The Examined Life

Do you journal? What sort of journal personality are you?

Plane Jane basic, frills-free. Your thoughts don't need embellishment.

No - you're an astute fashionista, a trendsetter. In your hands, an LV Agenda's pages are replaced with lined sheets. You linger at the cafe over crepes and record your chic life. 

BUT... today you're also an intellectual - with flair. The journal of choice for Van Gogh and Hemingway is your ideal. But the modern version in pink (or green) is your style. 

Or... perhaps today is just a day for play - and jotting down a few jokes. Kate Spade's papers are perfect.

Hmmm... but what have YOU been up to? Life is an adventure, after all. 

Especially when you're traveling the world!  Today, Venice.  Tomorrow, Fiji.  Your daily life could fill a book - or be a book.  The publisher just called. 
Or maybe you'd just like to have a journal for one trip - to the beach, perhaps, and your sunny friend Lilly Pulitzer would love to tag along.

At the end of the day though, you just want to go home. Cozy, modern, or daring, your nest is YOU, and beautiful Italian marbled journals reflect your taste for quality.  A perfect design. 
Who will you be today?
Journal 1, mead.com. Journal 2, louisvuitton.com. Journal 3, moleskin.com. Journal 4, katespade.com. Journal 5-6, jennibick.com.  Journal 7-8 katespaperie.com.  Book, amazon.com. 

Cheap and Chic Thursday: Inspired by Nature

I love nature-inspired designs, and lucky for me, they're very popular this summer.  Favorite read, Style Redux, recently did a feature on Anthropologie's charming animal jewelry. Everyone from Saks to Dior is embellishing baubles with natural inspiration - but considering the economic climate and the subject, perhaps a more tree-friendly approach is best?  These options will save plenty of paper.

Floral and stone embellished sandals, Macy's.

Caspari Dinner Plates. 

Ann Taylor Loft zebra flipflops and floral umbrella.

Beautiful rings at Banana Republic.

Coral decor at Target.

All images from objects' respective shops, as listed. 

Bizarre Bazaar

The June issues are out (hurrah!) and Bazaar is on a run - a pink colored, funky font run. I mentioned this last month, but apparently the latest budget-crunching trend of recycling the old as new applies to magazine covers too. From the color, to the font, to the over-the-shoulder pose, this issue is like the answer to an equation: what does March + April + May equal? June! Viva la Recessionista!

June cover image: glossies.net.

Simple Palette and Subtle Pattern

The May issue of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles had so many beautiful interiors, I just can't help coming back to it.  One of my favorite spreads was on designer Margaret Bosbyshell. Her decor for one of Buckhead's old homes is full of color and pattern, but the use of pattern is very subtle and muted. Despite being in virtually every room, the intricate looks she uses are not the first thing you notice. For those who are afraid of too much texture in a room (or for even the fearless!) this home is a great guide.

Pattern on the mantel and curtains...

Pattern in the carpet. 

Patterned wallpaper. 

Pattern, pattern, everywhere - can you spot all its uses in this room?

Patterned walls and chairs! 

All images, Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles.

The Memorialized

One of the stranger cultural shifts I experienced when I lived up North was the observance, or lack thereof, on Memorial Day. In many areas down South, Memorial Day is much more than bar-b-que and burgers; it's an encounter with personal history. Faithful family members visit the graves of ancestors from conflicts past - literally, their memorials - and decorate them with flowers and flags in a very public expression of acknowledgement and gratitude. 

I would encourage you this Memorial Day to make an effort to do likewise - even if the graveyard holds strangers, you are heir to their sacrifice.  Don't ask that a low-flying flag or official proclamation recognize the day on your behalf.   Go and give thanks. 

A  S.P.A.R. uniform, WWII.

Picture, Jackson Library, University of North Carolina at Greensboro. 

Home Trends: HGTV Kitchen and Bath Expo 2009

Tune into HGTV's coverage tomorrow night of the Kitchens and Baths Expo, held in Atlanta. Starting at 8pm, Eric Stromer and Taniya Nayak will be covering the latest and greatest in appliances, flooring, decor, and other products. Everything from the whimsical to the weird is featured (just see the sampling below). Don't miss it!

Can you find the television? TV Mirror by Seura. 

Even better: can you find the RADIATOR?  Carisa Adagio "harp" radiator.

Images by Seura, Carisa.

Made Me Smile

The Kate Spade silk organza fairmount park mona coat, katespade.com.

Artist Gallery: Elizabeth Stockton

A recent post on  Fashion Is My Muse made some very thought-provoking points about beauty and its place (or lack thereof) in the art world today.  I rejoice whenever I find an artist who has developed a unique vision appreciative of beauty, and Elizabeth Stockton is one such artist.  Her serene and frequently haunting paintings invite you to look deeply and consider landscape as an expression of emotion.

I appreciate the wonderful serenity of Stockton's paintings - in a world of chaos, she paints an oasis of calm. It is sometimes sad, but it is always quiet. Here's her Artist's Statement:

"I paint landscapes that portray an

emotion as opposed to an actual place.

I appreciate a painting that haunts me

so I never get tired of looking at it and

studying it - one that changes with the

light, the season, placement, and mood.

My paintings evoke an emotion of

peacefulness, awareness, quiet,

and tranquility."

Consider: what is more emotional to you than the landscape in which you grew up? Your home, the yard, the hill behind your house? Or what, really, is America without the Grand Canyon, Italy without her coastline, Switzerland without her mountains? In turn, consider the cultural currents surrounding suburbia and its cul de sacs, or perceptions of inner city violence. Landscape is environment - and it frequently defines those within it.

For further readings on landscape and art, I would highly recommend Simon Schama's book Landscape and Memory, which asks, when we look at a landscape, do we see nature or culture? It's a worthwhile question.

Have a great (and restful!) holiday weekend everyone! You can find out more about this Atlanta based Artist here.

Pic 1: Atlanta Homes Mag. Pic 2 - 4: www.elizabethstockton.com. 

A Goodbye Note to Mrs. John L. Strong

C'est tragique! The stationer to tastemakers, socialites, celebrities, and British nobility has apparently fallen prey to the recession. Mrs. John L. Strong has officially announced that the doors are closing.  This has the abysmal air of fate about it - the line was founded in 1929 by Flora strong, and managed to thrive during the Great Depression.  The official press release only came out today, but the online catalogue has already been dismantled; alas, there isn't even a silver-lining sale.  All we can do is mourn.

Home Design Trends: The Boutique Hotel

Kelly Wearstler's work at the Viceroy Hotel, Miami. Blues are layered to oceanic depths.

Lately, as I've been plodding my way faithfully through HGTV's afternoon show round-up of real estate cum staging cum economic desperation, I've noticed a peculiar trend: the boutique hotel. In virtually every show, this phrase is ubiquitous. It costs $1,000, but it looks like a boutique hotel! We rented the furniture for this staging, and made it look like a boutique hotel! This strikes me as a rather odd choice of model. Most Americans have never stayed in anything like a real boutique hotel (this does not include bed and breakfasts, local hotels, quaint moldy inns, etc.). What most of us HAVE encountered is bland uniformity. I dearly love my Westin for its luxury bedding and faintly flowery scented soaps, but a paragon of originality it is not. I think what HGTV shows are really striving to convey to the unwashed masses is the sense of personalization, luxury, and SERVICE. Thus the hotel model. The newly decorated room (and accompanying plush-towel-scented-soap bathroom) are meant to give the impression of being cared for, ideally not by the owner. In an age without servants a hotel is really the last frontier of service without guilt. And gratified desire free of guilt really is the ultimate luxury.

Wearstler's work is true luxury; the attention to detail and complex palette are looks only a highly trained eye could create. Luckily, you don't need any special training to appreciate their beauty.

Form, color, pattern - nothing in this space is predictable. Yet, it's remarkably balanced. Spa interiors at the Viceroy by Philippe Starck.

A color saturated sitting area in a Wearstler room. 

So what do you think readers? What constitutes true luxury in your home?

All images, Kelly Wearstler and the Viceroy Hotel via the hotel and nytimes.com.