Target Shops Coming May 6th
Target has done it again! The same retailer that brought us the Missoni collection and Jason Wu for Target is reclaiming its reputation as a front-runner of high-end design partnerships. Target will soon be home to The Shops at Target , unique boutiques in stores offering trendy, affordable merchandise. The Shops at Target will feature products from specialty shops around the country for six-week runs. The Minneapolis-based corporation will work directly with the shop owners to create limited-edition collections for its guests. Products will range in price from $1 for a nail file to $160 for a pouf chair.
The Shops at Target debuts Sunday with fresh, affordable products Target has co-created with five stand-out specialty stores from around the country: The Candy Store, Cos Bar, Polka Dog Bakery, Privet House, and The Webster—nearly 400 design objects in all. Find out the Kerrie Kelly Design Lab designers’ favorites in this sneak peek below.
The Webster is a Miami Beach boutique known for its highly curated mix of men’s and women’s ready-to-wear and luxury accessories. The Webster at Target includes Miami-inspired apparel and accessories for women, men, kids and baby.
Kristen loves Webster at Target deco print 60′s dress ($39.99)
Cos Bar, known for prestige makeup, skincare, and fragrance, started in 1976 in Aspen and now has 12 stores nationwide, including 50th & France in Edina. Cos Bar at Target includes makeup essentials, body care products, beauty tools, and cosmetic bags in bold prints.
Katrina loves Cos Bar at Target blueberry white tea body scrub ($6)
Privet House of Connecticut boasts an international collection of antique and vintage furniture, artwork, and mirrors for the home and garden. Privet House at Target features decor and accessories for the home and garden inspired by the shop’s East Coast charm.
Kerrie can’t wait for the Privet House at Target ceramic cheeseboard ($14.99)
Polka Dog Bakery is a Boston treat boutique for dogs specializing in natural, freshly baked goods and stylish accessories. Polka Dog Bakery at Target includes colorful toys and accessories as well as edible delights.
And Jill loves Polka Dog Bakery at Target striped collars ($5.99-$7.99)
Ms. Kelly’s Neighborhood: Les Baux
Does Sacramento finally have a small scale version of New York’s Balthazar Restaurant? Maybe so! Trong Nguyen and his wife, Annie Ngo, have created a French culinary showcase at the former Cassidy’s Family Restaurant site at 51st Street and Folsom Boulevard. Called Les Baux, after a picturesque village in southern France, this place bakes and sell breads, pastries and cookies on one side and will have affordable sit-down dining on the other, with crepes, fruits de mer, pistou soup and other French specialties this Summer.
Inspired by Bouchon, the Thomas Keller-owned operation in Yountville and trained by Sim Cass, the founding baker at Balthazar in New York, you get a sense of the two styles by just looking at the font at on the menu, let alone the simple design aesthetic. Trong even fashioned his own unique light fixtures from wine barrels to contribute to the easy style.
Vintage teapots serve your tea order and coffee is steeped by the cup, so if you need a quick cup, Annie says, “this may not be the place for you”. However, if you would like to nosh on amazing pastries and take in a beautiful interior scheme or even pick up a baguette on your way home, you should stop in for sure!
All Aflutter in Fashion and Design
Straight from the runway to your home, our designer Kristen Gong has noticed a trend or two. This spring in New York, birds are fluttering their way into some fantastic designer collections. Some birds are realistic and others stylized, but mostly all are graphic, bright and beautiful. Our team loves the dresses by Carolina Herrera; they are both flirty and feminine. Marc by Marc Jacobs featured a graphic bird in a pop style that we would love to wear around Midtown Sac, Davis or Chico this summer.
How happy are we that KKDL has translated the bird trend into great pillows for our clients’ homes! The peacock pillow works in so many spaces, and the red bird pillow is really sweet. This little feather pillow reminds us of a tiny golden seal- just the right amount of shine against a matte textured fabric.
Birds have also been popping up in wallpaper. Jill, another designer at KKDL, found this fantastic bird paper from Osborne and Little. So beautiful! We can’t wait to see what birds flutter by next.
And we LOVE our Wesley Hall chairs—so chic!
Design Inspiration: Marimekko New York
Recently one of our designers, Kristen Gong, made a trip to New York. We discovered she is inspired by some of the same great brights and patterns that I am from Marimekko! See what she has to say…
I love the bright colors from Marimekko! Their store in NY was so refreshing and bright. They definitely captured the tangerine tango color of the year- however, we are seeing shades of electric blue in our new home fashions! The sunny tangerine seems to make any rainy day bright!
Design Inspiration: The Santa Barbara Biltmore
We are so excited to be a part of a new Spanish Revival design project! We are in the early stages of construction but Katrina and I have found inspiration from a recent trip to Santa Barbara.
The Four Seasons Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara provided us with inspiration for lighting.
Throughout Santa Barbara, we found inspiration for tiles that we will be using inside the home.
Continue to follow us for this project’s progress!
Good Day Sacramento: Flip, Flop or Swap
With the sun shining and warm weather in the air, Spring has sprung! This means it is also time for refreshing your interior design. Before you rush to the nearest store in search of items that will breathe new life into your home, take a closer look at what you own and decide whether you have items to be flipped, flopped or swapped. Last weekend, with the help of our friends at Good Day Sacramento, our team was able to show an East Sacramento resident how to rejuvenate her home’s interior with items she already had on hand.
Before: Our homeowner was off to a good start with hardwood floors, white shutters & fresh paint.
After: A completed space welcomes our homeowner’s friends with a few inexpensive flop, flops and swaps.
The Kerrie Kelly Design Lab team flopped many of the solid red pillows by layering pillows with larger scale prints. The previous rug was too small for the space so it was swapped with a black and white cowhide from the bedroom, adding texture and anchoring the seating area. A bar cart found in the dining room now serves as a side table as well as a place to display a splash of color from the kitchen. The white linen ottoman cube found a new home at the other corner of the room and was flipped with a leopard print slipcover. The merchandised bookcases showcase some of the homeowner’s favorite books and the empty shelves are now a place to stow away throw blankets and extra pillows. Our completed designer flip, flop or swap created a completed living room for the homeowner to enjoy just in time for Spring!
Celebrating the Eames Family
In commemoration of Sacramento native Ray Eames’ 100th birthday, this week Lumens Light+Living, Sactown Magazine, Hot Italian, The Bridge District, and the The California Museum brought “Eames: The Architect and The Painter” to the Crest Theatre. Widely regarded as America’s most significant designers, the husband-and-wife duo Charles and Ray Eames created an extraordinary body of work beginning with molded plywood splints for the military during WWII to furniture, films, exhibitions, toys and more through the late 1980s. While their professional work has been widely documented, “Eames: The Architect and The Painter” is the first film since the close of their Los Angeles studio in 1988 to explore the personal lives and legacy of these visionary California designers, from the development of modernism through the rise of the computer age. That screening has brought back wonderful memories of my time with Charles and Ray Eames’ grandson, Eames Demetrios.
Last Summer, I had the opportunity to meet Eames Demetrios and tour Charles and Ray’s home in Los Angeles while filming our educational design segments for Pearson Education. We feature the family and their personal design stories in our furniture chapter of our interactive program.
Interviewing Eames at Charles & Ray’s home, chatting about his childhood.
Eames told the stories of his grandparents with a gleam in his eye while he talked about the perfect tool for everything they did, including eating grapefruit. Such thoughtfulness in their work, he also discussed the client or guest/host relationship, which truly spoke to me—“no matter who you are meeting with, they are guest in your space.”
At Eames Office playing amongst their toys!
With Eames Demetrios & John Mounier, Filmmaker
Last night, we celebrated the Eames family further at a Herman Miller event at Lumens Light+Living. We enjoyed food, music, and great design as the Sacramento community welcomed Herman Miller furnishings, who includes many original Eames designs in their line, to the Lumens store. Also, the first 50 guest arrivals received an Eames Elephant keychain by Vitra.
With Zack Rosson, Lumen’s Lighting Expert on a classic Eames Chair
Our Goodie: Eames Elephant keychain by Vitra
Design Blogger Conference: Bunny Williams
I would have to say during my time at the Design Blogger’s Conference, I was most inspired by guest speaker, Bunny Williams. Her design approach paired with her business savvy spoke to me. Trained in the “old school” way of learning from the bottom up, her first job out of college had her cataloging antiques. Her second job was on the staff of the famed team of Sister Parish and Albert Hadley (Parish-Hadley) for twenty-two years. Her experience there prepared her to run her own business, design her own furniture and home accessory line, open up a high-end home garden store, Treillage with husband and antique dealer, John Rosselli and write four very successful books that feature her various homes.
The big take-away was her emphasis that young designers had to get out and see things first hand. Online learning, Facebook, blogging and Twittering are important, but visiting museums, traveling, popping into antique stores and markets, puttering into off- the-beaten path shops and if possible, finding an apprenticeship in order to learn from the designers that have come before you is most vital. Bunny feels education is the most important element in becoming the designer you want to evolve into.
“Everything in design is recycled; it is how we put together what we have seen that makes it unique.” -Bunny Williams
