for those mfamb readers who only read this blog bc they love me (hi mom! hi dad!) let me inform you on what in the high water in hades lonny is. a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away there was a magazine called domino-r.i.p. this was a beloved shelter magazine, probably the best...ever. it combined chic style with accessibility to the everywoman. unlike some of the other shelter mags out there that are beautiful to look at yet completely unachievable unless you are a bajillionaire, domino was something us normal folk could look at and say...i can do THAT! but alas, domino folded. big middle finger to that. a lot of us were really sad, devastated even. now all we had were the aforementioned mags that offered decorating for the super rich.
well, yesterday a magazine birthed itself thru the braingina of michelle adams and patrick cline. it's called lonny. as in LON-don/NY. a lot of us were waiting with baited breath to see if this ONLINE magazine could fill the much needed void that used to be domino. in my opinion, it does. in fact i thought i was looking at a new issue of domino. i imagine some folks will think that part annoying or lame. i don't. i think it kicks ass. as long as lonny brings me something entirely new each month they could call it lomino for all i care.
here is my experience:
first of all let me say i haven't been this excited for a release since lord of the rings 1, 2 and 3. in fact, i daresay i felt like a hobbit at fireworks display. pass the mead!
so i woke up yesterday and noticed a few blog posts already up. michelle's to be precise. she provided a ton of pics that had my heart racing...i wanted more and fast but i had to take my daughter to school and run errands before i would get the chance to really sit down and delve in.
but i must say that during that time i really WAS genuinely excited!! the way i would get when a domino arrived in the mail and sat waiting by my bed for me to caress it's pages for an hour or so. when that time finally did arrive at 2:30, i went into the kitchen, poured myself a glass of wine, sat fiona down with the care bears and went into my room on my bed, computer in lap and opened the first "page"...

these first 2 image captures show just how like domino (even cottage living) it was...

right on point with the affordable mixed with the unaffordable. i'm talking to you lack tables and jayson sofa.

another point of interest was the bar cart in just about every home featured. it was like a highlight's magazine puzzle. what does every home have in common? A BAR CART!! (very domino-esque)

here is carolina irving's bar cart:

here is ron marvin's bar cart:

there's eddie ross's bar cart...in the back left corner:

here's deborah needleman's bar cart:

i wonder if these people legitimately had bar carts already or if this is an homage to domino?

now on to some of my favorite images..

this one is of kate simpson's bathroom. dying over the wallpaper and monogrammed towels:

i know a lot of people out there just don't like ed ross. i fucking love him! what's not to love? he's so gay MY butt hurts. and while i was slightly disappointed that i had seen a lot of his house already on his blog there was enough that i hadn't seen that made up for it. say what you will about him, he does give good 'ed, as in editorial. he is a master stylist. i mean if you love martha, you love eddie. case closed. and i would give just about anything to be invited to this damn country house and sit down at his table. in fact i think i might be eddie ross for halloween.

this was the inspiration behind yesterday's house lonnification:

don't even get me started on this bathroom:

the porch all whited out and fabulous. i see you broom! you too painted terra cotta pots!

the fact that he hung these lithographs outside should be reason enough to love the ross:

moving on to caroline irving's place.

i loved this nook:

the layers and textures and colors were happy. elegant yet relaxed.

and her perfume collection...so pretty..so domino.

and design*sponge blogger, grace bonney's home..this pic was my favorite of her space:

and who knew something so small could bring such joy and bone? a suzani tray under a dish rack? why in the fuck didn't i think of that? totally stealing that idea.

ok, this next space..that of domino's own editor-in-chief deborah needleman was the one i think we all were waiting for. it did not disappoint. in fact these first 2 images about made me curl up into fetal position..

so. so. SO. good. no words really. that black apron sink? the black table with the plants in perfectly aged pots? huunh?..buh...whaa?? i can't even.

and this light filled girly nook? those floors, painted like that? so good:

oooh...dark, cozy space i love you too:

and the pool...

DUMB!!!!!

over all i was very pleased with this first issue. very pleased indeed. however....

a few things were not so good. one, the obvious one...it's still not a magazine that i can hold and smell and get my eyeballs really close to. and the fact that it's an online magazine also means that it could crash, or your computer might be too slow therefore causing great frustration and you to shut it down.

and while i like the fact that this is soooo similar to domino's last page, this particular one was kind of a snooze fest...really burts bees?

high fives lonny! keep up the good work.

whilst perusing houzz today i found some new (to me) images for the ol inspiration files...although i would like to point out some bullshit first...i am a little annoyed at how small these images appear on my blog. sometimes in the saving the images remain large and other times they get all small and almost pointless to look at. does anyone know how to fix this? is it fixable? for example how does desire to inspire get their images so goddamn huge? so anyway here are some of the images i saved to the mfamb vaults..sorry about the bullshit size.