Design Happens

Sometimes when I see an A-List celebrity on the cover of a magazine, I think to myself, “I wonder who does their draperies?” Unhealthy? Yes. Justified? Kinda—since I assume glamorous stars who pocket $20M per movie must be living in designer homes. And if they’re not—shame on them. Not to mention, whether it’s decorating or grocery shopping, stars doing stuff in their personal time is, for some odd reason, FASCINATING!

This leads me to another curiosity: What blogs are designers and design bloggers reading and why? This new-found need-to-know started when I noticed that the Editor in Chief of Traditional Home (which I considered to be The Bible) recently became a fan of Decor Demon on Facebook. Some of the most influential people in the design and shelter magazine world are reading our words and loving our images—that’s HUGE!

For real, use this blog post as a forum to tell us all about where you spend the most time on the blogosphere and why.

WHAT: Bright Bazaar, written by UK-based prop stylist, Will Taylor, focuses on the use of bold color and happy, high-energy interiors.

WHY: Will’s beautiful graphics, well-done layouts and consistent aesthetic make the entire reading experience almost like an optical toothache—everything is deliciously sugar sweet. Aside from the images, Taylor’s writing is impeccable. I especially like when the Englishman in him writes things like: splash back (instead of backsplash), personalise (versus personalize) and colour (as opposed to color).

WHAT: Nick Olsen Style, the blog of NYC-based uber-decorator, Nick Olsen, a mash-up of flea market finds, his own published interiors or project ideas and hysterically-written pop culture musings

WHY: Hands down, the most entertaining, design-oriented writing on the Interwebs. Olsen has a strong, educated and likeable point-of-view. It’s hard not to be interested in his latest ventures, which include contributing to Design*Sponge and Lonny. His stories on trips back home to The Sunshine State are so vividly descriptive, that as a fellow native Floridian (I’m from Ft. Lauderdale; he’s from Pensacola), I’d pay top dollar for a full novel scribed by the decorator himself. In addition to great design content, he has a photographer friend take awesome images of things, including his toy Rolls Royce and a glamorous tablescape of a TV dinner. Plus, his work is quite beautiful; he worked for Miles Redd for years and says things like, “Speak a word of this and lose an eyebrow.” LIKE.

WHAT: Style By Emily Henderson, a brilliantly written, behind-the-scenes look at the what a respected shelter magazine stylist and host of her own new decorating TV series goes through to create that mind-blowing space.

WHY: Emily is out there doing her thing at flea markets and, thanks to a playful writing style, she pretty much brings readers with her on the journey. In addition to Emily’s entertaining words, her ideas on transforming potential pieces into showstopping stars are incredibly useful. She’s also rather hysterical and does super cool things like google-image-searching random words or phrases such as “cat’s pajamas” to see what images appear, then posts them. It’s kinda hard not to love her.

WHAT: Design Blahg, a super-snarky, no-holds-barred yet playful overview of all things going on in the world of design.

WHY: Possibly the most frequently-updated of design blogs, writer Erica Reitman often says the things which 99% of us would think, then cover up with a faux smile. Based in Brooklyn, Reitman manages to know who, what, where and when before the rest of the design world. In addition to being a gifted writer, the Design Blahg creator knows a ton about groundbreaking, useful blog technology, then generously shares it with readers. Oh, and she uses a ton of 4-letter words—which for me, is a pre-requisite. @$&%*

I could do this all day but I have grasscloth to install, receipts to reconcile and a small white dog to take to PetSmart. So, here is a little list of all design blogs which (a) I read either weekly or bi-monthly or (b) are regular reads of my blog-loving designer friends. Then it’s your turn to tell us the best blogs we’re missing out on—right after you click this link to become a fan of Decor Demon on Facebook, that is.  And for now, that is all.

House of Brinson

Annette Joseph, AJPhotostylist

My Favorite And My Best

Sketch42Blog

The Decorista

Houzz

Casa Sugar

Meditations On Life + Style

StyleNotes

SingleBubblePop

YummyScrumptious

High Gloss Blue

BluLabel Bungalow

Belly’s Button

Visual Vamp

The Adventures of Tartanscot

All The Best