 that make white … white. Perhaps that is far too technical an explanation. The fact is – I like it. It’s crisp, and clean, and allows me room to think. White, like a good hostess, allows other colors to appear brighter, to pop, to be the lead character in a story. A room with too many colors can be exhausting, don’t you agree? This is particularly important to remember as many of you will be receiving house guests this summer. Entertaining too many colors simultaneously can be exhausting. Keep that in mind.
As a proponent of advertising, it shouldn’t be a surprise that Wanamaker is the Father of the White Sale, the fact that he is was also a marketing pioneer has me thinking that I owe him a debt of gratitude. That is, after all, how I make my living.
While dining with my good friend Marisa on Wednesday, she mentioned the opening of a new hotel in Boston’s Seaport District. In our roles we are always looking for hip spots to host client events that will make a splash. How appropriate that Yotel picked Boston’s Seaport for it’s second city location, because a splash it is going to make! Opening next Thursday, 22 June at 65 Seaport Blvd. the 326 “cabin” hotel is all about compact luxury. So coincidentally, am I.
Self-serve or Mission Control 24/7.
While the original hotels are known as Yotel Airs, and are located at airports, they carry the concept of first class travel to their city environs. Mission Control (Front Desk), Crew Members (Hotel Staff), and of course your Cabins (hotel rooms), all set the stage for a first class travel experience.
Premium Queen with Bunk.
It’s no coincidence that Yotel’s creator, Simon Woodrooffe began his life as a stage manager before transitioning to a set designer, becoming a restauranteur with the opening of his first Yo Sushi in 1997, continued his illustrious career. Well naturally, someone that is known for innovating and reinventing himself, wasn’t going to sit about in the same old set for the rest of his life. So the Yotel concept, which with streamlined precision and ingenuity, gracefully melds aircraft cabin design, and yacht design, overlaying many of the principles of theater set design, and the technological systems that ensure quick, and seamless transitions from one set to another, into the hotels design…et voila, travel is transformed back to its standing as a time honored gift of adventure and wonder.
Thankfully this English based company converts square meters into square feet as my list of things to learn is long, and constantly growing. Don’t feel sad for those meters, they’ll get their spot light here. A Queen Cabin is 14 sqm, which is roughly 149 Square Feet. Seems small right? Yo likes to say “everything you need and nothing you don’t.” Technology plays an important role in creating comfort in this economically designed space. SmartBeds, SmartTVs, and the speediest of speedy Wi-fi seem to make it all work. Like micro-housing units there are plenty of places outside the cabin to convene, work, dine, and relax.
Cabin Fever …. never, too many places and city faces to visit, inside the hotel and out.
I can’t wait to escape to Yotel’s Boston Rooftop Lounge. As a Cape Cod Gal getting a glimpse of the water is as necessary to me a taking my next breath. The rooftop will offers an amazing vantage point from which to view the harbor, sit in comfortable lounge chairs, and a cocktail. Special introductory rates of $129. have me considering booking a room just for the chance to experience it all first hand.
Yotel Rooftop Boston.
The weekends are too short, and summer in New England is the shortest of the short. shorts. With no spring to speak of, one really feels the need to make the most of the good weather, when said good weather finally arrives. Sun, sand, ocean, and fantastically fresh food. To bite into a juicy peach, savor a sweet chunk of pineapple, smack your lips as you sip a tart and tasty lemonade – that’s summer. It got me thinking about the roll of fruit in interior design, naturally.
Etsy is an amazing source for original art work. This gracefully executed watercolor, brings a little of that fun fruit to an Urban or Suburban setting. Etsy. Tina Vu Studio $45.
I’m not thinking dark paneled walls, velvet curtains, and Peter Paul’s Rubeneque beauties lying naked in heaps of grapes. I’m thinking a little more playful, a bit of young at heart, more daylight than dark, more laughter than tears. Fruit motifs span the gamut from sophisticated to childish, and it’s perfectly ok to mix the two, why not, no law.
The traditional motif symbolizing “welcome” – posh doesn’t have to cost a pretty penny. PB Teen $119.
For city surroundings I do recommend you lean toward the sophisticated palette. Potted fruit plants, faux and real, can bring a little of that summer indoors, and remind you that the world is not all hardscape. (Try Ballard Design for some realistic looking faux plants) Sculptural elements like china or metallic pineapples, sitting serenely on the shelf of an étagère, the spire on top of your skyscraper of interiors books, glinting and beckoning at that 5 o’clock hour from it’s outpost on the bar cart, pineapples are indeed welcoming. Wall coverings that blur and obscure the fruit feel polished and fresh, and are perhaps just the right splash of irreverence for a powder room or guest bed.
Flavor Paper. Fruits of Design. Sweet Potato Mica Clay Coated.
Summer rightfully brings out the kid in us all. By my account there is far too much seriousness going around these days. I’m not condoning irresponsibility, just suggesting that buying a Crew Cuts tee shirt from the kids department that has glittery cherry’s on it, is perfectly acceptable, and frankly much more economically responsible than buying it from J. Crew Woman’s. Just saying…I did it, and you feel free to judge. I am also suggesting that a sequined watermelon throw pillow, could really make rolling from Sunday into Monday, just a little bit happier, and if you woke up in these delightfully chipper cherry sheets from Serena and Lily, who’s to say you wouldn’t have the best day ever?
PB Teen. Tutti Fruity Pillow Covers. 16″ Square – $12.99 each.
To making the most of your summer weekends, and not allowing yourself to turn Sunday into an extension of Monday.
Serena and Lily. Cherry Sheet Set. $128. – $228.
It is an addiction, this business of gambling on real estate. Always searching for the next thrill, desperate for the rush you get when you bet the right amount, and the roulette ball lands on your number – euphoric. The anxiety that accompanies the decision to stay in the game, hold, or cash in your chips. The fear that the chips your cashing in won’t cover the bets you’ve made. It’s a risk, and the timing, the timing is everything.
One of my favorite signs….
I’m not much for sitting around and waiting things out. I came home yesterday to find that my next door neighbor (whose building is part of my condo association) has a For Sale sign out. I don’t actually see the property listed, a tactic that the broker uses to drive a single source sale – a questionable practice at best…. nonetheless, those are all two beds, as is mine, now that I converted it from one to two, and I felt jealousy when I saw the sigh. It’s true, I had a visceral reaction to that proud sign, swinging in the breeze, strapped to the wrought iron fence, determined to attract a buyer. I want to put mine on the market, but I have to wait. I am tenacious, but not patient.
Waiting patiently for fabrication…..
There are things to do yet, curtains to be hung, hardware to be installed, doors to be built for the millwork cabinet in the living room, the perfect chair to be hunted down, a sparkling gold bar cart to be bought, brass wire covers to locate, my front door hardware to be installed by someone that actually knows how to install door hardware. You see, I am actually not ready to leave yet, but like a girl that can’t commit, I’m ready to dash from the alter before me and my intended can tie the knot, and become comfortably numb.
LuxHoldups. Etsy. Awaiting installation.
Not that I believe all long term relationships are a recipe for conformity or boredom, there are many that I admire, it’s just that while I like No. 4, I can’t see myself settling down…forever… not yet. So the search continues, and in the interim, I will give my all to this commitment. It deserves the best from me, and I just know that the next lucky person that gets it will wonder why I ever wanted to leave it. At least I hope they will.
Some places are just made for inspiration. From the dirty to the flirty, polished posh,