Katie Stassi

I feel like I blog about Katie Stassi all the time, but turns out I just talk about her a lot. I love everything she does. If I was to rank for some reason (say, if a magazine was interviewing me, HA) my top design themes/looks/items, I would just refer to works Katie Stassi has done. Alas, since I haven't had any magazine articles, I will just put them here.

They are as follows:

SASSY MONOGRAMS

ANIMAL SKINS (I know, I know...)

FRENCH TRUMEAUS

BANQUETTE DINING

CHIC POOLS

THE COMBINATION OF BLUE AND PINK

The Desk of Lola

I'm really into the design firm From the Desk of Lola , which is named for the two principals Alexandra LOew and LAuren Soloff. I read about them in one year of Domino's next big designer lists. Then I re-read about them in Oprah. Truthfully, I think some of these looks would be hard to take out of Hollywood, especially Atlanta, but they are very cool. But one practical lesson learned her though is that bold patterned wallpaper works well when done right. You might ask where one could get insanely cool, hip wallcovering. One place is StaceAge right here in Atlanta, or try online at Retro Walls for a huge selection of statement paper.

Audubon

Two things I love: the outdoors and art. So it's no surprise that one of my favorite artists is John James Audubon. He combined a love of nature and incredible talent by attempting to paint every bird in America, which lead to famous namesakes like the Audubon Society, Audubon park, Audubon Magazine and so on. Just recently I saw some beautiful reproductions of Audubon's Roseate Spoonbill and American Flamingo and it inspired me to put all my favorite original Audubon works together.

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker

American Flamingo

Canada Goose

Great White Heron

Hooping Crane

Little Blue Heron

Long-Billed Curlew

Louisiana Heron

Osprey

Passenger Pigeon

Roseate Spoonbill

Yellow-Crowned Heron

Angie Hranowsky

Today I was going through some old House Beautiful magazines for a project and I rediscovered Charleston designer Angie Hranowsky. I originally had taken notice of Angie because of her graphic design work, specifically the letterpress invitations and stationary. I've always been interested in letterpress, it's so classic, and takes practice and talent. The amazing part of Angie's work is that she is EQUALLY as talented in interior design. Angie shows that if you have more than one passion, you don't necessarily have to choose.

This is the image from House Beautiful that caught my eye. I have some friends decorating a new apartment in NYC and Angie's work made me think of them. Her work is so chic, but also so do-able. It's not too pretentious, but incredibly stylish. She is has great work from which to take inspiration.



I spy a David Hicks pattern on the curtains. It works here, but could be too busy in other settings.

Here is another good look for my NYC friends to take inspiration. It's easily recreated with flea market finds.


I THINK that fabric on the chairs is Ashley Hicks for David Hicks, again. Not sure though. Looks great.

Can definitely see her graphic designer side take over here.



How great is the large scale of that lamp! Looks like the faux zebra rug I mentioned a while back.

I love the combination of cobalt blue and light pink.


Now for the ADORABLE letterpress items. More designs are available here.

Bee

I'm going to go ahead and say that bees are going to be the next big thing in jewelry. Here are my favorite apiology (study of bees) finds so far.

Bee necklace from Erica Weiner.

Bee earrings from Katinka Pinka on Etsy.com.

These are always cute gifts. This is the queen bee gold dipped make a wish necklace on gold silk thread. From Dogeared.

Bee Charmer Earrings from The Noisy Plume on Etsy.com. "When I walk past the yellow blom of palo verde trees in the spring I am warmly wrapped in the happy song of bees. How I wish I could charm them with my presence and reach a hand into the hollow where they store their honey. How I wish I could simply charm them into sharing some of the amber-sage-flavored-goodness with me." Jewelry + Literature for $39... WOW!

I'm not sure if these kind of places are just a Southern thing, or if it's all over. But while Im on the subject of bees... I LOVE HONEY on everything from biscuits to chicken. Go here to buy some of this roadside honey.

Mystery Blog

Sometimes I like to press "next blog" at the top of the blog page to look at other randomly generated blogs. It's neat to see all the strange and interesting topics that people blog about. I found this design blog, called "A Yellow House by the Sea." It's all in another language, not sure what. But it's fun to look at the pictures and imagine what she is saying about everything.

Slim Aarons

Coolest book I've seen in a while is Poolside with Slim Aarons.   It's $75 in stores, but $47.25 on Amazon.  I wish I lived in the 70's when Lilly Pulitzer was cool and pool parties were glamorous.