And the Oscar Goes to - Best Dressed Mila!

I give the best dressed Oscar to Mila Kunis, donned in a Elie Saab number. The lavender hue hints to the upcoming spring season, and the flowy but structured shape with the scoop neck and seemingly embroidered "pasties" peaking out from under the top speak to the romance of the Oscar awards...well done. Brava Mila!

Dallas' Saint Ann's School - NOT Dishing Out Cafeteria Food

Saint Ann's School in it's former days...

When I was a little, and now, when I am big - still to this day, I can look at an old dilapidated building and picture it to full restoration in about 30 seconds. Yes, sometimes I have to work out the kinks, like using existing materials to keep it's authenticity and how it can still be to code, but nonetheless - I could walk old buildings all day long and think about an adaptable use for them. And that is why I am SO glad Dallas did just that for a former schoolhouse, Saint Ann's built in 1927, primarily built as Dallas' first school for Hispanic children it now boasts a great restaurant space with an edgy, modern glam meets zen lodge retreat vibe. If you can't picture that, just go there an experience it yourself...you'll be glad you did.

I had heard numerous friends talking the place up, and had it on my list as places to check out. It was just happenstance that I ran across it when a client recommended it as it was right down the street from her hi-rise where were having an all day photo shoot, trying to get both day and night shots of her place with the famous Dallas skyline in the background - had to wait for that green building to come on! We took a lunch break around 3 and of course the place was dead, they even happened to be having a photo shoot as well, but the crew and I were invited to sit at the bar to chow down.

I took the pressed chicken sandwich complete with pan seared chicken topped with mozzarella cheese on sourdough with roma tomatoes + cilantro pesto sided with sweet potato fries (you can choose regular or a house salad if you like). While the food and service was great, I loved the design scheme throughout and how it played on the school innuendo with the menu on notebook ruled paper. I will have to go back to check out the full dinner menu however.

Restored to what is today....

Not your typical lunch line! I loved the use of the glass floor with pebbles underfoot

Love, love the worn and torn Chesterfield sofa up against the natural wood paneling topped with a black crystal chandelier (for another post on those beauts click here...)

The dining room, sleek and minimal - don't forget to go upstairs where there is a museum collection of Samurai warriors thrown in for your history lesson.

The school can boast Dallas' largest city beer garden as well...now just behave or you might get called into the Principal's office!

The Menu

Saint Ann’s, 2501 N. Harwood Ave, 214.782.9841

Material Spotlight - Carolyn Ray Wallcoverings

While on the plane ride back from sunny Southern California this past Christmas break I was leafing through California Homes magazine, and ran across a Carolyn Ray Wallcoverings ad. I often select wallpaper memos from the David Sutherland showroom in the Dallas Design Center for clients homes. The ad featured her Mermaid Collection line, which struck a cord with me being such a water/beach feign. While it is shown in black and silver, it also comes in several other colorways.

Here in her own words, she explains how an idea is materialized into form...
"Inspiration comes with a trip to the movies, to the museum, to the beach, the woods, the water, the supermarket, the southwest, the southern Pacific, the studio shelf....

Mingled with memory, dreams and predictions, inspiration becomes an idea.

Idea becomes concept in studio experiments. Color makes the image, image transforms color. Color relationships grow, images are modified and refined.

Gradually the destination comes into focus. A livable interior complex yet quiet, color unexpected but somehow natural. A surface develops that is densely iconographic and hardly there at all.

Next the painted surface is transformed into a reproducible design. This always involves compromise and innovation to meet production and end-use requirements while staying true to the idea.

When production is at last complete, there is one more step. Our final collaboration is with the interior designer, whose artistry gives form to our materials."

Other designs from her line...

Design District Party - Leslie Taylor Throws Open Doors

To kick off the holiday party season, the Leslie Taylor showroom on Slocum St. in the Design District is first in line and will be hosting their Holiday Party this Thursday for designers and invited customer's, showing off their new goods from Tara Shaw (they are THE rep for our area! - no more trips to Houston and Louisiana to see these great French antiques and reproductions.) I will be posting the full invite on my Dallas Decorum facebook page so look there for more info and to RSVP- there will be a full invite up manana :) See ya there! ;)

DALLAS DECORUM FACEBOOK PAGE

Design on Dragon-Thursday Night

The annual Design on Dragon happens tomorrow night where the design streets duke it out over who can have the best block party. Come out to see if they can outdo the Slocum event a couple of weeks ago! Shops and galleries are throwing open the doors, complete with vino, music and food enticing you to invest in a new piece of art you've been eyeing...see you there!

Dallas Design Showroom NEST Hosts Blogger Social

For all of my fellow Dallas bloggers you are invited to "POST" - A blogger's social hosted by one of my favorite bloggers, interior designer Beth Dotolo who pens the oh, so fab - hello, splendor and Kelly of the fabulous k blog will be opening the doors of the new NEST digs on McKinney Ave. offering up cocktails and cupcakes - what can be better than that! So RSVP tonite to get a sneak peak before the grand opening bash and the first 30 who show will snag a great swag bag full of goodies!

Ghoulishly Glam Interiors

In honor of Halloween I am posting some not-so-Martha-Stewart-Halloween shots of LA based interior designers Carole Katleman's and Daniel Cuevas design who tricked out a London based town home that was formerly the 18th century pad for a British prime minister. I love the minimalist approach of incorporating some ghoulishly glam accessories while still maintaining that "this house wasn't hit over the head with a witch's broomstick look."

Love the blood red conversation area against the cool monochromatic gray, and of course Mr. Skull Bones....