luxe minimalism at calvin klein home

a few weeks back, my friend, sara boyd, director of PR at calvin klein home invited me to meet calvin klein home's talented creative director, amy mellen, and celebrate the launch of calvin klein home's store within a store at HD buttercup.  much luxe minimalism was on display- and a lil bit was sent home in our gift bags too... thanks for the pretty pillow CK home!

while there, i instragrammed this big, gorgeous (and heavy) golden bowl and y'all seemed seemed to dig it too, judging by the number of likes, so when i got home i immediately hopped on the computer to see what amy has been up to with the new calvin klein home collections and boy, did i like what i found:

golden tumblers, GET ON TO MY BAR CART!

golden pitchers too!

and i would cut a bitch for 8 place settings of this gorgeous golden flatware (since i never have dinner parties, i could make do with one place setting i guess, but that's kind of lonely and sad, don't you think?)

lest you think i was bitten by the gold bug, all sorts of other chic items caught my eye on the site, like this chic cocktail pitcher.  truth be told, i probably like this because it looks eerily similar to my own 1960's vintage italian cocktail pitcher but mine doesn't have the groovy stir stick, so i'll gladly take this one too.

and honestly, gold lust aside, i think my favorite item on the site was CK home's signature fragrance candles, poured into minimal marble containers in black, gray or white. so, so, chic.

now hop on over to calvin klein home and tell me what is your favorite!

Add caption

turns out, it's super easy being green (my 55 downing street spring picks)

here's my picks, now go here to read the post.

spotted at potted

abigail stone, i spotted these cool handmade "nantucket" planters by petersen pottery at my friends' mary and annette's cute atwater village garden store, potted, and i thought they'd be perfect for the modern refresh happening in your living room. can't you see them in the bay of your living room window?

just sayin'

touring charming historical charleston with the urban electric co. (#UECo10tour)

as i posted previously on the blog, it was my great fortune to be included in a junket this past fall to charleston, SC, to celebrate the urban electric co's 10 anniversary. one of the best parts of this amazing trip was the chance to tour the stunning architecture of charleston, a city that has long been on this architecture and design buff's bucket list of sites to visit, and i sure wasn't disappointed by what i saw.  such an amazingly beautiful little city.

it's hard to believe that urban electric has only been around for 10 years as its beautiful lighting is seamlessly woven into the fabric of the city's historic core, where homes are considered modern if they were built after 1850. ;-)  everything is just flat out storybook pretty, and i spent the time on our tour literally exclaiming over and over again "it's so pretty; it's so pretty".  cuz it was.

my friend, stacy bewkes, of quintessence is standing in for scale- the custom urban electric lantern topping the gates of this mansion is probably over 4 feet tall. (

distinctive charleston "single houses" where the entrances are placed on the sides, not facing the street. something to do with a local tax waybackwhen which taxed property by street frontage not lot size, so all the lots are narrow yet deep.

swear to zeus, practically every house in charleston has a historical plaque. if you don't know who built it and who slept there, i think your neighbors probably shun you- "their house isn't even historically important!"

i wanted to explore all the secret gated gardens of charleston which are accessible by long paths from teh street, again due to teh lot/frontage thing. i didn't explore them because i didn't want to get arrested for trespassing, but trust, i was as nosy as possible without breaking the law!

i might have squealed when i saw the spanish moss hanging from the trees- this southern california boy only knows the fake version from the french quarter at disneyland. ;-)

loved this friendly orange tabby walking on a carpet of yellow fallen blooms.

porgy and bess is a favorite for me, so it was cool to be in the city where it (fictionally) took place.

we even visted a plantation, fenwick hall (which i had some misgivings about) but the grounds were stunning and the people restoring it were passionate about preserving this piece of history, and i agree that it should be preserved. we can't deny our past, so better to preserve it, than bulldoze over it and pretend it didn't exist. plus, did i mention it's really, really beautiful?

at some point the plantation house was a children's hospital and the the interior rooms are covered in a riotous variety of floral wallpapers.

michael amato, urban electric co's talented creative director points out some of the features being restored as well a bit of fenwick hall's history to our little group (including fellow designer, brad ford). architecture students from the college of charleston are helping to restore this piece of american history, which is also pretty neat.

i also found out that one of my favorite UECo fixtures, teh fenwick carriage sconce was created especially by michael amato for the restoration of the outbuildings of the plantation, which have been converted to chic residences. 

this lucky girl gets the run of the stunning grounds as the reigning queen of fenwick hall plantation.  loved meeting lulu and her human too.

again, i want to thank the urban electric co. for including me in this amazing trip to their home base of historical charleston. what a treat to be exposed to such amazing architecture and history.