In Memoriam: Albert Hadley

The sad news came yesterday that interior designer Albert Hadley died at his sister's home in Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 91. The world has lost not only one of the most important decorators in history but a lovely gentleman. Mr. Hadley worked across the street from one of the design firms that I worked for and the highlight of my morning would be seeing him outside smoking a cigarette. Later, I was lucky enough to meet him a few times and even interview him at his office. Memories I will always cherish.

I learned that Mr. Hadley was not well from antiques dealer Gerald Bland when I shot him for my book.  He mentioned that Mr. Hadley's apartment was for sale and actually took me to see it.  Many of the special pieces had already been given away to friends or sold at auction but it was still beautiful to behold.  If I had the money, I would buy it in a heartbeat just in case some of his magic might rub off on me.  But just walking through the rooms was magic enough. You can see the floorplan here.

I hope Mr. Hadley is up there is the Decorating Hall of Fame in the sky laughing with Mrs. Parish, Billy Baldwin, Mark Hampton, and David Hicks, smoking a Camel Light and thinking about how he can add some red to all those white spaces.

Photos by Heather Clawson for Habitually Chic

My Spring Finds at Refinery29

Big thanks to Kristian Laliberte and the folks at Refinery29 for asking me to pick my favorite pieces to Prep Your Pad for Spring.  I love them so much I may have to buy a few of them for myself.  Hope you like them too!  

Cheers!

HC

At Home with Another Herrera

Some people's homes get featured a million times and others seem to sit quietly under the radar.  The latter is why I was very excited to see Patricia Herrera Lansing's apartment featured on APT with LSD on Vogue.com.  In case you don't know, Patricia is the daughter of my style idol Carolina Herrera.  The chicness doesn't fall far from the tree here.  I love how she and her husband have not only transformed his former bachelor pad into a family home, but have incorporated contemporary art and photography into the mix.  I also love the playroom and family photos displayed behind the breakfast table.  Now only if some magazine would feature her mother's townhouse again.  Bon Weekend!

Photos by Claiborne Swanson Frank

Chic Site for Moms

When someone from Elizabeth Street Mom invited me to a launch event for their new site, my first response was "you know I don't have kids right?" But then I remembered that many of my readers do.  The site is billed as "the place where stylish moms meet" and it is a chic alternative to all the other mommy sites on the internet now.  One of their fun features under Living is a look inside the homes of some very fashionable moms and their children.  One in particular is Andrea Borda Stanford of One Kings Lane.  I got to know Andrea first when she was with C magazine and always love visiting her when I'm in Los Angeles.  Of course her 10 year old daughter Ryan's bedroom is beautiful. I love that it's been updated and can definitely grow with her. It also makes me want to see the rest of her home so maybe they can work on that feature next.  In the meantime, I'll continue to work on finding myself a husband so I can be an Elizabeth Street Mom soon! 

Photos by Gabriel Goldberg

Winter is Coming

Some of you will take a look at these photos and think I've completely lost my marbles.  Others of you who have seen Game of Thrones on HBO will immediately understand.  I only just saw season one a few weeks ago during a marathon but was instantly hooked.  I had to watch the episodes a few times to figure out who was related to whom and why they all wanted to kill each other.  One good thing about being late to the game (pun intended) is that I have a shorter time to wait until the Season 2 premier on Sunday, April 1st.  

Game of Thrones is described as an American medieval fantasy television series based on George R. R. Martin's best-selling series of fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, the first of which is called A Game of Thrones. What I love most is that film most everything on location in places such as Belfast, Northern Ireland, Malta, Croatia and Iceland. There is no CGI green screen animation going on so the show actually feels real and is incredibly gripping.  I highly recommend watching the behind the scenes footage available on HBO On Demand to learn more or to watch season one if you haven't already.  And get ready, "winter is coming."