Family Photos: The Beach, 1910s

Thursday, August 30, 2007 No comments

My grandpa, the blonde kid in the middle, spent the first half of his life on the beach and the second, on a golf course. A little tribute to the end of summer.
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Scents: Feu de Bois

Monday, August 27, 2007 No comments

Diptyque's Feu de Bois (fire wood) candle creates instant coziness in any setting, especially those with faux fireplaces. It's the perfect accessory to my new black wall. My friends and I actually use the room spray as a winter-time unisex perfume/cologne. If you're not into spraying yourself with air freshener, Terre d'Hermès is the best men's scent out there (I think it's great on women, too). Hermès claims it evokes the "smell of bodies after lovemaking." The scent of a roll in the hay (with a touch of pepper and spice)! Porter and I gave a bottle to our friend and he gets compliments (and come-ons) all the time.
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Acquisitions: Velvet Skull Slippers

Monday, August 27, 2007 No comments

My dad has a custom made, monogrammed needlepoint pair of formal slippers that put my Rugby versions to shame. When you get them at Rugby, they come with the "R" but cost about 80% less than the skull-only Ralph Lauren version. Stubbs & Wootten makes a great selection for about $325 each (and they did an espadrille for summer, as well! -- the classic men's version is much nicer than the women's wedge). (My mom and dad needlepointed that zebra pouf.)
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Creations: The Black Wall III

Monday, August 27, 2007 1 comment

The black (Behr, "Beluga", flat) wall, finally finished, my new pride and joy. Our parents picked up the 1933 life sized portrait of the man, his dog and cigarette at an estate sale in Kansas City about 20 years ago. Our aunt found the tortoise shell on her farm in Nebraska in the early 1980s. The pronghorn antelope head comes from Junk on North 8th & Driggs in Williamsburg. The rug is from ABC Carpet. Porter's wearing my favorite Gucci sitting shoes.
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Creations: The Black Wall I

Monday, August 27, 2007 No comments

It may be time to retire Leo, my third grade papier-mâché project languishing sadly by the faux fireplace. While the other kids made little pigs or chickens, my mom requested something exotic that she could use in her house. So, I went with a life-sized, unintentionally primitive leopard/cheetah. The neighboring head sculpture was a college project -- of me, in a turban, cast in fiberglass and iron filings -- that weighs more than a cannon ball and looks wonderful upside down and absolutely deformed right side up.
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Apothecary Chic: Hendrick's Gin

Friday, August 24, 2007 No comments
My favorite booze bottle -- Tastes great, too. The Hendrick's website has some great recipes. This one sounds perfect for fall:

BLACKCURRANT JELLY TODDY

INGREDIENTS:
2 oz. Hendrick's Gin
½ oz. Honey Syrup (two parts honey mixed with one part warm water)
½ oz. Pink Cloves Cordial by Phillips and Bristol
1 level teaspoon Blackcurrant Preserve
½ oz. fresh lemon juice
1½ oz. hot water
1 cinnamon stick garnish

PREPARATION:
Assemble all the ingredients except the garnish in a mixing glass and stir well. Strain through a tea strainer into a warmed mug. Garnish with a cinnamon stick.
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Acquisitions: Cabinet of Curiosities

Friday, August 24, 2007 No comments

My first and favorite ebay purchase: The little Baoulé (Cote d'Ivoire) statue of the man in the pith helmet. This liquor cabinet of curiosities also includes the great cast iron alligator nut cracker and an empty bottle of Hudson Whiskey (the Rye version is the first rye whiskey legally made in New York since prohibition!) that I finished off and nabbed from Fette Sau.
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Creations: Mustache and Roses

Friday, August 24, 2007 No comments
“Mustache & Roses,” Watercolor on paper, 2006

I really started painting portraits in college, but stuck to oils. After a couple projects for anthropologie, I became really comfortable with watercolor and actually like its translucence much more (probably because I'm lazy and hate mixing colors).
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Family Photos: Longs Peak, 1915

Friday, August 24, 2007 No comments
Oh, the days before polar fleece. Pretty amazing to make it halfway up the tallest peak in the Rockies in a tie and/or tweeds. My great grandfather, Willard Porter Hovey, Sr. is on the right. I love his friend's shawl collared sweater -- used it as the model for a painting for last year's Christmas party invitation.
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Creations: The Deco Leather Goldfish Headband

Thursday, August 23, 2007 No comments

I ordered a box of leather scraps from Ebay, cut out disks, painted deco patterns on a few and stapled them together. I'm planning more well-crafted versions for my accessories line.
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Colonial Chic: Dutch Indonesia circa 1926

Thursday, August 23, 2007 No comments
Family friend and jazz singer Francine Whitney sent over this wonderful photo of her mom, grandfather, great grandfather and Toy, the family Airedale, circa 1926 in Colonial Dutch Indonesia. Love it all -- the white suits, the handle bar mustache, the bowties, the perfect dog. Her dad's short suit pants are very Thom Browne!
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Anatomy Poster Chic: John Derian

Wednesday, August 22, 2007 1 comment

The ubiquitous media coverage of John Derian's decoupage wares takes away any newsworthiness of this post, but I love his work all the same. http://www.johnderian.com/
6 East Second Street (Between 2nd Avenue and The Bowery), NYC (the dry goods store is next door at 10 East Second)
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Einstein Chic: Trevor Guthrie

Tuesday, August 21, 2007 No comments

Put a mustachoed man in a work of art and I'll love it. Trevor Guthrie showed at the McCaig & Welles Gallery next to Oslo on Roebling Street in Williamsburg last December. I've had the post card on my desk at work since. He's got a wonderful style -- and great taste in vintage subjects.

Anamorphic Study # 5, 2006, charcoal on paper, 60 x 120 cm
http://www.galerie-open.com/artist/view/812
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Technology: The Woody iPhone

Monday, August 20, 2007 No comments

I always found it disconcerting to listen to bands like the Louvin Brothers on a slick, space age pod, but Dutch company Miniot has come to the rescue with their beautiful wooden iPod and iPhone (see photo) cases. Opening Ceremony is selling other wooden versions that looks like vintage ciggie cases (will post those once I find out the designer).
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Wodehouse Chic: Brooks Saddles

Friday, August 17, 2007 1 comment
Even those who despise New York bikes and their owners (hoarding space on the subway, the near-death crashes into pedestrians and the social tension that develops when a non-biker wants to meet up in transit) can appreciate and covet the Brooks saddle. http://www.brookssaddles.com/
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Creations: The Boot

Friday, August 17, 2007 No comments

Anthropologie commissioned me to paint a boot to eventually be used as part of the packaging for some military-inspired spats. They deemed this English riding field boot version "too masculine." The final version looked like a Deadwood-type heel. (The proportions are off on this, but I like that I was able to capture the richness of the leather pretty well).
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Creations: The Christmas Invite 2005

Friday, August 17, 2007 No comments

Designed this crest for my 2005 Christmas party. Printed it on black-backed ivory card stock and mailed in an eggplant-colored envelope sealed with gold wax and ribbon. Used gold pen for the calligraphied addresses.
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Deco: Copenhagen Watchtower

Friday, August 17, 2007 No comments
















Of all the amazingly ornate dream palaces in Copenhagen, this watchtower on the bridge to Christianhaven is one of my favorite structures in the city.
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Creations: The Walton Ford Screen

Friday, August 17, 2007 No comments

Built this screen to separate my bedroom from the rest of the loft. Scanned my favorite Walton Ford monkey and printed life size to decoupage onto the boards I'd stained mahogany. The back is peach, glazed with polyurethane mixed with a bit of the stain I'd used on the front. I used gold paint on the edges. {As to the creature on the right, the makeup guy at the Y.S.L. flagship store cut up a feather duster and glued it to my sister's eyes to give her a couture bird look for Halloween. I threw the makeshift burlap "scarf" (some $5 craft stuff from Michael's) on her and fastened it with a kilt pin}.
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Acquisitions: Vintage German Anatomy Poster

Friday, August 17, 2007 No comments


Found the vintage 1920s anatomy poster with the wonderfully ferrell tiger in a little junk/antique shop in Copenhagen. (The hunter green and white bag is Seize sur Vingt, the great Elizabeth Street men's store, http://www.16sur20.com/. The Josef Frank green bag with the white elephants comes from Svensk Tenn, http://www.svenskttenn.se/, in Stockholm. The Argentinian saddle turned up in a junk shop in equestian haven Lexington, Virgina, my college town. Found the vintage boot trees on Ebay and the Vuitton suitcase and ivory/wood trunk at Ugly Luggage on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.)
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Acquisitions: My Favorite Chairs

Friday, August 17, 2007 No comments


Various versions of this chair pop up everywhere - Stark Carpet is doing a fluffy version and Ralph Lauren has a narrower one. I found this pair on Ebay for $900, replaced the worn out rust colored arm rests with alligator-looking leather and performed a quick D.I.Y. upholstery job with peach moire.
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Indochine/Goth Chic: Dressler

Friday, August 17, 2007 No comments

The iron work is beautiful. The fried artichoke and white bean salad could make you cry.
149 Broadway between Beford and Driggs Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
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19th c. Science Lab Chic: Le Labo

Thursday, August 16, 2007 2 comments


Tin walls + subway tiles + vintage drafting stools + amber bottles = my dream kitchen.

233 Elizabeth Street New York NY 10012 Phone: + 1 212 219 2230

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Hemingway/19th c. Science Lab Chic: DARR

Thursday, August 16, 2007 No comments

Old portraits, taxidermy, old lab equipment grouped perfectly. The prices are outrageous so look here for inspiration and buy on Ebay. Same goes for Hollander & Lexer, the men's store across the street from the same owners.

369 Atlantic AveBrooklyn, NY 11217(718) 797-9733
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Hemingway Chic: Moto

Thursday, August 16, 2007 No comments

They make the world's best artichoke...and date cake with hot toffee sauce...and dutch pancake. It's like a slice of old world Europe under the seediest of bridges.
394 BroadwayBrooklyn, NY 11211(718) 599-6895
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Hemingway Chic: Freeman's

Thursday, August 16, 2007 No comments
Every time I step in it justifies my urge to buy more taxidermy and paint my walls black.
End of Freeman's Alley off Rivington 212-420-0012
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