball Clock may be, the mid-century clock has proven a modern classic, making it truly timeless.

photo: ourhaus