Today I am featured on a favorite interior designer’s blog of mine, SB Long Interiors. Topic up for discussion? In-home photo galleries. Please join us!

SB Long Interiors Blog

We’ve lived in our house for over 3 years and not until I saw this photo, did I finally get motivated to put together a photo gallery in our stairwell. I toyed with a variety of different approaches. Different frames. Same frames. Staggered frames. Big photos. Small photos. A mix of different sizes. It was all so overwhelming until I saw this photo on Pinterest, which got my butt in gear.

A grid of photos, all the same height, all framed in the same frame, hung right next to each other so that they were all touching. This wasn’t going to be easy and I sure learned a few things along the way. First I designed the layout according to the dimensions of my wall and taking into account the 1″ frames I had in mind. I chose two different sizes, 8×12 (verticals) and 12×18 (horizontals). I knew I wanted the photos to be full frame, no cropping and no smaller than 8×10 so that lead me to 8×12. I designed the wall in InDesign, which allowed me to pick and choose and play with the hundreds of photos I had to choose from. With InDesign I could easily switch them in and out until I felt it was right. I chose a mix of photos of the boys and even threw in a few non-portrait photos. A kite we flew on the beach last summer, leaves from our yard in the fall and a shot of the stones on Sammy’s beach, where we rented our first beach house when Conner was just 9 months old, worked their way into the mix.

I had the photos printed and took them to be framed in a white 1″ thick wood frame. I asked the framers to mount the photos on foam core so they wouldn’t wrinkle down the road. I also asked them to forego attaching a wire on the back and only had hooks installed on the top row of photos.

That was the easy part, hanging it was a slightly different story. Luckily I have a wonderful painter who is a perfectionist so I knew he was the right person to call. He came over and looked at my idea and suggested we attach the frames first, before hanging them on the wall. This made things much easier. We divided the photos into 4 groups, attached them and then hung the 4 pieces separately, from the top frames. They fit together like a puzzle and even though it took all day, it was worth the 3 year wait.

Mapping out the measurements and starting to hang the first group of photos.

The finished product. The boys love it and so do I.

wide open sky

cocktails after a massage

sleeping with the windows open

listening to my dad’s stories about our family members who were miners in Colorado

a pre-dinner snack of margaritas and chili con queso

a tour of the hill-packed, 25 mile bike ride my dad tackles almost daily

realizing he’s in better shape than I am

not cooking once

going out for wonderful dinners every night

buying 2 hand embroidered mexican shirts

hummingbirds

picking out cowboy hats for the boys

my dad’s smile when greeted me at the airport

pulled pork sandwiches and a santa fe pale ale for lunch

spanish market

afternoon thunderstorms

visiting neighbors, two of my dad’s best friends I grew up with in TX

discovering horn toads

watching the sunset from the patio

coming home with 2 paintings for my foyer

wine

discussing my father’s plans to write, draw and paint after his retirement

lyle lovett

drinking my morning coffee in silence

3 days to rest, relax and catch up with my father, something we haven’t done in quite some time

Many of the shots above are of my dad’s condo. He has great taste. I was trained well. ; )

I’m working from the left to the right of our house, when it comes to buying furniture and decorating. So far we’ve made it to the middle of our house, which brings us to our foyer. It’s a foyer that is more like a hallway because the original entrance to the house doesn’t get used much. Regardless, the blah-ness was driving me crazy. I finally hunkered down, made some decisions and spruced it up a bit. As most of you all know another obsession of mine, besides photography, is interior design. As much as I love it, progress is slow because I am very indecisive and don’t have nearly as much time as I would like to scope out stores, flea markets, etc. SO this was what I came up with that was in our price range and with-in arms reach. I looked for a table for 3 years and finally had one made because I couldn’t find one in the right dimensions (15″ x 48″), at the right price that I actually liked. Once I purchased that (on sale, nonetheless) the rest fell into place. The mirror was the biggest splurge and I even got that on discount through a friend who is an interior designer. Thank you Farah. ; ) The rest of the items I had around the house.

before and after:

Country Willow table, Arteriors mirror, West Elm frame (photo by Tara Whitney, more to come on that later), Jonathan Adler vase, Pottery Barn basket and two of my favorite books on interior design Domino: The Book of Decorating and Decorate: 1,000 Ideas for Every Room In Your Home. Last item I need is a runner. I think I’m going to purchase this one from RugsDirect. You like?

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

That is the question. In this case, both. I recently bought these wonderful books, both of which have such great inspiration for those who love to decorate. Several of the pages include homes seen before in Lonny or other shelter magazines. It’s nice to have so many of my favorite rooms bound together, in two places.

My friend Elizabeth over at Pretty Pink Tulips recently recommend Bartaco in Port Chester. We share an admiration for a good margarita and some guacamole so she knew this would be my kind of spot. Last night Brendan and I and headed over with 4 of our favorite people. From the moment we pulled up to this taqueria we were all pleasantly surprised.

I loved the food which included casual tacos, ordered by checking off your preferred filling on a small golf score-type of sheet. The drinks didn’t disappoint either but what I was really inspired by was the photography and the way everything was framed. Some of the photos were printed on watercolor paper and highlighted in wooden fabric-lined shadow boxes, others were printed on larger than life size canvases. The beachy vibe and decor have been stuck in my head all day. I hadn’t been to a place (especially not a restaurant) where I was so inspired in quite awhile.

Our dinner got me looking forward to my Hamptons shoots this summer and also got me thinking about new ideas for some of the photo galleries I’m working on. We all drove home together singing loudly to Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, filled to the brim with tacos, guacamole, margs and churros. Thank you Bartaco.

with love in my heart and food in my belly (and thighs, butt and cheeks). We had a beautiful Thanksgiving with our families. My dad, his wife Nancy, my brother Ben, sister-in-law Lauren and brother-in-law John, plus the 4 of us all gathered around our table this holiday. We all joined forces to create a superb meal including many of the traditional turkey day fixings. Sweet potato pudding, brussels sprouts, green beans, mashed potatoes, beet salad, apricot and sausage stuffing, pecan pie ordered from one of my favorite restaurants in Texas and a homemade apple pie were just a few of the items on the menu. Throughout the day I often thought about how much I have to be thankful for, most importantly my family.

With any holiday, I love setting the table. It’s one of my favorite parts of entertaining. This year I chose a chocolate brown linen table cloth from Gracious Style.

The napkins are from favorite store in town Kent (made by Simrin) and so are the vintage water glasses (made by George Briard). The owner Michael and I mixed and matched a variety of 3 sets to make up enough for my party of 10. I love them because they work as water glasses or cocktail glasses. They would  be perfect for a little scotch or a gin and tonic.

I bought the chargers last year from Williams-Sonoma and the china is from Replacements. I decided to spray paint a few mini pumpkins gold because they were starting to rot a little and because, well, everything looks better with a coat of gold. ; ) Throw in large bunch of purple and orange tulips, two rust colored taper candles and the table was set. Voila.

A few of the family gathered around the table taken with the Shake It Iphone App.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Hope you did too! I’m off to have another piece of pie…

comes to me (and I’m sure most of you) in all forms. Some are very literal, some not so much but all are very relevant regardless of their shape or size. Lately I think alot about my photography, my brand, loyalty, client relations and growing my business. I struggle daily with how I’m going to create images that stand out, that show depth, that are beautiful and meaningful to my clients, that are what they are looking for and are for what I’m looking for, all at the same time. Over the summer while shooting in the Hamptons I really challenged myself to find new and creative ways to approach each shoot and in the end provide something new and fresh for my clients, most of which were return clients. I was so paranoid of coming up with the same results I had last summer so I relied on a variety of things to guide me in this never ending quest to hopefully create magic. I bought the biggest bulletin board that would fit in my office and started pinning up photos I loved. I consumed magazines, perused through stock images and surfed the internet to cram my mind with photography before I left for the shores of the Atlantic.

The bulletin board and my office.

That being said, lately I draw inspiration from pretty much everything but here are a few things that have recently stood out. And let me point out, the list below includes inspiration on all levels, many of which are not visually inspiring but are “successfully”inspiring.

The Bruce Springsteen Darkness from the Edge of Town documentary I watched a few nights ago. It was amazing to see how he pushed himself to create his follow-up album to Born To Run.

Ben Affleck’s creation of his latest movie The Town. He went back to his roots (Boston) and wrote, starred in and directed in the best movie he has done since Good Will Hunting.

Everything about Tory Burch’s brand, especially her blog.

Eminem and his success as a minority in the rap world. His latest album Recovery is one of his best, now that he’s sober. They way he uses the english language is pretty impressive. Here is his recent 60 minutes interview. Pay attention to his note taking.

Lonny Magazine because I love all things interior design related and they’ve done a darn good job at the digital magazine thing.

Vogue Magazine because it’s got a little of everything, not just fashion.

The transformation of J.Crew led by Mickey Drexler.

101cookbooks.com which has beautiful photography and simple recipes using all natural ingredients.

W Magazine because the photography is always awesome.

I’ve always been slightly obsessed with makeovers or transformations of all kinds. Home, beauty and even company transformations are interesting to me. How to pull the best out of someone or something, put their strengths on a pedestal or even create them in some instances gets me all excited. Most ideas are so simple, obvious and genuine (hopefully) you almost think to yourself, “duh” once they are presented in front of you. Often we don’t even realize the transformation until later. In a way, that’s what I try to do in my shoots, with my subjects and what I try to do with my “brand.” To keep things simple and do what comes naturally while highlighting something special. To enhance what is already there and avoid getting caught up in creating something that is not, all of which is easier said than done. To me that’s what guarantees success.

Anyways, that’s my rant for now. What inspires you?

I recently found these original Herman Miller chairs on Ebay, with the help of my friend Michael over at Kent. I was considering buying a new set at Design Within Reach, but the prices at DWR aren’t really within my reach, if you know what I mean. I love the vintage version so much more than the new. I think they are the perfect finishing touch to our eat-in kitchen area and I don’t have to worry too much if the boys beat them up, as they are were pretty reasonably priced – half the cost of a new set! Additional room details below.

The table is from Country Willow, light is from Alluminare.com, fabric on window seat cushion is Schumacher and the pillows are from Pottery Barn, paintings are by Lindy Schillaci (they were my mothers) and the paint color is Antique Jade by Benjamin Moore.

I just completed a project I’ve been working on for some time. A photo gallery of my and Brendan’s family photographs made up of all original vintage photos. About two years ago my grandmother passed away and I inherited quite a few photos of my mother and thought, these would look great framed and hung among others in a similar style. I began collecting photos from my dad and mother-in-law and the wall was born. I had them all framed in a “floating style” (see detail below) where the photo is tacked onto a matte and chose one frame in two different thicknesses, a thinner one for the 5x7s and a slightly larger one for the 8x10s. We chose an 8 ply (double the thickness than the common 4 ply) matte to frame the photo and really bring the eye in. Then the master hanger, my dad, visited this weekend and hung everything for me. He had 2 great tips:

1. Mask the size of the wall out on the floor with masking tape and arrange the photos as you would like them hung. (The math was up to him – as you can see, he is pretty talented.)

2. Don’t hang the photos by the wire. Remove the wire (or ask your framer not to attach it) with a pair of pliers and hang from the two hooks on either side of the frame. This will ensure every frame hangs straight and you wont drive yourself crazy adjusting your frames every time one is slightly off balance, due to the wire.

I’ve also included a photo or two of my dining room, decorating details listed below photos.

The chairs and side table are from Jonathan Adler – biggest splurge in the room.

The table is from Country Willow. Great place in Bedford that makes custom tables. You choose the size, finish, legs, etc.

The cow-hide rug is from Santa Fe, compliments of my father. He purchased it at one of the many markets. A real authentic hide.

The sisal rug underneath is from Sisalcarpet.com. Great website, reasonable prices for custom cut sisal rugs. Any size available.

The series of 3 paintings above the side table are by Nuala Clarke. About 10 years ago my father and I came across her and her boyfriend (at the time), painting on the streets of Soho. I didn’t have a budget for art but my dad did. He bought a few pieces that I’ve always admired. When it was time to find something special for the dining room I tracked her down. We met at her studio and this is what I came home with. They complete the room.

The curtains are from Curtain Works in CT. When I saw them and fell in love. I bought them on sale at half price before I had anything in the room. They set the color palette.

The light fixture is from Mitchell Gold.

The wardrobe/armoire was my moms. My parents bought it many moons ago when they were married. Down the road, my mother had a “decorators moment” and had it painted white. When I inherited the piece I had it stripped back to it’s original color and it now holds our china. It’s got all kinds of cracks, is off balance and hints of the white paint still peek through but that’s what I love most about it.