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Finale in LA

We made it to LA around lunchtime on Friday and already had plans to meet up with a friend. When we drove up to our hotel, Mr. C, I was a bit apprehensive. One, because the name of the hotel makes it sound like it’s a carnival funhouse, and two, if I’m totally honest, we booked it last minute while we were still in Santa Barbara!

I didn’t need to worry. Mr. C is the first hotel offshoot of the Cipriani brand, and it opened in LA this past June. You may know Cipriani’s from their many restaurants in NYC, Harry’s Bar in Venice, and of course the fact that Cindy was supposed to take Sonja there on one episode of Real Housewives of NYC, except her dentures fell out or something. Anyway.

The hotel is technically located in Beverly Hills, though in reality it’s much closer to Century City. Perfect location if you’re planning on doing stuff in west LA! Here are some more shots of our room and the hotel in general. I’m mixing in professional shots because we had less than 24 hours in LA, and I didn’t have much time to take pictures!

The front of the hotel. The valet service was ridiculously good. So accommodating, and they even gave us a bunch of waters for the road when we left on Saturday. Was it obvious we had had too much to drink the night before?

I walked into the hotel lobby and pretty much had a heart attack. It was sooooo good. At Mr. C, they don’t have you check in (what are you, an animal?). Instead, you are escorted up to that there bar and offered a complimentary peach bellini. I was hesitant to take it, but it was one of the best bellinis I think I’ve ever had. While you sit there and sip, a concierge person walks around to the front desk and checks you in. By the time you’re done with your drink, they come get you and escort you up to your room. Every hotel check in experience should be like this.

Check out those Eames chairs!

This is what our room looked like. The color scheme of the rooms alternates by floors, so on odd floors there’s this rich tobacco colored leather; on even, everything is white, like this:

I was a huge fan of the darker leather and I’m glad that’s what ended up with. I’ve come to realize I kind of dig the masculine vibe.

The dresser in the room was like an oversized steamer trunk and had a full bar setup on top of it. Way to know what’s hip, Mr. C! I thought the leather pulls were great. The lighting throughout the room was also amaaaazing.

One of my favorite features were these two huge sliding glass doors that opened out onto a veranda. Our room also featured a big chesterfield sofa. Love, love, love.

This is a good hotel bathroom. Take note, hotel designers. For such a small space, they got in a lot of great features. Double sinks and a rain shower. I was a happy girl. I’ve decided I want sink fixtures like that in my dream house.

Also, excuse the gratuitous self-portrait. I ran out of vertical photos to use in the series.

After we settled in and I stopped freaking out about the hotel room, we headed out for a late lunch. Cocktails at the hotel’s lobby bar followed. Dinner followed that. Beers at a local pub followed that. Me passing out followed that. It was a good end to the weeklong road trip.

Crushing on Jessica Durrant

Even though I didn’t know Jessica Durrant by name until last week, I had definitely seen her work on Pinterest and other sites. I was so happy when Danielle from Breakfast at Toast introduced her as the illustrator of her new blog header. I finally had a name (and shop!) to go with the illustrations.

Lately I’ve had a thing for watercolors, especially those with rich, saturated colors like these. I have this hole in the gallery wall in my office that has been longing for a small art print of some kind, so yesterday, I ordered the ‘Yellow Bow’ print at the top of this post. The mustard yellow is so now and the portrait feels very glam, yet ladylike!

Honestly, there are so many covetable pieces in Jessica’s shop. The best part? They’re insanely affordable. Lucky for me (and you too!), I convo’ed Jessica to learn more about the print sizing options, and right now she’s running a 15% off promotion through August 28!! Just enter the code fabfind during PayPal checkout and you’re good to go.

What do you think? See anything in her shop you’d like to have gracing your walls?

Space to Inspire

I have a big sketchbook at home that’s filled with tear sheets from magazines and catalogs. It’s one of my favorite ‘creative’ items, because generally things that make it into the sketchbook are things that I look back at months or years later and still think “YES, I know exactly why I like this image!” It could be colors, or a feeling the photo gives me, or an outfit that’s styled really well, but the only criteria to make it into my inspiration sketchbook is that the image speaks to me in some way.

I was clearing out some old catalogs and magazines last weekend and started flipping through a spring issue of Traditional Home when I rediscovered this Chicago home. Needless to say, several of these images are definitely going in the sketchbook.

So obsessed. I love the color composition in this image. The gorgeous orange walls in the foreground are offset by that amazingly pretty turquoise greyish paint color. I’m not upset about the herringbone wood floors in the doorway there, either.

This image will get pasted in to the sketchbook because of those pillows. They read almost contemporary against the otherwise traditional tufting in the bench and molding on the walls, especially since their color is a bit unexpected. Seriously though, that wall paint color? To die for.

This image is okay, but it’s really posted here to give you context for this next one:

DYING. I love these two patterns together!! And those chairs are really something.

This last one probably won’t get pasted, but I couldn’t stop staring at it online. Mostly because I’m typically not really a fan of damask anything, but in this context, I thought it was interesting how this whole space had a more masculine-luxe speakeasy vibe than what I’d normally associate with damask. Right???

Other than online places like Pinterest, where do you save images that inspire?

{Image Credits: Traditional Home}

City Mouse or Country Mouse

As I’m sometimes wont to do, this weekend I found myself daydreaming about jetting off to France. I don’t know why I do this to myself, but what can I say? Daydreaming about perfect vacations is the ultimate escape (well, second only to actually going on the vacation!).

This particular daydream of course ended up with me wondering what kind of places are currently for sale in France, so I started searching on random French real estate sites to see what kind of fun inspiration I could find.

Then I found myself in a conundrum. If I had the cash, would I spend it on a chic, metropolitan apartment in Paris? Or indulge in a remote, idyllic country getaway? What do you think? Are you a city mouse or a country mouse?

A city mouse might dwell in a place like this…

Whereas the country mouse might find themselves curled up in digs like this…

I think I know the best solution. Paris for full-time living; country for the weekend getaways. Perfect!

{Image Credits: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8-13}

Monday Musings: Hermès Avalon blanket

On Saturday, Joe and I were downtown looking for new shoes for him, when we happened to pass by the Hermès store. I’d never been inside the San Francisco location, and after reading Bringing Home the Birkin last summer, I was a bit intrigued, so we popped on in.

The store is beautifully laid out, but it was of course a browsing only experience (call me crazy, but I wasn’t prepared to spend $225 on a simple candle, or $800 on a less-than-fluffy bathrobe. We also discovered that basic cotton polo shirts cost $1500).

While we were looking but not touching, I came across several of the famed Avalon blankets. They were softer than I had anticipated, and surprisingly plush. But although I think the Avalon blanket is a great, classic accent for many spaces, I don’t think I could ever justify spending $1225 on a throw blanket, even if I had the cash to do so.

Which leads me to this Monday’s question: if you could, would you ever indulge in a Hermès Avalon? What do you think of these babies? I suppose one could argue that this is an investment piece that could be treasured for years and years to come, if well cared for. And it certainly does make a statement in every room. But if you’re still not convinced, tell me what you’d rather spend that cash on!

{Image Credits: Pinterest 1 2 3 4; La Dolce Vita; Elements of Style}