All I Want For Christmas | The Holiday Candle

Say what you will about schmaltzy scented candles, but nothing makes my house smell more like Christmas than Ralph Lauren's take on the holiday candle. The evergreen/juniper scent is not too overbearing, and the red tartan box makes it an easy gift for your neighbor, your boss, or even yourself. Light up one of these and you'll feel like you're stoking the fire and having a scotch with Ralph in Bedford (even if you're sitting in a studio in Bayonne).
Ralph Lauren Holiday Collection Candle, $42 (on sale from $60) at Ralph Lauren

The Magic Flute

There's very little joy in waking up on a Friday morning at 6:45 am to the not-so-pleasant racket of your iPhone going off. Even worse if you're staring at some blinking red numbers oppressively beeping out of some cheap plastic radio. Enter the BeoTime, made by Danish a/v outfit Bang & Olufsen. B&O is like the Hermès of home audio - they both create stunningly beautiful, unapologetically expensive objets of the utmost quality. This piece is no exception. Made to resemble a flute, this combo alarm/remote can act as a sleep timer for all your other B&O products, that is, assuming you have an arsenal of $11,000 CD changers. It also has a clock! Though perhaps at its current price, I'll be sticking to the iPhone for now. (Marimba, anyone?) Oh, and by the way... TGIF.
Bang & Olufsen BeoTime, $375, bang-olufsen.com

Come on Baby, Light My Fire

Nothing says "fancy fête" quite like custom-printed matchbooks. They're a great finishing touch for the well-kept home. Keep 'em in the bathroom by your Jo Malone candles or place them on the patio in ashtrays for the smoking set. These also make a fabulously unexpected host or hostess gift. Get them printed with your monogram, your address, or your favorite Sartre quote (disclaimer: "Hell is other people" would not be apropos for giving to a hostess...).

Set of 50, $44, foryourparty.com

Dapper Max

Photo: Stephanie Leondis

Hitting newsstands today: New York Magazine's Spring Design Issue, featuring the fabulous Drew University dorm room of my dear friend Max. Check out the article here.

I remember his first dorm decorating job as a senior at Choate. The walls were wallpapered with nautical charts (from Papa), there was an antique trunk at the foot of the bed full of cashmere cableknits, and part of our hallway was commandeered for use as a dressing room. Max could often be found on the fire escape, starching and ironing his white Frette hotel sheets.

One of our first design collaborations? A set of pink and green china for the dorm, $10 from a local thrift store. Takeout from Wallingford Pizza never looked so good.

Posh Platters

One tricky thing about entertaining? Finding an attractive place to corral all those cocktails and canapés. Fortunately the retailer iomoi has a solution. Their lucite trays are practical (wipe clean!) as well as customizable with a monogram or name. And their choices of backdrop are perfect - colorful elephants, monkeys, florals, and bold graphic designs - lending a sense of vintage Palm Beach glam to the pieces. The "Mustique," pictured above, is one of my faves - looks like a groovy Goyard trunk. Also cool? "Horse Knocker:"


The "Pagoda:"

They also have glass coasters, perfect for a hostess gift when you're crashing a pool house in the Hamptons this summer (Molly, take note). The "Graph" pattern:

The "Sandy Cay:"

And while their prices aren't exactly recession friendly, these personalized entertaining pieces are built to last until the next recession.

iomoi.com, trays, $100-650; coasters, $95/set of 4

Clear as Crystal

With spring in full swing here in DC, the April showers seem to have brought with them the first bloom of tulips, daffodils, hyacinth, and their ilk. Why not bring a little bit of that inside to add a pop of color at home? Fresh cut flowers are an easy way to liven up any tired table - just grab a bunch at your local grocer, farmers' market, or snatch a few from outside. While the vessel that you display them in needn't be extravagant, one of my pet peeves is vases that look left over from an FTD bouquet. Target to the rescue! One of their lesser known designer lines comes from Riedel, purveyors of pricey stemware and crystal. But not at Tar-zhay. I recently found a few gorgeous deco-style vases on sale, including the large "Balloon" vase pictured above. These sturdy crystal pieces are pretty without being too fussy, and they're cheap to boot. And with Mother's Day just around the corner, one of these vases, filled with her favorite type of flowers, would make a perfect gift for mom.

Riedel Vivant vases, $10 - 20, target.com

Point, Click, Collect.

Mike Monteiro's cheeky Untitled (my therapist)

As an art history major, I’m always on the lookout for an easy way to start collecting with unique pieces by young artists. Unfortunately, most galleries can be intimidating for a young collector, due to the typically haughty attitude of the gallerist and the just out-of-reach price points. So I was pleased to happen upon the website The Beholder a few months back, where pieces start at just under $50 and top out around $3,000, with most pieces in the $200-900 range. Browsing the site is a cinch, with helpful categories to view the pieces by price, size, or medium. There’s even an option for a 7-day trial, where you can return the work within a week for a full refund. Favorites include Mike Monteiro’s “Words” series, which consist of simple white Helvetica lettering on a black backdrop spelling out tongue-in-cheek phrases like “I hope my ex isn’t here” and “OK, but no gay stuff,” as well as Katie Baum’s gridlike photographs of flowering trees; the triptych Cherry Blossom would be the perfect choice for a D.C. resident to liven up those tired white walls. Whatever piece you choose, The Beholder makes it easy to ditch the stale Monet posters from your college dorm room and hang up something that’s really worth looking at.