Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Wonderful White Kitchens















Image 1 Southern Living
Images 2 & 6 Traditional Home
Images 3, 4 & 5 House Beautiful
Image 7 Interiorholic

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Potting Rooms

I could use a room like this!  I wouldn't mind having a designated space for filling my vases and repotting plants.  It just makes life so much simpler when there is a place for everything.  It would be even nicer to have a spot to store my vases and containers. 

What about you?  Do you like any of these potting rooms?  Sometimes, these rooms are standalone or combined with a mud room or laundry room.  Such a simple concept, but I have only ever seen them in magazines.  They could so easily be incorporated in new homes. 

By the way, two of them are by Charlotte Moss.......can you guess which ones?












Images 1 & 2 Traditional Home
Image 3 Window and Wall
Images 4, 5 & 7 House Beautiful
Image 6 Pinterest





Monday, September 12, 2011

Charlotte Moss

Charlotte Moss........many superlatives would describe her designs, but I'll let you decide which ones to use....there are so many!

Charlotte is a New York based interior designer who has been in the business for twenty-five years.  I can't recall when I first saw her room designs......many years ago.  But, I have been a faithful follower ever since.  And when I see a Charlotte Moss room, I still stop in my tracks.

I own and have read several of her interior design books in which she often features her own homes.....summer, winter and permanent residences in the city and the country.  She is fearless when designing a room and while she does not hesitate to mix her fabrics, colors, carpets and furniture, it is her accessorizing that is so masterful.

While I love all of the above mixing and matching, her accessorizing is key.  She not only personalizes her spaces for her own homes, but manages to do the same for every room she completes, whether for a client or a showhome, and makes her spaces as welcoming as if the room had been there forever and is just waiting for someone to come in, sit down and have a cup of tea. 

And that must come from her southern upbringing in Virginia where she was so influenced by her grandmother......that welcoming hospitality just comes through in everything she does.  And it's all in the details. 

She achieves that by ensuring that the homeowners are surrounded by their collections of art, books, whatnots - things they love and appreciate and are sentimental about.......as she says, collections make a statement and are "as honest as a diary".

Enjoy!

Kips Bay Bedroom
Kips Bay Bedroom
Kips Bay Bedroom Bed
Look how she has pulled this room together - red patterned carpet, floral linens,
green and cream furniture and a geometric design on the drapes - gorgeous!

Charlotte's latest book with cover showing
bedroom shown in Images 1, 2 & 3

Foyer table

One of Charlotte's own beds
Gorgeous chair detail

Wallscape and tablescape
"One print is nice, but seven make a statement"
- Charlotte Moss

A Moss living room with chinoiserie panels

A Moss guest room

This has to be my all time favorite bedroom
Looking through the canopy to the fireplace
Tea table and comfortable chair by fireplace
Pastel blues, pink, green and white

Wouldn't you agree that her rooms are inviting?

All photos via Charlotte Moss and Traditional Home







Friday, September 09, 2011

Loving the Art of Lindee Climo

As promised a few days ago, here is some more information on the wonderful animal art of Nova Scotia artist, Lindee Climo.

It was only last weekend, when I acquired one of her oils called Bath Dust at a fundraising auction, that I remembered I had a copy of her children's book, Chester's Barn, which was published back in 1982. 

Lindee is an American who settled here on Prince Edward Island (where I now live) back in 1970.  Having grown up in California, she bred and exhibited purebred Suffolk sheep and an assortment of beef cattle, rabbits and birds.  She became a self taught artist of these animals before studying for a career as a medical illustrator.

After graduation, she travelled the world and recorded her sojourns with ink drawings.  During her travels, she met the man who would become her husband and moved to New Brunswick, his home province.  After some time in New Brunswick, they moved to Prince Edward Island and lived and worked with animals here for many years while she established herself as an international artist whose work is now in worldwide private, public and corporate collections and galleries, as well as being included in the Osborne Collection of Early Children's Book Illustrations.

Lindee paints in the style of the Old Renaissance Masters and is inspired by the animals she so loves and has surrounded herself with during her life.  She is now remarried and resides in Nova Scotia.

Below are just a few of her works.  She is represented by the Mira Godard Gallery in Toronto and you can see more of her art on her website http://lindeeclimo.com/.

Enjoy and have a great weekend.

Dust Bath

Children's book published 1982

Fern

Holstein oxen

Oxen team

Study of expressions

Teaberry

Study of Tess

Images 1 & 2 Kay Furlong
The rest via Mira Godard Gallery





Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Colorful Kitchens

Traditional

Cottage

Traditional

French country look

Swedish

Traditional

French country look

Images 1, 4, 5 & 6 House Beautiful
Image 2 Better Homes and Gardens,
Image 3 Diamond Baratta
Image 7 Country Living

Monday, September 05, 2011

Dust Bath

Here we are enjoying the dog days of summer with the most wonderful weather we have had in many months.....it seems September has become my favorite month for that very reason.

And so it was, on a sunny, warm early Saturday evening past that my husband and I enjoyed a fund raising gala at the exquisite home of local entrepreneur Danny Murphy and his wife, Martie.  The evening was spent enjoying cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, a fund raising auction for the benefit of the local Joyriders Club, and wonderful entertainment by musician extraordinaire, Matt Anderson. 

To top off such an unforgettable evening, thanks to my very generous husband, I came home with a gift that will make me smile every day for the rest of my life.....and all I have to do is look at it.  I have placed it strategically near our breakfast table, so it will be just about the first thing I see each morning. 

'It' is this painting called 'Dust Bath' by our own east coast, world famous artist, Lindee Climo.  (As readers of this blog know, I feature my favorite artists on Fridays, so please watch this Friday for more Lindee Climo art and information).

I think you will see why I fell in love with this painting.....even if I weren't already a collector of vintage children's book illustrations, I would have been completely taken with this image......

I hope you will enjoy it, as well!






Friday, September 02, 2011

Suite Dreams in Serene Green












Images 1, 3, 4 & 6 Better Homes and Gardens
Image 2 Architectural Digest, Image 5 Colonial Homes


Thursday, September 01, 2011

A Southampton Home by Meg Braff

This is a pretty house with interior designs by Meg Braff.

Since the house is located in East Hampton, New York, I immediately thought the color scheme was based on the surrounding scene of sky and ocean (blue), sand (sisal, toile and stripes in master bedroom) and the natural third accent color would have been yellow to represent the sun.  But, I was wrong.

As I perused the images, I saw the third accent color was green.  Aha!  Never assume anything!

As I read the interview with the designer, I realized it was the living room painting over the fireplace from which she drew her colors.  It's one of her favorite 1960's Swedish artists, Gustav Bolin, whose works she collects.  Although the clients were at first hesitant about the painting, Meg convinced them to try it for a month and they were thrilled with the final results.

And therein lies the secret of easy color combinations by designers.  I've heard it over and over again......if you are not sure where to start with a room color scheme, use a favorite piece of art, fabric or colorful carpet.....after all, the artists and designers of all of these items are master colorists.    

We all know that the artist, Matisse, is famous as a master colorist, so I was intrigued to read some time ago, that he used fabrics of the time to gather his color schemes.  Interesting!!

Enjoy!











All images via House Beautiful