Model Chic in Madrid

Hope everyone had a great holiday and those of you on the East Coast are surviving the snow.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my flight will take off on Tuesday but until then, I'm going to continue drooling over Naty Abascal's Madrid home.  I came across it while I was flipping through Hola! magazine at Rizzoli.  I don't speak or read Spanish so I can't tell you anything about it but it looks like she has a fabulous art collection.  Naty was a model and is friends with Valentino so its elegance doesn't surprise me.  It also doesn't surprise me that her neice is just as beautiful.  They make me want to start my New Year's diet and exercise regime today instead of January too.  Enjoy!

Another look at Isabel López-Quesada

If you haven't already visited Spanish interior designer Isabel López-Quesada's website, then I encourage you to give yourself plenty of time once you do.  I could spend hours looking at all of her fabulous interiors and exteriors.  If Elle Decor hasn't already featured her, I highly suggest they book the next flight to Madrid because she is perfect for their magazine!  I couldn't help posting this project that incorporated antiques and modern elements which is something I strive to do in my own work.  I much prefer a room to look collected rather than decorated and Isabel López-Quesada is clearly a master!  Enjoy!

Like Mother Like Daughter

I was looking for this portrait of Patricia Herrera in her mother, Carolina Herrera's red toile bedroom for a while and I finally found it on photographer Jonathan Becker's website. It's actually the first photo, as it should be. It's iconic and beautiful and makes me want to upholster something in toile.

Looks like Carolina Herrera was also inspired by her mother's bedroom and the dress. She used the blue Le Coq toile by Pierre Frey in the master bedroom of her home in central Spain.

Mrs. Herrera also upholstered the sitting room of her Upper East Side townhouse in blue stripes by Ian Mankin in London. I used to live near the townhouse when I first moved to New York and seeing Mrs. Herrrera shopping on Madison Avenue or walking her dogs over to Central Park was the highlight of my day. She really is the chicest woman alive!

Her daughter Carolina Herrera Junior also upholstered the walls of her apartment in Madrid in the same stripes but in red. I love how she reversed the colors in both her homes.

This sweet portrait of the Carolina Senior and Junior also resided in her Madrid apartment that she later shared with her husband during the week. On the weekends, they would decamp to his estate in Extremadura which Carolina Junior said reminded her of growing up in Venezuela.

It was this beautiful estate that was featured in the Fall/Winter 2007 issue of Vogue Living. I would gladly live in the middle of nowhere in Central Spain too if it looked like this! Carolina Herrera Junior's husband is a retired bullfighter and you can see his ring in the background in this photo.

The exterior of the estate looks very inviting!

The homes in this area of Spain are constructed with blocks of stone to keep them cool in the summer and warm in the winter.

Carolina Herrera Junior's studio has a table covered in a Suzani that reminds me of the fabric in her Madrid apartment. The toile on the walls is from Quadrille.

In the detail, you can see a photo of one of their dogs in New York.

A daybed is upholstered in more stripes from Ian Mankin and the Suzani fabric for the curtains came from Madrid.

Carolina enjoys decorating and does everything herself.

This room looks like a lovely place to escape the mid-day heat in Spain!

I love this blue lamp and the silver trays on another table in the same room.

I also love the blue color in the guest bathroom and that she painted the tub to match the walls!

Clearly, the antlers denote this as the old hunting lodge on the property.

Bulls that were killed by her husband's grandfather in the ring in 1902 line the walls inside the hunting lodge.

You know the property must be large since they specially built a chapel on it for their wedding!

Carolina asked her friend, the artist Konstantin Kakanias to decorate the interior of the chapel. I don't Mrs. Herrera's townhouse in New York has a chapel but it's clear that the style apple doesn't fall far from the tree. But then again, I can't imagine her children growing up in her fabulous home and not having her chic taste rub off on them. And more importantly, I wonder if she'd like to adopt me!

Photos by Jonathan Becker, Eric Cahan and Francois Halard