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

More about → Modern Home Office

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.

More about → Designers to Watch-Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch

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...

More about → Upholstery from Nathan Anthony

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.

More about → Trina Turk Fabrics for F. Schumacher

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.

More about → Pretty Fabrics from Thomas Paul for Duralee

Style File: Modern Cottage

Here is a stylish small house that I found on line. Love the bright white mixed up with bold colors. I have been out of town so thats why I have not been posting. Thanks for all the emails asking WHERE ARE YOU? Spring is in the air where I live, I hope it is for you too!

More about → Style File: Modern Cottage

Fresh Colors for Spring-Furniture from Bungalow 5

We saw Bungalow 5 at the New York show last February and we just loved it. The colors are so fresh and fun. The prices are reasonable too (under $500 for most pieces). They are just perfect for spring.

Here are some samples from the line. Most come in different color combinations.

You can see the rest at Bungalow 5 web site. If you need help with pricing or availability, please drop us a line.

More about → Fresh Colors for Spring-Furniture from Bungalow 5