A Night Off

After a lovely weekend, I've decided to take a night off.  Of course, I can't leave my blog readers high and dry so I'm posting one of my all time favorite interiors.  This drawing room was designed by Billy Baldwin for long time clients Kitty and Gilbert Miller's London home.  Except for the flowers and the round pillows, it really does look like it could have been designed today. 

"A person with a real flair is a gambler at heart." - Billy Baldwin

Having a Ball

I am too exhausted to finish my other post but I know everyone loves opening their Habitually Chic email in the morning so I am leaving you with this beautiful photo of Jacqueline Bouvier and her sister Caroline Lee Bouvier as a debutantes that I saw on Vogue.com. The Hotel de Crillon Bal des Debutantes was recently held in Paris and the Junior League Cotillion takes place this weekend at The Plaza. They both harken back to a bygone era where girls behaved like ladies and wore organza dresses to match. Oh, those were the days!

I'm ready for my close up!

I've been busy all day working on my client projects which included shopping for carpets at Paul H. Lee. If you haven't checked him out in the D&D, I highly recommend that you do. I found exactly what I needed and he couldn't be nicer! And now I have to prepare for a photo shoot at one of my other projects in the morning. Too bad I don't think it will look like the one in the photo above! Anyway, I am sorry to say that I have no time to write a proper post tonight. I hope that you will forgive me and check back later for a fabulous holiday themed post! Ciao!

UPDATE: Thanks for all the warm wishes. The photo shoot went very well and you can see the results in the next issue of Lonny magazine on December 10th!

Night Off

I started a post earlier today but then went to a fabulous dinner party where the hostess served the most delicious beef wellington and copious amounts of wine so you will have to wait for it until tomorrow. Instead of finishing my post, I am going to watch Mad Men and then go straight to bed! Hasta manana!

One More Week!

Next Thursday morning I will step off the plane in Paree! Hooray! It can't come soon enough either! I've been busy trying to get lots of work done before I go which is why you are getting just a small post with one photo! But at least it's a good one!

If you want to establish an international presence, you can't do so from New York. You need the consecration of Paris. - Oscar de la Renta

Photo by Matt George

Back Soon!

I've been busy working all day and also preparing for a client meeting so there was no time to write up a post. Check back tomorrow for more coverage of the Traditional Home Hampton Designer Showhouse. Wish I was at my favorite beach in Southampton right now! Sigh. Ok, back to work!

Chic and Comfortable

I want to thank everyone who emailed me and left comments today! I really appreciate your support! I've been running around all day and am too exhausted to write a big post tonight so check back tomorrow for our regularly scheduled programming!

On a side note, one of my readers was worried that I would wear white sneakers popular with American tourists while I was in Paris. Don't worry, HC will not embarrass you or herself while abroad. I already have all my chic shoes picked out for my trip including this fabulous pair of Hogan Interactive Sneakers that will only be worn to tour Versailles. And maybe if it rains or my feet really hurt but it would take a lot for me to give up wearing my Christian Louboutins in Paris. It's like they are going to the motherland!

Business, Branding, Blogging and Booze..not necessarily in that order

First, I want to apologize for not posting yesterday. As you can imagine it's a little hard at times to juggle my client work with writing the blog and having any semblance of a personal life. That's why I love talking to other designers about how they started their own business because they all went through the same things and always have great advice.

I got together with June House Beautiful cover star/interior designer David Lawrence last night and he definitely motivated and inspired me. David and I used to work for the same designer, not at the same time, and he understands having so many things to do that sometimes you don't even know where to begin. The business of design is not easy and he really stresses the importance of being organized and getting your business infrastructure in place before you even begin working with clients. He spent a lot of time on the business side of his operations and just four years after he went out on his own, he has the cover of a magazine and a beautiful new showroom/office. I will definitely be listening to everything David tells me!

Sometimes I feel like I landed in business school with no idea how I got here and no idea what I am doing. There is a reason why I majored in art history and not business so I appreciate all the people who have been kind enough to answer my questions, give advice and pass on references of professionals who work with designers. One of my goals has always been to write about my experience and what I've learned so I can help others who want to start their own design businesses. I spoke with a design business consultant and we might partner up on some posts so look for those in the future.

I also attended a great lecture this morning at the D&D Building about branding that was moderating by Newell Turner of House Beautiful magazine. The panelists were Keith Granet of Granet & Associates, a management consulting firm for the design industry that I didn't even know existed, as well as interior designers Suzanne Kasler and Amanda Nisbet. Granet helped both designers set up their product lines and the how that process works is fascinating. I will definitely be putting together a more in depth post about how Suzanne developed her new furniture line for Hickory Chair and Amanda's lighting designs for Urban Electric and both of their new fabric lines.

One of the questions after the lecture was how you get to the point of having product lines and magazine coverage and everyone agreed that you need to build relationships. You may be a great designer but if you don't put yourself out there and meet editors and others in the design community, how is anyone going to find you. Everyone teases me about going to lots of parties but for me it's just as much about work as it is having fun. I couldn't do half of what I do if I didn't get out and meet other designers and interesting people to profile, events to discuss, and exhibitions, artists and authors to support.

I actually have a lot of great things on the back burner that I have to write about and post so I am hoping that I can get caught up over the long weekend. But first I have some client projects to finish and an event to attend. Remember what they say about all work and no play...

Photo from Suzanne Kasler

Blogger Break

It's been a long day so I'm taking a night off. Hope you enjoy this beautiful townhouse facade from the Upper East Side. See you tomorrow!

Pardon me while I lean out the window and cut some flowers!

I was trying to work on my last two Kips Bay Decorator Show House posts but quite frankly, I'm too tired to finish them. But I know how much everyone loves opening their Habitually Chic email in the morning so I am leaving you with this amazing townhouse that I walked by today. The beautiful floral smell was wafting down the street and I was in awe that they were climbing up to the roof! I have never seen anything like it! At first I thought they were lilacs but further research has led me to think that it's wisteria. I definitely think I will picking up a bouquet of flowers for my apartment tomorrow. Albeit on a much smaller scale! Enjoy!