Dog Days of Summer

Headboard + Art Tutorial

Really digging all these hand sketched references for design tricks. The new headboard needs some friends in the form of art to keep him company. My go to is the gallery wall so I'm thinking one showstopper, on a budget of course. I am looking into it which means in about 5 years there will be something good up there.

Options: The Dining Room

 One of our clients told us that these high chairs are really good for digestion and socialization.

 A good nook with some killer banquets.

 Red Chinese Chippendale Chairs are so hip! Not so comfy for long dinners.

Nursery of the Week: Early Bird Get the Worm

 A Hudson Baby production here! You might remember the tease from way back when.  

Baby came early and gender was unknown so we sort of sprinted to the end. The overall feel of the room was determined by this tree bookshelf and then the rest just sort of came together.

Adding the puck lights to the bookcases gave the Ikea pieces a more custom look.

This layout of the crib between two tall bookcases is proving to be a fave. Congrats again to Mom and Dad and Baby J!

Mini Sarts

 Some seriously hip kids.

All images from Planet Awesome Kid

The latest and greatest

 Adore the color of this glider and ottoman combo

  For the final NY post gonna leave you with images of the awesome goods for sale in the Kids and Baby section at ABC Carpet and Home.

 The Sparrow crib in natural. We are using this model in our current project.

Scenes from the City

One night we headed to Nolita for dinner and the cab dropped us right in front of the new Patricia Field store. Of course we went in.

One of the clerks told us that "Pat" had just dropped off a ton of belts she used on set for Ugly Betty, Devil Wears Prada and Sex and the City. Apparently there were some designer gems in there. 

At the 9/11 Memorial

Surpise Delight

 My sister suggested that we check out Ankasa Home while we were in New York after she saw them on The Martha Stewart Show. As we slopped through the rain and cobble stone streets of Soho I was about to give up looking for it when we turned a corner and saw the tiny sign. We shook off our umbrellas and entered the store coming face to face with this wall of exquisite pillows that are all embroidered, beaded or blocked by hand. Yeah, yeah, many companies make the same claim but the quality was impeccable. There is no skimping here and you pay for it - an average size pillow ran about $300-$400.

 All the work is done in their factories in India and only by men. Interesting no?

 The duo behind Ankasa are "the go to" embroiderers in the fashion industry. They decided to open a housewares shop and have two location in NYC and sell some items online.

 This was one of those stores that you go into that has beautiful things but that might leave you a little intimidated. That was until the sales people started talking to us and telling us about the company and the story behind each piece in the store. Like the rosarch ink blot art hanging on the wall, that is actually all sequins and it took over 300 hours to bead.

 Linen table runners and bedspreads embroidered with sterling silver thread.

 So bad ass.

 These just look like a collection of framed art, right? After walking past them a couple of times thinking it was interesting collection of frames in a gallery style wall the sales person urged us to take a closer look. Each of these framed pieces is a piece of embroidered fabric that was created as a swatch to show the fashion couture houses during buying presentations. If the fashion houses/designers decide to purchase the fabric just based on this small swatch then Ankasa places the order with their workers in India to produce the fabric for the one of kind couture pieces. At most their is probably 10 yards of fabric made. Ankasa Home pulled the swatches out of their archives and had them framed in one of kind frames found in antique stores and flea markets. Each cutting was used by a major designer in one of their couture collections like Oscar de la Renta, Chanel, Carolina Herrara, etc. They were selling for $300 -$600. Recognize any?

 This would have been a cool idea on its own but hearing the background story made it so much better.