13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CDLXXXV)

1. Louisiana’s Louis XV Tower In the heart of Louisiana, the antiques dealer Robert E. Smith’s home — a Louis XV fever dream — is surrounded by a moat and fronted by a pair of 300-year-old giant live oak trees. The 66-foot-high, five-story, sanded-concrete tower, which sits on 13 acres, features one large room per…

Inside a Real 1970s “Hotel California”

I love the picture. I am a homosexual. Maybe if I send one of the pictures you gave to me Jim, to my nephew, he will understand how hard his uncle is struggling. Ferdinand Monette “I have the great privilege of being both witness and storyteller. Intimacy, trust and intuition guide my work,” said Jim…

The 20 Hotel Rooms to Bucket list for the Next Decade

Here at MessyNessyChic, we’ve spent the past decade bucket-listing the earth, finding the most off-beat, unique (and chic) places to escape and explore. And along the way, we’ve come across a hotel room or two that we felt deserved its place on one of those official “best hotels of the world list”. So we decided…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CDLXXXIV)

1. The Carson Mansion Considered the most grand Victorian home in America, located in Old Town, Eureka, California, regarded as one of the highest executions of American Queen Anne Style architecture. Check out the upstairs hallway. It is one of the most written about and photographed Victorian houses in California and perhaps also in the…

The 19 Most Popular MessyNessy Articles of 2019

Messy Nessy’s 2019 was a year on the verge. We released Don’t Be a Tourist in New York, the beloved sister book to Don’t Be a Tourist in Paris, and took the MNC universe to new heights with the Vault. Most of all, we had the joy and privilege of holding your hand down the…

Doisneau’s Dark Room

Robert Doisneau intimately knew the Paris we’re forever chasing. The one where those cafés & shops lost in time are on every corner. Where the simple pleasures of life are being appreciated all around us. Where elegance is an everyday occasion. He’s most famous for his 1950 image Le baiser de l’hôtel de ville (Kiss by the…

13 Things I Found on the Internet Today (Vol. CDLXXXIII)

1. Two Victorian Women building a snow woman, 1892 Found on The Gilded Age Society. 2. A Different Kind of Christmas Soundtrack, 1969 3. A Salesman’s suitcase of Christmas lightbulbs, 1960s Found on Pinterest. 4. Christmas in New Orleans Bucket listed. 5. A living Christmas Tree, 1971 Living Christmas Tree: carolers singing massed on stepped…

Let’s Go Gift Shopping in the ’80s

The 80s have been coming back in a big way in the past few years. Stranger Things became the most-watched Netflix show, 80s blowouts made their way down the fashion week runways again, as did fanny packs, oversized blazers and scrunchies. We even found a Saved by the Bell themed Airbnb. So while you’re sitting…

Moonlight Etchings of the Forgotten Artist who Taught Edward Hopper

Martin Lewis died in obscurity in 1962; a retired art teacher who had found some success in his early career, but was largely forgotten after the Great Depression took away the demand for his craft, leaving Lewis to spend his last three decades teaching other people how to etch. History chose Edward Hopper, but Martin…

Oh Me Oh My, Check out Every Room in this Gilded Age Dollhouse

You just never know what talent your next door neighbour might be hiding. Michael Guidry is a florist from Finleyville, Pennsylvania who has built a palatial Gilded Age dollhouse to rival the Queen of England’s. For Mike, this is a hobby, which he acquired when his father first made his sister a dollhouse as children. He began…