Big Doings Coming Down the Pike in 2020

Hi There !

I can't believe it's 2020.  I can remember not too long ago thinking about my girls turning 16 and 21 and that year is here.  What happened !  To celebrate those two big milestones I have been planning a summer trip back over to Europe, Ireland / London / Paris.  The planning part is one of my favorite things to do.  I'm a planner, the hotels, the side trips, cools restaurants and as many must sees as I can discover.   This past year was so busy we didn't really go anywhere big so really looking forward to making the trip this year ! I have been really fortunate to be able to travel with my girls and show them the world a bit.   My parents moved us to Ireland when I was a teen and while there we traveled as much as we could so my biggest goal as a Mom was to be able to do the same for my kids.  So... the planning I love.

Planning, planning, planning is something I do on daily basis.  All these homes I am working on are in my head daily and I would be lying if I said I shut it down at night.  I think about all the details on each and everyone one constantly.

This biggest one is coming up in February.   A new build on Radcliffe,  here in Charlotte.  Cannot wait. Having pretty much "free-rein" on the design so I am loving everything!  We are painting this week which always means the end is in sight.  Long time client with a lot of trust.  Lately I have been obsessing over the details, art and accessories mainly.  The big stuff is done and easy.. it's all the little things that really pull it together.  (see earlier post here on some of the details)

Stay tuned !

Two other projects will go into motion around the same time.  We are finalizing the design at the moment but it's game on shortly !

The first is a gorgeous house in the Foxcroft neighborhood.  Wide open with lots of winding hallways, and interesting spaces all designed in a U shape overlooking a fabulous pool.  

One of my favorite spots is right at the front entry.  You step up into the dining room and then can wander back towards a sitting room and master and to the right a large kitchen, scullery and family room.  The goal for this dining room, a table that seats 10-12.  I started with a large 72" square with matching chairs on the sides, bench on the back and different chairs on the front.  We are working with Josh now to come up with a table top shape that keeps you from feeling too far across from each other daily, my client's request after reviewing these boards.

Also plan to create a similar but different chandelier that wanders, visually across the space and table.  We created this one not too long ago and I always like to change it up for each client.

Love the mixture of styles !

And need some good art for the niche visible right when you enter !  Pondering all that.

Have a powder room to work on as well.  Created 3 designs . . . all very different in feel.

The first having a fabulous wall paper, keeping the current sink and sconce.

The second option introduces a killer Walker Zanger Tile.

And the third option is a cement tile and more organic, casual elements.

Just off the dining room is a sitting room that I would never leave.  Cozy and close to the master bedroom.

The goal here is a comfortable chaise, interesting paper and simple desk.  

While the master bedroom might wait until phase 2, I did a design anyway.  Ok so I just did these pendants in a recent install, I FELL IN LOVE with them and wanted them to have an encore.  With floating side chest and a long upholstered headboard I am really digging the clean look.

Ron Royals, a photographer I adore showed this piece of art at last market.. really want to use !

With a love of Scandinavian furniture we are playing with the breakfast area using black and simple.  Starting off with this, but I am sure we will end up with a black table. 

The scullery needs some love.  A new tile back splash and floating shelves.

Lastly the back family room... needing everything. Rug, sofas, chairs.  Playing with all the options I chose for this room will be fun as we do tend to love the same things !

Another project in the works as well is just across the street from the Radcliff project.  How convenient !  Older house needing interior face lift for sure.

I love that they want a little punch in the foyer with this fan favorite F. Schumacher wall paper.

We are going with a dark charcoal in the dining room but brightening it up with art and curtains, a light stone top table and chairs... Love this space.

The front living room will repurpose some of their current pieces with new additions.

Now the kitchen... good layout and bones but need to deal with the kitchen cabinets.  

There are three ways to go with kitchen cabinets.  (1) Replace (2) Spray the right way (3) Brush.  Waiting for the quote to come in from Fine Grit on painting them the correct way !

Love owner (and her crew's) work.  Katie is a perfectionist and if you want you cabinets to come to life, she's the one to do it.

With a great entrance to the back porch we are placing a small banquette and round table just under the window for a little breakfast area.

The master, as well as our other project will be a phase 2 project, but worked on the look.  I tend to get into it !

So one big install coming up in February and two others in between.  Starting off the year with some good looking projects !

All About the Charcuterie

Happy Holiday !

It's that time of year . . . and for all of you it's party, party (for us is work, work !)  We are always crazed from Nov to Dec (22nd).  Last minute installs, getting orders in before all our vendors close and catching those 2019 prices.  But tomorrow it's shut down time.  I look forward to it every year.  From Christmas til about Jan 6th silent. Time to catch my breath, spend time with family and clear my head. 

I could live off snacks.  They are my favorite part of any party.  Just the other night I took Kate with me to a party at Sub Zero's showroom where the baby food reined.  Small bits everywhere.  We love them.

Creating these popular charcuterie boards has become quite the thing and frankly I could just do this every night for dinner.  Take a look at some of my favorite elements and the "How To" I created for inspiration.

Now what you need first is a good board.  I prefer vintage, but there they are hard to find.  I snagged a few at Market this year and am having a hard time letting them go.  

I scooped up these beauties for a favorite client for an install we had not too long ago.

Got lucky on Etsy and found a few of these.

One of my favorite vendors does do a collection of boards as wells as other fabulous kitchen goodies.  Take a look.

Get your party food on, and let me know if you have to have one of these !

John Derian - West Side

Hello !

Who fell in love with this 19th century Federal-style home that was, for the most part, falling apart?  John Derian of course.  I receive Cultured Magazine and there as a great bit by Mieke Ten Have from last summer... (here) that tells the story.... 

“Sometimes I get these building crushes,” says John Derian of the row of early 19th-century whitewashed buildings on Christopher Street in the West Village, where he opened an outpost of his East Village design mecca earlier this year. Derian—who started out as a purveyor of glossy decoupage accessories with a charming, if not slightly off kilter, 19th-century spirit—has become the go-to for handmade goods for the home with a romantic touch and a vintage quality.

“Retail is weird. Traffic is down, staffing is hard, but still, I thought, OK, this is meant to be,” he says, describing the space—which he had his eye on for years—as a kind of “divey old pet shop.” With a seashell-embedded fireplace in the back and rear garden, it reminded Derian of his home in Provincetown, while the front he found reminiscent of Astier de Villatte, the cult ceramics atelier in Paris with whom Derian often collaborates.

Derian is a brick-and-mortar bulwark in a retail landscape that shifts as quickly and ominously as quicksand. Since opening the East Village location in 1995, the shop has expanded, as have the makers and categories Derian sells. Whether it be lush and tactile paper flowers by Livia Cetti, whimsical drawings by Hugo Guinness or folkloric silk scarves by Nathalie Lété, Derian has a knack for finding and representing designers that interiors aesthetes fall in love with and glossy magazine editors rapturously cover.

“I have said in the past that I like looking at things. I like that sort of curiosity, and I think we need it in a way. It is an experience going through these handmade, textural things,” he says. “My shop is a destination.”

And that is the ethos of his brand: a store for people who know about it and understand it. His West Village outlet is a continuation of that theme. With 18th-century wainscoting, walls boast a “cracked, peeling patina,” achieved by using three kinds of varnish. A back room has densely patterned floral wallpaper from a collection Derian recently launched with Designers Guild. He also had custom shelving made for the austerely luxurious, milky-white glazed black terracotta Astier de Villatte collections he sells. “There is a sense of history, of authenticity, in this place,” he says.

While Derian is instinctually inclined towards past eras, he’s not in denial of contemporary demands either. “I relaunched my website a month ago; it looks great,” he says. “I had to work with people who understand it because I wasn’t sure how… how do you create a tactile place online?”

In spite of the less-than-rosy Manhattan retail outlook, Derian is optimistic about his new neighborhood. “Feedback has been positive,” he explains, recalling several recent remarks from long-time residents. “They tell me ‘all the shops used to look like this one, and now there are no more.’”

His new place on the West Side (18 Christopher Street) is filled with everything I love and when Kate and I made our way over there on our last day in NY, it took everything I had not to scoop up another big stash.  I really hate shopping on line when it comes to accessories.  I love to touch and feel and if a showroom is this gorgeous I will create a morning around it.  I love to soak up the entire vibe.

This tiny, 500 square foot space is packed to the brim with accessory heaven and I am a bit of a collector.  On each trip to the city I wander in and no doubt leave with something. 

I have had my eye on these and wanted to see in person.  Loved.  Who else loved, my girl Lauren.  Picked two, couldn't resist.

When looking to style up a kitchen, dining .. or just about any surfaces you won't leave empty handed.

Another reason for the visit was to see his new wall paper line with Designers Guild.  I carry that line and was curious ...

John's new line through Designers Guild is so pretty and seeing in person inside his beautiful space made it even more so.  While I can order a sample or get a book, being in the room filled with these textiles it seriously get my wheels turning.

photos (except for a few....  by Stephen  Kent Johnson)

Thanks John for a lovely morning !