Dream Weaver

OLATZ SCHNABEL'S NEW LINEN STORE BRINGS HEAVEN TO THE WEST VILLAGE

next time there's a blackout and visitors to New York have to sleep on the city's sidewalks, they'll have it made. By then Olatz Schnabel will have opened the doors to Olatz, her own take on Bed Bath & Beyond. And believe me, it's beyond. The Pratesis, Franesis, and Frettes of this world are going to drool when they see the little bit of paradise she has created with artist husband Julian Schnabel in the less traveled quarter of the West Village on Clarkson Street near Washington. Entering the space is like being in a time warp. The Schnabels were in Cuba in 1994, and on a trip to the historic La Farmacia en la Calle Obispo, in Havana, Olatz, who is part Lucille Ball and part Sophia Loren, turned to Julian and said, "If I ever have a store, this is what I want it to look like." Eureka! What she ended up with is a generous, warm, light-filled, gorgeous place that oozes a sense of memory. Ebony-colored shelves and a massive counter anchor the room, while 10 pastoral landscapes that Julian painted for the site, with vibrant pinks and greens and purple blobs, set the scene for Olatz's collection of sheets, pillowcases, and covers that make you want to curl up in one of the display beds and dream. Constructed of linen and cotton, some sets are modernist with bold-colored borders, in a palette that is timeless: Capri greens, Naples yellow, and the blues of boats in Venice. Other sets, featuring appliqued embroidery, are more classic. There are crib sets too, in linen, lace, and batiste cotton, and bathrobes, and pajamas, and everything that will make you want to stay home.

INGRID SISCHY