Designers We Love

With the death of so many design magazines of late, we thought we'd share with you some of our favorite designers' web sites.  They are full of beautiful photographs and great ideas that you can steal :)

Note:  Click on link to go to the designer's web site.

Jan Showers-Soft, pretty designs.

Kelly Hoppen-simple, modern, luxurious designs.  Muted colors, simple lines.

Orla Collins: Modern, luxurious.  Simply divine.

Rabih Hage-Scrumptious, luxurious. Rich colors, modern lines.  Marvelous details.

Nini Andrade Silva- Zen, modern.  Ethnic.

Michael Reeves-Simply divine!  Mostly modern but some traditional too...

Let us know if you like this list and we'll make it a regular feature in our blog in the future.

Designers to Watch-Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch

Have you ever read about someone's life, and say, man, that is one bitching life! We do. A lot of it is from fashion and design magazines. You know, the ones that are always about some pretty young thing who is, invariably, married to some hedge fund manager; has a pied-a-terre in Paris; a loft in New York; a country house in Connecticut?

Well, aside from reading these for fun, we also love it for inspirations as well. It's kinda like a break from the mundane of our everyday's life, right? Like, five minutes of fantasy before we get back to figuring out how to pay our mortage this month?

Which brings us to the topic of this blog--we were reading in W Magazine today about Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch as an emerging design team which we never heard of. Orignally started out as designers of movie sets, they are now a hot ticket in the design world. We just love their originality! What was interesting about them is that neither was trained in interior design. They just do what they love, and the rest just follows.

That's something to be inspired by, isn't it? Do what you love, and the rest will follow. Repeat that three times, will you?

Here is a picture of the couple from the NY Times. Read the article.

Here is a picture of their kitchen from New York Magazine.







To see more of their work, check out the web site or follow their blog here.

Michael Smith-The Interior Designer

Michael Smith is in the news a lot lately. First because he is the interior designer that was chosen to redo the White House for the Obama (we heard through the grapevine that the budget was $100,000. A hundred Ks? It must be a joke, no?).

But more importantly, Michael Smith was the designer who did Thain's office (the recently-ousted CEO of Merrill Lynch) for $1.2M. Ever heard of a $87,000 rug? We haven't either.

All that aside though, Mr. Smith is a brilliant designer. Elle Decor just did a full spread on him that worth checking out.

Here are some pictures (courtesy of Elle Decor).

What do you think? Is it all that?

If you are interested in learning more about Michael Smith's style, here are some books worth checking out: