Back on the Chain Gang

Everyone loves a regular feature, right? Gives us a sense of order in a world full of chaos. And in case you were worried I'd analyze a different aspect of Fassbinder's oeuvre every week, don't fret. I still love me some discount decorating! So on Thursdays (or every other?) I'm gonna page through the "What's New" section of all the big chains and recommend what I'd ABSOLUTELY buy for myself if I had the space or funds. I swear, us worker bees at Mugatu Intl. are so desperate to consume a fight nearly broke out today over who got to buy the new office tea kettle at Crate & Barrel (David won. And the damn thing blew a fuse -- sign from above?). This week my faves all just happen to be grey or black and a little hard edged ... hmm:


The Alexander Table Collection in Gray from Target -- the bookcase is only $99.99!


Wire spheres from West Elm, sorta Bill Blass if you put one in a classical urn. The 18-incher is $54 but worth it.


Pottery Barn's Taylor Vintage Steel Bedside Table for $399. Love the little brass knob on black metal. Sanitarium chic?


Zinc "Lighthouse" lamp from Wisteria. Must they make that comparison? It's an interesting shape nonetheless. And dear God let's replace that hideous ecru drum-bell shade with a black lacquered coolie number. $189.


An X-Ray of Frank Gifford's right leg? No, the Johnny Floor Lamp from CB2. Very architectonic as they say. Or very Angelo Donghia -- check out the floor lamp and coffee table in that last, unbelievably fabulous emerald green room. CB2 has half the look down, now why can't they venture into classical territory and make, say, a George II mirror out of lightweight resin? Just askin'.

Le Corbusier for Target

Not sure how I missed this:
Le Corbusier's Petite sofa available at Target? If I remember correctly Corb's furniture doesn't have an airtight licensing situation with Herman Miller or Fritz Hansen or some other biggie, but with free shipping and 15% off you can have one in your living room for almost a third of this version from Bauhaus 2 Your House (about $951 before sales tax):


A pretty close copy and I prefer Targ's stainless steel frame to the traditional chrome. Who cares, you ask, because it still looks like it belongs in a psychiatrist's office? Maybe. Never been a fan of white or black leather upholstery but I'm not against modernizing the modern cliche. For 950 bucks I'd consider going Stephen Sprouse on the white with my own grafitti. Or I still love designer Jean-Charles Castelbajac's 2007 collection for Boussac/Pierre Frey. Check out his rainbow handwriting print (and two camouflaged cuties) at the launch party:

Images via Pierre Frey blog

Why not buy 5 or 6 yards of this fabric or something similarly FRESH and recover only the Corb's loose seat and back cushions? Believe it or not, they're so boxy it could be faked with crisp hospital corners and DUCT TAPE. I've done it! Just don't flip the cushions. Leaving the base and sides white will make any print pop, plus you won't have that icky-sticky-cheap-leather feeling on your skin. So much impact and so much cheaper than professional reupholstery.

The Old New Romantics

Here's a little video for my February Funk. PT notes the strange color palette: "like all bruise colors." Bingo!

Why can't melodrama be chic again? I want more men drinking martinis with hook-hands and tarantulas on faces at parties ... instead I settle for watching "Real Housewives of New York" on an endless loop.

No Wire Dog Crates!!

photo via here

Just received this e-mail from a reader:

Dear Nick,

So my Greyhound, Kristin, is gorgeous. [Ed. note: LOVE pets with ordinary human names.] She's a stunner, seriously. But her crate is not. It's a hip-high, black wire monstrosity that takes up easily one tenth of the floorspace in my bedroom. I get a good laugh from vistors when I give them the tour and call it the guestroom, but waking up to it every morning is beginning to bum me out. I'm desperate for any and all ideas you or your readers might have that would let Kristin keep her beloved little nook and me my sanity. I should also let you know, as befits our times, girlfriend is poor, but I think I'm talking to the right (and resourceful) designer for that. Please, Nick, please tell me there is a way to make a huge wire dog crate chic.

Fingers crossed,

Meg ______

First, how charming. I told her ideally I'd hide the crate under a high sideboard/console. But that's cost and space prohibitive, so what about a tailored slipcover (or a faked one) in fabric to match her duvet or curtains or rug? Put a rattan or lacquer tray on top and style Kristin's kibble containers and have her drink from a silver Revere bowl. Any advice for Meg from my dog lovers out there? I'm no expert ... animals smell my fear, and I fear their smells.

*UPDATE*

San Francisco-based designer Grant Gibson can't stand to look at these crates either. His solution? Hiding his adorable pooches' (Wallace and Campbell!) temporary headquarters under skirted tables from Ballard Designs:
*

Two dogs, two crates, two tables -- he uses one for dining and one as a desk. Genius!!

Red and Green

A blogoisseur friend of mine just recommended Sea of Shoes, authored by a Bright Young Texan Thing named Jane. To quote Clueless she deserves BIG snaps for her courageous fashion efforts -- HOLY COW Teen Vogue says she's sixteen years old!! -- I wouldn't be surprised to see her name on some major mag's masthead in a decade or two. Such original style and fearless combinations. Jane hit on one of my current fave should-look-wrong-but-doesn't color pairings in her other blog they don't call them lovers in high school, leeland (named after a line in Twin Peaks ... was she even alive for that??):


Red and green: not just for crass commercial holidays anymore. No photo ID but I'm pretty sure the room is by Tony Duquette. It's like a giant Bergdorf's window! Also reminds me of Jane's outfit here:


And this fabulous Boujad carpet from pal Maryam of My Marrakesh:


See the little jade bits? I might just splurge on it for myself. I think the key here is varying the shades, because hunter green and cherry will always look like an Xmas tree. Why not try celadon and tomato (as in the Duquette room), and add bits of aqua (like the metallic disco top)? Miles decorated a living room, also in Texas, in the same palette (every day was like Christmas with these clients -- what a dream!). So cheery.

Happy V-Day, Y'all

If Necco Conversation Hearts sponsored a Dream House I bet it would look like this.

Enter the Era of ...

Isn't this about chicest magazine cover ever? The odds were stacked against the late Liz Tilberis when she took over Harper's Bazaar in 1992, but what a debut! Liz + Patrick Demarchelier + Garren + Fabien Baron + Linda + No Less Than $10,000 = "Enter the Era of Elegance."

Sean found a copy on eBay this weekend -- a steal at $11.50! -- and Miles has one propped on his sister's bookcase. NEED THIS. Need elegance right now. Need visionaries like Tilberis and Baron. Don't so much need black beaded Armani-looking gowns, but check back with me later.

Question: what do we call this new period in fashion/style/decorating? The Era of Poverty? Seriously, what feels right? Is "Idiosyncrasy" still too rosy? You know I don't get out of bed for less than 25-cent words.

The road to recovery.

Thanks, guys!

Sadness (Part I)

(photo: Melanie Acevedo for Domino)

Hello, friends. Remember me? I'm that guy who used to blog about deals and decorating and all that good stuff over at dominomag.com. Well, after more than a week since Conde Nast closed Domino and its website I'm still reeling. Gone through all the stages of grief about six times already. Would've holed up in my tenement apartment watching reruns of "Designing Women" and freebasing Doritos but the full-time job has kept me functioning. And, truthfully, I was just a freelance blogger. Think what the ACTUAL EDITORIAL AND WEB AND PUBLISHING STAFF must be going through.

Question: Why did it have to end?

WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Words fail.

So I'll take this opportunity to thank all the folks who made my two-year run possible:

First up is Miles, aka Mugatu, a decorator-boss-mentor-friend so generous (and secure enough in his own prodigious talent) as to recommend his then-24-year old assistant to pals at the most stylish, zeitgeist-y shelter mag to come along in a coon's age. Then the geniuses Sara Ruffin Costello and Paul Costello, who together turned my studio apartment into an 8-page story when all I'd hoped for was a "how-to" sidebar. And of course Deborah Needleman, our fearless leader who invented the concept, put my pad on the cover (see above) and offered me a spot blogging on the Daily Dose. Finally, ex-Scrappy Girl/senior web editor Cathy Halley, who gave me free rein to post about everything from Marie Osmond to toilet seats on a decorating site.

CORNY ALERT:
These people made my dreams come true. For real! I worship magazines -- Miles' feature in W inspired me to ditch architecture forever and pursue decorating -- and seeing my [OREGANO GREEN!] first apartment on the newsstand was the ne plus ultra for this staplegun-wielding freak from the Gulf Coast. The blog was like a giant tub of icing on the cake, a platform for spewing my DIY tips and deals and musings and terrible puns. I am forever in their debt, and must add fellow Domino-ers Danielle Claro, Amy Peck, Chassie Post Costello, Lauren Goodman, Amy Shearn, Kel Christofferson, Suzanne D'Amato, Alison Griffin, Nicolette Owen, Deb Schwartz, and blogstars Rita Konig and Ivette Soler!!! I'm forgetting a bunch.

And, God, the commenters! Too many to list but where would I be without your humor and insight and encouragement?? Whoever thinks the Internet is for Haters should look at the comments from my last couple of weeks. I wish I could've responded to each one ... alas, our clients need their sofas (and Mugatu sits five feet from my computer screen).

Anyway, THANK YOU.

Domino was my favorite magazine for many reasons, but the tagline "guide to living with style" sums it up nicely. I'm obsessed with style, the set of ephemeral qualities that separates Kate Moss from, say, Kim Kardashian. It ain't brain surgery or children's advocacy, but a stylish room can enrich our lives AND be broken down into recognizable elements, much like styles of art or music or literature or poetry. And it really has very little to do with money -- does ANYONE even have any these days?? -- and much more the willingness to educate one's eye and also experiment and throw out the guidelines from time to time. Speaking of poetry, I'll let Robert Frost eulogize our dearly departed bible.

Please stay tuned here for more of the same -- decorating bargains, style inspiration, analysis, tangents. I'm new to this solo-blogging game so feel free to give your own advice and direction. I promise not to turn this into Dear Diary, unless you really want to hear about the Club Monaco salesboy I'm stalking. Heh.

Yours,
Nick
(The Blogger Formerly Known as the Deal Hunter)

P.S. The title refers to this song, which I always thought was about 'sadness,' my pre-Wellbutrin state of being. It's actually about the Marquis du Sade, which also seems appropriate given the events of last week. Grrr.