Designer to Watch-Erin Martin

We stumbled upon the work of Erin Martin the other day and we think we're in love!

Her work is organic in a very sophisticated way. The words "organic" or "sustainable" get thrown around a lot these days but very people get it right. We love her use of natural materials, muted colors and texture variety.

Her designs seem very original too-as no two houses are alike.

Here is a sample of her work:

To see more of her work, visit Erin Martin Design.

Real Cool Barstool

We totally dig this barstool from Arteriors. It has an unique shape to it, and we love the organic look/feel.

The barstool sells at $450/each with free shipping.

You can find the specifications in our barstool section.

Vogue September Issue-A True Economic Indicator

If you watch the news and read the papers, you can get reallly confused. One day the housing index is up, the next day it's down. One day the stock market roars for some weird reason, the next day it tanks for other weirder reasons.

And you know what the best economic indicator there is?

The Vogue September issue.

We just got it today and it's nice and fat again. True, you have to flip through hundred of ads to get to some flimpsy content, but the nice part about that is, advertisers are spending money again! Which can leads to all kind of good things.

And we don't know about you, but we are having this frugality fatigue, big time. Enough already with all this self-deprivation. Sure, the way we spend money is forever changed, but if you really really want those Channel clogs and you don't have to cut into the rent to pay for it, why the heck not...

So here's to Vogue, and to better times ahead!

PS There's a lovely feature on an art-filled apartment. Click here to see the slideshow.

Source: Vogue

Decorating in Neutral Colors

We love, love Reed Krakoff clothes. Have you seen it? He does amazing American sportswear. Classic, comfortable, and sooo classy...

What strikes us most about the below ad is how pretty the neutral room looks though. It's classic, modern and timeless. Like a perfect black dress.

For neutral, classic furniture like this, we like Bolier upholstery. Really pricey, but they are beautiful in person.

Here are some examples:

To see more of the collection, check out Bolier's web site.

One Very Cool Arm Chair

It's usually a good idea to add a couple of arm chairs to your living room configuration. You can do a really fun fabric to punch in some colors ; add some dimensions of the room by varying the height so it's not so flat, and perhaps most importantly, style it up a bit.

Here's a really cool one that we like:

The chair is made by Jessica Charles, a division of Hancock and Moore. The price depends on the fabric, but it ranges about $1400-1600 or so.

Picking Colors for Your Decor

Don't you find coordinating colors to be the hardest thing to do? It's really is a headache, actually, trying to get a paint to go with the fabric that coordinates with everything else.

Robert Allen has a very nice tool that we thought you might like. They have different room themes already mixed & matched for you.

See below for some samples:

To see more, click here.

PS The paint is from Sherwin Williams. You can also search for fabrics from Robert Allen site from the link above. It doesn't give pricing information, but you can find that on our Robert Allen fabrics section by entering the name of the pattern in the search box.

Living in a Mansion

Don't you love reading about how other people live? Rich people, specifically. It gives us a little escape and a little fantasy, don't you think?

If you haven't had a chance to read the NY Times today, check out this article about this couple living in a mansion in Newport. What interests us most about it was not that the house was grand, but how this couple--who seem really unpretentious--manage to live a very authentic life that reflects who they are. There's a quote in it that we love--"At some point you'll have to come to terms with who you are, however unpleasant, if you are going to be anything at all".

Not to mention the pictures are eye-candies too. To see the slide show, click here. To read the article, click here.

Source: NY Times