Elle Decor July / August 2013

Before I start, I have some blogging issues.  

The irony is that those affected may not be reading this because my Feedburner hasn't been working and emails haven't been sent 

and I didn't realize.

I am trying to rectify this but it is taking me some time...

I might also have to start splitting these posts bc I think 

Feedburner rejects them due to the amount of pics.

Please bear with me and I apologize to the email subscribers.

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Here is another issue that I thought I should share with you or as I sometimes personally refer to it as a filler.

I wasn't going to get this issue but then I ran out of magazines in Austria and the local magazines didn't hit the spot or rather 

Ich spreche kein Deutsch so I downloaded this.

The cover had a lot to do with me getting this over 

Architectural Digest.

That disco ball-esque light juxtaposed between those windows against that view beckoned me.

Some design is so theoretical that it doesn't really fit into most of our lives but I still admire this designer, Shiro Kuramata.  This design principle is usually diffused and translated eventually by IKEA years later. The way couture is diluted eventually to Zara.

Now not all of you will be that acquainted with Bobby Flay unless you sneak in Food Network or a few Bravo food shows.

His kitchen was of particular interest but I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a better photo of his barbecue area.  It looked like any other very nice outdoor eating area.

Nice enough kitchen.

Maybe it's an occupational hazard of running restaurants but do you really need two tables spaced like at a Parisian cafe at home?

Don't you love how the new posh veers towards recycled rural and peasant bath furniture up-cycled but simply with better plumbing?

I really don't understand what the editor was thinking of using this far away vantage shot when peering into the home of the man known as the BBQ King.

Isn't it funny how Indigo is really entering the general stream of consciousness?

I was only just googling for indigo weeks ago and looking at the latest Hermes indigo scarf collection thinking how neglected the poor dye is.

All of a sudden, indigo is getting the spotlight.

Love all of this.

Sorry, this is for those reading this on the iPad so you can zoom in and have a read.  But this lady used to cook and be the editor for Martha Stewart Living so she passed the pastry equivalent of a white glove test.

I love cantilevered chairs.  

If I could I would collect chairs in general.

But what I love about them is that the negative space underneath opens up the space and enlarge a room.

I'll take 1, 2, and 4 please.

And 6 and 10.

I adore those wall light fittings.  

They almost looks like gemstones lit from behind.

Only fault is the wire.

I also love the modern twist to the sunburst mirror in rattan.

This table proves the axiom that some people say that beauty is useless.  It is a work of art. 

But what the heck are you going to do with thing but look at it?  

You can't put anything on it, there are holes on it, 

and the surface isn't flat.

Could you imagine being at a cocktail party at someone's house who had this? Guests putting their wine glasses on it...

Broken glass everywhere folks and I am no Mystic Meg.

Don Draper alert - where are you?

Charles P. Rogers still needs you.

This ad is so sad.  
But perhaps a tad better than last month's ad?

What cool gay guys did in the countryside before they went to the local city and opened up a design firm.

This will hit a nerve with a huge section of their demographic.

Love this ad too much.

Now I know not all my readers live in a country where there is a Restoration Hardware.  But there has been a shift in the last several years in this store.  They seem to have restructured at every level.

That's their choice entirely but when I go in there now, I always leave with nothing.  The item is either too big, or too expensive for what it is.  I personally miss the old merchandising where there were so many little nick-knacks I wanted and ended up buying.  

Finding the little trays and vide-poches below rather charming.

But I won't buy anymore of these as I have so many tchotchkes that I have banned myself from further purchases.

I adore the houses in America from the Federal era. 
Nothing to fault and could move in tomorrow.

There are not too many Canadian houses featured so it was a nice locale to visit.  I have a particular weakness for lake houses.

Don't you just adore the firewood as decor, quasi insulation, 

and  fuel for the fireplace?

Below is one of those houses that are almost monuments rather than a home.  This abode belongs to Kelly Behun who was a protege of Philippe Starck who I am ambivalent about.

This isn't even her main home, it's her weekender in Southampton!

To see pictures of her Manhattan home, I found some here.

It's terrible but when things are so extreme, it's hard to reserve judgement.  Some of you know me a bit by now, and I try to be honest and if I can't, I try to be diplomatic.

In this case, I am going to cut her some slack because she does run a business and this will serve double duty as part of her portfolio.

That saved her otherwise I must be frank and 
say I would have been a lot tougher than this.

The wicker stool below is from IKEA.  

No she isn't dyslexic and thought it was some new up and coming designer.  I had to double check the credits below.

She says she mixes high and low which I think most of us do or try to do.  But for me this just rang as pure PC decor tokenism.  It's like when New Yorkers go on about how quaint Brooklyn is, the fact is no one who can live in Manhattan lives in Brooklyn.

( 98% of the time)  

Her statement in the article that Ikea does the best wicker just rang inauthentic to me. They do good wicker but not the best.  I think that sums up what doesn't sit well with me about this house.

I wonder which sales assistant saw her coming with the sale of these moundy, swirly, decorated rope stools?

If I didn't know better this house looks like a mini Getty Museum in Malibu or that drug dealer's house in Scarface.

Kelly herself is very pretty and poised,

although a smile wouldn't hurt.

I think she stays thin because she plays a lot of musical chairs.

Do you think that chair in the distance is installation art or the Hampton elevated chair is where people do the terra firma version of  "I'm king of the world!" ?

Do you see my point about it being institutional because this art is not very warm but usually seen in an office atrium.

Hey Mom, did the chef cook dinner yet?  

We're getting hungry swimming in this empty aquarium.

I don't know how they overlooked the measurements of 

the library step ladder or why they put the desk chair on a corner.

This takes the biscuit, you know how I feel about FLTS otherwise known as faux lazy throw syndrome. It looks like someone threw a wet throw on the wall and just let it stick there.

But let's end on a positive note...

I would love to bathe in this bathroom during the winter and lounge by that fireplace. Maximizes and enhances the local environment.
I think this is the best bit of the house.

There was another beach house but on the west coast and 

reflected its more relaxed vibe.

I really love the wooden walls and the clean lines. 

I would always put my house keys there and save myself twenty minutes a day but not having to look for them.

This house has such a clean colour palette that it feels so meditative simply looking at it.

It must be wondrous to actually live in it!

The rooms are not decorated in any design innovative way but I like that the decor is helping you relax and calm down which most homes should achieve.  It isn't always about making a statement.

The only critique of this house is that before a magazine photo shoot they could have mopped the floor perhaps?
Cameras pick up on everything.

I do like these molded rounded and repeated bushes. So effective in place of colorful foliage that some visual interest is still maintained. I am sure that the wind off the Pacific Ocean does limit the plants that can be planted.

Well there you have it - I was going to wait to post this but September is out already!
Hope you've had a lovely weekend so far x