loving industrial restaurant lighting

gorgeous sconces with industrial bendy-arms hanging over the tables at Mile End deli in Brooklyn (image from the NYTimes's tantalizing "makeover of the delicatessen" slideshow). They look awfully like the ones I publicly coveted a couple of years back on design*sponge's xmas gift guide.

(the ones, dear reader, I bought!)

copper suspension lighting from etsy

Gorgeous copper suspension lighting at François Legault's Etsy shop. This particular lamp is going for $265. I'll take the ceiling tile and that copper boiler too, please!

LED lanterns: outdoor lighting on the move

Candles are good, but lanterns are better. For your next picnic or outdoor meal, whether you've rented a beachhouse or are just taking a walk to a safe quiet out of doors spot with your friends for an impromptu dinner, try taking a lantern or two along....

I have recently become very attracted by the notion of LED lanterns because our building doesn't allow fire of any kind on the roof-deck. So I first went in search for some options from camping stores... here's a few:

this little guy has my number. i love him.

Both of these come with a remote:
(L.L. Bean's mini model.)
The Emerson has a great feature of a remote control dimmer.

Bottom line: I think there's definitely a market for more stylish ones, but these are sweet in a dorky way-- if anything, just think how much your nieces and nephews would love them for going camping in the backyard.

If you're looking for something a little more urban, a little more polished, here are a few good options:

for an asian feel, this one from wrapables is quite nice looking; it would be great in a set of 6 or 8-- or intermingled with these japanese lanterns.



(sigh. the "luau" lamp. gorgeous, but far overpriced.)

This one from Brylane Home is a much better deal at $9!

Last but not least-- this one is not bad. I'd love to see a stylish redo by Restoration Hardware, but it's a start!

From Safe Home.

(Top image from Pottery Barn)

lighting: tripod-esque lamp from west elm

I picked up one of these over the weekend. From its over-sized shade, to its sweet dangly pulls, to its adjustable height, its multiple settings for brightness, and its architectural angularity, it's charmed me beyond all expectation.

the marilyn monroe, perhaps, of light switches

these light switches are so deco and glitzy, but in this simple, utilitarian kind of way. love them.


&
very
Happy
Valentine's
Day!

let your Freudian imaginations run wild on these.... :)



(from holloways of ludlow)

H a p p y Ne w Y e a r!

Italian lion bank from Hi+Lo Modern. Zoolight giraffe table lamp by Intermezzo, found here, via cribcandy.

Happy New Year!

Welcome back!

I'd like to say for the record that creating Silk Felt Soil is one of the most fun and fulfilling "playtime" activites that I've ever done in my life and I am so excited for what 2007 will bring, and I'd like to usher us in to the New Year with three resolutions that I've made.


1. to update the look and feel of the site. i'll be asking friends to help me with this!

2. to explain the name of "Silk Felt Soil" one day soon. to keep refining and clarifying the design principles that inspire me...

3. to have even more fun! to take more risks. to share more with you about my life.




xx phoebe

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.

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.)

our kitchen renovation: pendant lighting options

My main man and I are redoing the teensy galley kitchen in our new home... We were able to really think big (well.. relatively big!) because my dad is an architect, and so has generously done countless studies and drawings for us. One of the exciting changes we decided upon will be the one to re-locate the sink from one side of the kitchen (far left in the dark-ish "before" pic), to the end of the kitchen underneath the window (thereby getting the fridge away from its currently obstructive position!). And now we come to the raison d'etre of today's post: the lighting. I'd love to have a beautiful old pendant light over the sink; and yet my man is concerned that it will block the view of window. Thoughts? Would love some views on this.

Some of the industrial-style pendants that I covet...


(First two antique beauties are from Re-found Objects, in England; the final (gorgeous!) light is the "Harmon pendant" from Restoration Hardware).

These are sweet as well, made from vintage jelly molds:

Touching on...: a new bi-monthly column!

Industrial metals like steel and iron go luminous, airy, and golden:




From a Moroccan lamp, to an early 19th c. belt from Berlin (decorative and appealing when iron was expensive and rare due to war) to the wonderful "sea urchin" salt and pepper vessels (or vessels for earrings!) at Mothology (featured in the NYTimes "Personal Shopper"), the endeavor to change the crudeness and density of these metals through punching, or through mesh and bronze accents, or by way of using gold leaf inside a very rough, almost violent surface-- this is not so much a trend (yet) as much as an inspirational post right now. But with additional examples, we may find the use of crude metals in elegant permutations becoming more than inspiration...

This is the first of a bi-monthly Friday column, "Touching on..." solely about textural inspiration & up and coming textural trends. Hope you dig it! Let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend!

'bird-cage pendant light' by Mathieu Challières, and the sweet wire lights of Marie Christophe

Such a sweet, playful lamp would be perfect for a nursery, or maybe even a home office... (More of Mathieu Challières's work can be found here.)


And speaking of les beaux luminaires francais, check out the light-hearted, sixties-inflected wire-work of Marie Christophe, made known to me by dear ada last month, and for that I am so glad! (when I have a little extra dough.....oh, the trouble I will cause!)



*March 1 2007 UPDATE! Anthropologie is selling the Mathieu Challières light... right here!

*March 28 2007 UPDATE! a silk felt soil reader made a very respectable DIY version:
image found in her flickr pool, here.

Catalan taste

I would really like to find out who designed the elegant lighting in this posh Catalan pastisseria that I visited while in Girona.

On that sweet note, here are some photos of beautifully plated dolce that were served to us at the end of a decadent lunch that my friend Anna's parents treated us to. I loved the tiny palmiers, the size of your thumbnail (second from right), and the chocolate cake served in the deep glass bowl.

Helsinki: a glimpse into shop windows

So have just returned from a brief vacation in Europe, where the first stop was Helsinki! Some of the store windows were just delicious on their own so I thought I'd share a few photos I took of the shop Aero, and Armas Design, where both happen to have beautiful pendant lighting in their windows...




I love the classic oversized 1976 "Sonora" suspension lamps designed by Vico Magistretti in the first pics... and the whimsical silk-screened chandelier lamp shade in the window of Armas Design.

fiat lux: pendants of all kinds

I.
for dining area:

(ikea "septim": industrial chic. cheap. simple.)

("cerebro": curvy, feminine, a little mod) ("asparagus": like a baby chick with its feathers ruffled)

~~> i would especially love to see either of these last two over a rough-and-tumble, distressed farm table...unexpected, decorative.

II.
for the bedroom, what about pendants instead of sconces or lamps? i am digging this tord boonjte "icarus" lamp:

wouldn't these look fantastic and surreal hanging on either side of a bed? mod, baroque, and soft at the same time.

III.
if lighting could be dessert....
(mod chandelier.)