Stuff Magazine: Players

The “Players” issue of Stuff Magazine is out. I haven’t actually seen the print version yet, but I was able to sneak a peek online. I wrote five profiles for it, all related to house and home. I love the photos, edgy, with a hint of whimsy and steam. You can click through to Stuff’s site for the actual text, but I’ve included some additional anecdotes (irrelevant ramblings, really) below.

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Ricardo Rodriguez realtor

Ricardo is super cute, charming, and, boo hoo, married. I interviewed him and his husband at their South End apartment last year for an Improper Bostonian piece about what couples hate in their mates’ wardrobes. Ricardo is a suave Barneys shopper while his partner is an adorable prepster. They bickered beautifully : ) (Maybe I can get a PDF of the article to post – it was one of my favorites.) 

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Meichi Peng interior designer

My first awareness of Meichi Peng came through her butter soft, hand-stitched, pebble leather pouches that I wrote about for pricey handbag site, Lux Couture (hi Sari!). Turns out, Meichi Peng is actually an interior designer. Her style is sleek with a subtle Asian infusion. And she just opened a home furnishings shop, PENG, at 450 Harrison.

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Nicole Dalrymple interior designer

Nikki’s North End shop, Acquire, is one of my favorites. (And I’ve written about it twice before, in the Globe mag’s “Best of the New” and for Daily Candy.) As interior stylist, Kara Butterfield put it recently, shopping at Acquire is like going to Brimfield without having to pick through everything. I purchased three milk glass vases there that are on my dining table in Truro. Wish I had a picture.

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Stephanie Walker gallerist

I believe I first made the acquaintanc of Stephanie Walker of Walker Contemporary through Kristin Gaughan of the design firm Urban Living Studio, (BTW, stay tuned for a post on one of her spaces.) I first wrote about Stephanie for the Globe’s “Best of the New”, and I recently featured the works of one of her artists, Elisa Johns, in an ARTmonday post.

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Erin Gates interior stylist

By now you all know Erin Gates, interior stylist and blogger. Click here for my behind-the-scenes tour of her JP condo, or read the Globe article “Small is the New Black”.

Photos by Tim Gray for Stuff Magazine

Beauty Break: Mizu and Sarra

Spring means no more Uggs and down parkas. For me, it also means an abundance of beauty treatments. While I could gladly succumb to a two hour massage (extra deep) daily, I’m not great about making time for all the other primping rituals. But alas, it’s all in a day’s work. For the third year in a row I’ll be writing the “Best of Beauty” (and “Weddings”) for the Improper Bostonian “Best Of” issue. That means weekly facials, multiple mani pedis, a haircut and maybe even highlights, depending on how dedicated I’m feeling, and a bunch of bikini waxes. (Everyone gets to rip an inch. Ouch.) This year I started early, but even so, the next few weeks will be jam packed.

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mizu1This week I visited mizu, the new hair salon owned by Elan Sassoon (yes, his daddy’s Vidal), at the Mandarin Oriental Boston. The white-on-white, tunnel-like, futuristic space is more interesting from the outside and in. It makes an impact when you’re at reception, but once inside, it’s business as usual. It runs along the long corridor that connects the Prudential to Lord & Taylor across the way, with glass panels allowing passerbyers to peek in. While the overall experience wasn’t overly impressive (all was well, but no bells & whistles), I got a fantastic cut from the Managing Director, Patrick McGinley, who was formerly the Artistic Director at Vidal Sassoon in Boston. I can’t swing the $150 price tag on my own, but in the name of research, I will gladly go back.

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sarra1Next stop, Sarra in South Boston (in the same warehouse as rocker hairstyle haven Shag.) As you can see, the space is amazing, full of light with glossy white furnishing and aqua accents. Proprietor Lauren Genatossio is a makeup artist and professional brow plucker who not only beautifies her clients, but de-mystifies makeup madness. She’s lots of fun and clearly loves her work. (She even owns another location in her hometown, Hingham, on the South Shore.)

She shaped my brows quickly and perfectly, then set about to fix my face with her own line of cosmetics. I absolutely adored step 1, the Retexturizing Face Primer with SPF 20. After that she smoothed on foundation to even my skin tone, showed me how to apply concealer so it wouldn’t weigh me down, and then played with color. I’m not sure I loved the peachy blush and nude lips (I’m more for a subtle rosy pink), but the purple-lined lids were appropriately smoldering for a sexy night. (Never mind all I had on my agenda that day was my son’s baseball parade down Charles Street.)

As a longtime beauty editor I’m pretty adept at navigating the cosmetic counters, but I know many feel overwhelmed. Lauren is the perfect antidote to too much information. Bring her your cosmetics case, dump it out, and she’ll help you make sense of it all. And if you’re planning a girl’s night, grab a case of Champagne, primp, and party. The lounge-y setting is also perfect for your wedding day. There’s plenty of room for you and your bridesmaids to get your makeup done in sun dappled comfort; the space is even be large enough to accommodate your MIL.

ARTmonday: Stephen Sheffield

On Thursday night my husband and I stopped by The Achilles Project on Summer Street for the opening of the solo show of Stephen Sheffield, a friend and, as we just discovered, a very talented fine arts photographer. (Not that we had any doubts!)

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Check out Stephen’s blog, . . stephen sheffield has something to show you . . , for video of the installation, previews of new works, and general artistic musings.

Get the Look: 25 Pink Wallpapers

A sampling of 25 pink wallpaper patterns, from butterflies and bees, to books and flowers, to psychedelic prints and classic damasks.

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Shopping Guide

ROW 1: Osborne & Little Bedlam – Mod Green Pod Butterfly Jubilee  – Lorca Gattopardo

ROW 2: Cole & Son Fornasetti ExLibris – Flavor Paper Luxury – Harlequin Twinkle Toes

ROW 3: Flavor Paper Kabloom –  Kelly Wearstler Imperial Trellis – Cole & Son Cow Parsley

ROW 4: Flavor Paper Cycloid – Osborne & Little Rosabella –  Timorous Beasties Napoleon Bee

ROW 5: Jessica Lynn Designs Deer Bird Damask – Jessica Swift Ingrid  – Dropper Embossed

ROW 6: Linda Barker Tempting – Designers Guild Primrose Hill Peony – Geometric Squares Velvet Flocked

ROW 7: Designers Guild Sevilla – Designers Guild Tokyo Dahlia – Designers Guild Corazon – Pink Peony Mini Mural 

ROW 8: Graham & Brown Elizabeth Flock Effect – Linda Barker Tranquil – Graham & Brown Midsummer

Design Diary: Emily Kumler Travelista

I recently profiled Emily Kumler for Stuff Magazine. Emily, 31, is the co-owner of Prep Cosmetics. Turns out Emily is also quite skilled in nesting. She designed and decorated her 2,000 square foot condo in Cambridge, Mass., where she lives with her teacup Yorkie, Rocky.

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Emily’s kitchen is outfitted with all the best appliances. She knows she’ll never recoup the money she spent, but doesn’t mind eating the loss. She says, “Having these appliances is sort of ridiculous, but I love cooking. And it’s so nice to have people come over and not want to leave.” Emily is quite the hostess; like her grandmother, who was a fantastic cook, she loves to entertain. She even whipped up lunch for me – steak salad and the most delicious lemon cupcakes I’ve ever tasted. (I ate three!)

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Photo: Tim Gray for Stuff Magazine

The custom cabinets have plenty of storage space for her myriad of spices, appliances, and collections, like the aprons and Starbucks mugs she brings back from every country she visits. Have a birthday coming up? Sometimes she gives them as gifts. She says, “A mug from the UAR. . . it’s just so random.”

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Emily is not afraid of color, thanks to her mom, who encouraged her to look at books filled with paintings by well-known artists to develop her sense of aesthetics. Emily loves Matisse, so likes to incorporate his palette of blues, greens, and orange. The orange velvet sofa was her grandmother’s, given to her by her mom for her birthday. The leaded glass cabinet doors are original to the building.

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I love the way Emily uses the little cut out as a bookshelf. You get a glimpse of the chandelier, from Brocade Home, which is the same ones that hang in the Prep retail stores. The chair is a real Eames lounge (yummy), and the vintage poster, from International Poster Gallery on Newbury Street, was a gift from her parents.

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Photo: Tim Gray for Stuff Magazine

Emily’s bedroom is an ode to Rome, her hands-down favorite city. When she studied there in high school she lived in a dorm that was an old monastery. She remembers, “We had these huge windows with no screens, just big shutters. I used to sit in my window and read all the time.” So, when Emily found a set of old shutters in antique store in Somerville, she snatched them up. Her painter made a matching pair for the other window. She also hung a shuttered mirror from Wisteria (not pictured). Emily’s sister thought she was crazy to paint her room in what she called a “hell fire orange.” But Emily loves the combo with the blue shutters. The combo (and crackled texture) is very Tuscan. She says, “I love that in Italy, people aren’t scared to put bold colors next to each other.” (If you’re wondering, its a C2 Tangerine base with C2 Babylon mixed with a crackle inducing glaze painted on top.)

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The painting above Emily’s bed is “Dive” by P. Murphy, which she bought at a gallery in the West Village of New York City. She loves to swim and finds the image very calming. The bedding is from Garnet Hill; the lamp with fringe shade and the chandelier are both from neighborhood shop Boutique Fabulous.

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Above left: The bathroom has cute built-in cupboards that are original to the building. The shower curtain is Marimekko. Above right: Emily wanted the TV room to be a bit dark and cozy; the paint color is Benjamin Moore Aurora Borealis. Besides, green makes her happy, and it goes with all the other colors she loves. On the walls are the covers of old magazines that she started collecting when she knew she was going to buy a place. Most came from a used bookstore near her parent’s house in Maine.

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Left photo: Tim Gray for Stuff Magazine

There are three small areas that Emily papered with William Morris Iris, ordered from England through Sanderson. The inspiration here was her mom. The home in which Emily grew up has lots of it. Above left: Emily’s study, complete with a chair from Crate & Barrel which you can also find in her Prep cosmetic boutiques.
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Emily, the lucky duck, has a balcony off her study that her friends jokingly call her cabana. Who can blame them, with its Sunbrella curtains, daybed, and quaint cafe table? She eats out there almost every night in the summer, if she’s home, and naps out there on weekend afternoons. She admits, “It feels like a vacation.”