eBay Find of the Day: Barbara Hulanicki Wallpaper

I interviewed Barbara Hulanicki awhile ago for an article I wrote on the resurgence of Lucite in home furnishings, and I'm embarrassed to admit that at the time I had only a vague sense of her place in the world of fashion and design. In fact, her stature as a style icon and visionary only truly hit me later, when I visited an exhibition featuring items from her legendary Kensington boho shop, Biba, at London's Victoria & Albert Museum.

Hulanicki has long since left swinging London behind in favor of an interior design business in Miami. But her signature style still carries quite a bit of cache in the UK, where she's created a line of glam-nouveau wallpapers and textiles for British high street chain Habitat, above, and wallcoverings company Graham & Brown.

Sadly, the Habitat papers aren't available in the U.S., but you can purchase the Graham & Brown designs for $60 a roll from the G&B website -- or for only about $36 each with Buy It Now on eBay. Top: Viva in Turquoise and Gold

Diva in Oyster

Hula in Charcoal and Gold

(And -- oooh -- while you're browsing the seller's eBay store, check out this pretty paper from another UK design star: Changing Rooms alumnus Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.)

Wanderlust: Your Lovely Places

A few weeks ago I got an email from Sylvain Louradour in France, who has a genius blog called Your Lovely Places that collects and chronicles people's favorite spots on the planet. Sylvain asked me to contribute mine, and I was happy to oblige.

I chose Notting Hill, London. It is lovely, to be sure, but I really chose it because that part of the world has a special emotional resonance for me.

I lived in London for two years after high school (ostensibly, I was going to college -- but what I was really studying was English Bands, with a minor in English Guys).

While I was there. I spent more weekend mornings than I can count in the throngs at the Portobello Road Market. My friends and I would nosh on steaming vegetable samosas and spend hours trawling the stands, poking through bric-a-brac in search of buried treasure, before retiring to the pub for lunch and a bit of liquid fortification. That time was just a really happy, exciting, and carefree period in my life, and one that I'll always cherish.

About a year ago, I was lucky enough (thanks, Mom!) to be able to share this lovely neighborhood, with its sherbet-colored houses and dusty antiques shops, with my husband and children (those are our kids in the picture above). The trip was a bit melancholy for me, since both London and I have changed much in the years that have passed. But it was also wonderful to return to the locale that had meant so much to me -- and that still holds a very special place in my heart -- with the people that I love most in the world.

Anyway, it's fun to peruse the other favorite spots that Sylvain has collected, which range from someone's bed at home to far more distant shores. Take a look:

The Basque Country

Kaufbar, Berlin

Teluk Bahang, Malaysia

The Marais, Paris

Hôtel Luna Convento, Amalfi

Check out Your Lovely Places right here -- and if you'd like to join in, email Sylvain with a photo or a drawing as well as a brief description of your lovely place.

Etsy Find of the Day: Union Jack Pillows

Anarchy on the sofa.

These felt Union Jack pillows come in a rainbow of poppy, punky hues and measure about 16 by 16 inches. They're $38 each from London-based Etsy seller Karen Hilton Designs.

Set-Design Drool: The Beach Studios

I love the viral nature of blogging -- how someone somewhere will spot something great, then write about it on his or her blog, and then lots of other people in lots of other places will see it and write about it on their blogs. And suddenly that great thing will be pinging all over the world, spreading like, well, a virus -- except that it fills you with delight and not, you know, phlegm.

The Beach Studios site is one of those great things. I spotted it on one of my daily reads, At Home at Home -- whose Los Angeles-dwelling blogger extraordinaire, Laure, had spied it on the New York-based Paris Apartment, who in turn had seen it on Hong Kong's Studio Annetta.

Anyway, Beach Studios is a London agency that rents out locations for photo and film shoots -- and that has *the* most breathtaking collection of properties I have ever seen. I want to move into all of them, immediately.

Take a look:

Stansfield Road

Foster House

New Cross

St. Georges Road

Haldane Road

Thames Street

Lavender Grove

The Factory

Tredeague

Canonbury

Brondesbury Villas

Sigh.

See more right here.

Good Reads: Delightful Doors

Apartment Therapy: New York has a great post up today about the brightly painted doors of Dublin, Ireland, and it reminded me of all the doors we saw during our trip to London a few months back.

Each one, it seemed, was lacquered a more delightful hue than the last. I was particularly obsessed with the lovely aqua door pictured above, which was next to the little mews house where we stayed in Notting Hill.

And Londoners don't stop at doors -- check out the row of candy colored houses, above, that I snapped on one of our daily strolls around town. I wish we were half as adventurous with color on these shores.

(If only I had known then that I'd soon be starting this blog, I would've taken a lot more pictures! But since I didn't, be sure not to miss the great collection of Dublin door photos here.)

Cool Stuff: Clarissa Hulse Textiles

When we were in London this spring, I fell in love with textile designer Clarissa Hulse's dreamy products, which I spotted in chic U.K. home-decor shops like Heals and Aria.

Hulse makes gorgeous, ethereal lampshades, pillows, throws, wallpaper, and notebooks featuring delicate botanical silhouettes screen- or hand-printed onto colorful silk or linen backgrounds.

Granted, Hulse's designs are not cheap -- especially when you factor in the pounds-to-dollars exchange rate and overseas shipping. (Prices start at 15 pounds sterling -- roughly $30 -- for notebooks and go up to 395 pounds -- $790 -- for throws.) But they would literally make the room, so I think they're worthy of the splurge.

If your budget is tight (and whose isn't?), don't miss the Clarissa Hulse Sale Shop, with last season's stock discounted up to 75 percent. Sale pillows start at 17 pounds ($34); lampshades at 39 pounds ($78); and throws at 99 pounds ($198).

Some of the Clarissa Hulse designs I'm drooling over:

Top: Judas Tree/Sea Holly Reversible Cushion, 39 pounds ($78); middle: Dock Leaf Cushion, 69 pounds ($138); bottom: Twig & Anise Demi-Patchwork Cushion, 59 pounds ($118)

Top left: Judas Tree Shade, 65 pounds ($130); top right: Fireweed Shade, 89 pounds ($178); bottom left: Patchwork Shade, 199 pounds ($398); bottom right: Willow Herb Shade, 95 pounds ($190)

Above: Wingnut Tree Padded Throw, 215 pounds ($430)

Top left: Dragonfly Wallpaper; top right: Leaves Wallpaper; bottom left: Briar Wallpaper; bottom right: Wingnut Wallpaper, all 45 pounds ($90) per roll

Left: Ice/Orchid Notebook; center: Pewter/Aqua Notebook; right: Sweet Pea/Hot Pink Notebook, all 15 pounds ($30) each

Check out Clarissa Hulse's entire product line here.

(P.S. Stateside, Hulse's products are stocked at NYC's sublime ABC Carpet & Home. If anyone's aware of a U.S.-based online source, please let me know!)

Objects of Lust: Lotus Flower Lights

When my family and I visited London a few months ago, we rented a flat in Notting Hill, a half-block from the legendary Portobello Road Market and right around the corner from a wonderful shop called Graham & Green.

Every day, either on our way out to explore the city or as we made our weary way home, I'd peer in the window and admire the absolute loveliness of these lights. Crafted from hundreds of fragile, iridescent capiz shells, the lights take the form of delicate lotus flowers and are truly breathtaking when lit. (They're even more dramatic in lustrous black.)


I wanted so badly to cart one back to California with me, but the trip alone basically cleared out our bank account. Plus, the whole two-dollars-to-the-pound thing pretty much put the kibosh on any major shopping sprees.

And these beauties do not come cheap: The lamps run 111 to 375 pounds sterling (about $222 to $750), and the chandeliers are 275 to 395 pounds (about $550 to $790), depending on size.


Still, I dream about these lights. If anyone knows of a more affordable stateside source, please let me know!

(Update: I just received an email from Graham & Greene noting that the capiz shell lights are deeply discounted -- but only until Sunday, June 3. The lamps start at 92.50 pounds -- $185 -- and the chandeliers are on sale for 192.50 to 276.50 pounds -- or $385 to $553.)