the power of pairs (happy 2nd birthday 55 downing street blog!)

in honor of 55 downing street blog's 2nd anniversary and my second calendar year of being a contributor, i'm featuring the number "2" in my latest post for them. please go check it out and wish them happy number two!

my buddy,  nicole cohen of sketch42, illustrates the power of pairs- a pair of pillows, a pair of chairs and a pair of benches for a coffee table! two two two!

one week until #hpmkt- join m21 in person or virtually at #designonhpmkt!

it's just one week until high point market, and y'all may already be sick of me talking about it (don't worry- it's over soon), but personally i am ridiculously excited to be attending this spring. after not going for a year, i am seriously psyched to see my southern-based friends, as well as the friends who travel from around the country to be at furniture's fashion week.  oh, yeah- there's product too... ;-)

i'm pleased as punch to be part of this awesome group of tastemakers! international market centers has invited us to take over their instagram feed for a day, so you can see market through our eyes. i did this with IMC for vegas and it was tons of fun, so please follow along: @designonhpmkt and #designonhpmkt on instagram! i takeover the IG feed non saturday- probably on the night shift as i'll be on west coast time!  

and if you haven't registered for a suite spot tour with me, or my fabulous cohorts, julia edelman, corey damen jenkins and crystal palacek, please do asap. spots are filling up fast! RSVP HERE. tours are sunday and monday afternoon! i did one with my friend jill a year ago and we really had fun.

i'm also excited to be working again with my friends at 220 elm again this market. as i've mentioned a bazillion times, 220 elm is the spot for sleek, european modern and contemporary design in high point, so not to be missed (check out my friend cassandra's recent post for a taste). heinz kattenfeld, the big cheese at 220 is one of my favorite high point peeps and this year he has really gone out of his way to have a stellar roster of food, drinks, entertainment and seminars, as well as design available to high point attendees!

last, i can't wait to hang with my old friends at 214 modern vintage. i've known these crazy kids for years (we were brought together by our obsession for vintage modern furniture) and they really are stepping up the game to make high point market a destination for vintage as well as new product. you know how we decorators like to mix it up, so it really makes #HPMKT one-stop shopping! this spring's merchandise will be different of course but you can get a taste of the flavor they will be bringing here), PLUS they've expanded and added dealers this market!

see you at market, or if you can't be there, i'll bring it ALL to you on instagram!

"a conversation with christian may" - thank you, urban electric co!

now skidaddle on over to the urban electric co. blog to read it!

ps- thanks for the awesome photo- your talented photographers took the best photos of me in years!

on the case (cased glass that is)

i recently ran across this picture of a painting i painted way back in 2001. it was the first painting i ever sold, so i was proud to create it and then let it go. i also got a little misty when i saw my former collection of white cased glass, i used to accessorize the photo.

 ...which i later sold to one of my favorite interior design peeps, the talented molly luetkemeyer, and while i got a little misty seeing it in my painting photo,  i don't regret passing it on one bit, because doesn't it look great in molly's project?

 but it did get me thinking it's time to start another collection, or at least get some sources together for a future client project. maybe like this chic set of vintage italian empoli glass pieces from vmglasshouse.

or this set of vintage holmegaard gulvases from j. lohmann gallery.

 there are lots of great new cased glass pieces being created by artisans like joe cariati

 and though i was inspired by white cased glass, i'm absolutely crazy for these black and red pieces from niche modern.

so yeah, probably time to get on the case(d) again.  ;-) 

wanna hang at #HPMKT?

  

hey erebody! wanna hang with me at high point market this spring? then please join me as i lead a suite spot tour of the suites at market square!  my tour will be taking off monday, april 7th at 2pm, and i'll be highlighting some cool finds and some of my favorite vendors, as well as providing, ahem, some color(ful) commentary.

so please RSVP  today so we can have some fun together at market! remember, maison21 always promises a good time!  seriously- if at least don't make you smile, i'll refund the cost of the free tour. how's that for a can't lose proposition? ;-)

SUITES AT MARKET SQUARE

200 West Commerce Street

High Point, NC 27260

3 Floors

330,000 Square Feet 

an International Market Centers property

and here's a little selfie video i made about my favorite thing about market. if you know me this will not surprise you!
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for more @designonhpmkt selfie videos from friends and design stars, click here.

see you at market!

luxe minimalism at calvin klein home

a few weeks back, my friend, sara boyd, director of PR at calvin klein home invited me to meet calvin klein home's talented creative director, amy mellen, and celebrate the launch of calvin klein home's store within a store at HD buttercup.  much luxe minimalism was on display- and a lil bit was sent home in our gift bags too... thanks for the pretty pillow CK home!

while there, i instragrammed this big, gorgeous (and heavy) golden bowl and y'all seemed seemed to dig it too, judging by the number of likes, so when i got home i immediately hopped on the computer to see what amy has been up to with the new calvin klein home collections and boy, did i like what i found:

golden tumblers, GET ON TO MY BAR CART!

golden pitchers too!

and i would cut a bitch for 8 place settings of this gorgeous golden flatware (since i never have dinner parties, i could make do with one place setting i guess, but that's kind of lonely and sad, don't you think?)

lest you think i was bitten by the gold bug, all sorts of other chic items caught my eye on the site, like this chic cocktail pitcher.  truth be told, i probably like this because it looks eerily similar to my own 1960's vintage italian cocktail pitcher but mine doesn't have the groovy stir stick, so i'll gladly take this one too.

and honestly, gold lust aside, i think my favorite item on the site was CK home's signature fragrance candles, poured into minimal marble containers in black, gray or white. so, so, chic.

now hop on over to calvin klein home and tell me what is your favorite!

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turns out, it's super easy being green (my 55 downing street spring picks)

here's my picks, now go here to read the post.

spotted at potted

abigail stone, i spotted these cool handmade "nantucket" planters by petersen pottery at my friends' mary and annette's cute atwater village garden store, potted, and i thought they'd be perfect for the modern refresh happening in your living room. can't you see them in the bay of your living room window?

just sayin'

touring charming historical charleston with the urban electric co. (#UECo10tour)

as i posted previously on the blog, it was my great fortune to be included in a junket this past fall to charleston, SC, to celebrate the urban electric co's 10 anniversary. one of the best parts of this amazing trip was the chance to tour the stunning architecture of charleston, a city that has long been on this architecture and design buff's bucket list of sites to visit, and i sure wasn't disappointed by what i saw.  such an amazingly beautiful little city.

it's hard to believe that urban electric has only been around for 10 years as its beautiful lighting is seamlessly woven into the fabric of the city's historic core, where homes are considered modern if they were built after 1850. ;-)  everything is just flat out storybook pretty, and i spent the time on our tour literally exclaiming over and over again "it's so pretty; it's so pretty".  cuz it was.

my friend, stacy bewkes, of quintessence is standing in for scale- the custom urban electric lantern topping the gates of this mansion is probably over 4 feet tall. (

distinctive charleston "single houses" where the entrances are placed on the sides, not facing the street. something to do with a local tax waybackwhen which taxed property by street frontage not lot size, so all the lots are narrow yet deep.

swear to zeus, practically every house in charleston has a historical plaque. if you don't know who built it and who slept there, i think your neighbors probably shun you- "their house isn't even historically important!"

i wanted to explore all the secret gated gardens of charleston which are accessible by long paths from teh street, again due to teh lot/frontage thing. i didn't explore them because i didn't want to get arrested for trespassing, but trust, i was as nosy as possible without breaking the law!

i might have squealed when i saw the spanish moss hanging from the trees- this southern california boy only knows the fake version from the french quarter at disneyland. ;-)

loved this friendly orange tabby walking on a carpet of yellow fallen blooms.

porgy and bess is a favorite for me, so it was cool to be in the city where it (fictionally) took place.

we even visted a plantation, fenwick hall (which i had some misgivings about) but the grounds were stunning and the people restoring it were passionate about preserving this piece of history, and i agree that it should be preserved. we can't deny our past, so better to preserve it, than bulldoze over it and pretend it didn't exist. plus, did i mention it's really, really beautiful?

at some point the plantation house was a children's hospital and the the interior rooms are covered in a riotous variety of floral wallpapers.

michael amato, urban electric co's talented creative director points out some of the features being restored as well a bit of fenwick hall's history to our little group (including fellow designer, brad ford). architecture students from the college of charleston are helping to restore this piece of american history, which is also pretty neat.

i also found out that one of my favorite UECo fixtures, teh fenwick carriage sconce was created especially by michael amato for the restoration of the outbuildings of the plantation, which have been converted to chic residences. 

this lucky girl gets the run of the stunning grounds as the reigning queen of fenwick hall plantation.  loved meeting lulu and her human too.

again, i want to thank the urban electric co. for including me in this amazing trip to their home base of historical charleston. what a treat to be exposed to such amazing architecture and history.