Hotel at Home

I love hotels.  I truly do - I love the miniature toiletries and I love a well designed hotel.  I especially love the trend as of late where the more "design conscious" hotels have been offering their wares for sale.  Rather than filling this post with lots of words, I'll just post a lot of links and visual candy.

Some of my favorite "hotel at home" offerings...

The Standard
Hotel Website: http://www.standardhotels.com/new-york-city/
Shop Webite: http://standardhotels.myshopify.com/

On The Standard's website, you can purchase anything from bedding to CD's specifically designed for their hotel to a bicycle!

W Hotels

Hotel Website: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/whotels/index.html

Shop Website: http://www.whotelsthestore.com/

W Hotels, which are owned by Starwood Properties, bring contemporary designed hotels to more locations than your typical chicly designed boutique hotels.  On their shop site you can find anything from clothing and candles to their signature bedding collections and soundtrack CDs as well as other CDs that they suggest.

The Mirage Las Vegas

Hotel Website: http://www.mirage.com

Shop Website: http://www.mirage.com/offers/2009/10_leisure_sales/brochure/index.html

The Mirage has recently been renovated and their new design is contemporary with a lot of graphical elements - the result is fun, funky and well designed.  On their shop site, you can purchase bedding, mattresses, bath products, and spa products.  

Hilton Hotels

Hotel Website: http://www.hilton.com

Shop Website: http://www.hiltontohome.com/

Even Hilton Hotels have jumped on the bandwagon.  They're selling everything they use in the hotels - including pet products.  Like their upholstery cleaner?  It's available on the website.

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

Living in New York, you see a lot of bridges... Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, Tappan-Zee Bridge, George Washington Bridge... you get the idea. My favorite of all of the bridges is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Staten Island. I've come to visit this bridge quite a lot with taking road trips down to Virginia to visit my parents and I'm always in awe of it. No, its not as historically significant as the Brooklyn or Manhattan bridge and no, its not a direct link to Manhattan, but in terms of design, I think this bridge is the most aesthetically pleasing.

A little history on the bridge, courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge that connects the boroughs of Staten Island and Brooklyn in New York City at the Narrows, the reach connecting the relatively protected upper bay with the larger lower bay.


The bridge is named for Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano, the first known European navigator to enter New York Harbor and the Hudson River, while crossing The Narrows. It has a center span of 4,260 feet (1,298 m) and was the largest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964, until it was surpassed by theHumber Bridge in the United Kingdom in 1981. It now has the eighth longest center span in the world, and is the largest suspension bridge in the United States. Its massive towers can be seen throughout a good part of the New York metropolitan area, including from spots in all five boroughs of New York City.


The bridge furnishes a critical link in the local and regional highway system. It is the starting point of the New York City Marathon. The bridge marks the gateway to New York Harbor; all cruise ships and most container ships arriving at the Port of New York and New Jersey must pass underneath the bridge and thus must be built to accommodate the clearance under the bridge. This is most notable in the case of the ocean liner RMS Queen Mary 2.

The bridge is in great condition and its got a really beautiful, clean lined design - very Mid-Century Modern. The color blends beautifully with the surrounding water and you can see amazing views of it from Shore Road in Brooklyn and the Belt Parkway.

Click here for an interesting site with more information on the bridge.
Also check out the Bridge and Tunnel Club website for more information and photos.

All photos courtesy of the Bridge and Tunnel Club website.

The Standard NYC

I found this hotel today and was blown away with the simple but gorgeous design.  Also, the view isn't too shabby either.

The Standard Hotel NYC