We’ve asked this week’s curator Jennifer Mehditash of Dec-A-Porter, to share her thoughts and inspiration for her Curator’s Collection event. Here’s what she had to say:
It’s all in the Details has become a bit of a mantra in my design office recently.

From the adventures of designing beautiful homes in Europe as well as on the East Coast of the US, with each new experience I become more aware and have a greater appreciation for the smallest of details.  Our shared loved for color and styles can quickly be differentiated with the slightest of touch. Why not add a small trim to accentuate the outline of a chair or drapery? By adding multiple layers of color and texture through these smallest of details, we can create our own unique voice through design.

The items in my curated selection are all about adding those final finishing touches to your home. Whether you feel like a change, or are still trying to create your final scheme, I hope that these carefully selected accent pieces will make all the difference.

The bestselling author of Arm Candy, Wolves in Chic Clothing, and the just-released Rock Star in Seat 3A dishes about life and design.

You could be forgiven for assuming Jill Kargman would be a stuck-up socialite. The bestselling author boasts a Yale degree and runs in the chicest of Manhattan circles. (One of her longtime pals is Gwyneth Paltrow, a fellow classmate at the elite New York prep school Spence.) But the self-described “trashy novelist” is as refreshingly grounded as they come—and her family’s city apartment, which inspired her Curator’s Collection for Joss & Main, is as polished yet down-to-earth as she is. Here, Kargman explains how her traditional-cool look came together.

The images in your Joss & Main lookbook are of your own home, right?  Did you have any help designing it?

Yes, it was done by Lauren Duff. She’s my friend from forever ago—we went to high school together. I know, people say “don’t work with your friends,” but I knew I could trust her. When you work with someone you don’t know very well, you don’t always feel comfortable striking down their choices and their opinions, saying “I don’t like birds,” or whatever.  When I found [my apartment], there was this allegedly beautiful wallpaper in it. It was this graphic print of, like, Asian men playing leapfrog—some sort of toile. The broker was like, “If you remove this, I will die.” When I moved in I told the broker, “Start digging.”

What was the process of designing it with Lauren?

With Lauren, she knew me so well, and I felt like I could say what I wanted and what I hated.  I went with her to pick out one or two things, but mostly I let her do all the hard work. She’d drop off a bag of stuff in my lobby, or she’d come over and we’d have a glass of wine and look at pictures or swatches together. And my apartment looks very much like my style. I wear mostly black with some gray, some white. I don’t wear colors, so I don’t want to live with them, either.  Lauren took my style and translated it into three dimensions.

How do you balance your desire for a lovely space with messy kids?

My apartment usualy looks like shit, I’ll be honest. But when it came to designing, look, l’m not going to decorate around my children. Especially for the mom, even if you are at work, you end up spending more time at home, and especially when you live in the East where you have seasons, it’s so easy to get cabin fever. So It’s important that your home is a space you love.  With kids, I just have to kind of train them, set boundaries, and let them know it’s not OK to get handprints on certain pieces of furniture.

What room would you most like to re-do?

I’m doing some work in a few rooms this summer, but it’s not really a redo. It’s decorating Botox.  I’m getting new carpet because they’re stained, but I’m getting the same one. I’m repainting, because it’s chipped paint—just refreshing it where there’s wear and tear. I want it to look fresh.

Have you had many New York apartments?

Yeah, I moved a lot.  I had another apartment, and I had my bachelorette pad.  After going to boarding school. l got used to folding your life into boxes and packing it out every couple of years.

Did that affect how you lived and designed your spaces?

Yeah, definitely. Never until this apartment had I bought wallpaper. It’s so permanent, and you get used to transience when you’re single, and not wanting to make decisions when you’re not sure where you’re going to be in a few years. Picking it out I was like, whoa, this is a big decision.

What’s one design trend you hate?

I hate when people just choose one thing and make it their concept. “Lime green!” And everything’s that color. Or, “bowls!”  I hate form over function, or items that are just there because they’re artistic, like a chair that’s tilted to one side or something.  There’s no furniture in my house that’s sculptural. That’s what art is for.

Some favorite places to score home items?

I like an eclectic mix of new and antiquey things, so we go antiquing. I love Moon River Chattel in Brookyn—I think they have such a great eye. For my kids’ rooms, I ordered almost everything ducduc.

As a novelist and magazine writer, you’re constantly on the go. What are some spaces that inspire you?

I just got my first laptop after years of just having a desktop, and I love taking it to places around New York to work. I like working in hotels. I was just writing the other day at the Gramercy Park, and another time I went to the Harvard club, which is beautiful. I like dark, creepy places like that. You feel like you’re doing something serious, like you’re working among all these people who came before you.

Jill Kargman’s novel The Rockstar in Seat 3A is available on May 22.

We’ve asked this week’s curator Heather Scott of Heather Scott Home, to share her thoughts and inspiration for her Curator’s Collection event. Here’s what she had to say:

My style is generally described as classic, serene and chic.  I believe the world is hectic enough and your home should be your haven.

With that concept in mind, the products I’ve chosen will create a calm, collected and approachable space.  The elements are influenced by the coast (I’ve lived on the east and west), so you will see plenty of sand- and water-inspired colors.

It is also important to me that the items I select for my home and my clients’ homes will stand the test of time.  I believe in spending your money wisely on items that won’t be ‘out of style’ come next season.  To that end, the products in my collection are not trendy or temporary, but have timeless lines that can work in many different spaces in the years to come.

We’ve asked this week’s curators Rochelle Greayer and Susan Cohan of Leaf Magazine to share their thoughts and inspiration for their Curator’s Collection event. Here’s what they had to say:

At Leaf magazine we believe in great design and living well outdoors.  We also believe that outdoor style is as important beyond our doors as it is inside them. Time spent in our gardens, on our patios and decks with friends and family should be as comfortable and beautiful as any of the other places we inhabit.

In the past few years, there has been an explosion of well designed affordable products that allow us to make our outdoor spaces just as stylish and individualistic as every other facet of our daily lives.  The Leaf collection for Joss and Main was handpicked by the magazine’s editors to showcase the wide variety of choices that are now available for Al Fresco Style.

We’ve asked this week’s curator Abbe Fenimore of Studioten25, to share with us her thoughts and inspiration for her Curator’s Collection event. Here’s what she had to say:

A favorite among Bostonians, Joanne Chang’s Flour bakery has amassed a cult-like following thanks to its eponymous cookbook, numerous New York Times accolades, and the pastry chef’s definitive sticky bun win over barbecue-king Bobby Flay on the Food Network show “Throwdown” a few years back.

After setting aside her finance career for sweeter pursuits, the Harvard-educated Chang worked at the world-famous Payard Patisserie in New York City before joining “Top Chef All-Star” Jody Adams at the renowned Boston restaurant Rialto. With three award-winning bakery-cafés, an Asian-style diner called Myers+Chang (which she owns with her husband), and a second cookbook in the works, Chang’s decision to leave the consulting world has yielded delicious returns.

We recently sat down with Chang to discuss her Curator’s Collection for Joss & Main, “Beginner, Dabbler, Expert,” which showcases everything from baking basics like mixing bowls to pastry decorating kits and tart molds for the more advanced. The event launches tonight.

Q: The theme of your Curator’s Collection is “Beginner, Dabbler, Expert.” Tell our readers about what they can expect.

A: If you are interested in getting into the kitchen and if you’re interested in picking things from this event, then it makes sense to start off with your basic level of familiarity. Beginner is somebody who really has never really stepped into a kitchen. I thought about my husband [restaurateur Christopher Myers]; he doesn’t really cook or bake that much, but if I wanted to set him up in his first kitchen, then I thought about what tools he would need for the basics of baking. These are for the easier recipes both in my book and other books. If you’re curious, this is what you need. It’s the foundation.

Q: What are your must-have baking or kitchen essentials?

A: The things that I stress are:

A kitchen scale. If you’re going to learn how to bake, you have to learn how to measure your ingredients accurately. The best way to do that is by weight, rather than volume.

An oven thermometer. If your oven isn’t calibrated properly, then you could overbake or underbake and not even realize it.

A really, really good knife is something that some people take for granted. We always have a great paring knife and chef’s knife on hand to help with basic prep for baking.

A microplane zester. Fresh lemon zest and lime zest is so important—they add so much flavor.

Bench scraper and bowl scraper. When I start baking for the day, I always grab a bowl scraper and stick it in my pocket because it’s really handy for both cleaning out your bowls and your work surface. Working clean is something we talk a lot about at the bakery.

A KitchenAid mixer. It’s a big investment, but if you can get a KitchenAid, that will make so much of your baking so much easier. A lot of things you can whisk by hand, and you can definitely cut butter into scones by hand, but if you can get a machine to help you, it’s so, so much easier.

Q: Your bakery is called Flour. You must have some opinions.

A: We use King Arthur Flour. It’s local [to Massachusetts]. We use unbleached, unbromated all-purpose flour. We use a cake flour for a lot of our cakes. It’s a lot more tender. It doesn’t develop as much gluten, which is what makes bread chewy—not what you want in cakes and cupcakes. For breads we use bread flour, because of the exact opposite reason—it has a lot of gluten in it. It allows for all of that chew that comes with really good artisan bread.

Q: And stocking the cupboard—what shouldn’t you scrimp on?

A: The best chocolate you can get. Before I started baking professionally, I would just grab chocolate from the grocery store, like a Baker’s or a Hershey’s. Now I won’t even look at it or touch it. Good chocolate is expensive – I went to Whole Foods the other day, and I went to look how much their Callebaut and Valrhona was. It was definitely pricey, but it makes such a difference. We use Tcho from San Francisco, which I think you can get online.

A really good cocoa powder. Vanilla beans. Something you might not have – a lot of people use vanilla extract. If you’re going to use vanilla extract, make sure it’s natural. Don’t use artificial, but even better is vanilla beans. And the great thing about them is after you use them you can – after you scraped the beans from the pods, you can place them in a tub of sugar and after a couple of days it will become vanilla sugar. The vanilla is so strong it absorbs the scent and then you can use that in baking.

Q: Some secrets you wish you knew then that you know now?

A: Two things have become ingrained in me over the years, and I think they can help all home bakers become better cooks. First is cleaning as you go. It sounds so simple, but it really makes a difference if, as you’re baking or cooking, you put something away when you’re done with it. If you spill something, clean it up. It makes for a much less frustrating experience. We teach that to our bakers here. It can feel like it’s slowing you down, but in the end it will make you better.

Q: And number 2?

A: Read the recipe from start to finish. It sounds obvious, but a lot of people don’t read it through. And then assemble your mise en place, which means take everything in your ingredient list and measure it out and put it in little containers, little bowls, whatever you have handy, and then start the recipe. Then you’re not in the middle of the recipe before you realize you need to add a cup of toasted walnuts. Then you have to stop everything, go find the walnuts, heat up the oven, toast them, wait for them to cool, and by then your batter has fallen or something.

Q: Your fridge at home always contains…?

A: We always have the chili sauce Sriracha. We always have eggs. There’s a ton of champagne—I don’t know why. We keep gathering it and collecting it and soon we’ll have to have a big celebration. Apples. I’m an apple freak. I love Fuji apples. I live near a Chinese grocery store and I go there a couple of times a week to stock up. Butter, yogurt. And take-out containers. Lots of take-out containers.

Q: Biggest guilty pleasure food?

A: Ice cream. I could eat ice cream all day long, all night long and never eat anything else.

Q: Last question – your last-meal dessert?

A: Ice cream! Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream. No question.

We’ve asked this week’s curator Summer Thornton of Summer Thornton Design, to share with us her thoughts and inspiration for her Curator’s Collection event. Here’s what she had to say:

One of my favorite things to do when traveling is to visit local flea markets.  I’ve been to the flea markets in Russia, France, Argentina and several throughout the U.S.  This March I took a trip to Buenos Aires Argentina to visit one of the world’s largest flea markets as well as to enjoy some great food, local wine, and a unique blend of French and Italian inspired architecture.  But beyond the expected steaks and tango, I found a culture with passion for art and history and an eye for aesthetics that surprised and delighted me.  So that’s what I’m hoping to share with you through this Joss & Main curated sale – great finds that are all inspired by the art and culture of Buenos Aires.

For example, Buenos Aires is well known for its infamous Recoleta Cemetery, so we tracked down some beautiful statues that remind me of the over-the-top cemetery in B.A.  We of course included some beautiful cowhide rugs as Argentina has one of the largest cattle populations in the world.  And of course as Buenos Aires was originally settled it had an influx of beautiful antiques from France and Italy, so we’ve included furniture pieces that represent those styles and eras.  What I found surprising on my trip though was the contrast of old world formality contrasted with streamlined modernity -  rococo vs. graffiti, french settees vs. mid-century modern, taxidermy vs. industrial sleekness.  The contrast was quite amazing, and it is a similar sense of contrast that I often bring to the interior design projects at Summer Thornton Design where we blend new with old, antique with modern, and so on.  Now you have a chance to do the same with this internationally inspired curated sale – we’ve brought Buenos Aires right to your screen so you can get the look with just a few simple clicks.  No need for a 12-hour flight!

I hope you’ll enjoy the photos of my trip, and of course some of the Joss & Main furniture and accessories that were inspired by Buenos Aires.

We’ve asked this week’s curator Michelle Hinckley of 4 Men 1 Lady, to share with us her thoughts and inspiration for her Curator’s Collection event. Here’s what she had to say:

People don’t often realize that their creativity, productivity, and mood are all affected by the physical space they’re in. If you have drab and unkempt furnishings, your mood tends to mimic that. That’s why it’s important to live and work in a space that looks good, feels good, and inspires you.

As a wife and mother of three boys, my home is constantly filled with activity. It’s a challenge to keep things tidy and intact, but I strive to still bring beauty home. I use a lot of whites and neutrals as my base, then layer pops of color and pattern. That way, when the trends and the seasons change, I can simply trade out accessories in the forms of pillows, throw blankets, trays and more. It’s my go-to – and a great! – decorating formula.

We’ve asked this week’s curator Liz Joy of Shorely Chic, to share with us her thoughts and inspiration for her Curator’s Collection event. Here’s what she had to say:

I believe in the power of interiors – they can transform, elevate, or mellow one’s mood. To me, a perfect home transports its inhabitants to a refreshing and peaceful place that can bring your entire being to the gentle breeze, scent, and rolling waves of the beach.  Simply staring out at the vast sea makes my worries disappear.  That is what I strive to create upon opening the front door of the homes I design. I subtly infuse the colors and textures of nature into my decorating and create a truly chic environment. I had so much fun shopping the Joss & Main collection for you, and hope that you find my selection to represent all that is beautifully Beachy Chic.

We’ve asked this week’s curator Courtney Lake of Courtney Out Loud, to share with us his thoughts and inspiration for his Curator’s Collection event. Here’s what he had to say:

I have clients who love color – adore it with all their hearts, but are afraid to have it in their own homes thanks to previous encounters that went awry.  Many forget to use color’s three equally fabulous “cousins”: pattern, texture, and sheen. Various patterns and textures, as well as reflective materials, break up planes of color – incorporating these elements are pillars of my design aesthetic, and are my “secret weapons” to liven up any room or space.

For my curated collection, I selected a variety of pieces: boldly patterned accent chairs, lacquered vases, nubby throws, and eye-catching rugs. When used in small doses throughout a room, they can enliven and breathe fresh life into a space. When used in tandem with color, they can entirely transform a space into a kaleidoscope of visual interest and personality. Whether you’re a lover of neutrals or bold color, this collection has a little something for everyone looking to infuse their home with pattern, texture, and sheen.