Shopping at Trade Secrets

Weaving my way in and out of the different vendors at Trade Secrets was super fun. I'm not going to show you ALL the goods, but just some of my faves...the highlights. Plus there are only so many rusty garden benches you can look at.

LOVE me some vintage watering cans. From Hunter Bee.

I actually saw a lot of mushrooms. At more than a few vendors. I thought these hand carved wooden ones from Hunter Bee were the most beautiful. Each one is different and they have an amazing handmade quality.

Botanicals! In an antique window frame! Hunter Bee has amazing pieces--especially that white chair.

I'm hoping that hats are going to make a big time comeback, you know, because of the royal wedding. Tracey Tooker Hats had the most gorgeous hats I'd seen in a while.

Aaaaaaaaaand I want this one.

Next I admired round industrial mirrors casually stacked up against each other softened by traditional textiles around it and reflected in it.

Susan Oostdyk had the most beautiful and fun linens. They're also amazing in quantity. See the next image.

A stack of fabulous faded linens...tied in a ribbon. YES.

SO I had a ton of fun people watching and dreaming of my converted farm house in the country that I would fill with distressed (real, not faux) benches in the front hall, and faded beautiful linens tied in ribbon. Up next I'll show you some favorite gardens! And some that were lame/a bit of a let-down. Which one will it be??!!



Alicia B.

The Book Signing...

I had an incredible weekend touring the Trade Secrets sale and touring the garden but I promised you a book signing, right? Johnnycake Books sponsored the book signing. Check out who I met!

Matthew Patrick Smyth, Annie Kelly, and Tim Street-Porter. I introduced myself and Annie Kelly said she read my blog! Exciting moment.

It was exciting to meet some amazing designers who gave up their time for a fun book signing! I'm really enjoying my Annie Kelly book, Litchfield Style which has some of the most beautiful interiors around. I was bummed not to have see Carolyn Roehm or Florence de Dampierre but what are you going to do?

I'll update you on the garden tours tomorrow because I'm EXHAUSTED! I had a gardenny weekend, spent time with my little sister (and my parents and fiance), and am now back in NYC, relaxing.



Alicia B.

Trade Secrets Book Signing

If you know me (you know me by now), you know I LOVE a good book signing. I love to have all my precious design books signed by the designers. It makes it special. Above are just a few of my signed books: Bunny, Bunny, Albert Hadley, Barry Dixon, Vicente Wolf, and Celerie Kemble. Anyway, enough about me. When I heard that there was going to be a book signing at Trade Secrets, I was SO JAZZED. There are EIGHT designers who are going to be there at the Johnnycake Books table (could that name be cuter??) between 10 and 1 to sign books. Besides Bunny Williams, I'm most excited about Carolyn Roehm because I've never met her and love her classic style. I own one of Florence de Dampierre's books as well and adore her. I can't wait to see the garden designers though as well. Gardens and landscape design is something I don't know a ton about but I find it totally fascinating. A beautiful landscaping job can make a home when you first approach it.

For more info about this, visit the Trade Secrets website. Okay, off I go to tour the gardens and see all the beautiful people!

Alicia B.

Trade Secrets Weekend!

This weekend I'll be doing what I do EVERY YEAR on this date...going to Trade Secrets! If you don't know, it's an annual garden tour and sale in beautiful Sharon, CT in which the proceeds go to Women's Support Services, a non profit organization to help victims of domestic violence. Design idols like Bunny Williams (who actually founded Trade Secrets) and Martha Stewart have been spotted there as well.

Bunny's house is on tour every year and her gardens are spectacular and incredibly charming. I'll give you an update after I see them! This year the new designer is Lynden Miller, a landscape designer who specializes in public gardens.

Intriguing, I know. If you live in NYC (of if you've been there), you've probably been to a park that she helped design or rehabilitate--Central Park is one of them. She heads up the Conservatory Garden of Central Park. Above is a shot of a garden at Battery Park City in lower Manhattan.

Who knew there was such a garden in NYC? Above is the British Garden at Hanover Square.

I'm excited to tour her garden home up in CT--don't worry I'll report back to you all! Have any of you been to Trade Secrets?


Alicia B.

I'm still alive...

Sorry for the silence, but I'm finishing up my semester tomorrow and have a huge project to present and I've been drowing in it for about 3 months. I designed a restaurant named Ciaroscuro based on a Caravaggio painting and I have been drafting, rendering, and modelling my butt off. Here is a snapshow of the model I made.

The walls are lined with a black moire fabric, the red tissue paper is a red capiz chandelier, there are insets with custom made (by me) and painted wallpaper made from black and gold marbelized paper and yes, I made wooden spiral stairs in which I stained my own wood. YEAH.

Wish me luck tomorrow!

Alicia B.

Lilly Coming Home

I've been meaning to post about this...for...a long time but have been completely swamped with my life. So, for those of you who don't read 1000 other interior design blogs, then this will be news to you--Lilly Pulitzer has a new furniture line coming out!


You might be thinking, this could only work in a little girl's room, or in my vaca home in Palm Beach, but I think it has some actual versatility.

See what I mean? This sideboard cabinet is so sophisticated and has just the right amount of embellishment in the knobs. SO gorgeous.

I love faux bamboo so this bar cart would look amazing in my NYC apartment. Really--does anybody want to step up to the plate to make that happen?

I want to trade out my super cool bar stools for these now! You guys know how much I love yellow and these are just SO YELLOW.

The Morgan Ottoman is just adorable. I love the wide pleats--this is perfect for setting a tray of treats down on. LIlly knows that we're not always out at fabulous parties or lying on the beach and that we like to kick back and watch TV sometimes. I love the blue on the inside of the cabinet and the cute little brass drawer pulls.
As a side note, I'm thinking of wearing this dress to my rehearsal dinner--thoughts?

So what do you guys think of the Lilly Pulitzer line? You know how I feel (can't breath with excitement). Practical? AMAZING? It comes out this summer, so you have some time to make room for it. (Images from Lilly Pulitzer, HFI Brands Facebook page, and CocoCozy!)

Alicia B.