HotelChatter

Most of what the website tells us about the rooms we already know from reports last spring (lacquered wood, Swedish DUX beds, Nespresso machines), though a few other details are highlighted, like bathroom fixtures by Toto (that's the Japanese company responsible for those high-tech toilets we're always on about) and bedside touch-screens to control all lighting, climate, music and room service. Nifty!

The room itself looks sweet, if slightly drab. The white leather headboard is a nice touch, but the rest of the lamps and furniture are a little...meh. And what's up with the giant handbag sitting by the window? Is there one in each room? Can guests take it home as a souvenir? Did the photographer just forget to remove her purse before taking the shot?

So many questions. But one of our pressing concerns—who actually painted the image we fell in love with in the magazine?—seems to at least have been answered. The artist is Daniel Egnéus, and more of his work will be featured in the hotel once it opens.

Egnéus or not, though, we're just happy to keep looking at it. Her face has kind of a hypnotizing effect if you stare at it long enough...

[Photo: The Quin]