Yes! Progress Report on Makeover!

I'm so excited to report that we are now ready to set the date for painting our bedroom makeover! No surprise, one of my favorite colors: SW Quietude. A soft, lovely grayed blue that wraps you in soft, quiet thoughts. Suzanne, you're going to love this one! If time permitted, I'd be having my own bedroom on the painting schedule for the same color, it's a tried and true favorite.

This is what our work surface looked like as we began to narrow down the selections! As you can see, lots of choices and lots of inspiration. I love the green accent pillow and the cotton duvet with the modern twist! The colors are all coming together. This is a good example of the importance of not stressing over the "exact match" of every color. While we don't want to have colors that fight each other, there needs to be some blend and some part of the picture that is unexpected so as not to make it predictable and boring. Now this combo is anything but boring!

For some time, Suzanne has not been able to put my "Charleston pallet" out of her mind. This pallet was developed for our Sullivan's Island project long before it was trend...making it a much more challenging design at the time! I haven't tired of it, and prior to the Sullivan's Island project, my own basement was the first to use this delightful color scheme. It is a true breath of fresh air, happy and bright without wearing on the eyes.

So, here goes! We're off. Sneelock has been put on task for the painting. Suzanne and I will most likely dig in to the furniture painting and orders will begin to fly!

We selected an upholstered headboard with a soft arch to anchor the focal point. Suzanne's husband,Joerg (way cute German man!) was a great supportive and agreeable addition, adding his opinions to the mix. I think we have a winner and we're on our way! It should get exciting fast.

Here is one of the Robert Allen patterns that Suzanne selected. The colors don't show up exactly correct here, but the blend is great and the bonus---she loves leaves!!

I brought a fabric book with the general pallet of colors and she choose the patterns that spoke to her heart.

Here is one of the coordinates, also a Robert Allen fabric. The scale is larger and very Jacobean in nature. I recall her saying that she liked Jacobean florals very early in the project, so this is a great find!

This is a shot of the overall pattern on the larger scale print.

One of the surprises in our design turned out to be the development of a more casual, summery collection (the more modern floral pattern) and the more wintry, slightly more traditional look of the later floral. Both florals go with the aqua and green color story. The summery, lighter one will use a soft white coverlet and the more wintry Jacobean floral will use a grey/blue matlesee coverlet found at one of the off-price retailers. Using our budgets wisely, we have been able to come up with two seasonal looks on the same wave-length!

And, by the way, Suzanne and have established a budget of $5000.00 for furniture, paint , lamps, accessories, and art. We're on our way! I'll be posting our progress, so check back and let us know how you feel about the design as we go.

Vail Style Sightings.....or not!

A walk through the quaint village of Vail, Colorado proved to be filled with a myriad of style sightings. The Village is fairly quiet this time of year, not in the throws of the season yet. Shopkeepers, groundskeepers, and UPS men alike indulged us in photo ops, as you will see!


A wonderful shop called "Cos Bar" was filled with beautiful pallets of lip glosses, eye shadows and all manner of enticing finds. Considering my entire family inherited what we call "the primping gene", it was a find to be sure.

Across from the Cos Bar, my daughter Michelle shot this great example of style documenting these coral windows, awning and shutters. So cute. Such style.

I paused to ask the local UPS delivery man if his hat was standard UPS issue! He indulged me in this photo quite willingly (!) and, the answer was "yes" having to do with sunburn protection. I intend to ask Fran (local BES delivery man) when he will be bringing his out!

Yes, even Vail has been struck with the "PEACE" trend! You may recall I documented the beginning of such last January after my winter buying trip. So, PEACE to all.

In an oh-so-cute yarn shop, we spotted countless examples of style! Color and textiles together always speak to my design heart. Skeins of fine yarn were abundant and most fulfilling to sort through and select favorites.

In the same shop, we came across these plastic tubes of buttons! Most of you know that I have a real penchant for buttons, old and new. I couldn't resist purchasing pairs of several of my favorites. The shopkeeper was delightful and fun to chat with. We mused together over the joys of retail

Another collection of beautiful texture and color in the yarns my niece, Emily was knitting with. I composed a photo of our perfectly wound balls as she began her work. Great color selection, Emily!

And to end with, my example of "or not" style!! Bear carvings and sculptures seem to be a favorite of the local residents. This one we found to be particularly spooky.....I guess style cannot be everywhere. We deemed him "werebear."
All in all, a very stylish visit has come to an end. We did do a good bit of stylish cooking while we were here. Link to my daughter, Michelle's recipe blog for more information on that!

Goodbye, Vail. Hello to Bucks County soon. I'm looking forward to getting back to sea level. Not so much to getting back to normal life.

Over another mountain!

Last week, I felt quite a sense of accomplishment having sorted and gone through each individual fabric book in my design studio, one by one. If I were to estimate that I may have all of 3000 books in my resource library, I would most likely be under stating the number of selections.

Each season, approximately 2-3 times per year, the fabric vendors send their new collections which consist of anywhere from 4-8 books , showing the new trends, color pallets and patterns. As I sorted and thumbed through each book, my work slowed. Many of the collections go back to 2002. So, you can see how easy it is to amass an overgrown library. So easy to collect, so difficult to delete!

Naturally, there are many favorites from past projects. There are those that I have always wanted to find a project for, those that I have suggested that have been rejected, those that are far too expensive for real life, and those that are too outlandish in color or pattern for the average homeowner.

Having felt quite accomplished in sorting my resources, I was not happy to have to review them all, after securing a small space for additional design studio space. I was happy to realize that if I were willing to tackle this one more time, I could select my favorites---with great objectivity, I might add--to stock this small space.

Let me just give you a visual of this fabric mountain...

Gaze upon one area.....

Yet another stack...

Still another corner of the room (and there's more than this!)

I suppose it's easy now to see what a task it is to review each and every book, and more difficult still to decide the few that will make the cut to the smaller space. Oh my.


Much like sorting my trim books, the fabric books drew large raves and/or a quick toss aside. I just couldn't resist documenting some of my favorites....or not!


I began several nights ago by sorting several categories, i.e. favorite linens, best velvet selections, most revered mohairs, and stacked them into separate piles. While reviewing the linens tonight, I came across this new book sent by Lee Jofa. First of all, I love monograms on anything, and this is a generic monogram! Put it on 100% Belgium natural linen, and it's hard to beat! Pillows, valances, custom bedding, even draperies.

As I turned a few pages, I came across this one! Almost like an alphabet primer!

When I spotted it again in a pale robin-egg blue, I knew the camera must come out! I love linen!



Just when I was swooning about the linen alphabet, I came across this linen polka dot! What is it about linen, anyway?!

This cocoa, green,charcoal and chartreuse just made my heart sing!

.....no need to think twice about tossing this one into the discard pile! Flame stitch, ugh.

I had to keep this in the "must have" pile. I have always loved it and never used it yet! Wool hounds tooth in aqua, creme and chartreuse. Say no more!

STOP! Orange and hounds tooth together in this collection! No way could I toss this one.

I'll end on this one. All I can say is,the task became a wee bit less so when my fingers began to run through the fabric options. What can I say, textiles just make me happy. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do. Coming soon......Susan's favorite picks!

I almost left this one out! From one of the Modern Library collections....hot pink and lime green! I hope I find someone bold enough to try this one.

At the very end of the night, I thought I had completed my picks, when I came across this one. I haven't looked through it yet, but I'm pretty sure with a name like "NICKEL/EBONY", it will be a keeper! Come see for yourself.