Oscar Elegance at Lee Jofa

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I had a very busy day yesterday which also included a meeting at the D&D Building.  While I was there, I decided to see if the Oscar de la Renta room was finished at the Lee Jofa showroom.  Every season Lee Jofa installs a fabulous room devoted to one of their fabric designers.  I wasn't sure anything could top the lovely room by interior designer Eric Cohler but the new Oscar de la Renta room with its gorgeous green walls and luxurious bed definitely takes the cake.  It reminds me a lot of the de la Renta's bedroom in their house in Connecticut that I posted a few months ago.  Needless to say, I am as in love with the new Oscar fabrics as I am with the artwork in the room.  I'm sure Oscar de la Renta Home creative director, Miles Redd,  had a hand in this masterpiece and I thank him since it makes a dreaded trip to the D&D Building a whole lot more enjoyable!

 

Photos by Heather Clawson for Habitually Chic

Thom Filicia Fabrics

> I told you that there are a lot of exciting things going on this summer and this time it's Thom Filicia's new fabric line for Kravet. I had the pleasure of attending the press preview last month and Thom was kind enough to pose with his fabulous new fabrics! He's so funny! The first thing I asked was whether this was an unusually large collection and it actually is at 180 fabrics! Clearly Thom and the team were very busy and the result is an amazing collection. You can choose an already coordinated color scheme or mix and match to your heart's content. There are great linen workhorse fabrics and wonderful prints that I know are going to be a big hit with designers. The best news is that they have just arrived in the Kravet showroom in New York! Now go forth and decorate!

Photos by Heather Clawson for Habitually Chic

A Single Headboard

> I've been too busy decorating for others lately to spend any time on my own apartment but when a certain magazine asked to see photos of it, I thought that maybe I should finish all those nagging projects. One of which is a headboard. If you live in an apartment in New York, then you know the problem with the ever present bump out. It's an annoying little thing that allows the pipes to run up and down the corner of a building but always causes a decorating disaster. In my case, there is one at the foot of my bed that doesn't allow 4 inches for a normal headboard to sit behind the mattress. This means that I need to have one custom made that will attach to the wall and sit above the top of the mattress. See why I haven't dealt with this before. You're probably wondering why I've first posted a photo of a dining room if I am talking about headboards right? Well, I've been in love with the fabric on those chairs since they were first published in Domino in September 2008.

Then I saw it used for the headboard in A Single Man and thought that's the fabric I should use for my own headboard! The sample I have is Tilbury Lapis by Laura Ashley through Kravet. I usually remove the tag from any of the Laura Ashley fabrics before I show them to my clients since they usually associate them with unflattering floral dresses but the ikat of this fabric is perfect. The walls in my bedroom are robins egg blue and even though I plan to replace all my bedding, it should all coordinate nicely. I may have to find myself a blue phone to finish it off though!

Here's another photo of the chairs from the premier issue of Lonny magazine. I'm not really a prints person. I usually stick to textures and skins like shagreen but I think a headboard should make a statement and it's nice to have at least one patterned fabric in a room that pulls everything together.

Above is photo of Tilbury Lapis from Laura Ashley through Kravet and below is a photo of Tilbury Lapis from Calico Corners. Are they in cahoots or has Calico Corners copied their fabric from Laura Ashley? They look almost identical. I've ordered a sample of the Calico Corners since at $24.99 a yard, it's practically free! That's a joke but everyone likes a bargain, myself included. If this all works out, that would make one project down and fifty more to go so I'm off to get to work! Ciao!

Photos by Anie Schlecter for Domino and Patrick Cline for Lonny

Chairs Before and After

>I had a lot of readers ask me where to find the chairs in my last post. They were actually already owned by my client and are from Lee Industries. The chairs are a nice small size for New York apartments. You can see from the before photo below what a difference new upholstery and fabric can make on an old chair! The new fabric is a small neutral herringbone from Travers called Warwick which is available from Zimmer + Rohde. I also had my upholsterer remove the nail head trim so they would look clean and simple. So they next time you think about getting rid of an old chair, just remember that it can be given new life with new fabric!

Chair Before

Lee Industries Chair 1935-01

Fashionable Fabrics: Oscar de la Renta for Lee Jofa

> If you are a regular reader, then you know how much I love it when fashion and design collide and I can't think of a more perfect marriage than Oscar de la Renta and Lee Jofa. I had the pleasure of attending the Elle Decor sponsored launch party last evening at the Oscar de la Renta boutique and am already trying to figure out where I can use these fabulous fabrics. Lee Jofa Creative Director Stephen Elrod told us a wonderful story about how they went into Mrs. de la Renta's closet to find inspiration since there are no official Oscar archives. Her closet is the archive! Some fabrics were made by the same mill that made the fabrics for the clothing but in cotton instead of silk. Others had to be slightly reinterpreted to work for the home but just as with Oscar's fashions, some are even hand sewn! Amazing! Of course, everyone is already clamoring for the ball skirts made from the fabrics! They might end up auctioning them off for charity so start saving your pennies now ladies. Or you can always head over to Lee Jofa and make your own!

Photos from Lee Jofa