At Home With: 870 Square Feet in Charleston, SC

I'm loving this 870 square foot "castle" in Charleston, South Carolina. The New York Times just did a piece on the space that you can read here. For such a small space, it upholds so much of that amazing 'old-world' feeling. As if Charleston wasn't enchanting enough already! Check it out below.

“I really wanted to do something that was well built and would last a long time,” said Burgess. “This place will last for centuries.”

The 19th-century velvet fainting couch was a gift from George Holt, the designer, who found it under a pile of garbage. The rugs, which took a beating during Hurricane Hugo in 1989, were rescued from the attic of an old mansion.

Reid Burgess, the owner, found two of the antique fans in the house while on tour with his bluegrass band, King Wilkie. “I purchased one at a fair in Missouri and the heavy thing rode on the roof of the van for two weeks before we got home.”

The floor is painted in Benjamin Moore Midsummer Night. The doors on either end of the space were found on the street. “People doing renovations,” he said, “they’ll just toss out doors.”

The Restoration Hardware bed was a splurge, but the drapes were a steal ($6 a panel at a local fabric store). The Buddha head was found at an auction house in Richmond, VA.

The tiny kitchen is more like “one big cupboard,” said Burgess. The doors are barely visible when closed; they blend into the walls, painted in French Gray from Farrow & Ball.

*all images via the new york times

Read This: When The Words Don't Fit

I stumbled across this New York Times article on modern love while drinking my French-pressed Stumptown coffee before my kettlebell class this morning. I highly recommend. Read it here.

*image via bippity boppity boo

Brooklyn Rod and Gun

Leave it to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to create another theme bar. Brooklyn Rod and Gun, a social club on Kent Avenue, was started by a group of fathers as a place to play music and talk about their outdoor adventures. The club brings together fishing and hunting enthusiasts, mostly men, though women are welcome, too.

At its root, BRG is a place to hang out and meet fellow outdoors-lovers (down to their fly-tying tutorials on Mondays). The Calamity Janes performed a couple of weekends ago, and decor includes tacked-up fishing maps of the Catskills and Newtown Creek, the backdrops for a makeshift stage. A club membership costs $100, but anyone can get in for $10 a night. See more at The New York Times here.

A New Children's Book

This New York Times bestseller is now available as an audio download read by none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Listen to it here!

A Toehold in Paris

Kein Cross, an American interior designer, was looking for a new place to live while he spent his time in Paris. Looking through newspaper ads, he found an 18th-century courtyard house straight out of a storybook.

He realized when he arrived that it wasn't a perfect as he had thought- it was a respectable 19 feet wide, but only 6 1/2 feet deep! Although easily able to stand in the living room and touch both walls, he know he could work his magic.

"Wow! It was like God sent this to me. Regardless of how small it is, you have two floors and a stairway, so you can create light and space. I was so excited, I told them I would pay three years in advance," said Cross. One can see why...

the 18th-century Parisian pied-à-terre

the courtyard

the living room, only 4-feet wide, shown from end to end

the one bathroom of the apartment, on the second floor

the bunk beds in the bedroom, stacked like they would be in a cross-country train

the kitchen was so small he installed bathroom vanities

a modular sofa was the only thing that fit in the little vignette next to the staircase. the colors for the house were kept to white, gray and black

*images via the new york times home + garden

Download this App

If you have an iPhone (why wouldn't you?) and live in New York, you need this app. The New York Times has put together an insider's guide to the best restaurants, bars, coffee shops, home furnishing stores, day trips and an 'only in new york' category. After living in New York for 7 years, I can say that some of my favorite haunts are all over this thing. Use it this weekend!

Bill Cunningham New York

William J. Cunningham, fashion photographer for The New York Times, is known for his candid street photography. Bill dropped out of Harvard University in 1948 and moved to New York, where he initially worked in advertising. Not long after, he quit his job and struck out on his own, making hats under the name 'William J.'

After being drafted and serving a tour in the U.S. Army, he returned to New York and got a job writing for the Chicago Tribune. During his years as a writer, he contributed significantly to fashion journalism, introducing American audiences to Azzedine Alaia and Jean-Paul Gaultier.

While working at the Tribune and at Women’s Wear Daily, he began taking photographs of fashion on the streets of New York. As the result of a chance photograph of Greta Garbo, he published a group of his impromptu pictures in the Times in December 1978, which soon became a regular series. His editor, Arthur Gelb, has called these photographs 'a turning point for the Times, because it was the first time the paper had run pictures of well-known people without getting their permission.'

Bill photographs people and the passing scene in the streets of Manhattan every day. Most of his pictures, he has said, are never published. Designer Oscar de la Renta has said, 'More than anyone else in the city, he has the whole visual history of the last 40 or 50 years of New York. It’s the total scope of fashion in the life of New York.' Though he has made a career out of unexpected photographs of celebrities, socialites, and fashion personalities, many in those categories value his company. According to David Rockefeller, Brooke Astor asked he be invited to her 100th birthday party, the only member of the media so honored.

Bill Cunningham New York, the new documentary film, is set to open next month in L.A. at the Nuart Theatre for only one week. Watch the trailer here.

'Fashion is the armor to survive everyday life.' - Bill Cunningham

"Insomniac City"

"Sometimes I’d sit in the kitchen in the dark and gaze out at the Empire State and Chrysler buildings. Such a beautiful pair, so impeccably dressed, he in his boxy suit, every night a different hue, and she, an arm’s length away, in her filigreed skirt the color of the moon. I regarded them as an old married couple, calmly, unblinkingly, keeping watch over one of their newest sons. And I returned the favor. I would be there the moment the Empire State turned off its lights for the night, as if getting a little shut-eye before sunrise."

A must-read New York Times "Opinionator" article by Bill Hayes on living in Manhattan- kept me smiling throughout my 14-hour day today! Read here.

*image via flickr

More is More

Decorating on a budget and making the most of small spaces is what most of us New Yorkers have to do. 25-year old Zach Motl of Robert Couturier & Associates, may just be the king of bringing these two things together. As a former intern at Miles Redd, Motl currently rents the above 178 square-foot studio for a mear $944/month in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn (next to where I used to live in Cobble Hill!). Over the past three years, he has cashed in on the small space he calls his own, making each and every square foot count.

What I love about this room:
*Light grey wall paint with white crown molding
*That green and white couch!
*Stacked bookshelves above the bed
*Black lacquer door
*Black wood floors
*Navy blue and white bathroom (and that white Orchid)
*The old-school map (reminds me of one I bought of South America on the street in the West Village a couple of summer's ago)
*How it's reminiscent of Maximilian Sinsteden’s dorm room (see my past post here)

Read the full article here.

Bamboo Flatware

I love bamboo-inspired flatware. About a year ago, I purchased a nicely-priced set from Bed Bath & Beyond (shown left), but after reading yesterday's New York Times interactive article, "Shopping with Charlotte Moss", I've fallen in love all over again! This wooden set (shown right) is by William Wayne & Company, and can be purchased here.

*image via The New York Times

The New Moment

Starting this Friday, 4 December 2009, The New York Times Magazine's "The Moment" style blog (one of my favourite daily reads!) will be revamping their site. There will now be access to all of the content from the past 15 annual issues of T, as well as exclusive videos and web-only features. There will also be a new culture section. Read "The Moment" here.