valentine's day City of Angels: Party at Almont Yard

Balcony off of Kathryn M. Ireland Showroom above Almont Yard. Photo katiedid.

Los Angeles is nothing if not a hot spot for great parties! When I was down, I had the good fortune to be Christian May's (Maison 21) date for what might be a design blogger's fantasy party. Many of you have heard of the chic design community known as Almont Yard in West Hollywood which consists of Lucas Studio, Inc., Harbinger, Nathan Turner Antiques, and Kathryn M. Ireland . Well....imagine an event hosted by our favorite online decor "sale" aficionados, the gals at One King's Lane, Susan Feldman and Alison Gleb Pincus. Then imagine that all of the designers that have their studios and shops at Almont Yard in attendance! Then go one step further and imagine even more design stars, media celebs and favorite design bloggers enjoying this fantastical affair! Heaven?! Why yes it was!

Here are just a few of the stars out that night:

Designer Hillary Thomas with our hosts, Alison Pincus and Susan Feldman of One King's Lane. Photo by Stephanie Keenan.

The lovely Parrish Chilcoat and Joe Lucas of Lucas Studio, Inc. and Harbinger. Photo by Stephanie Keenan

Harbinger is such a great shop, as all of the shops and studios are at Almont Yard. It is a "must see" if you are planning a jaunt to LA anytime soon.

Alison Pincus, Nathan Turner and Susan Feldman. Photo by Stephanie Keenan.

A bit of a side note: Nathan Turner has a Designer Profile on the One King's Lane site HERE. Just in case you want to check it out!

Designers Parrish Chilcoat and Peter Dunham. Photo by Stephanie Keenan

The amazing Fabric and Wallpaper Designer Lulu de Kwaitkowski. Photo by Stephanie Keenan

The stunning Giada De Laurentiis of Food Network's Everday Italian. Photo by Stephanie Keenan

Designer Oliver Furth, who you may have seen on some high profile blogs lately! Photo by Stephanie Keenan.

There were so many others there! I got to meet the oh-so-talented designer and blogger, Brooke Giannetti from Velvet and Linen, and Coleen Rider from Coleen and Company, who BTW is one of the founders of online magazine and encyclopedia, Balistrade and Bitters (check it out and join the registry HERE!)

It was an evening to remember, especially because I got to hang out with these guys:

Me with new friends Olga, Lisa Borgnes Giramonti of A Bloomsbury Life, and Christian May of Maison 21 in the Kathryn Ireland Showroom.

I couldn't have asked for a nicer group to hangout with!

I was planning on taking scads of photos, but the party was quite the madhouse! I was able to get a few of the Nathan Turner shop and you can see why you must take any opportunity to visit ALL of the shops! They are equally amazing.

valentine's day Nathan Turner Showroom.

valentine's day Nathan Turner Showroom.

valentine's day Nathan Turner Showroom
For many more photos of the Almont Yard shops, you can hop on over to Habitually Chic HERE for Nathan Turner, Joe Lucas Inc. and Harbinger HERE and HERE and Kathryn Ireland HERE. Brooke at Velvet and Linen also had some amazing photos from that night HERE. She had her lucky daughter in tow. It looks like they had a fantastic time! I wish we could have had more than a fleeting "hello" as she and her daughter were whisked away for Leila's Open House.

All and all, this was the highlight of my trip! So a big thanks to all of the designers (especially to Joe Lucas for his very kind emails and photos!) for opening their wonderful shops, and to our lovely hosts from One King's Lane ( hop on over to check out the sinfully good deals...tell 'em I sent'cha!)....
and to my good friend and date for the evening, the charming Christian May! Thank you so much for including me!

valentine's day Design Crush: Peter Dunham

By now you have certainly had the pleasure of pouring over the fantabulous home of Peter Dunham featured in the latest Domino Magazine. (He is definitely in my top ten design crushes at the the moment.) Then I opened my Western Interiors magazine and was excited when I saw another one of his design projects in the same month.

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I curled up on my freshly made four poster bed with some Dove chocolate Easter eggs to settle in for a relaxing read with my pile of magazines. The more I looked at the Western Interiors spread, the more I realized I had seen some things before.

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Now we all know the Peter has opened a beautiful new shop in LA called Hollywood at Home, so some of the things are from his new line of furniture and fabrics. You can see a couple of his spool chairs in the photo above.

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And this pretty nook has pillows made from Peter's Star Burst fabric.

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But then I realized there were more than just a few items in common. And the hunt was on. I saw this Ikat rug in Peter's own Dining Room.

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Many of the fabrics in this Master Bedroom are from Peter's collection as well: "Fig Leaf" on the pillow and "Indian Chintz" for the window treatments.

All photos above, Western Interiors magazine, April/May 2008, Photos by Grey Crawford

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Now here is Peter's Living Room. So livable and cozy, but also sophisticated. The African Shield on the back wall had shown up above the fireplace in the top photo as well. Now how do you all feel about this? Personally, I like the fact that Mr. Dunham has been using his home as sort of a revolving showroom of objects that he finds, gets to enjoy for awhile and then passes on for others to treasure. This is the lifestyle of many an antiques dealer. What better way to share your life and passions!

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These chairs are another of Mr. Dunham's designs. You may remember them from Jennifer Garners home. And the Ikat rug ended up in the kitchen above.

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Here are the spool chairs again. And if you read down, you will see these cork lamps are for sale through the Hollywood at Home website. Please don't forget to take a look at the wonderful things here!

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In Peter's Guest House, you can see his Fig Leaf fabric as well as Star Burst on the pillows. His mix of found things really makes his interiors so personal.

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Again we see the Indian Chintz fabric used for the draperies in Peter's bedroom, and I found the green glazed bedside lamps for sale on Hollywood at Home.

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This carved column pedestal is also available through Hollywood at Home/ 1st dibs.

Photos above from Domino Magazine, April 2008, Photos by Miguel Flores-Vianna

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Here are the items as seen on Hollywood at Home website. I may have to snatch up those pedestals.

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Fig Leaf

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Indian Chintz

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Star Burst

These are but a few of the really beautiful fabrics you can find through Hollywood at Home.

For more information about Peter Dunham, be sure to check out posts by Peak of Chic here, and Stylecourt here and here!