Jeffrey Bilhuber

Hi everyone! It's been a busy week around here, but hopefully we'll get to rest a bit over the weekend. Today I thought I'd share some images of Jeffrey Bilhuber's work. He's become one the new iconic designers of American interiors, mixing a traditional aesthetic with modern influences. His client list is quite impressive, including Anna Wintour, Iman and David Bowie, Mariska Hargitay, Hubert de Givenchy, Elsa Peretti, among others. I love that his designs are timeless, but there's always one element that completely takes it out of the ordinary. I can imagine that they will look as amazing 10 years from now, and that is the signature of a great designer.

"Jeffrey is the kind of designer who takes your own taste and makes it better." Anna Wintour

For more information and pictures of Jeffrey Bilhuber's work, you can visit his website right here.

images 1-3 from here, 4 from here, 15 from here, and the rest from here

Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions. 1 John 3:18 (NLT)

Designer Quote Monday

In choosing colors...follow nature's lead.

John Saladino

image from here

Banana Bread

Is there a more heavenly smell than that of fresh baked banana bread? You pour this mush of flour, butter and banana in a loaf pan, and little while later you peek into your oven and it has suddenly risen into a golden, spongy piece of heaven. The best part about banana bread is that it feels so wholesome. It makes a great breakfast (warm it up and spread a little butter on it), or a simple, yummy dessert (a scoop of vanilla ice cream, some nuts sprinkled on top.)

I made this on a Saturday morning, but wanted to wait until hubby came back from the hospital in the afternoon so we could eat it together. He so enjoys seeing (and tasting) the stuff I make. I will not kid you when I say that I almost gave in and took a slice, the smell was just driving me crazy. But I resisted. Please do not do so when you make this. Dig right in.

Banana Bread

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 1/2 cups ripe, mashed bananas
• 1 cup walnuts or pecans (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour a 9" x 5" baking pan.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the beaten eggs, vanilla and mashed bananas. Mix just until the ingredients are combined. If using nuts, add them now and stir once more. Pour into baking pan.

4. Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the bread comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

"A sweet friendship refreshes the soul." Proverbs 27:9 (MSG)

Table Lamp Roundup, Part 2

Today we continue with Part 2 of our Table Lamp roundup. While this may come as no surprise, Ikea is a great place to find cool lamps at great prices. This one is my absolute favorite, the LJUSAS YSBY. I love its oversized glass base, the diffused light that comes through the textile shade and the fact that it comes with a dimmer to adjust the intensity. Can you believe its only $79.99?

Next up, porcelain and acrylic in a lovely coral design from ARTERIORS Home for Walmart. Just the right hint of tropical.

One of my favorite materials on earth is Mother of Pearl. One day I will use this in some part our home, but until then, I can at least get a little dose with a Kenroy Home lamp from Walmart.

Another great resource for beautiful lamps is Pottery Barn. These Architectural Salvage table lamps look so stylishly antique. Love the sheer burlap shade!

Burlap shades again, this time paired with the bright luster of mercury glass. Gorgeous! Antique Mercury Glass table and bedside lamps.

Sometimes simple is best. The Gillian Candlestick bedside lamp is elegant, stylish and won't take up much space on your bedside table. Also from PB.

Finally, the Clift Seeded Glass lamps whose designs were inspired by oversized wine jugs. A bit of rustic, a lot of pretty.

Hope you guys liked this Table Lamp Roundup. If there are any particular items that you would like to see a roundup of, let me know and we'll do it! xoxo

Images: Ikea, Walmart, Pottery Barn

My God shall supply all of your needs. Philippians 4:19 (NASB)

Table Lamp Roundup, Part 1

Stacked pot form porcelain table lamp. Designer: Sandy Chapman

The best part of furnishing a new home is definitely the shopping part. We've bought some of the major pieces of furniture already (BTW, found a sofa! It's being delivered next week and I can't wait!), but we still have a long way to go. We're pacing ourselves, looking for quality pieces that we love and will want to keep for a long time. While I search for those perfect items, I thought it would be fun to do several roundups over the next few weeks. We already did sofas, so today we're going to go with Table Lamps! This roundup will be divided into two parts. Today I'll feature some lamps from one of my favorite lighting stores, Circa Lighting.

Circa Lighting is probably one the most popular go-to resources for designers. They cater to the trade and have done some amazing collaborations with top designers like Alexa Hampton, Michael S. Smith, Barbara Barry, and Suzanne Kasler, just to name a few. Their pieces constantly appear in the most popular design magazines, not to mention in some very high profile interiors. I have chosen 8 of my favorite pieces, any of which I would be happy to have in my home for years to come.

Oval stacked crystal buffet lamp. Designer: Sandy Chapman

Dustin dodecahedron lamp. Designer: Lauren by Ralph Lauren

Thornton table lamp in antique brass. Designer: Suzanne Kasler

Kate table lamp in polished nickel. Designer: Alexa Hampton

Camille pierced porcelain table lamp with inner night light. Designer: Lauren by Ralph Lauren

Quatrefoil table lamp in gilded iron. Designer: Suzanne Kasler

Fang gourd lamp in antique burnished brass. Designer: Sandy Chapman

Images: Circa Lighting

Best Dressed Emmys 2011

My favorite part of any awards show (besides the funny intros) is watching the arrival of the stars on the red carpet. It's always fun to see who'll be wearing what, as well as taking a look at any upcoming trends. In no particular order, these were my favorite gowns of the night. I have to start with Colbie Smulders (above) in Alberta Ferreti. This dress was like a breath of fresh air. A color rarely seen on the red carpet, that crisp, brilliant blue looked absolutely gorgeous on her. And I think the hairstyle and the accessories complimented the dress perfectly. #1 Best Dressed!

Sofia Vergara also chose to go with a bright color in this body-hugging coral Vera Wang. I was pleasantly surprised to see her in this dress. Sofia tends to dress very va-va-voom, usually in tight dresses with low necklines that don't look very elegant, but this time she nailed it. The dress accentuated her fabulous curves without actually showing anything, and the color looked beautiful with her skin tone. Plus, I loved her huge Colombian emeralds (as she described them!)

My first thought upon seeing Kate Winslet in this bright red Elie Saab was: "Stunning!" Red was a big trend at this year's Emmys, and while most of the dresses were very nice, my favorite was definitely Kate. It was simple and elegant, it fit her beautifully and that shade of red was particularly lovely. I admit I love Kate Winslet. She looks like a real woman, sometimes she's a bit fuller, other times she looks skinnier, but I think she always looks fantastic.

Evan Rachel Wood wore Elie Saab as well, in a black beaded cap-sleeved gown with a long train. It was sophisticated and demure, and she looked like a movie star from times gone by.

Julie Bowen (winner for Best Supporting Actress in a comedy series for Modern Family. Loved that she and Ty Burrell both took home awards. They play husband and wife in the series and they are hilarious!) She chose a slinky Oscar de la Renta with metallic bead embroidery. I think critics may be divided on this one, but I really liked it. It was simple, yet the beading is absolutely beautiful and it looks like her, you know? This is her style. Unfussy and clean. She looks great!

Also in a slinky number, Maria Bello in an Art Deco-style Kaufman Franco. Very original! I just wish she had done something different with her hair. It looks so messy and doesn't really complement the dress. This girl is gorgeous and I think the hairstyle kind of takes away a little of that.

As you can see, many stars chose to go with the beaded trend. Another gorgeous example is Jennifer Carpenter in Tony Ward Couture. The dress was light pink with gold accents beaded in a crisscrossing pattern. Maybe the slit didn't have to be so high, the design itself and the materials are already sexy enough, but it looked great on her anyways.

Julia Stiles, looking very classic and chic in a lace Georges Hobeika. The first time I saw it I thought the color was lavender, but it's actually light grey. It's feminine with a hint of Old Hollywood and Julia carries it with a lot of poise.

And finally, I couldn't not mention Kelly Osbourne. The dress is very nice (J Mendel), but what I loved is her. I can't get over how good she looks these days! After losing so much weight doing Dancing with the Stars, she has completely transformed her style, her hair and the way she presents herself. She looks so good! Kudos to her!

Tell me, who were your favorites of the night? What did you think of the ones I chose, do you agree or disagree? I'd love to hear from you!

images: Getty Images from here

"In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy." Philippians 1:4 (NIV)

Designer Quote Monday

"Be faithful to your own taste, because nothing you really like is ever out of style."

Billy Baldwin

image from here (Interior: Jeffrey Bilhuber)

Apple Crumble

Apples are a favorite snack around here (specially smeared with peanut butter! yum!). We like Fuji or Cameo apples best because they're sweet and crisp and so refreshing, but one day we switched it up and bought these really dark Red Delicious which... were not at all delicious. They had barely any taste! Obviously they would not be eaten in this house any time soon, at least not in their natural state, so I figured some sugar and cinnamon would be the perfect way to fix 'em up.

An apple crumble is an effortless dessert. Just cut the apples, toss them with cinnamon and flour, pour them into a baking pan, make the crumble and sprinkle over the apples. Done! Of course, no apple crumble should be served without a large scoop of vanilla ice cream. The warm apples make the ice cream melt into a swirly, yummy mess and the crunchy bites of crumble take it over the top. And those not so delicious apples? Nowhere in sight.

Apple Crumble

• 8 cups thinly sliced apples
• 3 tablespoons sugar (white or brown)
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar (white or brown)
• 1/2 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

2. Toss the sliced apples with the 3 tbsp of sugar, 2 tbsp of flour, cinnamon, salt and vanilla. Place into a 9" x 13" baking pan.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients until it resembles course crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over the apples and bake for 5o minutes.

4. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce and nuts.

"But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." Acts 20:24

Missoni Craze

Yesterday was the launch of the Missoni for Target line. From the huge response it got last week at the NYC pop-up shop (it was supposed to last 3 days, but by the end of the 1st day everything had practically sold out), I decided the best strategy was to get to the store at opening time to make my purchases. I'm glad I did! When I arrived at Target there were just a few people waiting outside. About two minutes later, they opened the store and we all went in. Everyone raced for the clothes and just started grabbing items and throwing them in their carts. It was crazy! That was really funny.

I wasn't interested in the clothes, I just wanted some bath items and one of the beautiful glass blown vases. My friend Andrea and I went directly to the Home section and had the opportunity to check everything out without hurrying. The selection was pretty good (I wish I had taken some pictures for you), the pieces were all beautiful, although some of them did not live up to the images we had seen online. Thankfully I was prepared for that. Sometimes you can't really see the quality of something until you actually hold it in your hands. Some of the colors were not as bright in person and because it's an inexpensive line, the finish of some items were not the best. But all in all, gorgeous collection! Here's what I bought:

Hand towels. They had 5 different prints if I remember correctly. I loved them all, but these were my fave.

Bath towels. One for me, one for my hubby. You can guess whose is which.

Our lovely glass blown vase.

A votive to match and an acrylic tumbler, which I'm going to use to stash my makeup brushes (or colored pencils, I haven't decided yet).

Pretty notebook! I love this particular print, I wish they had made more stuff with it. I really wanted the shower curtain with the black and white print, but my Target didn't have it in stock. I was kind of bummed since that was the piece that tied the whole look together for our bathroom. But then I found this beautiful shower curtain in the same colors from another brand, which I actually liked even more than the Missoni. I also loved the bedding sets and the throws. The cosmetic cases were lovely as well.

After that, we went back to Women's Clothing and there was almost nothing left! The scarves, the flats, the rain boots, all gone! There must have been only about 25 customers in total. I still can't believe they took everything. There was this one lady who was going crazy, her cart was so full, and you know they're buying it to sell it on Ebay for 3 times what it costs. (I'm not kidding. The votive cost me $5.99 and I just saw it on Ebay going for $60! It's pretty and all, but come on!) I think Target should have a limit on the amount of items they let people buy when they do these design collaborations. A lot of people didn't get to buy the items they wanted because somebody else took it all just to make a profit. I really hope they restock the stores soon so everyone has a chance to buy what they liked. When I came home I went online to find that the Target website had crashed due to extreme high traffic! I guess Missoni was a hit!

"Finally, all of you should be of one mind. Sympathize with each other. Love each other as brothers and sisters. Be tenderhearted, and keep a humble attitude." 1 Peter 3:8 NLT