Since writing about Sprinkles in LA, I have found this, their very own cupcake mix. It's available at Williams Sonoma, and it comes in a few flavours--lemon, dark chocolate, red velvet (above) and vanilla. Cleona, who commented on the Sprinkles post, has been to the store and made the mix. She says they are top notch, so we can now have them at home while we wait for a store to open near us.

Just when I thought I was slap out of deals, my pal Elfya came through with the most exciting website/service I've seen in a long time: Bemz, a Swedish company that makes CHEAP custom slipcovers for IKEA sofas and chairs! ! !  I mean, IKEA is fabulous but their fabric selection leaves a little to be desired, and I'm all about tweaking good design.  Check out my fave

Karlanda sofa done up in three different Bemz options (click on photos to see close ups:

The windowpane print (middle) is so chic and versatile and the whole set costs just over $260!  The stripe also comes in a  black and white, very Geoffrey Beene.  I sort of wish they offered contrast welt (piping) at the seams, but beggars can't be choosers!  These take 6 weeks upon order for delivery but worth it not to dump your old sofa or live with grody
cushions, right?

I have been looking for pendant lights recently for a kitchen, you know - the neat row of them along the counter.  They look good even though we've been seeing that look for a while now. I think Cecilie Manz has a pretty chic spin on an old theme.  Don't you love the black with the red flex?  It comes in three sizes, the most unusual being extra large which is vast and will hang over a table. The lights are available in the States through a site called Nova68 where they have a good set of photographs showing the different scales. 

What would your $20,000 living room look like? Blog colleague (blogleague?) Scrappy Girl reminds us of the $20,000 living room makeover sweepstakes domino is currently running.  It sure inspires some serious daydreaming, doesn't it? 

Let's see... what about this Maarten Baas Smoke Dining Chair?

And then of course you need the coordinating chandelier:

The perfect decorative touch for the clumsy, it's Jason Miller's Beautifully Broken Vase.

Or you could always just blow the whole wad on this super-sleek, incredibly chic sofa from Future Systems:

Choices, choices.

Another tip from Shyama, who should be elevated to guest editor status or something.  She praised these gauze-y white curtain panels from Umbra:

Not a fan of the curtain hardware shown here, but I see the teeny tabs on a simple rod like any of these from West Elm.  Plus at 86" long (AND $14.99 EACH!) they'd make a fantastic canopy and bed hangings.  Check out Tom Scheerer's website for inspiration -- love that modern metal bed in the 'Bahamas Veranda House.'  I need a Bahamavention!!

My spies at Milan Design Week 2007 sent these...

"Winter Arrives" stools by Out of Stock, new design collective out of Singapore, Barcelona and Buenos Aires:

Sebastian Wrong Font Clock for Established & Sons in 2 sizes:

Jason Miller Container Tiles based on shipping containers:

What do you think?

Stay tuned...more to come!

Today I wanted to feature some stationery I just bought and in my search for a source I found a super Slate article by domino's own Adventuress, Cynthia Kling.  Back in 1999 she found ordering custom stationery just as costly (shudder to think of the inflation) and intimidating as I do now.  Cartier, Smythson, Mrs. John L. Strong -- super gal, but I can't afford her stuff!  So I was really stoked to find chic stock at the store Papyrus, nice enough to overcome the shame of not having my name engraved at the top, but it's not on their site.  Beautiful grey paper with a 1/16th inch orangey-red border on the fold-over notecard  and on the envelope edge.  The grey box has a red fleur de lis and the word "Firenze" in script that looks very Little Italy, 1964.  I assumed this was the brand name?  I found it at Flax art & design but in red and white:

They have a smaller set with no pic in "Adobe/Red" --maybe this is my fave grey?  Flax says it's made in Florence like Pineider but I'm thinking more like White Plains.  $29 for 25 notecards and envelopes ... no complaints here!

Spring cleaning can be a real bore--but this natural bristle brush and flexible polypropylene dustpan make it a little more fun. Right? Available at Matter.

I have gotten very into cooking Sunday lunch recently.  If one isn't careful in NY, you can spend the entire weekend being served eggs in restaurants, which I have a low tolerance for.  Lunch at home with a bunch of people around the table is one of the best things. Especially if there are any children involved. So to the point, Pork and Sons is a wonderful new cook book from Phaidon, written by a Frenchman who is a  third generation butcher. It is filled with all the delicious things (and spooky things - like spinach and pigs' ear salad) you can make with pork, as well as these humorous line drawings of pigs. My favourite is the one lying on a sun bed on the first page of the BBQ section. It is very French and very beautifully put together. It includes things like vegetable and basil tart with proscuitto, which looks like the most delicious pizza.  I am going to be using my copy this sunday.

Just when I thought that I was totally over cupcakes I come across this place called Sprinkles in LA in my new copy of Monocle, Tyler Brule's new magazine. The LA store is designed by Austrian modernist architect, Andrea Lenardin, and the combination of her and the sprinkles-ness of the cupcakes and the signage is great. If you live in LA head over there today; otherwise go online and vote for the next location to be near you. The cakes look divine and come in a bazillion flavours.

My ever-resourceful friend Shyama is a woman after my own heart: she designed a fablous pair of ship cabin beds in her son's room and wanted to do the interiors in paper-backed felt, but worried about him pulling at the seams from the standard 36" roll (he's an active little critter).  So she found a company called Central Shippee -- I couldn't make this stuff up -- that's been selling all kinds of felt for over 70 years.  They know from felt!  66-inch wide camel colored Willi-Cloth (25 yards for the bulk price of about $21/yd) solved the seam issue . This stuff is used on game and pool tables so it won't pill or run.  And of course Shyama went the extra mile and had it acrylic-backed AND teflon-coated by Kiesling-Hess in Philadelphia (215 457 0906) ... I told you she's good. Now office maven Amanda wants to use it on her banquette cushions and I want a camel felt sofa!

How is it that with all the great sofas in the guide this month I'm still stuck on one in Lee Eastman's living room, so smartly decorated by Billy Baldwin?  The pale pink slipcovered beauty under the Rothko (page 85) is deceptively simple: extra-long with three generous but not overstuffed seat and back cushions and thin square arms that make an unbroken line with the skirt. The sofa in Baldwin's portrait stands out because it's deep but not dumpy.  Why won't a company like, say, Room & Board copy these exactly?  I'm tempted to make a rude, grasping analogy to the obesity epidemic in America but I'll spare you good people and recommend buying this chic cheater from R&B:

This is where deal hunting turns into mania:  if you REALLY want a sofa that doesn't look like chain retail, make a tight slipcover for it with an unpleated SKIRT to the floor.  The base looks wrong on this "Linden" because it creates an unattractive void. Don't worry about the cushions (though the back ones could stand to be 4 inches shorter); you could even cover the frame in a coordinating darker fabric.  I hear the groans -- a $1500 sofa does not make a good fixer-upper -- but custom upholstery can cost ten times that. I've seen the bills!

My latest DIY fixation is chicken wire and metal mesh:

This brass chicken wire (top) is $15 a sheet at VanDyke's Restorers. They call the heftier version "poultry wire" -- classy -- and charge ten more bucks.   I want to tack this behind doors on kitchen cabinets, armoires, bookcases  ...  sounds like another excuse to troll the flea market.  Why not use it on two-panel interior doors for a screen porch effect?  Cabinet doors also look great with cream gauze ruched behind the wire -- I did this on a client's Swedish breakfront with a glue gun!

One of the divine things put on the table at Le Mas de Tourteron last week was this radish butter. The French are well known for serving radishes with butter and salt -- and a glass of wine. It seems everything in Provence comes with a small glass of icy cold wine. This is such an easy thing to copy, but you must have good butter, no Land o' Lakes. You can find good French butter at the Gourmet Food Store, which by the way is an excellent place where you will also find a jar of tapenade which is the other thing you can see in this photograph. One of the things I love about the French is the way they serve just a little amount of something. This dish is so charming for its small proportions; there were three on the table, but it is good to remember when you are putting this sort of thing together at home.

Remember when you were young-people born in the 60s or 70s-and that brand was introduced that was sort of a non-brand? A can of soda just had the word 'cola' printed on the can and nothing more. Well these two things sort of remind me of that same sentiment only with todays smarter consumer in mind. These cookies by interdisciplinary creative duo AndrewAndrew are all about full disclosure so you can learn all about your snack before eating it.. that is if you can wait long enough to read the nutritional facts before taking a bite. Then there's the T-shirt from TS Designs out of North Carolina who are on a mission to spread the green gospel right on the front of their Ts which disclose all clothing facts. No sweatshops, no harsh chemical dyes, just the good stuff. Thinking of making your own Ts, these folks co-brand too.  [Tshirt from inhabitat]

One of the most fabulous places I have been in a long time is Le Mas de Tourteron in Provence, where I had lunch last week.  In true Provencal style, the place is completely charming. You walk through a beautiful garden to get to this courtyard. All the tables are laid with marcella quilts, which are typical of the area. There are lights hanging from all the trees over the tables to light them at night, and frankly it is all just one of the prettiest things I have encountered in a long time. If you go to Le Guide Gantie you can take a virtual tour around the courtyard.  Le Mas belongs to Elizabeth Bourgeois who is celebrated in the area for her wonderful cooking.  The menu is superb, rich, Provencal, and it changes daily.  You choose between two things for your main course, but otherwise whatever food is available that day just comes to the table, which I happen to love.  The best part was definitely the desserts -- peanut, chocolate and salted caramel tart. Oh my god I thought I had died.  There was also a raspberry and pistachio tart. You know how the base of French fruit tarts is usually an almond paste? Well, this was made with pistachio.  Completely delicious and the best part is how fabulously it is all presented, the website is so pretty and gives a very clear impression of what it is like when you are there -- definitely check it out, you will be booking a flight to France by the time you have finished.  A little more on this tomorrow. Chemin de Saint-Blaise Les Imberts Gordes - 84220 Phone: 04.90.72.00.16.

Anybody have strong opinions on capiz shell sconces/chandeliers?  Are these beyond trend status now? I still love 'em.  Starting with Verner Panton in the 1950s:

Fast forward to West Elm, 2000s:

I have to say I prefer the white but I still think this version is a little expected.  Years ago I bought a two-tier Capiz Shandy (with brass accents) on eBay and spent three hours on the ladder with Amy hanging it.  Well worth it!  Check out this site Seacrest Trading Company:

For $98 I see this in a hall, vestibule, breakfast room or even a nursery.  The details are more refined but don't scream "RETRO."  Capiz?

I am so sorry for my absence, I went to Haute Provence in France for Easter and found myself in an internet blackspot.  The good news is I found some excellent things, the most fabulous restaurant, some organic fire lighters, the market at Ilse sur Sorgue and some flowers, so there's quite a bit to report.  Firstly I want to do a quick flower of the week and whoop and cheer for the blossom. There was so much in Provence, masses of almond, apple and cherry blossom, fields of wild flowers, miniature daffodils - can you imagine? I mean tiny, wee flowers, growing amongst the rocky ground on the hills. They were so pretty and smelled fantastic.  And then there were wild violets in the woods: and wild narcissi in the fields. The narcissi are like fried eggs on stems and smell so good its rude; you just want to keep on inhaling forever. 

Do I have to start my own luxe lifestyle website to get a closet like Eva Jeanbart-Lorenzotti's?  "Feels like a room" ?  IT IS A ROOM!  With lots of nice touches, like the Directoire style X-paneled doors (April issue, pages 99-102).  I love this effect but can't find it in the more modern discount furniture barns I frequent.  So I turned to ... get ready ... don't flinch ... Ballard Designs:

Sure, I'd prefer an armoire with an X motif over mirrored doors, but these side tables -- $189 each -- are really simple and well-proportioned.  I'd place two of the black ones aside the white IKEA "Aldrid" sofa from the sofa guide (insert after page 120) to mix styles.  Or I'd paint them dove gray to mimic Eva's limed oak.  The bookcase isn't half bad either ($499)!

UK designer Karen Ryan graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2001 and has since been building constructs made from unwanted and discarded funriture. Her "custom made" collection, much more than just chairs and tables reborn, are a commentary on waste and ask us to see the "unconventional beauty in the everyday essential". See more on her website, which is a meditation on her work... and a bit of a lesson in patience.

I'm always looking for good DIY-cheater tips, and the other day our genius curtain maker David told me about a product called stitch witchery:

It's an iron-on fusible bonding for finishing hems: curtain panels, roman shades, even pairs of sensible slacks.  I'm sure David doesn't use this stuff on his mitered pelmets and miniature knife-pleated ruffles, but I wish I'd known about it at age eleven when I made white canvas cafe curtains for my bedroom with a glue gun .  It's all about the right tools for the job!  Available at any fabric store for a few bucks.

OK, it's not really meant to be eaten, it's part of a series of gummi sculptures by Ya Ya Chow. The colors look amazing and while I might not hang this particular fixture i