tatami decor progress

When you've stored as many things as we have anticipating to decorate a living room one day, it's nice to finally see that day! This is the progress we've made in the tatami space. My parent's old capiz chandelier is hanging in the corner, an old yukata from my mother-in-law by the window. On top of the fireplace, a vintage gold obi to replace a mantle, our Carlee Fernandez antelope fanny pack piece, Shanghai street photo by Doug Kim, and a vase and silver Tangle toy from Jon. Table cloth is 2 yards of fabric I bought a lo-o-o-ng time ago because it spoke to me. The only things we bought recently were the kotazu (a japanese table with a heater inside), the cushioned tatami chairs, Mexican rock pebbles not visible on the hearth, and the two fabulous J.A. wool pillow covers to bring back the feeling of the Parker. Oh ya, and Mr. Buddah in the corner who keeps us company when we eat dinner on the tatami.

printed grocery sacks

Being eco friendly is getting easier by the minute! Now we have collapsible grocery sacks in prints! Via It's (K)not Wood, via Shelterific.

fly away

Groovy helmet in the Isolee window display.

yellow door

I was always taking photos of doors for some reason. This was a nighttime shot that I couldn't resist.

Puerta America Hotel

In continuing with the documentation of my Spain trip, I want to share my wild experience in a Zaha Hadid room at the Puerta America Hotel in Madrid. It was wild in the sense that it was so surreal - all white, no straight edges or plains, a little blinding at times, kinda like living in an underground ice cavern with no sense of time, begining, or end. The entire room is molded out of a soft and supple white semi matte plastic material with industrial quality strength. Hidden lights can be set to daytime, evening or nighttime mode making it feel like you are in Superman's cave when set for night. The texture of a light cool grey carpet is the only thing that attempts to ground you and the 'do not disturb' sign as well as your room number is a magical glow from a seemingly invisible door. Each floor of the hotel has it's own equally wild theme created by the most reknown of the international designers. It's a 25 minute metro ride from the center of town, but totally worth a stay if you want to experience a Disneyland for adults. Above: Floor 4 Eva Castro Iraola and Holger Kehne's faceted steel walkway, Floor 3 David Chipperfield 's poppy luxe lounge, Floor 6 Marc Newson's cohesive clash of red laquer and white marble, and Floor 12 Jean Nouvel's neon Asia. Wild.

Kenzo S/S'07

Spring/Summer '07 ad for Kenzo. I love the svelte deconstruction.

courtyard

the things people do... fascinating isn't it.

There's a Buddah in my kitchen!

Photographing Buddah in the chaos of the kitchen.

metalwork around spain

Organizing vacation photos has been taking an eternity, especially since I took hundreds of digital photos. Worth it in the end though. I'm trying to group together similar themes I found all over Spain. These are shots of functional and fine metalwork. Wish we had these here!

owl billboard

you can imagine my excitement when i spotted this in the distance during our long walk to sagrada familia.