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Have Style Will Travel: Chair Dance New York-Style
By Kimberlie Birks
With New York’s 22nd annual International Contemporary Furniture Fair kicking into gear this weekend, couch surfing just got a whole lot hipper. Join the who’s who of the Design world as they sip cocktails in style and divine the best divan over canapes. Just be sure to act like a true New Yorker and tuck your runners in your bag- those Louboutins will leave your footsies craving some rubber when it comes time to hit the road.
Furnishing Your Weekend:
STAY
The Ace Hotel
The Seattle-based Ace Hotel Group’s revitalization of the Breslin Hotel on 29th and Broadway has quickly become a destination for locals and visitors alike. The deluxe bohemian 247-room Ace Hotel, opened earlier this year, is the hippest thing to hit NoMad (the area North of Madison Square Park). Furnished with re-upholstered flea market finds, the dimly lit lobby is quirky, cozy, and always a-buzz with the young and the hip. Ease into Big City life with a big leather easy chair and a cup of the best joe in town from the hotel’s Stumptown Cafe. If it is comfortfood you seek, look no further than the hotel’s (new) Breslin, the sister restaurant of the West Village’s glorious gastropub, The Spotted Pig. The red Music Hall turntable, vynils and Gibson guitar in each room will ensure that even en suite you are in the sweet New York groove.
PLAY
When not focused on furniture, stroll nearby Madison Square Park and check out artist Antony Gormley’s installation Event Horizon. Continue on to ABC Carpet and Home where you can roam five floors of fabulousness (worldly style for bed, bath and beyond) before treating yourself to the latest Jean-Georges Vongerichten fare at the newly opened ABC Kitchen. If you aren’t too weighed down with food and parcels, go West (with a pit-stop must-stop at Kate Spade) to the highly adored High Line- New York’s newest park built atop an elevated rail line. Amidst the bobbing grasses three-stories up, you can survey the landscape, and decide whether to head south for a little Meatpacking madness (amidst fashion heavyweights Jeffrey, Stella McCartney, Diane Von Furstenberg and perhaps a fashionable cocktail to wash it all down at the Standard Hotel) or north to the comfort of your room.
Either way you’ve aced it.
Your Little Black (Ad)dress Book:
The Ace Hotel
20 West 29th Street
212-679-2222
Antony Gormley’s Event Horizon
Madison Square Park (5th Ave. at 23rd St.)
March 26-August 15, 2010
ABC Carpet and Home
888 Broadway (at 19th St.)
212-253-7039
Hours: Weekdays 10am-7pm; Sat 11am-7pm; Sun 12pm-6pm
ABC Kitchen
35 East 18th St.
212-475-5829
Dinner Hours: Sun-Thurs: 5:30-10:30pm (last reservation around 10pm), Fri-Sat: 5:30-11:30pm (last reservation around 11pm)
Kate Spade
135 5th Ave. (at 20th St.)
212-358-0420
Hours: Mon-Sat: 10-8pm, Sun: 11-7pm
High Line
Runs from the Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District to 34th St. between 10th and 11th Avenues.
High Line Information Line: 212-500-6035
Hours: Daily 7am-10pm, last entrance to the park at 9:45pm
Jeffrey
449 West 14th St. (btw 9th and 10th)
212-206-1272
Hours: Mon-Wed, Fri: 10-8pm, Thurs: 10-9pm, Sat: 10-7pm, Sun: 12:30-6pm
Stella McCartney
429 West 14th St. (btw 9th and 10th)
212-255-1556
Hours: Mon-Sat: 11-7pm, Sun: 12:30-6pm
Diane Von Furstenberg
874 Washington St.
646-486-4800
Hours: Mon-Wed, Fri-Sat: 11-7pm, Thurs: 11-8pm, Sun:12-6pm