More from Highpoint: Hooker furniture

Another showroom I visited at Highpoint Market was Hooker furniture.

Much like Century furniture, Hooker carries a variety of lines with something for everyone. Above is Harbour Pointe which reminded me of a charming Maine cottage.They offer more contemporary lines as well. I loved the cerused oak finishes and the streamlined form of this armchair.

Small details always make such a huge difference to turn a piece of furniture into something special. The turned edge on the painted wood headboard above starts to create a cozy space.I love a good nightstand (maybe because I don't really have one in my tiny apartment) and this one had a large top but also a great shelf for books. Notice the great hardware too.The side of this accent table was adorned with an oversized postage stamp and postmarks - a painterly touch great for an informal den; especially for someone who likes to travel.

The drawers of this distressed dresser come pre-lined in a pretty paper -that reminds me to freshen up my own drawer liners!

This charming accent table, in a rather old fashioned gothic revival style, is enlivened by a coat of fresh green paint as if you had just picked it up from your local flea market but without all of the work! So many good ideas for my own apartment here.

Century Furniture

I realized I have been back from High Point Market for months now and have never shared my favorite pieces from some of the manufactorers we saw! I'll start off with Century, probably my favorite. What I love about Century, other than their great quality, is that they span Classic to modern and everything in between as evidenced by these pictures. Growing up, my grandparents had a lot of furniture from Century (albeit their more modern collections) and so it's a brand I return to over and over again.

I'll start with Century's newest collection: Archive Home. This line is based a lot on the current trends for light, bleached and natural woods: think Belgian style and reclaimed woods.

I loved that they included a lot of the designer's sketches -such as the one of the table base seen above.This little quatrefoil side table is just the perfect spot for a drink beside a chair.

The arms of this linen sofa looked very Axel Vervoordt inspired to me; so elegant.

Many of the finishes were rustic, but you needn't worry about splinters; they know what they're doing.

Another favorite line of mine was the Oscar de la Renta Collection. I especially loved this parchment game table; perfect for the corner of any stylish living room.

This tortoise and parchment side table reminded me a lot of something my grandparents would have had (in a good way!).

This x bookcase from the Oscar de la Renta collection would be perfect for any room of the house. I could especially see it in a bedroom or den.

As I mentioned in my previous post, my favorite collection was the grand tour. The quality was outstanding and some of the pieces could fit into not only very traditional settings, but also more contemporary. The top of this handsome accent table is almost too pretty to cover up with anything!

The unusual treatment of the Grand Tour bombe chest makes it perfect for an entry hall or more modern hotel lobby.

The lines of this side chair in mahogany and walnut remind me of a klismos -can I have 12 of these for my dream dining room please?

While we're at it, I'll take one of these Mica Mirror cabinets for my bareware!Last but not least, the finish on this red faux tortoise chairside table was just incredible; again I wouldn't want to cover it with anything! I hope you enjoyed the tour as much as I did!

Lord Palumbo's cars

Recently while in Western Pennsylvania, I visited Kentuck Knob and was surprised to see another of Lord Palumbo's collections; antique cars! Some could barely be called cars as they were merely the first motorized vehicles that looked a lot like bicycles to me. This has happened numerous times, oddly enough: I visit a house museum only to have a collection of antique cars gathered for the day or a collectors convention, such as the time I visited Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, seen HERE.

Kentuck knob is a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1956 for the Hagan's.They were friends with the Kaufman family and for years had been visiting them at their summer home down the street, Fallingwater and had admired it. They asked Frank Lloyd Wright, by then world famous, to design their new house and though he took on the commission, he was far too busy to visit the site after the first visit where he chose the future location of the building.If you have never visited, please do yourself a favor and visit both houses -they are pleasures!Not all of the cars gathered were antiques. A porsche enthusiast club was also holding their event that day and to see 100s of well-designed porsche's outside of world class architecture was truly a day in the making!

Mondrian Hotel, LA

While in LA last month, we stayed at the Mondrian Hotel on the Sunset Boulevard strip in West Hollywood.

While alarmingly trendy and popular a few years ago, the hotel has calmed down (a bit) and was a comfortable and pleasant place to stay.

The lobby featured this fun lounge area and bar off to the side of the entrance. The hotel was originally designed by Ian Shrager in 1996 and was more recently freshened up by Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz. I loved some of the details such as the ball and claw foot stools and the Venetian white glass sconces.

Our room faced the strip with lovely views of the Hollywood Hills (and the restaurant Katana above). Per that time of year, fog romantically shrouded the hills each morning.

Looking down the strip you could see the Sunset Tower Hotel (on the right) where we spent the majority of our time in the lovely restaurant and bar. Just across the street from there is the Chateau Marmont.

The room was enormous, by any standards, and featured this sitting area above seperated from the bed by a bizarre 'stripper pole' with framed tv set behind mirrored glass.

While a cool feature, it was a bit uncomfortable to watch yourself lounge in bed or on the couch staring at yourself. I wish there was a way to turn the mirror off when the tv turned on! Above you can see the reflection of the bed in the tv mirror.

The bed area was draped on one side against the windows while the other side was draped to hide the enormous CLEAR glass shower which could easily hold 4 people at once (or more). Can we say peek-a-boo? Fun feature but hard to maintain privacy in a shared room.

A desk area greeted you as you entered the room via a long hallway with a 12' long kitchenette behind (bigger than my kitchen at home!).

The bathroom had amazing lighting (with a lot of control) including a lamp on the double vanity; a feature I love! The hotel offers Malin & Goetz products which I came to love -especially the rum body wash. While I'm not sure I would stay here again as it's just not my style, it was really a fun hotel and a great location. Be sure to check out out if you make it to Hollywood!

West Elm Pop up store opens

I had the opportunity yesterday to visit the new DC West Elm Pop-up store here in Georgetown prior to todays grand opening. Despite a massive thunderstorm, the store was a flurry of activity.

I admittedly went mostly out of a morbid curiosity as I had never been entirely impressed with their offerings. I considered them a smaller Ikea type vendor of low quality and boring design household items. I'm pleased to say they have proven me wrong!The store is small at only 3,300 SF, but they pack a lot of punch into their small space.The focus was on things one can carry out of the store and it is decorated beautifully. Even most of the furniture items can be delivered day of.Texture and color seemed to be the order of the day, two characteristics which keep the modern wares from feeling cold.In fact, I have to say the store actually reminded me of an anthropology: decidedly up-market bohemian.Featured were a few items from their new line of leather furniture out this fall and I particularly liked the lines of this chair (the 'Clean Sweep'). The quality of the leather was remarkably good, especially for the price.As a few universities are located nearby, bedding and bath items are part of the store's focus. While I can't talk much on the quality of the items as I haven't used them, the style quotient was definitely met.As the store is tight, inventive displays were used throughout, such as these baskets hung on the wall.As I said, they were busy preparing the store as you can tell by the employee hard at work below. My favorite item was probably this wingback chair named the 'Ellory'.I urge you to check out their new offerings as they have definitely improved upon the brand and if you are in DC, check out the new pop-up store in Georgetown at 3333 M Street NW.