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Showing posts with label blog love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog love. Show all posts

Design Traveler: Si from French By Design

Bonjour, I am Si from the FrenchByDesign blog. France is my home country, so it’s only natural that when sweet Christina asked me to guest post in her “Design Traveler” series, I chose a bed and breakfast located in Southern France. Ready? Pack your bags, we’re heading to the beautiful Cathare country, a few miles away form the gorgeous village of Carcassonne. 


Welcome to Camellas-Lloret, a culmination of a love affair with France and a desire by a couple, Annie and Colin, to share it.




Located in Montréal, a picturesque village, 15 minutes away from the gorgeous village of Carcassonne, and on the route of St Jacques de Compostelle, Camellas-Lloret is an 18th century family home fully renovated with two main focuses in mind: authenticity and comfort. Annie and Colin host this Maison d'Hôte [BnB] with brio: from morning croissants and café au lait, to evening drinks on the terrace, they will make everything they can to make you feel at home. Bon voyage!



All Photos Courtesy of Annie Moore and Camellas-Lloret ©

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Design Traveler: Andrea of The French Basketeer


Design Traveler Visits: Le Domaine de Chantilly, France
When thinking of Paris and châteaux, Versailles, Fontainebleau and perhaps the Loire Valley come to mind. But just a short distance from central Paris lies a gem of a château that has been carefully restored and offers some serious eye candy of paintings, decorative arts, gardens and equestrian displays.



The Domaine de Chantilly passed from different parts of the same family without ever being sold, from 1386 to 1897. The Château first opened to the public in 1898, less than a year after the death of the final owner, Henri d’Orleans, Duke of Aumale. As with the Louvre, the Château de Chantilly was improved, expanded, destroyed and rebuilt over the course of centuries. Its long history is complex, fascinating and, well…very French...

 
Chantilly was at its peak in the 17th century, when André Le Nôtre (who would be later become the head gardener at Versailles) created a Grand Canal, water features and parterres. Chantilly came alive with grand balls and fireworks displays, visits from Louis XV and plays by Molière.



The fun came to a halt during the French Revolution, when the collections of the Château were seized and carted off to the Louvre and the Château served first as a prison, then was partially demolished. The Château regained its glory in the 19th century when Henri d'Orléans, the fifth son of King Louis-Philippe, inherited the property (and great wealth) in 1830 at the age of eight.


 
Today, a visit to the Domaine includes the Renaissance-style Château, with grand entry hall and hunt theme, intimate chapel, a generous painting gallery, library with over 1,300 manuscripts and 12,500 books, private apartments and gardens. The collections are presented today just as they were in the 19th century as Henri d’Orleans had arranged them. The collection can be considered a mini-Louvre, with representation by many great French and Italian masters such as Raphael, Corot, Watteau, Poussin, Delacroix and Clouet.



The private apartments have been undergoing extensive renovation since 2005, and the details behind that work are interesting from a design standpoint. The largest expense of restoration work on the Château is gold leaf. Pure, 24 karat gold leaf is used, not paint, and there is a lot of it. The walls and relief are cleaned, to uncover the original colors, and not completely repainted. The paint is made especially for the Domaine with a base of what is called colle de peau, or animal glue, which holds well for centuries and has been used since ancient times.


The Domaine de Chantilly is a marvelous and carefully restored château with its collection of period decorative arts, paintings, book & manuscripts. In addition to being beautiful, it is also fascinating in that it is the personal collection of one man, Henri d’Orleans. If you have visited the Louvre or Versailles, you will love this Château, for the intimate portrait it paints of the tastes and life of one of France’s royal sons after the monarchy. In the spring and summer, the Domaine also presents a series of live horse shows and dressage demonstrations in the Grand Stables.


 
For more information on the Château de Chantilly, visit www.chateaudechantilly.com
* * * * *
Andrea Drexelius is a devoted Francophile and divides her time between Laguna Beach and various destinations in France. In addition to importing classic French market baskets, she writes extensively on France. The first of her e-book series Rêve will focus on Paris (including Chantilly) and will be published imminently.  Information on Rêve and her blog can be found HERE.











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Design Traveler: Shari from Little Blue Deer

Greetings!  Shari from Little Blue Deer here!  I am so honored to have been asked by one of my very favorite clients, Christina, to guest post while she is in fabulous Paree!  I know she'll be chic'ing it up all over the 7th Arrondissement, while we're here slogging away stateside, right?! 
One of the many perks to my full-time job as a design blogger and blog and website designer to the stars (that's you guys!) is that I get to travel frequently.  All I need to work is my laptop and a wireless card, so I have the freedom to go wherever I want to when I want to.  It's a privilege and a luxury, and I try to make the most of it.  
The place I travel to most frequently is New York City.  As a former Manhattanite, I love to see all of my friends, and some of my favorite and best clients are there, so it's always fun to hook up face to face.  Since I go there so often, I wanted to share some of my fave NY picks with you!  
Hotels:  
Even though I usually stay with friends, that doesn't mean that I don't pay attention to what is hot and happenin'!  You can't go wrong with The Standard.  As far as I'm concerned, this hotel is the gold "standard" (get it?!)  in downtown accommodations (is this "Dirty"?  You be the judge.)

And the High Line location has floor to ceiling windows in every room, plus it's the home of the Standard Grill.  
If downtown hipster makes you turn up your nose, you can't go wrong with The Carlyle.   One of the Upper East Side's finest, last time I was there they served up Bulgari Green Tea-flavored toiletries, and I will be the first to say that I am not above stuffing a few of those babies in my bag!  

So, we've got the sleeping down, but a girl's gotta eat, right?!  Seriously, take the trip out to Sunnyside, Queens, and load up on Salt and Fat

For a quick lunch, grab the most fabulous grilled cheese you will ever experience at Little Muenster on Stanton Street.  Don't forget the tomato soup!

You guys thought I was going to talk about shopping, right?  While I DO love to shop while I'm in NYC, an even more fabulous, and longer-lasting, treat, is a haircut by the "dancing hairdresser" of the Lower East Side, Misin Shin.  I found Misin quite by accident, and what an amazing discovery.  One of his trims lasts for months, and honestly, my hair has never looked so, well, finnnne.  Also, uh, he dances.  Check it out.

Finally, one of my NY must-haves is my iTunes NYC playlist.  Load up with tunes by M83, LCD Soundsystem, CHVRCHES and Santigold and you'll retain your hipster street cred even while rocking Tory Burch. 
And...that's all, darlings!  Can't wait to hear all about Christina's fabulous trip, see you guys in NYC!

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Weekend Wishes...


Wow what a week here.... our projects are inching closer to completion and I am gearing up for my trip to Paris, which is just next week!!  I hope you find some time to relax and enjoy the gift that is your bed, if it is anything like this I know you will!

Here are few things that inspired me this week....
A little visit here would be great.. (soon!)
I am seriously considering this for our trip.. great memories!
Pretty sure I need this for my trip too.(in black please).
Wishing I had a spot for this piece of art that we just put in the shop.


Have a wonderful weekend!

image via

 

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If you would like help creating inspirational spaces for yourself contact us!

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Seating at Tone on Tone...


So I am sure you know him...  Loi at Tone on Tone and his wonderful blog... well after receiving his most recent post in my inbox I went for a little peek at his shop.  Loi has just brought back a container from Europe and I am so excited to see what he found.  I love that he can create the most beautiful spaces and vignettes with layers of cream, greige, white, grey and a mix of soft muted colors.    So I am aspiring to bring home some beauties like this when we shop in France in the coming weeks.  (I have a wish list that is getting LONG).   





Photobucket If you would like help creating inspirational spaces for yourself contact us!

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here and there..


It is funny how everyday is so different even when it seems the same.  One little meeting can change your outlook for the next year in a good or bad way, or maybe just in a different way.  It seems that no matter what comes my way, there is always something there to follow it up.  Yesterday was one of those days were you look at what is coming up and decide- oh this is going to call for some changes some improvements, some improvising and a little bit of making your own destiny.  I am looking forward to it!  

I hope you had a wonderful week!  What did you get accomplished this week?  This is different from what are you doing this weekend- which is my normal question.  I feel like I had a very productive week and I am ready for a real break from work, time in the sun and with the family is on the agenda.

How did you like our first Designers at Home post?  If you are interested in participating please feel free to contact me as we would like to make this a regular thing here.

I fell for this photo and a million others on a blog I discovered this week.  

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Simply Christmas and thank you...


I always wonder if I could do a simple clean Christmas?  I love this look, easy going and relaxed not to flashy and just the right amount of sweet.  I fell for this image on Dreamy Whites.. her whole house is this perfect!   You should check it out!

I also wanted to say Thank You to all of the wonderful shops that participated in our Holiday Giving Series this year!!  It was a pleasure having you!



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Great Gifts {design library}

 I love nothing more than a good design book (okay well maybe jewelry) but they are on the top of my gift list all the time.  I love to give and recieve them!!!  Every great designer has tons of them and why shouldn't we be the same way?  These are some of my favorite new books and some that are on my wish list this Christmas!



You can click on any cover to see details and pricing.

Enjoy!
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Besotted Brand {giveaway}



For our third giveaway in the Holiday Giving Series here on greige we have an amazing gift set from Besotted Brand.  They are offering one of their Ultimate Stationary Gift Sets, which is full of beautiful things!  It satisfies the stationary and stamp lover alike! 
 
When we say ultimate we mean ultimate! This is our largest most luxe stationery gift set and is sure to delight any paper lover. The gift set is a virtual treasure trove of Besotted Brand goodies all housed in a large natural wood box with individual compartments.


 


The Ultimate Stationery Gift Set includes:
1-Large hinged wood box with nine individual compartments (approx 12" x12")
1-Full mini alphabet set (26 letters) crimson rubber cling back stamps with a lucite base in round mini hat box
1-'Kindly deliver to' crimson rubber cling back stamp, attached to lucite base
1-16th century 'fig.1' crimson rubber cling back stamp, attached to lucite base
1-calligraphy 'hello' crimson rubber cling back stamp, attached to lucite base
1-calligraphy 'thank you' crimson rubber cling back stamp, attached to lucite base
9-Archive labels
9-small shipping tags
-3 small ink pads (black, white, platinum).
-10 4 bar imported deckled edged fold-over cards w/matching envelope
1-organic cotton drawstring bag
 
 
For your chance to win The Ultimate Stationary Gift Set please visit Besotted Brand and leave a comment below telling us about your favorite item or items, for an additional chances to win you can tweet (easy to tweet just hit retweet at the bottom of the post), follow us here on the blog or on twitter or blog about our giveaway.  The winner will be chosen at random on December 7th, 2012 .  
 
Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

  **Don't forget I have to be able to contact you...  Please leave your name and some type of contact information if you are not able to be contacted with your profile**
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Farm to table {a wonderful evening}



On Saturday I was lucky enough to attend a wonderful dinner hosted by Andrea @ French Basketeer.  It was a beautiful evening with perfect weather and an amazing meal.  We were welcomed by the candle lit stairway and walked into the heart of the space, a covered loggia.  Everything was just perfect from the rosemary in the ice buckets (I will be using that one thank you very much!) to the singer who entertained us for the evening.  


A beautiful table with vintage dishes, silverware and linens.




 It is all in the details...  the water bottles were to die for!  These are the Christian Lacroix glass bottles for Evian. 











Andrea made a wonderful meal that I am still telling my family about.  I must make that Burrata with peach and tomato.  


I will say that the desert table was my next favorite.  Each creation was a wonderful temptress, and the display was really perfection.


It was so perfect to get a chance to talk with Andrea after the meal and meet her sweet little babies.  Andrea, it was beautiful and the food was fantastic, thank you for including me!   

I love a good party and this one was filled with a great group, great food and in a beautiful setting.  I think that each time we visit with another we have the opportunity to learn so much and take a bit of that experience along with us to share with others. It is also an amazing thing to meet people through blogging and be invited into their lives and homes in such a special way, who would have guessed what a small world this has become.

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