Guest blog / Jenn Hannotte: The royal treatment

Jenn Hannotte: Ahh, the sweet, suffocating smell of plaster dust! We're knee-deep in it over here, tackling the family bathroom. When we bought this house, we thought we could live with it for a while. We thought that we could clean it up, and it would be OK. We thought maybe some new towels would help. We thought WRONG. The 'before' picture provides some visual evidence, but the real issue here was the smell. And the strange textures that stained every surface. I won't elaborate, but suffice it to say we are very happy to have it all GONE! It was demo- day here today, and the folks from Cera Stone (who I also used to renovate the main floor of the last house) knocked it out efficiently as ever.

Finding inspiration for the bathroom wasn't a problem. It seemed everything I saw, I loved. Especially anything dark and vintage, with an industrial twist. Like Jenna Lyon's en-suite, or this gorgeous bathroom from House & Home by Connie Braemar. But, I wasn't quite sold on the idea of going to the dark side - something wasn't quite grabbing me. And then, as I do a couple times a year, I was watching The Royal Tenenbaums and there it was, my future bathroom. Nothing dark about it, but oozing original vintage charm with a fresh colour scheme and those great set details found in all of Wes Anderson's films. How close the final product will be to the bathroom Margot Tennenbaum spends  "six hours a day locked up in...watching television and soaking in the tub" remains to be seen, but the hunt is on! [Image 2 via Habitually Chic. Image 3 by Virginia Macdonald]

For more of Jenn's take on style, as well as to see the beginnings of her own reno project, click here.

Show house envy

I loooooove a good showhouse, so the news that Kips Bay Decorator Show House opens its doors in NYC on April 17th has me excited. It's always an incredibly fascinating - and inspiring - view into the minds of a select bunch of top interior designers. Last year, rather than designing the interiors of a single home, they took over a half dozen apartments in a 1950's building and the results were simply fabulous. This year they're back in somehwhat familiar territory in a circa 1922 limestone mansion on the Upper East Side, 22 East 71st Street to be exact. The work of legendary designer Albert Hadley is this year's inspiration, and all the designers who created spaces either worked with him, had him as a mentor or have been inspired by him.

Take a boo below at the few snaps I've managed to find so far. I'm really hoping to go see it all in person, but since it might come down to re-upholstering a sofa or heading to New York for inspiration, I'm afraid the sofa might win out!

From the top - Designer Amy Lau collaborated with paper artist Jo Lynn Alcorn on an installation that dramatically highlights Maya Romanoff wallcoverings. A swanky master bath designed by Andrew Flesher. And finally, I swiped this shot from Heather Clawson over at her great blog, Habitually Chic. She got to hit the Kips Bay press day (jealous!!!) and chatted with designer Garrow Kedigan about his small yet chic space, read more here. [Images, 1 & 2, Maya Romanoff. 3, Gunkelman Flesher. 4, Bruce Buck]

Via Interior Design, Fabulous Over Forty, Habitually Chic

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