Powder Room Sink

I forget where I got this image - probably Desire to Inspire -but I'm loving this look - so clever! This would be cute in a mudroom off a garden, a guest cottage/pool house or perhaps a powder room. Just drill a hole through the bottom of the urn and voila - instant sink!

bathroom

What do we think of this bathroom in Jeff Andrew's house? It's a bit unusual for someone to have a urinal in their master bath, right? But I guess if only a man is using it, it could save a lot of money in water and cleaning, etc. -I love the practicality of it! However, the placement of the sink between the urinal and the toilet is a bit...unfortunate! I love the white fixtures and chocolate brown tiles -yummy! What do you all think? Comments?

the VIEW!!!!

If you have a spare $8.25 million laying around -how about buying the most fantastic condo in NYC (and letting me visit)? Currently owned by Mariska Hargitay (from law and order AND daughter of our BIG ummmm....... movie-star friend Jayne Mansfield) and her awfully named husband Peter Hermann this unit is a 2-story penthouse in the O'neill building on 6th avenue.

LOOK AT THE VIEW.........omg - that terrace!!!

Oh -and did I mention the living room is 53' x 19' ? Thats bigger than the footprint of a lot of townhouses.......
The kitchen makes me very very happy indeed -all that beautiful dark wood and that chandelier! The chandelier takes it from boring and minimalist to a jewel box of a kitchen. I also like that the kitchen is seperated from the living room -it would be too cavernous of a space otherwise. I enjoy a seperate kitchen space.......

Chateau des Thons

Recently I came across a house that looked VERY familiar to me -it was used in an insurance ad back in 1990 and I had torn it out of a magazine and it was one of very first images in my files (yes, I was 10 years old and had a clipping file). That house is Chateau des Thons.the image that started it all from an insurance ad

While the chateau is on Long Island (and recently was for sale for between $ 5-7.5 million depending where you look) it started out life across the Atlantic as a wing of a chateau. In 1928 Ashbel H. Barney had it shipped lock stop and barrel to the Gold Coast. Rumored (but proven to not be the case as it was at another chateau) to be the lovenest of Voltaire and one of his lovers, Madame de Chatelet, it is sometimes named after the author. Fokelore is stronger than fact in most cases......

18 years later and this is still my dreamhouse. Unfortunately I was unable to find any interior photos other than one but I can always imagine what the interior is like :-) I love the creeping green, lush gardens and the limestone pavers throughout. The moss covered stone is original (even the MOSS was shipped across the pond) -they did things right during the jazz age!

Read more about the property online at Sothebys or it's own website.

wallpaper

I normally hate wallpaper and don't hold it against me -but I LOVE this Raphael 4 patten from Sandberg. I love the blues, grays and browns. Use it to give a windowless room a 'view', great for a walk-in closet, attic room or bathroom. A little old-fashioned, a little retro, a little modern - GREAT!

Boston Public Library

This past weekend I was in Boston and stopped by the Boston Public Library, one of my favorite buildings in the city. Designed by McKim, Meade and White and finished in 1895, the building faces Copley Square, the heart of the city, showing the importance of libraries. The facade was modeled after that of the Palazzo della Cancelleria.
the interior courtyard
Inside are a few really beautiful spaces, the old newspaper room on the first floor inside the entrance is now an exhibition space seen here: currently showing a collection of Massachusetts maps.
why aren't plaques this beautiful and artful anymore?the cafe off the exhibition space
The Bates reading room is really the heart of the building and lies at the top of the grand staircase. Before 1933 the entire room was swathed in green velvet to muffle sound and light.the church-like reading roomupper hall at the top of the staircase

beautiful paneled room ( with no apparent use ) off the upper staircase