Tuesday

Order, Swoon, Envision, Ponder, and Sympathize


Interior Portraits:  Victoria Hagan, the Interior Design Hall of Famer's first foray into publishing.  She produces the gold standard of timeless elegance, in classic american style.  The book is available for pre-order, with an October 12th release date.

Table Settings:  Alberto Pinto, a preeminent tastemaker in France known for his range of design from minimalist simplicity to perfected traditionalism, shows us how to set the table.  I am particularly interested in the intimate, informal ones...done beautifully.

Martha's Vineyard Contemporary Living:  Boston architects, Keith Moskow and Robert Linn, showcase twenty-five new houses that extend beyond the typical vision of cedar-shingled cottages on Martha's Vineyard.  I find myself envisioning a new life of simplicity and order, where true verve is about who you are with, and what existence you have within the environment that surrounds you.

Tinkers:  Paul Harding induces reflection about our elders and family. The recent death of my own grandfather at age 89, drew me into this story.  It was a two-night read, that I couldn't put down.  Honestly beautiful.  Picked up my copy at Bunch of Grapes (thanks for the recommend, Joanne).

Loving Frank:  Nancy Horan's novel features an intimate look into the past life of Frank Lloyd Wright through the fictionalization of the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, the "other woman".  A scandalous affair that almost cost the great architect his career.  Recommended to me by the accommodating staff at the Edgartown Library.  Still on check-out, so you'll have to wait...

Support local, buy local...all are available to purchase/order at Bunch of Grapes, Edgartown Books, and at all of our exceptional, local libraries.

Monday

Roughing It - This is How To


A Return to Domino Magazine



Domino devotees may have recently caught wind of their former, favorite decor mag at Brides.com under the Home Decor tab (or maybe not, if you are not a bride to be) - thank you to Julie Raimondi, Editor-in-Chief, and the Brides.com team for getting it back for us! A favorite magazine for so many, Brides.com has been granted access to the Domino archives, for online publishing via Conde Nast.

Can you remember the senseless death of our favorites, just over a year ago?  Conde Nast started dropping titles like a loose-handed pregnant woman.  And just when we thought we could only peruse through back-issues...some of those titles starting resurfacing as iPad apps. Gourmet Magazine, GQ, Vanity Fair, Wired, Glamour and New Yorker...all iPad interfaced, now.  Could Domino...be next?  hmmm...

Still missing my glossy paper pages.  Nothing like returning to your bookshelves, to flip through dog-eared, back copies for ideas.  Those late nights, after everyone is in bed... just you and your magazine with the news on in the background...all curled up on the sofa, with time for your thoughts.  ...Bliss.

Photos:  Conde Nast

Sunday

Grand Illumination - Martha's Vineyard

Oak Bluffs Campground, Wednesday - August 18th...one of my favorite events of the year.  After singing patriotic songs under the Tabernacle...chills down my spine...when the crowd breaks out in cheers, after the first lantern gets lit and hung...setting-off a flood of lantern lights throughout the entire gingerbread cottage community.

Photos:  Pyden

Saturday

A Few Finds...


Interior designer, John Murphy, launched the opening of Tracker Home Decor, in the old Lamplighter space on Pease's Point Way, in Edgartown.  Fabulous finds abound, pop in.

The Chilmark Flea hunt, the beach, magazine toting...what could be better to lug your chattels around, than in a Fleabag?  My favorite...the "Salt" in organic hemp denim (custom-dyed light blue) with brushed black nubuck leather.  Each bag is made in limited editions (signed and numbered using water-based ink).
Always on the prowl for underfoot beauty...and I found it at Loom.  Collections are unique (see the patchwork series) and eye-catching, but not too overwhelming.

If you are craving some interior inspiration, head down to the 4th Annual Edgartown House Tour (Tuesday, 8/10 from 2-4:30pm). Tickets are $35 each, benefiting the Federated Church of Edgartown, tea and refreshments included (on the lawn at the parsonage - S. Water Street...take in the views while you have a sip).

Friday

Follow the Journey - "Schooner" Debuts

I recently ran into author Tom Dunlop, at Bunch of Grapes, where he was unloading a large box of his newly-published book Schooner.  As he was cracking the covers open (to add a few signatures), you could smell the fresh ink of the exquisite photographs by the amazingly, talented Alison Shaw.  Tom was beaming. An accomplishment that has been over ten years in the making, and well worth the wait.

The story of Schooner takes you on the journey of Rebecca, the artfully-built, wooden boat by Nat Benjamin and Ross Gannon (a pair of boat builders who have been likened to "rock stars" in the wooden boat world).  Rebecca is the largest wooden vessel to have been constructed on Martha's Vineyard, since the days of Abraham Lincoln. In the time-honored tradition of this dying art, Gannon & Benjamin's boat-building passion is more the process of a fine artist tending to his sculpture, than of fabricating a vessel that will actually have a purpose.

Beautifully-chronicled prose and visuals.  Another fine publishing presentation by Jan Pogue, at Vineyard Stories.

...as a side note, there is a noteable review on the Old Salt Blog which also mentions that Rebecca is now for sale.


Photos:  © Alison Shaw

Thursday

The Home of Lulu DK




Just received the latest edition of Lonny, my favorite post-Domino magazine fix.  

Lulu's Los Angeles fun house was so appealing (as refreshing as her textile line)...the pops of color and clean lines jumbled together with classic, cottage architecture.  She wanted the home to be a mixture of her past - part Long Island/Bahamas/Americana with beach chic, bohemian influence.  

Adored De Kwiatkowski's quote, "I like friends and family to feel they can sit anywhere in their bathing suits, put their feet up..."....read more here.  Fabulous family photographs and artwork!