Hello Pretty is Winding Down

After more than ten fulfilling, magical years beginning in the good old days of 2012, Hello Pretty is retiring and heading off to the beach with a drink with a tiny umbrella.

Read our goodbye letter

Paris

French kiss

Paris in Color by Nichole Robertson

As a serious book fanatic, I window shop on Kalahari and Amazon when I can’t sleep.  My wishlist runs into the thousands, and I know that one day I will have to design my home around my books, and find a very patient and resilient cleaning lady that doesn’t mind all the dusting.  And as a book purist, I am devoted to hard copies, as opposed to e-readers.

That, combined with my fervent wanderlust, secret romantic inclinations and love of beautiful things, makes this book PERFECT for me.  (My birthday is in October. *hint hint)  “Paris in Color” by Nichole Robertson is a beautiful collection of colour coordinated photograph’s of Parisian details.

The book came about as a result of a happy accident - her photography and blogging hobbies took a turn when she took a few photos of similarly coloured environments, and it quickly became an obsession.  And on sharing her obsession, others also quickly became obsessed.  Part of the appeal lay in the fact that it wasn’t the over-glamourized version of Paris - “I didn’t want the Versace-on-the-red-carpet version of Paris, I wanted the Converse and t-shirt Paris.”

Soooo… while you’re getting a copy for yourself over here, feel free to order a second copy for little ol’ me.  I can be reached at the hellopretty.co.za offices!

Hotel O in Paris

I’m a sucker for unique, contemporary-design boutique hotels. We’re going to Paris for a few days in November and on my laughable quest to find such a place that is both centrally-located and reasonably priced I found Hotel O. That it fits into the categories I was looking for is up for debate, but it cannot be argued that this is a hot-looking hotel. I specifically like the lighting details.

O-my-goodness!

For those who care to know, the rooms start at 145 euros per night, and the hotel is a short walk from the Louvre and Jardin des Tuileries.

And don’t say we didn’t warn you: the rooms are small, and the bathroom is pretty well inside the bedroom. My significant other and I stayed in such a place in New York and the bathroom / bedroom situation was… well, surprising. So best you’re comfortable with your bunk-buddy!

La Maison Champs Élysées

I’m subscribed to a fantastic newsletter called Jetsetter. It’s made by the same people who do Fab.com. Jetsetter is their travel division and they find and review the cream of the crop of hotels.

A little while ago they featured the unbelievably gorgeous La Maison Champs Élysées in Paris. The hotel is minimally decorated and the rooms are all in white, and then in contrast to that there is the dramatic Cigar Lounge, all in charcoal and black.

17 of the 57 rooms are designed by Maison Margiela, and they also did the restaurant, reception, cigar lounge and bar.

And if you manage to peel yourself out of this exquisite hotel you’re in for a treat because it is situated right in the heart of Paris’ Golden Triangle, a shopping hot spot.

Don’t know about you but I think I’m going to be dusting off my old piggy bank so that I can pay this place a visit!

Subscribe to RSS - Paris