Architectural Digest Home Show

I toured the Architectural Digest Home Show Friday and it seemed to have a renewed sense of energy.  There were a lot of great exhibitors this year including Diane von Furstenberg's new home collection. 

I love all the prints for the bedding.

The DVF prints are even on the tableware.

I'm not usually drawn to contemporary furniture but these pieces from USM Modular Furniture caught my eye.  I'm sure it was because they were orange but they have great lines and would look great in a home or office.

The simple bar cart was chic too.

The gallery owner forgot his cards so I don't know what booth this was from but I love the abstract paining. It would look amazing in a room with the USM furniture.

Gargoyles Ltd. has been in business since 1970 but I had never heard of them before. Their booth was amazing and stopped me in my tracks.  It was like visiting the best curated flea market. 

According to their website, "Gargoyles Ltd, a unique prop house with one-of-a-kind and reproduction sports and vintage memorabilia, including architectural fragments and period graphic reproductions."

I love the old suitcases and polo mallets.

You name it, I'm pretty sure they've got it.

I think old sports equipment looks so much chicer than today's options.

Wish I had taken a closer look at that green alligator case!

More chic suitcases.

I always love running into people I know and was delighted to see D. Bryant Archie in her booth.

Her chic array of pillows.

I especially love her beautiful alpaca throw blankets.

The Contemporary Posters booth had a lot of colorful options.

The Nancy Koltes booth made me want to throw out all my bedding and start over.

A plethora of pillows.

The beautiful bed at Nancy Koltes.

The Skate Moderne booth of colorful shgreen furniture also caught my eye.

It was fun to stop by the Kindel Furniture booth and see designer Carleton Varney hanging out.

Carleton Varney designs the Dorothy Draper pieces for Kindel Furniture.

It was also great seeing my friends from The New Traditionalists and their chic booth.

On display were lots of new furniture and finishes.

Their famous bar cart.

Of course I loved the orange chair.

I made The New Traditionalists CEO Phillip Erdoes pose with theis chic case piece since he looked so dapper in his suit.

I always love checking out the great bags at Moore & Giles in their signature silver streak camper. If you haven't been to the Architectural Digest Home Show yet, you have until 6:00pm on Sunday.  Otherwise, you can check out all the exhibitors online.

Photos by Heather Clawson for Habitually Chic

Cocktails with The New Traditionalists

I recently had the pleasure of being asked to style a bar for a cocktail party celebrating the new collections of The The New Traditionalists. You might know them better by one of their lines Mason Gray or for their children's furniture line Duc Duc. Luckily there were no children at the party last week! Just lots of fabulous friends and designers like Jonathan Rosen, Harry Heissmann, Kevin Isbell, Nick Olsen, Ron Marvin, Bruce Shostak, and Laurie Reynolds who is now working with Bruce!

Since I live uptown and The New Traditionalists showroom is in Soho, I tried to use as many accessories they had on site as possible. This is something that I often so at my client's homes so it actually worked out well.

All of the furniture names are actually numbers that are meaningful to the company. The credenza that I used for my bar/entry table is Credenza No. Two Twenty Five. Not sure if you can tell by the photo but the gray finish was applied over a dark blue finish that can be seen around all the edges. It looked really beautiful in person and perfectly complemented my blue and orange color scheme. You can only see a glimpse of one of their chairs in this photo but you should definitely check out their upholstered pieces. The applied leather trimmings and details are like nothing I've ever seen!

The accessories did include a few pieces from my own apartment including my gold boxes, Eiffel Tower, candle and monogrammed match boxes. I also don't advocate smoking but the multi-colored Nat Sherman cigarettes in the silver cup were a nod to A Single Man and added more color.

While my styling project was like something I would do in a client's home, it couldn't compare with the work of real stylist Frances Bailey! She styled the Armoire No. Five Sixty Four with an orange lacquered interior that I loved! You can have the interiors lacquered any color and it's a fun surprise to find when you open a door or drawer!

I love the Domino magazine quality to the styling of this bar by Frances. I definitely think I need to have her give me some lessons!

Brady Wilcox the Chief Creative Officer of The New Traditionalists styled this simple bar on the Dresser No. Nine. I love how the white lacquer drawer fronts look with the darker wood finish. You can play with the color combinations to your heart's content! The furniture is all made American as well!

Monogrammed cocktail napkins are a nice touch to any home bar! I think that might also be a vintage trophy that was used as an ice bucket!

I owe a big thanks to The New Traditionalists team of David Harris, Rebby Gregg, Phillip Erdoes, and Brady Wilcox for allowing me to be a part of their special night. I can also confirm that a good time was had by all! Cheers!