Jessie was the one who told me that before I left Montauk I absolutely needed to go to Richard’s surf shack. A surf shack is a little like a summer cabin, a vacation home of sorts.

Vacation homes are my favorite kind of homes.

But this one in particular is something special. Richard Christiansen is the founder of Chandelier Creative and he wanted to put together a little escape for his colleagues, clients and friends.

READ MORE

Now that I’ve FINALLY taken an interest in figuring out how to decorate my apartment, I’m taking an extra hard look to see how my friends decorate theirs.

Here’s a little tour of my friend Andi Potamkin’s place. She’s an actress, has a really cool apartment and we had the nicest afternoon together. Remind me to tell you about her man, who’s a hairstylist and totally fantastic. So many superlatives and so much fabulousness!

Click on the photos to see more and have a great day ;-)

Istanbul is an amazing city to share with friends. The weather is beautiful, there are tons of shops, a bazaar that you can get lost in for hours, and a national culture centered around tea.

On top of that, the nights are limitless and the men are kind, beautiful, and I must say, long live generalizations.

And well, I’m telling you this because really, sharing Istanbul with friends is all I know of the city, but oh man it’s soooo cool! (I promise, one day I’ll stop talking about Istanbul, just not quite yet.)

So here, I ended up on a photo mission with Ashley and Alisa who were on a shopping mission themselves (they are buyers for the site L’atitudes, go take a look, it’s great!) and Sarah was on a mission of care-free pissing around.

- Sarah on sunrise surveillance duty. -

- The sunrise in question. -

We each did pretty much whatever we wanted during the day – I’m crazy enough to get up at 6 in the morn’ to go searching for the perfect morning light on the Bosphore. Sarah is crazy enough to get up at noon as she finally found out how to make it pitch-black in her room, and Ashley and Alisa, well…. They’ve gotta work… Meaning, they go shopping.

- Ashley & Sarah -

(Yeah, yeah: people always ask me if this kind of job really does exist, and yes, I’ve got the proof. One of these days I’ll make you a list of all the incredible jobs that exist around me.)

- Alisa -

So quickly, after we partook in each of our morning activities (you can see me in full action here) we met up at a restaurant, or at our hotel, the House Hotel, in the middle of Galatasaray.

- The House Hotel of Galatasaray. I know as much about architecture as I do about archery, so I haven’t a clue what style this is, but it’s pretty -

I loved the building for the simplicity of decoration and the way the rooms were set up (that of course, I FORGOT to get a photo of, me being the international goof I am). There are barely any pieces but they are so perfectly chosen, so the hotel gave me a good lesson in design, which is good considering I’m on a design mission for our New York loft (Wwwaaahoooo les enfants, NEW YORK LOFT, those words’ll knock ‘em dead! Mama, you hear what I just said?!!! So yeah, maybe we’ve had it for three months and it’s only just now that we’re getting to actually live there and the only stuff we’ve moved in has been a Chesterfield chocolate sofa, and the rest is just boxes and boxes, some books, and a teapot. Yeah there you go, another design idea —-> EFFORTLESS design).

SO.

Besides, it’s cool to talk about this hotel as it was designed by some of the best designers in Istanbul, the team from Autoban. Yes!!! For once a hotel not designed by Starck, aha!!! Aaaaaaah.

- There wasn’t an elevator in the hotel, and, of course, I was on the 6th floor -

My favorite place in the hotel : the shared living room, where the breakfast (delicious) could last for hours, seated on a CHESTERFIELD CHOCOLATE SOFA (like my loffffft! Victory!) watching the sun rise and cracking up over the worst girl stories I’ve ever heard in my life.

- My all sacred latte – I’ve tried to give up coffee but I just can’t… like… at all! -

No, I won’t say a word. You’ll just have to come next time!

Ah naaaah, next time I’m bringing Scott = he’s so pissed he couldn’t come this time around.

Plus there are these transparent showers in the middle of the rooms. It’s too sexy, but yeah, if you decide to share a room with friends, make sure you know them well : you can’t afford to be very modest.

Okay off we go! That’s enough about all this! Time to collapse on my CHESTERFIELD CHOCOLATE SOFA (yeah, I work horizontally!)(AND YEAH!!! I FINALLY MADE IT BACK HOME, WAHOOOO!!!).

Quick, I need a latte. Big hugs!

Translation : Tim Sullivan