shared office love: cuz i like people more than i like doors

Poop. That's how I feel about today. I'm grumpy and sulky and my lower lip could be a bird perch. 

Poop.

My team at work has grown from a duo to a quartet, and today we're moving because of it - from a floor of about twenty peeps (the larger group we work with) to a small space housing just 5. I personally am going from a small open air "nook" that I shared with two interns to a private office. Which I should be pleased as punch about, but again, I say poop.

I know most people would consider the office an upgrade, but the new desk config - they have me facing a wall with my back to the door - means I'll need to shut my door to avoid feeling as though the world is peering over my shoulder. And that, plus the reduction in faces, just sounds like one big stinking pile of lonely to me. I'm already yearning for my nook back. 

So in the spirit of my internal tantrum, here are some gorgeous shared offices that just scream collaboration! If I ever start my own teeny tiny business, you best believe I'd be throwing sarcastic jabs at coworkers over computer screens in a space like this:

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lara spencer: design schizo (aka kindred spirit)

When Sue of The Zhush pinned (and posted about) Lara Spencer's living room yesterday, it literally whipped me into a frenzy: 

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Apparently At Home in Fairfield County just did a feature on Lara's home, and this gorgeous pic (plus a few more) was part of it. It essentially embodies the exact look I would love to achieve in my own home, and has totally reinforced my obsessive desire to have a velvet slipcover made for my sofa. Mine would be charcoal. And I would sing to it softly every night. 

Before seeing the feature I didn't actually know that Lara Spencer was into design, so I decided to google her previous homes. And what I found is the craziest roundup of completely different styles I have ever seen created by/lived in by one person. Honestly people, this lady is all over the map and back again. Twice. 

There's Chinoiserie/Hollywood Regency Lara:

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Uber-Modern Lara (aka one I can't get on board with):

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Asian-Americana Lara (can you think of another way to describe this?):

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And Traditional Americana/Refined Lara (à la Tommy Smythe):

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Some pieces (like the blue sofa and some of the lamps) can be seen more than once, but the look of the room as a whole is always a total departure from the last incarnation, not just a modified version. This is clearly a woman who's attracted to a million different styles, and her design loves sway with the seasons. Which means she is also clearly a woman after my own heart. 

Only difference? At least she finishes a space before her heart does a 180. Me? I've never been so lucky . . .

seek and ye shall find: mary nelson sinclair via lonny

About three months ago, while perusing Pinterest, I came across a beautiful, eclectic living room starring the sweetest little lilac settee - and fell in love. Unable to find an original source, I repinned it and asked if anyone knew where it came from. When I didn't get any responses, I turned to keyword search - first via Pinterest, then google, and finally houzz.

Nothing. My ridiculous OCD tendencies had failed me in a way they rarely do. I had to admit defeat.

Then this morning I opened the latest edition of Lonny, and finally found what I was looking for. Staring back at me was the gorgeous apartment of one Mary Nelson Sinclair, a NY based painter. It turns out the settee is actually much more pink than purple (even better!), and the full space is just as lovely as I had imagined:

A more is more aesthetic, bundles of charm and patina, amazing layered art and copious amounts of pink and black. The magic ingredients that make me swoon every time.

Oh Lonny, you're the gift that never stops giving.

wanderlust: greenwich hotel nyc

Many have tried, but rarely does a hotel actually achieve the goal of feeling like a home. The Greenwich in NYC is one of those rare exceptions that really blurs the lines. 

A project of Robert DeNiro's (of all people), many of the hotel's rooms could easily be mistaken for someone's incredibly well decorated loft of townhouse, and I could honestly picture living in these spaces rather than just staying in them. Which is good, since the prices are enough to make my heart stop! Lord have mercy some people have money to burn.

Thankfully none of us has to actually spend the night to get inspired by the Greenwich's cozy and collected vibe. The bathrooms alone are enough to stop any design lover dead in their tracks, featuring gorgeous brass detailing and stunning Moroccan tiles (including encaustic). Get ready for some pretty . . .

For more pics, including the other bathrooms and closeups on those tiles, check out oyster.com.

tile files: bringing back encaustic

While I love a good subway tile as much as the next girl (it's classic, inexpensive, and will NEVER go out of style), I'm downright obsessed with spaces that use something a bit more bold. From striking patterns to unexpected colours, there are few things that say "I am mother-effing confident in my sense of style and no one's the boss of me" like a great statement tile!

Lucky for me the design world has been using it more and more lately, and old-school techniques and materials have been making their way back onto the scene. One of the tile types seeing a modern day revival is encaustic. Commonly referred to simply as cement tile, encaustic tiles have been used for hundreds of years the world over (in countries like Morocco, France, and Spain), but stopped being popular here about a hundred years ago. Now that people are getting more daring with their tile choices, new companies are popping up and new patterns are being produced. From walls to floors, the results are stunning:

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Confused about what these actually are? A recent House and Home blog post describes encaustic tiles as "cement or clay tiles where the pattern on the surface is created with different colours of clay. The pattern is inlaid or moulded into the body of the tile millimetres thick so that the design remains as the tile is worn down." 

That means that if encaustic tiles chip or scuff, the pattern won't disappear, and they'll look lovingly worn rather than ruined. The process is also much greener than that of a lot of other tile options!

Need a visual? This video from Popham Design shows just how much work goes into each and every tile, and is really fascinating:

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If you're interested enough in these beauties that you'd like to add them to your home, I've put together a little roundup of sources that offer some fantastic options. Virtually every pattern featured above is made by one of these manufacturers!

Mosaic House

Granada Tile

Villa Lagoon

Tierra Y Fuego

Mosaic USA

Popham Design

P.S. If you like this post, be sure to follow me for more!

old-school china cabinets in the kitchen

If you know me you know I'm an absolute sucker for 'traditional' detailing, and pretty much anything interiors that looks like it might be more than a hundred years old. Crown moulding, ceiling medallions, herringbone wood floors, corbels . . . I would choose that shit over a modern interior any day of the week.

So when I first came across old-school china cabinets being incorporated into updated kitchens, my heart skipped a beat and did a little happy dance! China cabinets are usually reserved for dining rooms, but using them in kitchens is such a fresh, unexpected, and most importantly smart twist on tradition. The amount of storage is phenomenal, and the charm is palpable!

Some of these are clearly original to the homes, while others were only made to look like they could be, but all of them are simply divine . . .

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