Sara Duffy

Design Within Reach has added another branch to their division. Tools For Living is at 142 Wooster Street. It’s in that cool double height space which used to have that awesome lizard tile pattern on the ceiling. Anyway - the store only sells accessories and smaller items. Everything from kitchen stuff to kids toys (see above photo) to gardening tools. Some if it is weird - there is a red rubber ball for sale, and some of it is great - they have a terrific magnetic map of the world that comes with metal pins that can be moved around. DWR is having a store wide 10% sale until October 14th. Run - dont’ walk!

Room and Board, one of my favorite sources has a new sofa which I love.  The Reese, is new to the line and terrific looking.  It comes in 85″ and also has coordinates if you want to make it into a sectional.  It comes stocked in a great fabric and the other choices are quite nice.  My only complaints about Room and Board are it’s website which is written in Flash.  This makes it difficult to download images for presentation purposes.  I also find their fabrics nice but somewhat confining.

I’ve just finished re-vamping my In-laws office space in their apartment.  (Pictures to follow in future posts).  It turned out to be a much more arduous task than I had expected.  I had to get rid of tons of books, old wooden shelving, a 10 foot long laminate counter top, and much more.  i started by slowly piling things into an old granny cart and carting them over to Housing Works - my favorite place to donate things.  Unfortunately by the 4th trip I had barely made a dent and I was exhausted.  My Mother in Law had given me a coupon for a company called “1 800 Got Junk”.  I found them in a flash online and had scheduled a pick up within minutes for the next morning.  They were curtious on the phone, arrived earlier than the scheduled time, called me to say they were waiting for me outside, crawled down to the basement to help me pull out more junk, and then made sure that i was getting all the possible discounts I was eligible for.  They charge by how much stuff you have, not the time.  We decided that my stuff would take up about 1/8 of the truck so I was charged around $250.  i thought that was a totally reasonable price for the service and they were in and out of the apartment in 30 minutes.

I had to buy a new air conditioner. It was a million degrees in my office and the existing machine had died. Disaster! So off I went knowing only that i wanted one that was as energy efficient as possible. First I stopped at the local hardware store which had a pile of AC’s outside the store. “How much are they?” I asked. “$200 bucks” he said. “I’m looking for one with a high EER (Energy Efficiency Rate)” I said while trying not to look too feminine in my gym clothes pushing my two kids in the stroller. “This one is perfect for you! You can’t get a better EER than this. It’s 8.5.” I didn’t know a lot about EER’s but that seemed like a low number to me. “That seems low to me” I said. “Lady, you’re not going to find a better one than this, I’m telling you.” He replied. I thanked him politely and moved on.

LADY? I’M TELLING YOU? Why is it that when a woman is out shopping for electronics the assumption is that she is stupid and, even more upsetting, that she can be easily swayed into a purchase????? I was furious knowing that if I was a man I would have been treated much differently. The next day I went to Home Depot where I felt sure there must be a great assortment of AC’s and people who will treat me like I have a brain in my head. Wrong again! I basically got the same treatment but this time the guy told me a 7.5 EER was probably the best i was going to find in the market place. I left annoyed and texted my husband (who happens to be an Energy Policy Analyst at the NRDC) what a good EER is. He informed me I don’t want anything less than 10.

Not only was I annoyed that i had been treated poorly but clearly these guys didn’t know what they were talking about. How is it possible in this age of environmental awareness (or lack there of) that an employee of Home Depot is completely ignorant of what an EER is?

I was walking down 23rd street when I noticed a PC Richards store across the street. I went in and was greeted by at least 50 different models. I approached a young salesman and explained what I was looking for. He treated me with respect and helped me figure out what was best for my situation. We decided on a small $150 machine with a 11 EER . He also helped schedule an installer and delivery.

I left there very happy but struck at how difficult it was for me to find a place where i would be treated with respect.

ICFF, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, is always terribly overwhelming and, by the end, you cant even remember what you saw.  That’s usually what I say but this year it was a terrific resource for me.  Having recently started my own interior design firm, it was a way for me to re-connect with vendors and introduce myself as a business owner.  I didn’t find many things new and interesting but, I will say, the section of the show from Britain was the most interesting.  My favorite was a young woman named Miranda Meilleur.  She is a silversmith from Wales and makes gorgeous spoons and accessories.  I have no idea what Miranda was doing at a furniture fair but she is very nice and hasn’t adopted the high falooting attitude of her fellow exhibitors at the show.

PS - You can find her things for sale at Epoch in Soho

Above: I Only See Things When They Move

Above: 360 Degree Room For All Colors

I had the pleasure this morning of going to a members only viewing of “Take You Time”, the Olafur Eliasson show at the Museum of Modern Art. We got to view the show essentially alone and, I have to say, the show is superb.

My favorite piece is entitled “I Only See Things When They Move”. It is a large square room painted white with an incredibly strong light source in the middle which is surrounded by slowly moving colored glass panels. The effect is amazing! Large beautiful stripes of light move slowly around the room layering over each other. The viewers shadows add yet another layer over the stripes. It is lovely and always changing. All the pieces in the show encourage the viewer to stop and notice the details. Eliasson’s work has the ability to seem so simple but as you focus and study, you realize there are amazing details.

I highly recommend the show and encourage you to take your children.

They even let you take photographs which is a luxury at any museum.

There is an article in last weeks New York Magazine (the one with McCain on the cover) detailing a renovation of a west village town house.  The renovation designed by Steven Harris, a very talented architect, took an original house and completey changed it.  What was once a sweet typical west village town house is now a modern  huge building that has absolutely no relation to it surroundings.  I have great respect for design and architecture and, truth be known, think the new design is gorgeous but I mourn the loss of the original house. Was it really necessary to  lose all details of the original house?  The house, granted, was in desperate need of work and some serious love but to take it this far seems ludicrious and disrespectful to the history of New York.

The house was bought by an investor for 3 million and then put back on the market for 10 million.  Am I the only one that thinks this is crazy?  Soon New York will only be for the rich and quickly all that was once wonderful will be gone.

I have just discovered a new shop that I love for buying gifts. Environment 337 is a lovely little shop on 10th street and University Place right here in the West Village. They have another location in Brooklyn where both owners, Donald and Loren, grew up. The store is filled with wonderful things at all price points. I have recently purchased a set of beautiful modern stem less champagne flutes with abstract designs etched on them. A set of four cost $35. I’ve also purchased terrific hand made cutting boards with flower designs burned into the wood($20), wonderful glass jewelery ($20 - $50), soaps, stainless steel necklaces, and some great wallets. They also have a small collection of furniture - a beautiful velvet upholstered arm chair and some great side tables. I’ve only ever met Donald who is lovely and easy to work with. They will sell directly to the trade and do a terrific job of gift wrapping.