Domino

Looking for another reason to love online home sale site One Kings Lane? You can now add this to your list of its attributes: Yesterday, OKL acquired publishing design firm Helicopter. Never heard of it? Well, I bet you've heard of Domino — Helicopter was the firm that launched the magazine. Besides Domino, Helicopter's clients include Hearst, Condé Nast, and Time. Most recently, it redesigned WSJ magazine, which is helmed by former Domino editor-in-chief Deborah Needleman.

While OKL currently features a limited amount of editorial comment on its site through the Get Inspired section of its website, the Helicopter acquisition is largely seen as a way to further expand and develop its editorial content. New content is rumored to include stories on home decorating, interior design, entertaining, gifts, and much more.

In the past two years, OKL has grown tremendously, increasing revenue by 500 percent. In a statement, OKL CEO Doug Mack noted, "We envision the future of e-commerce as the convergence of retail, media and technology, and our acquisition of Helicopter positions us at the forefront of the industry. While already tremendously successful, One Kings Lane is poised for dramatic growth as we engage our members with the depth of information they increasingly seek when making purchases of exceptional products, sight unseen. We are thrilled to be bringing on the outstanding talents of Josh, Ethan and the Helicopter team to help us lead and shape the next wave of the industry."

What do you envision for this new magazine? What design input would you want to share with OKL and Helicopter? Share your thoughts in the comments!

While I'll probably never get over the loss of Domino, one of the hardest things about my beloved shelter magazine folding was that all of the magazine's online photo archives disappeared into the ether along with it. So I am thrilled with the news that with its relaunch, Brides.com will soon post all of Domino's archives online!

Here's what editor-in-chief Julie Raimondi had to say about the new addition:

I'm also thrilled to announce that brides.com has been granted access to all of the stories from the late, great Domino magazine. It was my favorite magazine, and I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to turn its pages into a digital archive for our users. We have a number of Domino stories now, but will be adding more and more in the weeks and months to come, so keep checking back.

Check out the growing selection of stories already available online! Yay!

Domino's former creative director Sara Ruffin Costello and her husband, interiors and fashion photographer Paul Costello, have put their historic West Village, NY townhouse on the market for nearly $13 million. The building is a four-story, Federal-style brick townhouse that was built in 1850 and has been converted into a single-family home and meticulously renovated. It features five bedrooms, 4.5 baths, a basement guest apartment/office, a landscaped rear garden, and a rooftop terrace. The terrace has a pool house with kitchen, mini fridge, full dishwasher and sink, built-in wraparound benches and Redwood spa, Wisteria-covered Japanese pergola, fully-grown grape vines, hydrangea, roses, and honeysuckle. Can you say fah-bulous?

The place is so gorgeous, the Costellos' kitchen actually made it into the pages of Domino: The Book of Decorating. It's been decorated in a sophisticated and quite livable manner — that's really what Domino was all about, wasn't it? The first floor has fantastic parquet flooring and a nice, calm palette. You'll also see plenty of on-trend shelter mag staples like the Mooi Random Light, Sapien bookcase, For Like Ever poster, Suzanis, a Captain's mirror, etc.

Check out more photos when you read more

The biggest headline in the interior design industry this year came early when at the end of January Conde Nast's beloved decorating glossy Domino folded. Founded by Deborah Needleman as a "guide to living with style," the magazine resonated with busy, style-conscious young women looking for new and unique ways to decorate their homes. But despite the crowds of readers, the publisher reported that Domino's ad revenues couldn't keep up with its expenses in the down economy.

Nearly a year after its closure, the design world seems to still be in mourning, with petitions to resurrect it still lingering and even a Flickr group devoted to immortalizing the mag's images.
So it's no surprise that as a part of my Best of 2009 polls, you named Domino your favorite shelter magazine this year. Hopefully, there'll one day be another mag worthy of taking its place. But until then, we can look back at Domino: The Book of Decorating for inspiration and decorating tips.

Here's a post from OnSugar blog FotoFlat:

I've had to get rid of a lot of crap since the epic downsizing of our living room began, and I have learned to let go of the back issues of magazines. Except for my Dominos and Blueprints. Never let go, Jack!

In the meantime, I now hate the brown paper magazine files I had before and don't know what to do with them now. Recycle? Curb?

Want to see more? Start following FotoFlat or start your own OnSugar Blog. Maybe your story will be posted here on CasaSugar!

Deborah Needleman, the founding editor of Domino, is a goldmine of savvy advice on decorating your home, honed from years of experience heading up the style-centric magazine as well as decorating her own home. You can read the first half of my interview with her here. Deborah's tips and thoughts on decorating continue in the second half of this interview.

Our homes are really personal spaces. Considering that most of us are shopping from the same few décor retailers and finding inspiration in the same shelter magazines and blogs, how should we go about personalizing our homes?
Every home definitely needs a few old things and a couple unique things. And when most of what we have is mass-produced, it's more important than ever to have some things made by actual human hands, whether it's pottery, rugs, pictures, whatever. It is essential to find a few things that no one else has, whether you find them in a shop, at a tag sale, bring them back from a trip, collect them from nature, or even make them — like just tacking up drawings or notes from friends. Stuff that is meaningful to us, what we love or collect or find is interesting to our guests. I also do think it's really nice to have one really good piece — whether that's a table, rug, chandelier, whatever. It gives your room some substance, some weight — and also ensures it doesn't look like anyone else's.

To read the rest of the interview, read more

We design enthusiasts will admit that Domino will always hold a special place in our hearts — and bookshelves. But it was the stable of talented, creative people that truly made the beloved magazine an influence and an inspiration. So I was so delighted to have the chance to catch up with the founding editor-in-chief of Domino and co-author of Domino: The Book of Decorating, Deborah Needleman. It should come as no surprise that she hasn't lost her knack and passion for design.

Deborah's latest project is an exciting, interactive tool that she's created for HomeGoods, called StyleScope, which helps you find your own interior design style and learn to navigate the vast world of décor options. Home Goods, I hope you know, is a wonderful place to find designer home décor at prices 20 to 60 percent lower than department stores, and is also one of my favorite resources for stylish accessories. Deborah was kind enough to share some of her thoughts and tips on design and curating a stylish home that's uniquely you, and give us the lowdown on her life these days!

What are you working on these days? Any exciting projects on the horizon for you?
I am really enjoying the idea of just doing projects, consulting, writing, gardening — I probably shouldn't admit it, but it's quite a good relief to not be working so hard and to have a break from the pressure. I am considering on a couple book projects — one on table settings, another on decorators' gardens, and a more personal book on growing vegetables and flowers.

Before Domino, I was a garden writer — and it's nice to have time to garden like mad again. I'm also talking to people and companies about designing furniture and accessories and starting up new businesses. Sometimes I feel like I'm a professional meeting-taker. Last night the former creative director of Domino [Sara Ruffin Costello] and I hatched a plan to try to redesign all the ugly products at Duane Reade like Kleenex boxes, toothpaste, and shaving cream!

To read the rest of the interview, read more