The first time I visited Ladurée in Paris was the summer of 2006. I was studying fashion at Parsons School of Design in Paris and most of my time was dedicated to drawing and browsing fabric stores. Down the street from Ladurée, I wandered into a perfume shop, L’Artisan Parfumeur, my first exposure to the…
Category: Design ideas
The #LKRB was a fashion hashtag fail that opened the window to a low-key luxury lifestyle shaped by the Millennial economy. (Think quiet luxury with a thoughtful approach to budgeting.) Learn #LKRB principles of design that will show you how to incorporate an authentic old money aesthetic into a contemporary home. Read decorating 101 tips to help you get started and draw on professional design ideas from popular design philosophies.
Fashionable learning: one fabric swatch at a time
The first fashion internship on my career path was a production internship at a small atelier in New York City’s Meatpacking District, a few months before the global financial crisis imploded. At the time, the neighbourhood was vibrant with contemporary fashion brands during the day and the hottest clubs in Manhattan at night. While my…
Is your quiet luxury home preppy at heart?
One of the hardest interior decorating choices in American luxury homes, is whether or not to include upscale preppy influences. Is covering your walls with paintings of horses and dogs subtly nostalgic, or, is it tacky and fake? Anyone with old school preppy grandparents can tell you, it’s ok to be fake as long as…
Decorating 101: what the best sheets are made of
The best bedding sets are expensive. Have you ever wondered why high-quality sheets and duvets cost so much? The answer has a lot to do with the raw cost of materials and there isn’t much that manufacturers can do to reduce the price. The bedding set in the picture is all cotton. The sheets are…
Great book: Soul of the Home
Some coffee table books are so great, that you don’t just decorate your coffee table with them, you read them cover to cover. Tara Shaw’s influential interior design book Soul of the Home: Designing with Antiques is a “must-have” for anyone who has inherited antiques or an interest in shopping for antiques. Unless you’re refurbishing…
How the Millennial Economy changed luxury
Since it’s the New Year, I thought I’d start the year off with a post about the Millennial Economy. The rise of quiet luxury doesn’t have much to do with budgeting, but it does have a lot to do with economics. Millennials have reimagined the design world, from fashion to interiors, in their efforts to…
Professional design: making an interior healthy
Healthful living starts with a healthy interior environment. Before undertaking an interior decorating project, it’s helpful to review your built environment against healthy building standards. For example, upgrades to paint colours and lighting will not have the desired impact on your wellbeing if your space doesn’t have thoughtfully installed windows. As an athletic young woman…
Decorating 101: attractive and colourful linens
When introducing colour into your home, purchasing colourful linens is a great way to test how different colours attract positive energy to your environment. Colourful curtains, pillows, throws, towels and bedding can all enhance the ambience of a room without the permanence of investing in colourful paint or furniture. Linens typically last for about 5…
#LKRB principle of design: waste not, want not
With a no-waste approach to interior decorating, environmental sustainability and financial sustainability go hand in hand. One of the primary reasons that glamorous historical properties are sold into trusts is because they were built without an eye to maintenance costs. A low-key luxury living space gives thought not only to day-to-day contemporary living, but also…
#LKRB principle of design: love before you buy
The most important reason to purchase inexpensive furniture as a young adult isn’t to save money, but rather to make sure that when you do buy high quality furniture, you love what you buy. Shopping for antiques and custom-made decor takes patience and persistence. If you don’t hire an interior designer to do your shopping…