Annie Elliott Design
Greater Washington DC
What does a billion dollar hotel renovation look like? So glad you asked. Welcome to Fontainebleau Resort complex in Miami Beach. Originally designed by Morris Lapidus and built in 1954, its website proclaims: Following a $1 billion renovation and expansion [it repoened in November 2008], Fontainebleau is a spectacular blend of Miami’s glamorous golden era …
…it would probably look like Yogiberry. A friend wanted me to see it because she didn’t care for the interior and wanted my take on it. I hate disappointing my friends, but I thought the space was very clever. Her complaint is that it’s cold and sterile, that it isn’t a place you’d want to …
Today is the one-month anniversary of the opening of Ava’s in St. Michaels, MD. Hooray! I have two selfish reasons to root for its success: first, St. Michaels desperately needs an inexpensive-but-excellent restaurant with a grown-up atmosphere (wine, lovely setting) and child-friendly practicality (crayons in a pinch). Second, I helped them choose the colors for …
Here’s what’s in the restroom of a DC restaurant called Proof. Check out this shiny metallic wallpaper. How amazing is it that the geometric pattern of the wallpaper is imitated in the mosaic tile below it? And when you really get close, you see that the wallpaper Xs are actually women’s legs, in fishnets and …
Moseying around Chapel Hill in search of a WiFi coffee shop, I came across a place on the main drag called Sugarland. It might surprise you to learn that they serve primarily sweets. What I appreciated about Sugarland, though, is that the walls are not the usual pink or yellow, but robin’s egg blue. (Possibly …
No one does kitsch better than Baltimore. That’s my opinion, anyway, and I give it with humility, respect, and a little bit of awe. Welcome to Papermoon Diner, where the fries are curly and the brownie sundaes are warm. There are THINGS glued to every surface. Action figures, toys, cars – what isn’t glued down …
I almost licked a table on Thursday. I pulled back at the last minute, but it was a close call. It all began with a simple quest for ice cream. Ridiculous, since I don’t even like ice cream very much, but it was a gorgeous evening, and dinner at the dive-y Great Wall – Szechuan …