My Latest Design - Patricia Gray Inc

This is a sneak peak of the family room and eating area for a home that I have recently completed for clients; a Doctor and Lawyer and their two daughters.

Jonathan Adler bowl, faux ostrich ottoman



Painting above sofa Linda Chartier
Painting to left of fireplace Patricia Larsen
Faux ostrich ottoman custom Patricia Gray Inc
Fireplace Screen handmade wrought iron Patricia Gray Inc
Candlesticks Jamie Young
Sofa Cushions Aviva Stanoff
Photography Roger Brooks
Occassional tables, accessories, faux zebra carpet Peridot

Gracias!

I would like to thank Another Shade of Grey for listing my "Striped Rugs" article, as "Must Read". I am very excited.

Cool Finds: Frou Frou Umbrella

Christmas time is here and winter is approaching, so I decided to post about an outdoor umbrella? I know my timing is off, but look at this thing. Who cares what time of year it is! Well, in some parts of the world it actually is summer time right?

This is the Frou Frou umbrella, made by Sywawa. It is made from a raffia type material, that sways gently in the wind as you dine underneath it. I can picture myself in an old Italian movie, drinking espresso, and living La Dolce Vita. All the while I am actually sitting at a computer with a whining toddler, and living La Vida Loca. Oh well, one can dream.

Arriverderci!

Window Blinds

As an Interior Designer I am always on the lookout for new and unique products. So when I came across these blinds that Suntwist, a French company, is manufacturing I took notice. Leave it to the French to reinvent the wheel for the standard, quite boring horizontal blinds. I normally do not use this form of window covering, but the following are some examples that have really captured my interest.

Sandblasted Acrylic - these would be wonderful in a contemporary setting. I can imagine that the quality of light they let through would be quite amazing.

Faux embossed reptile - How great these would look in a Den.

Leather Look at the detail they put into the grommets

And they are hand stitched on the underneath. A very luxurious window treatment indeed!

Favorite Design Trend: Striped Rugs

I have to admit , I am not really big on following too many trends. I think I have always been a bit of an "anti-trend" person....yes, that made me the "weird kid" when I was growing up. Despite that, a trend that has caught my eye, is the use of striped rugs. The graphic nature of these rugs serves as an anchor for many design schemes. Below, is a beautiful handwoven rug from Ebelladesigns.

A sparse room can benefit greatly from the dramatic lines and movement a striped rug offers. I found the picture below from Domino's site. The colors and lines remind me of a painting, maybe Matisse.

Nate Berkus designed his bedroom (and my new dream room) using very bold colors set in an all white room. Although, the room is relatively sparse, the bold lines add a lot of visual interest, and keep your eye moving around the room. Love, love, love!

To show my love for stripes, I even decided I needed to wear them! These are my new socks from Urban Outfitters.
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Back From Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is over and its time to get back to work! Still, today I am feeling very thankful, for the first sunny day we've seen in about a week. Days like today, are why I am willing to endure Gulf Coast summers.

Industrial Style Furniture from Etsy

Its Thanksgiving, so it means its time to start holiday shopping. If you are like me, I start thinking about what I would like to buy for myself...I know its so selfish. I found these two cool furniture pieces on Etsy. The first is a rocker called "Mesedora", which means rocker in Spanish. It is made by hand, with a stainless steel frame and cotton rope, woven randomly , for the seat and back. You can find it at the Elemento Etsy store.
Priced at $850.00 it is a bit pricey, but it would be a very interesting conversation piece.

This is a tea ceremony table. It is handmade steel with a ceramic tile top. I love the patina of the steel and the aggressive silhouette. Ironically, it has a very soothing and calming feel. This table can be found at Neil Collins Etsy store.


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A Must See Blog- Kris's Color Stripes

Inspirational Colors

I wanted to share a great blog I discovered, Kris's Color Stripes. I found it while reading Another Shade of Grey. The woman behind the site is Kristina Klarin, an Italian fashion designer and artist. She uses her blog to record all her favorite colors and forms.

As we exchanged emails, Kristina explained that she grew weary of the never ending deadlines of the fashion industry, so she left to start her own business. "My dream is to create a line of silk printed home textiles, that will make me and other people relax, enjoy and smile". I love Kris's Color Stripes, because of the way colors from photos are broken down into basic forms. Personally, my color sense is inspired by nature, and the environment around me. I find that when I am working on a design project, I am constantly searching to find the "perfect color". What I am trying to capture is the colors of nature, which; Kristina captures in her paintings.

Below, is a view of Kristina's work space. Drawings from her 2008 calender, and crafts, including a decorative mushroom and cooking utensils; are shown. I recommend this blog, when searching for beautiful color combinations, or as a starting point to make up your own.

Home Girls Website.

Just a quick update. I have added a link to Home Girls new website.
You can click here, or on the Home Girls name in the prior post.

Edelman Leather & my 100th Post

This is my 100th post and I wanted to do something special to commemorate this event. When I started blogging, I had no idea where it would lead me. I have met such wonderful people through the experience of blogging and learnt so much in the process. I tried to find a cake with a 100 candles, but instead found this gorgeous yellow cake (continuing on my Yellow kick) with maybe 100 daisies thanks to Sarah Dennis from Toast and Tables. The following is an special interview I had with John Edelman of Edelman Leather fame. I learnt that they pay homage to a few great design Icons of the past in their continuing tradition of excellence.

Edelman Leather
Interview with John Edelman, President

I understand that Edelman was established in New York in the 50’s, and is still a family run business and that you started out supplying the Fashion Industry. Could you tell us a little about the legacy of your family business?
My parents Teddy and Arthur Edelman joined my grandfather’s business in the early 50’s which was called Flemming Joffe (Joffe is my grandfather’s name). At that time they were tanners of reptiles, primarily for the shoe industry.

I heard that Andy Warhol did drawings for your company in the 50’s before his rise to fame. Could you share some of how this came about?
After a few years of joining the company, my grandfather retired and my parents needed a graphic designer. They put an ad in the New York Times and this nice little guy showed up with white hair. He didn’t talk too much and they liked his work. He was a working graphic artist and was unknown then. He came to work for my parents and that’s why many of his early pieces look like shoes with reptiles. He subsequently went on to become very famous, but this was before he did anything that he is now know for. My parents have a very large collection of Warhol paintings. We still use some of the early pieces he did for us. "This is a Chair" is one of our favourites and has been the theme for our Company since it was created in 1952 or '53.

You are known for your exquisite leather products. What are some of your more exotic products?
We work primarily with cow hides which are hand worked and embossed in different patterns and textures. We refer to them as unendangered species and we have over 40 different patterns. A few are: crocodile, ostrich, shagreen, and wild boar. The only “exotic” skin we use is Python.

Note by Patricia: Shagreen is a fascinating texture inspired by Jean-Michel Frank. A sharkskin (stingray) grain engraved on vegetable-tanned leather.

Why Python?
It is not endangered and it is big enough is for upholstery. Usually 30 feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide.

You use Swiss cow hides. How do these compare to other hides?
Our cow hides are from Southern Germany and our calf skins are from Switzerland. They are the best in the world. They use no barbed wire, no branding and they even clean the animals off at night to prevent staining.

Your leathers are advertised as being “100% GREENGUARD certified”. Could you tell us what that encompasses?
We want to be as green as possible. Our product is a by product of the meat industry, so we are actually recycling before we get started. We use all water based finishes and solvents to finish the leather. And all the tanning products are recycled to be used again. Greenguard certifies that we do not have any harmful off gasing which in turn qualifies us for LEED certified jobs.

Tell us about this wonderful Crypton finish you are using. I had a demonstration of the cleanabilty of stains on white leather by Matt Buckley, your National Sales Manager, and I was excited that it opens up new ways in which light colored leather products can be used.
Most people try to protect their leathers by adding more paint to the finish so it’s less natural. We worked for over 3 years with Crypton. Now Crypton is the leading company for protecting fabrics against stains. We worked with their technicians to develop a formula that impregnates the hide, to stain resist from inside the hide. So we don’t need to add any extra finish, we don’t lose any of the hand at all, but we can repel stains. If it does get a stain on it, you can use our cleaner that we have developed with Crypton.

You also have a furniture line.
This is a new addition and we really did it as a service for Interior Designers. We picked classic Jean-Michel Frank pieces that were super simple, super clean; what we call ‘a canvas for our leathers’. So it goes back to “This is a Chair”. You take the basic club chair and every product you put on it makes the chair look different. If you put it in red Python it looks one way, if you put it in yellow Ostrich, or Metallic it looks another way.

So you said you use classic Jean-Michel Frank pieces.
He was Ann Frank’s uncle. He emigrated from Paris to Argentina to escape the Germans. He finally went back to New York when it was safe and did a beautiful apartment for the Rockefeller's and decided that design was dead and jumped off a building with no patents on his work or designs. We found the world’s greatest restorer of his pieces based in Massachusetts who had 30 years of catalogued restoration of his furniture. We had him make us models to the exact specs of the original Jean-Michel Frank pieces. We have 10 pieces in our line. The Upright Chair is an Iconic piece by Jean-Michel Frank - he invented the club chair. We also do a parsons table. He (Jean-Michel Frank) did the Parsons table when he was at Parson’s. It’s not very well documented, but that is what we have learnt.
Upright Chair
X-tra Bench
Parsons Table

The following are a few of the Interior Designers that use Edelman leathers in their work. Photos from the Edelman web-site.

Vincente Wolf Shrunken Buffalo

Orlando Diaz-Azcuy Royal Hide

Emma Jane Pilkington House and Garden Nov2005 Royal Hide

House Beautiful March 2003 Bunny Williams Royal Suede

Robert Passal House and Garden Oct 2005 Royal Hide

Steven Gambrell His own home Elle Decor March 2005 Cavellini European Hair on Cowhide

Diamond Baratta Elle Decor Custom Royal Hide

Vantullis Interiors Cavellini Exotic Cow Rug

Austin TX: Shopping

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This is the last set of Austin photos. I am including a few of the places I always enjoy visiting. I did not enough time to catch all the places I like , so I might have more Austin shopping at another time. The first store is Home Girls. I first discovered this store earlier this year and have become quite smitten with it. It is filled with many refurbished vintage finds. You can find funky furniture and very fun accessories. Several of their displays were done by Alyson Fox, (I'm sure many of you bloggers are familiar with her work). The clever displays give the store a bit of an art gallery feel.

Home Girls is owned by mother and daughter, Sarah and Kathryn Blanchard. I have conversed with both ladies on my visits, and they are both very warm and friendly. Ironically, I found out that they were included in Lucky magazine's list of " The Best Stores in Texas." Had I received my copy of Lucky, I would have known this. You can check out the list here. I guess its good to know that Lucky and I are in agreement.

If gardening is more your taste, their are a couple of nurseries that you must see. Gardens is the first. It is included in Lucky's list also,(P.S. the list also included Raye, here in Houston: that I mentioned in my Brasil post). Stepping into the Nursery is a real treat for the senses. All the colors, fragrances, and textures are very inspiring. I also love their charming store. It houses unique home accessories, bath and body products, and gardening supplies. Overall the plants and accessories they sell, go hand in hand with modern homes.

The final location is another nursery called Big Red Sun. It is located in east Austin, which has become a very funky and creative part of town. What I love about this nursery is that they don't just sell plants but they make plants into art. Their landscaping and floral arrangements will blow you away. Check out both of these nurseries websites by clicking on their names.

Austin TX: Architecture part 2

I finally got my pictures up! I'm so excited. Here are a couple more examples of modern houses in Austin. All three of these houses are in east Austin. Now, I have read several articles about affordable and modern housing in Austin (Dwell magazine for example), these don't exactly fall under the "$100,000 house" category, but they are stunning.

The house above is actually next door the house in my prior post. I am not certain if it also for sale, but here is a link to Urban Space Realtors. It is a very good looking two story contemporary.

This structure is very interesting. I call it a "structure" because I am not even certain it is a house. Looking at it from the street, it looked more like a greenhouse. What really caught my eye were the amazing color combinations. Overall, the structure was concrete, but it was highlighted with a bright marigold type color. I really love the combination of these two unlikely colors. The bottom left picture shows a very unusual structure. It may be a greenhouse or maybe a carport. Regardless, the sides were colorful, what appeared like ropes or wires. I realize my descriptions are somewhat lacking, but I was really inspired by the color and texture combinations. If anyone knows more about this building, send me some info.