Sneak Peak

After starting to clean my apartment in preparation for my upcoming move (more on that to come!) I spent a good portion of the night laying on my bed on the phone like in the movie Bye Bye Birdie staring out my window, kicking my legs in the air, and watching them set up for Urban Showcase!! (see previous post below for details)

Lucky me can see right into all levels of the house from my bedroom and I tried to creep and get some good pictures but they didn't turn out well except this little guy in the basement window....

...don't you think there should be a little sign hanging that says "Jonathan Adler was here!?"

Urban Showcase

I've seen this house rise from the ground up over the past year and it has honestly been nothing short of amazing. I live just behind it and I've got to say Bradford has become my favorite street in the South End, it's a perfect location without being too busy and I love all the houses on it. 44 Bradford Street is finally complete and now ready to be shown off.


...and not just shown off in an open house. Local Realtor, Ricardo Rodriguez, will be presenting the Urban Showcase - April 29-30, May 1-2, and May 6-9.
Each floor will be done by a different designer and put on show to benefit the Pine Street Inn ($10 Thursday/Friday, $20 Saturday/Sunday). Need even more reason to come? One of the floors will be done by Jonathan Adler! Other designers include Terrat Elms (known for designing The 1850, also in the South End), Dennis Duffy of Duffy Design Group (designed Rocca,) and Lisa Kreiling of LTK Interiors.


Here are a few previews of the designers, Jonathan Adler...a private residence on Shelter Island, via jonathanadler.com

Terrat Elms...a kitchen in the 1850 building, via terratelms.com

Duffy Design...great room in Concord, MA via duffydesigngroup.com.

LTK Interiors...living room in a Boston duplex via ltkinteriors.com.

Boys to Men

My sister, Katherine, was in Boston this weekend for a bachelorette party and they surprised the bride-to-be by 'renting' the house they all lived in during their years at BC from the kids that live there now. Good in theory, right? Reminiscing in their old house - this huge Victorian in Brighton that was the closest thing BC ever saw to a sorority house. Yea, good in theory.

They arrived to see this....


4 hours and 7 maids later it was as liveable as they were going to get it. Now I've seen a lot of bad apartments and houses through my four years at BC and various trips home to Ohio State houses on campus but nothing like this!

It got me thinking, and I couldn't think of many male-owned houses and apartments whose interiors I really admired. With the obvious exceptions...Johnathan Adler and Simon Doonan's Palm Beach house.

Nate Berkus's Chicago apartment...

So I did a little digging, and granted these are not your average men, look at some of the beautiful homes I found! Clearly designers and filmmakers and hair dressers already have a predisposition for beautiful things but these homes are still inhabited by the same sex that was inhabiting the aforementioned house - decorated with mostly just beer and dirt.

J. Mendel designer, Gilles Mendel's bedroom...


Lambertson Truex designers - Richard Lambertson and John Truex's dining room...


Frederic Fekkai's living room...


Filmmaker and directer Brett Ratner's living room...


Images via Elle Decor

Back to TV

Now that I don't have a college campus filled with all my friends and football games to look forward to ever fall my anticipation has turned to the new season of TV that starts in September - yes, being a "real person" has proven to include a few downgrades in terms of anticipated events. None the less, we have to enjoy the little things! So my wait with baited breath all summer has finally come to an end as I once again get to indulge my guilty pleasures; Gossip Girl, The City, The Hills (skeptical this year for obvious reasons,) Real Housewives of, well, just not Atlanta to be honest. And so to pay homage to my friends that I'll get to finally see again in these next few weeks why not take a look at a few reasons I've missed them! I'll go ahead and start big, the Van Der Woodsen apartment on Gossip Girl? I don't even know where to begin.

I honestly have dreams about the Kartell lamp in Serena's bedroom, I first noticed it at Shreve, Crump, & Low in Boston and have been pining for it ever since.

I'm sorry but I don't know if anyone deserves to get an Eames Chair and Missoni Fabric in one item!
Images from Apartment Therapy Los Angeles

Now as much as I hate giving any press to Olivia Palermo I must commend her taste, and ability to keep an all-white living room clean (but lets not kid ourselves, she doesn't take care of that herself.) Anyway, I obviously love the Hermes tray that she has in her living room - I'm really a sucker for any kind of tray - and I'd like to give myself a little pat on the back for finding it! Hudson, my favorite home store here in Boston had a similar one in a Louis Vuitton print so I asked and they can order the Hermes version as well.

Image via New York Post
I love Erin's gallery wall in her living room and you can't really see it here but to the right of Whitney she has some great lucite bar stools...you know how I feel about lucite.
Image via MTV

And then sometimes TV is best, because it shows us the worst...


...sorry Alex and Simon.
Image via Brownstoner