I know I’m not alone when I confess a deep love for the sophistication of nailhead furniture and home accessories.
It’s one of the few touches that bring charm to just about any style of room, from Old World and traditional to the sleekest, most contemporary spaces.
You can accent a chair, trim a pillow, or add some punch to a mirror: this chic look hits the nail on the head every time.
Click here for a gallery of just a few of our favorites.
Typically, this space is home to some of our favorite finds from around the web (and sometimes just around the corner). Today, it is dedicated to these and much more. For one day, some of our favorite design sites like AphroChic, Design For Mankind, Styleture, and Urban Casita, are committing a blog post to a Bloggers Day of Action for Haiti. As AphroChic founder Jeanine Hayes writes in her post this morning, “Today we use our blogs not just to discuss design and fashion, but to identify ways to help with the relief effort in a country that has been devastated by disaster.”
I urge you to take a look at each of these beautiful sites (and to keep going back—I promise you will be inspired to do so!)
If you are yourself a blogger and would like to participate, please email Jeanine at jeanine@aphrochicshop.com. If you are not a blogger but would still like to become involved, she is hosting a charity auction to help raise funds for relief efforts in Haiti. Items from some of her favorite designers (and ours!) will be up for grabs!
A final note: if an auction isn’t your style, donations of any denomination can be made to The Red Cross, UNICEF, and Yele Haiti. Just click on the corresponding links.
…for the bluehouse Semi-Annual Herman Miller® sale!
From now until December 13th, get 15% off ALL new Herman Miller furniture, from the mid-century modern classics to the modern looks. Plus, bluehouse is offering 25% off all Herman Miller floor models. Also take advantage of free shipping on all of these items.
Get one for yourself or shop for a holiday gift for a friend one of two ways: stop into the store, located at the Shops at Kenilworth in Towson, or head to bluehouseLIFE.com for some online shopping!
Note: Task chairs not included in floor model sale. Floor models will be sold in person only. Free delivery on new Herman Miller pieces in the continental U.S. only. Free delivery for floor models is limited to the Baltimore metropolitan area, and available delivery days may be limited.
Call 410-337-8700 or go to bluehouseLIFE.com for more information.
“Tubes,” a new collection from artists Eva Milinkovic and Kriston Gene of Tsunami Glassworks Inc., are dramatic additions to multiple settings: the home, the office, the garden…
These pieces not only work everywhere, but their striking forms and vivid colors demand attention in any environment. Shown in a monochromatic grouping here, each item in the “Tubes” series can be purchased individually, allowing homeowners to mix-and-match, or display each piece independently.
Each tube—available in a kaleidoscope of colors—is handmade and one-of-a-kind. Pieces in this collection range from 20 to 56 inches tall. Prices vary from $250 to about $2900, depending on size.
Tsunami Glassworks products are available through Louis Mazor in Baltimore (mazordesign.com or 410-532-1000) and Panache in Rehoboth Beach (302-227-9229).
For this month’s Fresh Impressions, one of the themes we focused on was great host and hostess gifts. We looked around Baltimore and DC for places where you could stop in and pick up a small token of your appreciation to give to a friend having you over for dinner or a party.
One of the selections—although a seemingly quirky choice amid other items on the page—proved especially thoughtful to readers who are pet lovers: homemade organic dog treats made by the Bubba Rose Biscuit Company.
Bubba Rose owners Jessica and Eric Talley began the business three years ago for their love of dogs—particularly their three: Bob, Rose, and Weeble—and a desire to offer other dog lovers healthy, organic treats free of wheat, corn, and soy.
“All our treats are handmade in small batches in our bakery in New Jersey using locally sourced humangrade ingredients from the U.S. All of our meats & eggs are free-range, grain and/or grass fed, hormone, antibiotic and nitrite free. Our products are free of chemicals, sugar, salt, artificial flavors, colors and fillers.”
Jessica and Eric support shelters as well as rescue and adoption agencies through raising money and awareness, and of course—donating treats!
Bubba Rose products are carried in over 175 locations nationwide. We found them at Dogma, a pet boutique in Canton.
Our October/November issue will contain a Fresh Impressions page full of host and hostess gift ideas that you can find in and around Maryland before stopping by a friend’s for dinner…or before the next big soiree you attend.
One item on our list was The Art of the Bar, by Jeff Hollinger & Rob Schwartz. (Chronicle Books, 2006). Full of recipes for the unique cocktails these two mixologists concoct at San Francisco’s Absinthe Brasserie & Bar, it’s the perfect gift for hosts who love to serve fresh twists on some old favorites to their guests.
Some are more labor intensive than others, so perhaps you’ll want to save those drinks for special occasions, but every recipe is the delectable result of years of what the book calls “liquid exploration.” In other words, they’re sure to please.
As summer has come to a close, we in the Mid-Atlantic only have a short time to enjoy fresh local figs before they go out of season, so I’ve chosen Hollinger and Schwartz’s recipe for “Fig Thyme” to share here.
Fig Thyme
1 fig, quartered, plus 1 extra quarter for garnish
½ ounce Thyme Syrup (recipe below)
½ ounce fresh lime juice
1 ½ ounces pisco
¼ ounce Cointreau
Sprig of thyme for garnish
Makes 1 drink
In a mixing glass, muddle the quartered fig with the thyme syrup. Top with ice and add the lime juice, pisco, and Cointreau. Shake until cold, and then strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the remaining quarter of fig and a sprig of thyme.
To make the thyme syrup in this recipe, combine 5 to 6 sprigs of thyme (or more if you want a stronger flavor) with 1 cup sugar and 1 ½ cups water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool, strain through a sieve, transfer to a bottle, and refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Another summery drink recipe found in the book is for Key Lime Pie. As my favorite summer dessert, I though I’d share that one, too. Enjoy!
Key Lime Pie
2 Key limes, halved
½ ounce Simple Syrup
1 ½ ounces Charbay Key Lime vodka
¼ ounce Sylk Cream Liqueur
Liquor 43, or another vanilla-flavored liquor
Crumbled almond biscotti for garnish
Makes 1 Drink
In a mixing glass, muddle the Key limes with the simple syrup to release their juice. Fill with ice and add the vodka and cream liqueur. Shake until cold. Rinse a chilled cocktail glass with the Liquor 43 and strain the cocktail into the glass. Sprinkle the biscotti over the top of the drink.
The Art of the Bar is available at Red Tree in Hampden, at 921 W. 36th Street: redtreebaltimore.com or 410-366-3456
I am a little bit of a germaphobe and dirty phone mouth and ear pieces, grimy computer key boards, and sticky TV remote controls have always grossed me out. The problem is that using a traditional liquid cleanser or disinfectant risks ruining the phone, computer, remote, whatever . . . electronic equipment and liquid don’t mix.
When I first learned about this new cleaning/disinfecting membrane called Cyber Clean, I knew I had to try it. Cyber Clean is an anti-bacterial, gel-like membrane that absorbs dirt particles in hard to reach places like between the keys of a computer keyboard. I have always used canned air for such purposes, but then you get all of these little crumbs and peices of dirt flying all over your desk . . . also gross. Cyber Clean is like the consistency of the “slime” you might remember that became commercially available after the movie “Ghostbusters” was popular. If you don’t remember, imagine a moist, malleable membrane–it’s a little like clay or Play-Doh, but not, because it doesn’t break apart. Anyway, what I like about Cyber Clean is that you can mold it into such tight spaces as telephone mouth peices and car air conditioning vents–once you’ve got the membrane worked into all the small crevices, you just pull the Cyber Clean away, and voila, the dirt comes with it.
The product has a neutral pH balance of 7, is safe and non- toxic, has preservatives built inside that disinfect while it cleans, can be used up to 75 times, and it’s biodegradable. To learn more, or to find out where to purchase visit cyberclean.ch.
I must admit, I’m a sucker for a fierce zebra print. And a little bit goes a long way, whether outfitting oneself or one’s home.
Designer Trina Turk is best known for her vivid and modern clothing and swimsuit collections. This year, Turk collaborated with Schumacher to launch a line of indoor/outdoor fabrics inspired by the “architecture, landscape, and lifestyle” of Southern California hot spots like Los Angeles and Palm Springs.
Turk’s foray into home furnishings/upholstery is reminiscent of her apparel: a perfect combination of funky (but chic) casual with a sophisticated twist.
One of my favorite fabrics in the collection is her Zebra Print. Shown here in “bamboo,” it also comes in “orange,” “dune,” “java,” and “black.” The applications are boundless, but you can’t go wrong with a bright little poolside pattern like this.
This month, we’ve devoted a Fresh Impressions page to “Wild Things,” a collection of multi-hued and safari-inspired home décor items, from rugs to seating to mirrors. Check out our August/September issue—on newsstands now—to find our picks.
To see more of Schumacher’s Trina Turk Indoor/Outdoor Collection, go here.
‘Tis the season for sitting outside in the evening with friends and family to enjoy the cooling temperatures that come with the setting sun. Unfortunately mid-summer also brings with it a host of pesky bugs, moths, mosquitoes, etc. These insects are particularly problematic around outdoor lighting, which means we have had to choose the lesser of two evils: sit outside in the dark, or sit outside with swarms of insects buzzing around any lightsource. Until now. I just got a note from someone at GE who wanted me to know about a new bulb with a special coating that makes the light invisible to bugs. I have not had a chance to try this bulb out yet, but it sounds great. Keep the lights on and the bugs away!
Without getting too technical, here’s how it works. While there is some overlap, insects see a different spectrum of light than humans. Insects are attracted to light in the UV part of the spectrum. Conventional incandescent lights have transmission in the UV range, and bugs can see it. The yellow pigment used to coat the GE Bug Lite filters out any light below 490 nanometers, making the light it transmits non-existent to insects. Pretty cool. To find out more visit ge.com
Harrey Allen Piggy Bank
In an article I was recently editing I came across the name of a designer I did not know–Harry Allen. As a finishing touch to a kitchen she was working on, interior designer Michelle Miller of Jenkins Baer Associates, selected a Harry Allen “Bank in the Form of a Pig” bank to be a sort of tongue-in-cheek comment on our relationship to the food we eat. “It’s funny,” she says, “because you eat and prepare pork right next to it in the kitchen, so it’s a piece of art that makes people think.”
I also liked the piece and wanted to know more about Harry Allen. A quick web search led me to AREAWARE–a sort of clearinghouse for a number of unique product designers. The “about” page on AREAWARE.com does a good job with its description: “Areaware is a New York City based company renowned for unique design products with an emphasis on forward thinking technologies and original expression. Our products are decorative but go beyond ornament. Each has an underlying meaning which we believe can deepen the relationship people have with the everyday objects in their lives.”
Thorsten Van Elten War Bowl
In addition to Harry Allen, some of the designers I particularly liked are Ross Menuez, Domestic, Thorsten van Elten, and Choe & Tomlinson. Everything on the site is available for purchase, but even better, there are a handful of local retailers that carry products by AREAWARE designers. To see some of these products in person visit Apartment Zero or the National Building Museum in DC; The Mod Cottage in Rehoboth, Delaware; Shine Collective or Home on the Harbor in Baltimore; or Still Life in Ellicott City, Maryland, just to name a few locations.
