Those who know me know I have a very unhealthy obsession with most everything that’s on Bravo (except Launch My Line and Shear Genius, which are not up to snuff). To give those of us who long for the return of Flipping Out a renovation/flipping fix, they are presenting us with 9 By Design. It follows this family named Novogratz – When I saw the previews, I recognized a few of the homes this couple has renovated from magazines past. I never forgot the one in the Berkshires with the yellow striped curtains. The first time I saw it, I assumed it belonged to Kate Spade:

Anyway, the Novogratz clan includes a zillion kids, hence this photo from the Bravo website, the likes of which are usually only seen on TV specials about polygamists. I think someone should send them a better toothbrush holding system as their next house warming present, as this is totally gross – you would NEVER catch Jeff Lewis pulling something like this. I suppose when living in a construction zone, they may all have to share one bathroom like the Brady Bunch? I guess we’ll find out on the show. That would totally suck.

The couple also penned this really cool book, Downtown Chic: Designing Your Dream Home From Wreck to Ravishing. Did I mention that their design firm is called SIXX DESIGN? I wonder if they will change that to SevvenDesign now that they have another kid?

The show starts up April 13 at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 10:00 Central on Bravo. I think I’m taping a half-hour preview show at 3 a.m., which is only three hours away.

• First image swiped from Moodboard who swiped it from the now-defunct Oprah at Home magazine. Photographed by Joshua McHugh. Also, Moodboard has posted all the pictures from that O spread. I think I might have blogged that photo with the stools like two years ago – it gave me deja-blog when I saw it, and I never forgot that smoking Madonna portrait. That was a pretty cool magazine – I was sad to see it go.
• Second image from bravotv.com. Check out more information about the show and the Novogratz family over there.
• Third image from amazon.com – click on that for ordering information.

Oh, P.S.! If anyone wants to have a little chat party about the show on Wednesday, let me know in the comments section here and I’ll start one up! I’ve learned not to commit to one before I find out whether or not a show is worth chatting about.

I just received Thomas O’Brien’s American Modern for my birthday. I was bad and opened it early. Couldn’t help it! It is GORGEOUS, and the price is a steal at Amazon. What I love about Thomas O’Brien is his ability to mix all eras and his ability to take stodgy American colonial and bring it up to date. I could go on and on about him all day long, but I need to get WAAAAYYYY out to the suburbs to babysit my nephew, so I’m going to leave you with a few pictures. I think they’ll probably tempt you into picking up this book. I promise, I’m picky and thrifty about books, and this one will remain in my favorites forever, right next to my other favorite tomes about Albert Hadley, Billy Baldwin, David Hicks, Robert Smithson, David Hockney, Marimekko, and Valentino. On with the money shots:

It’s interesting – I wouldn’t classify a lot of his looks as typically modern, but that’s their charm. When he pairs a modern table with a mid-century modern lamp, he’ll add a few pieces of vintage ephemera (an old book and some sort of doo-dad) to balance it out. Vintage lamps that might show signs of age are paired with crisp white linen shades. Old floors and doors are given a glossy coat of black or white paint. They are moves that seem very simple but are always part of a careful balancing act.

all images taken of the book American Modern by Thomas O’Brien, photographed by Laura Resen. By the way, Laura’s site is yummy; check out all of her beautiful work here.

The new issue of Lonny is up online and it’s a lot of fun to virtually flip through. While I like Lonny a lot, I thought it might need a little drinking game of its own, just for fun.  In fact, these rules don’t just apply to Lonny – feel free to use them all over the design world. Get ready, and take a swig (or yell “Punch Buggy”, or smirk) every time you see:

Someone you recognize as a former Domino staffer or from a Domino spread (yeah, Ashley Putman, I recognize you! Your Domino cover back in your single days is the reason I painted my doors black! And I love them black – I never would have thought of it without you, and I see you did it to the mantle in your big beautiful married house!). This is not a bad thing – I know a lot of us miss Domino terribly, and this gives us our Domino-esque fix – I love the design sense most of these people have. It was also fun to see how the E.I.C., Michelle Adams, has decorated her home with sustainability and accessibility in mind. O.K., on to the fun styling stuff:

A lucite table

A “trayscape” – an extra sip for a tray that’s python patterned

A “barscape” – Seriously, the interior stylists  at every publication these days are obsessed with arranging liquor bottles and glasses! I would like to see a parody with a bunch of 40s or something. I’m trying to think of how this trend started, and I’m going to wager it was nostalgia brought on by watching Mad Men marathons. Does anyone else have any theories?

The book Domestic Art: Curated Interiors (I spied it three times so far)

Any mention of Eddie Ross (seriously, am I the only blogger who watched Top Design? He does not seem like a very nice person, to put it mildly. I don’t get why everyone is so enamored with his ability to buy a silver teapot at a flea market, take it home, polish it, and let it gather dust with a bunch of other silver that wasn’t even passed down through his family. Isn’t that kind of the reason any of us have silver teapots? It was called The Shabby Chic Show, and it was on like a decade or so ago, and it was done a lot better and with fewer zebra throw rugs, by Rachel Ashwell.)

Seriously though, I very much enjoyed the spring green issue – you know I just like to make a game out of everything! Take a peruse right here.

Our recent addition of the Zikmu speakers by Parrot on Design Public need a little explanation but the only way I thought we could truly do their story justice was by finding an interview in French. So, here is an Philippe Starck. Don’t worry…there are English subtitles.

Oh, and Lady Gaga likes the Zikmu:

Last week, Becky posted a bunch of photos from our trip to Doo-Nanny. (Thanks B!) Down in Seale, we soaked up tons of inspiration for working and living, and I thought some detail would give y’all some, too.

At Butch Anthony’s house, everything seems to have a place. The overlooked, the discarded, the mundane, the unloved — it all gets woven into a thoughtful, handcrafted collage.

Dozens of old tires wall up plantings in the garden. Old license plates, whitewashed over, make a platform for a bed. Tin cans make their way into ingenious chandeliers, and even a rusted-out bedspring has a place on the wall, underneath a brass picture light that treats it like art.

I’ve known Butch — an artist of few words and sneaky wit — for years, ever since my early stint as a reporter at a little newspaper in Alabama. For more than half of those years, I’ve been saying I would trek down to Seale for the annual Doo-Nanny. This year, towing two Yankees and a Lebanese friend along, I finally did.

If you spun off a tiny piece of Burning Man, swapped out the techies for Southerners and moved it to Butch’s property in a tiny Alabama town…well, you might have something resembling Doo-Nanny. There are costumes and art cars and music, and even a burn. But there is also pulled pork smoked over an open fire, pickled okra sold in heavy jars, and peeper frogs singing through the night.

We spent our nights sleeping in a tipi on the edge of a little lake, in the mornings wandering over to the communal outdoor kitchen to make and share eggs, bacon, and whatever else had been ginned up. We made our way slowly down the row of folk art booths, chatting with master potter Randy S. Adams, reading the first book by little Ruby Laster (“Snails in Love,” a work of genius I hope some day to see in bookstores).

One peaceful afternoon, we lingered around a table with Natalie Chanin, creator of the Southern couture line Alabama Chanin and an authentic presence if I ever met one. Local women sew her garments by hand, quilting, appliquéing and embellishing each one so it is unique. We stitched away at bandanas and talked about inspiration, journeys, losing and finding, and the importance of loving one’s thread. (Lucky you–she did an online video after the Doo.)

A couple of days after we returned, after describing a tough day Drew said he was trying to stay “Alabama” about it. He meant unruffled and unhurried. To me it means much more. – Sara Clemence

The Museum of Wonder, one of several buildings on the property, is packed with Butch Anthony’s art. For instance, his sculpture of the Mile-A-Mo bird, which sits on a pedestal in his Museum of Wonder. Accompanying text of the black-feathered thing explains that the bird characteristically dives out of the sky with its wings folded, to land beak-down in the dirt and whistle “Dixie” out of its rear end. “You can hear it for a mile or more,” it concludes. “Very rare bird.”

Bloody Marys. ‘Nuff said.

A lightless chandelier in Butch’s house, hung with forest findings, bird carvings, and handmade metal figures.

A close-up of one of Alabama Chanin’s quilts, each section hand-beaded and appliquéd on cotton jersey.

The Possum Trot auction, around the corner, where everything from
authentic antiques to genuine junk is sold, took bids for donated art on Friday night.

The outdoor kitchen, decorated with mannequin parts and an old license
plate reading SNAKBAR.

One of the art cars–not sure whose.

Hood ornamentation.

A work of Butch’s in the Museum of Wonder.

A bone-and-wire sculpture by Butch Anthony.

Bottle trees in the garden.

A crystal, bone and tin-can chandelier in Butch’s house.

A downstairs bathroom has open walls woven with branches, and an old office door on a metal slider.

An angelic Alabama Chanin quilt covers the old sofa.  The beams that make up the wall were salvaged from an old cotton mill.

Butch’s art mixes with whitewashed candlesticks.