West Elm / Beverly Blvd / Thomas O'Brien

Speaking of Thomas O'Brien...the design world was abuzz this week with the new West Elm location opening on Beverly Blvd. I'm a Thomas O'Brien super fan, and he designed the new space which opened yesterday. I can't wait to visit.

A few of my favorite bloggers are helping West Elm throw an opening party on December 15. I'll be in NYC, so I won't be able to make it, but you can get the deets on Design Love Fest and leave a comment for a chance to win 5 things from West Elm, here.

 images here & here

Goldenwest Flea

I didn't end up buying anything, but I did get to work on my iPhone photography skills. The flea market is the best place to find interesting subject matter.

Tortoise

I'm stressed. Not the, complaining and whining kind of stressed, but more the "I'm really grateful to be so busy with work", kind of stressed. Naturally I have decided to blog instead of checking things off my giant to do list. Blogging really is an amazing stress reliever.

About my freshman year in high school I had to start wearing reading glasses. My eyesight is decreasing with my age, and now I can't really do anything in front of me (read, eat, design, type, shop...) without wearing glasses. For the longest time I have HATED wearing glasses. I tried contacts in several different prescriptions, but for some reason my vision is a little fuzzy. Also, I'm far sided, so as far as I know I am not a candidate for Lasik. This leads me to my recent change in attitude and me embracing my glasses. Every time I get new glasses, they get bigger and I always go with thick dark frames (I'm currently sporting the black Oakley Muffler). I figure if I have to wear glasses I may as well make a statement. But now that I'm embracing wearing glasses all the time, I decided I need a little variety, a second pair to change things up.

I'm on the hunt for the perfect tortoise frames, even bigger in size than my Oakley's. I really wanted the ones from J. Crew pictured at the top of this post, but they are no longer available, so here is what I've come up with from a little bit of online shopping.

From Eye Bob:




On ebay for just $12:


From Prism London (via Blusey Mood):



Thoughts?

And since everything I do somehow cycles back to interiors, below are some really pretty tortoise furnishings that will go perfectly with my new glasses. All via 1st Dibs.

Gorgeous tortoise framed mirror, I would love to own this. From Mary Ann Jones.


Killer commode. From Thomas Jeffrey.


Tortoise bamboo coffee table. From Era Vintage Modern.


Modern tortoise coffee table. From Gracie.


Toirtoise glaze lamps. From Irwinfeld Design.


Beautiful leather tortoise club chairs. From Red.

Fun Shelving

From Nigel's Eco Store:


From Quodes:

Watercolors

I love watercolors of interiors. Here are a few from the talented Victoria Molinelli.





Victoria was also commissioned by Coleen & Company to create a series of fabulous vintage watercolors. Check them out here.

Laguna Design Center Sample Sale

Laguna Design Center
23811 Aliso Creek Road
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677-3906
(949) 643-2929

Read more info on the sale and participating showrooms here.

Home Fabrics - Santa Ana

I love shopping the garment district in downtown LA, but unfortunately it's a little far from Orange County to go as often as I would like. I have really only found one or two alternatives to the garment district here in Orange County and one of those is Home Fabrics on Bristol in Santa Ana, just down a few blocks from South Coast Plaza. It's definitely not the fabric Mecca that you would find in downtown LA, but you really can't beat their prices; pretty much everything is in the $1-$6/yd range.

I'm working on a teenage boys room and I was looking for a black and white bargain. You have to dig a little, but sometimes you'll across some gems. I didn't find the black and white I was looking for, but I couldn't say no the this heavy weight linen, I loved the color and pattern. Only $3/yd...


Also a great place for velvets, solids, and stripes...






For all of those DIYers out there, Home Fabrics is having an upholstery class this Saturday. I'm going up to Northern California for a wedding and to visit the San Francisco design house and I'm so bummed that I'm going to miss it.



Home Fabrics
2320 South Bristol Street
Santa Ana, CA 92704-5721
(714) 979-3545

Ladies & Gentlemen

Check out this rug! It's made from knotted rope and looks like a giant doily. This could be granny chic or hipster funk depending on where you put it, kinda cool huh?


The same company, Ladies and Gentlemen, also sells vintage items and some other really cool stuff, including these side tables made from repurposed and reconfigured brass table lamps.

Lawson-Fenning

On a normal day, my clients rely on me and my professional experience to recommend really good and unique home furnishing vendors that fit their style and design aesthetic. But I will admit that sometimes the reverse happens and my clients introduce me to cool new resources that I've never before heard of. Although I feel in some ways that they're sort of doing my job for me (which is not really a good thing...), I still love it when it when they bring new resources to my attention.

Someone very wise once said, "A designer is only as good as their resources" (Nathan was that you?), and it's so true! So a big thanks goes out to Dan and Cynthia for introducing me to Los Angeles based furniture company Lawson-Fenning. It's modern furniture, but each piece has it's own unique characteristics. It's not the same old modern we've seen before. It's a little bit mid century, a little bit danish, with a contemporary twist. My client purchased the Dillon chair (shown above), and here are a few other cool pieces from their collection. Lawson-Fenning also sells vintage pieces in their showroom, also featured on 1st Dibs, here.

Ikat Textiles

Ikat fabrics have been a big trend for a while now and one that I'm quite fond of. Almost all of the big name fabric houses have their own versions and colors of ikat, but Uzbek - Craft is a little bit more of an authentic approach to filling your ikat needs, coming all the way from Uzbekistan. The textiles aren't as wide as a regular yard of fabric, but they are still great for making pillows or adding detail to a piece of furiture or drapery. The prices are great too, at just around $12 per textile.