Glenmere Mansion, whose photos I posted here in May and are now in the July issue of Robb Report, is one of few properties that has really stuck with me over time. If there’s one thing I love about a resort, it’s the feeling that each space is unique and has something special to offer. Glenmere accomplishes that in spades. The property also won me over with 24/7 snacking stations (there’s always room for scones!), a gorgeous library stocked with art books ranging from the Impressionist greats to Jeff Koons, and bottomless brunch Bellinis using—and this is important!—real peach purée. So, apparently, the way to my heart is no secret: endless proportions of food, booze, and art!

I’ve never been much of a fish gal. I prefer furry things, and underwater creatures aren’t exactly the snuggling type. But I must admit that after speaking with Okeanos Aquascaping co-owner and super-passionate aquarium lover Martin Schapira, I totally get the whole underwater world appeal. Granted, I’d probably have to settle for something more fishbowl-like as opposed to Okeanos’ shockingly expansive (and expensive!) aquariums, but alas, I do have a newfound appreciation for my little undersea friends.

Writing the same article twice is definitely a test in creative mettle. Luckily I had eight hours of uninterrupted work time in the form of a CDG-to-JFK flight to knock out my second piece about the One&Only Cape Town for Robb Report’s 2010 Best of the Best issue. It was even enough time to write an article about the Four Seasons Resort Seychelles for the same issue. Such productivity! And I still managed to watch the barely-entertaining, often-embarrassing duo of Ricky Gervais movies so thoughtfully chosen by American Airlines. more»

I’d been holding off on posting anything not Seychelles-related in an attempt at some sort of cohesion. So now that that’s over and done with, I can finally post this article I wrote about Anthony Lawrence-Belfair’s custom furniture and new fabric collection for the April issue of Robb Report. I also shot the photos, some of which were previously posted on here (and some of which also ran in NY Spaces).

The second piece I wrote for Robb Report’s February travel issue is this feature about the new villa suites in the under-construction Octavius Tower at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. I had really wanted to get out there to see them in person but deadlines and holidays collided and it wasn’t in the cards. I wonder: which of the villas would I have chosen to stay in? I do love me some floor-to-ceiling marble, so perhaps the Greek-inspired Constantine Villa. As I always say, it’s not a bathroom without an Esmerelda onyx-lined bathtub surrounded by Doric columns. more»

The February issue of Robb Report likes to rub it in our East Coast faces that there are warmer places in the world right now. Though I’m not doing much traveling these days, I did write a couple of pieces for the magazine’s annual travel issue: the one above about the first American globe maker (not at all the snooze-fest one might imagine), and another about three new villa suites that just opened at the Caesars Place in Vegas (coming shortly).

My write-up about the appropriately-named UFO chandelier from Dutch designer Brian Rasmussen and Italian lighting studio SID ran in the December issue of Robb Report. Each year, in preparation for the holidays, the magazine compiles an outlandish list of insanely expensive gifts for their Ultimate Gift Guide. The wildest part of this year’s issue though is that one of the ultimate gifts was actually purchased: the $1 million duo of a ‘54 and ‘11 Mercedes. Gosh, and all I wanted this year was an electric toothbrush.

Check out a more readable version of the Las Vegas home tour I wrote for Robb Report’s November 2009 issue here. more»

This feature I wrote covering spas from around the US is a bit of a downer for me. The layout: gorgeous. The properties: amazing. The writing: if pressed, I’d have to go with pretty damn good. The problem? It was scheduled for the October issue of Vacation Homes magazine that never made it to newsstands before shuttering for good. Although it may never see the light of publication, at least I can revel in its glory on LIO. more»

This is the piece I did for Robb Report magazine covering the Four Seasons and Grand Wailea pools in Maui, both of which opened (or reopened) over the summer. I plan to look at this photo every day for the next, oh, six months to combat the imminently approaching NYC cold. Link to the online article is here.

Continuing the extravaganza of written work is a home gallery I did for Robb Report about Boffi, an Italian kitchen and bathroom manufacturer. I find it much too difficult to gauge the quality of a kitchen or bathroom system without experiencing it firsthand and so decided to visit Boffi’s booth at ICFF back in May. After about three hours of meandering through/getting sidetracked by vendor after fantastic vendor, I finally realized Boffi was only participating “in spirit” so to speak (in other words, solely within the confines of their SoHo showroom). I shuffled on over to Greene Street and made it just in time to catch the end of their event—and one of the last glasses of champagne. In the end, it was definitely worth sorting out the confusion though; the products were much more amazing in person than I ever could have gathered from photos or renderings.

I wrote a couple of pieces for Robb Report’s Winter Wellness compilation including the Lake Austin Spa Resort in Texas and Singita Lebombo + Sweni in South Africa. Both may be familiar from photos posted here earlier this year. You can check out all 20 of Robb’s winter getaways here. Oh, and as a warning, I was swamped with articles right before we left for Hawaii so there may be a slight deluge of written work overshadowing design work in the next few posts.

The avid LIO reader (if such a person exists) may remember this home in Stamford, Connecticut, from when I photographed it last year for Vacation Homes magazine. After months on the editorial roster, the editors ended up asking me to write the article as well. The owner of the home, Francine Gardner, is an interior designer who owns the Interieurs showrooms in Soho and West Hollywood. I love what she did with this house, an old stable for the Vanderbilt family, as she somehow managed to hold on to the historical aspects that make it unique (its single-story, U-shape layout and original stone walls, for instance) and at the same time create a very contemporary atmosphere. more»

Thought I would post my article for the One&Only Cape Town resort that ran in the August issue of Robb Report magazine. The full, more legible article is online here. I was quite pleased with the way the photos correspond with the text—although, apparently, my editor now thinks I’m some sort of lush due to my opening paragraph.

Here’s the article I wrote about bathroom design company Duravit from the trip I took to Germany earlier this year. This ran in the May issue of Robb Report magazine and is the cause of my disturbingly intense knowledge of sinks, lavs, and showers. I also wrote a second piece for Robb Report’s Best of the Best issue, which you can view online here if you’re as in to home saunas as I apparently am.

The article that I wrote during my trip to Austin back in January came out in the April/May issue of Vacation Homes magazine. A more legible version of it can be read on Vacation Homes’ web site. I’d also like to point out here that John has not posted in nearly two months. Hopefully this public shaming will get his butt in gear to share some of the amazing work he’s done during his final semester at Columbia! more»

We’ve changed a few of our categories to reflect the kind of work we’ve been doing over the past year. Obviously school has been a huge part of John’s life so that was long overdue. I’ve also recently become a tiny bit of a writer, and so thought it might be a good idea to add a written work section as well. Here’s an article that I wrote for the February issue of Vacation Homes magazine about some of the new developments going up along the High Line in West Chelsea (Section One opening in June!). more»