This post on Floral Art is LONG overdue! Jennifer McGarigle‘s Floral Art shop is definitely one of my favorites in Venice Beach (and, let me tell you, she has a lot of competitors in that there on Abbot Kinney among all those vintage shops). I think we all needed some new and fresh approach to the flower arrangement. You can say how one can reinvent the obvious, flowers are beautiful as they are but Jennifer’s sophisticated yet simple ideas are very impressive and unique, creating the signature style for which she’s known in LA. Enjoy!
And if the flower bar is not enough for you Floral Art has a Home Collection too. 
<images via www.FloralArtLA.com>
Finally, all the work is done and we can be the judges! I’m talking here about Bloomingdale’s Big Window Challenge. Three designers from Bloomingdale, Apartment Therapy and Elle Decor were to design a space in the window front of the New York Bloomingdale flagship store using the furniture and accessories from Bloomingdale’s Home collection and their favorite antiques and collectibles.
And as the honorable judges we are invited to the Party where we’ll meet Eddie Ross, Eileen Joyce, and Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan from 6-8pm on January 28th on the fifth floor. RSVP: rsvp.apartmenttherapy@gmail.com
You have from now up to January 28th to vote online and/or by SMS Text
Please Send a Text to 89800—Enter Only 1, 2, or 3:
- 1—ELLE DECOR
- 2—Apartment Therapy
- 3—Bloomingdale’s
Click here to vote online and see the current poll results. Here are the contestants:
1. The Urbane Traveller by Eileen Joyce for Bloomingdale’s
2. The Writer’s Romantic Supper by Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan for Apartment Therapy
3. The Modern Woman by Eddie Ross for Elle Decor
Who’s your favorite?
<images via Apartment Therapy>
Not that I’m complaining about the California weather (at 75°F in January it would be a sin!) but after I’ve seen these dresses from J.Mendal’s Spring 2010 Collection I wished for the warm spring days when you can be irrationally romantic and groundlessly happy.
“What is my message for Spring?” mused Gilles Mendel… “Specialness, preciousness, and value—with a little something to make you dream.” Spoken like a true Frenchman.
Older Mendel but no less inspiring 
<images via www.jmendel.com & www.style.com>
After all, Los Angeles is a city of many talented people. I may hate it during the holiday season for the lack of snow but, as Maison 21 said, when living in LA “weather is something one visits, but doesn’t actually live in”. So I’d better stop complaining and get to the point…being the LA talented crows. And in this particular case is Windsor Smith, the founder of Windsor Smith Home. Browsing through her site I found Smith’s quote talking about her inspirations:
“I am up thumbing through out-of-print architecture books or reading about our legendary women of style… Elsie De Wolfe, Slim Keith, Babe Paley… I draw inspiration from the armchairs they are reclining on, in their country homes. My eye travels to the crystal girandoles on the mantel they are leaning against, or the moss-covered garden statuary their horse is riding past… I like to create libraries where men with names like Howard, Bing and Spencer sat in cashmere sweaters and contemplated the 13th hole on the Bel Air golf course. I am drawn to a simple but elegant time when the women were so legendary that surnames weren’t necessary…. Slim, Babe, Coco…”
How more romantic can interior design sound?! And I couldn’t agree more. My greatest inspiration is history. I love the interiors that breath stories behind them.
and I absolutely agree with her web site‘s home page intro. This “in demand” LA-based interior designer has created some truly inspiring eye-candy interiors. The tasteful combination of history, sensuality and vibrancy is the contemporary classics in my book.
<images via www.MaryMcDonaldinc.com>
