A (Decorator's) Walk Through Georgetown

On our whirlwind US trip last week, I had a few hours to stroll through glorious Georgetown. Georgetown is a charming colonial neighborhood in northwest Washington DC, full of stunning historical buildings, beautiful townhouses, cobblestone streets, wonderful antique and art shops (Wisconsin Ave), gourmet shops like Dean & Deluca, and lots of great clothing stores (mostly along M Street).

I thought you might enjoy a brief decorator's tour of Georgetown!

I snapped this charming glass doorfront at Fleurgreige, a gorgeous flower boutique (and floral design school):

I admired the art at Addison Ripley through the windows (sadly, it was closed). They had an exhibit of vibrant sea and skyscapes by Maryland artist Mary Page Evans:

I visited the always-refined Baker furniture showroom on M Street, and fell in love with their Rebecca sofa. It is my dream sofa - I can imagine it in my ideal home in a study surrounded by vast bookshelves, tall ceilings and chevron floors (but sadly it's a little over budget at $10,300).

I also fell for this lamp. At $900, it wasn't coming home with me either:

My favorite find of the day was a new antique store called Comer & Co., owned and operated by two very talented Washintonians (their original store is down the coast on Chesapeake Bay in Kilmarnock). On this day, the store was staffed by a lovely young lady who told me all about the owners and their business and let me take several photos!

The store is beautifully styled with 18th to 20th century antiques. It occupies a charming two-story Georgetown townhouse:

I loved this vignette in black, white, and gold set against a backdrop of perfect grey walls, in Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter (I asked):

I loved the lines of this reupholstered Art Deco armchair (they had a pair). They were a smidgen over budget at $6500 each. I think they're swell:

The upstairs was just as charming, and featured lots of white and gold elements, set against dark patinaed wood:

This blue antique dragon wanted to come home with me:

I can't wait to visit Comer & Co. again! Inspired by all their pretty blues, I did buy one thing...a pair of blue beeswax candles that I will show you soon.

Next I stopped briefly at John Rosselli Antiques (another lover of blue Chinoiserie and husband of Bunny Williams, in case you didn't know). In his Georgetown store (there is another in NYC), I admired posh designer fabrics (that I don't often see in Canada) in the back room:

Next I visited the somewhat more affordable Random Harvest, a Washington-area decor store specializing in both antiques and reproduction pieces. I liked this shield mirror and soft blue armchair. Too bad they won't ship furniture to Canada!

Next I visited with the lovely Catharine at Catherine Roberts/Moss & Co./Oliver Dunn, a trio of shops housed in one delightful space (notice her dog Sophie waiting in the window):

The shop is large, with several rooms over two floors, and chock full of old world linens, ironstone, seagrass, weathered woods and unique vintage finds:

I liked everything about Catharine's brocante section of the store:

These great candlesticks would really suit a character home:

I seriously loved this vignette of tufted armchairs and sconces. The sconces were $250 each, so they didn't make it into my suitcase either. The next day, I was sooo close to going back for them...

I also visited another new shop run by a lady shopkeeper I had met on my last trip. She now runs "The French Apartment", which is seriously cool. She is a stylist nonpareil...

I liked the mirrored cube in this autumnal vignette...

I also popped into the exquisite Marston Luce, which specializes in antiques from France and Sweden. The store is always quiet and serious, so I don't take many photos here. But I did snap a pair of fabulous lamps...

My last stop was at Susan Calloway Fine Arts. Susan has a deep and incredible array of contemporary and antique art available at her lovely Georgetown gallery. I didn't take any photos this time (darn), but always find something to covet. This time I chatted with Susan about her paintings by Robert Rea (for sale here). If you recall, Rea's Georgetown home, designed by DC designer Frank Babb Randolph, was featured in April's Veranda magazine:

I hope you enjoyed your tour of historic and always-inspiring Georgetown!

National Portrait Gallery & American Art Museum

I have a new love. On our recent trip through Washington, DC we visited the stunning National Portrait Gallery and Smithsonian American Art Museum (housed together in the newly renovated Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture).

This gallery knocked my socks off. I thought the National Gallery of Art (also in DC) was amazing, but this was a real gem of a gallery. I am a genuine art lover and can easily spend a whole afternoon in an interesting gallery.

I thought I'd share some highlights with you. One of the most appealing aspects of this gallery is the wall colours. The gallery's curators choose such flattering wall colours to complement the paintings in the various rooms...

New acquisitions at the Portrait Gallery. The lady at the center is Ann Landers:

Maybe you recognize Walt Whitman?

And here is Mark Twain, together with artist Cecilia Beaux and novelist Henry James:

And a young Edith Wharton (who I am just now reading):

A self-portrait by painter Cecilia Beaux. She held her own beside many of the great male painters of the day:

One of my all-time favorite painters - American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt, as captured by her pal Edgar Degas (this looked familiar...I have it in a book on Degas!). Cassatt is said to have hated this portrait of herself:

A charming portrait of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, with his daughter:

The interior courtyard:

The Deco-era "Woman with Red Hair" by Albert Herter. I love that the curators hung this painting of an orange-haired lass on a complementary blue wall:

My favorite room. The painting on the left is by Cecilia Beaux (above), entitled "Man with the Cat" (Henry Sturgis Drinker, her brother-in-law) with a charming ginger cat. On the right is a stunning pot of flowers by my new *favorite* artist Abbott Handerson Thayer:

A close-up of Thayer's flowers:

And to the right is a stunning portrait of Miss Elizabeth Winthrop Chanler (by portraitist extraordinaire John Singer Sargent):

The Sargent portrait is stunning. We saw an exhibition of his work in Houston last March, but this is my favorite painting of all. It works beautifully on this red wall:

I also adored this portrait, "An Interlude," by Wm Sergeant Kendall, of his wife and daughter. A print of this would be lovely in a child's room (I bought a postcard):

The very pretty "Wreath of Flowers" by John La Farge is in the foreground of this shot. Note the rich green walls:

"Angel" and "Virgin Enthroned" both by Abbott Handerson Thayer (the latter was painted in 1891, the year his wife died):

Another angel by Thayer, who took up painting angels after the death of two young children and his wife:

I hope you enjoyed the brief tour of this lovely gallery. My highest compliments to its esteemed curators! David also enjoyed the Civil War exhibit...