The Long Forgotten Guest Room!

 

 

 

Two years ago, around this time, my good friend Brandon (from Charleston) called to let me know that she would be breezing through Atlanta in a month or so. At the time, Hubby and I were on vacation in the Brandywine region.  After hanging up, I started thinking about our guest room that had been left for dead, Ellie didn't even go in there. However, we missed each other because of our schedules, so I escaped having to do the room.  

 

 

Last year, around this time, she calls again--she's passing through again. The short story, we had lunch and I drove her by our house.  So anyway, to facilitate finally wrapping up the long-forgotten guest room, I'm ditching my B & B scheme (see here) that I was starting to conjure up.  I've decided to change all bedding, duvets, sheets and shams - I'm going for a classic crisp blue and white look. I love the above room by Serena and Lily. Earlier today I was checking out all the different schemes I could do...love the Gobi Embroidered sheets in Navy too!

 

I also like the look above Pottery Barn's Rayna Paisley....Hmmm!

Leontine Linens...Obsession!

It's time to make over my bed!  It's been awhile and with Spring here, I'm more then ready to get going on it.  I need everything - new pillows, shams, sheets in particular, and a bed skirt.  So I'm currently obsessing over Leontine Linens, which are absolutely beautiful, not the least bit in my budget, and not the least bit practical for my household.  After all, look who does the laundry...see here.  Leontine Linens is a private company specializing in custom luxurious linens, based in New Orleans.  It all started here with the January issue of Southern Living, Cathy Kincaid made over a small space and created the beautiful bedroom that you see above.  Then there was the February issues of House Beautiful, Sara Ruffin Costello uses then in a preppy and southwestern combo style. Below are a few that will show you just what I mean!!

 Love this by Avera Wagner a Design Firm out of Dallas.  Did I mention I need a headboard too! 

By Kati Ridder - Love the embroidered chopstick monogram! All image above via Leontine Linens

Aerin Lauder's home in the Hampton's shot for Elle Decor which I've always loved!

I'm very much drawn to Leontine linens, love their signature monograms and unique borders.  Indeed a great way to freshen up your bed. While pouring over their website I did notice Linensense.com coming April 1st  - I'll be back! 

 

Bowood by Colefax & Fowler - Gotta Have It!

My Southern Living arrived at my door last Thursday afternoon. At about ten o'clock that evening, finally some down time to browse. While browsing, the one thing that got my eye was “Chintz Back In Bloom!”...really! But what really got my attention, though, was when the talented Ruthie Sommers said that her favorite chintz was “Bowood in Grey/Green by Colefax and Fowler. It happens to be mine as well...imagine that. Ruthie stated “it was a fabric that could have been in a ladies locker room at a country club”. It got me thinking of all the places around Atlanta that could use a nice dose of Bowood, and one in particular, my guest room, that has been left for dead. Anyway, come Friday morning Bowood was still on my mind.

That afternoon, my House Beautiful April issue arrived...what was on the cover? Bowood...that’s right. This time around, the whole house was done in just that one particular fabric. Bowood, in the gray/green colorway—and I stress it has to be gray/green, you know me and my greens—is one of my favorite patterns. For me, it very much epitomizes that English country style that I've always loved. So here are a few that I rounded up. 

 

Last year, I wrote this when I was thinking of painting my guest room Elizabeth Mayhew's Gray Owl. Here she used Bowood on the headboard. I love how she kept the bedding and everything else very simple! Indeed, this is one way I would use it!

 

Here you have another one of my favorites - Gil Schafer's  guest room wallpapered in Bowood.

From House and Garden - Love the color of the door too!

Below is fashion designer Tory Burch's home located in the Hamptons - Bowood is used just on the right-hand sofa in the living room. When I googled Bowood, of course, Cote' de Texas popped right up, and I agree with her like I usually do on everything else. It's “fresh and clean”! I've seen this room several times and never noticed the Bowood sofa – how can that be? 

 

Julia Reed's "The House On First Strret"

A few years ago, no it's more like several years ago by now, I read Julia Reed's "The House On First Street" see  "Book Report Alert".  After reading about her renovation process while dealing with Hurricane Katrina I was delighted to actually see pictures of her house in Elle Decor.  I loved her whole house, and to see it click here.  Here's one particular room that is currently on my mind...her sunroom.  I don't currently have a sunroom,  my mudroom (which stores my wicker furniture from my old sunroom) can only go so far.  Though, my mind was pondering.

1.  Love the slip covered sofa in cotton duck
2.  Love the armchairs upholstered in Bennison's crewelwork linen
3.  Love the English Victorian Bamboo table
4.  Love the wall of window with all the natural light!
5.  Love the basic coffee table painted in Benjamin Moore's River Blue.
I'm Thinking about painting an old table that came from my mother-In-law's basement.  What could I say?, She unloaded it onto Hubby when I wasn't around.   If he wants it he'll have to paint it or pray I find him the steamer trunk to take it's place!  More on that later! 

Loving Aerin Lauder's New Fabric for Lee Jofa!

A few weeks ago while leafing through the June issue of Architectural Digest I spotted

Aerin Lauder's new fabric collection for Lee Jofa.  And of course it was in my favorite colorway...green (down below).  I then recalled while picking up Aerin's new lipstick last March - see Loving Aerin Lauder's New Lipsticks!--the lady at the cosmetic counter telling me all about Aerin's new lifestyle collection that she was starting to roll out. Love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Loving Marilyn!!!

Image from Lonny

The other day while reading through Lonny , this ad for Rubie Green's quickly caught my eye. And after doing a little digging I discovered that one of Lonny's creators is Michelle Adams, a former Domino Editor and also the creator of RUBIE GREEN...go figure! The headboard fabric to me is very similar to a fabric by Clarence House--"Dahlia"--to be exact (see About Time). A fabric that I've tried to get my grubby little hands on but unfortunately found it a little too high for my budget. The fabric on the headboard is "Marilyn" and can be ordered directly through Rubie Green. I came very close to ordering a yard yesterday but I figured I had better wait to see how all my projects shake out this year. I would love to see this fabric in a sunroom (preferably my own) on a tufted ottoman, or perhaps a breakfast room (preferably my own), or an office on a settee (preferably my own) or exactly just like it's used here in this application as a headboard.

Marilyn

Here is a picture of Michelle's bedroom...fresh & crisp!

Image from Mabelle Michelle's blog

One thing that I was wondering though...Do you think that Michelle was inspired by this Kate Spade room? I've always loved this room!

I Need a Bed Skirt!

I'm in desperate need of a bed skirt! The Hubby and I just moved--well, I do reckon it has been almost three months. This should be more than enough time to have found a bed skirt to my liking and my budget! I had thought about having Yung Li make one for me, but after I added up the cost of the fabric and the cost of Yung Li, I decided it was $400.00 that I would much rather spend somewhere else, such as a king size mattress!

Three months ago when the Hubby and I made (hopefully) our final move for awhile--Mother-in-law's advice was to go out and buy the best king size mattress that we could possibly afford! Our old mattress was tossed into the dumpster after moving out of Nashville. I saw no point in putting it into a storage bin, and taking up valuable space--after all, it was a mattress that I've had been carrying around since I was a single girl (before hubby), it went into our first condo on Peachtree Street, our first house in Roswell, and then we hauled it with us to Charleston. After that, back to Atlanta for a brief pit stop, and then on to Nashville for a move or two, and then finally back to Atlanta again! It was time to pitch the thing. One day, we'll get a king size mattress, but for now we've just pushed our two twin beds together, and that works just fine! Mother-in-law did gave us a twin-bed converter (basically a piece of foam) and it makes a queen! So for now, we need a bed skirt! I'll deal with the mattress issue when I have out of town company.

Malaika - On my wish list!!!

I'm giving the hubby a Birthday party here in a couple of weeks and I would prefer to have my bed made regardless of what it is - twin, queen, king--because my guests won't notice the mattress issue, but they will notice that it's missing it's skirt. All I want is a basic white, well-tailored, affordable bed skirt. Please help!!!!!!!

Finding a Good, Reasonable, and Reliable Reupholster!

I had to say goodbye to my beloved handyman back in Nashville, but on the bright side of things of being back here in Atlanta I was able to reunite with Yung Li, my reupholster lady--Yeah! My goal is to one day have my handymen, carpenters, reupholsters, etc. all in the same city. I had met Yung Li several years ago through her sister (who made my pillows for my antiquing business). To make a long story short, when you find someone who is good, reasonable, and reliable you stick with them. The Hubby says that I talk about Young Li as if she were the Savior. Anyway, Young Li and I have a certain understanding, if you have ever seen Father of the Bride, with Martin Short's character, Franc, you know what I'm talking about! Basically, there are only two words that she says that I can even understand "cheap and expensive" and that is OK with me! The hubby thinks she more like Edna 'E' Mode from the movie The Incredibles!

When moving out of our our storage bin Yung Li meet with me and I gave her several piece that had been on my radar list for only the last six to seven years or so. I was determined not to move one piece into my new house because I knew that they would sit there for another six to seven years. One thing that Yung Leigh could not get at the time when we were loading things up was a huge old french chair that was being stored way down in my In-laws far, far, left corner basement. In fact, the huge chair was so bad that my Mother-in-Law gladly delivered the thing to the hubby and I two whole days after we moved into our house. I really wanted to pitch the chair but the hubby insited we keep it, so I quickly gave it to Yung Li to work her magic so I did not have to look at it.

This coming Monday, I'm meeting with Yung Li to talk about my bedroom and man cave problems but mostly my bedroom. In a nutshell four or five years ago (time really goes by fast when your talking about fabrics and reupholster work). Anyway, I bought Silk Trading Companies's Dutches Blue Silk panels for my bedroom. The problem is that I have three panels and I need four and no money to put in dutches blue silk panels. Also, for my new bedroom I bought Restoration Hardware's Clear The Decks (code for you can't return it) Italian Tipped Faille shams, duvet etc. in celery green. Now to tie the two together I'm thinking about this fabric from Calico Corners "Limonia".

"Limonia" from Calico Corners

They other problems in my bedroom is I need bed skirt, a slipcover for a old sofa that had been sitting out in my tool shed in Nashville for three plus years, and a slipcover for a bench at the foot of the bed and I have yet to find the bench! Yung Li has already diagnosed some of these issue and suggested that she would be happy to make me a bed skirt out of one of the panels and putting something else on the Windows but no way am I'm doing that. Later!!!!!!!!

All Images from Calico Corners

About Time!

Just yesterday, I finally received my House Beautiful --- it seems ever since this past Friday, after Mrs. Blandings posted this room designed by Markham Roberts, I can't get the beautiful chintz (Dahlia fabric by Clarence House ) out of my head!

Loving Cowtan & Tout!

Images from Martha Stewart September 2008 issue

This past Sunday morning while sitting in my living room, sipping a little hazelnut coffee, and leafing through a few magazines, I was reflecting on the day before, the most notable occurrence of which was my neighbor Sandy’s Hackberry tree collapsing and taking down half of my fence (long story)! I finally had a chance to think about some much needed decorating! Anyhow, I currently have greens, gold’s and brown and have wanted to incorporate a little blue in my color scheme. I quickly noticed this Cowtan & Tout fabric in the September issue of Martha Stewart and loved it! I instantly thought of the other ways it has been used and here they are. What do you think?

Currently in Martha Stewart --Sevigny fabric in Pistachio Sky by Cowtan & Tout looks great in a living room setting mixed with greens, golds and brown.

Here Carolyne Roehm uses Cowtan & Tout fabric in her

New York bedroom apartment

Image from Veranda - Photography by Sylvie Becquet

Again, Ruthie Sommers uses the same Cowtan & Tout fabric for a headboard in a California bedroom. Image from House Beautiful 2005

Who Likes Puddles?

Image from Southern Accents Sept --Oct 2008

Photographed by Pieter Estersohn

This past Saturday, after fetching our afternoon mail--after having worked all morning on house stuff (helping hubby install our much needed kitchen floor), I thought I deserved a minute or two to leaf through my new Southern Accents. It’s a great issue, and one the thing that I noticed was Amelia Handegan’s (a Charleston designer whose work I’ve long admired) client’s new home on King Street. Anyway, I noticed in one of the more formal rooms, the clean, elegant curtains puddle a wee bit.

Image from Michael Smith's Elements of Style

Personally, I like curtains to puddle, but with that said, it really depends on the year and make of the house, whether it has high or low ceilings, ect. Anyway, every time I see curtains that puddle it always makes me think of Michael Smith. In his book Elements of Style he says that “I prefer curtains to be a classic length, just touching the floor.” He adds that, as for curtains that “pool and puddle,” the concept now looks ridiculous and exaggerated—the opposite of elegance. “These curtains act like dust-catchers, and make a room appear dowdy.” Admittedly, I agree with that, and you can rest assured my hubby does too—he has never been a fan of puddles – maybe it’s a guy thing. Anyway, it doesn’t matter because in my household I have not really mastered either way. Here, recently, after having my curtains puddled, I noticed that Ellie, our dog, would use them to hide her milk bones from her brother, Rolle. Needless to say, my puddles weren’t really doing it for me. After having the hubby rehang them to lightly touch the floor they are now probably a inch to high, and I don’t think that is what Michael Smith had in mind either!

Image from House & Garden-Home of Nigella Lawson

What do you think- do you like puddles?

Searching For Fabrics

Lee Jofa

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a few of my reupholsting Decorating Dilemmas! To be quite honest, that’s was only about the half of it! I was a little too embarrassed to tell you about one of my sofas that is currently being stored in my potting shed and is probably ruined as I type! Nor did I tell you about a pair of French chairs that the hubby ruined while slopping dirty water around—a long story! And I know that I did not mention a French chair that I bought three and half years ago, and my current nagging client (hubby) has called it to my attention—it seems he has grown quite tired of looking at it. So last weekend, I relocated the chair to my in-laws’ basement—they have lots of storage and my nagging client doesn’t have to look at until I have it reupholstered—he doesn’t seem to know that these things take time! Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me—several pieces that desperately need to be reupholstered. Now, I need to get to work and find the fabrics.

Here's my start

Suzanne Rheinstein's Garden Roses for Lee Jofa

Suzanne Rheinstein's Palace Garden for Lee Jofa

Monogram It--Hmmm!

Image via Southern Accents

I would like to have a few things Monogrammed--let's see, starting, for instance, with my new towels that I bought several months ago, but have yet to take them in to be done. The fact is, I'm torn--should I do a single monogram script, or a three-letter traditional script, or a deco-style script. I can't decide! So now, I'm going through all my tear sheets to see what I have with monograms --starting with the one below!

I do like the single script!

Image via Veranda September 2007

Photo by Roger Davies..

Also, I would like to do a few throw pillows for our front porch swing!

This may work! Image via Victoria March 2001.

And if you read my Decorating Dilemmas you would have seen my French chairs that desperately need to be redone-I can't take the 1940's wine velvet much longer! So here's what I'm thinking on what I may do with them.

I love this slipcover! Image Via Southern Accents March/April 2008 isssue

Photo by Erica George Dines.

Or perhaps I can put the monogram on the back of the chair.

Image via Cottage Living September 2007 -

Photo by Roger Davies..

Hmmm! I will keep searching; and you should, if you haven't already, check out The Monogram Shop ! I read their story several years ago via Martha Stewart, and the whole time I was thinking I would love to have s shop just like that one day! As a present, I always like to give cocktail napkins with the persons's home address.

Old Textiles

Now that we're settled into our cottage, it’s time to get my French dining chairs redone. I have actually been on a quest for fabric for these chairs for three years now but it has always been put on the back burner due to some reason or another. I had originally thought I would do the chairs in a brown toile but I have been waffling back and forth. Which brings me to my love for old textiles.

Old textiles were always something that I would buy, when I could, while I was out stocking for inventory. Amelia Handegan is a well-known designer from Charleston, whom I very much admire. Several years ago when I saw this room she had done in Southern Accents , I was determined to find aubergine toile fabric, so I would be ready to do a room similar to this one day.

Image courtesy of Southern Accents

So who better to call for toile then my French source, Julia? Julia is an English lady who lives in France and specializes in French fabrics. Of course, she did have aubergine toile, which I did buy, but I sold most of it and I’ve never been able to do a room like this. Two years ago I was on a huge mission for brown toile. I was able to purchase this beautiful 19th century brown toile from Julia, which she pulled from her own private collection. I still have this toile and I’m keeping it! She told me that brown is very hard to find, and when she comes across certain pieces she puts them away. I do believe her, because I never see 19th century brown toile and I do make it out here and there. The name of the pattern is “The Miller, His Son and the Donkey” and it is a Toile de Jouy. Jouy-en Josas is the area the toile was manufactured in.

"The Miller, His Son, and the Donkey"

I got this just in time before I was to host Thanksgiving dinner two years ago when we first moved to Nashville. The week earlier, I walked into one of my favorite retail stores to buy a roaster for our turkey and had found they had done a beautiful Thanksgiving dinner setting with a brown toile tablecloth. I’m thinking to myself, I have the old that I will use for pillows but I would love to have a new brown toile tablecloth for my Thanksgiving dinner.

I’m currently thinking, after looking at September issue of Cottage Living that I’ll have the chairs redone in a neutral with our monogram on the back. Thanks again, Cottage Living! Not because I think toile is out, but because I do tend to move a lot and my husband will not let me have them redone for another 10 years. A very knowledgeable textile dealer once said to me, “Retailers have pounded toile to death”. Afterwards, I thought to myself, toile pursers, wallets, coin bags, notebooks, pens, bags, plates, trash cans and yes tablecloths. All in all, if you happen to love toile or hate it, I still think it's a true classic in my book! Oh, and I still have the bits and pieces that she advised me to tuck away.

With that I’ll talk about vintage purses tomorrow.