Chris Nordquist
Simple, almost obvious. And yet I’d never seen it before. Last weekend our friends Visnja and Franck visited us in Southampton and brought gifts for Julia and for us. They didn’t attach gift cards or tags, but, under the wrapping, they wrote a message for the recipient directly on the box. (The seam in the […]
I recently bonded with my new friend Visnja over the issue of candlelight, or rather the lack of it on a restaurant table. We were dining with our partners at a small, lovely place in the West Village –excellent food, great service, a pretty room with crisp yet cozy decor, and, well, bare tables. Visnja […]
In my mind it was easier. On Saturday afternoon, I would throw a tarp on the lawn, and –cool drink in one hand, spray can in the other– I would paint my drab tag-sale wicker chairs a cheerful yellow. On Sunday, I would complete this task with a top coat, probably sometime between clearing the […]
In a perfect world, we would all just step outside and gather beautiful seasonal leaves to line our cheese trays. In my world, though, or at least in New York and San Francisco, most of the things you’d find blowing down the street shouldn’t go anywhere near your food. And, in any case, in the […]
Just a couple of blocks from our apartment in New York is a wonderful shop. It’s the first American outpost of the French fabric house Les Toiles du Soleil, which sells nothing but brightly striped fabrics and a small range of goods made from them. The place is a perfect antidote for a gray day, […]
It’s truly summer now. The days are long and warm (except, of course, in San Francisco), and there’s so much to pull us outdoors –the garden, the grill, the pool, the beach, the sun. (Julia’s favorite new word is “outside.”) Usually, one of the last things I feel like doing is fussing with plants and […]
It’s porch-sitting weather in New York. Our back porch in Southampton is fully furnished –a sofa and easy chairs, coffee table, dining table for eight, and a large, low daybed that Julia has adopted as her favorite place to jump and sprawl. The front porch, however, is completely bare, which seems like a waste of […]
Marigolds probably aren’t the chicest bedding plant around these days, but I’ve always loved the bright sturdy little flowers. And I think style has a lot to do with context: I don’t think I’d plant them in a row along our brick walk, but I think they look fresh and cheerful indoors, bunched in a […]
When we were in Palm Springs for Easter, our party –David, Marta, Dan, Keith, me, and, of course, Julia– made our way to the Trina Turk boutique on North Palm Canyon Drive. For years Trina Turk has sold stylish clothing suitable for a Rat Pack cocktail party (in a good way), but a couple of […]
On Saturday we had friends to lunch in Southampton, including two of New York’s great ladies, at least in my opinion. It was to be a casual lunch, but I still wanted the place to look particularly nice. Time was short, though. We wouldn’t arrive until late on Friday, and Saturday morning would be filled […]
