My aunt bought some gorgeous Thomas Paul pillows for our family place in Maine (much to my chagrin, as I could have ordered them at DP), but when I asked her where she’d found them, she sent me to fourTwelve Home in Rockland. Formerly just the clothing and accessories boutique, the shop acquired the space next door and opened up a home store.

Home Goodies to the left, Clothing to the right…hey, there’s my Mom!

This shop combines just the right combination of historical preservation and regency glamor. The original wooden floors are painted light gray with a tiny hint of green/blue in it. The original exposed brick walls are painted white. The ceilings are covered in white tin tiles, and the exposed pipes are painted white. That’s where the the old patina shows through; everything else is shiny and fresh. It is a perfect balance. There are fabulous light fixtures hanging in a line down both halves of the store, there is oversized floral wallpaper in the dressing rooms along with benches, there are gorgeous mirrors and mirrored furniture, there is a large velvet ottoman in the boutique (it looks like it came straight from Nanette Lepore’s closet), and there are little peacocks peeking out at you here and there from the tops of shelves.

Included in the home items were John Derian decoupage, Jonathan Adler vases, Thomas Paul pillows, Bob’s My Uncle sea life plates, emu furniture, funny books, gorgeous soaps and bath items, those cool Caspari long match matchbooks, and a fun array of letterpress cards. It’s a perfect stop for accessorizing one’s own home or for picking up a great gift for just about anyone for any occassion at any price point.

By the way, among all the great articles of clothing they had in there, I kept pulling out the cutest pieces and they were all by Beth Bowley, whom I hadn’t heard of before. It turns out she is the owner, a Parsons grad, and she launched her clothing line in 1998.

Overall, the decor reminded me of the jewelry available in the store. The newer lines are very delicate, and handcrafted from silver and gold. In addition, they have a wide array of vintage pieces that are unique with some hints of funk and a few well-earned signs of age. It’s a new inspiration I know I’ll keep in the back of my mind whenever I am decorating.

Oh, and look! It’s a tea party complete with Panton chairs!

Images from poppytalkhandmade and mimimouse. To order, click here.

I haven’t, but I’m dying to! What did you think?

I’m a huge fan of Bill Cunningham, and he has a charming video here about the fashions he’s seeing on The High Line.

Speaking of fashion, check out the High Line Merch here. I love the Trina Turk green and white print hat:

Keep up with High Line news over at The High Line Blog and the ever-growing Friends of The High Line flickr group pool. This shot is from flickr member ljpsf.

top two photos from thehighline.org

Since Ali went there and admitted to watching The Real World yesterday, I figured I’d just go there and admit that I watch Whitney Port navigate The City on a weekly basis. The hilariously cold and snobbish “social” Olivia Palermo has a pretty sweet pad. I equate plopping a Hermes logo tray to wearing a T-shirt that says “J’adore Dior,” or me pinning my Ralph Lauren Polo tags to my bulletin board when I was eleven, but this room is pretty nice. I certainly would not let that cousin of hers put his dirty nasty self anywhere near the white John Robshaw pillows, but since those have been available on The Home Shopping Network she should probably pitch them anyway. What kind of trust fund princess with a fake job at DVF would be caught dead with goods that are readily available to the masses?

Also on The City, two random chicks no one cares about gossip about making out while perched in big Kelly Wearstler chairs at Bergdorf’s…

images are screen shots from mtv.com

In spite of their torturous heel placement and the fact that they run ridiculously narrow, I love Christian Louboutin’s shoes. The man owns homes in Egypt, Paris, Portugal and the French countryside, so like the shoes he designs, he is ridiculously extravagant, but the resultant beauty seems worth the high-maintenance issues. I’ve seen his Egyptian sailboat featured here, but I had not seen his 13th century French chateau until I finally cracked open the October issue of In Style. It’s dreamy, and he accomplished his mission of making the place look like it “belongs to a family that has been traveling and accumulating for decades.”

Louboutin has such a wise attitude concerning what makes a house a home, and the value of the signs of age and life. I recommend picking up the issue just to read what he has to say about decorating.

all photos shot by Francois Halard for In Style Magazine.