lily putts

Peggy is our new family member at Black & Spiro.  I designed her with space and comfort in mind.  We have had increasing requests over the past few years for sofas which are a little more compact for apartments and small space living so I decided to create this sofa which is compact yet extremely comfortable.  Thanks to the Ivy & Piper girls for featuring her in their mag this month. 

PS.  She looks even better when scattered with lots of our mismatched Black & Spiro cushions.

I'll stop boring you about NYC after this post, I promise.  If you ever visit New York I highly recommend staying at The Crosby Street Hotel in Soho which is owned and was decorated by Kit Kemp.  I have loved her work for quite some time.  A couple of years ago I stayed at her Haymarket Hotel in London and both hotels are divine.  They tick all the boxes for me.  Nothing is spared.  Every detail is thought through and delivered with perfection.  Also a huge thanks to Georgie for making our stay so wonderful!

After such a whirlwind week it was so comforting to see my 3 boys at the airport when I arrived home...there's no place like home.

Amazon.com Credit

Free Downloads

• Download a free track from Tres Mts.' forthcoming new album, "Three Mountains" here. The group features dUg Pinnick (King's X), Richard Stuvered (The Fastbacks) and Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam). The new album comes out next month.
• Here are 14 Valentine's Day tracks from Amazon -- including one from Band of Horses.
• Also from Amazon, download REM's newest single "Oh My Heart" here or by clicking the image above.
  
• Through February 11, receive a free mp3 from Roger Baker's album “Nothing’s Changed.” Just go to www.bakerstreetmusic.com and in the contact form fill out your name, email address, in the comment section: “I would like the free mp3!” and your free mp3 will be emailed to you within 24 hours.

Want more free downloads? Well, don't forget to continually check the following sources -- new songs covering all genres are added frequently. Just click on the links below and enjoy some new tunes.

• AbsolutePunk
• Amazon singles
  
• Amazon albums
• The BoomBox
• eMusic
• Fuse.tv
• Guvera
  
• KickKickSnare
• MTV
  
• Spinner
• Stereogum
• VolumeVote
• YNot Radio
  
• Walmart

Notes:

• Despite consistently poor reviews, Sony/Screen Gems' thriller The Roommate topped the weekend box office -- grossing an estimated $15.6 million in its debut.
• Despite the extra bump from higher-priced 3D tickets and James Cameron as executive producer, Sanctum couldn't crack the $10 million mark in its debut. However, its $9.2 million opening gross was better than Universal anticipated -- and good enough for #2.
  
• Last week's #1, New Line/Warner Bros.' The Rite, slipped to #6 in its second weekend -- a steep 62% decline.
  
• Though a solid start for The Roommate, the overall box office was down more than 23% from 2010, when Screen Gems' Dear John opened to an especially good $30.5 million. Usually, Super Bowl weekend is hard for Hollywood, with theater traffic dropping substantially on game day.
  
• All figures are industry estimates. Final weekend figures will be released on Monday.
• Reviews of True Grit, Black Swan and other movies not in the top 10 can be found by clicking on the Film Reviews archive icon at left.
• Sources: Hollywood.com, Hollywood Reporter

Today we visited Elizabeth Bauer at her beautiful store and met her cute dog and chatted with her about decorating and she told us she is opening up a store in the Hamptons over the Summer with her mum which sounds very exciting.  Her store is so beautiful and full to the brim with things I loved.  All of the photos above were taken at her store today.  I have felt such a connection with her work ever since Lonny did a story on her a while ago.

In amongst all of that we have scoured and fossicked and found some amazing things for Black & Spiro.  I can't wait for everything to be delivered in the coming months.  It really has been such an inspiring and invigorating trip.  Now I can't wait to get home to see my boys who are apparently missing me immensely...not to mention how much I am missing them!!

xx
Anna

Happy February.  Today I found these beautiful vintage letters at Paula Rubenstein in Soho, New York.  I placed them in the snow on a table in the courtyard at our hotel.  What a contrast to January which we wrote in the sand at the beach and decorated with shells just last month.  For me February is about getting back into the swing of things.  It's also the month we celebrate love.  Here's to a wonderful and productive February!!