When it Could be a Don't No. 11 - Chippendale Meets Parsons

Talk about a May-December match-up! A 1930's Modernist table with a 18th Century chair is a match-up even the best dating website couldn't accomplish and I love it! This could be a don't but aren't we lucky to count ourselves rule breakers?

The Chinese Chippendale chair was inspired by designs of cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale from the 18th Century. And according to an article in the New York Times, "Jean-Michel Frank challenged students at the Paris campus of the Parsons School of Art & Design to design a table so basic that it would retain its integrity whether sheathed in gold leaf, mica, parchment, split straw, or painted burlap, or even left robustly unvarnished. What grew our of Frank's sketches and the students' participation was initially called the T-square table."

What gives this pairing inspiration is the way either of these pieces handsomely carries a boldly painted finish in a high gloss lacquer or a traditional unassuming white or black.

Stay tuned for some more Chinese Chippendale love from an architectural perspective!

Image Sources: House Beautiful, Design to Inspire, Pinterest, Sarah Richardson, Southern Living 

Garden Design No. 23 - The Garden Gate

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.

-Henry David Thoreau

I believe beyond a garden gate one such path exists. I think my love for a beautiful garden gate comes from my love of secret passages in a home. I love wonderful secrets. What wonderful secrets a garden gate holds while closed.

What a delight the anticipation when you approach a garden gate and the delight you experience when you open it. 

Whether the tucked away secret is a garden with a walking path or a relaxing seating area for good friends the garden gate is a welcome entrance. 

The interruption of a fence or brick wall with a garden gate is fun! And the style, shape, color, iron or wood adds your personality. Rock it out! Show that personality!

Just when I think I have found my dream "some day" garden gate I come across another beauty!

Imagine giving directions to your home..."and when you come to the prettiest garden gate you ever saw...".

Image Sources: Atlanta Home, Central Virginia Home Magazine, Leith Hall Garden, Pinterest, Tumbler, Fence Workshop, Victorian Ruralist

Be Inspired No. 82 - Where Are You Running To?

An unassuming man stands on a street corner and gazes up at the sky. It doesn't take long for this man to have others join him in curiosity. What wonder has he spied? This is what the great placement of a artful rug runner in a home's space reminds me of. It draws the eye towards something. Maybe we asked "where are you running to?" 

Where are you leading me? What wonder does your path lead me to? 

How often have you walked down your hallway or into your kitchen or come into your back door from errands and missed this great opportunity to add art to your floors? 

We all know the hallway is a great place for our art collection or family picture collages. Let's finish the area so these things aren't portrayed as a forgotten design project on our list to complete. By adding a rug runner we are enhancing the space, taking it beyond a passageway to other areas of the home, or to our kitchen sink, or a place to drop our keys.

Why wait until we reach the other areas of our home where we paid more attention to detail to feel a welcome warm hello? This hello can be subtle, but I say be brave! Choose boldly so this warm hello also brings a smile! Break any rules you thought existed, with the exception of size. 

Move practicality to the bottom of the list. Don't fool yourself into thinking you don't care what the rug runner looks like because it's practical. It is no different than saying I don't care what these shoes look like because they are comfortable. The fact is there are pretty shoes that are comfortable and there are pretty rugs that are practical. If you look at a rug runner as a foot wipe you have just put yourself in a box of limitedness.

Challenge yourself to look at a rug runner as art and your selection will delight long term. 

So what curiosities are your rug runners leading us to? Set the tone. Use every space by designing with intention. Don't let let any area go unnoticed. 

Image Sources: Home Bunch, Safavieh, Pinterest, Atlanta Home, Elle Decor

Rethinking the Look of Things No. 56 - Not Your White Shiplap

I am not one to fall in love with design trends. Honestly, once something is put in the "trend" category I give it a precautionary red flag. I've seen things come and things go and when this happens it can date a home's space in what seems like an instant. It says "oh you are one of those that got caught up in that design trend." Don't get me wrong, a home needs to evolve just as we evolve. But the best story of a home are those pieces that stick with the evolution. A good writer doesn't throw away a past best seller because they write a new best seller, their works define them. So does our home.

So I look at design trends and think about how to make them timeless. I look at trends and think about how they can be transformed into timeless layers in our homes. In this post I am putting the shiplap trend to the test of timelessness. 

What I believe will date the shiplap trend is quite simply a white paint color. As the saying goes, it really isn't rocket science. It is careful consideration when hopping on the design trend train. If you are going to do it make sure you know what lays ahead when the trend fizzles. Trends always fizzle. Pay attention and do everything in your home with intention of classic, timeless investment.

So if you have fallen in love with the shiplap look for your home and you have considered it's addition as you would with any other wood moulding and the architectural effects it will give; then my only other recommendation is give as much thought to what color it will be painted. So you may think if I am asking you to think of shiplap as other wood mouldings then what is wrong with painting it white? 

The majority of the time I would be the first to recommend painting wood mouldings white, but not always. I also love when the walls and trim are painted the same color - and when I say color I mean a color other than white. Have a vision for not only what you love now, but what will my home's layers over time mean for this current design trend I am drawn to. 

Let me say, I love shiplap in moderation. What I really love is shiplap painted a great accent color. So pick the perfect space, put self control into action, and select a easy to work with accent color that gives a great palette to layer the rest of your story. Your bestseller. 

Image Sources: Phoebe Howard, Traditional Home, Pinterest, Home Bunch