Pop Quiz – Nate Berkus

July 7, 2010Uncategorizedpop quizMrs. Blandings

Yes, indeed, Nate Berkus. “Judi” was the first to guess at 10:58 last night.

Did you know I really post the night before? I do.

Lots of design savvy folks followed. The previous post was Berkus’s Chicago apartment featured in Veranda, May/June 2003, photographed by Casey Sills.

You can see a newer Nate project in this month’s Elle Decor. Which is where I nabbed these images by Roger Davies.

Pop Quiz 11

July 7, 2010Uncategorizedpop quizMrs. Blandings

There are, I imagine, a few folks, hopefully ambulatory, who have been around since the Blandings blog beginning. Way back in August 2007.

If you have, or you’ve stumbled in somewhere in the middle, you know all about the pop quizzes.

But, for the new kids, every now and again I post a vintage layout by a designer working today. Then you can test the depth of your knowledge as design crazy and see if you can name him or her.

Usually hims, frankly. And, now that I’ve typed it out loud I realize that with designers I am usually hetrostylistic. Though certainly not homostylephobic. Huh. Another topic for another day.

So, make your best guess and I’ll be back sometime this afternoon, hands slightly tacky from sunscreen, for the reveal of both designer and good guesser/sage design crazy.

And, as an aside, isn’t all this honey colored wood sort of yummy and refreshing?

To get the idea you can see past pop quizzes here.

Red, White and Yellow

July 5, 2010UncategorizedDesignersMrs. Blandings

In the spirit of the holiday make sure to read about the process for updating the paint color in Thomas Jefferson’s dining room at Monticello in this month’s Elle Decor. The change from Wedgwood-blue to chrome-yellow is startling. Equally enlightening is the magazine’s revamped site which has loads of original content. Accompanying this piece is Mitch Owen’s round up of striking paint colors in historic homes across the country. Doubly helpful are the suggestions of modern day colors straight from the can that are a close match.

Image via elledecor.com by Pieter Estersohn.

Happy 4th!

July 2, 2010UncategorizedProductMrs. Blandings

Flag posters available through Hammerpress which is open tonight for First Fridays; the more traditional red, white and blue available as well.

Bracelets I Cannot Afford

July 2, 2010UncategorizedBraceletsMrs. Blandings

Mrs. Blandings, age 4

We were at the pool this week and there was a little girl who looked a lot like this. Her haircut was nearly identical. There was a large buffet line and her mother let her fix her plate herself. When she came back to the table her entire plate was filled. I elbowed Mr. Blandings. One half contained a single layer of black olives; the other half had three large wedges of watermelon. Sometimes, we just want what we want.

So, I’ll share the latest installment in Bracelets I Cannot Afford. For a good little while I’ve wanted a skinny bangle with a heavy charm to wear on my left hand with my gold link bracelet and my watch. At first I wanted the charm to be a pea pod and then I had a hankering for having one made with the monogram I showed last week. But I’ve grown attached to my newest nickname. I’ve been going through a pile of Southern Accents and was reminded of this Slane & Slane charm. It may be discontinued, but a few retail locations still have it. I was hunting for all yellow gold, but the onyx popped up and it is pretty appealing, too.

That’s the meaty, heavy side. The sugary watery goodness is this silk Piping Shirt from Olatz. I fear I would want to wear it every day.

Charm photo from here; Olatz shirt scanned from Vogue from a while back.