Out & About :: Lovely Day

I love the floor at Lovely Day in Nolita and felt less creepy taking a picture of the floor in the bathroom than I did sitting at my seat at the bar.  I've taken pictures of bathrooms before so this bathroom floor photo is par for the course.  It's seen better days, but I'm totally in love with the pattern.

Frost Heaves

Around here winter has taken it's toll and the inevitable "frost heaves" signs have begun popping up all around.

So bumpy roads are inevitable but at least we have pretty frost patterns around.

Also inevitable....the fact that I can't take a clear photo.  Someday I'll get it right!

Out And About

This past month has been busy.  Work and fun have taken me all over the Northeast from New Hampshire to New York.  I found a ton of things I loved while on the road.

Painted signs on buildings....old and new.

Pretty vegan sushi I can actually eat from Beyond Sushi!  I bought it at 10 am and was carrying it around and actually had someone ask where I bought it because it looked so good.  Because I am classy, I ate two pieces and dropped the chopsticks on the ground, so I had to eat it with my fingers.  It was still super delicious- the only thing that would have made it better would have been if it was organic.

Patterns and repetition on buildings.

Bright color in a dingy side street.

Cute old stone buildings.

Water towers - for some reason I love to see them.

Great color combinations.

Have you been anywhere interesting lately?

Jaali

I used to work across the street from an Indian restaurant in Somerville.  A while ago they allowed me to make off with one of their Indian Elle Decor magazines {it was the only decent restaurant within a reasonable walking distance so we were there a LOT}.  I now, strangely, work a block away from their other only other location.  Last week I grabbed lunch there and it prompted me to pull out the magazine and look through it again as I do every so often.

Elle Decor India {photography: Tanuj Ahuja}

I really love this screen and the way the light shines through it.  The screen itself is beautiful but if you look at the ground shadows you see spots or hexagons, and if you look at the side shadows they are elongated diamond shapes.

Mandarin Oriental - Las Vegas

Okay so really this is a post on a wall {with a picture of a restaurant thrown in} not a full hotel.  The design of this wall at the Mandarin Oriental is amazing though and worthy of a post.  As you can see in the top photo the scale is enormous, it is Vegas after all.

via Interior Design {photography: George Apostolidis}

via Tomostyle

The restaurant is also designed on a grand scale with the action concentrated above in the lighting {both the pendants and the pattern of the downlights in the ceiling} and the amazing stone and artwork.

via Tomostyle

via Tomostyle

Happy New Year!

Obviously my New Year's resolutions didn't include blogging more but I'm trying. Perhaps for the Chinese New Year I can work on that again. Lately I have been incredibly busy {I'm not complaining but it does make blogging difficult} but I have somehow found time to get sucked into Korean dramas and I can't stop watching them.

I think I signed up to watch one on Hulu when they had it as a new addition and I figured, "why not?".  After a few months of it being stuck in my queue, I finally watched one episode and was totally sucked in.  The first one I saw was Cinderella's Sister and, set in a mostly traditional house in the country {they never say where but they do go into Seoul a few times}, it was filled with all sorts of design inspiration.

I love this wall and kept staring at it {hard when I had to read the subtitles - though I now can understand a tiny bit of Korean} thinking about it until I realized it is a sort of deconstructed pattern that is seen all around in similar forms.

I had even purchased a somewhat similar fabric for myself.

One by F. Schumacher.

And Ralph Lauren Home

I love this floral pattern on the wallpaper.

 The doors and windows were an assortment of patterns - all different.

Does the pattern in the background look familiar?  It reminds me of something but I can't place it....

This is not a feel-good show.  I think I cried through one complete episode {over an hour} and part of many others-stock up on tissues if you decide to watch. 

So, besides the person in the comments of this Design Sponge city guide, am I the only one who watches these?

{images: hulu}

Peter Pennoyer, Park Ave Foyer

I've had this image kicking around in my downloads folder {I have no idea where I found it}.  When I see it I giggle since the name of the photo rhymes.  With all the talk about the book by Peter Pennoyer Architects I thought I'd finally post it. 

I haven't read or seen the book, but I love the design of this foyer with the pattern on the doors and especially the metal work on the door.

{photo: unknown, if you know please help}

Pattern of the Week

I love the pattern and colors of this wall at Mercat A La Planxa, Chicago.

{photo: Rebecca Anne}

Pattern of the Week

Okay, so I don't have the prettiest pictures of this, and it's a bit hard to see, but while I was watching Community {which I watched by accident and found it was actually funny}, I spotted this pattern on the cement building on either side of the frame.

And here it is, blown up and distorted in Photoshop.

It's nothing fancy, but sometimes simple and modern does the trick.

{photo: Community on Hulu}

My New Favorite Wallpaper

I'm kind of obsessed with this wallpaper from Clarke & Clarke....and maybe the inlaid chest too.  

{photo: Clarke & Clarke}

Pattern of the Day

Found on a walk through Soho.  I'm not sure what street, but it ran north/south.

{photo: jeanine}

Pattern Inspiration

I was watching the show, V, and could help but think the blue and gold structure on the right would make a great pattern for a wallpaper or floor tile.

{photo: hulu}

Cashmere Mafia

I was watching Cashmere Mafia on Netflix and saw these church doors which have an amazing pattern.  I might have to hunt them down on my next trip to Manhattan.  I think the church is somewhere in Chelsea, but I'll have to do some sleuthing before my trip.


{photo: Cashmere Mafia screenshot}

Color & Pattern Inspiration from South Africa

(photos: #1 & 2 - mariya_umama_wethemba_monastery/ / CC BY 2.0; #3 - wildebees/ / CC BY 2.0; #4 - tipsfortravellers/ / CC BY 2.0; #5 - timparkinson/ / CC BY 2.0; #6 & 7 - paulmannix/ / CC BY 2.0; #8 - shalom_adamina/ / CC BY 2.0)