Bathroom Bliss

I love all these gorgeous bathrooms and the lovely ideas for storing all your soft, fluffy towels, bubble bath and other beautiful bits and pieces.

Image 1 - here Image 2 - Country Homes & Interiors Magazine Image 3 - here Image 4 - here Image 5 - House Beautiful Image 6 - Better Homes & Gardens 

Love .... Wooden Benches

Image 1 - here Image 2 - here Image 3 - here Image 4 - here Image 5 - Unknown Image 6 - here 

He loves me, he loves me not....

Pulling the petals off a flower has always been a romantic way of deciding the course of true love. It looks like France's first lady and songstress, Carla Bruni, has picked just the right amount of petals. On their recent trip to New York she and French President Nicolas Sarkozy look very much together and appear to have survived the rumour mill of innuendo circulating throughout France. According to the Huffington Post, romantic lunches in Central Park, amorous evenings in the Carlyle Hotel and some intellectual chat at Columbia are doing wonders for the marriage...

Let's hope those daisies and their petals don't tell fibs.....xv

daisies - me

My Top 20 Interior Design Idols: Part Two

{This gorgeous bedroom was designed by Thom Filicia for the House Beautiful Designer Visions Showhouse.}

So, let’s pick up where we left off yesterday, shall we? Today, we’ll continue with the next five designers on my Top 20 list. These five gentlemen bring an air of sophistication to everything they do. While they share a modern, tailored approach, each designer’s work is distinctly his own.

Thom Filicia: Thom brings a relaxed sensibility to his work that I adore. Take the living room pictured above for instance. It is completely chic and elegant, yet it feels totally casual and inviting. You can just as easily picture yourself having cocktails with friends in this room as you can imagine lounging on the sofa with a pile of magazines. I love the way he accessorizes each room, creating a layered feel.

Todd Romano: I love Todd Romano’s fearless approach to design. He often mixes textures, patterns, and bold colors with amazing results. I admire the fact that he always incorporates artwork into his rooms. This fellow Texas native is a mix-master of sorts. He blends furniture from various periods, new pieces and antiques, traditional and modern with complete bravado.

Thomas O’Brien: What can I say about Thomas O’Brien that hasn’t already been said? He has accomplished what so many designers hope for. He is highly revered by design aficionados and has received critical acclaim, plus he has achieved enormous commercial success through his collections for Visual Comfort & Co., Hickory Chair, Reed & Barton, Safavieh, Groundworks-Lee Jofa, Waterworks, and Target. Spaces designed by Thomas always feel so personal, mostly through his brilliant way of layering accessories. There is also an architectural element to his work that I truly admire.

David Jimenez: I simply adore David’s classic sensibility and attention to detail. His designs are elegant, tailored, and timeless. His Kansas City home was one of the first homes that I truly fell in love with when I first started blogging. It is done in a formal, elegant style, but maintains a relaxed and inviting quality. He has always been so gracious and kind to me and that gentlemanly demeanor is reflected in the classic spaces he creates.

Steven Gambrel: Some of my favorite country houses are designed by Gambrel. He has designed some of the most amazing coastal-inspired houses in recent memory. Despite the fact that a home may be designated as a country home or beach home, he brings an urbane sophistication to each project. Unafraid to use bold colors, Gambrel often opts for beautiful blue hues reminiscent of the sea. Blue isn’t typically my favorite color, but he has made me a believer! This consummate designer is a trained architect and also designs furniture.

 

Let’s hear it for the boys! Yesterday’s group was a cross-section of several aesthetics, while the designers in today’s post share a tailored, classic aesthetic infused with a knack for color. Of today’s group of designers, who would you choose to design your own home? Whose aesthetic is closest to your own style?

No Hump Day

Sorry no hump day inspirations today. I will be spending the day with my good friend Mykyn who is in town for a short period of time. Lots of hiking and hanging out by the pool is planned...Hope you guys have a great hump day.

Product Review: Jo Malone Kohdo Wood Collection

The wonderful people at Jo Malone were kind enough to ask me to review the scents in their new Kohdo Wood Collection for the home which is set to debut in April. I was thrilled to have the opportunity because I have loved every Jo Malone scent I have ever smelled. So often, home fragrances smell artificial, overly sweet, and overpowering. On the other hand, Jo Malone scents are elegant and luxurious.

Both of the scents in the Kohdo Wood Collection arrived on my doorstep, beautifully packaged in Jo Malone’s signature cream boxes with black trim. The first, Lotus Blossom & Water Lily is meant to be a daytime fragrance. Its blend of “mandarin, sacred lotus blossom, bamboo and aloeswood encourages energy, inspires confidence and focuses the mind”. The second, Dark Amber & Ginger Lily is an intoxicating, rich fragrance meant to encourage tranquility in the evening. The scent is comprised of a combination of “cardamom, orchid and kyara wood designed to cleanse the senses and encourage calmness, relaxation, and positive thought.” The fragrances complement each other perfectly. Each is completely luxurious. I love the woodsy undertones of each fragrance which lend a sense of warmth.

I think it’s brilliant that one fragrance is meant for day and the other is meant for night because it is nearly impossible to choose a favorite between the two. Each scent is sensuous, luxurious, and utterly chic. The collection will be available in April at Jo Malone boutiques, on the Jo Malone website, and at stores including Bergdorf Goodman, and select Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus stores.

Into the Wardrobe

I love all these beautiful ways to store shoes and handbags - what girl wouldn't love to have something gorgeous like this in their bedroom!

Image 1 - here Image 2 - Unknown Image 3 - here Image 4 - Skona Hem Image 5 - Better Homes & Gardens Magazine Image 6 - here  

Love .... Mario Testino

Images - Flickr

A sweet prize for the end of the day...

What do shortbread biscuits, carrot cake, banana cake, chocolate truffles, lemon drizzle cakes and chocolate chip cookies have in common? Nothing, other than they are what we have been munching on when we come down from the slopes in the afternoons. My, 'eat like a French girl and exercise like an Aussie' resolution seems to have broken in half. I like to think of these cake and cookie treats as a reward - a big fat reward for my super human endeavours in getting up and down these magnificent Swiss Alpes day after day.

BANANA, PECAN AND NUTELLA CAKE

pre-heat oven to 170 degrees C

ingredients

4 over ripe bananas

340g castor sugar

340g self raising flour

340g soft butter

6 eggs

100ml milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

80g roughly chopped pecan nuts

then

cream butter and sugar

add the eggs

mash the banana together with the vanilla and the milk

mix all ingredients together

pour into two 25cm baking tins

cook in oven for 40 minutes

leave the cakes to cool whilst preparing the icing

nutella icing

2 tbs Nutella

225g Creme cheese

400g icing sugar

1 tbs vanilla

Mix together 

when the cakes are cool put them together with a layer of the nutella icing

generously ice the top of the cake 

decorate with fresh banana slices and icing sugar

(if you are a kitchen whizz the bananas taste even better than ever caramelized)

with thanks to Chris for the recipe and...... try and stop at one piece, with or without the skiing.....xv

image - me

My Top 20 Interior Design Idols: Part One

{Katie Lee’s Living Room designed by Nate Berkus}

For someone who loves reading and taking surveys, I am sometimes caught off guard when someone asks me what my favorites are. I love so many things, that I sometimes have a difficult time narrowing it all down on the fly. Just the other day, I was asked who my favorite interior designers are. I named a few of my top favorites off the top of my head, but I knew that I had inevitably left some names of my list.

A few days later, I really started to ponder who my favorite designers were. I could have gone on forever! There are so many designers whose work I admire so, so much, but I knew I would have to narrow it down. I whittled down the list until it was still about a mile long, but that still seemed a little excessive for a “favorite” category. I then challenged myself to name my top 20. It was no easy task. In all honesty, I really do admire so many things about the work of many, many designers out there and I love discovering new ones along the way. I am sure my list will continue to grow and change over time, but in the meantime, I will be doing a four-part mini-series on my Top 20 Interior Design Idols, each of whom has greatly influenced my own personal design aesthetic. They will appear in no particular order, beginning with the first five today. Be sure to come back tomorrow for the second installment of my list!

Nate Berkus: I adore Nate’s polished style and the fact that he emphasizes the importance of making a space feel personal. Every room in a home should say something about the people who live there. I usually love the color palettes that Nate employs and love that every space he designs features a touch of glamour. And by the way, could he be any cuter?

Nate has something that most other designers do not, even the ones that every design-minded person knows. He is a household name that even people who do not have a vested in design are familiar with. I love that he has brought an awareness of design to the masses. Did you know that most of the items in the room pictured above are from his line for HSN and are pretty affordable? It doesn’t hurt to be Oprah’s go-to-guy does it? It also doesn’t hurt that he is incredibly, undeniably talented.

Michele Bonan: This Italian designer is a true master in my opinion. Most of the spaces he has designed rank amongst my all time favorites. These images, from the JK Florence and JK Capri Hotels respectively are so telling of his effortless, elegant style. Every last detail is incredibly chic. He always manages to bring out the stunning architecture of each room and often uses subdued palettes. He uses accessories and art so masterfully and makes each room look completely elegant and timeless, which is a true coup in an industry that is ever-changing.

Suzanne Kasler: I love Suzanne’s genteel aesthetic. Everything she designs is elegant and classic. She has such a knack for infusing a bit of a modern touch to her otherwise traditional rooms. Her designs are undoubtedly feminine and classic, but always feel so fresh and new.

Lázaro Rosa Violán: Lázaro is a Barcelona-based designer whose work I have been crazy about lately! I have featured him on my blog a few times since January, when I stumbled upon his work while looking for a hotel for our trip to Barcelona. His main emphasis is on hotel and restaurant design. The spaces he creates are not only gorgeous, but completely original and full of character. Take the Big Fish restaurant pictured in the first image above, for example. It’s definitely not what comes to mind when one thinks of a sushi restaurant. I love the minimal color palette, the amazing lighting, the use of various textures, and the fact that he mixes new pieces with vintage ones to create the most amazing, layered looks.

Angie Hranowsky: I adore the way that Angie uses color and mixes high and low-priced items. Not only are the spaces she designs beautiful and inspiring, they feel attainable. Many times, we’ll find ourselves admiring gorgeous interiors only to realized that we may never be able to spend tens of thousands of dollars decorating a single room. Angie’s designs inspire me to be more creative and to check out different sources like thrift shops and estate sales where surely, some of the items in the rooms pictured above were found.

 

I wonder what my affinity for these designers says about my own style? I suppose I could describe it as classic with a twist? Eclectic with a hint of glamour? Let’s get the conversation rolling! Have I mentioned any of your favorite designers in this post? Whose style do you identify with? Who are some of your own design idols?