I think that one of the most exciting and most fun parts of my job is putting together color schemes for rooms...it's how I start almost every single project - color first. Some projects have the same color scheme throughout the house, others are like a piñata that has just been whacked open, and some we use warm colors in some zones and cooler colors in others. 
Whatever the approach, inevitably our office becomes inundated with samples and its a heck of a job trying to keep things organized.
I could not live without my fabric drawers and I want to thank all my fabric vendors and also the wonderful interns that come and work for me who help keep them in order.
So thanks to Kim and Amelia and Diane, and all the others who have helped to keep all these gorgeous fabric samples organized! And Kim, you get the prize for being the greatest "fabric drawe...Read More

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I really love Dune, and use their pieces for a lot of my projects. Here are some of Richard Shemtov's latest designs. This first side table is so beautiful. I love that this seamingly heavy piece of wood just floats effortlessly on the glass cylinder base.
I recently hosted a group of high school students from Philadelphia who came to find out more about interior design as a career. After a little presentation showing my work and explaining what the world of interior design is all about, I walked over to Dune to show the students around. They were in absolute awe of the showroom. And after all these years, I am too!


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That Dutch team is at it again. I have to say that I have a deep, deep admiration for clients who are so on board with the creative forces that they work with, and are willing to take some chances. These super cool clients let these super cool architects create a rooftop addition that breaks all the rules. Notice how the stairs form a double helix with a rope in the center for the kids, and how the stairs actually never touch the floor. So
brilliant!



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My architect Joan visited her friend, architect David Mann, in Hudson last weekend. As Joan reports, David loved the site, loved the house, but felt it needed more windows. The back facade is 40 feet long with 30 feet of glass symmetrically broken up by a 10-foot chimney stack. I'm convinced the panorama of the valley below is sufficiently accounted for. This is a home, not an observation tower. Granted, a 40-foot glass wall would be dramatic, very mid century, very Palm Springs on the Hudson. I have nothing against drama in architecture, but not if it'll compromise comfort and gracious living.





A view ...Read More

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A couple of years ago, my husband Jaime turned me onto the work of Jordan Crane. A lot of his images are haunting and provocative.
I own three of his pieces and have them in my loft in New York. People sometimes ask me if these images are too haunting to have around my children. They have asked about the images and I have told them that the pictures show a woman caught in a burning house, another is of a man falling through cracking ice, and the last is of a man stuck in a turbulant stormy sea. Yeah, kind of scary, but the images are so beautiful and the colors are stunning. Hopefully they won't have to work on the damage they caused in therapy session later in life--I will keep my fingers crossed.
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This past weekend, I attended the Madison-Bouckeville outdoor antiques fair in upstate New York. It was the first time I'd been to it. For those who haven't been, it's sort of a scaled-down Brimfield with more cows and less modern design. Fun, nonetheless, as the weather held out until about 1:00PM. (It wouldn't be an outdoor antiques fair unless it poured at least half the time.)

I left the van in the city intentionally so that I wouldn't fill it up just because it was there. But I filled the car up instead, primarily with a 1970's craft rocking chair from Vermont. I impressed myself by determining that it would fit in the car without measuring it, or the car. It was pure luck: I do not recommend the technique.
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Claesson Koivisto Rune, this trio out of Sweden, is simply spectacular. I have always been drawn to their designs. I was not as aware of their beautiful architecture. I think this bright red bed of theirs is just stunning.
Any clients out there that want to use this? Not for the faint of heart.

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G.C. Mitch assures me that I should be in by December. (I'm equally sure I will be Obama's vice presidential running mate this September). I only hope my house will be closed in time so that I can begin transporting family heirlooms and ancestral portraits. My most prized possession is a post-Russian Revolutionary portrait of the founder of our family dynasty, Harry Siskin, standing so democratically next to his first employee. The other image is of Harry's furniture upholstery store, the Philadelphia Upholstering Company, curiously named considering it was located in Los Angeles. 

 
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I am working on a project right now with a client who has amazing taste. It makes me wonder if she even needs a designer. Deep inside, I think she actually is an interior designer. We have progressed through the project really nicely, and I am excited to see it all installed--it's going to be a beautiful apartment. The whole place has a silvery-white palette with accents of turquoise and blue--just gorgeous!
It seems like there is always a sticking point in a project. In this one, it's the dining chairs. My client actually showed these to me, and it turns out that I am in LOVE. But it also turns out that she does not love them quite as much as I do. I am besotted. Let me introduce you to the lovely Looper chair from Living Divani.
I will let you know what happens.

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After playing hookey this Friday by spending the day at a water park with my girls, I decided to do some catching up. Here in my country house in Pennsylvania, I always feel inspired to search for interesting furniture pieces. While looking for a light fixture for a house I am working on at the New Jersey shore, I came across this buffet that delights me.
It's by a Portuguese company called Boca do Lobo. Okay, now back to looking for that entry light!

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OMG, how cute are these stumps?!
This is the Baby Stump from THOUT, based in Toronto. The colors are delightful. The holes in the stump are actually designed to make them lighter and easier to carry. $120 per stump!

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How great it would be if all your ideas came to you right when you needed them? But if they did, would they still be great tomorrow? Although I have a general idea of what the interior of my house will look like, I know that as things progress, and as I progress, it will change. A building needs a foundation, but do chairs? What was Frank Lloyd Wright thinking when he bolted the dining room chairs to the floor? A great interior designer, an architect doth not make.

One of the strongest tenets of my design philosophy (there aren't many), is that an interior should be forgiving of change, whether it's due to something as subtle as a mood swing or as dramatic as a natural disaster.  Granted I wouldn't want the furniture placement of my living room to be decided by an earthquake, but if it works…

The only designer I know of who manipulates architec...Read More

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