allora.custom.GIRARDEAU

I love to start a week off with the debut of a new chair, and I am especially happy to bring allora.custom.GIRARDEAU to you on this otherwise typical Monday morning! Leave it to my friend, Sara, to have the coolest chair just hanging around her house... I love the lines and the detail and oh, the upholstered back, the arms, everything about this chair! I am so happy that she let me borrow it for a few weeks to give it a little face lift! Painted "regal red" and upholstered in a dyed linen jungle print, this chair is overflowing with character and should--hopefully--make sitting at a home computer that much more exciting! I also love how the bronze upholstery tacks bring out the darker tones in the fabric and provide some additional interest. Have a happy Monday and look for photos of GIRARDEAU at home soon!

barcelona, me encanta

I just realized that today's post is the third day in a row featuring a fantastic chair "we love." I must say, of all the many many chair and furniture designs that I love, I would be a happy and content woman to own just this one. The Barcelona chair. Ah... one day. I've mentioned my trip to Spain last April on several occasions, yet somehow I have managed to neglect this most important detail. My poor sister had to spend the last weeks of her semester abroad racing around with me to see every significant and insignificant item relating to architecture that I could think of (and some more that we stumbled upon). I am satisfied, however, that she took away at least one thing from the craziness; she too loves the Barcelona pavilion (and even recognized the meaning of a "faux-Mies structure" in a book she was reading, but I digress). A sort of Mecca to architects around the world, this recreation of Mies van der Rohe's German pavilion for the Barcelona International Exposition is simple and clean and oh so modern. I mentioned yesterday that all good design is, at a minimum, detail deep, and the Barcelona chair designed to go in this spot, in this building, is a fine example. Have a good weekend!

high on the high line

Like that marketing genius before me, I HEART NEW YORK. There are a million and one reasons to love the city to begin with and now my all time favorite architects have given us another. The first part of the High Line has officially opened up on the west side, right at the Meatpacking District, and I'm doing everything in my power to not blow my whole budget and get up there immediately to explore it. It looks absolutely incredible! My friends, Brian and Jennifer--lucky ducks, have already gotten to visit this wonderful urban intervention that hovers over traffic and reaches out to the Hudson, and I'm overwhelmed with jealousy (but very thankful for the pictures!)! I was looking at said photos, and just when I thought I knew every reason to love the High Line, BAM, another one. I firmly believe that good design is based in good details, so I'm not sure why I was surprised to discover that even the furniture in this raised park is wonderful! Now, wouldn't you feel special if you got to sit in the lovely green chair?

a special place to sit

"my father fed me on this when I was a baby

M.L. McArthur

(mother's arm was in a cast)"

I know that a stool isn't necessarily a "chair," persay, but I would venture that they are not so distant relatives. Nonetheless, a good seat is a good seat, and this stool happens to be one of my favorites. I distinctly remember where this stool sat in my grandparents' kitchen on Roslyn Drive, remember sitting on it and eating sundaes with cherries on top, remember pulling it up to the table crowded with family. It is a rather basic stool, painted white with four legs, sturdy and utilitarian. But it is also a special stool. In the rough times following my grandmother's passing, my whole family, my mother in particular, found comfort in small notes left by Ga-Ba in the most interesting of places. It was as if she knew the joy we would find in the memories she left for us, some of which we might never have known, such as the one we found on this stool. I use this stool in my home now to put dishes up on shelves that are out of my reach, to sit while I chat on the phone, for guests when there aren't enough chairs on the screen porch, and even, on occasion, as a plant stand. And every time, I think about my grandmother, as a toddler being fed by her father on the same stool. Its a type of physical memory that I love! It makes me want to record my thoughts with an indelible marker on my favorite items, so that somewhere down the road, someone will find them and remember.

did you know?

Yesterday, my friend, Jennifer, passed along an exciting do-it-yourself redecorating website called Homage. It is filled with wonderful ideas that are not only attainable for the masses, but actually doable in the DIY sense--perfect! One of my favorite stories featured on Homage happens to be about one of my favorite textiles, burlap. The warp and weft of this distinct material is just so... honest. I love it! There is something very natural and basic that is beautiful in burlap, and I'm fascinated by all the fresh ways to use it as suggested by Homage. Among their many exciting ideas, this set of chairs upholstered in screenprinted burlap are at the top of my list! I must say, however, that I've never considered using burlap as a seat material for one reason: comfort. I can't help but think to myself "OUCH" when I look at those ridiculously cool chairs. I have been using burlap all along though... on the bottom of the seats of every allora.custom and signature chair! I love a good surprise, so what could be more fun than discovering a delightful and bright color hiding on the other side of your seat? Can you guess which chairs go with these swatches from my burlap scrap drawer?