pucciacrispino

[pucciacrispino]

{Fresh Air}  Timeless, grand details on an intimate scale.  Classic architecture never disappoints as the ever present glove to breathtaking design.

Via Pinterest

[pucciacrispino]

When I sit in a finely tailored chair I feel like I'm better looking.

Genevieve Gorder

[pucciacrispino]

There are three kinds of projects that I will go for…the one I love right away, the one with great potential, or the one I can learn a lot from.

Ryan Korban

[pucciacrispino]

I'm going to make everything around me beautiful - that will be my life.

Elsie de Wolfe

[pucciacrispino]

{Enviable Abodes}  With glamour to spare, this Windsor Smith designed kitchen elevates a basic need to an art form.  From the luxe finishes and details to the 'we mean business' professional appointments, this space is everything form and function should be. Hunters and gatherers never had it so good.

The House of Windsor via Veranda

[pucciacrispino]

{Delight}  Pablo Picasso

Via David Douglas Duncan

[pucciacrispino]

{B Squared}  Proof that black and brown can co-exist beautifully.  To ease the transition, try incorporating brown tones through variant textures such as wood and leather, and black in fabrics and paint.  When you consider the natural combination that occurs on tortoise shells, leopards, and more it's apparent that nature had it right all along.

Clockwise from top:  Elle Decor; Ralph Lauren Home; Jayson Home; Larry Laslo; Jayson Home

[pucciacrispino]

{Juxtaposition}  Raw and refined.  Fancy and staple.  Polished and patinated.  Deconstructed.  As Anne Morrow Lindberg observed, "A note of music gains significance from the silence on either side."  Similarly, in design, the jarring contrast of two disparate seasons can elevate the impact of the mating.  Think simply - delightfully melted wax enveloping crystal candelabras, ornately patterned rusted wrought iron gates, the gilt edged pages of a worn leather journal.  This principle too translates to fashion.  Diamond in the Rough combines natural, rough diamonds with their polished counterparts.  The result?  Wearable art so unexpectedly beautiful it feels destined to coexist as a study in material evolution.

Via Diamond in the Rough

[pucciacrispino]

You have to think of a house as forever, even if it's not. You can't design for the flash of a moment.

Paolo Moschino

[pucciacrispino]

{Escapes}  This resort holds a special place in my heart, but aside from the sentimental value, the design combined with the scenery of San Jose del Cabo is my idea of paradise.  The use of traditional Mexican style hacienda furniture, liberal placement of lanterns, and incorporation of nautical touches such as rope and driftwood create a setting that is luxe, authentic, and pure tropical bliss.  To steal an idea for your own home, try backlighting intricately carved wood pieces such as mirror frames or headboards.  The effect is dramatic and oh so sexy.

Dodd Mitchell via Cabo Azul Resort

[pucciacrispino]

{Shop Talk}  Although it was still a (well worth it) three hour drive from Austin, one thing I miss most about Texas is unbridled access to the Wisteria warehouse.  Their buyers successfully and consistently handpick a menagerie of casegoods, upholstered pieces, and home accessories eclectic enough to fit into virtually any decor.  Luckily for those of us elsewhere, the website and catalog deliver.  Literally and figuratively.  This antiqued peacock mirror has long been one of my favorite pieces.  At 5' wide, the sheer size is a head turner.

Via Wisteria

[pucciacrispino]

{Paint it Black}  As Miles Redd says, "Dark can be moody, dark can be elegant, dark can be very sexy."  Black ceilings, trim, walls...how far do you dare to go? 

Clockwise from top:  McGill Design Group; Windsor Smith; Miles Redd; Joan Scheinberg Design Associates

[pucciacrispino]

In life as in design, it is not perfection you should be after. There's beauty in the faded and worn, the well loved, and the sentimental...After all, life has seams. Your home should be like a loosely woven fabric of desires, memories, practical, notions, and even compromises.

Celerie Kemble

[pucciacrispino]

{Transportation}  If I were an RV girl, this would be my chariot.

Rachel Horn Home via The New York Times

[pucciacrispino]

{Culinary}  Honey drizzled goat cheese.  Cin, cin indeed!

Via Leite's Culinaria

[pucciacrispino]

{Wasted Space} Good things come in small packages, but when it comes to home design sometimes the well placed indulgent use of square footage in unexpected areas lends an air of grandiosity to otherwise practical layouts.  From grand foyers to wide staircases and hallways, the illusion skews our perception of scale and space.  In all the best ways.

Via DecorPad

[pucciacrispino]

{Environmentally Engineered}  I've long said there is little more desirable than a temperate day where it is just cool enough to appreciate the warmth of the sun or a nearby fire dancing across your skin.  Perhaps in a primal way the appeal of the fire goes beyond heat; the forced nature of the flame counterbalancing the surrounding natural climate.  In much the same way I'm intrigued by this marriage of man and nature by Portuguese architects Manuel and Francisco Mateus.  Radiant heat sand floors.  In the absence of organically warmed sand, what could beat the feel of toasty sand at night or in the off season between toes?  Sometimes, dare I say, cheating is good.

Aires Mateus via Elle Decor