Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Beauty Bar


My favorite part of the bachelorette party was our stop at the Beauty Bar on LA's La Cahuenga corridor. It's a small little bar/club that offers drinks, dancing, manicures, and henna tattoos. After the bartender whipped me up a pretty delicious virgin concoction, I headed over to the manicure station to get my nails done. I then hit the dance floor, where I conveniently incorporating the waving of my hands to dry my nails into my regular dance routine.

The interior of this place was something right out of the 60's. Which makes sense, since the owners retrofitted the space with a mid-sixties salon interior salvaged from Bakersfield. Because the bar has a retro vibe, it draws more of a hipster crowd (and surprisingly more guys than girls) and a wider range of dance tunes than your normal clubbin' atmosphere. I enjoyed every minute!

Monday, January 25, 2010

The Edison - Downtown LA

After checking in at the Farmer's Daughter, the first stop of the night for Friday's Bachelorette party was The Edison - a swanky bar and lounge in downtown LA. The Edison has a very cool, old fashioned vibe and was designed inside the Higgins Building, site of the first privately owned power plant in LA. Much of the original architecture and mechanical fixtures survive and are incorporated into the industrial 20's decor. I also encourage you to check out The Edison's website here, it's a perfect reflection of the overall feel and attention to detail that you'll find in the actual club.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Furniture Install

Friday was a fun day because we were doing a furniture delivery at a client's home in Huntington Beach. I had gone to the upholstery shop earlier in the week to check on the different pieces, so I knew everything turned out beautifully, but I was excited to see it all in my client's home and see if she loved everything as much as I did.

I posted about the preliminary design for her dining room here, but as almost all projects go, for a variety of reasons, the design has changed a bit from the initial presentation. Due to budget, time restraints, and overall function, we forewent the built-in banquet when my client fell in love with this Restoration Hardware table...


She purchased the table, and to keep things interesting and eclectic, we decided we would do a settee on one side of the table and keep her dining chairs on the other side. When finding the perfect style, size, and color of the settee proved impossible, and having full confidence in my upholstery guy, we decided to go custom and build one from scratch.

We took the arm style, height, and nailheads from this Restoration Hardware chair...


And the tufting, wood turned legs, and scalloped base from this Ballard Designs settee...

And came up with the perfect red settee to fit my client's new table and new dining room...

It's always a little nerve racking to build such a large piece of furniture from scratch, but we couldn't be more happy with how it turned out!

Next up we have a really fun before and after. My client had 2 of these antique chairs and was about to put a 'for sale' sign on them in the front yard when I told her that they would be beautiful if we refurbished them.


The wood finisher refinished the wood in a silver leaf, and then the chair was reupholstered in a cream and chocolate silk damask. I loved how this chair turned out so much that I was tempted to pay my client and keep it for myself. This chair is going to sit in a corner of the dining room that is a little separated from the rest of the space. The chocolate and silver tones of the antique chair will help tie that corner in to the rest of the room.


Last but not least, we had an ottoman custom made for the sofa in the adjacent living room. Her living room is pretty much complete, but after going back and forth with a few coffee table options, my client finally decided she wanted a dainty oval ottoman. All of the other pieces of furniture in the room are solid, so I thought it would be fun to add in some pattern. I'm hoping to have the whole room photographed soon, but for now, here's our cute custom ottoman complete with tufts and pleated skirt...


Saturday, January 23, 2010

Farmer's Daughter & Tart


I had such a fun weekend. My really good friend Bethany is getting married next Saturday (yay!) so this weekend all of her really good girlfriends celebrated her last days of single-dom LA style. Bethany's friend Kelly planned quite the weekend for us; complete with good food, dancing, D list celebrities, and boutique hotel accommodations. My trips to LA usually consist of home furnishings stores, thrift shops, the Staples Center, and FIDM back in the day, so I always love it when I get a chance to see new sides of the city. The style and interior of every place we went had it's own vibe and personality, so I wanted to highlight the various stops of our weekend-o-fun. But as I started gathering photos, I realized I had way too much info for one post, so I'm going to make a couple of different bachelorette party installments.

The first is the Farmer's Daughter Hotel and the attached Tart restaurant. Located right by the Farmer's Market, this boutique hotel had a really fun and unique style. It's modern chic meets The Little Red Hen. Take a look...


For brunch Saturday morning we ate at Tart. Such good food (I got the veggie hash and pancakes), and an equally good design aesthetic.



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