Happy Holidays everyone!!!

It's Silk Felt Soil's first Christmas! Thanks for your visits and your comments. We're so happy to be here and sharing our love of design with you.

Best wishes to all for the New Year: will be back on January 2....

xx Phoebe

fun Alexander Girard pillow for holiday spirit with a twist...

This Alexander Girard "Madonna" pillow from modern seed is too cute.

our kitchen renovation: the demo...

Happy Friday!



So. From before, to this fun stage of utter disarray: the cabinets have been taken out; the rough plumbing has been done; the old stove (ick!) has been disconnected and is ready to go; and today they're finishing up the rough electrical (3 days of rough electrical, for a teeny little job-- it's the old, 1930's wiring, so the electrican tells me; who knew the electrical would take longer than the plumbing?). Then I clean up the rubble as best I can, and tomorrow the carpenter starts with the drywall and perhaps even hanging the cabinets if we get lucky.


(and tonight, no thoughts of cabinets, but several parties, where I will forget the renovation woes.... my friend erika, for one, is having a blowout to celebrate the completion of her amazingly brilliant and capacious dissertation on "alphabetics" in renaissance literature!) congrats....


e!)

three ideas for the bed: headboards, lighting, and something in between!

A headboard for fans of New Orleans-style 19th c architecture: large tin ceiling tiles: Looove it. (From BHG, via Cribcandy).

As a lighting option, this...
= for people who are serious about reading in bed! (I've never understood whether those little decorative sconces can actually provide enough light to read by; somehow it doesn't seem possible; they must be really for decorative purposes, or for mood lighting.) Thanks to those at O at Home for this idea!)

And finally, this is a great DIY project for the holiday season...
"a simple wooden frame that mounts to wall studs rather than to the bed frame. Translucent polycarbonate panels create a soft, filtered effect for the light, which is provided by a set of holiday light strands." (From channel 5 in Phoenix, AZ!)

Could be really beautiful if the frame were rethought a bit. Perhaps a dark frame, and smoky walls....

Reminds me of the wonderful things that the fabulous west village wine bar, Alta, does with lighting in its space.
Alta has whole panels of lights that have been covered with canvas, creating a feeling of illuminated corridors just beyond the fabric... beautiful.

globe mobile....

In addition to being sweet in a child's room, this globe mobile would be elegant in a home office above a desk, or in a library nook of a living room. from restoration hardware, $69.

dark walls: the Hotel Julien in Antwerp and Miles Redd

So in love with dark interiors these days:
This one from Miles Redd's portfolio.

& am adoring the dark panelling in Antwerp's beautiful Hotel Julien,(spotted in the Italian Elle Decor). Mmmm... love how the walls contrast with pale floors....




(.... and P.S.: still swooning over the late Vico Magistretti's oversized "Sonora" pendants... especially as a modern touch in an old world setting. In late October I had a birthday dinner with my fam in Louis's Restaurant L, and they had the Sonora lights everywhere. To be honest, Louis's could have had bare concrete and old rusty pipes and nothing else and the place would still have looked totally, gloriously glam, because of those pendants. They are too, too beautiful.)

Touching on...shell and horn

For the second column of Touching On... , I want to write about something that I've been seeing everywhere I look these days: creamy, pearly, warm neutrals, with stripes and variegations directly from or inspired by the textures of shell and horn.

The interesting thing about this look is the unusual combination of "cold" and "hot" in one surface: the glossy, hard, "cold," look of shell warms up from subtle veins of fiery colors-- caramel, walnut, even hints of rose. Not clear yet whether this is an autumnal, winter trend, or whether the spring will continue with its own versions of the materials. But I'm loving it and hope this one sticks around for a while! (For the source of top image, look here)


{Click image to enlarge}
Clockwise, from top right: (1) shell tray, $24, from Jayson Home and Garden; (2) seashell wall tile, $35/sq foot, from Maestro Mosaics via cribcandy; (3) William and Mary Metro chair, $585, from Context Furniture; (4) Silk comforters from Eileen Fisher, $438; (5) thrown ceramic cups from James and Tilla Waters, featured at the Origins crafts fair '06.


Lovely horn servers, $78 from 2kh

blackboards, cy twombly, and architectural salvage

Old chalkboards, blackboards, are the stuff of my fantasies, no joke. This fine specimen (from decorator Mariette Himes-Gomez's NYC apt) is almost an exact match of a serious and enduring fantasy that I've been having recently about a large chalkboard -- not for the kitchen (don't have the space) but in the living room, in lieu of a large painting. I've been toying with the idea, wondering if it would work, ever since I found out that Old House Parts, a local architectural salvage resource, is currently selling slate from old schoolhouses for $10-14 a sq foot...



The kitchen image above convinces me more and more that a large old blackboard is not just a passing fancy of mine. And, after all, the way I see it...


it's a pretty nice stand-in until Sotheby's gets around to shipping our Twombly.

mat daly and phaidon's vitamin D (d for drawing)

Warm thanks to la belle Mav for calling attention to Mat Daly's fantastic graphic work. (See here for Lena's faves). Mat, if you're reading this: I think you should do covers for the New Yorker... I think they'd love your stuff.



This diagram/mind-map poster reminds me of the gorgeous dust jacket of Phaidon's "Vitamin D" book.

mary ping: sample sale this friday

my dear friend from college, the lovely Mary Ping, is having a sample sale of her signature line as well as her experimental boutique Slow and Steady Wins the Race (featured on Sex and the City...), starting this Friday. Clothing up to %70 off, as well as entire bolts of european fabrics only $5-$20. enjoy! tell mary that phoebe sent you... xx p

découpage feather tray and more: jayson home & garden

= so. damn. fine.

Mega thanks to the ladies of Shelterrific for this one: a 20% discount on all Jayson Home & Garden home accessories before Dec 24th! more info by clicking here

adore this feather tray ! Other lovely pieces from the home accessories store:
-the sea urchin bowls that I posted about here a few weeks ago...
-some beautiful mother of pearl trays for earrings, soaps, pens, blossoms, candles...

desks and work tables? some options...

Once the kitchen gets finished, the next project will be to set up a workspace for writing and projects in our living room (which currently is full of kitchen cabinets and appliances, so not much point trying to work in there!).

(Samuel Moyer ramp table...)

In my fantasies, my dream table
* is wooden
* is either old and wrecked looking, or (the other extreme) lacquered and bright white
* is a table, not a desk (desks are never long enough!), and yet has lots of storage. there's the rub.
* is transform-able into a dining table for parties, etc
* is able to sit two people so that my man and I can work together
* is under $500.

I've always had a strong curiosity about other people's work routines, and that includes a curiosity about how people like to set up their desks and workspaces: anyone care to share your dream setup? Do you like to work in an office, away from people? Or at the kitchen table? So interesting...

Here are some appealing options:
The Boston boutique, Vessel, has a cute "squat table" with under-table-top storage; it's sweet and vaguely affordable, but a wee bit small for my needs.


This one is from Staples Cabinet Makers, a company I found from Elisabeth's very interesting recommendation last week... I like the top a lot, not sure about the trestle bottom with the wheel (a little cutesy). But it has that great "go ahead and make a mess; I can handle it" vibe.

Recycled design, macro: museum banners

Take home something that has been displayed "on street lamp-posts and museum facades in cities across the country." The images above are just two beautiful examples of the unique product that Betterwall recycles and sells: the promotional banners of contemporary museums. Great for anyone who wants a dramatic look without the permanence of wallpaper. (Thanks to Great Green Goods for the tip!)

...And thus ends our week of recycled design! Thanks to all who followed and gave such nice comments (and helpful ones too-- thanks elisabeth!). Now for a great and oddly warm weekend!

(Next Friday I'll be resuming "Touching on...", a bi-monthly column about material and texture trends.)