Eric Trine

Eric Trine. Currently lusting after one of his powder-coated pedestals, which sounds like a euphemism if ever there was one.

Toogood 2 Betrue

I've been meaning to share all of this for about...oh, forever. Suffice it to say I got behind.

Faye Toogood: she's amazing. Former editor at The World of Interiors. Set designer. Fashion designer. Fucking awesome woman, except fuck gender she's just amazing. You can read more about her here, here, and here, and then read about her "agender" campaign with Selfridges and then follow her on Instagram.

Lightening Up

BREAKING: So I've decided I'm kind of over my bedroom. Ok, not really, but I'm ready to make some cosmetic changes.

I switched the "floor plan" around last weekend because I decided that the bed position was obstructing the flow of my chi, obviously. It's now up against the one wall that hasn't been shot, where I was initially thinking of putting a mid-century console.

The console hasn't materialized yet and, thanks to budgetary restraints, won't any time soon. So instead of fighting that or trying to put something makeshift in its place, I moved my bed and just got rid of a bunch of stuff.

Above, the offices of Studioilse; below, window frames, shutters and cabinetry painted in Farrow & Ball's Buff. Photos © Martyn Thompson / WSJ Magazine & Björn Wallander / Elle Decor.

It's opened up that whole area where the bed was and now I'm unsure what to do with that space. Mostly because I have $0 to spend and very little furniture to work with. I have a chair. And a side table. I might try moving my desk? But there's no outlet in that corner of the room...and now I'm boring the shit out of you, so let's move on. PAINTING. As in, I'm thinking of switching up the look of the room with the leftover paint that I have. (Free! Resourceful!)

The white "accent wall" isn't really working the way I had envisioned. It gets very little light, so I can't use it for Instagram (literally part of my thought process, kill me) and because the paint job is uneven around the edges and the wall itself is kind of lumpy when you get up close to it my intended "accent" looks kind of unintentional.

So I want to paint that wall blue, and then paint the ceiling the light grey color that's currently on just the doors and trim.

A bare bulb in Frank Muytjen's apartment; photo © Patrick Cline / Lonny magazine

The grey ceiling will, I hope, help brighten the room up a bit, though deliciously moody is still the M.O. The grey paint I used has a slight sheen to it, unlike the fully matte blue, so it should fix everything for at least a few weeks until chronic singledom eats further into my brain and I decide to obsess over something else tirelessly, late into the night.

LIGHTING! So I ripped out the standard bulbous glass thing that came with my place, that comes with every rental ever, and have been on the hunt for the right fixture since then. The Tom Dixon pendant I had I actually took down. It's too nice for this room, plus I would have to cut the cord to make it the right length...which would mean cutting off like, all of the cord, because my ceiling is so low. So I'm not doing that. I then ordered this pendant from West Elm. Once I finally saw it in my room, I decided the scale was all off.

So now I've been stalking the guys at Schoolhouse Electric for a few weeks as it looks like their Satellite flush mount fixture might be my best bet. I won't have to modify it in any way, so I can reuse it in another space later on, and it's not too expensive.

Ok, that's all for now. So many feels! All the thoughts!

Last Minute Local

I know, so much product these last few weeks! But what can I say, I'm on my grind. Or something. As a counterpart to last week's gift guide, this is all just stuff that's made and sold here in Brooklyn, with a cameo or two by some distant island they call Manhattan. I think if I weren't on the world's tightest budget right now I'd spring for the walnut valet tray and/or the In God We Trust jewelry. I already own the bookends (amaze), but if I didn't I'd be all over the Coil + Drift book display.

At the end of the day the only gift I'll probably commit to is a couple of Mast Brothers chocolate bars wrapped in twine. It's the gift that keeps on giving, because once I give it to you (mom, dad) I find one way or another to eat half of it while you aren't looking. Merry Christmas!

Chen Chen & Kai Williams metamorphic rock bookends at Creatures of Comfort. (As seen in my bedroom makeover.)

Areaware concrete desk set at The Primary Essentials.

Yield Design Co. geo stand set at McNally Jackson.

Thanks cuff and spacer ring at In God We Trust.

Medium Apple B mobile by Fort Makers.

Cups by Romy Northover at Still House.

Saito wood coaster at Personnel of New York. (Anecdote: These are my favorite coasters. They're Japanese plywood and they look just as good used as intended with my Heath mug as they do as bases for my Lite + Cycle pillar candles. I bought one at Tortoise in L.A. and then picked up three more at Personnel last week, which means there are only two left in stock for you. I'm sure they'd be happy to place another order if you're not shopping on a deadline.)

Walnut valet tray at Kaufmann Mercantile. (FYI: KM is online-only.)

Coil + Drift canyon book display at Jill Lindsey.

(Please Take Me To) Villa Lena

Villa Lena is this amazing hotel and artist's retreat outside of Florence that I discovered in Living Corriere, an Italian magazine I'm so in love with right now. I wrote about the hotel for work, but, ok, I actually started a new job this week, but my point is that I almost stayed there for a hot second during my trip in September. Unfortunately it didn't pan out because it's like, literally off the beaten path. C'est la vie.

Can someone buy me a residency? Is that how this works? I'm not sure we have those in America. I'd like to write a novel about a young man who takes up a residency abroad and then is like, "Surprise, bitches! I'm never leaving!" and then they kick him out and he gets lost under the Tuscan sun and finds love and Reese Witherspooon, who's like, "I'm going Wild™!"

The moral of the story is that copyright law is much looser in Europe. Read more about Villa Lena/see more pics here and here. All photos © Coke Bartrina / Villa Lena.

In the Spirit of Giving (Get Some)

I always debate doing a "gift guide" post every year because I kind of hate gift guides. There are way too many of them and no one really needs anything, you know? But I started putting this collage together and it was kind of therapeutic and then I spent like, two hours on it so now you have to bear witness to it. The gist of it is: here's some stuff that I like. There's a home office theme going on, I guess because I like...desks...and...work? A desk is where I watch all of my porn write all of these thoughtful entries, so it makes some kind of sense. You can find more isht I like on Pinterest, duh.

01 Something Good Split container, $129
02 The Monocle Guide to Better Living, $60
03 L'atelier D'exercices Endless Notes notepad, $52
04 Rosenthal Tütenvase, $136
05 Terrapin Stationers From the Desk of... note cards, $30
06 Delfonics wood ballpoint pen, $10
07 Hay candelabra, $44
08 Ferm Living espresso cups, $42
09 Hay boxes, $44

Moving Mountains

I hadn't seen this collection from Moving Mountains before, but then I did and now I hate my life, which I can tell you right now is not on track to include these beautiful things in it anytime soon. Dude, the Confetti Credenza is literally "price upon request," which is shop speak for "we don't like your kind 'round here." The Aspect Lamps feature conical shades that "allude to distinct personalities," which is more than I can say for half of my Facebook friends. I guess this is all just a long-winded way of saying that I'm still on the lookout for a sugar daddy, you know, one of those older guys who needs my young, sexually incisive eye to pick out great furniture that we can divide amongst ourselves in the inevitable divorce. Any takers?

Let's Talk About Sacks, Baby

I came across the new French brand L/Uniform in this month's Monocle and was immediately smitten. I mean, look at how cute the brand's creator, Jeanne Signoles, looks when she's holding one of the bags. Are you not sold? The line is only available online for now, and their site is only in French for now, but I have a feeling that'll change soon. I hope? (On that note, their site is absolutely gorgeous and amazing and worth checking out for the art direction alone.)

My favorite style is the Sac de Marin, available in four base colors and a range of trim options so you can mix and match (and monogram!). (Speaking of monograms, it should be noted here that Signoles married into the family that owns Goyard, so...there's that.)

Here's a taste of the aforementioned branding goodness, which isn't limited to L/Uniform's digital presence. Graphic designer Cléo Charuet created a pretty sweet identity suite (hardy har har) for the brand that makes me hope Ms. Signole has good reason to correspond almost exclusively by post.

Then there's KikaNY. The Brooklyn-based brand lacks the je ne sais quois of L/Uniform, but cute logos aren't everything, amiright? LOL who am I kidding, cute logos are the only thing. Regardless, I'm particularly fond of their Canvas Harvest Backpack in Rust. It's waxed, just like my Joshu + Vela bag, and it looks like it'll age really well. And can we talk about how I'm such a sucker for leather straps?

The bag retails online for $345, but if you're local I believe they sell them for less if you buy from their stall at the Brooklyn Flea.

Life Update // Ciao For Now

So I'm headed to Italy today. Which is crazy, and totally hasn't sunk in yet. Sort of for fun, sort of for work. I'm getting really good at mixing the two, for better or for worse. I wanted to share some snippets from the last week or so so that my mother knows what I've been up to (not dating anyone, for the record.) This is something I wore to a party last week:

Photo © Martin Tadashi Reyes

A friend of mine said I looked like Diane Keaton, and I died. But also, can we put that to a vote? What say you, reader? I was wearing loafers at the time, so that might be the Keaton tipping point. Also, why am I staring SO forlornly at those liquor bottles? #BrokebackVibes. More importantly, I have a new DIY project! First things first: the moodboard.

Clockwise from top-left: François Halard / Men's Vogue; François Halard / Vogue; Simon Upton / World of Interiors; via La Maison Bohème.

Can you guess what the project is? I'm reupholstering a chair! With an antique textile! (And my use of the contraction "I'm" is obviously standing in here for "they're" as in "someone else is going to do this for me, if I can afford it.")

Isn't she beautiful?? Well, she's kind of totally disgusting, but for—wait for it—eight friggin' dollars, you can't really do much better. I found this on top of a literal pile of crap at Eddie's Swap Shop. I wanted something more classic and French-ish to redo in this fabric:

Isn't that amazing? It's not actually a fabric fabric, it's an antique saddle bag. More on that later. I'm pulling the color palette for my room from this textile, and it's going to be amazing. Barring a complete meltdown on my part because painting/doing things is hard. This is where things stand right now:

Ok, I'm off to Tuscany (not literally as I write this, but I just wanted to say it that way, so sue me) and will be back with more updates later! Follow me on Instagram if you're into it. Ciao!