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I am a huge fan of the Crosby Street Hotel which is the creation of Kit and Tim Kemp, owners of Firmdale Hotels. In addition to the Crosby Street Hotel, Firmdale owns six properties throughout London, all designed by Kit Kemp personally. She seems to never run out of ideas or shy away from bold decisions. Kemp fearlessly uses color as if it were a neutral and mixes periods and styles with a refreshing disregard for the "rules". The end result is unexpected and just seems to work. Below are some of my favorite rooms from their seven properties. For more information on Firmdale Hotels follow this link.

Drawing Room of the Crosby Street Hotel

View into the Screening Room at the Crosby Street Hotel

Crosby Street Hotel From NYTimes.com

Lobby of the Soho Hotel in London

The Drawing Room of the Covent Garden Hotel

Private Dining Room at the Covent Garden Hotel

A Guest Room at Number 16 in London

Guest Room at Number 16 in London

The Drawing Room at the Number 16 in London

The Private Garden at the Number 16 in London

I love the trips Georgia and I get to take to our craftsmen and vendors. Seeing how things are made is such a treat and reminds me that everything is not electronic these days. Yesterday we visited a screen printer that we are thinking of using. It was amazing to see the process from beginning to end. We thought we would share a bit of this with you. 

The above photos show the printing of wallpaper. The fumes were quite strong!!  The repeats are layed down on intervals. The printing skips a repeat and then the printer goes back and fills this in after the ink from the first printing has dried. This prevents the ink from bleeding along the edge of the repeats.

Old screens are cured in a turquoise/blue paint before they are used. The result is really something beautiful.  Seeing all the screens was fun as we were able to recognize some of our favorite prints!

The two photos below show the beginning of the process or the making of the screen.

When it comes to stripes, it is necessary to use a rotary. This ensures that the stripes line up and there are no broken lines.

Pool at the Amangani Resort in Jackson Hole, Wyoming

I have been completely spoiled the last month. After spending two perfect weeks bouncing around Europe in August I returned to NYC for a few weeks and then on my way back to LA I spent 4 days in Jackson Hole.  I can say without a doubt Jackson Hole in September, or probably anytime of year for that matter, is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  I had the luxury of staying in a house that is part of the Amangani Resort which is part of the Aman Resorts.  If you aren't familiar with the Aman Resorts I highly recommend getting acquainted with them, they are out of this world.  The service is top notch, but what I really love about them is the zen like peaceful quality they all have.  

The Amgangani sits looking out over a valley with the Grand Teton Mountains to the right.  I was told the resort purposely wasn't built to face the Teton's directly because the view is too intense and isn't in keeping with Feng Shui. Not too sure about that one, but it sounds good right?  Most people associate antlers and plaids with this part of the country, there was non of that in the Amangani, which I loved! Nothing against antlers and plaid, I just love when love when something is decorated in an inspired and unexpected way.  It was a total departure from what one normally finds in the part of the country, yet it totally worked and made for a relaxing and cozy stay.

This was the view from my room.  Waking up to this every morning was really rough

I loved that the bathtubs all have a view

Don't you love the bar stools! I'm crazy for them and need to find the source

The lounge version of the above bar stools.  This also happens to be the patio outside my room, I know its too perfect! Doesn't the back ground look fake?

These parchment chairs were everywhere and I'm mad for them!

View of the lobby

Don't you love these sconces, unfortunately I didn't get a pictures of them lit up

View from the main dining room

I had quite a bit of work to do while I was there so I spent most mornings working and this was my view from our living room

Unfortunately I had trouble getting a good picture of the living room in our house

For my birthday and anniversary present, my husband took me to Paris during the Thanksgiving holiday.  It was an amazing trip and we had a great time visiting the museums, antique shops, galleries, and flea markets. Architecturally, Paris is one of my favorite cities and I love how the winding streets lead to open plazas and parks.  At night these urban vistas are breathtaking and I did my best to capture these moments when I could....

At night, the city truly comes to life.

As you can see below we were lucky enough to have walked by the Eiffel Tower at 8pm, right when the lights start to sparkle. I believe this happens only during the holiday season.

One of the best parts of being in Paris over the Thanksgiving Holiday was that the streets were already lit up for the Christmas Season. 

The trees below were my absolute favorite!!!

The lobby of the George V hotel was equally as festive and unlike anything I had ever seen before. A member of the staff told me that more than 1,000,000 Swarovski crystal were used to create this installation.

My recent trip to Turkey was one of great inspiration and I took thousands of photos. Of those, nearly 900 were detail shots of architecture, textiles, and design elements. At the time I was not sure how or when I would use these images but I knew they would be a wonderful library of design ideas and act as a visual travelogue of an amazing trip.

Well, I ended up using the images sooner than expected. For the past few weeks we have been working on a variety of fabric designs based on the images that I took while I was traveling.  Great photos have a way of inspiring design at the most unexpected times.  Below are a few samples of early prototypes.  The test swatches arrive tomorrow and I just can't wait!!!

above: The Dome of the Blue Mosque

below: Fabric inspired by the Blue Mosque

above: Stained Glass Window detail

below: Fabric inspired by image above

above: detail of gate from the "golden cage" found in the Harem complex

below: fabric inspired by detail of "golden cage"

above: wall detail from Harem Complex

below: fabric inspired by wall detail

In High Point....Preparing for the show....