Help Me Find Mirror

I have decided that I "need" a small-ish round mirror over our four-poster bed. There are two egg prints there now, but it's a few too many right angles and I'm thinking of moving them. I don't think I want a sunburst (I think I'm at capacity with three in the house), but maybe a small convex? The one in my mind would have an iron frame, like the one in my dining room. So if this one were round and not oval, it would be perfect! Anyone seen this mirror?

Photo: Kelly Proxmire.

Lanterns in Bedrooms

I adore the lantern in our dining room, and have given it a spot on the short list of things I will want to grab should our house catch on fire. (It's morbid to have such a list, I know.) It's definitely coming with us to our next house, where the trouble will be choosing a room to put it in. Over a small dining table? Yes. Living room? Yes. Bedroom? Also, yes!





Photos: Mary Evelyn Interiors as seen in Southern Accents; Anne Coyle Interiors, photographed by Robbie Caponetto for Cottage Living; unknown source via Little Green Notebook; photographed by Roger Davies for Cottage Living; unknown source via Cote de Texas.

Day 1031's Week in Pictures: Noticing Color

Lovely colors on this dry-stacked stone wall. The rusty orange with the blue-gray particularly caught my eye.


Pretty black door and brass handle on a local storefront. Still dying to paint something black ...


It is super-green at our house. The dogwood blossoms have faded, the azaleas are on their way out, and the green of summer is taking over. Not that I'm complaining. My hydrangeas are starting to think about blooming -- I'm so glad I didn't kill them!

FrogTape Giveaway Winner

The winner of a goody bag from FrogTape is #71, Nichole! Congratulations, and a big thanks to everyone who entered.

I'm really, really looking forward to this weekend. That is all.

Happy Weekend!

Photo is Liz Williams Interiors.

Inspired by: Small Metal Side Tables

I really don't have a place (or in some cases, the budget) for one, but I'm loving small brass (or otherwise gold-toned) side tables, like this Directoire-style beauty in Tia Zoldan's Hollywood cottage (you can see the rest of the house - one of my favorites! - here). A couple of other favorites:


Crate & Barrel's Jules table is one of a few things on my perma-list.


Round gilded iron Martini Table at Mecox Gardens. Presumably called so because a martini is about all it will hold. But isn't it cute?!


Jonathan Tall Round Table by Oly Studio


Round Swan's Neck Marble Table at Mecox Gardens

Giveaway!

The nice folks at FrogTape have a package for one lucky reader! I gave it a try in February when I painted windows and was very pleased. I'll be calling on its paint block technology again soon to help me paint the crown in our bedroom -- should be fun!

If you'd like a few rolls of your own (and a few fun goodies!) leave one comment on this post by Friday, April 23, 2010 at midnight Central Time telling us what you would do with it. One winner will be chosen at random. Good luck!

Color Palette Inspiration

I love the story in the May issue of Martha Stewart Living on decorating with color. The selected 18 colors and dubbed them "super-neutrals" and then decorated five rooms with them. The palettes are a combination of contrast and tone-on-tone. I tend to use more tone-on-tone, so it's nice to be reminded that contrast can be very beautiful too, and doesn't have to mean black and white, or a similarly stark combination (the yellow and blue below is one example).

Here are the paint colors:
1. Buoyant Blue, No. 6483, Sherwin-Williams.
2. Dragonfly, No. AF-510, Benjamin Moore.
3. Gray Horse, No. 2140-50, Benjamin Moore.
4. Blue Fir, No. MSL124, Martha Stewart Living Paint.
5. Cooking Apple Green, No. 32, Farrow & Ball.
6. Titanium, No. 2141-60, Benjamin Moore.
7. Punch, No. MSL014, Martha Stewart Living Paint.
8. Stonington Gray, No. HC-170, Benjamin Moore.
9. Babouche, No. 223HC-170, Farrow & Ball.
10. Heath, No. MSL212, Martha Stewart Living Paint.
11. Natural Twine, No. MSL217, Martha Stewart Living Paint.
12. Lancaster Blue, No. UL34, Ralph Lauren Paint.
13. Makaha, No. 19-32, Pratt & Lambert.

You can get a printable version of the paint palette here.






Speaking of paint, Benjamin Moore retailers in the Southeast are offering free color samples. Great for a testing out a color or a small project (say, a couple of picture frames). Visit benjaminmoore.com to download your coupon and get a complete list of participating dealers.

Day 1024: Week in Pictures

This isn't so much the week in pictures as it's five-minutes-on-Tuesday-evening in pictures. I got home in time to see the setting sun looking so, so lovely on the azalea in the peak of their bloom. By the time I changed out of my work heels and grabbed the step ladder (one of them has got to be six-feet tall!), the light (above) was all but gone. I still managed a few nice shots, I think.

From an Old Friend

Those of you who loved and miss Southern Accents magazine will be happy to see a special-interest publication called The Best Southern Rooms on the newsstands until mid-July. I was glad to see some of my old and new favorites on glossy pages again, and all in one place, to boot.

And since words can be just as inspiring -- if not more so -- as images, I am happy to share some quotes by the designers included. Unless noted, none of the quotes correspond to the rooms here, but, you get the idea.

"I style a room the same way I would put together an outfit. My living room is like a classic suit worn with an outrageous shirt. I covered the pillows with vintage Pucci scarves and mixed them with a traditional sofa and antique French chairs." - Kim Zimmerman


"As far as I'm concerned, you can have a $20,000 chest and put a $2 trinket on it. I like to turn a corner and find something unexpected." - Betty Burgess (on the room above)


"In the end, all I hoped for was that every room was fit for flopping with a good book, that no table was beyond a convenient reach to rest a flute of Champagne, nor any fabric too fine for a favorite bulldog or nephew." - Patrick Dunne (love him and this quote, especially)


"I love to create patterns and textures by accumulating things in front of each other, building layer upon layer. And the great thing about it is that it's all things I truly love." - Richard Holley (on the room above)

"I take on each design process like an actor takes on a role in a movie. I start with the background, the history, and then add personality, memories, and color." - Jackye Lanham

"It's more interesting when there is something that doesn't quite fit." - Rachel Mbiango

"I never buy things for a particular place or purpose. I buy something because I like it, and then I find a place for it. It doesn't matter whether it's expensive or rare -- I just have to love it." - Dianne Cash

"I don't like a traditional room to feel dated or stale. It should feel fresh." - Barbara Westbrook



"A room should look like it evolved over time. It's about traveling and collecting personal things. A house should not look decorated or predictable." - Amelia Handegan

All photos appear in the book. Photographers are: William Waldron, Pieter Estersohn, Tria Giovan, Antoine Bootz, Michael Arnaud, and Eric Piasecki.

More of My Faucet

Now I'm seeing "my faucet" (or a version of it) everywhere I go. Look closely, it's there.




Photos: first two, Helen Norman; third, Mary Evelyn Interiors.

Where I've Been

It's only April, but I can already feel the summer busy season beginning. And even when I am home, I've been spending more and more time outside enjoying the beautiful weather. In other words, not in front of my computer. Last week I discovered these darling weeds growing in our grass-less backyard.


They seem very happy next to my kitchen sink.


Over the weekend, I went to Tennessee to help Baby Sister throw a camp-out cook-out for one of her friends. The budget for decorating the party was Zero, so Middle Sister and I joined forces to make it special. Dad clipped red bud and dogwood from the woods on his property, and we put them in big glass vases (the biggest of which I didn't get a photo of).


And of course there were lanterns and lots of candles. FYI, dogwood blooms don't do so well out of water.


The party was at my Dad's cabin. He recently added this pretty Empire dresser to the bedroom, where it seems equally out of place and so right at home.

What have you been up to?

Day 1014's pretty

I'm headed to Tennessee to do some major porch-sitting and battery-recharging. Mine, that is. I hope I don't so much as see a battery or anything battery-operated for the next three days!

Happy Weekend!

Photo: James Braigrie Photography

Day 1013

It's raining today, but I don't mind at bit if it will wash this dreadful pollen away for a minute.


And if it gives my pansies a respite from the heat and perks them back up.


And if it coaxes the irises, the azalea, and the lilac into bloom.


Lord, thank you for the rain! It's just what we needed.

Photos: Country Living, Simon Upton for Elle Decor, Eddie Ross, Anne Coyle in Cottage Living.