Inspired Spaces: White walls + Old Leather + rich wood = Luxe

Have ya'll seen the space put together by Will Kopelman (aka Mr. Drew Barrymore) in the latest AD?  It's the most anti-man cave, beautiful man-space I've ever seen.  In fact, I don't see any reason to designate it a "man space," as I'd move in in a heartbeat.

I'm generally a color gal, but throw in a neutral palette with some roughed up leather, and you'll get me every time.  Besides, the home office has enough suggestion of color with the enormous John Singer Sargent reproduction (Will's an art adviser - nice work if you can get it)  What I really love is the not-in-your-face luxe of it all.  From the rich polished wood paired with the contemporary pieces to the men's suiting fabric that makes the window treatments - all against the perfectly-white background.  As Ferris Bueller once said, "It is so choice."

Moving on to the bath and dressing room portion of the program, Will turns the tables and goes dark and rich.  The dressing room in black lacquer with hits of wood and brass still serves to scratch my itch for dark, high gloss rooms.

It also serves to remind me that rooms with drastically different feels can exist beautifully as neighbors - they key is the streamlined palette, and shared materials.

The bathroom is just - wow.  It's a lot, and I'm not sure I could deal with this much going on on a daily basis, but I LOVE that he went for it.  Like all-out, gentleman's glam.  I admire a man who knows his style and rocks it to the last detail.  Drew says she cried when she first saw the space - because it made her bathroom look downright granny.

I've had this white walls, rich wood, worn leather, mix of modern soup in my brain so much, I decided to use it to put together a design scheme for a class project.  My assignment is to design a Living/Dining room space.  I put more of a feminine twist on my interpretation, and the items I sourced would be filed under a budget known as...uh, dreamy, but here ya go.

In this room, every hour would feel like martini hour.   {sly grin}

Let's talk about House of Cards

Our holiday weekend was non-eventful.  Ben had to work some, and the girls had school on Monday, so ours wasn't your traditional Memorial Weekend, kicking off the American Summer.

I do feel like we participated in a little bit of National Past-time-ness, though.  Ben and I got some serious TV time in, watching the entire series of House of Cards.

We've been in Brazil five years, and as far as I'm concerned, blissfully ignorant of most TV pop culture.  I've never seen an episode of Downtown, Mad Men, or Breaking Bad.  

It seems a little ironic, then, that shortly before we move back Stateside (to the DC area, no less), we find ourselves completely addicted to this show that elicits the worst you can imagine about the inner workings in the Nation's Capital.

In the most twisted-delicious way.

Kevin Spacey at his finest/darkest.  If you, (like me) loved him in the Usual Suspects, American Beauty, or Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, you're going to piss your pants over HoC.

Robin Wright is brilliant, beautiful, and so on-the-mark as the ultimate Washington Power Wife.  (Aside: Have you SEEN her bod?  Isn't she 50-something?  Amazing.)

Previously unknown to me - Kate Mara - with her piercing doe eyes - makes me fearful of my daughters growing up. 

I apologize if this is old news.  I tend to be late to the scene like that.  If I'm not, then - go.  Subscribe to Netflix, and try not to binge on the whole season in one sitting.

Put the kids to bed first.

*P.S. - Come back tomorrow.  I got to interview the woman who's brought us photos like this.

 via Rue

It's insightful, and just overall badass.   See you then.

First thoughts on Tyler's Kitchen of the Year for HB?

I don't know about you, but I would certainly, most definitely want a cook to design my dream kitchen. If it happened to be one of my Chef crushes, as is the case with Tyler Florence, then it would be the proverbial icing on the cake.
Just caught these first glimpses of the Kitchen of the Year he designed with House Beautiful, and so far, so goooood!

I can totally feel the unpretentious-yet-serious foodie-ness that Florence captures with his recipes.

I'm pullin' up a chair!

Classic!

I have to admit, it was really fun to show my three year-old a REAL princess on tv this morning. I also have to think that her reaction to the throngs of adoring peeps would be much the same as this little flower girl's.

Gotta love it.
image via Today show on Tumblr

Ready?

Even if you're ready for all the hub-bub of a royal wedding to be over you must admit their official portrait is perfection.

I'll watch to see what she wears, probably the rest of the high points by recast. I think she pretty much rocks, so I hope she hits a home run tomorrow. High five, Waitey Katie!

Oscars (yawn) Fashion Recap

I was a little underwhelmed by this year's Oscar dress selections - were you? Granted, there were some winners, some "meh"-ers, but overall, everyone played it a little too toned down and safe. I can't think of any instances where, five years from now we'll be saying, "Oh, THAT dress!" I'm sort of inspiration-less for a recap post.
Still, there were some gorgeous moments...

I thought Mandy Moore had the overall, prettiest look of the night. The netted neckline blended seamlessly with her complexion, and her hair and makeup (bright lips!) were absolute perfection. Mila Kunis' lavender Elie Saab number, with its teasing, low and lacy bodice left everyone, including gay men gasping in awe. Also, thought her hair was insane gorgeous. Anne Hathaway chose VERY wisely - vintage Valentino in the trademark, red hue. Stellar. And the Body that Won't Quit - Jennifer Lawrence in Calvin Klein. I actually love that she went sans bling - clearly, she doesn't need anything to distract from that physique.

People I was on the fence about: Best Actress Winner, Natalie Portman - Her Rodarte dress photographed better than it looked on live camera. When I initially saw it, I thought, "Why maroon?" (aka worst color ever), but in the still shots, it reads more plum, which is only slightly better. The drape and neckline are perfect for a preggo body, though.

Scarlett Johannson's D&G proves my point about the color maroon.

Another dress that didn't read as well live on tv as it does in photos - Halle Berry's Marchesa. Gorgeous, but a bit too predictable for me.

I'm sure I'll get a few boos from the gallery, as Gwynnie's custom Calvin Klein liquid platinum sheath was an overall crowd pleaser (at least according to last-night's tweets), but it just left me a little cold. Right now, I think GP is into anything that shows off her coathanger of a figure. As there's a lot of work, and not much eating involved in this endeavor, I can't say I blame her. Afterall, she's marketing a product (i.e. her investment in Tracy Anderson, her trainer)

Cate Blanchett doin' her own thing, Fashion as Art style. No, I don't like the dress, but she can do no wrong in my book, so I'll forgive her the yellow-boils-on-her-back look of her Givenchy.

If Amy Adams' L'Wren Scott had had a different neckline and sleeves (notoriously unforgivable to the arms), I think it would have worked better. What a waste of that incredible emerald necklace, too.

This woman just had twins. Girdle of steel? No matter. Get her outta my face.

And, last, her Royal Divaness herself, Sharon Stone - working the carpet with unrivaled fierceness. You go on with your nip-tucked self, I happen to LUV ya!

I can't help noticing...

That Gwyneth (at last night's Grammy's) definitely did something to her eyes, and she's starting to morph into Kendra. NOT a good thing. Why, G, why?

Did everyone fire their stylist?

I didn't watch the Globes last night (too late down here), but that doesn't stop me from departing from design and projects to dish on the dresses. Overall, I thought, "Wow, the stinky economy has hit Hollywood - everyone has fired their stylist." There were, however, a few stellar moments. Let's see...

The Mo-Mo Parade
I'm not sure if these women were trying to look older, but to me, between the dress and/or the hairstyle, these women weren't drinking from the Fountain of Youth last night...

Leighton Meester - isn't she, like 20-something? You wouldn't know it here...

Angelina Jolie - AMAZING color on her, but the hair is so half-assed, I miss something. Oh wait, she's sooooo over these parades...

Ann Hathaway also went with a fully-beaded, Dynasty-sleeved number. The rose gold color becomes her, but all that beading adds visual weight - ugh.

Michelle Williams - daisies on a nude background do NOT a flattering palette make.

Scarlett Johanson = Mother of the Bride
This also goes to show that nude can be VERY difficult to pull off - probably even more so on camera.
Wait! There was one more...who???

Freakin' A - that's Sandra Bullock! She's either:
a) Pulling the "I was the winning princess last year - this year, I'm goin' Goth" a la Gwyneth or
b) She's trying to hide from ScarJo (pfft, pfft, MeOW!)

Battle of the Bumps

Both women look radiant, but the rose applique on Natalie's dress is distracting - in a bad way. Jane Krakowski's fabulous earrings offer a much more clever device at drawing the eye up.

What were they thinking?

Just because you have a rockin' bod doesn't mean you have to show up in public with nearly all of it on display. Halle - we've seen you naked in films, we get it.

Helena Bonham Carter - well, what did we expect, right? I just wish for once, she'd pull a 180 and do something pretty/elegant/flattering for gawd's sake!

Gals who Got it Right

Helen Mirren. My husband believes she's "one of the sexiest women alive." Not sure how I feel about that...

Catherine Zeta Jones went full-throttle with the of-the-moment emerald, and she had her cancer-survivor husband on her arm. Kudos to them both.

My hands-down favorite(s)

Emma Stone in this body-skimming Uh-MA-Zing dress. The peachy-nude complements her skin to perfection, and shows just enough to be non-boring.

In a similar vein - Claire Danes. Although a tad more predictable, it is very well executed.

...and because I can adore the look of non-skinny women of color, too - Gabourey Sidibe's lilac, beaded maxi dress is the perfect amount of boho-chic for this less formal awards show. I'd actually loved to own that dress.

...and last, but certainly not least...

Tilda Swinton's channeling of Sharon Stone's "my husband's shirt" moment. This woman is such a rock star of an actress, she can tell all us hecklers to stuff it (and I would.)

Agree or Agree to Disagree?

Gwyneth on Glee - Thumbs up?

I promise I'll get back to design stuff soon, but...Did you see it? The "Gwyneth" episode of Glee last night? Lawd only knows why I did, with the difference in time zones, the show began at 11 PM, and that's way past this blogstress' bedtime. (Now you know why I'm so out of the loop on current television pop culture.) BTW, immediately downloaded Cee Lo's "Forget You" onto my workout playlist - lurvs it!

So, we now know GP can sing AND dance. Were you throwing pea-green spitballs at your tv? Methinks girlfriend is setting up for a Broadway appearance - it's just a natural course, what with her mother's stage success.
The dance number to Chicago's "All That Jazz" really did have me praising her ballziness at taking risks for the sake of her art, but let's face it, what I was really critiquing was....her face...

You know I'm obsessed with celeb plastic surgery, and I'm always ready to sniff out any work they've had done. Gwynnie's face and complexion look very, very good. I know she takes care of herself, and she's gotten into great shape after wallowing in post-pregnancy blahness, but, I still. think. there's. been. some. tweaking.
Botox for sure - but not too much. Lasers or skin peels too for the radiance, but if she's doing fillers it's very, very subtle.
Like everything else she touches, she has opted for classicism and restraint. Whoever's touching her up is an artist in their own right, and I'd probably give a digit to have them on speed-text.

I'm Stoked!

FIRST

YOU are one gracious group of lurchers! I knew you were, I just had to call you on it! I tried to respond directly to anyone who left an email address, but if I missed you, please accept my sincere thanks for the amazingly-supportive comments ya'll left after my post announcing my intent to pursue an education in design. You made my weekend, fo sho, and I can't wait to take you along with me!

SECOND

Did you see the engagement announcement of Prince William to Kate Middleton? I for one will be glued to the papparazzi feeding frenzy that will ensue. I do feel badly for the scrutiny she will surely be subjected to, but, from I see of Kate - she is impeccable.
Lady is gorgeous, has effortless style in spades, and a body that won't quit. Lucky man, that Prince William!

What a thrill it would be to be a guest at what will certainly be THE social event of the year, but seriously, what do you give to someone who will inherit some of the most valuable real estate, art, antiques, and jewelry in the world? I bet they do something different, and ask for charitable donations, instead. That would seal them in the Court of Coolness for me!