Swinging into the new year

Happy New Year! I hope your 2012 is filled with great health and much happiness!

I find interior swings especially charming when incorporated into children's spaces. Since this room isn't in a full-time residence I was able to push boundaries and do something truly fun that I wouldn't typically design for a day to day space. Weekend whimsical.       

Swing: the Home Port Collection (to the trade)

Rug: Pottery Barn

Dresser: custom

The key with swings in spaces for kids is to not hang them where they can become a "swing," but rather closer to a wall where they become a fun place for a kid to hang out and read a book or play with a small toy.  I had this one professionally hung into the ceiling beams about ten inches from the wall.     

Have you used swings in interior spaces?    

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah

Whether you are celebrating Christmas or lighting the menorah (or doing both), I hope your day is filled with much love, much happiness and many magical moments.

Leaving milk and a cookie for Santa, carrots for the reindeer and a gingerbread train for the Elves was exciting for my five year old daugther and three year old son...

 Seeing the note my daughter wrote to Santa was magical for her, and me.  

This blog has been a wonderful gift in my life, thank you for being a part of Hamptontoes by reading my blog, stopping by for a visit, leaving comments, sending e-mails...all of it, I love! Happy holiday!   

Looks like wedding cake

"They look like wedding cake." That is what I was told when I received the call that my daugther's window treatments were completed and ready for installation. This Catania Silks Indian silk is stunning.

 

Carpeting: Patterson, Flynn & Martin (to the trade) 

Window hardware: Kirsch (sold through the trade/dealers)

There are rare times when my search for the perfect textile takes me in another direction than the D & D Building in NYC. Catania Silks is to-the-trade only offerings, but is a source for designers to keep on hand for Indian silks that are made beautifully and priced well. I needed twenty-one yards of textile for my daughter's window treatment. I was not into spending a king's ransom just for the textile yet I refused to compromise on beauty or quality so I went with Catania Silks.  

This Catania Silks cotton animal print is adorable! This is a choice I'm eyeing for a space I'm designing for two one year old granddaugthers.

Do you have a gem of a source (aka designer secret) that you are willing to share for sourcing textile, whether it be to-the-trade or not?     

Hooray for C Wonder

C. Wonder  has knocked the "ball out of the park!" I was thrilled to have stumbled upon C. Wonder last week while at The Westchester Mall. Instantly I was drawn to the color palette of the storefront, the huge C's on the doors and the bold graphics inside.

C. Wonder is the vision of a brilliant man, J. Christopher Burch, who has created magic in the world of fashion before. I'm sold on the offerings of his newest venture. To shop for clothing, shoes, housewares, home decor, hostess gifts and monogrammed items under one stylish roof is pure bliss...meet my new hangout!

If you don't see me in the store, you can find me in the luxurious dressing rooms listening to music of my choice and to the volume of my liking...shoppers control their own dressing space!   

These orange skinny leg cords have Hamptontoes written all over them (wink!)

Need to grab something for the little ones too? I could not resist these thumb print paint kits...adorable!

Every design detail was considered...even the lavatory was stylish! 

Santa, just in case you read my blog, I am not picky...anything and everything from C. Wonder would be great! Has your Christmas list just changed? Are you as smitten with C. Wonder as I am? Happy Monday!

Closet transformation in the works

It is known that I love wallcoverings, can do the installation of wallcoverings (mine only, never a client's) and I especially love wallpapering the inside of closets, here are some samples of taking a small space from drab to fab: sons's closet, chic hallway, small Hamptons closet , a pantry and my daughter's dollhouse bookcase.

This weekend I'm going to work a little magic in my daugther's walk-in closet. Here are some of the elements of her soon to-be new space.

The World's Away lighting fixture

She picked this Sonia's Place (to the trade) wallcovering. I just realized how much it resembles my blog design!  

My daughter has a ton of hair accessories that were once tossed into the bathroom drawers. It was messy, the bows/flowers were getting squashed and the ones on the bottom were never worn. To solve the problem I purchased an inspiration board and instead of using it for images/memos, it is hung on the inside of her closet door and used to hang her hairbands. It is a $10 fix that works like a charm!  

Little touches, big rewards! Are you sprucing up any little areas in your home? 

Holiday Tradtions

This is the time of the year that conjures up warm memories of holiday traditions.

Decorating the Christmas tree to Elvis Presley holiday music is a childhood memory of mine and still an on-going tradition. When my husband and I first started dating we created the tradition that the only ornaments on our tree would be from our travels. Decorating the tree has become a celebration of our life commemorating the places we have traveled as a couple and as a family.  

PARIS - APRIL 2011

 SNOWBOARDING AT WHISTLER IN CANADA - 2002

 SNOWBOARDING IN STEAMBOAT, COLORADO - 2005

 HONEYMOON - SOUTH AFRICA 2003 

Every Christmas and Hanukkah, with this being the fourth year, I hostess a holiday cookie decorating playdate for my children and some of their friends. I premake the cookie dough and then have the children cut and decorate their own cookies.  

Some show restraint with sprinkles...

Others, not so much...

Our traditions are one of the elements that make a house a home. What are some of your holiday traditions?  

Two's Company Warehouse Sale!

I've missed all of you during my short blogging break. I'm glad to be back!

Do you want to score wonderful deals on to-the-trade offerings? Tomorrow kicks off Two's Company warehouse sale! If you live in the NYC metro area here's your chance to gather some goodies for the home and the holidays!

The only caveat to shopping at a sale this good is that there will be a crowd (but that didn't stop me at their last sale!) If you won't be able to attend the warehouse sale you can always shop for their merchandise via the Zhush. Happy Monday!