Closet Lust

File this under good ideas:


Glass tops for that island in your huge walk-in closet. (As seen in Ashley Tisdale's house in InStyle Magazine, June 2010). Okay, now I'm depressed.

Feng Shui & Tory Burch

"Organize your shoes on racks lower than three feet to prevent being the target of gossip" - A tip from Yung Siu, Feng Shui Master.

Who knew? This is just another helpful tidbit from the Style Guide on the Tory Burch Website. Apparently, she is giving Kate Spade's interactive site a run for its money.



From this photograph of her dressing room, I can't tell whether or not she is taking her own advice. Whatever the case, (and despite her growing ubiquity) she is obviously doing something right.

Happy closet organization this fall!

Closet Lust, Part 12

Rachel Zoe's studio as seen on The Huffington Post.

Holy bananas--there are a lot of shoes in this room. I know it's a workspace and all, but couldn't we send Jeff Lewis over there to design a decent dressing room with some stylish cabinetry?

Don't forget, it's the best week ever on Bravo, with premiers of the new seasons of Flipping Out and The Rachel Zoe Project. My DVR is feeling loved right now.

Sunday Shopping

Remember this innovative dressing room? Well, the amazing space (and the grand, Yong Pak designed/Dan Carithers decorated townhouse to which it was a part) is priced to move. The 6,885 square foot home is on sale, currently marked down from $4.1 million to $2.85 million.

While it does not come furnished, many of the stylish finishes, like the cabinetry and wall treatments remain.

You can read Courtney's take on this Imperial Trellis clad room here.

Photographs from Southern Accents and the Regents Park website. A complete listing can be seen here.

Extra Closet Space

Photograph by Paul Costello for Domino Magazine, February 2007.

It has come to my attention that there are a lot of people out there in blogland are looking to turn their spare bedroom into a luxurious, oversized closet. While my best advice would be to call a professional designer, I can offer this do-it-yourself dressing room, featured in Domino a couple of years back, as inspiration for a budget, weekend project. I accidentally recycled this particular issue a long time ago, but was happy to discover photos of Olivia Chantecaille's room makeover on fellow closetphile So Haute's blog.


Although the font is now too small for me to read, this is what I can remember from the article:

Step 1) Buy some basic garment racks. (These are by Elfa).
Step 2) Cover with inexpensive fabric and decorative accents using a glue gun (this is the part that is easier said than done).
Step 3) Combine low-budget furniture pieces (the ottoman and mirrored vanity are from JC Penney) with an more expensive looking decorative accessories, like the floor-length, gilded mirror.
Step 4) Add wall hooks for belts, bags and jewelry
Step 5) Hang clothes and enjoy!

Closet Space

It's beginning to look a lot like Show House Season...

Yesterday, a friend and I took a rainy walk over to the Southern Accents Show House at Regents Park. The entire townhouse is decorated by Atlanta's famed Dan Carithers, and is photographed in the Southern Accents May issue (with 360 degree tours on the website). However, my favorite room, the dressing room (above), was even better seen in person.

While mirrored cabinetry seems to be making a comeback in dressing rooms, I found this layout to be particularly innovative when faced with a long and narrow space. By using the area between two closets, you are able to turn what would normally be a hallway into a dressing room with the essential element, a three-way mirror. There is even room left over for an antique dresser.

To take a video tour of the dressing room, narrated by Mr. Carithers, click here. All Hollywood actors should take note: this is what a Southern accent is supposed to sound like.

The Showhouse at Regents Park is open Wed-Sunday through June 1st. (Photography by Erica George Dines).

Mrs. Joel Lives for a Day

Katie Lee Joel's dressing room in March's Town and Country reads like a jewelry box from the Deco era.  Designer Nate Berkus and architect Ahmad Sardar-Afkhami used $25,000 worth of gold-leaf transform a 105 sq. ft. vestibule between the master bedroom and bath into a glimmering, 1930's style boudoir. (Photographs by Miki Duisterhof).

"We wanted it to be a place where the act of dressing would be heightened to an exquisite ritual." -Ahmad Sardar-Afkhmi

To that I say, "mission accomplished".  The soft blue-greens and golds remind me of another glamorous interior that has been in the press lately.

Scene still from Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day.

It seems that Berkus, Sardar-Afkhami and Sarah Greenwood, production-designer for the upcoming Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, had similar sources of inspiration.  (Habitually Chic has more on that subject).

More Marchesa

It has been a couple of months since I have shown any closet love, so in connection with yesterday's post on Marchesa, here are a few shots of co-founder and designer, Georgina Chapman's elegant dressing room from Harper's Bazaar.

Chapman named her company after the wild Italian Marchesa Luisa Casati (1881-1957) who was known for going naked under her coats and wearing live snakes as jewelry.

A sheepskin rug, Lucite stool, and a sparkly chandelier dress up an otherwise basic, white laminate shelving system in one of her three closets. Must be nice to be the new Mrs. Weinstein!

Photos by Alexi Lubomirski. For the full article, visit Harper's Bazaar.

Eva Lorenzotti

Our favorite purveyor of lavish accessories, Eva Lorenzotti, shows off her home in this month's Global Guide. (Click on any photo to see the details).

Reflected in the mirrored doors of her famed dressing room are some of her global finds. What a life.

For many more photos, I recommend picking up a Global Guide. (This one came from Borders). I have never read this magazine before, but it is definitely worthy of it's $7.00 price tag--and it has the thick, glossy paper.

Who Wore it Best?

Aerin Lauder and Mariah Carey in Oscar de la Renta (from Harper's Bazaar and Glamour Magazine).

Sorry--couldn't resist. I promise this is the last time I mention Mariah Carey or Aerin Lauder and their respective closets for the rest of 2007.

A Room of my Own!

Christmas has come early this year. Since my favorite husband generously combined his two work spaces, I am free to take over his former office as my own. Now I just have to make this look like this. So far, I have the four walls and the computer.

Photograph of Aerin Lauder's office/dressing room by Anders Overgaard for Harper's Bazaar.

His and Hers

Not wanting to ignore the other half, today's post is dedicated to closet space that accommodates both sides of the equation.

Separate but equally beautiful dressing rooms were designed for a Chicago couple by Alessandra Branca. (Photography by Alan Shortall for Veranda Magazine, October 2001).

Below are the dressing rooms of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (pictured above). In 1998, Sotheby's auctioned off the contents of their famously stylish wardrobe to an adoring public. My very first job as a clueless young grad was to give private tours of the pre-sale exhibition. (Pardon me while I date myself).

A pair of Chinese Chippendale style pagodas flank the dressing area of the Duchess of Windsor. Most of the shoes in the closet are designed by Roger Vivier.

The Duke of Windsor preferred the designs of Peal & Co. for his velvet slippers. Just imagine the ascots and jodhpurs this closet has seen.

Closet Lust III

And dressing rooms too...

Kendall Wilkinson designed this dressing area for a San Francisco showhouse. The chair is from the shop she created and owns, Threshold. Teal edging on the cabinetry matches the Alan Campbell for Quadrille fabrics. (Image from Traditional Home).


Cote de Texas posted this sophisticated dressing room by James Radin (photo for House Beautiful). If you have not yet seen her brilliant post on the set design for the movie, Something's Gotta Give, go now.


Have a wardrobe of solid, neutral clothes like I do? A block-print wallpaper by Farrow & Ball could add some color and pattern. (Image from Domino).


Swimwear designer Sylvie Cachay has a NYC dressing area which is home to a mirrored vanity and her collection of Christian Louboutins. (Photo from Elle Magazine).


Inspired by ballgowns and parties, designer Jamie Drake used silk moire to line the wall of this girlish dressing room for the 2007 Kips Bay Showhouse. Benjamin Moore "Lavender Mist" paint is used for the built-ins and fabrics are from his own line for F. Schumacher. (Photo from Traditional Home).

For more closet specific obsession, see Closet Lust I and Closet Lust II.

Closet Lust II

Private closets are looking more like small boutiques these days.

I first saw Mariah Carey's palatial closet on an episode of MTV Cribs. With a new season on the horizon, MTV has been re-running the infamous (and somewhat ridiculous) house tour. Catch it if you can. (Top photo from Architectural Digest).

In case you missed the show, more photos of Mariah Carey's home are featured in Cribs: A Guided Tour Inside the Homes of Your Favorite Stars.

Julie Janklow's acrylic-and-glass, 500 sq ft. dressing room was created by the builder of the Christian Louboutin boutique in downtown New York, and inspired by the movie, Mommie Dearest. I apologize for the grainy image, but the original photo in Vogue was the size of a postage stamp. Was there was not any extra room to spare on the other 1000 pages? You can see more of the Janklow apartment and September's Vogue at Habitually Chic.

Colony Couture

Bits of blue punctuate this otherwise white-on-white beach house belonging to Juicy Couture co-founder, Pamela Skaist-Levy. The 1940's bungalow is one of the few original homes left in the famed Malibu Colony. Even the Mariebelle tea tins coordinate. The question is, how does Skaist-Levy decide which Birkin bag will best match her terrycloth sweatsuit with "Juicy" scrawled across the rear?

(Image from Hip Hollywood Homes, by Sue Hosteler. Photo by Peter Christiansen Valli).