Category Archives: Secrets From A Stylist

by | 20 July 2011 · 6:06 am

5 Haute Things for the Homme: Striped Duvet Covers

Dear Diary,

This week, Emily and I are busy prepping for a bedroom makeover next week. It’s for the adorable April Bowlby, for those of you “Drop Dead Diva” fans out there. All this bedroom researching has me thinking about my own bedroom (I’m in desperate need of a new duvet cover). It’s hard t find bedding that is masculine enough for a dude’s apartment. Most of it is all flowery and obnoxious. Thus, I tend to fall back on stripes. Anyone who knows me knows I love stripes. While simple, stripes are so beautiful:

Now, onto the the duvet covers I was happy to discover. With my lover. And his mother.

This one has a much more vintage/aged feel. Not as graphic as some of the other stripes but I like it. $99 from Pottery Barn.


These are super cheap. $29.88. From amazon.com. Can’t beat the price, even if they disintegrate upon being unwrapped.

This set is not cheap. $280. But I’m sure the quality is worth the price. By Dwell Studio.

A designer friend of mine recently bought this one. $69. From West Elm.

I love a good nautical stripe. This one is from Pottery Barn for $149.

So now that I’ve found all these I’m going to buy all of them and change my duvet every day. I don’t have a stripe addiction or anything. I’m fine. GET AWAY FROM ME AND LET ME LIVE MY LIFE!!!

Love,

Orlando

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Filed under 5 Things For The Homme, Emily, Five Haute Things, Secrets From A Stylist

by | 16 July 2011 · 6:19 am

Haute Thing: Table Calendar

Dear CB2,

I’m totally a sucker for adorable little calendars that I can put on my desk and then forget to update. Thus, I was totally excited when I found this piece the other day whilst shopping for this week’s episode of SFAS. I’m going to stick this on my desk and just pretend it’s my birthday every day, leaving the calendar stuck on July 5.

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under Five Haute Things, My Likey, Secrets From A Stylist

by | 26 May 2011 · 4:34 pm

Do It Yourself: Shadowbox Artwork

Dear Mr. Chris (My Colleague From SFAS),

You’re awesome, you can make anything, and that’s why we’re friends. You recently made this fun shadowbox for a recent episode and it turned out, like, totally cool.

Here’s how you make it:

1. Make a frame using 1″ x 2″ pine. Nail or screw together using wood glue.

2. Cut two pieces of plywood, one the size of the artwork to be mounted the other 16″ larger in both directions so that there is space around the image. This will leave an 8″ border on all sides (you can choose whatever border size you want).

3. Glue, nail, or screw the smaller piece of plywood to the larger one so that there is equal spacing on all sides.

4. Stain or paint the wood and allow it to dry.

5. Apply hanging hardware to back of frame.

6. Adhere the artwork to the smaller piece of plywood with spray glue or finishing nails.

7. Hang on wall and admire forever.

This is how ours turned out. Super pretty, right?


Love,
Orlando

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Filed under Do It Yourself!, Emily, Secrets From A Stylist, The Artz

by | 15 April 2011 · 5:24 am

Whut? Ty Pennington Designs Fabriques?

Dear Ty Pennington,

A month or two ago Emily and I saw you at the Rose Bowl Flea Market and we both, like, totally freaked out. We chased you around for a while before we realized we had no actual plan to talk to you. Then, the other day, we were at Michael Levine Fabrics downtown and we saw that [GASP!] you have a fabric line. Now, I have no idea what it means for Ty Pennington to have a fabric line. Do you actually design it? Or do you walk around the design studio with a megaphone screaming in designers ears when they make a design you hate. I expected your prints to be all wood grain and stripes, but there is a huge variety and they are actually quite nice. Here are some examples:


You can see more Ty Pennington Fabrics here.

Well done, Ty.

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under My Likey, Secrets From A Stylist

by | 25 March 2011 · 5:02 pm

Worktimez: The Site Measure.

Dear Homme & Garden TV Viewers,

Ever wonder how Emily magically comes up with the two styles on Secrets From A Stylist? Well, here’s a secret, she thinks about it for months before coming up with the styles she announces on air (i.e. “Mad Men Bohemian” or “Industrial Kitsch Loft”). While she does think of the style names on-air, she often has a good sense of the homeowners’ tastes in her head beforehand. Months before each episode tapes, we do site visits with couples to meet them and figure out exactly what kind of makeover they want. We also measure their house so we can figure out what size drapery to buy and what furniture will fit, etc. Usually these meetings last an hour or so. During these meetings, Emily talks up the family while I run around frantically taking measurements of anything and everything (some floor plans are ridiculously complex and, hey, I’m not an architect!). These meetings are a nice time to get to know the makeover families without all the lights and cameras that make everything just a little bit more awkward. Here are some pictures of me working hard, and hardly working (all photos courtesy of Louis DeBarraicua):

Love,
Orlando

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Filed under Secrets From A Stylist, What Do YOU Do?, Worktimez

by | 24 February 2011 · 4:59 pm

That’s A Big Bear!

Dear Diary,

Secrets From A Stylist has begun shooting in four week blocks, meaning that we shoot for four weeks straight (one episode per week) then take a week off for prep. This prep week, Emily and I decided to take the weekend off and go to a big log cabin in Big Bear, which is a ski town about 100 miles from LA. We went with a big group of friends, sat in the cabin, skied, and played games. It was pretty much the funnest weekend in the history of time (and yes, I know funnest is not a word). Here are some pictures I took at big bear.

The ski resort:

Driving to their quaint little local grocery store (Vons):

The view of the mountains from the grocery store parking lot. Pretty:

Some drive-by shooting, mountain style:

A fun fact about me is that I’ve only ever skied at Yosemite’s Badger Pass. And usually skiing is something I do with my family, so skiing without them seemed weird. Normally the only time I ski is when I go home during the holidays. The ski resort at Big Bear was fun, but there were way too many snowboarders wiggling all over the place and almost crashing into me. All in all it was a glorious weekend, and surprisingly we aren’t behind with this week’s awesome makeover like we worried we would be. Yay!

Love,
Self

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Filed under Secrets From A Stylist, Vacationz

by | 11 February 2011 · 6:04 am

Shhhh! ‘Secrets’ is Airing Soon!

Dear Emily,

My new favorite thing is shushing people. Mainly because I think it’s so rude that it becomes ridiculous and thus hilarious. Like who thinks it’s ever appropriate to shush another person? Weirdos. Anyway, I’ll be doing some legitimate shushing on February 26th at 9 PM when “Secrets From A Stylist” airs on HGTV. It’s weird to work on a TV show like this because it’s so intense, involved, and client-based that sometimes it’s easy to forget we are actually making a television show that people will watch (please?). I’m sure you’re all imagining that Emily shows up and plays around with pillows and then goes and gets mani-pedis. So not true. The woman works ALL the time. I know this because, ahem, so do I (it’s my philosophy that a good assistant works more than his boss, but Emily is hard to keep up with). The reason we work so well together is that we’re both obsessed with what we do and we both totally love it. Which means we hope you will love it too. I’m super proud of the makeovers Emily has designed for our clients. She’s got an incredibly fresh and inspiring wit about her and it comes through in her design work. It’s fun to work with someone you admire so much. Mainly because it means the show is going to be super popular and everyone is going to love Emily, and via Reaganomic trickledown, me! Rad.

Love,

Orlando

PS: Remember… February 26 – 9 PM. HGTV. Angelenos stay tuned for premier party info…

SFAS 9 PM February 26

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Filed under Secrets From A Stylist