happy halloween

 happy halloween! 

a little pumpkin carving party last night to celebrate. even as an adult there is something elating about the entire process. did you do anything to celebrate the holiday? 

flowers for friday

 fig and fern - 

away

do you get that itch to get away? im feeling it at the moment... ive got a big birthday looming and i just want to hide from it... a fruitless search on top of it. 

do you think they could find me here? 

images: 1 and 2 

91 Magazine

 a beautiful new magazine launched today! 91 Magazine is a uk based publication to be released quarterly. I love its vintage focus. Caroline of Patchwork Harmony, as well as the rest of the team, have done a breathtaking job on the first issue.

 ~ Im so excited to have an image included in their article about antique marmalade jars. i love the opening reference to Alice in Wonderland...

looking forward to the next issue. thank you caroline & ellie 

monday mood board

a mood board for monday.

images via my pintrest board. 

ode to chemex

i think i must have breakfast on the brain... the mornings here in san francisco have been spectacular, clear and bright and crisp and i have been soaking up every glorious moment. I also switched over to a chemex coffee pot for the morning's wake-up call. I have to say after using a french press the chemex is the bees knees! 

Im more than a little obsessed with it, both from a perfect cup angle and a design perspective. I love its shape and the way it looks all set up with the paper filter and rich coco-black coffee inside & to top it all off that little wooden collar and rawhide tie. I think its so chic. 

 anatomy of the chemex.

whats funny is that until i came to sf (i also think grad school had something to do with it) i didnt even drink coffee! but with such a strong culture around the stuff here on the west coast i acclimated rather quickly and have surely been making up for lost time. 





images can be found on my Chemex pintrest board. 

morning.

my morning in three photos. it was up and out before dawn for the flower market so a little treat when i got back home. swedish pancakes. 

American Modern

i have been spending a lot of time with Thomas O'Brien's "American Modern". I know the book has been out for a while and you are probably familiar with it by now, but I just cant seem to get it out of my system now that its in my house. 

I am particularly drawn the the two houses that O'Brien has designed for himself - a 1930's era apartment in Manhattan and a stunning federal colonial estate upstate that was once a boys school. There is so much to look at in each of the spaces (in fact he shows both incarnations of his city apartment so its really like seeing three houses). I admire his ability to be true to each of the spaces with such strict editing that they look as undersigned and unworked as you would want them to be. This I think is a skill which takes much practice and strictness. 

I love how we can see his progression as a designer through these three spaces. His first incarnation of the 1930's apartment is very strict indeed, beautiful and effortless but you can visibly see how restrained he was in this first apartment. I love this. Its like getting a glimpse into the studio paintings of a great master, that timeline of inspiration to change fascinates me in every medium. 

It seems that in his Academy (the name of his upstate house) project he lets his strictness (but not his keen editing eye nor his mastery of textiles and mixing of periods) relax a bit and I just cant get over the results. It feels so personal but I could easily see myself living there as well.  I especially love how all of his spaces feel so gender neutral, the perfect balance. 

 

If you havent spent time with this book I highly reccomend it. I keep finding myself thinking about an image or phrase from the pages and going back to flip through and find what I've been thinking about. 

flowers for friday

 a piece of something i was working on earlier in the week at huntlittlefield. avalanche roses 

kitchen cupboard: inside out

one of the things i love about living in apartments is their ability to change over time. I particularly love so many of the original features that still remain in this 1930's era apartment. Almost all of the san francisco apartments built around this time had ironing board cupboards built in. Somewhere along the line the actual board in my apartment disappeared and when i moved in all that remained was this very lovely but quite shabby ironing board cupboard .... i thought it could use a little sprucing up. I love the little bit of farmhouse appeal it adds  

 i also started stripping the little knob on the front of the cupboard thinking it would reveal brass or some metal..but to my glee and surprise it revealed a very old little cranberry bakelite knob. i can only imagine its original to the apartment 

styled

 im holding my breath looking at the gorgeous styling work of scott horne. 

 im wrapped up in the textures, rich colors and use of fabric.....

russel wright

part of what i love about the designers of the 20th century is their belief that everyone deserved to have access to beautifully conceived and executed pieces for the home & office. perhaps that is why they have stood the test of time and are still on many of our wish lists.... 

after spending time with leslie williamson's handcrafted modern, i have been sort of smitten with the designs of russel wright. i feel like ive learned a new word and am hearing it everywhere. perhaps best known are his ceramic designs, elegantly organic in soft color tones. but he also designed furniture pieces and his own home. 

pitcher, cups and saucers, tea pot, places setting, 1stdibs andirons, chairs

flowers for friday

 its friday and i finally have a computer again! it was a long repair but shes back and better than ever. i have lots of  posts for next week planned, its been busy here despite the radio silence. 
hope you enjoy these figs, not exactly flowers, but they usher in the fall weather we have been feeling here so perfectly. 
happy weekends 
xx