H&H is changing (and getting smaller this week).
Under the new guidance of Tom DeKay, we're seeing a new mix of stories that intersect more with pop culture, downplay the news of the decor world and detail trends like the culture of house swapping. We're interested to see where this is all going...
On the left is a pic of Harry Allen in his new showroom at 207 Avenue A (13th Street),(212) 529-7239.
Top Stories
- Following the Stars to a New Color Scheme: We've worked on this living room (and failed miserably) too! Friends Andy and Alex Postman turn to a new reality TV show to figure out their Brooklyn living room. Andy (the writer of one of our favorite books) is not sure he's happy about it.
- Thoroughly Modern but Downright Neighborly: A house tour of a beautiful modern house in LA by David Thompson.
- At Home in the World: "House swapping is not just a bargain, it's a way of life. In the swapper subculture, says a member, "everyone's kind of chill.""
- Personal Shopper: MR gives us a good roundup of summery, outdoor items that are pleasing as well as practical.
It's funny, I had just sent off an email to someone in Ireland looking for a home exchange (via Homelink) and then ran across the NY Times article about it.
If I'm up past midnight on a Wednesday, I sometimes cheeck if a new H& H is posted (usually is!).
How funny. I used to work with Andy Postman, but haven't seen him in a couple years. Love him and enjoyed his article.
enjoyed the postman article. it illustrated exactly why those HGTV shows bug me.
also, was it really necessary to paint a set of lovely antique chairs white? why do they do this? i guess there is that cheapo DIY design concept that painting furniture all one color which also goes with the walls will 'unify' the space. but that's more in the case of street-scavenged bookshelves that clash with everything else and unfinished Ikea dining chairs. not RUINING beautiful antiques. also, knowing quite a bit about astrology (and especially color correspondances), i have no idea what that room has to do with their 'signs'. ultimately i think the issue was that somebody needed to make a decision, and i guess the reality show did that.
Family friends used to do this ages ago - in the seventies - they were from Germany - it might have been through their company - don't know I was too young to ask about such things. They would speak German in the house so the kids didn't lose it and then when they were at home in Germany they would go for a month here and there only speaking English at home so the kids didn't forget anything - very cool
Love Tom DeKay by the way.
Andy Postman's article had me in stitches. The show's title and concept almost seem like a parody of TV design shows. And since I'm not a fan of these shows, his wry style had me smiling an evil little grin throughout.
David Thompson's house in Larchmont is fantastic. The slideshow left me drooling.
Re: the "Jade" concept. As much as I want to knock all the starpower/brand-name marketing involved (more name-checking than a Kanye track), I have to admit that the lacquered "pods" in the apartments are an incredibly cool idea.
I've always thought that good decorating choices are governed by massive flaming balls of gas and rocks hurtling through a vacuum. I'm glad that the rest of the world is finally catching up on this.
Love, love, love the modern house in L.A. Want one!
max, i guess this depends on whether you 'believe in' astrology or not, but if you look into it, it can actually make sense. for instance, if i can air out my hippy dippy side for a moment: my bedroom in my last place was very tiny, and i painted it a very intense warm buttery yellow. almost everything else in the room was 'warm' in both the color theory sense and Maxwell's sense. it was like a little womb. a friend of mine who knows astrology took one step into that room the first time she came over and said, "omigod. you are such a fire sign." which i am.
so in my opinion, there is a little bit to this, especially in a color sense or in the cool vs. warm spaces sense. it's nothing like what they were telling him in that article, though. i think it has more to do with what makes us comfortable, what kinds of things we gravitate to. and in a show where there's a designer coming up with something without any input based on 'you have mercury in the 10th house', you're not going to be able to tap into that. i bet the rest of the house, the parts they designed or chose themselves, has a lot more to do with astrology than this redheaded stepchild of an un-used room.
A couple of months ago, I walked into the Postman's house and fell in love with the color of their living room walls. I am a huge purple person (a Cancer -- does that make astrological sense?) and had been looking everywhere for the perfect purple to use for an accent wall in my living room. This was it - not too dark or light, mature instead of little girly, not too country.
Alex seemed quite suprised by my excitement for the color, but she was more than happy to give me the leftover paint. I'll be painting in the next few days, and I am quite excited to have celebrity paint on my wall! I'm also going to use the same color that she has in the adjacent dining room, which is a wonderful deep blue from Ralph Lauren.
well, they say cancers are homebodies and nesters. it's also a water sign, and ruled by the moon. i guess if i had to give a cancer a 'home type' it would be cool, yet homey. maybe this color could go with that? but i don't think it's a simple as "cancers like lavender!" there are obscure old correspondances between each sign and a specific color, but they're incredibly esoteric and have little or nothing to do with color theory or current ideas about design. so they don't lend themselves to 'you're a libra, paint this room pink!' analysis. i think it's much more valuable to consider your chart in what kind of person you are and what you're looking for in a space rather than that blanket 'mercury in the 10th house! orange couch!' crap this HGTV show seems to be doling out.
cancer's 'color' correspondence is white or silver, by the way.