Category Archives: Design Diary

February 7, 2012 · 8:02 am

Design Diary: The Saguaro Palm Springs

The Saguaro Palm Springs, brought to you by the developers of the Ace Hotel, opened last week, just in time for Modernism Week and well in time for those heading out for April music festival Coachella.

Designed by NYC-based Peter Stamberg & Paul Aferiat of Stamberg Aferiat Architecture, the hotel is a re-vamped a three-story Holiday Inn from 1977, re-imagined in serious Technicolor. The color palette reflects the vibrancy of the Southwest, in hues derived from 14 indigenous flowers of the Mojave Desert.

Guest rooms boast multicolored striped bedding, orange furniture, a bubble gum pink accent wall, and royal purple carpeting. A wood table and chairs and black and white images by Palm Springs photographer Jim Cornett ground the rooms with a bit of natural realism.

There are 245 rooms, a second floor public space with a wild red Bird-of-Paradise wallpaper on the ceiling, an expansive pool in a lush courtyard complete with a cabana pool bar, a spa, and two restaurants by Iron Chef Jose Garces, one with a tequila bar, the other with a wine bar.

The Saguro Palm Springs, 1800 East Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, California.

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January 31, 2012 · 8:02 am

Design Diary: Delphine and Reed Krakoff’s Home

These photos of the New York City home of Delphine and Reed Krakoff  have been around for a while, but good design doesn’t fade. I still love the rooms. I’m not sure where their former place was, but for years I’ve saved a design tear of her child’s bedroom. (I’ll include the photo at the end of the post.) [In case you’re not fashion-y, Reed Krakoff is the President, Executive Creative Director of Coach, and he also has his own extraordinarily sky high-priced label.]

Working with architect Mark Ferguson of Ferguson & Shamamian , in 2008, the couple overhauled a seven-floor townhouse that had been subdivided into 12 separate apartments. On the website for Delphine’s interior design business, Pamplemousse Design, she refers to it as “a mansion on the Upper East Side.”  I also included a few rooms with similar pieces she designed for clients with a triplex on the Upper West Side.

In the living room, Alexander Calder’s 1971 mobile Two Black Discs and Six Othersfloats above a Jean Ary sculpture, André Dubreuil candelabras, and a Guy de Rougemont coffee table.

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A corner of the airy living room features a screen by Serge Roche.

An alternate view.

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The cubey painting is Black and White VII by Al Held in front of which is Marc Newson’s 1986 Lockheed Lounge chaise.  She seems to have also secured a similar Al Held painting for a client.

Delphine designed this living room in an Upper  West Side triplex, complete with Al Held painting similar to her own. I love that sculpture on the coffee table too.

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The upstairs sitting room features a mirrored mantel by Serge Roche, circa 1930, which he made for his own private residence. The pillows are Emilio Pucci.

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The master bedroom. The Art Deco vanity is by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann and the 1920s-era bed by Jean-Michel Frank. The table is by Marc Newson. Claude Lalanne’s La Pomme Boucheapples are on the mantel.

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In the sitting room, the walls are decorated with Allan McCollum’s abstract installation Plaster Surrogates. Joris Laarman’s silver Bone chair sits in the foreground.

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Delphine leans against a 1930s Serge Roche table. In the background is Frank Stella’s 1974 painting Concentric Squares. The sconces are by Maria Pergay.

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From another angle. Great staircase; let’s see more of it . . .

One could almost call this nook cozy. Almost. If not for the mirrors, it could also seem like it was an area for storing overflow furnishings.

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The library, with a Tiffany lamp over a long table and a Marc Newson chair in the corner, is transformed into a 16-person dining room for dinner parties.

Another shot of the library, sans Delphine.

She created a library dining room for her Upper West Side triplex clients too. I’ve always loved bookshelves surrounding a dining table.

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An eat-in-kitchen with an oh-la-la dining table setup.

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The master bathroom? Looks like the powder room at a fancy department store. Odd.

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Delphine and Reed’s daughter’s room, from several years ago (I’ve forgotten which publication). I still love the curvy sconce over the bed (so sophisticated for a little girl, but pretty), the dual colored ottomans, and the Saarinen side table.

She hung a similar sconce above the Upper West Side client’s bed.

Photos 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 , 8, 9, 13  by Douglas Friedman  for Harper’s Bazaar

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January 24, 2012 · 8:02 am

Design Diary: Vera Wang’s Beverly Hills Home

Vera Wang recently purchased a modernist dream of a home in Beverly Hills. This month’s Harper’s Bazaar got the scoop on the Steve Hermann designed space. (He’s also the previous owner, and sold the house to Wang.) I found additional shots of the house on his site, though some of these circulated this summer when the Wall Street Journal reported that Wang purchased the house for about $10 million.

This is the entryway. Wang’s wearing a Rick Owens vest and skirt and her own Ann Demeulemeester boots. The bag is Hermes, the watch Rolex.

The back of the house, complete with covered patio and pool.

Can you believe Wang is 62-years-old? Insane. She says in the article she’s not the type to wear heels with her swimsuit. But when you’re posing for a fashion mag, you kinda have to. The swimsuit is Eres and the bustier over top is Alexander Wang. The heels are Manolo Blahnik, of course.

I didn’t even realize until I read the caption that this is the kitchen. Talk about sleek. Wang’s dress is Azzedine Alaia and the Mary Janes are Giuseppe Zanotti.

The dining area.

The living room. The TV doesn’t look half bad over the fireplace.

The walk-in closet she shares with her husband, Arthur Becker. Love the cowhide cubes. She should probably add some color to her West Coast wardrobe.

Above photographs by Douglas Friedman for Harper’s Bazaar

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Below photos are from Hermann Design


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January 3, 2012 · 8:02 am

Design Diary: Aerin Lauder’s Aspen Ski House

I have a thing for Erin Lauder; a serious girl crush, made more tangible by the fact I met her a couple of times at parties through tenuous friends of friends connections. These days, our paths are never likely to cross. Still, I admire her exquisite, understated taste. When I saw her Apsen house in Vogue, in its luxuriously simple glory, I thought “These are the most perfect interiors I have ever seen.”

The house, which Lauder bought in 2009, was relatively new. She hired architect/interior designer Daniel Romualdez, who also did Tory Burch’s Manhattan apartment, to customize with a bit of character. Every room is painted white, but walls lined in reclaimed cypress boards and wire-brushed oak. Danish modern and solid American chairs, appropriately draped with fur throws, mingle with glossy George Nakashima tables.

Although we don’t get a glimpse of these, there are baskets of shearling slippers from L.L. Bean around the house and guest beds are outfitted with plain white linens from Calvin Klein. Again, no kitchen or dining shots, but we’re told her tableware is rustic white china from Calvin Klein as well as pieces from her secret source in Austria. Napkins  are country-style—sage greens, cream, rough linens—which complement the big wooden bowls she buys at Privet House in Warren, Connecticut. Perfection.

Aerin Lauder, the epitome of cozy cool, in Daryl K leather pants, chunky cable-knit Burberry sweater, and shearling-lined L.L. Bean style duck boots.

 Jean-Michel Frank sofa, Hans Wegner hoop chairs
Cashmere-lined coyote- and fox-fur rugs made for Lauder by Pologeorgis are generously thrown over chairs and sofas;

George Nakashima table

The semi-covered deck, furnished with David Sutherland teak lounge chairs and coffee table with provisions for hot chocolate, overlooks Aspen Mountain.

the library, immaculately arranged with books, resembles a giant cigar box with breathtaking views for whoever is sitting at the desk.

low oak bed with an Andreas Gursky photograph  The bedrooms have specially made low oak beds

Rift-cut white-oak walls meet cedar marble in a bathroom.

her sons, twelve-year-old Jack and eleven-year-old Will,

Even the mud room reflects her cozy glamour. Oh, the furs.

Photos: François Halard

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May 5, 2011 · 9:38 pm

Design Diary: Jeff Osborne’s South End Loft

I’ve been meaning to highlight Jeff Osborne’s South End condo for a while now. I originally wrote about it, “Living With Less, for the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine.  Why now? I have just hired Jeff and his partner Amanda Hark (their newly created firm is called Hark + Osborne ), to do design work in my apartment. So excited.

Jeff’s loft isn’t large, but he makes great use of the space. And  he as an amazing eye, mixing old and new, high and low. He had to do some serious editing to make it work. He gave all his old furniture to his brother, who lives in Maine.

Photo: Josh Kuchinsky

In the main living space, the television blends right in with the art. The ebony, bamboo-topped coffee table by Gervasoni from Showroom in Boston has simple lines, with an Asian feel. The rug is Italian, made from linen and wool. The sofa, upholstered in linen, is Flexform, from Showoroom in Boston. Owner Doug Gates is his best friend.

Photo: Josh Kuchinsky

The vintage Louis Vuitton trunk was a gift from Osborne’s parents. The painting of man on left is a self-portrait by Cyrille Conan from a local Boston art gallery. The smaller piece on the right was painted by his grandfather. It’s a cottage on Ballston Beach on Cape Cod, that has since washed away. Underneath, on the white lacquer Poliform shelf, is a whaling-ship propeller that he found at a Boston antiques show.


The smaller ceramic bowl on the far left is by Tim Christiansen, purchased from The Society of Arts & Crafts on Newbury Street. (Christiansen and Osoborne went to boarding school together.) The larger one is from Norway from his parents, who collect ceramics and art.  “They have fantastic taste,” he says, “They downplay it, but it’s been a huge influence on my work.” Both bowls sit on wood blocks from West Elm.

The artwork is hard to see here. The vertical is a drawing of a nose that he bought when he studied abroad in Florence; it’s a local contemporary artist but in an antique French frame that he bought it from a store called Flair. Next to it is a print from Paris of hats flying off people’s heads by Charlotte Reine.

On the bottom shelf are Chinese bronze animal bells from Intarwut in Cambridge.

Two aluminum frame full-length mirrors from IKEA are propped up behind the Flexform stainless steel and rope folding chairs.

Photo: Josh Kuchinsky

The bed is beyond the main living space, in a south-facing, floor-ceiling-windowed nook. The bed (high) is upholstered in white leather and covered in gray houndstooth linens. The nightstands (low) are from West Elm. The industrial-style lamps are from Casa Design in SoWa. The chair in the foreground, upholstered in striped chenille, is Flexform.

A trio of postcards depicting Greek ruins were discovered in a junk shop in Provincetown.

Photo: Josh Kuchinsky

The kitchen is standard issue from the building. The wrapped countertop is bisque-colored speckled Caesarstone, the applicance Viking, and cabinetry Wenge wood. Osborne added the three silvery pendant light fixtures from Casa Design over the bar. And note the Alessi juicer next to the bowl of oranges.


The entry is lined with family photos and artwork.

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