Bloomingdales Big Window Challenge

Currently, Bloomingdales is hosting a Big Window Challenge at their flagship store in NYC.  There are three different designers doing a various window displays with their own concept idea and storylines.  Eddie Ross is one of the designers, representing Elle Decor for this competition.  I fell in love with Eddie during Top Design. I have watched Top Design since it’s inception. My girlfriend Erin and I always giggle because it reminds us of us a few years ago at FIDM.  As crazy adults, we decided to go back to school for design.  We both had a love for design, textiles & homes and wanted to fine tune our skills and see if this was a life we’d want to lead.  Anyone, who is a professional working person and goes to school full time for interior design at night can attest how insane and crazy it is ~  pulling all nighters, laughing because your so delirious and deprived to sleep that your going crazy, and the joys that come from all the hard work and seeing the end result.  I always related to the Top Design contestants because sometimes you do need a little time to get the creative juices flowing but not on this show – you jump right in and sometimes they had to work on a tight deadline and/or had to work through the night, something I related too!  Eddie Ross was one of those contestants that always pulled the rabbit out of a hat and made, whatever he did, look like it was magazine worthy (table settings, room vignettes, etc).  He’s been in the business for sometime and has had an already successful career working at Martha Stewart and now he is thriving even more!  He has a fabulous blog which everyone should read Eddie Ross.  If I lived back East, I’d want him as my neighbor.  I know we would have a blast entertaining together and I think he would be great fun to chat and gossip with!

What I love about this contest is each room done by a designer is to have a story.  Eddie’s is a woman who owns a fashion PR company with offices in Paris and New York. She has two children who have recently moved out of the house likely on their way to Harvard or Yale (that’s my thoughts) or maybe off to school in Florence to study textiles or apparel. While I read the story of who this woman was and how she lived, I really got lost in the story, it was as if, I was reading a modern day novel of Coco Chanel, but more the business woman.

What I love about Eddie is ability mix the bold with the subtle.  I truly enjoy pops of color but my natural esthetic tends to be whites, linens, tans, etc.  I appreciate color as a designer and wish sometimes I had the ability to do it myself ~ go to the bright side!   After reviewing the photo’s of Eddie’s window display (See Photo’s Below) I was stumped on the walls ~ I couldn’t figure out if it was wallpaper or if he splattered paint on the walls.  I was torn – do I like it or don’t I?  I loved the color but wished I could see it in person.  The more I pondered it, I was pleasantly reminded of a class that we took at FIDM with a quirky instructor who taught us about the imagination and about shapes, proportions, and various elements as an art form (think Andy Goldsworthy and the late Gene Moore, the window dresser for Tiffany’s) and I looked at it in a new light.  I always love his mix of materials.  The brass chandelier in just the right color – not to shiny not to dull.  I love how Eddie and his team added pops of color and how the orange and pink’s compliment one another.  The furniture is simple and understated but the woman expresses herself through her art, pillows, and classic accessories.

  I love this statue (See Below).  It makes me want to go to Italy and scour the flea markets for one. I think I’m in love.

Dear Apollo,

How I wish you would come live with me? If we lived together, you’d probably be my new best friend – I’m sure we’d have many conversations ~ on how our day is going or not going, maybe I’d throw things at you when I was angry, but, your far to handsome for that.  I see us as being best friends, while my dog barked at you – like, who is this stranger that invaded our house? I think my boyfriend would likely hang his clothes on you…but I would take care of you.  Don’t you worry! Of please come stay with me!

All the Best,

Ann

I absolutely love this table display below.  My dream is to have a room dedicated to nothing but dishes, glasses, serving platters, etc., so, I really could begin to collect all different colors for the various seasons.  I remember reading about this brass tray below Eddie bought he was guest blogging on Pure Style Home– another of my favorite blogs.  He shared with her readers how he bought it for next to nothing at the flea market in the hopes it would clean up nice but even if it didn’t – it still would look amazing.  A little brass cleaner and elbow grease and look how well it cleaned it up ~ looks like something you’d see at Bergdorf’s.  Also, another accessory I love on this table and something I’m collecting myself, is this white urn.  I have one in my bathroom, I got for a $1.00 when I was at an antique shop in Old Saybrook, CT.  It currently holds my Q Tips!  I broke my other one (I do everything in 3’s) so I need a replacement.  I’ve been looking for a larger sized one to put my orchid in and this was is perfect.  Eddie  it’s perfect for my bathroom ~ where did you get that?  Can I buy it when your done???

The picture above does make me feel like this woman is in the fashion industry – with the ever so popular Ikat fabrics on the pillows to classic Toile and Leopard  print ~ it’s timeless yet current. I want to sit on that pink (I think it’s pink – maybe red) blanket with a glass of Cristal champagne. I love the sense of whimsy (See Below), the pink and white gumballs displayed in a beautiful vintage porcelain and of course, the ever so classy Eddie, has it in a beautiful bowl with peonies behind it – I LOVE IT!  When I talk about decorating is in the details, this is a great example of it. It’s just the right touch color, texture, whimsy and everything blends together beautifully.  I want to be friends with this lady – never mind!  I want to be her!

Eddie has an incredible eye for putting together unique and creative ways to display barware.  He puts them together in such a chic way.  I love how he mixes the silver tray with vintage glasses and even throwing in the whimsy skull head or monkey head LOL!  I don’t know what it is, but, it looks like an ice sculpture.  These brass flowers are amazing!  All the bloggers are talking about them and how they want them and so does muah!  I welcome the touches of fresh flowers when entertaining but I also enjoy it in my personal space when I’m alone.  When I was broke in college, I told my best friend, Sue when I had my own apartment, I was going to buy fresh flowers  every week and have them in my house.  I do, whether, I have company or not.  Depending on my budget that week, it can be a fresh rose from the garden in a bud vase, or star gazers (my favorite for smell) in my living room, tulips or hydrangea’s in my teapot,  or my green goddess calla lilies to brighten my kitchen.  The quickest way to warm your home is through flowers and candles.

This is probably of my favorite pictures in his storyline for his window display.  Why?  Because this picture hits so close to home and is SO ME!  His storyline indicates that, this woman loves to entertain and she and her husband are having friends over for drinks.  She only has a few hours and wants to catch up on her favorite indulgence ~ reading magazines.  She’s looking for ideas for her house or inspiration?  While this lady can afford anything  ~ I cannot!  So for me, magazines are my pure pleasure and they transport me to a place of utter bliss.  I know what I love, but, unfortunately, my pocketbook cannot afford my champagne taste on my beer budget.  So until I am in a place where I can decorate the way I want, I will live vicariously through Eddie Ross’s window and fantasize about this fabulous woman’s life and story he has created.  While our lives are very different, she lives in chic house in NY and I’m in a beach house in Manhattan Beach, we do have a few things in common ~ we love to shop at flea markets and find those secret treasures(whether it’s $1.00 or $100.00), the fun is in the hunt and spotting a good thing in a pile of ruble also, kicking off your heels off after a long day, relaxing with our magazines and then having close friends over for cocktails!

Make sure you check out Eddie’s beautiful window display and read the story line.  I assure you for a blissful 10 minutes you will be transported to Paris and a chic apartment in New York.  I promise the journey will be worth it.  Make sure you vote for him and his team!  You can only vote twice a day online or via text.  Click here to cast your vote for the designer of your choice.  All excellent, but, I think you know who my favorite is!

 

PHOTO CREDITS:  EDDIE ROSS