glorious gloria

NY Mag's Home Design issue is out (well, it's been out for over a week, but being in Alabama we are just now getting around to blogging about it...) and our favorite piece was Wendy Goodman's peek into Gloria Vanderbilt's pad. An eccentric angle on traditional glamor, her Fifth Avenue dwellings are saturated with boldness, out-of-the-box details and design elements evolved from Vanderbilt's colored past. After seeing this fascinating view of Vanderbilt, we can't wait to get our hands on Goodman's new book, The World of Gloria Vanderbilt.

college prep

Sometimes we miss coed life at The University. Fortunately, we get to stay in touch with our alma mater throughout the school year, working on parties for various University, sorority and fraternity functions. Now that summer is here, campus is a little quieter (and traffic is much lighter!), but not for long. A new crop of kids (err...young adults) are gearing up for summer orientation visits and starting their next chapter in Tuscaloosa. As we've mentioned, we outfit some fun and fantastic dorm rooms each year, and oftentimes students can keep most of their fabrics and accessories for years to come.

Yesterday, we met with a lovely lady from Schumacher fabrics who shared some of her favorite bright prints. Many of our top picks hailed from fashion designer Trina Turk's collection. It's an upper-end indoor/outdoor line (worth every penny!) that will hold its pizazz through just about anything during a four-year jaunt on campus – even an impromptu toga party with John Belushi and Otis Day and the Knights.

and here's to you, mommie dearest

We're prepping flowers for mothers and graduates this weekend, and thought it would only be appropriate to pay tribute to one of the greatest movies ever made, The Graduate (although paying tribute to Mommie Dearest was a close second). We'd prefer to wake up in Mrs. Robinson's Hollywood Regency style house from the 1967 classic. The bold black and white stripe, animal prints, futuristic mod furnishings and and a killer bar scream timeless glamor. And the SCUBA suit!

As for this weekend's flowers, we received several gorgeous rose varieties, pure white hydrangea, fabulous Casablanca lilies and rich greenery to create beautiful, glamorous arrangements for the dearest mothers and eager graduates we are honoring this weekend. (It's not too late to get an order in for delivery!) Which leads to us to wonder...would you rather be sending Mother's Day flowers to Mrs. Robinson or Joan Crawford?

belgravia

Here is a sneak peek into Carrie and Big's apartment in the new Sex and the City movie, and look who's staring center stage – Lee Jofa's Belgravia fabric (pictured on the dining room chairs in the foreground). How beautifully do the natural tones in the fabric pick up the bold colors in the background? We have memos of the fabric at the store and think it looks smashing upholstered on dining room chairs. Here's another look from an ad campaign Lee Jofa ran about a year ago.

The pattern is actually inspired by historic English country home design (which we are quite partial to when it comes to a tradtional design) and is licensed under the Royal Oak Foundation. We'll save our praises about the benefits of joining the Foundation for another post, but feel free to check out more info via Alice Marshall PR (NY's esteemed boutique travel/spa/design firm) here.

Interested to see more on the interiors from SATC2? Check out Habitually Chic.