The Art of Design: Picasso

Despite the emotional anguish that fueled Pablo Picasso's Blue Period, his images from the early 1900s strangely take on a steely, cold beauty. These paintings appear at once haunting and enchanting. What would a room built around the austere gray and blue palette of Les Noces de Pierrette from 1905 look like? How can art serve as inspiration for our dwelling spaces?Images borrowed from InglenookDecor, TheLennoxx, DecorPad, CandiceOlsen,& MilesRedd.

Tea Time, Pinkies Up!

When I was a little girl, my mom hosted a tea party for my birthday. The invitations, typed on paper doilies, went out to a choice group of 2nd graders. A few weeks later, my little friends arrived decked out in their finest and frilliest frocks, borrowing mom's pearls and lipstick. I remember my hot pink velvet hat with netting (sourced from the local flea market). I remember awkwardly trying to maneuver my tea cup while wearing opera gloves. And, most of all, I remember the thrill of doing something so fancy, so ladylike and so special for my birthday.

Teatime is an afternoon ritual that I think I will add back into my life. The Brits definitely are on to something here. What's not to love about sipping warm tea out of fancy porcelain cups and nibbling tiny sandwiches and sweets? What's not to love about pausing in the middle of a frantic afternoon to revel in some epicurean delights?

Now if only I can find that pink velvet hat....

Images borrowed from Glam, BestWeekEver, WoodFordHoney, YoYoor & CreativeReview.

La vie en rose

I always need more pink in my life.

May you start to see life through rose colored glasses:Images borrowed from here, here, Flickr, Tiresome, AudreyHepburnComplex, WeHeartIt, & LaLaLaurie.

Weekend Wishes

Images borrowed from FFFFound & ChrisWake.

Derby Decadence

Happy Oaks and Derby weekend to my main Kentucky belle (that's you Howie!) and the rest of you with a taste for big hats and mint juleps.

Images borrowed from Superfected, TicketCity, here, Urbzen & Flickr.

Words to Live by

Now, go do the rooster strut around your living room like Mick Jagger.

Borrowed from ImgFave.

Fear Not the Soufflé

Certain culinary experiences are outright daunting: making croissants from scratch, roasting a medium-rare rack of lamb, creating a perfectly lemony Hollandaise sauce to top perfectly poached eggs. These are the recipes you read longingly in your cookbooks. These are the recipes that cause you to think, maybe one day.

At the top of my culinary avoidances list were soufflés. Then, I came across this simple and seamless recipe from Mark Bittman. My first ever soufflé go-round, and the result was absolute chocolaty perfection. I even felt so confident as to pull together an impromptu raspberry sauce.

So, go forth and conquer your kitchen fears (just be sure to practice these recipes on your hungry hubby before debuting them at your next dinner party). You do not want to have a Bridget Jones' blue soup incident on your hands.

Let There Be Light

"Light is not so much something that reveals, as it is itself the revelation." -James Turrell

Whether supporting fancy beeswax candles or ordinary incandescent bulbs, chandeliers can visually anchor most any room. Not merely for dangling above the dining table anymore, chandeliers have become a design-world favorite for all sorts of spaces---grand or intimate, lavish or quotidian.

Lighting designers have not limited their media to Murano glass or ubiquitous crystal pendants either. While the standard traditional chandelier styles are no doubt lovely, creative folks have even put silverware, acrylic gummy bears and river detritus to an elegant uses in recent lighting projects:Be sure to check out The Decorista's fabulous images of outdoor chandeliers for even more inspiration.

Images from TheFrisky, RoseMille, here, Murano, Evropashop, Makezine, Blavish, StuartDesign & ApartmentTherapy.

Top of Your Queue: A Movie Review

My Architect is not a recently-released documentary (2003); however, I just saw it for the first time and feel compelled to share it with you. It's that good.

The film focuses on the architecture of Louis Kahn, who is probably best known for designing the Kimbell Museum in Ft. Worth or the Salk Institute in La Jolla. However, the documentary is far from a dry catalog of his life and work. At times hysterical and at others quite tender, the documentary ranks among the best I've ever had the pleasure of viewing.

Clam Bake

For dinner, I would like this: and I will be wearing this little Doris Day ensemb: and my view will be this: or this: and for dessert this:Can you feel it in the air?
It's almost summer.
Let's dream of a summer seafood feast.

Images borrowed from GabrielaHermanPhotography, TheStylist, Martha'sVineyard, Destination360 & ShallowThinker.

Words to Live by

Image borrowed from here.

Closet Envy

Someday, maybe just someday, I will have a wonderfully gorgeous, organized closet. I'm talking matching wooden hangers, neatly folded stacks of cashmere cardigans in Skittle colors, Louboutins standing in tidy rows---a closet that would make Rachel Zoe go bananas or Jenna Lyon gasp.

Currently, my closet looks like the museum of Hawaiian shirts (thanks to my hubby's "collection") with bony plastic and wire hangers poking out from every angle. Bleck.

In the meantime, a girl can dream:Images borrowed from Domino, ReliableRemodeler, Valencich, HouseBeautiful, LifeInAVentiCup, ArchitecturalDigest, JennaLyon & RachelZoe.