one of the (many) highlights of my trip was a visit to shopSCAD. i've seen a lot of art school shops and i'll have to say, SCAD is in a league of its own. i was scheduled to stay there an hour (which i thought was nearly impossible) but i could have easily stayed for 2 or 3 just looking at the artwork. the fabulous joe bush (who's about to move to silverlake!) and kyle of shopSCAD were incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about every single tiny piece in the shop, which was founded by amy zurcher and katie runnels in 2003. i felt like i'd stumbled into the home of some incredibly eccentric, artistic (maybe a little crazy?) southern woman with impeccable taste. there were beautiful little pieces tucked into every nook and cranny- not to mention the sculptures hanging from the ceiling. my favorite pieces belonged to artist stephanie howard, who created a series of "shag queen" (named for the dance) illustrations that use stippling and tiny lines and dashes to create the incredible pieces above and below. her work oozes the sort of southern-ness that i crave living up here so i'm in the process of saving up to invest in her work when i can. along with stephanie i really loved molly dingledine's work (i bought some of her wood and pearl earrings) but you can see a big big big slideshow of shopSCAD artwork, products and store shots right here. i hope you'll check it out- the shop is lovely and i've identified nearly everything in the photos (roll your mouse over the photo and then click on the "i" for photo information) so if you'd like to buy anything you see you can find the piece online at shopSCAD and have it sent to you. thanks so much for joe and kyle for making my visit such a fun one.

i'm an unabashed julia rothman fan and i was psyched to get a little preview of her new pieces she'll be showing at surtex (booth 236). as always, i love her use of color and illustration- i especially enjoy her work in fabric form. i'm excited to see what's next for julia, i think we're going to see big big things from her...

somehow i hit the b&b jackpot and scad kindly put me up at the magnolia place inn. right across the street from forstyh park, the magnolia inn was like living in a movie. literally, i felt like i was an extra in the cast of midnight in the garden of good and evil, or like i'd stepped back 100 years into the old south. the interior had modern amenities of course but the home itself was an absolute gem. i put together a little slideshow of the hotel (which was renovated by scad and redecorated with alum work) right here if you're interested in taking a little tour. if you're even in savannah i highly suggest saving up for a stay here. miss betty will take good care of you...

[i've also become obsessed with the curtains below. i'm going to try to have them made for our house]

ny magazine just put out a home design issue with a 24 product slideshow proclaiming "the next" everything. ie: "tord boontje is the next verner panton". i don't agree with a lot of the choice but it's a lovely slideshow of some products i haven't seen out there yet. click here to view the full shabang. oh, and don't miss adrienne labelle (we saw her sneak peek last month) in their "next garde" slideshow...glad we caught her before she totally blows up.

i'm still reeling from the beauty of savannah. the houses, the smells, the people, everything was just magical, almost movie-like. one grad student described it as the "slutty season" because everything was so dewy and lush and the smells of jasmine and magnolia hung so heavy in the air. i compiled a little slideshow of my shots around town, mostly homes and the beautiful squares (with some great porches and architectural detailing) so if you want to take a little mini tour of historic downtown savannah, just click here.