FROM FANTASY TO FÊTE: ICE CREAM SOCIAL

Happy June, lovelies! Why not welcome summer with an afternoon of decadence at an ice cream parlour-inspired fête...

...and modernize it with pretty invites, feminine flourishes, and decidedly gourmet twists on traditional flavors? Camille Styles here, and this week's fantasy couldn't get much better, in my book: an entire party centered around rich, creamy combinations and colorful toppings to encourage creative mixing.


How gorgeous is this watercolored stationery from Fine Day Press? Scrawl the sweet details inside, and pop in the mail...no doubt many excited RSVP's will ensue!


A divided wooden box filled with marshmallows, sprinkles, coconut and other pastel-hued accoutrements makes a chic vessel for toppings. Place metal scoops in each bin and let guests go to town with their sundaes! (via eat drink chic.)


While picking up a variety of store-bought flavors is perfectly fine, there's really nothing better than homemade. Hop on over to camillestyles.com to discover a few of my favorite recipes for the yummiest ice cream, sorbet and popsicles.


A chalkboard menu adorned with fabulous script is such a pretty way to let guests narrow down their options. I also happen to adore those gilded vintage glasses for serving sundaes, don't you? (via 100 Layer Cake.)


Remember those little wooden spoons that came with individual ice creams back when you were a kid? These have the same nostalgic charm, and the colorful twine makes them party-worthy. Spotted via Ez, who smartly suggested using them as little gift tags or invite enclosures. Love!

*images: {row 1} dress, lucite cone holder, sorbet {row 2} drink flags, parlour sign {row 3} ice cream bowls, cameos, couple, ice cream cone {row 4} pink egg cups, ice cream sandwiches. strawberry ice cream, delectable deliciousness.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WE!!!

Nope, that's not a typo. Because today is coco+kelley's birthday, and it's no longer just me around here - it's definitely a 'we'! Between contributors, all you fabulous readers, amazing interns, supportive friends, and fellow bloggers, I've had a lot of help in growing this blog and business in the past year. It's officially a team effort, and we're officially celebrating!

I launched coco+kelley in May of 2007... which means we're heading into our 5th year around here with some very exciting plans. We'll start by adding a few more contributors, moving into offices by the end of the summer, giving the blog a little facelift, and bringing you more original shoots produced in collaboration with some very talented Seattle friends. Are you excited yet?? I hope you'll continue join me along the way!

Thank you for being a part of this incredibly journey! Who knew when I started this blog four years ago what it would be today? I couldn't be here without all of you!

*images via unkown, {this is glamorous} and paul costello

FROM FANTASY TO FÊTE: BEYOND THE FRINGE

Happy March, m'dears! Camille Styles here, and I must admit that this month can be a bit of a challenge for us party planners...

Valentine's Day has passed, Easter has yet to arrive, and it's not quite warm enough to take our parties outdoors. I do love a challenge though, and I happen to believe that we can always find a reason to celebrate. I was particularly inspired by these shots of fluttering paper garlands and fringe-y tassels in the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings, and I used them as a starting point for today's "fantasy." 

Vivid shades of tangerine + papaya pop against pale peach and subtle grey, accented with touches of gold. I'm envisioning this for a birthday or bachelorette party where all your favorite girlies can don a pair of heels, pop open the bubbles and celebrate friendships!

Can you say festive? Branches strung with mylar & tissue tassels bring a sense of whimsy to the table, no flowers necessary.

I've got a major paper crush on these snipped-up invites stuffed with confetti. Get the sources here.

Specialty cocktails are even more special when accented with fringed stir sticks bursting with festivity.

Send guests home with candied citrus and coconut cookies, wrapped up in these colorful crafted boxes. Like little works of art, they're almost too pretty to open!

*images: {row 1} coral dress, confetti system garland {row 2} flowers, straws {row 3} cake, gumball machine, place setting, flowers {row 4} macarons, fringe garland, sofa. All fringe images from Martha Stewart Weddings.

IT'S BIRTHDAY WEEK!!

Hellloooooo party girls and boys! This weekend was a fabulous kickoff to my birthday week (with my real birthday being tomorrow!) and I can't wait to show you the photos!

We'll also be celebrating around here with giveaways every day and lots of pretty little things, because that's what birthdays should be all about! Presents and pretties!

(Like loads of pink balloons and dreamy party frocks!)

So pour yourself a little glass of champagne, slip on some sassy heels, and get ready for some fun as we celebrate birthdays and get ready for Halloween too!

xoxo,
cassandra

FANTASY TO FÊTE: FIESTA!

Camille from Style Notes here, with the latest edition of our Fantasy to Fête series. Today's mood board is a colorful journey south of the border, complete with mariachi, maracas & an ice-cold pitcher of mango margaritas. Don't you agree it's the perfect inspiration for a seasonal bash to savor one last kiss of summer sunshine?

As an Austin event planner, my clients can't seem to get enough of fiesta-themed celebrations, and these vivacious details & spicy menus are enough to send anyone into full vacation mode. So find a seat by the pool, 'cause things are about to get hot, hot, hot!

Bright bunches of flowers gathered in recycled Mexican food cans are festive and super easy to assemble. Check out the little DIY tutorial I put together for full instructions.

Flickering candlelight casts a magical glow; line a pathway or staircase with lots of these super-affordable frosted lanterns for major effect. Escort cards tied onto authentic maracas make a colorful way for guests to find their seats. And the maracas double as perfect favors, too!

Tissue paper poms dancing among the branches create a celebratory welcome for guests' arrival. Love the offerings from Etsy seller PomLove.

Care for a cucumber-lime martini or a blood orange margarita? Who wouldn't love to order from a menu of yummy mix-ins, and a chalkboard is the perfect way to display the offerings, tex-mex style. Provide exotically-flavored sugars to rim glasses and make each cocktail party-worthy.

For an outdoor fête, guests will appreciate a bit of non-alcoholic hydration, and a display of fruity agua frescas with a big bowl of fresh fruit add a perfect color punch.

A fiesta wouldn't be complete without a menu of spicy Mexican-inspired bites. I love to serve a variety of appetizer-sized nibbles so guests can enjoy a ton of fun flavors. Find the recipes here for mini tacos al pastor, street corn on a stick, & an exotically-flavored salsa bar. Fresh chunks of juicy watermelon are a sweet way to end the night - no cooking required!

*images: {row 1} our labor of love via ashley meaders, lisa lefkowitz via style me pretty; stephanie williams via project wedding, swizzle sticks, martha stewart; victor sizemore via style me pretty.

Cocktails with The New Traditionalists

I recently had the pleasure of being asked to style a bar for a cocktail party celebrating the new collections of The The New Traditionalists. You might know them better by one of their lines Mason Gray or for their children's furniture line Duc Duc. Luckily there were no children at the party last week! Just lots of fabulous friends and designers like Jonathan Rosen, Harry Heissmann, Kevin Isbell, Nick Olsen, Ron Marvin, Bruce Shostak, and Laurie Reynolds who is now working with Bruce!

Since I live uptown and The New Traditionalists showroom is in Soho, I tried to use as many accessories they had on site as possible. This is something that I often so at my client's homes so it actually worked out well.

All of the furniture names are actually numbers that are meaningful to the company. The credenza that I used for my bar/entry table is Credenza No. Two Twenty Five. Not sure if you can tell by the photo but the gray finish was applied over a dark blue finish that can be seen around all the edges. It looked really beautiful in person and perfectly complemented my blue and orange color scheme. You can only see a glimpse of one of their chairs in this photo but you should definitely check out their upholstered pieces. The applied leather trimmings and details are like nothing I've ever seen!

The accessories did include a few pieces from my own apartment including my gold boxes, Eiffel Tower, candle and monogrammed match boxes. I also don't advocate smoking but the multi-colored Nat Sherman cigarettes in the silver cup were a nod to A Single Man and added more color.

While my styling project was like something I would do in a client's home, it couldn't compare with the work of real stylist Frances Bailey! She styled the Armoire No. Five Sixty Four with an orange lacquered interior that I loved! You can have the interiors lacquered any color and it's a fun surprise to find when you open a door or drawer!

I love the Domino magazine quality to the styling of this bar by Frances. I definitely think I need to have her give me some lessons!

Brady Wilcox the Chief Creative Officer of The New Traditionalists styled this simple bar on the Dresser No. Nine. I love how the white lacquer drawer fronts look with the darker wood finish. You can play with the color combinations to your heart's content! The furniture is all made American as well!

Monogrammed cocktail napkins are a nice touch to any home bar! I think that might also be a vintage trophy that was used as an ice bucket!

I owe a big thanks to The New Traditionalists team of David Harris, Rebby Gregg, Phillip Erdoes, and Brady Wilcox for allowing me to be a part of their special night. I can also confirm that a good time was had by all! Cheers!

The Bachelor Pad: C'est Fini

Now I remember why I only host one party a year. It's exhausting and it's never quite as much fun as being just a guest. I spent all day Friday running around and preparing and most of Saturday too. And then little things kept going wrong like my Blackberry stopped receiving emails and my computer decided to not recognize anything I plugged into the USB port. Weird timing. Luckily, I had made a party playlist on my iPod earlier in the week but I was unable to save the changes I made on Saturday. Of course, all the sudden it's working now. Even weirder.

It also happened to rain Saturday night. A few people cancelled but all in all it turned out to be a fun party. I thought we were going to have too much food but some girls who showed up ended up chowing down. I did order too much wine but that will definitely not go to waste.

A big thanks to my friend Tara who came over early with me to set everything up and wrapped more figs in prosciutto than she would have liked. More thanks to those who braved the rain including Eddie and Jaithan, Ron Marvin and Alejandro, Hollister and Porter Hovey, Michelle Adams and my colleague Kristen. My friend Kelly, who works with Carleton Varney, was too sweet and brought me a copy of Decorating is Fun! which I actually don't own and am excited to read! (I joked that I am going to write my own version entitled, Decorating is Exhausting!) I also made a new friend at the party, artist Lesny JN Felix who invited me on a tour of his studio. We also discussed a few other joint projects so check back later.

The candles in this photo look like they are coming out of the wine bottles but I assure you that they are not! I had a good laugh when Eddie knew that the ceramic beverage container was from Tar-jay! He has a few himself! We also found out that our birthdays are two days apart! Can you say joint birthday party?!

This is how the dining area looked the next day after I cleaned. (Did I mention that I went over and cleaned while the bachelor was out golfing?!) His step mother hates the table but he already had it and we didn't exactly have a huge budget. Sometimes I think it's fun to work with what a person already has than going out and buying everything new.

Someone mentioned last week that the television area didn't look finished and that's because it wasn't. There is also a lot going on next to it with the seating area so I think it's fine that it's not too over accessorized. Plus, it would distract you while you were trying to watch TV. I would have liked to have bought an area rug for under the dining table but as I mentioned previously, the bachelor works on Wall Street and so some finishing touches were put on hold. (The caterer and wait staff I also dreamed about for the party were also put on hold!) I also just painted out the existing dining area light fixture shades and took off the finials to save money. It would have been too expensive to have an electrician to come in and move the electrical box and install a new fixture. It's also a rental so it just made more sense to leave it since the bachelor probably wouldn't have had someone take the new one down before he moved anyway. Someone at the party actually said they liked it too which made me laugh. If they only new what it looked like before!

The new chairs add much needed additional seating and are also much better than what he originally had there (see the before photos here). One of his friends thanked me for the improvement since he has a nicer place to hang out too!

As you might remember the sofa is a C&B Italia from 1973 (before the changed the name to B&B Italia) and the Italian glass and chrome coffee table is also from the 1970's and was designed by Giancarlo Frattini for Cassina. Both were from his step mother and are selling for crazy prices on 1stdibs. The bachelor bought the rug himself last year and it actually worked with the color scheme of browns and oranges.

I can't find the other photo of the bed but you do get a look at the Ralph Lauren dresser that we splurged on. Everyone who saw it fell in love with it. You can't tell here but the wood looks like it's part of an expensive yacht and the pulls are leather and silver. There is supposed to be a small flat screen tv sitting on it but someone hasn't gotten around to buying it which is why the art is hung the way that it is on the wall. By the way, can you tell which painting was bought on ebay for $60 and which one was bought at Flair for $1500???

All in all, it was a 6 month process from start to almost finish. There are still a few details left that need attending to but they might have to wait until things are little more under control financially. I will be forever grateful to my friend for giving me the opportunity to undertake a project all by myself. It was tough and he and I didn't always get along during it. Some people know and others guessed that he and I had at one time dated. It didn't work out but we remained friends. I will admit that I had hoped that the project might bring us closer and result in a happy ending but alas it did not. I may have created the grown up apartment he wanted but someone isn't quite ready to grow up himself. But I do have a great project to add to my portfolio and a lot more time on my hands! C'est fini!

Speaking of parties...

I'll be out and about Friday preparing for a little soiree of my own! The Bachelor and I are are throwing a party to celebrate the end of his decorating project this Saturday night. I've been scouring the flea market and ebay for great party accessories including a fabulous Depression-era glass dish for candy or nuts (kind of fitting actually if you think about it) and anything silver from Sheffield (I thank Eddie Ross for that little obsession). Of course, the fact that Eddie is actually showing up has me a little nervous. Maybe we drink a lot no one will notice that we might not have any art above the sofa. I think considering what's been going on in New York lately, we can all use a drink...or two...or three...you get the idea. Check back later for photos!

The Social Event of the Season!

I guarantee that no client could get a hold of their interior designer last night to discuss their decorating emergency because everyone in the industry was at the Williams-Sonoma Home store opening party! The place was packed with more than 800 guests and I ran into old friends and made a few new ones during the night. I was very excited to meet Ron Marvin who's apartment is a favorite. I think my excitement might have scared him a little so sorry about that Ron! Ashley Whittaker couldn't have been sweeter and also has a few bachelor clients which was funny to talk about! My friends wouldn't let me leave until I talked to my design idol Steven Gambrel. He and I actually met briefly late last year so it was funny to give him my card and tell him that I styled it after his! Eddie Ross and Ondine from Top Design were also there, as were my friends from Flair. So fun! I unfortunately missed getting a goodie bag though! I hope there wasn't anything too fabulous in it!

I was also very surprised that the team at Williams-Sonoma even knew about my blog, let alone that they were as excited to meet me as I was to meet them! Above are just some of their amazingly talented team from San Francisco including President Dave DeMattei, Patricia Sellman, Monelle Totah, Abigail Jacobs, and Kirsty Williams. Missing was Amanda who I hear is a big fan of my blog! (Sorry you couldn't make it! Email me and we'll chat!)

Williams-Sonoma Home is a welcome addition to the New York marketplace. We often source items from the catalog and online so it will be nice to now be able to go into the store to check things out in person. I especially loved the shagreen boxes and all the sparkly accessories! Stop by and see for yourself the next time you are near Columbus Circle! You won't be disappointed and then on your way out, you can pick up an espresso maker, bundt pan or cookbook in the regular Williams-Sonoma store. One stop shopping at it's finest!