Category Archives: Rooms

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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Filed under . REGULAR FEATURES, Design Diary, Rooms

Montage: 43 Rooms with Floor Lamps

For years now I’ve shunned the floor lamp. Although my earliest memories of the floor lamp is the groovy arc of the ’70s (that will get its own montage post later), more recently it’s the ugly black halogen floor lamp with brass trim and glass shade of the late ’80s / early ’90s, that haunts me. Too many associations of bad ’80s furniture and Jennifer Convertibles sofas post-college graduation. Of course, that was decades ago at this point, and it’s time to get over it.

The floor lamps of today are super chic, though like most styles, they reference the past. I particularly  love the ’50s Italian styles in bright color metals or plain black. Simple contemporary designs with oversize shades work for me too. I actually just ordered a simple floor lamp for our newly designed family room. We’ll see how it works out once it arrives. (Unfortunately a vintage piece from 1st Dibs was hardly in the budget; alas a style on sale at OLighting must suffice.)


Photographer Bruno Suet
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Brides
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Brad Ford | Brad Ford—Lonny
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Brad Ford
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Betsy Brown InteriorsHouse Beautiful
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Photographer Hallie Burton | Photographer Philip Sinden—Elle Decor Spain
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House to Home
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Light Locations
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Elle Decor | Erin Martin Design
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Photographer Brian Park
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Photographer Erik Johnson | unidentified
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Wendy Blount
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via Design Attractor
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Photographer Moris Moreno
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Photographer Per Magnus Persson
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Michele Bonan
—Lonny
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FC Studio Architecture + Interiors
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Domino
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Moises Esquenaz
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Mark Tuckey Furniture Design | Country Living
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Studio AV
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Kelly Hoppen | Skona Hem
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Jessica Helgerson
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Rod Mickley Interiors | Photographer Simon Watson
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Photographer Patric Johansson | Photographer Tim Griffith—New York Times
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Hotel Skeppsholmen | Marie Olsson Nylander
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Michele Bonan
—Lonny
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Spruce Design + Decor | Photographer Peter Margonelli
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Paul Caddel—Lonny | Christian Leone—Lonny
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Photographer Graham Atkins-Hughes
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Photographer Prue Ruscoe
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Filed under . REGULAR FEATURES, Home Accessories, Montage, Rooms

Fine Print: Oberto Gilli Home Sweet Home

Although it’s not even Thanksgiving yet, stores are fervently blasting Christmas tunes to get shoppers in the mood. I prefer to do my shopping online, with my sound shut off.  Between intrusive tunes and the disappearance of brick and mortar bookstores, I thought it would be helpful to start featuring the best design-related coffee table books that have been published recently. While I’m anti-paper in most aspects of my life, I still adore a glossy book. This one makes a beautiful holiday gift.

Oberto Gill: Home Sweet Home, Rizzoli, October 2011

Oberto Gill: Home Sweet Home showcases “sumptuous and bohemian interiors” shot by Oberto Gilli throughout his career. (His work has appeared in House & Garden, Town & Country, Vogue.) There are photos of more than 40 homes shown in full, from New York City penthouses and artist lofts to seventeenth-century Italian villas and country homes in Morocco. Here is a sampling:

Decorator Muriel Brandolini’s first apartment in New York, 1992

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Oberto Gili’s home in Piedmont, Italy, 2010

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Oberto Gili’s home in Piedmont, Italy, 2010

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Artist and photographer Andres Serrano, New York City, 2000

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Artist Ellsworth Kelly’s studio in Spencertown, New York, 1996

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Vineyard owners Laura di Collobiano & Moreno Petrini’s 16th century abode in Tuscany, 2007

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Oberto Gili’s home in Piedmont, Italy, 2010

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Paola Igliori (poet, photographer, writer, filmmaker), Villa Lina, Lazio, Italy, 2008

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Oberto Gili’s home in Piedmont, Italy, 2010

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Landscape architect Paolo Pejrone’s home in Italy, 2010

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Artist Anish Kapoor’s house, Notting HIll Gate, London, 1998

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Gallery owner John Cheim’s loft in New York City, 1989

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Oberto Gili’s home in Piedmont, Italy, 2010

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Isabella Rosselini’s barn in Bellport, Long Island, 2010

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Oberto Gili’s studio in Piedmont, Italy, 2010

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For more about the man, I recommend New York Social Diary’s fantastic tour of Gilli’s brownstone in the West Village.

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Filed under . REGULAR FEATURES, Fine Print, Rooms

Montage: 54 Kitchen Banquettes

Our Boston condo is under renovation. One of the features we are adding is a banquette adjacent to the kitchen area. It seems to me that there’s been a proliferation of built-in seating recently. Unlike the booths of the ’70s (I grew up with an orange and white vinyl booth in a kitchen with oversize floral wallpaper that had a gold, brown, and orange plaid border), today’s specimens are sophisticated and sleek.

Ours will be U-shaped (not ideal, but we’re dealing with a tight space), with a pale blue and taupe chevron upholstered seat-back and pale blue faux leather seat cushion. The custom table has a walnut herringbone-pattern top on a restaurant supply style stainless base. I’ll post a photo when it’s complete. (If I’m not dead first.)

In the meantime, here are 54 very fabulous banquettes. In addition, check out my piece “The Haute Seat,” in last Sunday’s Boston Globe Magazine.





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Filed under . REGULAR FEATURES, Montage, Rooms

Montage: 33 Polka Dot Rooms

Kate Winslet in Stella McCartney

Polka dots are having a moment. Fall runways were filled with oversize dots by designers Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Marni, Colette Dinnigan, Lanvin, and L.A.M.B.  Mila Kunis, Scarlett Johannson, and Olivia Palermo have adopted the look on the red carpet, but it was Kate Winslet’s turn in Stella McCartney’s stunning “Lucia” dress that sealed the trend’s fate.

As for interiors, while polka dot bedding and rugs, especially for kids, have been in vogue for a while, we’re starting to see more sophisticated dot schemes. Here’s a sampling of 33 polka dot rooms.

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Filed under . REGULAR FEATURES, Montage, Rooms