Day 626's aspiration

Yesterday (thanks to this story from Country Living), I stumbled into The Product Gallery, a beautiful e-commerce site with new and vintage items for the table, home and garden. The collection and the photography is just stunning -- I had to share (hint: mouse over the menu card on the photo to see the collection -- it took me a while to get that!).

The Product Gallery is the work of Lynn Butler Beling, a "freelance editorial consultant" whose work can be seen in Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, InStyle. She has personally edited and selected the collection and I think it is just lovely -- proof that the most everyday items can be beautiful. Have a look:

Photos by Sang An, Styling by Lynn Butler Beling

Day 591's favorite architect

Photo by Phil Mansfield for The New York Times

Several bloggers posted recently about a Greek Revival house built to look old in Dutchess County, New York (read the write-up in The New York Times and be sure to check out the slide show of interior images). Manhattan architect Gil Schafer designed his house (built in 1999) to blend in with its 150-year-old neighbors after a three-year house hunt turned up nothing but out-of-budget mansions in need of a remodel. I love this concept, and especially love that seems to be gaining popularity.

Photo from New Old House magazine

My favorite architect is Russell Versaci, whose book Creating a New Old House outlines what he calls the "Pillars of Traditional Design," a set of principles for architects and homeowners to use to create new, authentic traditional architecture.

A devout lover of old homes, his new houses are some of my all-time favorites. Especially this one, called Fall Creek Farm, in Damascus, Maryland. The main house is stone, while the addition is stucco and the guest house is clapboard, giving the impression that the house was added to over time.

In this latest book, Roots of Home, he explores the "old-world influences" that have shaped American architecture, and talks about building green with an eye to tradition.

Julie Cole Miller of Southern Accents recently asked him about his own house, and I loved what he had to say: "I live in a tiny 1740s Virginia German stone farmhouse, the original home on an old farm that now sits right on the fairway of a golf course. It’s 1,600 square feet with well-worn heart-pine floors, beamed ceilings, and cast-iron rim locks, and nothing is plumb or square. I’m in traditionalist heaven. When I moved there 10 years ago, I thought it would be a temporary roost until my fiancée and I could find a large, gracious old Southern home, or the right land on which to build. But that hasn’t happened yet, and, actually, it’s been a blessing. Our ideas of what we need and want in a house have changed a lot in the past decade."

Day 557's new series: designer profile

Today I'm beginning a new series, of sorts, profiling designers I love. You'll probably know many of them, but I'm hoping I can uncover some folks who might be new to some of you. I think it will be fun. First up is Mary Evelyn McKee, who works out of Birmingham, Alabama (where we live!).

I was first introduced to her work exactly two years ago this week, when I started an internship at Southern Accents. Her Birmingham home was featured in the issue that was on newsstands at the time (January-February 2007). Her style is decidedly traditional, always gracious and warm, but at closer inspection, is layered with interesting things.


Her bedroom is one of my favorites. The Fortuny-covered bed (brought from an earlier home -- more on that later) looks so fresh against the walls upholsterd in Peter Dunham's Udaipur.


Wall-to-wall seagrass covers the floor, and a pretty trumeau is propped above the fireplace (oh, the luxury!). In the mirror you can see that a lantern hangs from the ceiling. And I'm sure you can imagine how much I just love that little Udaipur-covered chair -- there was a great shot of it in the magazine.


This kitchen is quite sleek when compared to her earlier work. It seems she is getting away from the super-traditional look, and adding more modern pieces. I love the juxtaposition against her typically-English antiques.


In the dining room, a Chippendale dining set looks great against what looks like raw or pickled wood (the magazine does not list the finish).


Maybe you have seen this image before, as I have seen it scattered around blogland probably twenty times! It is usually attributed to Cottage Living (because it can be found in an application on CottageLiving.com), but it was actually photographed for Southern Accents and is the entry of Mary Evelyn's previous home (also in Birmingham).


The Normandy-style house was finished much more elegantly than her latest home, which I prefer.


Here's the same Chippendale dining set, looking much more formal.


In the kitchen you can really see the evolution of her style. This is quite pretty (and is another blogland favorite) but is very, very different than the Bulthaup kitchen in the new house.


And here's her Fortuny-covered bed again, with the same bedside tables, too. Which do you like better?


Southern Accents must really like her work, as she was chosen to design their Birmingham showhouse (in 2005, I think). The house was featured in the November-December issue, which explains the holiday decorations (which I do know where created by Ray Jordan of Flower Buds here in town). It's a bit hard to tell here, but that nook behind the bench is upholstered and then finished with nailhead trim -- love it! Love this whole room, really.


I love how comfortable and collected this feels. It definitely doesn't have the feel of a showhouse that you couldn't come into and prop up your feet.


Okay, scratch my previous statement, this is my favorite bedroom of all time (blue, of course!). Just enough modern, just enough traditional, just enough perfection. Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to go tone-on-tone-on-tone like this -- even the door, moldings, and ceiling is blue!


Love the double front doors and big lantern in the entry, and the diagonal stripe on the carpet in this eating nook.


Here's another modern kitchen, one that is rumored to have caused a stir in halls of Southern Accents. The wood beams on the ceiling humble it a little, I think.


Are you still with me? I know this is getting a bit long, but I couldn't go without showing you this gorgeous bath! Her Web site says this bath is in a "Twenties Tudor" but she did something really similar with a screen in that showhouse. She definitely knows a good thing when she finds it, and she's not afraid to repeat. I also love that she created two identical vanities instead of one massive one.


Here's a bit more from that Twenties Tudor -- of which there are plenty in Birmingham. One of her favorite accent colors seems to be red, a happy coincidence in a house with a red maple by the front door!


If you just can't get enough -- like me -- stop by her Homewood shop (see what I mean about the red?). It's filled with beautiful art, to-die-for custom upholstery, and really fantastic accessories -- like my fun antique bells.

Mary Evelyn Interiors
2815A 18th Street South
Homewood, Alabama 35209

http://www.maryevelyn.com/