Yesterday Shyama told me about this product called liming wax that I want to try 'round the house:

It gives heavily grained woods like oak a nice whitewashed or cerused effect, so chic!  Works on both unfinished and sealed woods and costs 10 bucks.  You clean the surface, apply with a rag, and then seal with regular Briwax or poly for a more durable finish.  Here's the the treatment on brightly stained pine:

Love this blue, and Handywoman Shyama says it's idiot-proof.  I'll be the perfect test for that theory!!

This is the first 'green' gas station, opened by BP on Robertson and Olympic in LA. The Green Curve, which is the name BP have given to this new line of gas stations is all very eco and clean, the pump attendants are handsome in that modern, eco warrior way - friendly and eager to tell you all about the station. The gas is apparently cleaner, greener and lovelier than anywhere else and the loos are amazing - huge, all made of wood and metal, they are super clean and cacti are growing on the roof of the toilet building to conserve water and keep the loos cool. It is a much more charming fuelling experience than usual.

Tracy Luetkemeyer grew up in Jupiter, Florida, and recently passed away from a rare heart defect.  She was only nineteen years old.  She was also a talented artist:

To me these dancers look like Degas crossed with Rene Gruau.  An 8x10 print is $21, and all proceeds benefit the Children's Hospital of Boston whose physicians cared for Tracy throughout her short life.   

There is nothing like the ending of one holiday to inspire the booking of the next. Casa Malibu is a charming inn on Carbon Beach, perfect for a few days escape. I went and checked it out the other day, it is right on the PCH (like everything beachfront) has charming rooms either overlooking a hibiscus/palm tree planted courtyard or right on the ocean. There are not that many places along here to stay, until David Geffen's place opens, which is huge and is short on beach. Locationsite.de has exstenstive reviews and panoramic images of the rooms, beach and courtyard, make sure you get a beachfront room - they are so pretty with pitched roof and white upholstery, sadly the little videos don't have sound, which would be enticingly of the ocean if they did!
Casa Malibu: 310 456 2219
casamalibu@earthlink.net

Horn is such a hot material right now.  Buffalo and cattle shed theirs naturally, right?  God I hope so. I remember in last month's issue Charlotte Moss recommended a beautiful horn box from Vivre.  The biggest one is $165, too rich for my blood.  I swear I saw the exact same at Club Monaco for less but my online source is Wisteria, which sells a 10" box with black sides for $59:

Barrette and cuff sold separately, not that you'd want to go there.  Worn together these would remind me of that ice queen saleswoman in Pretty Woman!

OK, this is pretty exciting. There is a company here in Malibu called Automotive Legends that is making Porsche Speedster recreations.  They are the most beautiful things I have seen in ages. The cars are constructed from 80% vintage Volkswagen chassis and drive train components --whatever that means. The point is (as with any car in my view) they look amazing. You can custom order any colour and interior - heaven - and they start at $19,000 and go up to something like $26,000.  They are super cool. I wish I lived in California or had a place outside of the city as this is what I would be driving. The garage they come from deals in old luxury cars and these are made to the highest quality with a 1600cc new factory engine.  They claim that cosmetically it is very hard to tell this car from the original 1957 speedster and with a new engine you get the ravishing look of a vintage car, without the headache of one. On ebay there are quite a few listed, the prices are interesting, they range from $9,000 to about $30,000.

I bet I could write this blog every week using only stuff from Thomas O'Brien for Target.  Check out these nuggets:

Blue veggie bowl from his dinnerware collection, divine at $14.99.

Butch beer mug set on clearance for $12.99.  I can't believe the level of detail on this -- would never expect to find clear and blue ombre glass mugs with Deco stripes, much less in a striped, stitched leather tray with its own bottle opener, much less from a huge national chain!!

Finally, this angled task lamp ($24.99) makes me wish I was a German poet named Dieter living in Paris between the wars. Wunderbar!

Okay, so here is another really good LA vintage shop, The Way We Wore on La Brea.  It is on two floors; it's totally fabulous. As you walk in the walls are in deep buttoned white PVC and the ceiling (which is very high) is covered in rouched gold lame.  At the til sits owner Doris Raymond, looking quite marvelous, asking if you need hydrating, offering up water or coke (both diet and fat).  The ground floor is all vintage, non-designer attire, divided by decade, with coats along the back wall. I saw some Revillon furs at very good prices, and I got an ankle length navy tweed coat for $275, which was great. I might have to photograph myself in it and post it!

Upstairs is all the designer vintage. I spent hours in there with my friend Robin who was looking for evening dresses. I desperately wanted an Ossie Clarke dress that was sadly way beyond my budget and a dozen other things that my derrier was way beyond! 

I love CB2 because they carry the cheapest, most chicly anonymous stuff out there, like these white lacquer Osaka boxes:

The biggest one is 20 bucks, only 5 for the little baby.  They could go on a dressing table for jewelry, console table for keys and change, or coffee table to hold remotes and matches.  For me lacquer is one finish that will never get old ... I just wish they came in more colors. I might buy a few and experiment with oil-based paint.  Red candy stripes?  Black leopard spots?  Suggestions?

First off, the new issue of domino is INCREDIBLE  (and they did not pay me to say that) !!!  The concept reminds me of my favorite Architectural Digest issue from childhood -- cracked up at Johnson Hartig's 80s-AD-ficus-with-uplights reference, btw -- showing fashion designers' pads (Anna Sui's was a favorite).  Anyhoo fashionista and all-around sweetheart Lauren Goodman read my mind and did a neon cravings page. But there's no American Apparel!  I am loving this gigunda nylon tote in electric blue for $36:

This girl is totally humming 'Karma Chameleon."

Last night I went down to Santa Monica beach with friends. Every Thursday night there is a free concert. The beach is filled with people with picnics, and up on the pier is the concert. Last night was Patti Smith. Unless you actually go up onto the Pier you can't hear it perfectly, but frankly I couldn't have cared less, the whole lying out on a blanket as the sun is going down with a bunch of people is perfect enough.  Really great.  Top picnic tip: always decant a finer grape juice for your picnic.

IKEA's catching on to color and pattern:

My favorite new RED table lamp, $49.99.

Love this red CD shelf, so sleek. But seems odd at 200 bucks.

Lack tables in PINK, still only $12.99!!!

And graphic new upholstery options.  New Yorkers, time to get on that bus out to Jerz!

I miss Back to School shopping.  Up in these parts it's still a little early for that, but in Northwest Florida they practically start in July.  I remember the first year I could fit into the Big Gap sizes ... but I digress.  This year my Trapper Keeper would be full of these Bic Clear Clic ballpoint pens:

But without the cheesy promotional logos!  Summer (my friend, not the season) showed me her clear-and-gold combo today and I flipped.  Right now I love me some gold accents, especially on school supplies (now office supplies, gulp).

I am sorry for the irregular posts. Finally my brain has gone to mulch and all I can think about is getting back to the beach and back into the Diana Chronicles -- I can hardly believe that I am saying that.  I have never read a royal biography before, there is something so toe curlingly embarrassing about them.  But Tina Brown's book is that wonderful combination of being fantastically written and like sticking your face in a bag of candy. She is funny - I have laughed out loud several times - and basically fair. I think that it is the first time someone as well connected as Tina Brown has written on the Diana topic. This isn't some broken fairy tale, poor Diana yarn. Anyhow I highly recommend because it is also a fascinating social commentary of England in the 80's.  My other summer read has been Alan's Carr's Easyway to Stop Smoking.  Foolishly I had taken up smoking again in April/May... If you want to give up smoking and think it is going to be a struggle of wills and are terrified of the prospect of denying yourself a cigarette for the rest of your life, then you should stop worrying and order this book immediately. It is easy to read in two sittings. I, for one, am now a happy non smoker once again.  My other great friend is my iPod. I have spent the days in a cocoon with my iPod on shuffle. My top beach bag recommendations are: Dylanesque by Bryan Ferry, Easy Tiger by Ryan Adams and Once by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova - I also still love Martha Wainwright when she comes on. 

So this trend might've been around for a while, but after attending dfc's (check your old dominoes) rooftop party last night at the Maritime Hotel and re-checking their website, I'm all back into critters!  J. Crew has been embroidering pests for years.   Oscar de la Renta  does 'em in silverplate.  Now I'm dying to know what a dfc 12-inch ceramic black beetle looks like!  Search their site because I can't right-click an image to save my life.  I love their stuff -- so fun and witty -- not necessarily cheap, but would you rather invest in Precious Moments figurines and Thomas Kincaid paintings??  I hope not.

The wild life or at least close proximity to nature here has been quite astonishing. My apartment, through a massive stroke of luck turned from a small one bedroom place facing the parking lot to a large two bedroom one over looking the ocean.  The other night as I was falling asleep there was an earthquake, something tremendously exciting and exotic if you are English, although quite spooky too.The following day I took a walk down the beach and a massive sea lion--about five foot high--came launching out from behind a rock, barking! I nearly died of shock. And then almost every day there are scores of dolphins jumping in the water in front of where I am sitting right now.  The activity in the ocean here is frankly astonishing--there are birds, seals, dolphins and apparently whales, although I haven't seen one yet. And then there are the people swimming lengths, kayaks, surfing and the other day some extraordinary couple doing something that looked like punting.

I'm obsessed with the new beet red lacquer from West Elm!

Totally makes this chunky console table.  299 buckos.  Am I wrong for wanting to put a purple bench underneath it?  I used to hate The Color Purple.  You Told Harpo To Beet Me!  Sheesh, that's wrong.

A lot of emails I get at work involve distant relatives in Namibia who want to leave me eight million dollars.  Sometimes it's an artist showing his or her work, and I'm really glad I opened this attachment:
Classical columns, Wormley sofa and a zebra hide: the makings of a great room in graphic, Soviet color!   John Harkins is a Detroit artist soon to be a professor at Savannah College of Art and Design (where I wish I'd gone to school).  Here's my other favorite from his "Red Rooms" series:

These are all about 32"x40" and reasonably priced -- email John here for more info.

Yves Klein was a really cool dude.  He used naked ladies as paintbrushes and called it Anthropometry:

He also patented this particular shade of blue ("International Klein Blue") and made some awesome plexiglass coffee tables full of pigment:

When he did monochrome, he committed.  In his honor let's celebrate this cheapie pendant light shade:

I could see it in an all-white kitchen or as a random jolt of color anywhere you need overhead lighting ($63).

While I was working my way up and down La Cienega Blvd last week looking for furniture for clients, I saw a familiar sign--Christopher Farr one of the truly best contemporary rug designers has opened in Los Angeles. In fact I then met him over the weekend and found out he moved from London out here with his family.  Christopher was one of the first people in London to make Tibetan hand-tufted rugs. His background is as an artist, which is very easy to see in the way he designs. You can see his work on his website.

Unexpected applications and combinations.  Just now I was responding to a comment from yesterday on Vera Bradley's home line (is leSportsac next?) and wishing that these brands would take more style risks. No disrespect, but does anyone need to re-do Pierre Deux?  And then while Googling around for budget alternatives to the lighting in the 'Big Black Book' I found this George Nelson bubble cigar wall sconce:

Bingo!  I'd never seen this light before, but immediately I pictured a pair flanking a traditional headboard in a toile bedroom or against a patterned grasscloth, not this gray wall.  I love the sculptural quality of the shade and the arc of the cords and pull--it would look so much better in a more delicate context.  You know, there's a reason Kelly Wearstler (RESPECT!) titled her first book The Art of Unexpected Style ...

I am a minor watch nut, and what I really love is old watches with colored straps.  I have a beautiful vintage Cartier watch that was my mother's and it has had every color of band. But I also have an old Breitling that has remained with a dreary black strap all the years I have owned it.  UNTIL NOW! The other night at a party I met  a man who zoned in on my watch and we started talking about straps. I told him that I wanted to find a white one for the summer but wasn't sure where to go. He just sent me this link to deBeer watch straps in every skin imaginable in just about every color.  You can order online and they will help with the sizing etc. I love having a few colors so that I change them over--a new strap is like getting a new watch. I think I'll get something wacky for the rest of the summer, pink, yellow, white and then something chicer for the fall--am loving that blue. 

You know those busy floral quilted tote bags and accessories for ladies by Vera Bradley?

I think it'd be cool to do a whole bedroom in one of these fabrics or something similar:  upholstered headboard, curtains, chaise or tufted chair ...  heck maybe even walls in the same pattern. It's all about continuity of color and texture.  I would stay away from traditional furniture in dark woods though -- try a modern metal bed in and a white lacquer dresser.  Is there a real Vera Bradley?  If so I bet her boudoir in Nantucket or Palm Beach already looks like this.