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.
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
This weekend, Scott succeeded in dragging me away from my computer. I had 8,000 tons of work and so he said to me, “Come on, you can work at the hotel!” He didn’t need to say much more. We went to Montauk, a little town in the Hamptons where all of New York spends the weekend taking in some sun, surfing, and… well, diving back into New York ambiance, if truth be told.
And Saturday, at the end of the afternoon, we had some drinks at Surf lodge. I just loved it. That said, it’s not so surprising seeing as —–>
#1 – I have an insatiable love for everything that comes close to being surf related. If I so much as see a surf board, I start swooning. It’s one of the things on my to do list in life, take a week off for a surf class in Hawaii. One day, one day!!!
#2 – I have an undying love for the atmosphere of vacation homes, and it’s exactly the feeling you get when you walk into the restaurant.
When I get a house (one day, one day!!!) I’ll decorate it like a vacation home. It’ll be simple, uncluttered, but definitely not perfect. It’ll be cool luxury, you know, with some objects I’ve collected from my various travels, a big wooden table, and lots of paperbacks and books full of images everywhere.
#3 – I’m crazy about the Lisa Marie Fernandez swimsuits. And there’s a little beach-y store just next to the restaurant… And they had the entire collection. Raaaaaaah.
#4 – I love tossing down cocktails and ESPECIALLY love being a barfly.
What? C’mon!
#5 – I love eating. And one of my favorite things for summer, besides watermelon sorbet and mojitos, is grilled vegetables. Little peppers, just little baby ones, oh I just melt. Especially if the person cooking them is… Ta daaaaa!!!
Sam Talbot, the chef!
Does it look like I am more stuffed or impressed in this picture? More stuffed than anything else? Ahahahaha. You’re right indeed.
Okay, off we go, back to work for me. Bonne journée and don’t forget to put slices of cucumber in your water pitchers, it’s oh so good. Big hugs!
Translation : Tim Sullivan
You remember when I asked you to wish me good luck on Friday?
So here you have it. So when I asked you to wish me good luck, Friday, it was because I was shooting my first ad campaign for Love Moschino.
Wednesday, I was in Milan at Moschino, in the middle of PPM*, when I met Rossella Jardini, the artistic director. I loved her style right away, just how refined it is and her cheeky Italian humor.
Right after that, my new goal in life was to get myself invited over to her house for espresso.
And I finally got in!!! Here’s a few images I brought back for you. I loved the elegance mixed with the sense of humor that can only be found in Rossella’s universe. And I loved so much of her jewelry. The big necklace in the first photo, for example.
That’s Rossella, backstage at Moschino runway show in 1990. Too chic.
Good luck room, all lined with elephants.
Et voilà! I’ve gotta go to a PPM*** (?). I send you all big hugs, bonne journée!
———–
* !!! :-) !!! Champagne! Strrrrrress ! !!!
** Aaah ah! I’m starting to learn all the crazy technical terms. Pre-Production Meeting.
*** Post-Production Meeting. Does that exist? I’m not so good with this stuff. I just bring the photos I did on friday to the retouch studio. Okay, off we go! Big hugs!
Translation : Tim Sullivan
If I never talk to you about interior design, it’s not because I don’t like it. Oooooh no. It’s because I live in an apartment so small that I could be getting work done while cooking and taking a bath all at the same time, and then on top of that, any new piece I get forces a different one out. Okay, out the door you go. Poof.
Granted, this doesn’t apply to shoes, OF COURSE, which, for some reason, give me a malicious pleasure to accumulate. And don’t even get me started on how I store all of them. Maybe one day I’ll make a post about it and we’ll all crack up. BUT NOT BEFORE I FIND AN APARTMENT, otherwise it’ll drive me nuts. Oh goodness…
If I never talk to you about interior design, it’s also because I have some mega-complexes: I know nothing about it. My sister, who has the classiest house and enough furniture to sink a ship, (It’s in her blood. She bought her first Napoleon III era table at 19) can tell you the designer of any and every piece of furniture including the year and design-house as if it were perfectly normal. Hmmm. Laeti. I love your science.
SO how is it that I can write you thousands of words on whatever subject, even if I’m a total dunce about it?) So. In Rio, I had the chance to get to the hotel Fasano. This isn’t the first time I’ve been in an awesome hotel… But the design there got me particularly excited. I was like a little kid. Wahoo! So I thought I’d take some photos.
Nope. I’m not even going to start telling you about what this is supposed to be, but you’ll get soon get that I like scandinavian design and wood.
Wild flowers, the kind you’d bring back from a long walk — ok ok ok, So at Fasano, maybe it’s more of the kind of bouquet that you’d put together after you took a long walk in a rainforest. Yeah, that’d help. But I like lilies and roses. Oh and peonies. Yeah, I have no design personality at all.
All you need is to put out some wood, some carpets, something a little rough around the edges, and some scandinavian accent furniture and I’ll be swooning. Oh and some old photos too. I can’t believing I’m sitting here describing my photos to you. Okay, I’ll hush up.
AAAAAH NOOOO! I just can’t. I have to show you the pool. It’s in the dreamiest spot, perched on the roof where the stars frolic and I try to play it cool in my bathing suit scarfing down coconuts. I’ve gotta give you a post about that as well BUT LATER or else that’ll drive me nuts, TOO.
No but seriously, this pool is awesome.
This is the little set you get with your room key. A beautiful little notebook and a map of Rio painted with watercolors and lots of good ideas on where to go. I took 12. What did you expect?
So yeah, I just realized I only took pictures of wood. Goodness, I’m obsessed. It’s not good to be a monomaniac like that Garance. It’s unfortunate because you only get to see a little part of the hotel design. No, damn, how stupid was that?
Yeahhhhh oooooh. That was definitely my downfall. Fasano, my photos haven’t done you justice. Pffffff…
Oh darn, I’ll just have to go back. You coming ?
Translation : Tim Sullivan
