On the drawing boards...

I've been taking on a few small projects in the city as sort of e-design clients. I meet with them once at the beginning and once for an install and all the rest is done mostly via pinterest, email and phone.  With all the wonders of modern technology, it works well, especially for clients on a tight budget. 

One such client is KB.  She works long hours and just recently started a job that doesn't require relocating every year. So now she's ready to do some nesting and buy a few investment pieces.  Her one bedroom apartment is pretty typical of the city and her furniture was in dire need of replacement. 

We decided on a layout conducive to entertaining and lounging.

And I came up with two design schemes which I like to call "Modern Bohemian" and "Urban Eclectic" 

 Which do you prefer?

Thoughts on New York

It's been a crazy few weeks here with moving and getting adjusted to big city life again. We've been very fortunate to have my parents with us since early July.   They helped us with our move in LA and drove our car across the country (yes, you heard that right) to deliver it to use in NJ.  And now they're here helping us with the house hunt and taking care of Baby Bryan while we get settled.  We can't thank them enough for all the help and support they have provided during this time.  

Transitioning back into the land of humidity, public transportation, and walk-up apartments has been interesting.  City living definitely requires an extra layer of coordination with everything you do, but it's also so exciting. I joined some friends for dinner and drinks last week in the city.  Completely forgetting about the off-duty cab witching hour, I ended up walking from the West Village to Nolita. Thank God I was wearing sensible shoes!  In any case, please stay with me for these next few weeks. I may be a little slow on the blog post front, but I hope to keep you as updated as possible (and we should be close to making a decision on our little version of NJ house hunters). 

Weekend Instagram

Now that we're settled in our temporary digs in Jersey City, I've been trying to get into some kind of routine with Bryan, usually involving a morning walk to run errands and a late afternoon jaunt out to the park across the street to look at the bunnies (I made the mistake of venturing out midday the other day only to become drenched in sweat and find that the swingset at the playground was too hot to use). Any tips out there from NYC moms on how to beat the heat and survive a 3rd floor walkup with a stroller?

Fantasizing

I'm not the gambling type, but back when the mega-millions jackpot hysteria was happening I jumped on the bandwagon and bought a ticket.  If anything, buying a lottery ticket gave me the license to daydream for a few days.  If I could have my dream life, what would it be?  Which got me thinking, why not create a lifestyle board on pinterest that captures the life I'm striving for in images.  Granted, winning the jackpot and creating realistic life goals are not one and the same. If I won the lottery I'd have to figure out where I'd want all of my various abodes to be and what sort of charitable foundation I'd like to start. In reality though, I'd love to live in one city that has most everything I'm looking for and the luxury of time to devote to the purposes I hold dear.

So here it is.  It doesn't really say all that much about career and family goals.  I actually think I'm doing pretty well in those departments and am on the right track.  So let's just call this more of an adult game of MASH and a sort of visual life mood board if you will. 

The general picture? Living in a brownstone in Brooklyn with just enough outdoor space for entertaining and for the kid(s) to play.  A stones throw from Manhattan and a short jaunt or bike ride to all the great parks, restaurants and other amenities that Brooklyn has to offer.  And of course running my own home-based design business including my hardware line. What sort of concept board would you create for your life?

Images: 1 / 2 /3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9

Luxury Geometry

Love the patterned ironwork on the front door of the exclusive condo residences at 1212 Fifth Avenue.  If I were to build my dream house I think it would have a clean boxy art deco look with glass doors and ironwork similar to this.

Reminiscing

About our old place in Prospect Heights Brooklyn. 
BEFORE (you can understand why my parents were mortified when they saw this 600 sf coop):

I loved the use of stock gutter to cover the pipe in the corner....

And the beautiful mirrors - made for a nice surface for dry erase board pictionary at the house warming.

Not sure who that dude is.  But notice the amazing use of, purple shag, oak and tinted glass.




































The kitchen was surely a cook's delight.

And the bathrooom - you could hold onto the rings when the boat started to rock.



































The best part of the bedroom was the multi-color vertical blinds - gold, cream, pink and lavendar!

In progress - new chandelier, grease screen/half wall down.  Floopy loving the floor covering.

Nothing like protective eyewear.

Voila! Fish eye lens makes everything look larger!

Mirror Magic!

Can you believe this is the same old bathroom tile?

Creative storage solutions for a super small space, also equals cat jungle gym.

Imilla Road

Friend and fashion designer Margaret Brungart of Margaret Miller Dresses is being featured in Imilla Road's pop up store starting tomorrow through August 29 in New York City. 

Manhattanites take note!

Lauren Stern Designs

Lauren Stern, a friend and former colleague of mine in NYC started her own design firm a couple of years back and she has really come a long way. She was recently featured on Design Sponge.  I love her eclectic interiors - something modern, something industrial, everything personal.  Great job Lauren!

Materialista!

A friend of mine in the architectural materials industry recently started a blog.  If you're interested in what's new in surfaces - from flooring, to textured wall panels, to laser cut metal screens, check out Materialista's blog.  She's trolling NYC to find the best and most innovative use of materials out there in retail spaces, restaurants, hotels etc. Here is a photo of Rare Restaurant that she recently wrote about.

Ride the Wave

So, for the final of my travel related posts (at least I hope for a while), I'd like to introduce everyone to Wave Hill.  I can't believe I didn't know about this place while I actually lived in New York.  On Memorial Day Leigh, Jason, baby Drew, Scott and I drove up to Harlem and had a BBQ lunch at Dinosaur BBQ (if you can't get all the way up to Wave Hill, at least go to Dinosaur) and then headed up to the Wave Hill Botanical Gardens in Riverdale to walk off our lunch.  Wave Hill sits on the bluffs overlooking the Hudson and the large swath of land on the other side that Rockefeller bought up to maintain the pristine views.  The gardens are amazing, and the views are breathtaking.  You can buy a bottle of wine and drink it on the patio of the former residence.  And if you happen to be planning a wedding, I have no idea what their rates are, but it seems the ideal spot for a garden soiree.

A trip to the Highlands

While in NYC we met up with some friends to catch up. As is requisite for New York nights out, the night began at Rosa Mexicana with a few rounds of margaritas and their delicious guac.  And as is also requisite for NY nights out, a few people dropped off and we ended up with a core group throwing around various places to go for dinner.  There were 6 of us with no reservation. The Spotted Pig was discussed as were other locations that would have required a long wait and we finally settled on The Highlands, a new gastropub on a quaint West Village Street.  The meal of nouveau Scottish food was delicious and the restaurant was easily able to seat us.

And the decor was refreshing after having been in LA and not seen much new for a while.

Fishs Eddy

While in NY a few weeks ago, Scott and I stopped by one of our favorite stores.  Fishs Eddy has been a New York staple for quite a while.  They started by repurposing and reselling vintage dinnerware and flatware from old hotels, cruiselines and airlines.  Now they have their own line of fun flatware, dinnerware, dishtowels, etc.  all with a sense of place a whimsical point of view.  We bought these Brooklyn dishtowels to remind us of our old stomping grounds.