One of the companies debuting at the
New York International Gift Fair was
Oomph and I can definitely attest that their furniture and pillows have serious oomph! They had everyone buzzing at the fair and so much interest that their website crashed yesterday! Oomph was conceived by long time friends Louise Brooks, Amy Rice, and Patty Hoppel, while sitting on the beach this past February and after all the orders they received at the gift show, will be available in stores soon! Louise is a well-known architect with the firm
Brooks and Falotico in New Canaan, Connecticut where she often designs custom millwork and furniture for her clients. She said it was always a dream to design her own line and with the help of the marketing and sales expertise of Amy and Patty, whose homes she designed, they set about to create clean yet traditional furniture with oomph in unexpected colors that takes into account our current economic times. They believe that you can simply add their tables and pillows to your space and create an entirely new room.
I absolutely love their
Tini cocktail tables and might have to order one for myself and some of my clients! Their diminutive size make them perfect for smaller New York apartments and you can mix and match the finishes and tops to your hearts content or call them to create a custom option.
Oomph is a company that has only just begun and will be debuting new styles as they continue to grow and evolve. They are also taking the feedback from the gift fair to see just how they can expand and you might start seeing them around the world before long! Definitely check them out if your home or life could use a little more oomph!
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! 
