Mr & Mrs Smith NYC Contest: The Final Clue

This will be the last clue in the Mr & Mrs Smith New York City Travel Trivia Contest. I hope you have had fun figuring out the name of this hotel. Thank you to everyone who has entered so far! We have had a ton of participants this time around. Click here to read the first three clues, if you wish to review them.

Clue #4: In addition to its famous rooftop pool, this well-appointed hotel is home to several other amenities including a library, screening room, Cowshed Spa, a restaurant, bar, drawing room, and games room. Almost every area of the hotel offers extraordinary views of Manhattan. However, the views of the city are not the only eye candy to be had here. A true destination for design lovers, the Ilse Crawford designed hotel features iconic Mid-Century Modern pieces including Bertoia chairs, Saarinen Tulip tables, Knoll Flat Bar Brno chairs, and tufted Chesterfield sofas as well as several pieces designed by Crawford.

If you think you know the answer, send an e-mail to LDVcontest@gmail.com. Write "Mr & Mrs Smith" in the subject line and make sure to include your first and last name, the country you live in, along with the name and location of the property you think I am describing.. Also, please let me know if you would like to receive more information from Mr & Mrs Smith, including insider travel tips and details on exclusive member benefits. To be fair, only one entry will be allowed per person per contest and please be sure to use a valid e-mail address because the gift card will be sent to the address you provide!

Sample e-mail:

My Name: Jane Doe

Country I Live In: USA

My Guess: Blakes Hotel in London, England

Yes, please tell me more about Mr & Mrs Smith

This Week's Quote

Giveaways Galore!

Have you submitted your entries for these fantastic giveaways yet?

There are currently three exciting giveaway opportunities on La Dolce Vita! The final day for all of them is next Thursday, April 30th, so if you haven't submitted your entries, make sure to do so as some fabulous prizes are up for grabs!

First, we have the April Giveaway for Decorum Design Forum. I will be giving away two copies of Domino: The Book of Decorating in an effort to commemorate all of the wonderful interiors featured in the beloved magazine. The giveaway is open to both current and newly registered members of Decorum (membership is completely free!) during the month of April. On April 30th, I will draw two names from the first 100 members who have a minimum of 10 posts. You can earn your posts by starting new topics, or simply by commenting on topics created by other members. Click here to visit Decorum. Good luck and happy posting!

Next, we have the Chickdowntown.com giveaway featuring this gorgeous silk Tolani scarf. One lucky winner will get to flaunt this beauty very soon! The winner's name will be drawn at random on Thursday, April 30th. In order to be entered into the drawing, all you have to do is leave a comment in the original post telling me how you would wear the scarf. Click here for the full details and to submit your entry.

Last, but certainly not least, is the fabulous trivia contest I have teamed up on with stylish travel experts, Mr & Mrs Smith. Does this scene from Sex and the City look familiar to you? The girls are lounging by the rooftop pool of the same New York City hotel that is the subject of this month's trivia contest. Click here to read the three clues that I have published so far and tune in on Monday for the final clue after which a winner will be selected at random from all of the correct entries and will receive a $100 gift card from Mr & Mrs Smith good towards a hotel stay at the location of your choice.

If you think you know the answer, send an e-mail to LDVcontest@gmail.com. Write "Mr & Mrs Smith" in the subject line and make sure to include your first and last name, the country you live in, along with the name and location of the property you think I am describing.. Also, please let me know if you would like to receive more information from Mr & Mrs Smith, including insider travel tips and details on exclusive member benefits. To be fair, only one entry will be allowed per person per contest and please be sure to use a valid e-mail address because the gift card will be sent to the address you provide!

Sample e-mail:
My Name: Jane Doe
Country I Live In: USA
My Guess: Blakes Hotel in London, England
Yes, please tell me more about Mr & Mrs Smith

Thank you very much to everyone who has participated so far and good luck!

Five Hundred

It just dawned on me that I hit the 500 post mark last week. This is post 517! I can hardly believe it. I started my blog as a way to get myself writing again. I don’t think I even told anyone about it at first. Slowly but surely, La Dolce Vita has evolved from a series of personal essays to an outlet for my love of interior design and my incurable wanderlust. Along the way, I have met some fabulous people, gained a few readers, and learned quite a bit. If you have been reading since the beginning, thank you so much for sticking by me through this journey which has included career changes, failures, an occasional case of writer’s block, and a desperate desire to “find myself”. You were right! Eventually, we do land where we belong and I am in a fantastic place now and absolutely love what I do and the fact that it has freed up so much time for me to devote to my blog.

If you are a new reader, welcome and a huge thank you! I hope that you can find a little inspiration here. It means so much to me to hear what you all have to say. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I hope that you will keep reading.

While I have your attention, I just wanted to let you know that there will not be an installment of Jet Set this week. I haven’t been inspired by any particular place in the past week. Sure, there are tons of amazing places in the world, but it has been a very busy week and truth be told, I would rather share something with you that I am really passionate about and have researched extensively than simply put up a couple of pictures of some fabulous hotel. So, if it’s alright with you guys, I am thinking I might start featuring Jet Set twice a month instead. What do you think?

Image via Benjamin Dhuong

(WAY) Better Homes and Gardens

Trenna Lange's Lovely Living Room

When Better Homes and Gardens started arriving at my home a few months ago, I was puzzled. I eventually realized that it must have been my replacement for the now defunct Cottage Living. Needless to say, I have never waited on the newest issue of Better Homes and Garden with baited breath. Normally, I would just pass them along to my mom or mother-in-law without a glance. However, this month was different. I decided to leaf through the May 2009 issue and I was completely floored! This was not the Better Homes and Gardens I was expecting. It was young, fresh, and completely relatable. Honestly, I was very impressed and glad to see that the tide is turning.

I am glad that publishers are paying close attention to what readers truly want to see and are infusing their magazine with fresh, new ideas. I definitely saw a bit of both Cottage Living and Domino style in this issue of Better Homes and Gardens. They noticed that there was an absence in the market that people really miss and they did something about it. Kudos to you, BH&G!

This is most definitely a new chapter! Isn't this a great dining room? The built-ins are gorgeous, as is the fabulous flooring. I absolutely love the tulip table.

This living room is part of the same home as the dining room in the previous image. I love the combination of chocolate and orange, along with the great coffee table and graphic rug.

The kitchen in the same home is decidedly modern. Notice the pedestal table and mid-century modern chairs. I really like the built-in bench and the beautiful turquoise subway tile backsplash.

Isn't this craft room fantastic? I would love to have a room like this to keep me organized. Instead, the closets in our secondary bedrooms are stuffed to the gills! I love the little pink chair.

In this story, designer John Loecke redesigned a 12'x13' spare room and transformed it into a more usable space. I don't recall ever seeing lucite or punchy, citrus colors in BH&G before, but it looks really great.

John was really clever in the way that he used the room's two tiny closets.

This 1850s Victorian home was given a much needed update by Joel Snayd of Rethink Design Studio in Savannah through the use of both mid-century mod and traditional pieces.

In this article, Trenna Lange discusses ways to breathe new life into pieces we already have. She modernized this old wooden chair with new paint and turned the old desk pictured above into a bedside table. By the way, I am positive that I have seen this same lamp at Homegoods for like, $40. Check out the magazine to see her children's adorable rooms.

Trenna brightened up her originally gloomy office, by painting everything white and adding color through accessories.

"Trenna believes that even utilitarian storage should be visually inspiring." I couldn't agree more!

Finally, I thought this outdoor space was so beautiful and serene. I love the different textures and neutral palette, but my favorite piece is the carved bench. The view of the ocean isn't so bad, either!

All in all, I must say that I was very pleasantly surprised at what I found in the new issue of Better Homes and Gardens and I am now looking forward to what they come up with in the future. I think it's fantastic that they understand the importance of interiors that are beautiful and attainable. Sure, I love looking at museum-quality interiors, but it's depressing to think that there is no way that you could afford the same look. I love that the magazine features ideas for taking what you have and making it feel new along with great bargains, like Trenna's Homegoods lamp.

All images via Better Homes and Gardens