Black Lambo

IMG_3168, originally uploaded by hak_2@y7mail.com.

Porsche Museum

Porsche Museum 7, originally uploaded by b56n22.

Please Support Your Local Stores

We were driving down the design district in Los Angeles the other day and we were struck with how many "For Lease" signs were out there. It seems like almost every other shop is closed! Then we read in the LA Times that Cook's Library is closing. For those who do not live in LA, Cook's Library is an independent bookstore that specialized in cookbooks. It's one of those places that you can spend hours in--the staff is incredibly knowledgeable and helpful. In the LA Times article, the owner was lamenting about how they would spent a considerable amount of time with a customer on a book, only to have that person ask them to write the title/author down so that they can buy it at Amazon.com. That is so wrong!

Which leads to an appeal we would like to make to you today:

PLEASE, PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES.



Source: New Yorker Magazine


Yes, we know sometimes you can get a better deal on the Internet, but the stores have so much overhead they can not maintain business on the same margin. They HAVE to charge more. You are paying a little bit more to be able to see the products, touch the products; and most of all, have some personal attention.

We especially feel the small businesses need the most help--the mom-and-pop stores that work so hard and put their life saving into a business.

We need businesses like this to make our community more vibrant and intersting. What would life be if there are no small, charming stores to shop in; or if there were nothing but chain stores. Don't you hate it when you go to different cities and all the shops are the same ones you can get at home?

So let's all pledge to do a little bit for our local business community. Times are tough, but if we each do a little that would help so much.

Digging Beauty
Digging Fashion

Old fashioned sports car

DSC06025, originally uploaded by Nikon :).

Kim Kardashian New Pussycat Doll

Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980 in Los Angeles, California) is the daughter of the late attorney Robert Kardashian and Kris Jenner. Kim Kardashian is best known for her adventurous social life, scandals and her new reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Kardashian is also known for her sex tape scandal with ex-boyfriend R&B singer Ray-J and her spread in Playboy. Kim is often rumored to be dating many male celebrities but denies these rumors and says she is trying to focus on her career.

Celebrity Reviews
Celebrity Pictures
Celebrity Hairstyles

Mandy Moore Sexy American Pop Singer

Amanda "Mandy" Leigh Moore was born on April 10, 1984) is an American pop singer, songwriter and actress. She grew up in Florida and came to fame as a teenager in the early 2000s, after the release of her teen-oriented pop albums So Real, I Wanna Be with You, and Mandy Moore. Moore has branched out into a film career, starring in 2002's A Walk to Remember and later appearing in the lead roles of other movies also aimed at teenage audiences. Two of her later films, American Dreamz and Saved!, were satires in which Moore portrayed darker characters than in her previous roles. Moore's private life, including her relationships with tennis player Andy Roddick and actors Wilmer Valderrama and Zach Braff, has been much discussed in the media. Moore's fifth album, Wild Hope, was released in 2007.

Celebrity Reviews
Celebrity Pictures
Celebrity Hairstyles

Modern Home Office

Working from home is such a popular trend nowadays. Most people we know either work from home part time or full time. For us, we practically live in our home office. This is why we think it should be both nice and functional, with an emphasis on functional, as it is so important for getting our work done.

Here are some modern offices that we thought are really cool:

Source: Point Click Home

Here are some cool stuff from DWR for the office

Red Clock

Business Card Holder

Modern File Tray

Modern Desk

Hector's ghost Z - Great photoshop work

Hector's ghost Z, originally uploaded by jeremycliff.

Nissan Skyline GT-R 34

Nissan Skyline GT-R 34, originally uploaded by Jóvan Jules Photography.

Adriana Lima

Adriana Francesca Lima born June 12 1981 is a Brazilian supermodel. Lima is best known for her modeling work with Victoria's Secret and Maybelline. Lima was born in the northeastern coastal town of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil on June 12, 1981. Her parents are Nelson Torres and Maria da Graça Lima, a social worker. In late 2007, she told a reporter at the Hollywood Walk of Fame that she has two half brothers, aged 7 and 11. Lima is fluent in three languages—Portuguese, Spanish and English. In her free time, she loves reading a novel by her favorite author, Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Lima has admitted that she was shy around boys when she was younger, not receiving her first kiss until she was 17 years old. In an interview with GQ April 2006 issue, Lima told the magazine that she is a devoted Catholic who attends church every Sunday and is a virgin. "Sex is for after marriage," she explained. "They (men) have to respect that this is my choice. If there's no respect, that means they don't want me." US GQ dubbed her as "The World's Most Voluptuous Virgin."

Despite reports, Lima denied ever being engaged to rocker Lenny Kravitz and claimed that she and Kravitz have always been just friends. She has also been romantically linked to other celebrities in the past, including New York Yankees superstar Derek Jeter, Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein, and Denny of Timbalada. It is rumored that currently Lima is dating Serbian Marko Jarić of the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves.

Celebrity Reviews
Celebrity Pictures
Celebrity Hairstyles

Designers to Watch-Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch

Have you ever read about someone's life, and say, man, that is one bitching life! We do. A lot of it is from fashion and design magazines. You know, the ones that are always about some pretty young thing who is, invariably, married to some hedge fund manager; has a pied-a-terre in Paris; a loft in New York; a country house in Connecticut?

Well, aside from reading these for fun, we also love it for inspirations as well. It's kinda like a break from the mundane of our everyday's life, right? Like, five minutes of fantasy before we get back to figuring out how to pay our mortage this month?

Which brings us to the topic of this blog--we were reading in W Magazine today about Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch as an emerging design team which we never heard of. Orignally started out as designers of movie sets, they are now a hot ticket in the design world. We just love their originality! What was interesting about them is that neither was trained in interior design. They just do what they love, and the rest just follows.

That's something to be inspired by, isn't it? Do what you love, and the rest will follow. Repeat that three times, will you?

Here is a picture of the couple from the NY Times. Read the article.

Here is a picture of their kitchen from New York Magazine.







To see more of their work, check out the web site or follow their blog here.

Upholstery from Nathan Anthony

We use a lot of Nathan Anthony products for our home staging projects. They are reasonably-priced; the turn around time is pretty fast; and they come up with new stuff all the time.

Quality-wise it's reasonable. We would say that it's in the mid range... It's not super high end. The prices reflect that. It's the kind of furniture you buy when you want to be stylish and happening while you are waiting for the big bucks. Generally a queen bed goes for $1500 or so, and a sofa between $1500-$1800 depending on what fabric you choose.

Here are some of our favorites:

This bed reminds us of the one Charlotte has in "Sex in the City". Remember how she has this beautiful creamy bed with creamy lamps and white roses? That apartment was so awesome...

Isn't this banquet awesome? It's one of those things that works so well in a round room. We probably would break it up a bit though with some chairs.

This bed is a HUGE seller! It's so pretty in person ...

You can browse for most of the collection on Nathan Anthony's web site. You can use their fabrics which are shown on line, or do COM (customer own materials). A good place to browse for fabrics is our fabric store. There are over 100,000 fabric patterns on the site.

Nathan Anthony only sells to the trade though, so if you need pricing & stuff like that, drop us a line...

Trina Turk Fabrics for F. Schumacher

Designer collaborations are everywhere nowadays. You see Pierre Hardy designing shoes for the Gap, Alex McQueens for Target--all designed to bring high-end designs to the masses. Although we have to say, we're not that impressed. Has anyone seen the Vera Wang collection for Kohl? Cheap looks cheap, no matter what name you put on it.

For Schumacher though, the designer collaborations are quite successful. A good example would be the Kelly Wearstler fabric collection for Schumacher, especially the Imperial Trellis pattern. It sells like hot cakes. Come to think of it, it's the only pattern that seems to do well.

Trina Turk just did a collection of indoor/outdoor fabrics for F Schumacher that we thought is quite pretty. It has her signature of bright, bold colors and retro look.

Here are some samples of it. You can view the rest of the collection here.


This is a clever use of the fabric shown at the Pasadena Showcase House 2009.









Most patterns retail for $78-80/yard. You can get it for considerably less at our fabric store.

Audi TT - reflection

Audi TT - reflection, originally uploaded by why77-audipassion.

Pretty Fabrics from Thomas Paul for Duralee

We love Thomas Paul. Started out as a pillows line, Thomas Paul has now taken off like a rocket with a rug line with Chandra and recently, a licensed fabric collection with Duralee. His stuff is casual, colorful and reasonably-priced--a perfect combination when you want to brighten things up a bit without spending tons of money.

Here are some samples from the lines. You can see the rest of the book here.









Thomas Paul fabrics run about $50/yard retail, but you can get about 30-40% off the retail prices at our fabric store.