What a pleasure to be awarded the Stylish Blogger award from Claudia Juestel at Adeeni Design Blog! Thank you so much Claudia. We are having such fun making new friends in cyberspace and we’re learning a lot too. Now, apparently we are to share 7 things….so just to be contrary I thought instead of doing the stylish thing…I would share some cheeky behind the scenes moments with you!

1. Although I blogged on pistachio, I didn’t mention at the time that Nicky writes all his business emails in pistachio text….regardless of content…its pistachio all the way.

2. Nicky frequently leaves notes on my desk to make me laugh….like this one which reads…’Who’d have thought Ozzie was a closet Dorothy?’

3. Now you may know that Nicky LOVES to sing…like this night at the Savoy…

But can I tell you how hard it is to get your hands on the microphone when he’s around??? He must really love Suzie to have given her this ‘moment’….

4. He Christmas’s in Palm Beach with his dear friend Terry Kramer. I love this pic of him and his friend Fritz von Westenholz…

5. Nicky is famous for hosting, decorating, and attending the worlds most glamorous parties…but you may be amused to discover that he once decorated and hosted a party (baby shower no less) in a moving van (!) for his long time star of a PA, Flora Connell.

6. When we first visited a client’s house in Ireland, where I took this sweet pic, we spent two days on site discovering the house.

….I heard my name being shouted and shouted, …I found Nicky in this little music room…’wait for it!’ he said smiling…and then threw his hands up in the air, out of which flew the little butterflies he’d been collecting in the window wells.

7. He may kill me for this pic…but we are both Pastrami worshipers and never miss a chance to indulge when in New York!

And lastly, we are to pass on the kindness, and therefore, first, as the young can be so inspiring….we nominate two beautiful bright young things who write at www.helenglory.com - pass it on Frances!!

And, since we are ever inspired by history…we MUST nominate this blog that our friend Dr Melanie Doderer-Winkler has just turned us on to…..National Trust no less! Beware, you may be lost for days…. www.nttreasurehunt.wordpress.com

Ya know sometimes…I’m just a decorator. Not only have I not cracked open Jacques Bonnet’s ‘Phantoms on the Bookshelves’, but I was immediately sidetracked in considering the aesthetics of the cover, and my closet penchant for matching books.

Now we’ve all been wrapping and binding and cheating since the early 90′s when endless shelves of white books became THE thing - a trend that probably climaxed at Anouska Hemple’s ‘The Hemple’. Eventually I decided that this just was TOO on trend and steered clear of the idea for ages.

I SHOULD have thought of something as chic as this which would have given the concept an edgy twist - thought realistically not too many of us (ok well NO one) have entire libraries of perfectly matched books. This Vreeland red punch though is brilliant. What is the word for the end edges of a book?? Is there one??

It was only recently that I succumbed to the fact that 90′s aside…I really do adore colour considered shelf displays, and I just ‘went for it’ in my own library. And yes – I’m loving them.

As luck would have it, Ruthie Burgess in our office reminded me that possibly there was a little substance to this idea, above and beyond ‘top trends from 1992′. The blue bedroom at Kellie Castle sports a divine collection of azure blue volumes - MARVELOUS I say.

And indeed we put these turquoise ones in a London flat not so long ago.

Now for the rather more high minded, who may be alarmed at this idea of buying books for the colour of their spine - I offer you a snapshot of my bookshelves in Barbados - where coral pink is the couleur de jour…and yet I defy you to tell me that every one of these is not worth having (granted I have wrapped ONE in paper…can you spot it?)

Designers will often talk about patina and ‘pleasant decay’ (the later being a catchphrase of the late John Fowler). It is difficult at times to get clients to understand the importance of imperfection. Certainly Diana Vreeland talked about it incessantly, as did Rose Cummings, Nancy Lancaster and John Fowler. Sometimes nature takes its course, although I don’t think any of us would go to the extreme of Nancy Lancaster who had her new sofa’s placed in the garden until their newness was sun-beaten out of them. That idea of faded grandeur was naturally imprinted in her psyche. I am somewhere in between. I have a North American eye for the new, the chic, the polished and yet a romantic need for grit and ruin. Learn to love your flaws darling!

I wear and adore JC de Castelbajac, and although I missed this ensemble somehow last year, I certainly would wear it!

Wang Shu’s Ningbo museum really made me think about the dichotomy of new and old, and their aesthetic interdependence. He is a purveyor of Japans traditional building technique called ‘wa pan’, which was developed by local farmers to cope with frequent natural disasters. I mean we just call it ‘salvage’, but this is taking the commitment to a whole new level. The results are so poetically beautiful and so modern. It’s so rare to see the old and new juxtaposed this successfully isn’t it? It’s a masterpiece.

Years ago I visited Ricardo Bofill at his Taller de Architectura, his enormous, courageous, reworking of an abandoned cement factory. It is another example of sensory architectural expression having everything to do with scale, layers, and emotion. It’s gritty, modern, romantic - completely genius.

Don’t think for a minute this ruinous splendor is obvious…it’s incredibly hard to ‘fake’. I feel like Ruinenberg castle should be wonderful and yet it’s contrived, I’m not convinced and think it’s dull.

Artistically though, decay and ruin can be terribly alluring. Ferdinand Marcos’s bust would have been of little (artistic) interest to me in its pristine state, but now it’s a fascinating collage of texture shape and colour.

I am not entirely sure, but I think this is a doctored photo of one of the old German bunkers - or a photographic effect. Either way, the point is ruins in gold look utterly divine!

Now I have been watching this abandoned job site in Barbados for 4 years now, thinking that there was a certain attraction in the steel lattice over ivory exterior. Now, as ivy takes it over, it’s getting prettier than ever and I know you’re thinking I am completely mad, but surely you see how it reminds me a bit of my most favorite of all buildings - the Desert de Retz.??!!

Perhaps I have lost the plot a bit, but then I look at Steven Meisel’s editorials for Italian Vogue and I am reassured, ruination can be painstakingly beautiful…

‘Its a good thing’, as Martha (Stewart of course) would say…to pause and think now and then… so it was a delight to attend House and Gardens ‘Trend Report’ this morning and as usual, I learnt something!

I don’t think we’re trend followers especially, and I was distressed to hear the words ‘hotel design’ being bantered about since this is a personal pet peeve! I think hotel design FOR HOTELS has taken great strides in terms of design driven experiences, but Nicky and I positively rant when people make their homes look like hotels, we believe it’s a different approach, a different ethos entirely. So that tend is not for me particularly - but we move on to some thoughts that DO inspire me.

House and Garden editor Sue Crewe was an early proponent of the green design movement and should be proud of her Green by Design supplement. I don’t think of green design and ecoism as trends but I suppose they are…they also happen to be simply sensible and wonderful concepts. And of course sourcing locally and promoting British artisans is something that we do without thinking about the politics of it. England is so ‘giving’ in that way, and is replete with little shops and finds, only a few of which could be mentioned. (and on an aside, we always tend to draw on local resources and craftspeople wherever we are working - it often brings that ‘suitability’ element Elsie de Wolfe always talked about.)

London based Kate Malone has a serious side and a self confessed ‘silly’ side to her work. I hope she read our Spongebob blog…I covet this vase!

Jasleen Kaur, RCA graduate, is selling these teacups via Waddesdon Manor, who have a pretty switched on website I might add, complete with their own blog! Nicky and I are gift shop addicts and if one compares this type of patronage with the old days of polyester tea towels I think we can all shout hurrah!

Ecoism is another buzzword at House and Garden….I confess I had never heard of Vitsoe shelving which was invented by Dieter Rams in 1960 and is still going strong. Its a modular approach…fits anywhere, a bit simple for my tastes but I found this studio shot which is a great use of the product, and is helped along with this colour coded styling. It’s cool.

On the green front - the Little Greene paint and paper company is worth knowing about not only for their environmental approach, but terrific colours. I also learned Farrow & Ball have taken great strides to reduce their chemical content although they don’t brag about it on their website and I think they should.

The return of individualism, sustainable style, using new technologies, colour and patterns…you’ve seen it in the magazine, and these ideas will be the focus at House and Garden going forward in 2011. We’ll be reading!

A new project looming - wonderful sort of Mallet-Stephens-esque number on the island of Barbados….completely idiosyncratic to the region…in other words…UNEXPECTED!! Also rather unexpected is the Greek blue used on the shutters. What works so well in Santorini for example, does not necessarily translate quite as well to this island. Since we have not even begun our planning and schemes I can’t share those with you yet….but I had some further thoughts on Azure blue.

I adore this ‘map’ of the creative process. I wish it were easier for clients to understand just how much intellectual capacity and time goes into the creative process….and that’s after logistics, planning, contracts, staffing, budgets etc etc are in the works! But let’s get back to Azure blue….maybe I’m feeling a little guilty about eradicating it in Barbados because I’ve been thinking about how wonderful it CAN be.

Obviously anything by Yves Klein can make you a convert….the intensity and saturation of his works are especially alluring. I’m a fan.

Thinking about Azure interiors, of which I have been seeing several lately, reminded me of Roger Hiorns ‘Seizure’ a few years ago. This is the type of ambition I admire. An entire council estate flat was submerged underwater for weeks, bathed in copper sulphate, and azure coloured crystals grew on every surface. When it was drained it was an installation piece like I have never experienced.

That’s the end of the original tub peeking out.

Close up of crystals growing on a pipe on the ceiling.

Legendary interiors like Hearst‘s indoor pool represent the other spectrum.

Most interestingly of all, Nicky and I recently visited the renovations at Strawberry Hill where many of the windows are topped in Bristol Blue glass. Now we both would have sworn away from coloured glass probably but that day really converted both of us. Since only the tops of the windows (and we’ll post more on that later) are blue, it isn’t overpowering and bathes the rooms in the most pleasing of lavender-blue lights. Really worth thinking about.

My dreams will look much like this tonight…hope yours do too.