There is something about white pumpkins that I am loving this year which is funny since orange is my favorite color. I bought a few for my apartment and used them to decorate for the party last weekend. The smaller ones are especially cute and will look nice displayed until Thanksgiving. I wish I was as ambitious as Martha Stewart and could carve lacy designs into them but I don't see that ever happening. Bon Weekend!
I've always been a fan of the cork / ribbon board. I love to look at what people put up as inspiration and their personal mementos. Here are some great examples of using them as a focal point.
This is an awesome application in formal panels above the breakfast table. What a great way to communicate with your family. Every member could have their own section.
Allesandra Branca - a fan of the ribbon board
Another Branca board
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Love these alternatives to cork - clipboards and chicken wire and clothes pins , Who knew!
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The top board is made from actual corks! You'd certainly have fun drinking all the bottles of wine you'd need to make this one.
How many of us grew up sticking pictures and notes to our vanity mirror? Here's a grown up version. I love it.
Wall pockets are a new trend. Very tailored and great for the neat freak who cannot tolerate the chaos of a conventional board.
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No matter how you pull it off, inspiration, message or memento boards are a great personal touch to any interior. 
I didn't really love the Sex and the City movie but I did love it when Miranda declared that they only costumes for women were witch or sexy kitten. I'm not dressing up this year. Mostly because I don't feel like going out to a bar and competing for attention with 21 year olds wearing little to no clothing. So tell me what you're dressing up as this year. Maybe it will inspire me for next year! Happy Halloween! 
Leave it to the chicest woman to put together the chicest book and hold the launch party at the chicest store. Last week, Kelly Klein launched her new book Horse from Rizzoli at the Hermes store and it is seriously the most fabulous book of the season. Even if you haven't ridden a horse in your life, you'll drool over the photos by Bruce Weber, Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, Robert Mapplethorpe and even Kelly Klein herself who took the beautiful photo above. Enjoy!
Cover photo: Equus Caballus by Wolfgang Ludes
Photographer unknown
Photo by Reinhard Hunger, styling by Chris Himmel
Photo by Yann-Arthus Bertrand
Photo by Peter Llewellyn/PMG Pictures
Photo by Loomis Dean/Time Life Pictures
Photo by Fabio Chizzola 
Photog by Fabio Chizzola
I have always wanted to go on a tour of the United Nations but have just never gotten around to it so when I discovered a book entitled The U.N. Building in my office last Thursday, I was beyond excited. Then I found out that October 24th of every year is United Nations Day. Talk about funny timing! The United Nations looks like a beautifully preserved time capsule of mid-century modernism! I love the fact that no one has ruined it by trying to update it since it looks so perfect just as it is. Now, I am even more determined than ever to go and see it for myself in person but until that happens, I will make due with pouring over the photographs in the book. Enjoy!
Recently, I posted a list of things I was grateful for now that our country is broke. I’ve received so many emails and messages regarding this post that I thought I would share some of my thoughts about it.
I was surprised to see that, like me, although people are very nervous about their financial certainty, there is a pervading sense of deep relief among those who sent me messages. Many people are finding that they have been living a life that has been dictated by their peers. They shop, primp, eat and socialize not for themselves but to keep from being trampled under the stiletto clad, manicured feet of the millions of other wannabe’s they are racing against. In a society where the brand of your purse and sunglasses has become more important than your intellect or personality, the pressure of keeping up with the Jones’s has left us ready to blow! Now, impending financial doom has made it ok and even stylish to throw aside some of our materials trappings and focus on - dare I say it – living within our means!!!!!
Margie Boulé a columnist for The Oregonia, the daily paper in
She writes, “When my Volkswagen bug broke down, it sat parked in front of my tiny apartment for months, because I couldn't afford to have it repaired. I once ate cheese for two days because it was the only thing left in my refrigerator. It was one of the happiest times of my life. My friends and I spent a lot of time together. We had spontaneous, outlandishly creative parties. We shared food. We laughed all the time.”
I think we Americans have been falling down drunk on excess and materialism and we are just now beginning to sober up and see what fools we made of ourselves dancing on the table at the office party.
We are joining together in a collective sigh of relief that the constant pressure to have more, buy more, get more, is finally easing up. Now we can look forward to getting back to life as it should be, guided by a bit of sober reality that will keep us in check and hopefully prevent us from reverting back to our old ways when things pick up.
Thanks Margie...
I love this cornice and balloon shade. They are the perfect adornment for this beautiful bathtub view. Makes you want to add bubbles and soak.
I wanted to show the other side of the bedroom of the bachelor pad and what it looked like before so you can get a look at the complete transformation. (Just ignore the rumpled sheets please!) The bachelor says it's his favorite part of the apartment and probably because there wasn't much in it before but the bed. Now it's a cozy and comfy refuge from the stress and strain of the city. I'm sure some negative nelly will say that blue was a cliche color for a bedroom but it is the most relaxing color and does help promote sleep. I also knew that I wanted it to be a little less masculine than the living room since he was said he was closer to settling down. (We all know now that was a little bit of wishful thinking.) I do owe a big thank you to his mother for generously buying all the new sheets and pillows! Of course, she said it was his Christmas present but if she's anything like my mother, she'll probably forget by then!
Bedroom Before
The creative mind never ceases to amaze me. Just when you think you have a particular product figured out someone will come up with a whole new way to use it.
Now I remember why I only host one party a year. It's exhausting and it's never quite as much fun as being just a guest. I spent all day Friday running around and preparing and most of Saturday too. And then little things kept going wrong like my Blackberry stopped receiving emails and my computer decided to not recognize anything I plugged into the USB port. Weird timing. Luckily, I had made a party playlist on my iPod earlier in the week but I was unable to save the changes I made on Saturday. Of course, all the sudden it's working now. Even weirder.
It also happened to rain Saturday night. A few people cancelled but all in all it turned out to be a fun party. I thought we were going to have too much food but some girls who showed up ended up chowing down. I did order too much wine but that will definitely not go to waste.
A big thanks to my friend Tara who came over early with me to set everything up and wrapped more figs in prosciutto than she would have liked. More thanks to those who braved the rain including Eddie and Jaithan, Ron Marvin and Alejandro, Hollister and Porter Hovey, Michelle Adams and my colleague Kristen. My friend Kelly, who works with Carleton Varney, was too sweet and brought me a copy of Decorating is Fun! which I actually don't own and am excited to read! (I joked that I am going to write my own version entitled, Decorating is Exhausting!) I also made a new friend at the party, artist Lesny JN Felix who invited me on a tour of his studio. We also discussed a few other joint projects so check back later. 
The candles in this photo look like they are coming out of the wine bottles but I assure you that they are not! I had a good laugh when Eddie knew that the ceramic beverage container was from Tar-jay! He has a few himself! We also found out that our birthdays are two days apart! Can you say joint birthday party?!
This is how the dining area looked the next day after I cleaned. (Did I mention that I went over and cleaned while the bachelor was out golfing?!) His step mother hates the table but he already had it and we didn't exactly have a huge budget. Sometimes I think it's fun to work with what a person already has than going out and buying everything new. 
Someone mentioned last week that the television area didn't look finished and that's because it wasn't. There is also a lot going on next to it with the seating area so I think it's fine that it's not too over accessorized. Plus, it would distract you while you were trying to watch TV. I would have liked to have bought an area rug for under the dining table but as I mentioned previously, the bachelor works on Wall Street and so some finishing touches were put on hold. (The caterer and wait staff I also dreamed about for the party were also put on hold!) I also just painted out the existing dining area light fixture shades and took off the finials to save money. It would have been too expensive to have an electrician to come in and move the electrical box and install a new fixture. It's also a rental so it just made more sense to leave it since the bachelor probably wouldn't have had someone take the new one down before he moved anyway. Someone at the party actually said they liked it too which made me laugh. If they only new what it looked like before! 
The new chairs add much needed additional seating and are also much better than what he originally had there (see the before photos here). One of his friends thanked me for the improvement since he has a nicer place to hang out too!
As you might remember the sofa is a C&B Italia from 1973 (before the changed the name to B&B Italia) and the Italian glass and chrome coffee table is also from the 1970's and was designed by Giancarlo Frattini for Cassina. Both were from his step mother and are selling for crazy prices on 1stdibs. The bachelor bought the rug himself last year and it actually worked with the color scheme of browns and oranges.
I can't find the other photo of the bed but you do get a look at the Ralph Lauren dresser that we splurged on. Everyone who saw it fell in love with it. You can't tell here but the wood looks like it's part of an expensive yacht and the pulls are leather and silver. There is supposed to be a small flat screen tv sitting on it but someone hasn't gotten around to buying it which is why the art is hung the way that it is on the wall. By the way, can you tell which painting was bought on ebay for $60 and which one was bought at Flair for $1500???
All in all, it was a 6 month process from start to almost finish. There are still a few details left that need attending to but they might have to wait until things are little more under control financially. I will be forever grateful to my friend for giving me the opportunity to undertake a project all by myself. It was tough and he and I didn't always get along during it. Some people know and others guessed that he and I had at one time dated. It didn't work out but we remained friends. I will admit that I had hoped that the project might bring us closer and result in a happy ending but alas it did not. I may have created the grown up apartment he wanted but someone isn't quite ready to grow up himself. But I do have a great project to add to my portfolio and a lot more time on my hands! C'est fini!
