Martha Stewart Living February 2016 edition

We are all just getting into 2016 and wanted to ease into it with a nice and easy post.

 

I haven't made any proper new year resolutions or none that are original enough to mention.

 

Just looking at Martha's monthly schedule makes me laugh.

Mine is more like this.

 

Monday - recover from weekend

 

Tuesday - Browse Netflix and try and get something done

 

Wednesday - finish TV show marathon on Netflix, eat, and try and get something done

 

Thursday - feel empty because your show marathon is over and look at the piles of things around the house of projects you have started and thinking about working out

 

Friday - think about working out and finishing projects around the house while wondering what to eat for dinner

 

 

 

Loi from one of my favourite blogs Tone on Tone

has been a busy bee too!

 

We all knew he was talented and his home in Maryland and his holiday house in Maine demonstrates his aesthetics and

design sensibility along with showcasing his beautiful Swedish antiques and other collections such as the white ironstone.

But his home is featured in this issue!!

 

If you are reading this Loi,

Congratulations and I am so happy for you!

For regular readers, you will know how happy I was to see a neatly folded and placed throw!

 

I loved seeing his home in a proper publication and appreciated looking at his home from this professionally edited vantage point.

 

I do love his kitchen in its simplicity and functionality.

It is one of those kitchens you can't imagine anyone won't like.

 

I can't imagine those who are not as of yet following Loi

but if you haven't you really must visit his blog where he shares pictures of his home but also his garden.

( Click on links to see his garden )

He also has a green thumb!

I hope that Martha decides to feature his garden as well in another issue in the feature.

 

Holiday Season 2015, Cards of Humanity and Netflix's Making of a Murderer

Happy new year all!

Did you have a nice rest?

Eat?

I didn't do anything other than what is expected of the season.

My brother has become a well versed cook which is a long way from a few years ago when he asked how to make a cup of tea.
The pink ramekin is lined with cocoa powder and the blue ramekin is lined with sugar and he says that it rises more evenly.

He has come a long way although he wasn't impressed with me when I said his souffle tasted more like chocolate fondant.

But all of us laughed over playing Cards of Humanity.

It is an amusing game which isn't as cutthroat as Monopoly.

I gave myself a present and got one of MaiTia's shawl pouches to put in your bag so it doesn't pull when mixed with other items.

I also got a book I had my eye on which I am still pouring over.



Meg from Pigtown Design is a star because I put my name down for a giveaway the Washington post editor was doing for this House and Garden issue from the 90's and Meg sent it over to me and that has been such good entertainment value.  
Thanks Meg!




It was so nice not to have traffic in town and driving around with Millie was such a joy. It makes you want to actually go about London and get out there rather than having that dread of facing traffic. 
  

The Christmas decorations were on the sombre note this year.
The best uplifting one was done by Cartier and they do this on most of their flagships - an oldie but a goodie.

I must be getting older because I am loving these Bvlgari wraparound watches.
These are limited editions in all sorts of colors.

I used to think they were slightly "old lady" but now that I am getting there myself as if on cue I want one hehe.

Didn't ask the price but I bet that workmanship doesn't come cheap.

Went for a quick drink at St Martin's Lane hotel.
It was so avant-garde in the 90's...
Its claim to fame was that Samantha's gorgeous boyfriend in SATC with the blonde tresses was discovered here while working as the doorman.

I wish I could make these dahi puris which are puffed biscuits that you pour the liquid in and eating it is so much fun.  But lately I am not in the cooking mood and one of my new year resolutions is that I need to cook more the way I used to.

I realized that home made beats most things on the supermarket shelves because I have now had the pleasure to try 
Chronica Domus' famous marmalade.

Just the way I like it - slightly tart and sweet all at once.
I even got to meet her too!
We chatted so much with such ease and was such a pleasure to meet someone through the blog I would have otherwise not probably met.

I have done a lot of lazing around but was super busy watching the latest buzz called Making a Murderer on Netflix.

I will not be the only one annoying you and nagging you to watch this 10 part documentary.
It is a must watch and even if you aren't into documentaries I warn you now that you will be left out of so many conversations.
It's not just me but every publication out there is obsessed about it.

Then I followed up with the Jinx which was a HBO special and equally blew my mind.

Click link to watch on youtube

These had such an impact on me I am even toying with the notion of going back to law.
But I probably won't and will just bore everyone senseless talking about it.

Hope you have a fantastic 2016! x

Winter Wonderland, Footstool, Holiday Decor, and Ai Wei Wei

Instead of a civilized chat and a coffee, my friend and I decided we would go for a quick ride of the Blizzard and a shout.

It gets bigger every year and now it has a designated entrance which puts me off a bit because I like to glide in and out at will.  Especially with heightened security in the city I wonder why they would encircle people in this manner.  I really must attend those council meetings.

I always appreciate the bright lights and decor around the city 

as it gets so dark early even if it is bright like this.

It's not a vintage year in terms of the holiday decor around town.

This is the Fortnum and Mason decor.

Nice but a bit sparse.

It seemed as if they were on some sort of budget when the only reason I fight the crowds is to have a look at them so I want them to be worthwhile.

The Christmas tree at Claridges which is highly anticipated every year was a let down of a bunch of umbrellas done by Burberry.  I could see where they were going with it but I thought it was depressing.

My favorite tree was at the Beaumont Hotel.

Simple yet seemingly achievable with its cinnamon sticks wrapped in ribbon.

Oxford Street has a simple light decor on the street which is a wasted opportunity considering it is Europe's biggest shopping street so it is a bit weak considering.

Design Glut and Rut? But...

I got the latest issue of the UK edition of House and Garden the other day.
It's one of my favourite magazines and as I live in London is the most relatable as it doesn't feature McMansions unless it is a centuries old country estate.

The cover of the January 2016 issue was the living room of the architect and interior designer Ben Pentreath.

Now I must preface and stress that I appreciate Ben Pentreath's work and his instagram is one of my favourite accounts.
I repeat that one of my favourite magazines is UK House and Garden.

But I opened the page to one of the main pictorial editorials featuring Ben's London flat and that is the moment where I thought I might have reached a tipping point in exposure.

It's my fault because as a decor enthusiast I read newspapers, magazines, and blogs,

 
I follow decor instagram accounts, and

 I am a Pinterest enthusiast so I am bombarded exposed to many images.

Therefore, I had seen this flat in every manner of social media there is -
including his own blog.

I don't know if I can bear another pithy quote about fashion dating etc etc etc

I have discussed with a select few who I like to dissect design issues with and touched lightly on posts and comments on other blogs that there is a turning point in the world of decor and
it is at a pivotal juncture.

But usually House and Garden is the pinnacle to most Anglophile decorators to be featured on
and yet in this instance House and Garden was like the long suffering wife
and the last to know or show rather.

It also made me appreciate the New York Times policy that they would not publish interior decor pictures if it had previously been featured first elsewhere. With the demise of their weekly Thursday Home and Garden feature, I haven't confirmed that this is still their policy.

Via

But going by the fact that his flat was featured in Rita Konig's column, it seems that there may have been a change or they allowed it on a technicality.
( i.e. They used their own photographer so the photos were "theirs" or the flat was styled in a new way?)

Over the years I have seen his flat in so many different paint colors and cushions and wallpaper.

This was his bathroom before the Richmond Park Zoffany print he installed.

He mentioned in the NY Times video he is considering changing the William Morris wallpaper in his guest bedroom.

The picture below was when he installed the now famous London print and with less furniture.

I still don't understand how this flat is meant to be 35 sq m!

His latest makeover to his bedroom has made a big impact and am sure was a great publicity shot for Soane Britain and has made seaweed lace a known pattern.

Via the FT.com

This is the new marital bedroom from the previous 
Farrow and Ball Brinjal paint below.

The fact that his pictures are pinned and shared are no fault of his own other than his talent but I think the reason why I didn't mind seeing them is that those who follow interior design has seen the metamorphosis of his flat when it was bare like in the pics below.

Via Ben Pentreath's blog

It is so interesting to see a room's evolution and how art, cushions or a new piece of furniture adds or detracts to a room in real time.

Via Ben Pentreath's blog

Ben Pentreath shows us the flat with the behind the scenes shots and perhaps we have all emotionally invested over time the various stages of his London living room?

Last week Vogue USA published the latest issue 
that featured Conde Nast's darling and stylist 
Caroline Sieber and her Notting Hill home.

It has all the makings of a beautiful home and all the perfectly poised decorations:
posh Anglo pink sofa enveloped by bright and graphic Zuber wallpaper.

It also featured snippets of the rest of her house and decor cred was given when she used Pierre Frey's Tree of Life as the featured blind in her library.

Photos of C Sieber's home downloaded by my IPAD in the preview Vogue

And yet a week later, I have seen this home on most blogs as this bridges both the fashion and decor world, and regrammed on most Instagram accounts, and pinned ( guilty! ) on many Pinterest accounts.

It's not that I am sick of it ( well kinda ) but 

 as in the words of many a fashion magazine intern, 

this home albeit beautiful has become 

"so last week".

I think with the quick access of material these days as opposed to my days in university in Australia where I would wait for a US edition of any magazine and get them 2 months later and pay triple the price are long gone.

In comparing the two homes that has been media saturated, I wonder if in fact a sudden blitz of publicity works anymore and in fact we all do appreciate real life changes in real life time?

Therefore, I don't know if I am that interested in just the final unveiling of a home anymore and
I want to see a room not only in its final perfect state because most of us know what a beautiful room ostensibly looks like.
So endless pictures of perfect rooms lack any real meaning though I think there will be an increase in pink sofa sales and the Zuber would have surely seen a spike to their website visits.
 
I now like seeing rooms in real time and seeing how a room can evolve and am unwittingly yearning for slow decor.


Your thoughts?