BUNK MATE: Ace hotel bunks
LOOK NO FURTHER for inspiration for your pre-teen or teenage son’s room than the recently opened Ace Hotel in New York. One of our (male) colleagues spent a couple of days there recently and is still extolling the virtues of the large canvas laundry bags with Navy-style typography, the masculine-chic toiletries from Rudy’s barbershop, the blankets embroidered with the Ace logo, and the mix of vintage and new interiors, devised by NYC design firm, Roman & Williams.
Our favourite part, however, confirms the return of the bunkbed: the ensuite bunk rooms in the NYC hotel are a perfect stopover for singles, guys on their stag weekends, grown-ups reliving their childhoods, or teens who you’d prefer to have their own room. We can’t help falling in love with the almost military issue, sleek, fuss-free, heavy-duty, powder-coated bunks sourced from American Bedding that would clearly last a lifetime and beyond. Can we have, please?
*Bunk rooms in March 2010 are approximately £150 per night. www.acehotel.com. Ace Hotel New York City, 20W 29th Street, New York City, NY 10001; tel: + 212 679 2222.
LITTLEBIG LOVES… Center Parcs. Yes, really.
By Jenny Dalton
“I THINK IT’S LIKE a secret club,” says Tara Bernerd of interior designer outfit Target Living. “The more people you ask the more admit they’ve been, but no one really talks about it.”
No, we’re not talking rehab, but Center Parcs. This, says Tara over lunch, includes her nephews and nieces who have been with Bernerd (her sister isn’t brave enough), who herself fell for the place during her research into Center Parcs’ major interior re-design renovation project, which her design company is spearheading. It also includes one of Tara’s new clients: the head of a huge telecommunications company, who took his son for his birthday.
Yes, you heard right. Center Parcs, in a bid to seal its status as the new, cool eco destination for caring parents around the country who are keen on lowering their carbon footprint whilst giving their kids a traditional yet safe ‘outdoorsy’ holiday, brought in the fashionable design team behind Marco, the Marco Pierre White restaurant in Chelsea, and Aspinall’s casino last year to renovate a good proportion of its more upmarket lodges. And luckily Tara, who loves a luxury development, gets equal kicks out of lower-budget design challenges, which she manages to carry out in her own inimitable style whilst avoiding a Read the rest of this article
Posted 14 April 2009 in Travel
WORLD TOUR: Famille Summerbelle
LAST YEAR JULIE MARABELLE, creative director of children’s decor design company Famille Summerbelle did what we all talk about. She, her husband Simon, and their two year old daughter Ophelia, took off. A world tour followed - intended as an inspiring few months of non-work life - prior to settling down to develop their newly launched company, and relocating to Paris from London.
Here, she shares her highlights of the trip, and her family-friendly pointers for a smooth life on the road…
LittleBig: What was the country that surprised you most with its child friendliness?
Japan [pictured above left] was a really pleasant surprise. We didn’t know quite what to expect, but we were astonished by just how friendly people were. Men and women would go out of their way to engage with Ophelia. On one train journey to Kyoto a little old lady made an origami swan which she gave to Ophelia - it was just wonderful. Read the rest of this article
Posted 7 February 2009 in Travel
OLDIE BUT GOODIE: The Olde Bell Inn
By Jenny Dalton
IT WAS AN experiment to see if it is possible to harness the ‘holiday’ spirit in just two days, and only half an hour away from home.
Even before my son arrived, three and a bit years ago, I’d never done anything so unusual. Weekends away - although not common - were to Barcelona or Paris, or in the UK, to Yorkshire or Cornwall - not just a 35 minute jaunt round the M25/M40.
But demoralised by the approach of a cold, dark winter, and seduced by the promise of Ilse Crawford’s first UK designed hostelry - and also, I have to say, bolstered by the increasingly fashionable idea of holidaying close to home - it was hard to turn down the opportunity to capture a little bit of Autumn romance at the recently made-over coaching inn..
It should be said, the Olde Bell Inn - in Hurley, a lesser known Berkshire village close to the rather more famous Henley - and a couple of miles walk up river (The Thames) from Marlow, is a work in progress. The Inn itself - with parts dating from the 1100s - consists of seven bedrooms featuring supersize beds, Bestlite lamps and roll-top baths, a cosy pub bar at the front complete with friendly village locals, and a restaurant at the back. The futher rooms and barns in a large complex across the road from the Inn are undergoing the Studio Ilse treatment right now - and once complete one imagines would be the perfect party / wedding venue. Read the rest of this article
Posted 19 December 2008 in Travel
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