a curated life : takeaways from the latest lonny

hot of the presses is the august/september issue of lonny mag - one of our all time favorite design mags. 

recently, we've been circling around the idea of a curated life. we've been known to remind friends moving into their first apartments/houses that "life is a collection." this sentiment is actually part of what went into naming this blog. the things around you, at least in our decorating philosophy, are parts of memories. the people in your life you've collected and are a part of your life - that you have curated for yourself. 

we prefer to decorate with items that have memories attached to them, and that are a little quirky. what you surround yourself with should be an extension of yourself, your personality, what you are passionate about, what you love. 

so, with that philosophy in mind, we were happy to see a lonny full of personalized collections. sure, you could arbitrarily "get the look" in any of the photos in lonny, as well as any other interior decorating mag, or just any picture - it's easy to break it apart and go buy similar pieces. but we think it's so much more satisfying to bring a collection together. and sometimes you don't even realize you have a collection until you are inspired to mimic what is strewn on the pages of your favorite magazine. 

check out our takeaways after the jump!

a distincly french apple

we love apple over here, and paris. so when apple meets france, we arrive at a distinctly french styled apple store.

we have suggestions on how to get this look after the jump!

jenna lyons sighting

by now, you must know the love we have for jenna lyons. she does no wrong. jcrew does no wrong. and we like to absorb everything she has to say (kind of like kelly cutrone, to whom we lovingly refer as "kcut," but that is another post entirely). 

we bring this jenna lyons sighting to you from elle decor who tells us that the ever chic and inspiring jenna lyons has "never met a sequin she didn't like."

these are the 12 things that our "j.crew trendsetter" can't live without - all images from here

1. a lucite chair. lyons has one at her desk - HLWH recommends this one it's a different shape, but it captures the funky-yet-glam nature of lyons' chair. throw a bold printed cushion on it and we think that you'll be feeling chic as ever.

2. nars lip pencil in red square because it's "not too blue." j.crew uses this color on their shoots- though we wish they would come up with their own makeup line this will do for now. Especially since we love love love nars. snag yours here. 

3. the fleshy tones in jenna's fred sandback drawing capture the season's neutral trend. the simplicity seems so natural and so beautiful this time of year. we're pretty sure that it would feel just as gorg. in the fall..or winter! maybe a little diy painting?

4. lyons likes the bedding from olatz (this is the Lido print). you can also get the minimalist-chic look from dwellstudio, potterybarn, and william sonoma home.

5. we must admit, the silver vases from asiter de villatte are pretty awesome - they look like cans with their labels peeled off. though it just seems like one of those things we tell ourselves we could 'diy,' we'd check out etsy first to find something similar that captures the same sparkling lightness.

6. one of lyons' must haves is her Leica camera (limited ed, of course, and from japan). for a camera with a vintage vibe, check out urban outfitters' cameras, or use this quick search on etsy.

7. miriam haskell. vintage. you can't go wrong. a google search turned up a few vintage items, but HLWH recommends visiting j.crew to see some inspired (and inspiring) pieces with a similar vibe. 

8. we can't guide you on jenna's shoe collection, other than to a. buy what fits b. buy what you absolutely love c. take very good care of them d. keep them organized and e. remember it takes a lifetime to amass a shoe collection like that.

9. another thing we can't really help you with. vintage mercedes. you could buy a toy one. or visit post-war classic cars if you're seriously considering purchasing one. and if you do, you owe us a ride.

10. jenna loves the beach. have to admit it's calming. so long as you aren't visiting the jersey shore (think: fist pumps for everyone!...PS we can hate on the jersey shore, we're from jersey ;) )

11. arists jenna can't live without (some are on display in the guggenheim if you're in the nyc area): cy twombly, robert ryman, elizabeth peyton, or jenny saville.

12. sequins! jenna's last must have is sequins! and we often see her rocking them. HLWH recommends j.crew (duh) for some of the shiny stuff, as well as bloomgindale's or even forever 21.

what do you think of jenna lyons' must haves from elle decor?

get the look

we often stumble upon interior styling perfection. by often, of course, we mean daily.

many times, we look at a picture, it gives us warm fuzzies and we wish we could make our spaces look like the picture. but we shrug it off as a professional photo shoot and something that we could never achieve.

that is until now.

every wednesday we're featuring a 'get the look' segment. we'll break down a room so we, as well as all my lovelies, can achieve what was once the unachievable.

when we stumbled across this picture (warm fuzzies in tow), we knew it had to be the inaugural get the look. we love the colors, the intricate, delicate, and unexpected details, and that gasp worthy clock (which we trolled the internet for days trying to locate....which we did!)

first we need a modern poster bed. we found this one from room and board for $999. but you can think of the bed as a blank canvas, you can funk it up, dress it up, make it mod - do whatever you want. so this look would work on almost any bed.

this tapestry, from urban outfitters for $28, is pretty darn close to our inspiration picture:

our next issue is the pillows. don't be afraid to mix colors or patterns or sizes! (or textures, materials, etc)

the tailor striped sham  from west elm is a doable stand- in for the large black and white print pillow.

now for some good shapes and patterns, from our dear friends at anthro (respectively: $68-168, $88, and $50):

 and from urban outfitters (respectively: $20, $24, and $28)

 

  

 

  

we're loving this one from z gallerie:

and then there's the union jack pillow. 

this one is from urban outfitters, but is no longer available.

 karen hilton designs has this one available on her etsy shop for $66:

for a carpet, we like this option from ikea for $399. it's not as busy as the one in our photo, but we're digging the color choice:

instead of the cute little stool in the picture, we've picked out a folded chair from anthro, for $199:

and last, but certainly not least, the large clock on the wall. at first we thought that this clock was porcelain. but it looked like a pillow. and after scouring for something remotely similar to this clock (for two weeks, may we add)  we found it. the conran shop has this clock (it's knit!) for $575. 

quite dissapointing. 

THEN, this VERY MORNING, we found THE CLOCK for....

wait for it....

SIXTY NINE DOLLARS AND NINETY FIVE CENTS. $69.95. 

of course, we found it on anthro:

so we put it all together....
(okay, it's not that pretty, but we can see it all at once...)

an american in paris - word of the day

aujord'hui  le mot du jour est blanc -- today's word of the day is white

appréciez, mes anges!

via this is glamorous

via this is glamorous

via this is glamorous

via this is glamorous

via this is glamorous

via dress design decor

via dress design decor

via dress design decor

an american in paris - word of the day

today's french word is "guirlande," meaning garland.

guirlande, noun, feminine (a) garland; guirlande de papier, paper chain; guirlande lumineuse, christmas tree lights, fairy lights.

cori kindred

allkindsofbeautiful

party poms

black*eiffel

 abbey goes scouting

pink wallpaper

pink wallpaper 

pink wallpaper

 dites-moi, mes amours, do you use guirlande in your spaces?

holy crap.

so i usually title my posts with a quote. this one i will attribute to myself (now, instead of the end of the posting like i usually do) because it was my very first reaction when i saw this house.

i was peeking at urban grace's blog today (i just love erika, don't you?!) and stumbled on was smacked in the face with pictures of a house her friend had seen on two ellie, who had posted the pictures from b-metro magazine (birmingham, alabama) - which two ellie found through tracery's blog, who happened to design the interior of this house.

whew. i never thought i'd be able to explain that.

and then on top of that you can add the home owner's blog 11 bonita  - which you have to visit promptly after these pictures, and on tracery and b-metro. and you have to because once you fall in love with the pictures you are about to see (because jenna lyons' house just wasn't tempting enough today) you are inevitably going to want more. and this, my friends, will give you more.

oh-em-gee.