I don’t know if any of you out there ever watched American Pickers – well it’s about these two guys who go and find stuff and then sell it to antique shops and other dealers. They go searching for things all over and then talk about the items with a little history. Another one I love is Antique Roadshow where professionals look at antiques and clarify to the owners what exactly it is that they own. I find it so fun to guess the history and estimated value of these items are.

Do any of you watch these shows? How good is your estimating of the values? (Though, if you’re all constantly blogging, I don’t see how you find time to watch TV!)

This week I have two installations – the first is a great apartment that will be a young couple’s first home together. They’re getting married in September.

The other is a space I worked on with my associate David Rogal. It’s in a very modern building on 8th Avenue and I feel about this place the way you do when you just cannot wait to get a space completed because you’ve already seen it so vividly in your mind. I’m anxious to see the juxtaposition that we’re playing by using traditional elements in this super modern building. We’ve bought great art for it, it involves architectural changes to the space and we stretched the boundaries of what we normally do.

I cannot wait to share both jobs with you all. I think when one does great work, whatever else happens around you – the economy, those extra pounds around the waist or any of the other normal adversities – it all fades when you see your creativity come to life. That gives me a sense of impetus and hope. Really, uplifting the spirit.

Why don’t you share some of the creative experiences you’ve had lately that lifted your soul?

Janice Ward, a friend on Facebook, posted this adorably photo today.

Millicent, if I dare say so myself, you have exquisite taste!

Isn’t this just purrrrrrrrrfect?

In the blogosphere there’s been a lot of talk about creating a ‘slow home’ over the last couple of days – basically, a slow home is the anecdote for our fast paced lives. Going simpler, smaller and a little…slower. From a designers point of view, McMansions are great. More furniture, more rooms, and more money being spent. Personally, I find that the intimacy of a space that is in relation to the people who live there much more user-friendly. Maybe it has to do with living in New York where the square footage of a space is so precious, but when you look at some of the houses I’ve worked in – the extravaganze (or vulgarity?) of so much square footage makes you wonder how much time there is in a day to spend in all these rooms. What are your thoughts on creating a ‘slow home’?

And talking about slow homes, I’m starting a raw vegetable diet today. My friend Preston Bailey has been on it for the last month and feels an enormous amount of energy, he’s lost weight (though he certainly doesn’t need to) and – as somebody who has the kind of appetite that ensures that I would not want to be caught on a desert island with because I’d be roasting on a spit before I could scream – he doesn’t feel hungry. When I first heard about it I thought ‘Chewing on a blade of gras?’ but it’s really tasty. All natural, all raw and very well prepared. Have you ever done one? I’m using RAWvolution and they prepare and deliver main courses, raw soups, appetizers, the works – even two desserts!

I’ll let you know before I turn into a goat. (Funny, because I am capricorn!)

This year celebrates the 50th birthday of Verner Panton’s idyllic chair. Is it a piece of furniture? Sculpture? I’ve been using them for years and to me there’s a lot of integrity in a product that blends in as effortlessly in traditional settings as it does in modern environments. My favorite Panton is the white one and it is for me by far one of the most timeless looking pieces that I use.

It’s funny because when I have presented it to some clients they’ve said ‘No, it’s too modern’ and when you think that it’s 50 years old…not many of us can say that we look as young and ‘of the moment’ as these chairs do at 50!

I’m not very mechanical, but here’s a tip. If you have an ice machine, a refrigerator, a wine cooler or anything that sucks in air in order to work, by all means, remove the hair balls every now and again. When I got back from my blitz trip to Switzerland this morning, my wine cooler was down to 74 and hadn’t been cooling. The ice machine? All I had was a puddle of water at the bottom. Even the jello I had in the fridge had gone liquid. This morning I called the technician in and was told to clean the sucker out. After some house cleaning, I have ice in my machine, the wines (that survived the heat wave) are chilled and my fridge is keeping things fresh. Nene’s fur is not helping the situation. I may just have to shave him down for the summer…

I certainly enjoy reading and participating in blogs. But the case of Shirley Sherrod (former USDA official who was blackballed and forced into resigning by a misquote on this blog for her speech on her experiences in her work) was a clear example to me of how there is really no policing whatsoever over what gets said or how its portrayed. If the same quote had appeared in a newspaper where she was misquoted she would have been able to have some recourse – and you can be sure that somewhere along the line an editor would have questioned this sensationalist story. But for political reasons, a blogger took what she said out of context and got her to force to resign. The White House and the NAACP came down on her and all because of people using this online medium for their own selfish reasons and saying whatever they please, whether it’s the truth or not.

People are using social media tools for their own political or personal reasons without any gatekeeper. And I think the bigger problem comes in when children get involved. Kids have access to information and ways of portraying themselves online that we wouldn’t have even considered in our wildest dreams back when I was ten or eleven years old! These days children are committing suicide because of things that are said about them on blogs.

This is not something to be taken lightly. When we put something on a blog or post about a topic, we all have to take responsibility for the fact that it is not just you reading it, but that you’re putting it out there for the world to read and interpret. Have any of you had any problems with things said on blogs that have affected you?

Every day that goes by there’s more devastating news about what’s happening in the Gulf with the BP debacle and I question more and more what we are doing to our country and to this earth. Our need for oil, big cars, large SUVs, plastic and plastic bags, etc, etc goes beyond the reality of what we’re doing to ourselves. It’s unfortunate because it’s one more thing that has made people nervous about our times. But I think the long-term damage that we’re suffering now will go on for many many years.

Are any of you out there on the Gulf? If you are, please know that you are in our thoughts and let us know how this is affecting you. Even here in New York and in Montauk, already the fish stores are cutting back on scallops, shellfish and other items coming from the South because people are so afraid of consuming tainted seafood, so though we’re not getting oil on our beaches, we are seeing the result of this spill.

Last weekend I came into the city from Montauk early on the 4th of July and had invited a group of friends to stand on my terrace and watch the fireworks. It almost felt as it was a private show,  it was so close. We had the TV playing the program with the music blaring, so we really felt like we were right there. I felt very patriotic.

This weekend I’m looking forward to just recovering from a cold I’ve been battling all week (in this heat it’s been disgusting!), gardening and just avoiding the heat. How did you celebrate the 4th?