So CB2 has knocked off updated the classic aluminum Emeco Navy Chair for much less $$.  Let's compare:

The original (left) sells for about $385.  CB2's Bandit Chair (oh they stoled it alright!) is only $119.  It doesn't have the same seat detail and the legs are slightly dumpier -- could just be the photo -- but I actually prefer the panel back.  I guess it's enough of a change since Target got served a few years back for copying this same design.  I'm not such a fan of the swirly bars their manufacturer added to avoid a lawsuit.

The Container Store is having its annual Shelving Sale.  I just walked by there last night and saw this bookcase in the window:

It's really two stacked together and I like the scale much better this way, either in 'java' or white.  Substantial but not hulking.  Plus it folds for easy transport -- campaign style! -- $118.50 for the pair (usually $158).  I also like these galvanized cubes but at $44.25 on sale for just the box (no door) it seems like the wall-size arrangement I have pictured would get too pricey.  Thoughts?

Now, I know this looks like a really dreary post about old fashioned Limoges plates, but these are the faux bois plastic picnic plates I mentioned in my previous post.  I think they are so great.  I first discovered them in Boston in small quantities, but have since discovered large stocks at William Wayne.  I know that it is unusual to blog the same shop twice in a week, but I really wanted to be able to show what these look like. I don't think a winter picnic should be eaten off anything else.

So I can't get over the cover of the October issue.  Barrie Benson is adorable and so is her ranch!  Plus I've all but whittled down my entire wardrobe to the colors seen here: navy, white, red and tan (as in suede bucks). Crispness for all seasons.  Anyway I almost had an aneurysm when I read that her sofa fabric is from Ballard Designs! Currently on sale for $14.99 A YARD!!!  Style is everywhere, people -- even in dowdylicious catalogs -- and Barrie knows it doesn't have to cost a fortune.

Looks like an ikat version of Lulu DK's oft-used (and pricier) "Chant."  While we're on the subject, I just saw this post from another Barrie Benson fan, Laura from the Scoop.  She found a superb ripoff of Lulu's "Madison" on BuyFabrics.com.  I never would've made the connection!  Thanks, Laura.

We're hacking into Rita's blog because we just found this video she did for Style.com about her favorite looks for summer and thought you'd like to see it! Geez, Rita, thanks for sharing...

I arrived in England on Saturday and went to stay the night with friends in the country.  The dahlias are out here in full noisy and beautiful bloom, which is divine. They look like old ladies' swimming hats in glorious Technicolor.  But it was this cool vase with two gerbera daisies in it that really caught my attention.  So perky and easy to replicate.  It is good to remember that with a few good vases you can spend very little on flowers but still have something that looks fantastic. The key is to cut one shorter than the other and stick to simple colors. 

I was just visiting my friends at Just Shades on Friday picking up a beautiful pair of custom cork lamp shades for a client.  The finishing was so pristine -- definitely too ambitious even for this die-hard DIYer -- but it got me thinking about a custom shade post because those suckers are expensive.  The boss also loves lacquer shades like this one:

As he might say, "Cause of death?  Chicness."  One of these candelabra minis is $19, a little steep since you could buy a bigger paper shade for about as much and lacquer the whole thing (inside and out) with oil-based, high gloss paint.  Just use a foam brush and give it enough time to dry in a dust-free zone.  And experiment with some bright colors!!

I have just finished a decorating job, i always find the last few weeks of a project an emotional roller coaster, things can take sudden swirves in the wrong direction, arrive damaged and simply not arrive at all (Smith and Noble - I am not happy) then there is the fact that however much you have ordered and spent when it all arrives the place looks kind of empty. Rooms need so much more than furniture. So there are a lot of stores that come in very handy for the last minute details. William Wayne is one of those places, it is not the most modern and certainly minimilism in not a word in their vocabulary, but amongst the stacks of limoges, cushions, tassles and upper eastside style accessories there are plently of handy things that other stores have forgotten to stock. Little silver trays for between $18-$28, perfect beside beds, for keeping makeup/scent bottles tidy in your bathroom, little silver mugs - pencils/flowers, really chic melamine picnic plates that look like faux bois limoges, wonderful vintage books. I promise this is a great old NY staple. check it out online or better still head to their store on 64th and Lexington or downtown on University Place.

Another new IKEA find (new to me at least) are these great seagrass baskets:

They sort of look like five woven seat cushions put together, but with this nice little peephole/grip in the middle one.  I love seagrass because it has a green tone (lots of raffia and whatnot looks too pale and yellow for my taste) and it's super rigid.  And of course they fit perfectly into the classic Expedit bookcase.  We have a similar combo in the office to hold fabric samples, trims, and my stash of Werther's Originals ... Baskets are $16.99 each. 

I was chatting to my mother on the phone last night and during the chat she told me how well her online business was doing.  I am ashamed to say that I didn't know she had a working website. It is really pretty, very light and well laid out (not too complicated, thank god), with a selection of her stock from lighting to candles to these beautiful matchstrikers.  I love the colors.  This is a very good source for Christmas presents.  Eeeek. So sorry is this the first mention of Christmas shopping?  Check it out NinaCampbell.com.

Late post because I spent most of the day at IKEA!!  First trip to a real store in two years.  I felt a certain frisson pulling up to that blue monolith in Paramus, picking up a catalog, and hearing "our meatballs are made with no preservatives" over and over on the PA.  For me, while Target and Club Monaco feel like home, IKEA feels ... quite obviously like Sweden.  Or that movie Toys with Robin Williams and Joan Cusack.

Anyway the merch is SO much better experienced in person.  One thing I love and hate about IKEA is the variety of finishes:  seems like no "white" is exactly the same shade, and the surface might feel like cheap laminate or expensive lacquer.  And I won't even start in on that basic metal finish which I call s--tanium.  Best to go look and touch for yourself.  The star of today's visit (which I'd definitely never seen online) was this bed:

Made of solid pine and stained yellow (mustard will make a major comeback, mark my words) this bed has potential out the wing-wong.  You could paint it any color and box out the headboard and siderails in a contrasting stripe.  And could you not make an easy canopy by tacking a patterned fabric tight to the top??  You totally could.  Price is 279 meatballs.

Am sitting desperate for a cappuccino, but I have no milk and no coffee.  Grrrr. Don't you hate those mornings. Today it feels worse as I have been watching these funny videos on YouTube of people creating pictures in the tops of lattes and cappuccinos.

Last week at work we got a Viva Terra catalog bearing the tagline "ecolivingstyle."  I expected hemp and patchouli; honestly, it's way more for the Starbucks/Whole Foods/Chicos set. Which is not all bad.  Their stuff is made from recycled or sustainable materials and it's not necessarily cheap, but rest assured you're not killing the Earth or exploiting children in Honduras. Here are my picks for style:

Doormats made from recycled flip-flops!! Cool diamond design. Smallest is $29.

Big Wooden Balls -- these would be chic on a mantel or massive coffee table.  You have to read their description, holy cow.  $98 for the smaller one.

I love this big teal agate plate, but not for eating.  Why not prop it up on a hall table or hang it on the wall?
So I was skeptical but now, um ... VIVA TERRA!!

I love this cute little metal lantern for its proportions and details:

Like a mini Topkapi Palace!

I'm not wild about the pink (no comment from the peanut gallery).  I'd buy five or six, paint them in deep blues and oranges and hang around a porch or gazebo. 

Only $12 at Urban.  Can you tell I'm holding onto summer with everything I've got??

I went into the most charming store today.  It was during a foray uptown, which is always quite funny for its other worldliness.  The store, full of nothing but buttons and ribbons held in old shop cabinetry, has been forgotton by time. It's my idea of complete heaven.  It has been there for over forty years, although it feels like longer.  No website I am afraid, but worth a visit if you need buttons--which are really hard to find--both old and new.

Tender Buttons, 143 East 62nd Street, New York, NY 10065.  tel: 212 758 7004

This is the kind of source I live for:  SeaCrest Trading Company carries bamboo everything plus capiz chandeliers, room dividers, tiles ... even macrame plant hangers!  Okay, so I wouldn't buy any of those, but this lounge chair and ottoman is pretty incredible:

It's an awful picture, but taken out of context (and with a new cushion) it would look like early Jeffrey Bilhuber.  $300 for both! 

I think these are genuis, not to mention very chic. They look so 'Moss' don't you think? In fact they are from a shop opposite Moss on Greene Street, called Cite. They are designed by KleinReid and the set is $575, or you can buy them separately logs: $175 each and sticks $75. For the fireplace that doesn't work, like mine, this is great, or if you want something in the grate while the weather is still warm, these are perf.

Cost Plus World Market carries exactly 100 rugs on their website. Who knew? I'm really digging a few of them:

Introducing the Spice Wool Runner, 2.5ft x 10ft for $149.99.  I love the faded lavender and pink alternating with khaki.  One or more could be nice as a stair runner with bronze stair rods.

Here's a 4ft round version of my favorite World Market rug -- maize carpet squares -- which of course they don't carry on their website.  But I love the red and the pattern variation.  $19.99!

I suppose this one's named "Giraffe" for the colors (looks more like a geometric from China Seas).  In any case you can't go wrong with cream and chocolate brown.  4x6, $119.

I have a theory that you can find at least one stylish item at any store, whether it's a national chain or a smaller operation like The Door Store.  I saw a magazine ad for this place today -- it's been around more than 50 years -- and just checked out their website.  The bedroom suites left me cold.  (People, stop buying suites of anything.  Suites look too sweet!!)  But I do like these chairs:

On the left we have your basic faux bamboo stackable ballroom chair.  I like it in black (okay, gold too) and I'd make a little buttoned seat cushion so it doesn't scream "party rental."  It was on sale for $89.99 but that ended Monday.  Whoops.  Maybe give them a call and beg to extend?  Also, this X-back Xilo chair could be very charming with the right seat upholstery and paired with a modern table. Saarinen tulip? $119 was the sale price ... could it be more than $150?  Still worth it I think.

I spent the holiday weekend with my friend Leanne at her lovely house in Westchester eating and baking almost exclusively.  Flapjacks were the weakness. We made two batches from Tamasin Day Lewis's fabulous Kitchen Bible.  They are so deliciously fall - the taste of oats and golden syrup, think of them as flourless oatmeal cookies if you need to feel better about scoffing such calories!

If you live in the New York area I suggest you walk by Ralph Lauren's Rugby store at 12th and University.  If you haven't heard of this brand you soon will because they're about to open some 50 stores around the country -- it's Ralph for the college set and he's totally eating Abercrombie's lunch (if you ask me)!!!  Anyway their current windows are so inspiring:  one with a million bicycle playing cards and another with a big, Gothic "R" in a mosaic of dominos.  I think the card idea would work great in a small powder room or closet -- buy a few of these jumbo decks for $14.95 and rubber cement them onto the walls and ceiling.  You could alternate red and blue, kings and queens, and so on.

Back to work and city life... While shooting on Morton Street for the magazine, my assistant Emilie found a stray zebra finch in the garden.  He was so sweet. I don't know how he got lost, but we brought him home in a box. He spent most of the evening asleep in my hand, while I used my left hand to research finches and email Pieces in Atlanta to see if they still had the Victorian birdcage that I had seen in the shop.  Sadly Morton, as we named him, died in the night.  Having always thought that birds were a waste-of-time pet to have, I was astonished at how much I minded about him while he was here and how much he has been on my mind since, this most adorable little bird, who Emilie saved and I mangaged to kill.  I really feel so sad about him.  He is now on his way to the country, wrapped in Kleenex and cosily in a Strike Anyway matchbox where Emilie is going to bury him.

She might have him painted first, she is even more obsessed than me, actually we are thinking of finding a taxidermist. Is that wierd/pushing the boundaries of bad taste to stuff a bird you know, and one that you failed to save?

Happy Labor Day Weekend, y'all!  Wish I'd seen these in time for my beach picnic tomorrow:

Pandora Design's Baroque Plastic Deluxe Cutlery from the Charles & Marie site. It's based on a traditional Italian design from the late 19th century and made of heavy duty plastic so it's dishwasher safe. Twenty bucks for a 4-piece setting -- not too bad since they're reusable. And fabuloso. Thanks Lindsay!

This is the new 25 calorie deliciousness. It is Pinkberry, some strange form of frozen yogurt that tastes a lot naughtier than it actually is, You choose between plain and green tea yogurt and then from all sorts of lovely toppings. I had yogurt chips and blueberries, which was YUMMY. I highly reccomend this. Check the website for a location near you and have one of these chilly treats while it's still warm out.  Look for the sign: