We went to Palm Springs a MONTH ago and I have been meaning to update the JHID blog with some pics and tales from the trip, but well, yeah....here I am a month later doing just that. Phew. I was super bummed to not visit Sunnylands per my intentions of doing so, but it just didn't work out this trip. We did have a wonderful time. We rented a home again this year (like last year seen here), had a massage at the Parker, our fair share of turkey burgers and desserts at Sherman's, birthday dinner (again) at Spencer's Restaurant, chill-out limeades at the Viceroy and visited all our favorite architectural landmarks which are beginning to feel like old and trusted friends.
Palm Springs is such a special place and I never grow tired of it's charm and quiet inspiration.
One place I love to visit every time is this great store, "Stuart's Fine Jewelry". Stuart has been in the business and holding fort in Palm Springs for over 20 years. His store supports old wooden bar fronts and glass front lopsided archival cases...housing beautiful geodes and sparkly, crusty quartzite, minerals and native american tools and art.
Cowboy hats hang everywhere and stacks and stacks of boxed moccasins fill vertical spaces. He repairs jewelry in the back, but you get the sense after talking with him that the rocks and minerals on display are his passion. And I love all the moccasins.....it's hard for me to justify spending too much money on a pair of "flats", but I regret not picking up a pair of these classic flats last time i was there.
I have an OCD habit of going here every trip and bringing home a sparkler for my home or friend(s).....I suggest you check it out on your next trip.
Soundtrack for the rocks and mocc's is a rocker we listened to quite a bit on this trip....Neil Young, folks:
I have been working on my home office for what seems like years now....in actuality it has been a few months....but being on a tight budget, well that is the pace of this project. I also don't need/want to go overboard on over designing a space I don't own.....so I live vicariously through the beautiful and unique pieces and materials I come across every day. Case in point, a fabulous flush sputnik, brass and ivory ceiling fixture from Downtown. What a fun piece to look up at! With that piece being my inspiration I whipped up this chic and feminine little space around it. What do you think? Is it 9-5 worthy?
Happy Weekend!
Background Wallpaper: Vivenne Westwood's "Magnolia" wallpaper for Cole and Son
1. Eames storage unit
2. Christopher Spitmiller's Lousia Lamps in a pretty sea foam blue
3. Moroccan antique shaggy carpet from Tony Kitz
4. Classic Eames aluminum management chair in a crisp, white leather
5. Brass and ivory ceiling flushmount, Italy 1960s
6. A lucite desk with chrome fittings, USA 1970s
7. Herve Van der Straeten's "Tabouret Capsule 174" side table
8. Pair of Carlo de Carli - Model 915 chairs, Italy 1969
Soundtrack for this space is one of my favorites, Lady Day (I secretly just wanted to share this great photo of her with her chi chi!!):
There are three sounds that are pretty much my top three sounds ever:
- the sound of the Pacific Ocean
- Nat King Cole's honey voice
- the chatter of Zebra finches
- and not on the list, but just an obvi is the sound of my friends and families voices....and my girlfriend Sheryl's laugh - it is basically the best laugh EVER.
You remember that I am a bit nuts for birds right?! As evidenced here. I know a lot of it stems from growing up around my grandparent's aviaries. They built a large aviary around the window of their Guest Bedroom (always known as "The TV Room" to us) that housed the little feisty Zebra finches and their muffled, soft calling is one that I just love. It's such a romantic, dusty sound...making me think of filtered Fall light, cups of earl gray tea, a game of bridge, Kitchen prep.....is that weird?
So I am semi-intent on having a little pair of these fine feathered friends, but I do grapple with the idea of confining them to a small space. Winged beings should be able to fly, right? So instead I do what I do best when something is out of my reach....I fantasize and design and scheme up of what would be the ideal way to house these tiny musical masters. Case in point, the following fabulous vintage bird cages!
1. Metal cathedral bird cage, 20th Century
2. French chateau bird cage, 19th Century
3. Chinese pagoda bird cage
4. Art deco bird cage, circa 1930
5. Hand made wooden painted fretwork bird cage, France 1850
6. Pagoda shaped bird house, 20th Century
7. If i was a bird house I would hope to look like this beauty by Tony Duquette - perfection. Circa 1950.
8. Domed bird cage, 20th Century
9. 19th Century metal bird cage from Guatemala
10. 19th Century Victorian mahogany bird cage
11. Italian bird house, circa 1900-1920
Soundtrack for this fancy flight is Sarah Vaughan's "Lullaby of Birdland":
This whole Valentino studded and beautiful pieces thing has gotten a bit out of control....I am now coveting $600 pale gold studded, black leather and leopard gloves from the fashion power house......I mean, they are glamourous and chic and oh-so-delicious, but I can't wrap my head around the pretty price tag when they are sure to get a bit of Motul on them in the first 5 minutes.....BUT a girl can dream right?! And with that dream comes my other (and by "other" I mean one of a gazillion things on my list) big ticket dealio....a cherry red Vespa (no, Lambretta....no, Vespa.....hmmm...). Like...BRIGHT cherry red.....with a houndstooth seat? Yes. So here are all my things whirling around my head in relation to those two fabulous things mentioned above...
1. False eyelashes.....ala Twiggy circa 1960.
2. An over the shoulder bag....like this sick little velvet plaid and studded bow gem.
3. "But, honey, this jacket IS reasonable. The bright red color is for SAFETY...!"...belted wool coat by McQ Alexander McQueen.
4. Hello, helmet. Protect your noggin.
5. Hopefully you won't need any road side service, but if you do you can rest easy knowing you and your smart phone look cute while doing so.
6. There are those gloves I was talking about.....chic, no?!
7. Resin "Modernity" necklace by one of favorite gals - Trina Turk.
8. The perfect houndstooth dress by ModCloth.
9. Go big or go home? I don't know about that, but I do know these boots are AMAZING.
10. A sweet Vespa SS180.
Soundtrack features the original Beat girl....the English Beat...!
Sunnylands is the desert residence of philanthropists Walter and Leonore Annenberg (you know the peeps whose trust sponsors everything on NPR?) in Rancho Mirage, CA. Excitement on two levels. One being that modernist architect A. Quincy Jones designed this 25,000 square foot house and two, silent-film-star-turned-interior designer William Haines (working with associate Ted Garber) spearheaded the interiors. I came across the following photos on California Home + Design's website and was so excited to see the photos depicting the bygone interiors by William Haines.....I mean, the sunflower sofa?!
Once what was a retreat for the super powerful and elite (Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret Thatcher, Nixon, Bill Clinton, Frank Sinatra, Truman Capote and on and on....) has now been renovated (a lot of the same furniture but MUCH different fabrics, etc) and hosts a new visitor center. A trip here is definitely on my next Palm Springs trip. The landscaping, open floor plan and history are impressive....so many people walked those floors.
These days, the historic estate hosts specific retreats with guidelines set forth in explicit detail by the Annenbergs. More can be read about their vision and mission here.
Leonore Anneberg favored pink (I like this gal already!) and had the pink roof and walls washed in pink admiring how it this same color washed over the mountains at sunset.
dubbed the "Room of Memories".....Walter Annenberg was the British ambassador and hosted hundreds of famous people and public figures.
Digital reproductions have been made of the several Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings that hung at Sunnylands. A collection worth a reported 1 billion dollars came out of this home and was donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art after Walter's death. There does remain original sculpture's in the home by Jean Arp and "Eve", the sculpture in the atrium by Auguste Rodin.
There's Eve....
A nine-hole golf course and 11 fishing lakes are part of Sunnyland's surrounding landscape. Nice.
Lee loved a table setting.
The lady of the Manor - Leonore Annenberg.
The new visitor's center offers interactive displays, films, information on past guests and views at some of the art from the Sunnylands Collection. A tour of some of the gardens is also on the list.
All photos are from the Annenberg Foundation with the exception of the photo above of the visitor's center by Mark Davidson. I hope to share my own photos later this year!
Rather than my typical soundtrack accompanying this posting, check out this video of who is staying at Sunnylands these days and the work that is being done here to help current and future generations. It is quite the powerhouse of the desert.
