When Michelle reached out to me to explore my love of all things design on the LupRocks blog, I was both excited and nervous. Excited because I am enormously passionate about interiors and housewares, and can't wait to share even a bit of what I discover on-and-offline every day. The nervous part comes in because it's a tad daunting to start blogging about a hobby when there are so many experts already out there. Having written about fine jewelry, watches and fashion for almost a decade (!), it's definitely time to dip my toe into the wide open seas of interior design.
As Michelle has been dutifully blogging, I have recently had the pleasure of helping Lüp turn their cozy-but-cluttered office space into a cohesive, comfortable place to work. My main task was to come up with an overall plan and then source the furniture and accessories they would need to purchase to make my vision a reality. Luckily, I am a virtual encyclopedia of affordable furniture and housewares thanks to my favorite home-related blogs. That's why, for this first post, I thought I'd share my wealth of knowledge by passing on four of my favorite sites and explain why they are worth exploring.
Working from the tagline "Saving the world, one room at a time," Apartment Therapy was founded by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan to facilitate a group that could help each other make their homes more beautiful, organized and healthy. This site is really a catch-all that is moderated by editors in different cities around the world (meaning that if you have a question you'd like answered by locals, you can write directly to your closest branch). From member house-tours to new products to store reviews, Apartment Therapy is truly a community in the best sense of the word: It brings people together from all around the world in the name of good design.
Moderated by Brooklyn-based Grace Bonney, this blog was founded on the principal that the hip and handmade should have a place in the home. Grace regularly covers under-the-radar artists and students who strike a chord with her modern/craft aesthetic, and she employs contributors to cover subjects like recipes and do-it-yourself projects. (Check out her wonderful gift guides searchable by price, up now!) More than just a site, Design*Sponge has become a link to the real world. Grace founded Biz Ladies, a series founded in 2006 to connect local women running their own art and design-related businesses. She also runs a scholarship program created to assist art and design students in the pursuit of their dreams.
Moderated by Brooklyn-based Grace Bonney, this blog was founded on the principal that the hip and handmade should have a place in the home. Grace regularly covers under-the-radar artists and students who strike a chord with her modern/craft aesthetic, and she employs contributors to cover subjects like recipes and do-it-yourself projects. (Check out her wonderful gift guides searchable by price, up now!) More than just a site, Design*Sponge has become a link to the real world. Grace founded Biz Ladies, a series founded in 2006 to connect local women running their own art and design-related businesses. She also runs a scholarship program created to assist art and design students in the pursuit of their dreams.
#3 DOMINO
Although this site is really the landing page for the magazine of the same name, there are daily updated features and links to a fabulous set of archives that will inspire even the most design-challenged among us. Searchable galleries range from the general (kitchens and bedrooms) to the specific (toile fabric, anyone?) Best of all, everything shown in the images is sourced with prices to make shopping easy. The site's newest feature is called My Deco File, and it allows users to upload or tag images from anywhere on the web and place them in sharable folders. I used this tool when preparing a presentation for Lüp's office redo, and it was both easy and fun.
#4 EDDIE ROSS
I discovered Eddie through Bravo's Top Design, a reality show in the vein of Top Chef and Project Runway. His day job is actually as the Senior Style Editor of Martha Stewart Living (after stints as a caterer and as an editor at House Beautiful), and his absolute excitement about all things design is contagious. He's really a Renaissance man: Eddie arranges flowers with gusto, reworks furniture found for pennies on the dollar, creates beautiful menus for entertaining and then places them all into a context that works for the average reader. I particularly love his little tips and tricks for decorating on a budget, and he even hosts flea market trips where he teaches a small group of shoppers how to find treasure among the trash.
Hopefully you'll be amazed at all the inspiration that's out there for the taking. To me, decorating your home is just like getting dressed in the morning; it's a way to present yourself to your guests that says a bit about your personal style. A great painting can be like a beautiful pair of earrings: It dresses up a blank canvas with something special.
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