Miles and Miles

Please don't get me this for Christmas. I'm being serious. I know I am a big Miles Davis fan, but I really don't think I can make it through SEVENTY CDs!! (Although, it's fun to look at the mini-LP replica jackets).

Miles Davis: The Complete Columbia Album Collection available November 24, 2009.

Westside Story

To some, Atlanta has the reputation for being made up of a series of soulless strip malls frequented by overweight racists. While I am sure you can find an unfortunate bit of such in the South, The actual city of Atlanta has come a long way in terms of art, design and culture. For every clear cut, metro-area suburban cul-de-sac, Atlanta has an artist, gallery owner or restaurateur determined to leave their unique stamp--despite that fact that it can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. This is why I was especially proud to find Atlanta's burgeoning Westside Arts District featured in today's Sunday Times. More photos here.

Photos by Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times

Flowers and Candlight

A friend asked me about the little wood "vase" I used to hold roses earlier last week. Funny they should ask, because it's actually candle packaging that I thought was too pretty to toss. There's a watertight vase tucked inside, but I thought the grainy wood gave my yellow roses a more autumnal feel than the usual glass or silver.

The candle is by Voluspa's James Boyce Collection. I bought mine at Gramercy Fine Linens & Furnishings. In case you are not in Atlanta, they are also available here.

While it is generally considered a faux pas to burn fragrant candles while cooking or eating, this line was designed specifically for that purpose by chef James Boyce. (Sounds like a good Thanksgiving host gift to me!)

And if it makes you feel any better, the boxes are made from sustainable Palownia wood without the use of stain or lacquer. My scent of choice is "Herb Garden", which is very fresh and subtle.

Happy November!

Armour & Co.

It's always interesting to see how Atlanta's shop owners decorate their own homes. Jayme Armour Leffler, owner of Armour & Co. Home Emporium let the Atlanta Journal and Constitution into her 1920's cottage and it's actually refreshing to see that it's not a "showroom". She mixes the items she sells in with her personal collection of antiques for a very approachable feel.

See the rest of her house in the AJC Lifestyle Gallery.


Armour & Co. is located in the Virginia Highlands neighborhood of Atlanta.

Double Take

I seriously think someone photoshopped my cat into their magazine layout.

(Top photo of imposter cat from from Canada's Style at Home, via Everything LEB. Second photo is the real thing.)

Ok, that's enough with the cat pics. It's not that kind of blog.

Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!

Rule #84

"Support friends in the arts. Especially if they stink." - Rule Number 84 from 1001 Rules For My Unborn Son.


Lucky for me, all of my friends in the arts are super talented. One in particular is Walker Lamond, author of the aforementioned blog turned book, Rules For My Unborn Son.

If you're unfamiliar with the material, it's just as much about style as it is solid advice on how not to be a jackass (right down to the Pantone perfect cover). The vintage reader meets Life magazine imagery adds to the sentimental journey. Some of these lessons may be exactly what your own parents taught you and some will make you laugh out loud, but I'm sure you will come across a few new words to live by.

Here is a sneak peak...(click on image to enlarge)


Rules For My Unborn Son goes on sale today—just in time for holiday shopping.

Collage Love II

I promised Emily Amy that I would send her a photograph of my latest purchase as soon as it came back from the framers, so here it is.

Collage on paper by Cecil Touchon, framing by the wonderful Framers on Peachtree.

Drama Is Dead

"Dramas are dead," says producer Lynda Obst. "Some of the greatest parts for women -- the Academy Award parts for women -- are often in dramas, and this is the worst time for dramas since I've been in the business for the last 10,000 years."

It's all in this article from the Washington Post. Whatever happened to just making a decent film that has at least one strong female character? Do that, and women (and men) will buy tickets. The worst part of this news is that it is usually the dramas that provide us with the most design inspiration. Now if you will excuse me, I am off to see Amelia.

Plaza Towers Tour

Claire from High Gloss Blue has been sharing her fabulous photographs from last Sunday's Plaza Tower Tour of Homes. She even has a post specifically dedicated to the various Saarinen Tulip Tables in the building!

Stay tuned to High Gloss Blue as she promises there are other pictures to come.


For more on the architecture and the local design celebrities who call Plaza Towers home (Phoebe Howard & The Peak of Chic, to name a few) be sure to read this article in the April Issue of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles.

Glamour Shots

Thanks to Domino's untimely demise, I am a Glamour subscriber by default. (It is what Condé Nast sent me instead.) While I still pine for my long lost Domino, every now and then, Glamour will have a piece beyond their usual love-your-imperfect-body genre. October's issue, for example, had a Nate Berkus designed, Paul Costello photographed treat...




...Berkus's sister, Marni Golden's studio apartment.

Oh, how I miss these types of design stories: beautifully photographed, brilliantly styled, budget-minded little spaces. In case you missed it, the rest of the photos and article can be viewed on MSN's lifestyle page.

Why Do I Love Twitter?

Because Katespadeny posts photos of 1950's Japanese culinary magazines while in Tokyo.

I am on twitter too, but my tweets are usually much less exciting--where I ate dinner, what I think of Atlanta's commercial real estate situation and shameless plugs for my husband's latest invention. (You've been warned).

Reading & Wallpaper

"We wallpapered the stairs and hallways--it looked like an orange grove. Leafy light and dark green branches with Ping-Pong ball-sized oranges nestled here and there. The floors and stairs were painted a cream color, but we left the original walnut banister untouched. I loved that hallway. I used to just go up there and sit in it and be proud of myself."

- Isabel Gillies in her memoir, Happens Every Day.

Have you read this book? While it's not really about interior decorating, it has its moments. It's actually about making a home away from home, the never pleasant end of a marriage, and is all based on the author's true story.

Actress turned author Isabel Gillies, photographed above for Vogue in February 2009. (Is that Brunschwig & Fils "Les Touches" I spy?)

The book came to my attention, not from the Vogue article, which I missed, but from reading an interview with Whit Stillman, writer and director of one of my favorite films, Metropolitan. He mentioned that one of the actors in the movie (Gillies) had written a "very good book" about her family's move from New York City to a small town (with arguably disastrous consequences).

"We had ended up in Oberlin — in a big 1877, redbrick house we never could have afforded on the East Coast. It was our second year in Ohio. Before we bought the house on Elm Street we had lived for a year in a rented faculty house, but when we saw "Bricky," as we called it, we could not help but buy it and renovate it into our dream house. We spent all our money and took out a home-equity loan for William Morris wallpaper and a new water heater. I wish I had a picture because I'll never be able to write how great it was."

Though she never says for sure, I believe the William Morris wallpaper pattern to which Gillies refers, could be "Arbutus", designed by Kathleen Kersey in 1913. I wish I could find and example of it being used in a chic way, but all the photos I come across are from rather unfortunate bed & breakfasts.

Anyway, that concludes one of my infrequent suggestions for a good read. Those in NYC can catch author Isabel Gillies in person at the New York Society Library on October 15, 2009.

Visual Acoustics

Yes, it's another movie post--this time about architectural photographer, Julius Shulman. What can I say? I am thrilled that Hollywood is producing more design films and less comic book adaptations this fall. Trailer below. Official website here.

An Education

"Asking questions showed that you were naive and bourgeois; not asking questions showed that you were sophisticated and French. I badly wanted to be sophisticated." - Lynn Barber on her memoir turned movie, An Education.

Trailer here.

School of Athens

In honor of my Alma Mater's first home game this season, I thought I would post an image of "The Happening" by Lamar Dodd, a painting depicting the frenzy on the field after the Georgia Bulldogs won the National Championship in 1980.

Football tie-in aside, as many locals know, Lamar Dodd (1909-1996) is the namesake of the University of Georgia's School of Art and was a highly influential administrator and respected artist of the mid 20th century. (How cool are his Chuck Taylors?)

St. Mark's Cathedral, 1956

Cityscape, 1952

When he wasn't teaching, Dodd spent much of the 1950's traveling the world and developing his talent for symbolic abstraction and cubism. In 1963, he was hired as one of NASA's official artists. Thankfully, he returned to Georgia to continue to teach and support southern artists. Because of his influence, the Lamar Dodd School of Art is one of the best art schools in the country.

The 1963 painting above entitled "Modern Abstract" appears to be the University of Georgia Redcoat Marching Band at halftime, which leads me back to game day.

Good luck today UGA. Go Dawgs!