Really Beautiful Homes

I love to tour really beautiful homes so on any given Sunday, you might find me at a real estate open house.  The house above is located nearby in Creighton Farms which is a lovely gated community.  Although the home was completed a couple of years ago, it has never been lived in.  The craftmanship of this home is impeccable!  You had me at Habersham kitchen!!   When I asked the listing agent, Lisa Thompson (super friendly, by the way) what she loved about the house, she said there were too many details to list, but that the five fireplaces and multiple outdoor living areas were really what set this house apart. 
This is a golf course community.  The Jack Nicklaus signature golf course is recognized as one of the the premiere golf courses on the Eastern Seaboard.
Even if you can't travel to Leesburg, VA, you can take your own virtual tour here.
Contact Lisa Thompson if you want your own personal showing.
As of today, the home is listed at $2,999,999.

While I was in Creighton Farms, Lisa told me about another listing she had that was a little older but just as beautiful.  This one was in the neighborhood of Beacon Hill, which is also in Leesburg but at the opposite end.

Take the virtual tour here.  And see more photos, here.
If you are looking for a house that is traditional on the outside, but with contemporary touches inside, then this is the house for you!
What was truly striking about this home were the 12 foot ceilings! Even in parts of the basement! The dining room was expansive and light.
The pool area, the patio and the loggia were so inviting, especially in the 100 degree heat we had the day I was there.  This home had a very cool hand painted mural in the bar area and the largest home theatre I have ever seen.  You could host a movie viewing for, I don't know, about 75 people in there.  There was also a great bonus room over the garage which was a perfect teen hangout.
The home is listed at $1,699,000.
Contact Lisa Thompson.

The Finishing Touch

We added the finishing touch to this room.  A pillow made of Duralee fabric. 

Actually, two pillows did the trick.  This one is a bolster we call a Tootsie Roll.

It looks great on this extra long sectional!
Bolster fabric also by Duralee.

The Palladian Shelf - my new bff!

My new BFF is not very photogenic.  You will have to wait for the sequel to this story to see her real loveliness.
Have you ever had a Palladian window - a half circle over a rectangle - that needed covering? And then you realized that there was no piece of wood moulding to install the shade to?  Lots of newer Palladians have a mere piece of vinyl separating the top from the bottom.  If you have a window treatment that can't be installed into the sides of the window, you are in trouble.
This has happened to me before and it always seems to be in 2-story foyers or over bathtubs where the installation is more difficult to begin with.
Enter the Palladian shelf!

This beauty comes in several colors and stains or unfinished so you can customize the color yourself.

First you install this bracket horizontally on each side of your window where you want the shelf to go.

You can see where the shelf is notched to go around the bracket.  You just slide it on!

Side view of a shelf that has been slid on to the bracket.

And that's it. The shelf is extremely sturdy.  Now you can install the window treatment to the underside of the shelf.  In my case, I will be installing to both the underside AND the top. Stay tuned!
I think there could be plenty of other creative applications for this shelf.  Let me know what you think!
Shelf is from Graber.

A little inspiration

word.

Wine Shelf

We don't know what to call it, so it has become the Wine Shelf by default.

German made by a former Brit (he Brexited??) out of wine crates from the Bordeaux region of France.  It has a rustic wood top and whisper quiet slide out drawers. 
We started calling it the Wine Storage but we are not storing wine it it - although you could.

Here in the studio we are storing fabric samples. The top is perfect for laying out design schemes.
These wine shelves are available for order in all shapes and sizes. Some are double sided and make a great kitchen island. Some even have wheels. Let me know if you need me.  I assure you, you do!

Small project - Big impact

Watch what happens when you choose gorgeous fabrics.

This was a very small project that we finished yesterday.  My client needed a finishing touch for her newly renovated basement.  It turns out all she needed were some pillows to tie two seating areas together.
She was befuddled by this mishmash of pillows on her leather sofa. (There, I said it: befuddled.)

An adjoining seating area of four chairs circling a round table looked stark.

We had one blue and brown pillow made from a graphic chenille from Clarke & Clarke and four pillows were created with a chic metallic printed velvet from Kravet. We tied them together using the same Kravet metallic beaded trim in a copper color.We chose copper to coordinate with the trim detail underneath the bar. (see the bar behind the sofa in the first photo) We used down pillow inserts.

 Kravet trim: T30638 - color 66

For the leather sofa we removed all the pillows and simply put two slate blue velvet pillows the client owned back on, topped by the blue/brown pillow. There was already so much symmetry going on in the space so we only used that one extra pillow.
We placed the four lumbar pillows on the white chairs. Voila!  Much more inviting!

Check out the hide rug under the coffee table.  Beautiful!

Pairing Wine with Furniture (huh?)

Last week I took a whirlwind 30-hour trip to New York City to attend an event where wine was to be paired with furniture.  Imagine!  I couldn't. So I had to see it for myself.
The event was held at the Flatiron Design Collective on West 21st St. (There was a minor snafu when I received 2 separate email confirmations with 2 separate addresses, but I am not easily beaten by that sort of thing.)  The Flatiron Design Collective is comprised of 3 different businesses that share a showroom.
The first is JLCreate, which is John Lyle's company.  I had to pleasure of meeting and talking with John and learning just a little bit about his design process.  He designs luxury furnishings and accessories and approaches design with a sculptor's eye.

 John Lyle and Cleo the dog.  Fromental wallcovering behind us and in the small office.

It was fascinating to learn the different mediums (media?) he works in:  metal (all kinds of finishes), wood, shagreen, glazed linen in all kinds of colors, tobacco leaves and cow bone.  COW BONE, you say?  Yes, it sounds so strange but John mostly uses it as an inlay.  It looked a bit like ivory.  And tobacco leaves?  I asked him if he was from Virginia, and he said no, Mississippi. The tobacco had the look of veneered wood on table tops.  It was all gorgeous. You've heard of a bed of nails? Well here is a table made of nails:

 JL Create table made of nails.  CL Curated rug.

Underneath the table is a rug from CL Curated, which designs and creates site specific rugs.  I wish I had learned more about CL Curated while I was there.  The samples were beautiful, in rich graphics and saturated colors.
The third collection in the Collective was Fromental, maker of swoonworthy handmade wallpapers and fabrics.  The pictures do not do this collection justice.  Think about silk, which is hand painted and then hand embroidered. After paper backing it, it is applied to the wall.   Some of the embroideries included beads, making a unique 3-D wallcovering that is truly a work of art!

On to the wine pairing!  Adam Japko of Esteem Media led this unique presentation.  Adam writes the blog Wine Zag (click here) He's a super friendly guy whom I've met several times before.  Adam has a open minded approach to wine tasting, with an easy going curiosity.

 Adam Japko discussing a slide.  Fromental wallcovering in the background.  All furniture and accessories by JL Create.

He was sent several pictures of John Lyle's furniture to which he had to assign a wine. So, unlike pairing wine with food, he tried to assign wines that spoke the same language or had a similar quality to a piece of furniture.  His insights were engaging and dynamic. For instance he paired a wine with a specific table because they both "make you think".  (I think he meant they were complex.)  In any case, the whole event "made me think".  So many elements of any art form, be it furniture making, painting, wine making, sculpture, music or food, are similarly described. They conjure emotion.
Elizabeth Ralls, Editor in Chief of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyle magazine was also on hand to show examples from the pages of the magazine for the various styles of furniture.
Here are the wines we tasted:

I wish that I had the slides to show you what was paired with what.  But I wouldn't remember anyway! I was a little preoccupied drinking the wine!
Click on the links to see some truly inspirational people and products.
CL Curated
JL Create
Fromental