Faux Candle Sleeves

D.D. thinks these are tacky, but I think that if they are used correctly they can be really fun. Take a look! 

Carnivorous Plants

Remember my earlier post about terrariums? I've recently become enamoured (I've always been fascinated, even as a child) by carnivorous plants. I would love to have a beautiful terrarium with these gorgeous creatures growing in it. I love them because they live in the shadowy land between the Animal and Plant Kingdoms, forming a bridge between the two. I figure, these plants are so beautiful they would make great arrangements. Im a huge fan of arrangements that are beautiful and still living and I think that carnivous plants fit that category beautifully - and talk about a conversation piece! I love cut flowers, but sometimes knowing that a thing of beauty is still alive and well is a great thing. To quote a dear friend when I was talking to him about my carnivorous plant obsession he said "And if your guests become a bore, you can feed them to the plants!" 

I have way too much fun with this!

America: The Gift Shop

Over at Cool Hunting, I found this great post about the artist Phillip Toledano's work called America: The Gift Shop which turns major politcal events from the United State's past eight years of Bush in office into fun kitschy, politcally heavy objects. Can you imagine having that coffee table? It would scare sooo many people. 

Your Opinion?

Which of the following tables do we like best?

Architecture Inspiration: The American Standard Building

The American Standard Building (formerly the American Radiator Building), is a gem in NYC architecture.  It was built in 1924 in the ne0-gothic style by Raymond Hood & André Fouilhoux. I love the choice of black brick and gold accents (a color combo that I am quite fond of). The black brickwork on the facade was chosen to lessen the visual contrast between the walls and the windows and thus give the tower an effect of solidity and massiveness. It rises up like a dark luxurious tower. The Gothic-style pinnacles and the terra-cotta friezes on the edges of the setbacks are coated with gold. The base is clad in bronze plating and black granite. There are carved

 allegories, symbolizing the transformation of matter into energy, quite appropriate for a heater company. The entrance lobby is decorated with black marble and mirrors a la Tony Montana's foyer in Scarface. Those of you who know me can see how this building fits my aesthetic so perfectly and inspires me to no end. 

Ideal Bedroom

Ideal Living Room Idea Board

Architecture Inspiration: Two Columbus Circle

Many New Yorkers probably hate this building, but it is one of my favorite buildings in New York and one of the most recognizable to anyone who has ever been to Columbus Circle.  The building was built in 1965 by Edward Durrell Stone & Associates and was the former Gallery of Modern Art to house Huntington Hartford’s art collection

"....The walls of the Venetian-inspired vertical palazzo were perforated with porthole-like openings at the corners, base and crown to suggest rustication inspired, according to Stone, by Saint-German-des-Prés, a Romanesque church in Paris. At the ground floor, the building was carried on columns to form an arcade. The top two floors, where the restaurant was located behind a loggia, opened to a view of Central Park. Ada Louise Huxtable likened the overall effect to a 'die-cut Venetian palazzo on lollypops,' while Olga Gueft said that the building's 'red-granite-trimmed, green-marble-lined colonnades, these rows of portholes like borders of eyelet hand-embroidered on a marble christening robe are too winsome for heavyweight criticism.'...The arrangement of a stair gallery wrapped around a core was similar to that of Howe & Lescaze's Scheme Six, proprosed for the Museum of Modern Art in 1931. Filtered natural light was introduced through the glazed perforations at the corners, a technique that worked well with Abe Feder's artificial lighting, while also producing tantalizing glimpses of Central Park without distracting the viewer from the art. The lobby floor was paved in terrazzo, into which were set the discs that had been cut out of the marble when the exterior arches were formed in contrast to the white-painted anonymity of the Museum of Modern Art's galleries. Hartfords' were paneled with walnut and other hardwoods and thickly carpeted or elaborately finished in parquet de Versailles and marble. A pipe organ was included in one of the double-height galleries. Though Hartford's collection did not include any paintings by Gauguin, the ninth-floor Polynesian restaurant, the Gauguin Room, included a tapestry based on one of the French master's paintings."

The building just speaks to me. It reminds me of something that belong son the set of the movie Titus. It is a structure that would have been erected in Fascist Italy when the ideals of ancient aesthetics of Rome were being melding together with Marxist idealogy. It looks like a monument, maybe even the base for an immense statue. In short, it is a grand statement of a building meant to convey the power of history and the art which it contained. 

Re-potting

Last year, I decided to try my hand at indoor gardening. Plants make such a nice addition to any room and it's always nice to be surrounded by living things. The little plant you see in the picture below (not in the pink pot, the other one) was given to me by a dear friend who we will call the Incredible Mrs. K as a housewarming gift. The little plant (who I named Saffron, for her pretty yellow flowers) grew so quickly! I went to my local gardening store in Brooklyn called GRDN to buy a bigger planter, a shovel and some soil. They have an amazing collection of planters and wonderful gardening things that cost much more than what I allow myself to spend.  

But I eventually decided on this beautiful Italian terracotta planter. The white stuff over it is a dormant moss that grows from the water that is absorbed by the terracotta. I loved the natural feel of it. 

With Help from J, my beau, I re-potted Saffron on my roof terrace and brought her back downstairs to sit on her windowsill. She looked swell in her new home and hopefully she will now have lots of more room to grow. She went through a couple days of shock, the three yellow flowers she had fell off, but she now seems to be doing better and becoming acclimated to her new Italian pot. 

In other plant news, the W siblings gave my these darling little herb planters for my birthday. The middle one was brown, but I painted it key lime green for some punch. The herbs (what they are I have forgotten) are growing nicely. 

The Jade plant (in the pink pot in the first picture) is next to be replanted. I also bought a Eucalyptus tree that needs a bigger planter most desperately, but nice planters are so pricey and I think my plants deserve the best. I guess I'll just have to wait a bit longer.