Font of Fonts

This old blogspot is looking staler than month old melba toast. NICK OLSEN needs to go global but he won't make it to Hoboken with that header ... it's time to build my "b" word, cheesy as it sounds. I need a logo but won't settle for just any old Helvetica. Want it classic but different and a little cheeky without being hard to read or too recognizable. Was it Roc-A-Wear that seemingly ripped off the Burberry font not long ago? So I need I help (vigorous nodding from the blognut gallery). I found my ideal more than a year ago deep in WASP country and have searched five font sites thus far with no luck. Can anyone ID this stylish italic:


Nice N's and O's, right? Mr. Johnston Jr. is not the present owner of the private drive bearing this sign or else I'd inquire. Seen anything similar? Graphic designers and kerning fanatics, please help me out! (Still determining the prize for anyone who nails it.)

Dress-age Inspired

Who's up for a little fantasy (meaning not too budget-conscious) speed decorating?! Thought so. I was scrolling through my new favorite breathless fashion blog, Maison Chaplin, and saw zees:

Stunning photo by Ana Clara Garmendia

A gown from John Galliano's Spring/Summer 2010 haute couture collection for Christian Dior, variously inspired by dressage, Millicent Rogers, the Gibson Girl and Charles James.

Yeah, it's just okay. I'M KIDDING THIS IS THE HEIGHT OF CHIC OH MY GOD CAN'T YOU SEE IT??? If Cammy Diaz doesn't wear this dress to the Oscars I'm-a be VERY upset!! The tableau also reminded me of a fabulous Prada-inspired room from Domino:


Kind of uncanny, right? But like Stewart on MadTV I'm taking my own route, so let's round up Johnny G's muses and gorgeous palette (including the set pieces) and decorate our living room. From the ground up:


Yes, I'm still pimping this jute rug from Overstock.com. Ideally it would run wall to wall like a big hay loft. Because horses eat hay. But I'd layer a Jonathan Adler geometric over it to mimic the dress's aqua and blue architecture:


Now walls:

image by Derry Moore for Architectural Digest via NYTimes

Nancy Lancaster yellow, of course. Believe it or not Benjamin Moore "Yellow" (names department fell asleep on that one) is a beautiful shade, especially in oil-based high-gloss. Points for anyone who can tell me the current owner of the armchair at bottom right.

Curtains: we're stealing the unlined taffeta look from Domino but in pale lavender, and no mismatched panels. Trust me. It works.

I'm loving all the pure white in our inspiration pic so let's neutralize the upholstery:


In the main seating area I'm feeling this English Roll Arm Sofa from Restoration Hardware in white linen with a pair of blue embroidered Ankasa pillows to match the dress's skirt (though the same satin would be nice), and this oblong yellow one with its Belle Epoque swirls at the center:


In front I like a Japanese coffee table to match our Geisha Gibson Girl (note the Gaga-esque lightning bolt at center):


To anchor the corner of the room I see a marshmallow-y Vladimir Kagan sofa from Room & Board (echoing the room's goopy moldings) with the same orange throw:


And a small red lacquer Directoire coffee table in front of it as lipstick (did you think I was actually gonna go for one of those lips sofas??):


Oh, and this bouffanterrific bentwood chair from Steven Sclaroff pulled up beside:


And an organic celadon garden seat next to it for drinks:


Back to our Enlish sofa but keeping to porcelain, I want a pair of peacock blue Christopher Spitzmillers


on either side (sitting on a gueridon and chest ... you find 'em) and this massive Frank Stella painting above:

Tahkt-I-Sulayman Variation II, 1969, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 240 inches, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

It has all our colors and then some! I could go on forever but simply can't live without this cuckoo Victorian reading chair (thinking Charles James at the DeMenils) on one end of the sofa


And a Milo Baughman chair and ottoman on the other (black leather for Galliano's riding boots!):


How many couture gowns can you buy for what I've spent here?

I'm Having a Sol LeWitt/Donald Judd Moment

Sol LeWitt, Open Geometric Structure 2-2,1-1, 1991, painted wood, 20 x 29½ x 20 inches. © The LeWitt Collection, Chester, CT.

Unidentified Donald Judd chair; cover image for Design [does not equal] Art via Amazon

chairs en manière de Judd via 1st Dibs

And so is West Elm:

from top: 2x2 Daybed ($299) and Rolling Storage ($599), 2x2 Console Desk ($299), and Top-Drawer Side Table ($159)

Or do we still just call this 'Parsons style'? Discuss.

Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves

Very Mary-Kate, Episode 1 from Mary-Kate Olsen on Vimeo.

Glad to know I'm not the only Olsen going out on his own ... more episodes here.

Heavy Accent (Furniture)

Months ago I started preparing one of my long dormant "Chain Gang" posts where I scour all the online retailers and pick my faves of their new selection when I happened upon AccentFurnitureDirect.com and almost had aneurysm. Usually I won't quit until I've seen every single stick of furniture on a site, and they have thousands. I'm just thorough that way.

Like today when I began compiling a friend's birthday playlist (Happy happy, Kayker!) and decided to replace every "Track 01" in my library with the proper artist and title ... four hours later I'm still at it and have created a 103-song playlist. Editing is hard.

So why didn't I just do a whole post on this one site? Duh. Still cringing at the name (let's vow to strike the word "accent" from any decorating description) and am blinded by 90% of the merch. But cream rises to the top, and I promise that using only AFD and the Chelsea flea market I could decorate an entire apartment. They have some major diamonds in the haystack and needles in the rough! It's mostly modern and all brand, spanking new so you'd need some tatty chairs or non-formica bookcases to throw it off. Take a looky:

HeatherBrooke Console in Powder Blue. Doesn't this look like Treillage? Love the color, muntin layout and ball feet, and think $703.50 plus free shipping ain't all that bad.


Water Hyacinth Ottoman ($222.00 each). Don't you wish Ikea made more hyacinth furniture like this rocking chair? I sure do. Feeling the flat drum shape (better for setting drinks upon) but take note: they're only 24" in diameter.

Three Piece Nesting Tables in Brown Smoke ($258). I want go give clear acrylic/Lucite a rest and come back to it in five years. Smoke is just skexier.


Bensen Homework Drawer Desk ($1500.00): squint and you'll see a Richard Neutra house. Love the cantilevered drawers but wish the legs weren't sawhorse-y. Would I paint the cheap wood? Red? Of course!

Now two lounge chairs in different styles:


Glogg Lounge Chair ($492) and Pillow Top Chair and Ottoman ($499): Wow, they really have a way with names. The first is much chicer than a Nordic Christmas beverage and the second looks nothing like a mattress ("semi-attached cushion" doesn't have the same ring I suppose), but I'm feeling the low-slungness of both.

Here are two modern side chairs you don't see everywhere:



Top is the Magis Air Armchair -- pretty sure I flew Magis Air to Spring Break in Yemen -- for $596. That's steep, but they stack. Below is the blue, Blu Dot-esque Misewell Lockwood Chair
at $365. Cute pulled up to trad-ish desk or around one of those mammoth Restoration Hardware tables.

Finally, I humbly submit the following folding screens for your consideration:



Quit knocking the cheetah!! It's fun and '80s. Do we see two behind a teenager's bed in lieu of a headboard? $292.99 each. The second ($375) is pure David Hicks ... gorgeous, but I'd probably try to paint all the metallic sections a different color.

Does Intervention take referrals, you ask??

Trash Talk

Here, about to enter my second week of FUNemployment, I'm finally getting around to all those neglected chores on my list. For instance last Wednesday night I stayed in and scraped 50 years of paint drips and grunk off my ancient enamel sink and Caloric mini-stove with a razor blade while watching the best show on television, Tabatha's Salon Takeover.

Even more tedious was my search for the perfect mid-size stainless steel trash can. I'm embarrassed to admit I've lived for two years with one of those small plastic ones that should sit under the sink, but mine's in plain view. Quel cochon! But to quote Cher Horowitz: You see how picky I am about shoes and they only go on my feet. Yet unlike Cher, I am poor. I wanted stainless steel to work with my Ikea shelf brackets and mini fridge but I'm not feeling a brushed finish. I also don't care for oval waste bins; a rectangle would match my sharp-edged cabinet too well. So I Googled, and what I wouldn't give for this shiny circular Danish beauty:


It's a little unsettling when an 8-gallon trash can costs more than the most expensive printer/copier/scanner/fax machine combo I'm considering for my New Business Venture ($469). Plus Vipp, while sleek and sturdy, also sort of looks like a Teletubbie? He's out on price alone.

Next stop was Gracious Home where this Brabantia (that's Belgian for "Danes will gouge you") number caught my eye:


Perfect. Gleaming stainless with no labels or ears or doodads and the pedal mechanism worked like it had hydraulics. But 100 bucks? I could buy three pairs of jeans on sale at Urban Outfitters for that kind of cheddar!

Back down Sixth Avenue to Bed Bath & Beyond. 90% of the selection is by SimpleHuman -- not a bad brand but most of their options are brushed metal. I settled on a polished 30-Liter can so generic they don't even carry it online. Looks like this:

But 20 bucks less at only $29.99! Sure the pedal sticks a little and I might paint the black top red or Klein blue, but it does the job.

Anyone else have neurotic trash can preferences? Do you buy the special bags or just Glad Flexi-strong-whatevers in bulk? I can still see a thin strip of white bag around the lid of mine and it's making me the teensiest bit mental ...

Who Wants to Loan Me $1.895M?

One more post from Fantasy Island before I return to that other island tomorrow:

images via Gary DiMauro Real Estate

Crow Hill. 1839 Greek Revival villa on 30 acres above Kinderhook Creek in the Catskills. OBSESSED. Need funds.

(I mean, did I miss this in The World of Interiors? Has Gil Schafer been cloned and no one told me? I would move in tomorrow and keep it as-is, minus an antler or two. Cognoscenti, fill me in: who's selling this slice of heaven???)

In Which I Reconsider the Balloon Shade

via THEY DON'T CALL THEM LOVERS IN HIGH SCHOOL, LEELAND (NSFW, unless you work for purple fashion or for yourself, like I do now!!)

How amazing is this room? Purple carpet, Louis XV parcel-gilt boiserie, huge red color field and a balloon shade in floral-printed taffeta. It's like an extremely reductivist version of Sao Schlumberger's apartment in Paris -- girlfriend loved this color combo and some flouncy silks!

Back to life, back to reality: do we see a similar shade in a less grandly proportioned/appointed room? Like, in a tract home in Dubuque? They just reek of Dynasty-inspired desperation in small spaces ... like what poor Swan Brooner would wear if she were a window.

I was ready to rule them out altogether but then I saw Mrs. Blandings' interview with multi-hyphenate talent Miguel Flores-Vianna where he mentions the stunning Long Island home of Sills & Huniford -- I couldn't help but notice their library's voluminous ice blue Roman shades. Granted the room is tall enough to require a bookcase ladder and everthing else in it skews butch, but are the shades one more brushstroke in the masterpiece or the only telltale sign of its vintage (1990)? I can't decide.

Ch- Ch- Ch- Ch- Changes

Happy New Year, everybody! How did we all celebrate? I rang in 2010 with a midnight swim in the Gulf of Mexico (no lie) ... you see, Julie beat the nun -- okay, a woman dressed as a nun-- in Sacred Heart's Great Pumpkin Race and won a beach house for a weekend. And then she beat another group of REAL nuns for use of said house over New Year's Eve weekend: a Higher Power obviously wanted us to get hammered in pastel utopia. Plus it was a full AND a blue moon which meant Trevor and I were treating nervous Barbour-jacketed families to our a cappella "Bad Romance" cover and then to that little dip in freezing cold aqua vitae.

It was a fabulous way to begin the year because 2009 marked some serious changes in the life of your faithfully delinquent decorator. Time to turn and face the strain: As of today I am no longer in the employ of one Mr. Miles Redd, my boss and mentor and friend of 5+ years now. This was no easy decision, first of all because I adore Miles and owe him, uh, everything ... and there's that unfortunate Great Recession/record unemployment situation. But I'd be a traitor to my ME generation if I didn't feel entitled to leave a perfectly stable job and pursue true BLISS. Whatever that is. But I gotta be me!

So I'm officially hanging out my own shingle. Open for business. In 2010 I resolve to update this blog on the regular and get back to what brought me here in the first place -- high style decorating for folks who don't have a Mugatu-client-size budget. (But if you do, by all means hire Miles. He is the most creative, most original decorator working today and makes Fancy feel Cozy better than anyone ... in my biased opinion. And any shelter mag without his work is just a giant snooze.)

Back to business. Starting now I'm down to tackle decorating projects of any size and offering advice in person (NYC area) and via the interweb, so email me at nickolasolsen@gmail.com for rates. Freelance decor writing? I'm your man. Prop or event styling? It'd be my pleasure! I need to overhaul this bad boy into a real dot-com with a portfolio and press sections and ... get ready ... an online store. Jamie Meares, I'm comin' for ya! Kidding-ish.

It's going to be a crazy time (Hello, Saturn Return) but I'm excited. I've learned sooo much about making pretty in the past five years, about what makes a room, and about decorating deals and DIY disasters. Time to make it WORK!