1 year ago - 
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A website by two best friends, for all things beautiful that make you stop, smile and say "Oh Hullo"
We are all familiar with the lavish holiday cottages of Newport, the beachside shacks of Southhampton, and the laid-back pomp of Palm Beach. I was enchanted to discover a more rustic holiday hideaway in America, to where the Guggenheims, Roosevelts and Rockefellers escaped in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In A History of the Adirondacks, Alfred Lee wrote that, “Among Adirondack terms calling for exact definition is the word ‘camp.’… If you chance to know a millionaire, you may be housed in a cobblestone castle, tread on Persian rugs, bathe in a marble tub, and retire by electric light—and still your host may call his mountain home a ‘camp’”.
This definitely sounds like my version of roughing it.
I adore these stag-like branches bringing the outside into this wonderful bedroom.
This image and many more are from An Elegant Wilderness by Gladys Montgomery, and can be bought from Amazon below:
Rather captivated by the wallpaper in Moda Operandi’s Taylor Tomasi’s New York apartment, shot by APT by LSD on Vogue.com last month here
It was created by Brooklyn-based design studio, Eskayel, who upon further investigation have a collection of rather ravishing and unusual fabrics and wallpapers, a selection of which can be found here. I always think that a heavy print on a wallpaper or curtain should be restricted to small spaces, but am happy to be proven wrong.
So Long, Albert Hadley
Albert Hadley, the celebrated interior designer who last week met his maker at the grand old age of 91, launched a thousand blog posts. I was recently introduced to Hadley’s work having discovered Sister Parish and all her quirks. At the helm of Parish-Hadley, he and Sister Parish created iconic interiors for Babe Paley, Jackie O and Oscar de la Renta, not to mention the legendary Park Avenue pad of Brooke Astor.
It is often said that designers like Parish and Hadley owe a lot to English interiors, but it is my opinion that the tables have now turned, and us Brits look across the pond to our American friends to put a braver and more colourful twist on the classic country house style.
Above is the famous library he created for Brooke Astor
The pretty lit à la Polonaise in Brooke Astor’s bedroom.
Rocking chairs and candy colours in a bedroom designed by Hadley for his sister, Betty Ann.
And the ultimate in quirks can be found down Bunny Lane, where architect Adam Kalkin created this one-of-a-kind structure. A picture-perfect 1890s bolthole was enclosed within this metal structure and decorated by Hadley. More of a museum piece than a traditional country cottage.
Albert Hadley, The Story of America’s Pre-Eminent Interior Designer, is available at Amazon, link below:
We managed to smuggle these pretty postcards from the Diptyque shop on Westbourne Grove over the weekend. One for each of their blissful floral scents. Wouldn’t they be chic in a frame?
The gift is almost certainly in the wrapping. I have been known to wrap up the most mundane items in lavish and beautiful be-ribboned wrapping - a low point being a toothbrush (not even electric). Hence the thrill at the discovery of Papermash, a website created to stop the hearts of stationery enthusiasts and tingle the spines of gift givers everywhere.
You either get this or you don’t. A straw poll of all visitors to my office over the last 2 months has revealed that a 50/50 split: Japanese masking tape is either a treasure to covet or a ho-hum roll of sticky tape. Seeing as my favourite shop in Tokyo is the stationery shop Loft in Shibuya, and my penchant for Japanese pens borders on the weird, I definitely fall into the former category.
Above is a selection of sensational Japanese masking tape from Papermash. Use for wrapping, pinning, decorating, embellishing, bookmarking, the possibilities are limitless.
Herald the new season with some psychadelic strides, like these new beauties, purchased after a glass or two of wine on Saturday at Sandro.
Springtime in Chelsea = Heaven on Earth
