Los Angeles Design Blog | Material Girls | LA Interior Design

 I recently had the pleasure of attending a book launch event at Los Angeles based interior designer & showroom owner, Kishani Perera’s chic shop, Rummage.

The event was hosted by model/actress Molly Sims (along with a surprise appearance by actor Gary Oldman!) For proof, just check out this pic of Erika from Small Shop Studio with actor Gary Oldman!

An interior view of Kishani’s cute and chic shop, Rummage, from the upstairs mezzanine (where she also has her very cool studio space!).

Kishani’s book, Vintage Remix, is a must have!

I managed to get a copy of the book – and when I sat down to flip through it, I was awe inspired! Page after page of inspiring interiors, including Kishani’s projects and design philosophy. I really enjoyed seeing her own work space which is feautured in the book as well.

Kishani with Christian of Maison21 at her book launch event.

Another interior pic of Rummage, from near the front entrance.

Stylish vignettes and yummy desserts at the party!

If you’re in LA, defintely go visit Rummage!

All photos by Jill Seidner Interior Design

And a very special Happy Birthday to Kishani – as today is her birthday!

It has been quite a few eventful days this past week with WestWeek taking place, two days and three nights of back to back showroom events and parties! Here’s a recap of my WestWeek highlights!

 

Starting with a kick off party at interior designer Michael Smith’s showroom, Jasper, hosted by Margaret Russell and Architectural Digest magazine.

My friends Morgan and Christian of Maison21 at the Jasper Showroom / Architectural Design party.

Interior Designer Michael S Smith with Margaret Russell of Architectural Digest magazine.

Morgan, Me, Christian at the Jasper Showroom/Architectural Digest kick-off party.

Christian enjoying the Jasper Showroom party.

The next day I ventured over to the Pacific Design Center to take part in the events as an “official” blogger for WestWeek. (Thanks to Crestron and Andrew Martin for sponsoring.)

One of my first stops was to drop by the Thomas Lavin showroom to check out the new lighting pieces designed by Kevin Kolanowski of Fuse Lighting. Kevin was at the showroom to give a tour of his new selections – loved this wall sconce!

Next stop, was the Duralee Fabrics showroom for the John Robshaw textiles preview and an event with HipSwap co-hosted with Turquoise. I met up with Alissa from The Goods Design and Christian of Maison21 (standing in front of the new John Robshaw fabrics).

Vanessa of Turquoise and Typhanie of Shoebox Decor at the Duralee Fabrics showroom / HipSwap event.

In between events, Christian and I browsed a few of the design showrooms, stopping in at the David Sutherland showroom. While he was checking out the Perennials outdoor fabrics, I was checking out some of the dramatic lighting like this chandelier.

Following the California Home + Design “Rise of the Rock Star Designer” keynote, the Andrew Martin showroom held a reception party. Pictured here is Typhanie of Shoebox Decor, Christian of Maison21, & Matt Locke of Design Star.

Eileen of Christopher Guy with Typhanie of Shoebox Decor in front of the “sexy” tables at the Andrew Martin showroom.

After the Andrew Martin cocktail party, we decided to leave the PDC and “hit the street” where we walked down Melrose Avenue to the Dennis & Leen open house.

While the interiors of the Dennis & Leen showroom are gorgeous, I took respite in the courtyard with the koi pond.

Next we headed back up Melrose Avenue to stop by the Rose Tarlow Melrose House cocktail party.

 

Turns out, there was a little surprise at the Rose Tarlow showroom – fashion designer James Galanos (also known as Nancy Reagan’s dress designer) happen to be there. Here he is pictured with Christian.

Our last stop of the first day of WestWeek events was the House Beautiful party hosted by interior designer Peter Dunham of Hollywood at Home.

 

With more events and showroom open houses taking place on day two of WestWeek, I held out for the grand finale “rock star of parties” – the coveted Restoration Hardware party, complete with greige “red” carpet arrivals and guest list only invites.

 

The event was also to benefit LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and celebs came out to lend their support. Pictured here is actress Elizabeth Banks with model/actress Milla Jovovich.

Also in attendance, Restoration Hardware Chairman and Co-CEO Gary Friedman.

Party ambiance inside the Restoration Hardware store located on Beverly Boulevard in West Hollywood.

Typhanie and I at the Restoration Hardware party.

Tula of the blog Whorange with Typhanie of Shoebox Decor and Richard of BluePRint Brands at the Restoration Hardware party.

The real rock stars of the Restoration Hardware party: Typhanie, her sister Khadine, and Richard.

My favorite: the graffiti wall in the courtyard at Restoration Hardware.

All photos by Jill Seidner Interior Design

This past Thursday evening, I attended the store opening of Restoration Hardware’s newest location in West Hollywood.  The new space features a 24,000 square foot, two story showroom complete with a pebbled courtyard and room vignettes or “The Gallery” as it’s called.  The party was packed and filled with celebs, it was such an amazing turn out!

Once we checked in at the guest list, we entered into the main entry (pictured above) from the garden courtyard. The large scale lanterns, hanging by rope are stunning – in fact, all their lighting is equally amazing (I think that’s one of the features that really caught my eye in the new space).

In one of the main gallery spaces (where we hung out most of the night actually) is an oversize tufted sofa (so comfortable!), two of the reclaimed French floorboard coffee tables (back to back), with a large scale chandelier (again, another stunning light fixture!).

The crowd in one of the other gallery rooms.

Interior Designer Mary McDonald at the party.

Restoration Hardware CEO Gary Friedman with model/actress Jaime King.

Gary Friedman with actor Ashton Kutcher.

And what’s an event without my BFF’s: Morgan and Brooke.

Also had a blast hanging out with Molly Luetkemeyer of M. Design Interiors and Christian May of Maison 21!

[For more event photos, click here.]

Making the rounds of real estate and design blogs last week, was the announcement that Paris Hilton’s former house is available for rent.  The house, located on Kings Road in West Hollywood sold in 2007 for $3.8 million and is currently available to rent for $20,000 a month. The listing agent is Mauricio Umansky, husband of Paris’ aunt and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Kyle Richards.

In case you missed the visuals, here goes!

In this room, Paris is certainly the focal point.  All very glam, mirrored and black & white. Accessories? A Fendi throw pillow and mirrored obelisks.

The dining room is bright and crisp in white with contrasting ebony wood floors, a mirrored dining table, and a crystal chandelier.

The entry foyer, high in black and white contrast complete with a zebra striped area rug to carry the theme.

Paris’s mirrored bed (as also seen in Emily’s recent post), accented in pretty shades of pale pink.

Step into Paris’ closet: a mirrored dresser and a glam chandelier make this the ultimate girly girl walk-in closet.

The private backyard has a poolside tented cabana and chaises decked out in black and white.

{Did anyone spy what looks to be a stripper pole in the center of the coffee table in the very first picture?}

Images via ShelterPop and Realtor.com

A client of mine happens to be a sales director for iVillage (an NBC Universal Company) and they have recently launched their new Home & Garden Channel – totally worth checking out! It’s full of inspiration galleries, how to videos, house tours, gardening advice, blogs, and more!

The inspiration galleries are organized by section which makes it easy to find inspiration per room, such as: Nurseries, Window Treatments, Playrooms, Mudrooms, Dining Rooms, Wall Treatments, Backyards, Porches, Decks, Girls’ Bedrooms, etc.

A playroom featured in the inspiration gallery.

A modern bedroom featured in the Bedrooms section.

Another bedroom (the feature list sources as too, like this zebra print pillow from Target!).

Love the House Tours section too:

Which includes the home of Real Housewife of New York, Alex McCord.

And another home tour of Real Housewife of DC, Mary Schmidt Amons.

Check out iVillage for more!

Well, it’s officially summer in LA and this past week has been hot, hot, hot! My 1940′s bungalow in Bel Air has neither AC…nor a pool. Seeing these celebrity pools featured on the Elle Decor website has me a tad envious about now.  Fellow Bel Air neighbor Monique Lhullier has yet to invite me to come over to lounge by her pool (I house sit, FYI). Little does anyone know I’ve been sticking my head in the freezer to cool off!

So here’s where these celebs spend their hot summer days…

Fashion designer Monique Lhullier‘s pool, original to her manor-style home located in Bel Air.

The Hampton’s pool of artist Chuck Close and his wife, landscape historian Leslie Rose Close.

The Long Island weekend house of fashion designer Dennis Basso.

The infinity pool at fashion designer Elie Saab’s weekend home near Beirut, Lebanon.

Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer’s East Hampton, New York home.

Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo’s Mediterranean-style setting at her  home in the Hollywood Hills.

The infinity pool at the Malibu home of Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber offers stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

The Hollywood Hills home of actors Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor has a bi-level pool deck with an exotic vibe.

After creating a book called Pools (Rizzoli), fashion muse Kelly Klein knew a thing or two about how to create one for herself. She designed a black-bottom pool with soapstone coping and sleek steel railings at her Florida home.

At beach retreat belonging Coach president and creative director Reed Krakoff and his wife in Southampton, New York.

Fashion designer Cynthia Rowley‘s pool in the backyard of her Manhattan townhouse.

All images from the “Celebrity Pools” feature on the Elle Decor website.

This past Thursday evening I attended the Elle Decor cocktail party to kick off the start of the two day events for “Legends of La Cienega.”  The gala took place at the Therien showroom on La Cienega where I met up with fellow blogger Christian May of Maison21 to enjoy an evening of wine, hors d’oeuvres, and the guest of honor: Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of Elle Decor magazine.

The “curbside” entrance to the Elle Decor party.

Concetto by CaesarStone, the event sponsor.

The stunning interiors of the Therien showroom.

The cocktails came to us, quite literally.

The beautiful Margaret Russell with Michael Bruno of 1st Dibs.

Fashion designer Catherine Malandrino.

Designers Ron Woodson and Jaime Rummerfield.

Guests: Ron Woodson, Peter Gursky, Suzanne Marquez, Jaime Rummerfield and Roman.

Guests: Jaime Rummerfield, Thomas Lavin and Suzanne Marquez.

Editor-In-Chief, Elle Decor, Margaret Russell and Catherine Malandrino.

Guests mingling in the Therien showroom.

Courtyard at Therien.

Stay tuned for more highlights to come of the “Legends of La Cienega” design events.

Now I am off for one last cocktail party of the two day extravaganza!

{Photos by Mark Savage Photography}

Always one to want to know what the Kardashian sisters are up to, I was in awe of this home office featured on CasaSugar designed by Jeff Andrews for Khloe Kardashian.  Khloe was introduced to Los Angeles based interior designer Jeff Andrews by his client Ryan Seacrest. (Coincidently, Jeff Andrews works with the same art gallery as I do and I had heard a lot about his project for Ryan at the time.)

Being that Khloe’s style is young and glamorous, but with an appreciation for traditional – the concept for the home office (and the entire house) was “glam-traditional.”  Here’s a sneak peek of the office (and I can’t wait to see the rest of the house in the future!):

The pair of guest chairs are vintage and Khloe already had them but didn’t love them so Jeff reupholstered in a fabric with a subtle sparkle.

To add glitz and dimension, the back of the bookshelves were lined with antique mirror.  The chandelier adds glamour and Jeff customized the piece by adding cut black crystals (purchased separately and added on).

The walls are painted in Benjamin Moore Stone (a shade of gray lavender) and the ceiling in a lighter shade of lavender (Angelika).  For the window treatments, they used sheers in charcoal/purple color which help to glam up the space.  The mirrored desk and side table along with other accessories pull everything together.

Look forward to seeing the rest of the house!

Well, it’s the one and only original Material Girl: Madonna!

Over the years, we’ve seen her transform her many looks and styles – from her Marie Antoinette days (above) to the early days of her “Material Girls” song (below) – and now, a very domesticated Madonna has signed on to showcase the Spring/Summer 2010 ad campaign for Dolce & Gabbana.  The ad campaign was shot in New York by photographer Steven Klein and recently featured in Vanity Fair Italia.

{Remember when? I still have this on vinyl!}

And here’s a preview of Madonna’s new ads for Dolce & Gabbana:

Madonna being very domestique at the kitchen sink doing dishes.

Looking very Italian-esque, Madonna at the kitchen table peeling tomatoes.

And eating spaghetti on the kitchen counter!

{In retrospect, it’s certianly a change from the mod glam Versace ads I remember from over a decade ago.}

Lucite furniture and a glass desk – Madonna working away.

Over the years, not only have we seen her chameleon looks – but we’ve seen her in many “environments” as well.

What do you get when you mix Sir Elton John, his partner David Furnish, and interior designer extraordinaire Martyn Lawrence-Bullard? A very chic LA pad! Check out these photos featured in the December issue of Architectural Digest.

Both Elton John & his partner wanted a place that was very LA, something very ’70′s and reminiscent of the building’s architecture, and as quoted “Boogie Nights.”  Sir Elton wanted a period vibe as a backdrop for his art & color photographs and aside from that – color.  That says the man – who is himself very colorful!  And as Elton’s partner states; “Martyn takes your taste and gives the most gorgeous, sexiest version of it,” says Furnish. “Not having a template style, he’s a true collaborator.” I think that’s a great quote and couldn’t agree more – this space really reflects who the clients are.

The living room with sweeping views of the city.

Love the Kelly green painted wall and dark floors.

The 1960′s chandelier is from the Grand Hotel in Milan.

Elton’s colorful office space (and so happy to see he is a Mac user)!  Definitely a chair for the one and only “Rocket Man!”

[To see the full spread pick up a copy of the December 2009 issue of Architectural Digest which also includes the homes of: Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Magic Johnson, Donna Karan, Ralph Pucci, James Burrows, Carole King, Elie Saab, and more!]