I am not sure how I found Andrew Hollingsworth online, but I am very pleased that I did.  He has a wonderful website dealing in mostly Danish 20th century furniture.  I bought a pair of bedside tables for a client from him which have just arrived and are looking great in situ. This is a very good place to look for tables, chairs and sofas.

Why are shower curtains so difficult?  I accidentally bleached the black stripes on my embroidered curtain and I'm having serious trouble finding a replacement.  This one from Target has lots of graphic impact and reminds me of a chic (and inexpensive) kitchen floor I saw recently:  a border of 12x12 black linoleum squares surrounding a field of white.  You can apply the same lesson to shower curtains:  don't use busy prints or patterns to cover up/distract from dirt and whatnot.  It just looks cheesy and unsanitary!  If you have white tile or fixtures buy this Oreo-esque beauty for for $29.99 instead:

Take my word for it: the 90s are making a major comeback.  90210 is out on DVD and last weekend my friend and style seer Amy wondered where she could find a pair of these  neon sunglasses, circa 1994:

Cringeworthy?  Not since the nostalgia wheel started spinning faster than you can say "Marc Jacobs."  I have a feeling we have him and VH1 to thank for all this, but at $7.95 a DOZEN you can afford to embarrass yourself.  Neon is so right now, especially paired with muddy colors and grays. And in keeping with both themes, how about this blindingly bright towel?

Teal-yellow-poppy is a H-O-T-T combo.  I'd upholster a slipper chair in a few of these for a pool house/sun porch ($19.95 each).

Or even $364.50 at Bluefly?   Air-mezz's (still haven't figured out accents) windmill design and colors are to die for but I just don't think I could live with myself.  Or pay my power bill.  Thank goodness for Land's End:

These rugby stripe towels are only $17.50 each with $2 off if you buy two or more. They're over six feet long and I'm loving the red-pink-green combo seen third from the left!   

In a few days I'm going back home to Florida for some much needed R&R and all I can think about are beaches and pools.  And a little frozen concoction known as the bushwacker.  Yum.  So today I wanted to get a little bit tacky and feature those folding-woven-plastic-tubey chaise longues we used to take to the beach as kids.  Anybody remember those?  Usually white and one other color with a sunset on the headrest or something. Can't find a pic anywhere, but I bet they have them at the thousands of Wings stores along Highway 98 in the Panhandle.  In any case here are my other faves:

Poolside: West Elm's super simple square metal lounger ($249).  Points for anyone who can distinguish between "chocolate" and "espresso" on the cushion fabrics menu.

Beachside:  this delightfully 60s/nautical aluminum number with a TOWEL BAR at rear ($109).  Just don't forget your SPF 50, umbrella, sun hat, caftan ...

There is a company I used to buy from a lot in Paris called Blanc D'Ivoire. I have just rediscovered them and am so pleased that I have. They make fabulous Provencal funiture, quilts and accessories and their prices are really pretty reasonable.  The look is that very appealing one of perfect French summers, cold rose wine served in short tumblers on terraces above olive groves, lavender fields and billowing voile curtains at French windows.  While the whole look is a little tricky to pull off here in its entirety, this is a really good stop for a few pieces, great chests of drawers, bedside tables, chairs, couches - check it out.  If you are a decorator or a store you can register and buy online and otherwise you can look at the product on the website and then use the store locator to find your nearest retailer; The prices are pretty good and the product is really pretty--will stop banging on about it now.

My friend Summer just brought home this adorable Bialetti espresso maker:

Have you heard of this company?  I hadn't, but apparently the design goes back 70 years.  A chic aluminum octagon on your stove.  Their website says "look for the famous 'little man with a mustache' logo and treat yourself to the best coffee in the world!" -- for $19.99 you best believe I will, little man!

I have just been in London with my sister who was telling me about a party she had been to in Norfolk.  It was dinner laid on a perfect table in the middle of a field of long grass.  At the end of dinner they had lit all these lanterns and let them go over the fields.  This is the prettiest idea I have heard in a long time and so much more mellow than fireworks.  You can order the lanterns online at Wishes in the Sky--it's an English company but if you order over 50 lanterns (5 boxes) they will ship internationally - this is the perfect July 4th detail.

Loyal blog reader Perry just sent me these Frank Gehry-inspired scratching posts for kitties from Everyday Studio:

They were named "trendy product of the month" by Cat Fancy magazine! I'm extremely sensitive to smells and therefore may never have pets (or children for that matter), but this is genius design by Susan Kralovec.  Each one is handmade from sturdy cardboard and measures 20 inches high -- I see a pair of the "Pounce" style in white as cocktail tables in front of an equally cat-friendly sofa.  $155 each.  Thanks Perry!

Do you like these Smith & Hawken lantern lights I just found at Target? 

I miss Tar-zhay so much ... I had no idea they're selling S&H wares now.  Anyway, are string lights too college dorm, even for $19.99?  I like the graceful copper-y cage on these and see them around a screened porch or boat dock with worn out green wicker furniture from L.L. Bean and gin and tonics on jute rope coasters.  Inspiration has struck in the form of A Privileged Life: Celebrating WASP Style, the most unintentionally funny illustrated book to come along in a while. Here, C.Z. has clearly run out of Metamucil and YumYum trembles in her viselike grip:

My boss once joked that if I ever got a dog it'd be a Teacup Maltese named Tassel.  Fat chance, but lately I am stuck on all kinds of frou-frou decorator touches that used to make me want to barf.  Like these Spanish tassels from M&J Trimming:

They come in all kinds of pretty colors and the 5.5 inch version is only $4.98.  Why not try some easy ironic decorating and hang these from the drawer pulls of a modern white lacquer dresser?  On a bigger scale, I really want my next apartment to be a craggy white loft in Chinatown but with huge ballgown curtains and passementerie on industrial windows as the major statement.  It would work, I promise.

I have been looking for children's furniture recently. Not one of my strengths, I have to admit.  But I found these Bunny Chairs - a mini version of a classic design at Design Within Reach, and within reach they certainly are: $45 and available in 6 colours.  Any child who is anywhere near a decorating job of mine is now sitting on one of these. I think they are adorable.

i was given this box of mints the other day which i tucked into, slightly disappointed that they weren't just the original, unmucked about with variety. Silly me. The dark chocolate covered mint is really good. I looked to see what they were exactly and was stunned to see they were chocolate covered cinamon mints. how disgusting they sound, but how incredibly good they are. i have been to the altoids website to find more, I don't even think these are out yet, so if you see a packet sieze them! Just got word from Altoids that these delicious little things are available from Amazon

"Look in the Attic" sounds like a scary book I read in 1988 but it's actually a fantastic online source for hardware, tableware and accessories ... all with a healthy dose of granny style.  Like these Depression glass doorknobs:

$5.49 each, not bad at all.  I always gravitate towards greens and blues so this turquoise milk glass beauty is like Paxil in pull form:

Wouldn't it be fun to have an all-white farmhouse with bits of electric turquoise glass everywhere?  But this place carries literally every color of the rainbow.  Maybe the granny in you prefers Dusty Rose?

Fish's Eddy is having a sale right now on their Pantone Collection:

Cheap, sturdy china in these classic color blocks.  You could buy a service in all the same shade or mix 'em up -- I think I'd enjoy my grape nuts and soy milk more in a lettuce green cereal bowl ($6.97).  Oh, and I haven't seen anyone sporting their adorable  plastic tote ($4.17).  Can you say art-school-hipster-trend in the making?!

My mom used to teach preschool and on the first day of class one year she asked a student, "Well, what did you do this summer?"  Answer (in thick Southernese): "Went to Pennnnneeeeeeeey's."  That used to depress the crap out of me, until I found this pair of chairs on their website:

Are these cool or total hideola?  I'm liking the fretwork and the X-stretcher on the legs.  Maybe if you spray painted them red and made a black outdoor cushion with white piping.  And now this:  $89 for the pair.  Get thee to Penney's ASAP!

I was in a friend's basement office earlier this week. There was a row of pillars through the middle of the room (you know the type, really annoying but holding up the building) well, she had clad them in dark cork board - super chic and pin boards too. She had also completely covered the wall behind her desk in it - and the basement, as a result, has quite a sexy, night club vibe about it. It looks amazing, the board is available from AI Friedman. When searching the web for it the key word is panel - i spent a long time lost in a hell of nasty bulletin boards with thin frames.

I went to this most adorable store the other day, Mick Margo. It is on Commerce Street, in NYC. A small and perfectly formed dress shop filled with labels like Cacherel, Isabel Morant and Lulu Frost. The store is really pretty - all the wood work, like the mirror and the desk are carved around the edge with tiny balls, so they look a bit like carved nailheads. It is so pretty. The girl that owns it is called Nadine Ferber and she was there when i went in. It is a cool store with a nice mix of things and it is on a pretty steet, between 7th ave and bedford. Go this weekend if you are around.
mick margo
19 commerce st.
ny,ny 10014
212.463.0515

Okay, I don't want to be subpoenaed for any copyright infringement lawsuits, so I'll just say this west elm Tribal Diamond rug allegedly looks a lot like the spunky Alan Campbell "Melinda" fabric on Krista Ewart's cute little bench (current issue, page 141). You be the judge:

Here it is on a wall in another charming vignette by Ruthie Sommers.  I don't really mind this sort of thing as I sometimes feel there are about thirteen original ideas in decorating -- it's about HOW you re-invent the wheel!  So why not buy this 5' x 8' wool rug for less than half the price of 2 yards of fabric ($249)? I see it with a French canape upholstered in citrine yellow satin, two seagrass cubes for coffee tables and a white Philippe Starck Eros chair.

I can't wait to go see the "Summer of Love" exhibit at the Whitney!  Mainly because of Janis Joplin's Porsche:

How groovy is this thing?  Who cares if it's not a Mercedes Benz?!  So I'm inspired to go back to ReproDepot for some cheap psychedelia:

The Looped in citrus at top is printed on heavy cotton canvas, $18.95 a yard.  Cheaper yet is the Bijoux in pink (middle) at only $8.50.  My fave is the vintage Marimekko Ibir, still reasonable at 38 bucks a yard. I see all these as curtains in a white room, or as a divider stretched on a fabric folding screen. Or why not recover a French armchair in this Martha Negley Vegetable Leaves print?

It's totally Dorothy Draper on acid.

So I set out to post about faux horn, got linked to design*sponge, followed them to SPROUT HOME, and now I'm doing one on doormats because this one is too cool to ignore:

I love any tumbling block pattern but this black, cream and hunter green combo just makes it extra special (even better without the tag on the left).  $25.75 each and fade-resistant, wow.  Faux horn'll have to wait ... I know you're on pins and needles! 

There is a new site that i have been meaning to write about. it is called Top Tips For Girls. It was started by Kate Reardon who is a great girl about town journalist in london, she contributes to Vanity Fair and has a column in the London Times magazine on saturdays. So her new website/blog gives tips on everything from packing to pregnancy, gardening, entertaining and beauty. It doesn't have much in the way of illustrations (hence the absence of a fabulous image like you usually get with me!) but what is quite fun is that you can both comment and add your own tips. Being quite bossy, i found that a lot more fun than reading the tips!