How I Sleep Really Well

Guest post from friend and ultra chic interior designer, Lucie Ayres! How I Sleep Really Well (can’t wait to read her tips because I don’t sleep really well!!!). Thank you, Lucie!!

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HOW TO SLEEP AMAZINGLY WELL – EVEN DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC

 

Some of you may know I’m an interior designer  but many of you don’t know that I am an unofficial expert on sleep.  Why? Because I sleep well pretty much every single night. Even through this crisis.  I realize I’m in the minority – so I thought I’d share with you how I do it and why I do it.

 

First and foremost, it’s a decision you have to make and you have to stick to it – pretty much like any other goal you’d like to accomplish.  But in my opinion, this is not a painful process -it’s actually incredibly pleasurable. And it starts the minute you wake up.

 

ONE: (a) MAKE YOUR BED – and don’t half-ass it, make it like it’s going to look like a hotel room bed when you get ready to get into it later.  Fluff those pillows, the comforter, whatever you need to do to make it look delicious.

 

Photo credit: 22 Interiors shot by Amy Bartlam

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Quick Living Room Refresh: Lucie Ayres

Back to the swing of things and back to my favorite interior designer friend and guest blog extraordinaire, Lucie Ayres! Take it away, Lucie and thanks so much! A Fall refresh for your living room!

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Every time the kids go back to school, I a) feel normal again and b) feel like the living room needs to be refreshed (and de-toy-ified).  Whether or not you have children, it’s always nice to change things up for a new season. Fall + Winter translate into more time spent indoors, so let’s make the indoor areas you value feel fantastic.

 

A few ideas/things that I like to do-

 

1 – General “Kondo method” time 

At this point in early Fall, I realize we all need a bit of a clean out. The question of “does this spark joy?” is a good one.  In my living room there are too many toys that don’t spark joy for me, but do so for my kids. Luckily I found these amazing storage ottomans which hold all those joy sparking toys and don’t create an eye sore. Or if you are lucky to have built in storage – put those things away (I also encourage the children (“gently force”) to look through their toys and donate the ones they are no longer playing with).

 

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All About Color With Lucie Ayres

Over the past several years, friend Lucie Ayres has guest posted here. Not only do I love it (writer’s block solution and busy schedule!) but I also love Lucie. She is full of pizazz, style, and is a super talented interior designer. To see her previous posts, go here and here. Today, she is presenting ALL ABOUT COLOR. Which I love, because if you know me, I am ALLLLLLL about color. Take it away, Lucie and THANK YOU!

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It’s SPRING  (officially Summer, but hey, early summer) – a colorful time of year, one that inspires the ol’ spring cleaning, and also the busiest time for many interior designers.  It’s that REFRESH MY SPACE moment. Sure, you can clean up, and add some new throw pillows into the mix (new pillows are NEVER a bad idea) but if you REALLY want to update a space  – it’s all about thinking about your walls… particularly the paint color. That much might be obvious, but what’s not obvious is the type of paint you buy.

 

Paint samples by DRIKOLOR

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22 Interiors – Styling 101

Once again, our dear friend Lucie Ayres from 22 Interiors joins the blog for some designing and styling tips. I love her work and styling, so don’t just read the post for advice…. follow her on instagram to see her Californian digs and designs. Thanks, Lucie!

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The finishing touches are what make a room feel designed or not. One of 22 Interiors FAVORITE things to do is style bookshelves and coffee tables. We love discovering what clients already have, adding to it, and finalizing a curated look that works for them….We recently went to a client’s house to do some bookshelf and coffee table styling as part of our design service. Our client already had put some objects up on the shelves along with some books. This is what it looked like:

 

Before:

 

before

Before

Domino Magazine Spread

Our apartment was recently featured in Domino Magazine in an interview with our interior designer, Ali Tick. We are so thrilled with it and love the fact that we will always have these images of our “forever home.” As you may know, we went through a major renovation for 8 months, during which we put together our dream interiors and designs. We love our home — so so much — as it truly represents us…  comfortable, clean, modern, and cheerful. To take a look at the full article, go here. Thanks to Domino and thanks to Ali for working with us on so many different projects (remember this in Lonny years ago?) and thanks to you all for letting me indulge in sharing this article! Thank you! (All photos by Cody Guilfoyle for Domino)

 

This is our “formal” living room. I love the colors and the chairs.

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22 Interiors – Fall Fix

Remember last Spring, we interviewed old friend Lucie Ayres of 22 Interiors and then she posted on The Guide to the Perfect Bedroom? Well, she is back at it again for us all! Thanks so much, Lucie! And this time she is going to give us some Fall tips for rugs, pillows, and robes! Take it away!

 

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Fall is the BEST time of the year – it’s cooler, the cocktails are heartier, and the social calendar is filled with parties.  Many of us will have guests who spend the night or three, and why not make that the perfect excuse to revamp the guest room? Or any room, really.  All one needs to do this transformation is a great rug as the anchor, a few fun throw pillows to help set the mood and maybe something for your guest (or you) like a gorgeous robe to compliment the decor, from Natori of course.

 

We put together our favorite rug / pillow / robe combos to achieve a FAB FALL design update.

 

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Fun Posters- Renovation Hacks

Readers of the blog know we recently finished a major home renovation.  One of my favorite hacks is in our laundry room, where we had an old-school (retro like 1960s) lobby intercom AND an electric wiring box that required covering up. Since we need access to the electrical box,  we wanted something cheap, easy, and replaceable. The laundry room is fun and playful (my favorite room in the house), so we added to the fun by covering the wall with place posters and washi tape.

UGLY!

UGLY! HELP! SOS!

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Interview with Lucie Ayres- Interiors 22

I recently posted tips from our friend Lucie Ayres of 22 Interiors on how to make a great master bedroom. Read below for more insight into her interior decorating and her business.  Thanks Lucie!

 

When and how did you decide to become a designer?

 

I’ve wanted to be a designer ever since I was a little girl and rearranged the furniture in my room constantly.

 

Lucie at age 8.

Lucie at age 8.

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22 INTERIORS – Guide to the Perfect Bedroom

We are so fortunate to have a lot of great friends, many of whom are incredibly talented in their field. One of these peeps is Lucie Ayres, a dear friend of Ken’s from his junior year study abroad program in Prague. Lucie is an interior designer for her company 22 Interiors based in Los Angeles. She has a beautiful eye, incredible taste, and great style. If you ever need a designer, I highly recommend her. And even if you want some inspiration, subscribe to her blog and follow her on instagram. In the meantime, here she is for a guide to the perfect bedroom!!!! Thank you, Lucie!  Take it away!

 

The perfect bedroom, styled by 22 Interiors. Photo

The perfect bedroom, styled by 22 Interiors.

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Renovation Post #4

Drum roll……This is our last official night living with my inlaws.  Spring break starts tomorrow and when we return, we will be in OUR NEW APARTMENT! We have been living in temporary digs since June 2016, so the return home will be that much better and sweeter. Our home! Here are some pictures of the current state of our apartment…not everything is done, like wallpaper, and lights, etc…but that will take place in the next two weeks (or so we hope!).

 

This is our future dining room and living room. I love the new floors (they are the same floors just sanded down and stained light vs the original dark color).

This is our future dining room and living room. I love the new floors (they are the same floors just sanded down and stained light vs the original dark color).

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Renovation Post #3

We are officially five months into our home renovation project, and slowly, it is taking more form and becoming more like a real home! The lights are now in (not the light fixtures, but the electrical outlets and lights on the ceiling), the walls are in place, and the stairs connect the floors!!! Mind you, it is far from done, but I now have a better sense of what it is really going to look like, and I can’t contain my excitement. Take a look at the newest pictures:

 

The new entry way!

The new entry way!

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DIY Instagram Photos

My favorite form of social media is instagram, mainly because I love the square cropped photos with various filters that instantly make me look like a photographer. (Yes, I realize the irony behind the fact that I am a public blogger but have a private instagram account and don’t really like posting photos.  I’m an enigma.  But if you send a request and your profile isn’t obviously psychotic, I will accept it!)  So recently, I did a DIY project where I hung some instagram photos in my son’s room. I know, super creative.

 

closet door

A little surprise on his closet door.

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Natori Office: The Showroom

On this blog, we have had the privilege of seeing some aspects of my mother-in-law (Josie Natori)’s home; her (sick and drool-worthy OMG I NEED IT NOW) closet  and the (incredible, chic, and original) silver bathroom in herapartment. And now, we have the opportunity to take a sneak-peek look at the Natori Office in NYC (I highlighted my mother in law’s office here — the office within the office). Come take a tour of where the magic at Natori happens! First stop: 18th Floor (come back Friday for more on the 19th Floor).

 

Natori office.

Once you exit the elevator, you see “Natori” written across the wall. Most impressed = Cruzzie. N A T O R I.

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Return to Home Interiors

My dear and hilarious friend, Lorri, is incredibly talented. A graduate of Stanford undergraduate *AND* Stanford Business School (don’t you hate her already), she worked in the corporate world for many years, had two kids, and then realized that she needed a change in professions. So here she is now, a blogger and a “decorating enthusiast.” She writes a fabulous blog about decorating and home inspirations AND has her own decorating business.

 

return to home

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Lonny Magazine Feature!

Thank you, Lonny Magazine!  Ken and I are so excited (and can’t believe) that we were featured in their June magazine.  The piece was on young families that try to make their homes hip and chic, while also family-friendly and functional.

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My favorite picture of the photo shoot!

The article featured both our New York apartment, and our home in Pound Ridge, NY, which the Natoris have owned for more than 25 years (Ken’s parents just completed building another home on the property).  We have spent the past few months redoing and redecorating the house, and are so excited with how it turned out.

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Cruz’s bedroom in NYC; my favorite room in our whole apartment. The colors and patterns bring such happiness and joy to the room, and to us!

We worked with 2 amazing interior decorators.  Nicki Hill Rose helped us with the first renovation in New York (pre-Cruz), and Allison Tick did the second renovation (pre-Zoe), and the full project in Pound Ridge. We would not have been able to do it without their help!

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Our bedroom in NYC, not shy of vibrant colors.

We are so thrilled with how everything turned out.  The article has a lot more pictures (32 pages!) so please check it out and support Lonny!

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Pound Ridge, NY. Master bedroom. Love the LOVE.

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Pound Ridge living room, outside. And yes, hello plastic red and yellow airplane. (Cruzzie loves this plane so much he sleeps with it every night. No joke. He cuddles it like a teddy bear. Safe to say he is a dedicated airplane lover).

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Cruz’s teepee, Pound Ridge guest room. I found the teepee on etsy and love it more than Cruzzie does. If I go missing, that is where I will be…huddled up in the teepee with a jar of peanut butter and some babka.

Thanks to the amazing Lonny team!  To read the whole feature, go here.

Anika Yael Natori, aka, The Josie Girl

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Natori Design Process

This past week, I had the fabulous opportunity to meet with the three main designers of all of the Natori brands (Josie, Natori, JN, N Natori, and Ready-to-wear) for lunch. It was an incredibly educational experience for me and I learned so much, as I walked away with a much deeper understanding (and appreciation) for all the work that goes into designing clothes. It is such a complex process! There are so many different steps it takes to get a finished product sold in a store.

design team

The Design team at Natori (minus my mother-in-law and the Design Director): Nicole Goetz, Jack Tung, Kate Lee, Ju-Hee Maeng, Jocelyn Hazen, Jieun Park, Elizabeth Valle, Yuki Okamoto.

work space

The workspace of one of the designers.

At  Natori, there is a main design theme each season (for us non-fashion people — there are two main seasons — Fall and Spring) which gives the designers a better sense of direction and inspiration for the lines. Although there are many collections at Natori (Josie Natori, Natori, Josie, N Natori) — they all work within the same theme for a given season. The themes are often destinations or exotic places of the East– the current Fall 2012 theme is Mongolia. They are currently working on Spring 2013, the theme of which is the Philippines (very appropriate). Once they are given the theme, the designers research in depth — history, culture, traditions, textiles, costumes, colors, mood etc. They look at every part of the theme for inspiration and guidance in their designs.

Files

All images, sketches, various sources of research are stored in these file bins.

theme

Images of the country's environment, people, culture, and colors.

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