NYDC: The New Curators

Today I am part of a big event at the NYDC. It's called What's New/What's Next and my part of the event is being called The New Curators.

Cool, right? Sounds so fancy. I may have to put that on my business cards. :) The NYDC knows how important the blog world is to the design community so they gathered a bunch of bloggers and paired us up with showrooms on the 4th floor.

I'm at the Calger Lighting showroom and I'm loving every second of it. I was able to bring some props from home and design my own little blogging station while I am here.

I love a good lighting piece. I think often times we forget about lighting in our homes and it takes years for us to switch out the pieces that were left from the previous home owner. I'm totally guilty of that. I still have a brass chandelier hanging in my dining room, because I have yet to find the perfect piece to go there. I have lost out on 4 chandeliers on ebay! Craziness I tell ya.

Take a peek at some of the beautiful eye candy I'm looking at today:



Oh this is the latest addition to the showroom! It made in Spain!



Maybe I will finally find something to bring home with and replace the brass in the dining room.

Fingers crossed.

If you are at NYDC please stop by and say hello! I would love to meet you.

Shop Girl: Eataly NYC

A couple of weeks ago I was waiting at a traffic light in Manhattan and saw a massive line of people waiting to get into a store. I had never heard anything about it and merely saw a sign that said gelato. It was hot that day in the city, but not hot enough to warrant a line wrapping around the block. It was craziness.

The next day I'm online and I realize it was the opening day of Eataly a new indoor take on the Italian marketplace. One of the owners is none other than Mario Batali hence the crazy line.

I haven't made it back to check it out for myself, but I'm totally intrigued.

I found some images of the store online and had to share them with all.

Imagine having a pantry like this at home:



Like a real street corner in Italy there is signage to show you the way:



I know want to empty out my fridge and fill it with baskets to house fresh veggies:



I love carbs so I will have to go check out this bread station in person:



After I'm done stuffing myself with bread I think I would balance the calories with a piece of fruit!



I love good store display and this place does not disappoint. I can totally see myself overpaying for a loaf of bread or some fancy cheese.

Yum! Have any NY readers checked it out yet?

Images via Eataly's Facebook page

*Apparently Martha and me were thinking the same thing today. Totally happens when you are so close to someone ;) and her show today was about Eataly as well! Check out some video footage here. Thanks for the heads up Janna!

Inside the NYDC

Like I mentioned in my post earlier today I will blogging live from the NYDC'sWhat's New, What's Next event taking place on Sept 22nd!

It is open to all so pretty please stop by at 4pm on the 4th floor and say hello. Then afterwards we can hit the following showrooms:

McGuire has a jaw dropping showroom on the 1st floor of the design center. I literally wanted to add everything to my wish list.

I recognized one dream chair from an old

Moving along we hit a couple of the other floors to check out some favorites:

Arteriors Home is another favorite of mine that recently set up shop at NYDC.

Some of my favorites:




Palecek is another go-to favorite of mine and their showroom does not disappoint. It was filled with bamboo and caning pieces that could be custom colored!



I have to save my favorite showroom for last! The Global Viewsshowroom opened recently and I knew I had to stop by there immediately. I was already in love with all of their pieces from a far so it was now time to go check them out in person.

They are on huge orange kick which I am loving!



They were also loving blue!



How about some blue and orange together! Be still my heart the store was filled with my favorite orange rug!



A pop of green!



Can you tell it was my favorite showroom?

So if you come and visit with me the 22nd at 4pm on the 4th floor we can go check out some other showroom together!

Design Crush: Trina Turk

Good morning all!

 

While you are all sitting down at your desks with a warm cup of coffee or tea in hand  getting ready to settle in and make some damage on your google reader I’m at JURY DUTY!

 

I had my fingers crossed all week that my number wouldn’t be called, but it happened and as of 8:30 am I will be sitting and waiting to find out my fate.

 

Ok now that your all up to date on my whereabouts for today I can continue with my post.

 

I heart Trina Turk ! Truly I do it’s been a love affair that has lasted a couple of years now and I don’t see my love fading anytime soon.

 

Here is the lovely Ms. Turk. Isn’t ottoman amazing? It’s covered in one of prints for Schumacher.

 

Here is another nook of her LA store. I love the morrocan tile on the floor and that groovy sofa with the pillow that has become quite popular with bloggers. I’ve had one in my bedroom for months!

 

My initial love with Ms. Turk started with fashion. I love her bold use of color and they outfits tend to make their way into my closet rarely frequently! (Don’t hunny I always buy them at the rack!)

 

Do you that she also has a store just dedicated to pillows?

 

Check it out:

 

I love, love, love that the hanging white globes give the effect of polka dots on the ceiling.

Not sure what store houses this dressing room, but I would like to move in. Bright happy colors …check, elephant…check…stylish frocks…check, ballerina flats….check and swoon worthy wallpaper that Jon will never let me have in my own house…double check!

 

Here is a peek into the NY store!

Plus when I’m off summering in the Hamptons I’ll still be able to get my design fix at this location.

Have you seen her latest store in Bar Harbour? Love, love and love. She just has such happy places to sell her wares.

 

I hope you all enjoyed the pretty eye candy!

 

Who are your favorite fashion designers that have an amazing shop to boot? Share!

Shop Girl: MUJI

If you are ever in the NY area you must make a spot at MUJI. This store is known for it’s no frills and extra’s philosophy and while that may sound boring to some it is the complete opposite.

 

I literally wanted one of everything in the shop. They do a great job of merchandising their wares and while everything is simple you know a lot of thought went into each design.

 

Of course I always want to share my favorite stores with you so I had to snap some pictures along the way.

 

The first thing that caught my eye was all of these containers. I seriously wanted one of everything. Why? I don’t really know, but I just figured I would have a million uses for them. Ah told ya I’m a marketer’s dream. :)

 

Always the interior decorator these acrylic boxes had me at hello. I can already picture them in my office holding supplies.

 

In my office I would also need notebooks and binders. Don’t you fret, because a couple of aisles over they have them in every size you can imagine.

They also had rows and rows of classic white dishes.  I love white dishes. Since I tend to change my decor around quite a bit it’s nice to have timeless dishes that go with everything.

 

Look at their wall of cleaning supplies! Wow. Again totally want one of everything.

 

Now you are in NY so you know your going to want to pick up something to remember your trip. They have some of the chicest souvenirs I’ve ever seen. 

 

My favorite had to be their city in a bag.

I don’t know why, but Jon loves picking up teeny toiletries for when we travel. I on the other hand love trying to jam all the full size stuff into my suitcase. That is until now when I spotted MUJI’s toiletries wall. AMAZING!

 

Lastly my favorite thing in the store had to be their towels. Yes they look like any ordinary towel, but then I read the little write up on them.

 

These towels are made with ribbing. Not only for the design of it, but so that you can reuse them. Let’s say you use it as your bath towel, but part of it starts getting a little worn. No problem. Simply cut down one of the ribbed lines and voila you now have a bath mat or a hand towel. In cutting down the ribs it will prevent any fraying so you can get as much use out of the towel as possible.

 

They also have clothing! But you know me I was mostly interested in their home decor items.

 

If you want to do a little virtual shopping you can check out their store here.

Shop Girl: B&J Fabrics

Yesterday I spent a beautiful sunny day shopping in the fabric district. Now I’m not going to lie the fabric district is not in the nicest part of NYC. You have Port Authority, Times Square and Penn Station all sort of surrounding you so it can get really packed with tourists, but it is well worth a visit if you are in the area.

 

One of my favorites shops has to be B & J Fabrics!

Pure fabric heaven. Their tag line is, “ Possibly the best fabrics in the world” and I must agree.

 

I made sure I snapped many pictures with my iphone so that you could all feel like you were there with me.

 

Take a look around:

Can you tell which fabric caught my eye in this picture?

 

Loved this navy blue and white chain link.

 

Ah this just made me happy! All those bright colors.

 

Patterned bolts of fabric. The whole store was so nice and organized.

 

You know me and my love for brown & white. This totally caught my eye and it was only $15.95 a yard.

 

Polka dots will always be a classic to me. So I was happy to see oh so many lined up.

 

Now the majority of the shops in the fabric district house fabric for garments. There is very little in the world of upholstery. I’ve yet to find a gem that has remnant of Kravet’s and F. Schumacher that I can dig through.

 

B & J is mostly fashion, but they do have a nice sized collection of cottons in prints and solids that could be used for pillows and window treatments and they all seemed to be around $10-$30 a yard so it’s not that crazy for a nice, clean and organized shop!

Shop Girl: Arch Gate

While I was in the city this week I made a trip to Arch Gate.

This store is only a couple of blocks away from my sister’s apt and I drive/walk past it all the time, but had never gone in before.

 

Walking past it yet again this week I knew it was finally time to step inside and check it out. So happy that I did! I wanted one of everything and I’m certain you will too.

 

Let me take you on a little virtual trip:

 

I was in love with that round table! I could see it going in a million different rooms and who doesn’t love those blue/white ginger jars on top of it.

 

I’m probably going to type LOVE about a million times in this post, but I can’t help it I was in heaven. How amazing is that teal blue armoire and that minty green storage number!

 

More cool storage units. Love the colors and that hardware!

 

More armoires:

Love the high-gloss lacquered finish on this piece. It has so many uses, desk, vanity, console table.  I wanted to walk it with this one!

It was a bit hard to get good pictures, because not only was I using my iphone camera, but there was so much furniture in every nook and cranny that it was hard to angle shots, but  I needed to share this piece with grass cloth on the fronts of the drawers and lacquer everywhere else!

 

Me and my mom both loved this punch of blue color and thought it would be a good piece to stash in a small space and get some storage.

 

The black and blue piece from above got my attention right away. Love the color combo and that it is all lacquered! High gloss all the way!

 

Again wanted to bring home every thing in this nook. Especially that red chair.

 

More red chairs that I was dying over! They were around $250-$300 and I was in love. They also came in brown.

 

Take a closer peek at the piece below and you can see the greek key pattern done with the shelving.

I spy some blue foo's.

 

A section dedicated to the color red:

Hope you enjoyed the tour. If you are ever in Manhattan you must go! The prices ranged from $200- $3,000, which didn’t seem too horrible to me. Especially since many of the pieces reminded me of Bungalow 5, which is even pricier.