Grace is Good

It was reported by WWD last week that Vogue Creative Director Grace Coddington is hard at work on her autobiography.  She will be helped with this task by former Men's Vogue editor in chief Jay Fielden.  “We’re just starting, and I think it’s going to be a really fun project,” she told WWD, adding: “I’m hoping it’s going to be very rich in fashion history. It’s more than just about me.”  Before she was an editor, Coddington was a model who was shot by some legendary lensmen including Lord Snowdon and Helmet Newton.  I'm sure there are some good stories from those years as well as her time at both British and American Vogue.  It was The September Issue that introduced us to this amazing woman who I like to think of as the moral compass of the movie and I can't wait to read about her inspiring life in her own words. 

TV Theater Wall

Materials: Vika Amon table top (black-brown)

Description: It is easy and cheap to have your TV Theater wall. Just make a hole in the table top in order to fix the TV back inside it and place the Vika Amon table top (black-brown, in this case) between the wall and the TV. The TV holders will sustain it. That's all.

~ Jav, Toledo (Spain)

Paris in Pastel

If you don't already have the July/August 2010 issue of Australian Vogue Living, run, don't walk to the nearest newsstand!  This issue is one of their best and includes a fun story about eating in Brooklyn and a feature on the Montauk home of Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch of Roman and Williams which you can also see here.  But what really stopped me in my tracks was a gorgeous Paris apartment designed by Baroness Bruno de Pampelonne for a young Russian woman who received it as a birthday present (must be nice huh?!).  The Baroness whose name is Rose Anne, worked on the space with architect Florence Lopez and what's surprising is that it's so different from her own Paris apartment that was seen in Elle Decor.  The title of the article, Paris in Pastel, suggests that the apartment is full of pastel colors but it's not at all saccharine or sweet.  Lots of black and gold accents and marble, as well as a top notch art collection keep it sophisticated and modern.  It actually reminds me a little of Kelly Wearstler's home.  The photos below are only a few of what is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite interiors.  Enjoy!

Artwork by German artist Katja Strunz hangs above a table by Angelo Mangiarotti.  The lamp with pale blue shade and mounted crystal is by Bagues.

If I had seen this apartment last week, I could have included it in my mirror post.  Here, an Hervé van der Straeten mirror hangs over a mirrored wall panel. The Baroness designed the carpet. 

The sheep desk, "Mouflon de Pauline" is by François-Xavier Lalanne.  The Baroness is quoted in the article as saying, "You know when Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs and Peter Marino started to buy Lalanne, the prices for his furniture skyrocketed."  The Ico Parisi chair is covered in a Brunschwig & Fils fabric.

In the guest bedroom, striped leather walls by Elitis are a perfect backdrop for a work by James Nares and sconces by Objet Insolite. 

The black kitchen features a Thonet dining table. 

Photos by Richard Powers

A great man

My husband is a great man.

He the most patient person I’ve ever met. He loves so true and deep. He is never threatened when I succeed – he encourages me, drives me, inspires me. He is gentle and calm and when I see a bug (and jump on the chair screaming), he will pick it up and take it outside rather than kill it. When I have a problem and ask him what I should do, he is always, always, ALWAYS right.

He works 12 hour days most of the year. And after working a full day, he walks in the door and never takes even a second for himself – he immediately has his arms outstretched for our son, and comes to kiss me before even putting his keys down.

He worked from home all summer and we were together all day, almost every day, and I never get tired of being with him. He is my very best friend and he is the best person I know.

My husband is the man he is because of another great man. My father-in-law raised three amazing children, my husband the oldest of them.

We had a rough holiday season last year – first my father-in-law was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Then only weeks later, we lost my mother-in-law.

It was a punch to the gut – twice. But we used the news of his cancer to live differently – we saw my father-in-law as much as possible. He lived with us on and off for months, so our son got to know him and see him often. Even though he was in his 80’s and couldn’t really play with the Bub, Papa was one of his very favorite people in the world. (There is something about Grandpas, isn’t there?)

We celebrated with one final Mexican Fiesta (he would cook for our friends once a year):

   

We took a ton of pictures, wrote down every recipe, and listened to his instructions (very carefully!) and stories for hours.

We lived. He LIVED for those nine months.

It is with a very heavy heart that I tell you my father-in-law passed away early yesterday morning. We were able to prepare, somewhat, but many of you know you can never prepare enough.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t the cancer that caused his death. He fought it like a tiger. A very stubborn, determined tiger. :)

But the cancer is what allowed us to spend as much time with him as we could over the past nine months. Isn’t that funny how the worst news you could get turns out to be a blessing in disguise?

Without the cancer diagnosis, we may not have seen him as much. We may have let a couple weeks go by without visiting. We may have let a week pass without talking to him. My son may not know to grab his drumstick (or any long item) and wobble around the house with a “cane” like Papa.

:)

My father-in-law was a GREAT man. He came to the USA as a teenager, became a United States citizen, and worked his tail off to make the American dream possible for his children. He and his wife raised three fantastic kids – two boys and a girl.

He made my husband sit at a piano from age five, because he saw his talent, even at that young age. My husband is an amazing music teacher and composer today because his father believed in him and pushed him to be all he could be.

He created a GREAT man when he raised my husband. My husband will create a GREAT man in our son with what he has learned from his father.

For that I will be eternally grateful to him. I admired and loved him so. I wish I could have thanked him a few hundred more times for what he has given to me.

For now, he is heaven, cooking up some fabulous Mexican for all of his loved ones. :)

We love you so very much Dad.

See you Sunday!

I thought August was when everyone was supposed to be away.  Seems it's not and I've never been busier so I'm taking a few days off to relax.  I'll be back next week refreshed and renewed. I will also have lots of good posts for you including my visit with artist Jeremiah Goodman.  Bon Weekend!

Photo by Richard Foulser

Laptop/Book Stand

Materials: LANSA Handles and EKBY VALTER brackets

Description: A few weeks ago I started a new job, and discovered that the desktop computer has become a thing of the past. In its place was a ThinkPad T400 with a screen size of 14" connected to an external Dell 2009W 20" monitor. My challenge: how to raise the laptop screen to be at eye level with the Dell monitor to make this work for me. I thought of a laptop stand, and went out to buy one from the local office supply store. Its usefulness was limited - the laptop slid off the angled platform, so I took it back.

I heard about blog forums and researched how others had designed and assembled such stands from IKEA parts. From these ideas, I adapted the combination of parts listed below. The result: The completed stand works well as a stand for Thinkpad and my Acer 10.1" net book. It is also multi-functional since my wife also sometimes uses it as a cookbook holder.

What you may need:

Two-pack LANSA Handles (Article number: 60138759)
Product dimensions
Length: 9 5/8 " (245mm)
Depth: 1 5/8 " (41mm)
Hole spacing: 6 5/16 " (160mm)

2 EKBY VALTER Brackets (Article number:76696009)
Product dimensions
Width: 1 1/8 " (3cm)
Depth: 7 1/8 " (18cm)
Height: 9 " (23cm)

~ Oscar J, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Built-in bookcase and Home Theater Unit

Materials: 3 x 15" Billy Bookcases, 2x Billy height extenders, 2 x Billy doors, 2 x Benno DVD Rack, 1 x Hemnes Storage Bench, 1"x2" moulding, crown moulding and baseboard to fit your perimeter, Brad Nailer and nails, Liquid Nails adhesive, level, saw, 1' particleboard screws, caulk and paint

Description: We have an extremely small, 100-year old downtown house that has a teeny tiny living/great room -10' x 10'. Every inch of space counts! We decided that the look of built in bookshelves would be a suitable way to give ourselves extra storage and multi-task while still looking great.

1. Assemble 2 Billy bookcases, including adding the height extenders and put them on opposite ends of your project

2. Assemble the Benno DVD racks and place them against wall beside the Billys (both on the side facing the middle)

3. Trim your 1x2 moulding so that you can build a support ledge starting from the side of the left Billy across the front and side of the left Benno, across the back wall, and up the side and front of the right Benno ending at the side of the right Billy

4. This is the part where you can decide how wide you want your unit to be (we used the whole Billy). If you want it shorter, then you'll have to saw off some length). Assemble the third Billy, nailing the shelves in place on the sides, as this unit will be mounted horizontally

5. Secure the Billys against the wall - make sure they are levelled - and Liquid Nails the Bennos to them. The Bennos go flush against the wall

6. Attach the moulding ledge as described in Step 3, with the mouldings immediately below the height point where the Billy extenders meet the parent Billys

7. With another person, hoist the third Billy horizontally between the height extenders, resting on the Benno tops and ledge that you just installed. Have that other person keep holding it against the wall while you take a few particleboard screws and, using the shelf-mount holes in the Billy extenders, fasten the extenders to each end of the third Billy

8. Install the crown moulding and baseboard to the unit

9. Caulk every single gap on the unit, caulk it to the wall, and remember to caulk the crown moulding to the ceiling

10. When the caulking is dry, paint unit and the back of the wall where the TV will go so that everything looks built-in

11. Assemble the Hemnes bench, leaving out the front panel on top of the drawers. (You will be able to hide all of your home theater/cables/satellite boxes there). Place the Hemnes bench between the two Bennos

~ LittleMy17, Ottawa