Cover story, 'The New York Times' Home section

Check it out: I have the cover of The New York Times Home section today! All credit goes to Shantell Martin. She's the artist whose place I've been hinting about here. I'll be back soon with a few of my photos of her amazing Brooklyn apartment...

Photo here (for the Times) by Trevor Tondro.

Blue-grey walls

This is a photo from my friend Kevin's old place in L.A. I always loved the color of the blue-grey walls--grey changes so much throughout day, depending on light, and you can see it here from the pale blue near the window to the cooler shade on the right.

A slouched torso of a pillow.

I recently removed all the bookshelves on my walls that were secured with brackets I drilled into metal studs under the conflicting guidance of four employees at Ace Hardware across the street. (A metaphoric life lesson: No one knows the best way to drill into a wall, and you don't know what's on the other side until you do.)  I've been wondering--god, I hope I don't take this on--about painting a wall either a dark blue, like Wayman did (that's Benjamin Moore's Abyss), or something light like this grey. Complicated, I think, and not only in terms of the sophisticated color scheme. Wish me luck?

Who are you

Who are you? I am deliriously busy. And I've been working on a story on this artist, so I'll reveal her and post more pics next week when the story's up.

Who's going to Design Week? The Cooper-Hewitt has the amazing new informational site, designweeknyc.org. By the way, Kurt Andersen is funny about the over-propped house, and I've always had a thing for benches.

UPDATE 5/27/12: Subject revealed! This is at the home of Shantell Martin, whose room I wrote about in a cover story for the Home section of The New York Times. 

Pretty pens

I'm writing about someone who draws, and the pens (above) live under desk (below) in organized bins. Sort of like a garden at your feet. Stay tuned for the story, and I'll reveal her identity (and many more pics) when the piece is published... 

UPDATE 5/27/12: Subject revealed! This is at the home of Shantell Martin, whose room I wrote about in a cover story for the Home section of The New York Times. 

Roots and blooms

Yesterday at the end a particularly stressful day, I zoned out taking pictures of my Begonias and the Propagation Project. Who likes drinking out of stemless wine glasses, anyway? Happy weekend!

Piano strings, bridge cables, a feather headdress

I won't say much about this anonymous friend's place, but I enjoyed poking around and plucking piano strings (above) while wearing a feather headpiece (below). I also enjoyed the Manhattan Bridge with coffee from a red mug; books and puzzles; a soulful guitar and a decorated thermostat; an intercom phone, askew. (Ha! I just Googled "askew," because I was curious about the etymology, and look: funny.)

Fire bucket

Sometimes when I visit a place for Homebodies, it ends up being so quirky and interesting that I try to sell it to a publication instead of writing about it on my blog. That's what happened here, though what's so fascinating about this home isn't pictured... We'll have to wait and see! I want a fire bucket. eBay has come cool old ones.

UPDATE 5/27/12: Subject revealed! This is at the home of Shantell Martin, whose room I wrote about in a cover story for the Home section of The New York Times.

Furniture fair, Milan

The annual Salone Internazionale del Mobile furniture fair begins tomorrow in Milano! I'm following from my desk in Greenwich Village, and while nothing beats midnight dinner parties with locals like the one I'm (re-)posting here, it's not too terrible watching the scene from Twitter. So far on the #milan12 stream, I see that Stockholm studio Form Us With Love got a nice NYT write-up on its mesh metal lamp; the pop-up restaurant Spring Table from London designer Tom Dixon overlooks ruins; Camron PR has spotted Barber Osgerby with the Olympic torch... Will Sarah Natkins post her bold visions to Tumblr???

If you're in New York, stop by Sight Unseen's Shape Shop at Creatures of Comfort. On display in the gallery through May 6 is "geometry-obsessed work of 30 designers who hail from Los Angeles to London." Be there or be square.

In this post, I fondly recall a starry night where I was well-fed with lovely company at the home of photographer Sean Michael Beolchini. Giant gooseneck lamps were swiped from a boulevard; crates served as side tables; cords snaked around potted plants; there were a lot of sneakers.

Sort of in use, sort of in place

Catherine's colorful kitchen is one of my favorites: yellow countertops; a red bucket for cleaning; bird cages on the bookshelf and the stovetop; a cheery bird hanging from a spring in front of the window. Sort of in use and sort of in place is sort of artistic and maybe attainable.

Are you getting unwanted emails from Homebodies?

I keep forgetting to ask: Are you suddenly getting emails from Homebodies that you didn't subscribe to? Please let me know. I added a "Follow by Email" option on the right column, and I'm noticing spikes in traffic once a day, presumably when the email is sent out, but it's such a new feature that I'd be surprised if that many people have already signed up. I'm trying to figure out if Blogger (owned by Google) uses the Gmail addresses of people who follow via other means...? Anyway, please leave a comment below if you suddenly started receiving emails, because I'd like to fix it. Don't be shy.

I'm heading to the NYPL now and am looking forward to a busy week: a slew of design-related assignments, a visit tomorrow morning for Homebodies, a friend in town who's playing guitar with the lovely Rachael Yamagata. I guess it's windy today? The Weather Channel has a rather childlike depiction of the day's conditions. Happy Monday!