Gaga for Goforth

Ever since Joni blogged about Ashley Goforth back in August (here) I have been madly scouring the internet looking for more of Ashley's work. Since Joni's post, Ashley has updated her website with more photos of her ~ u t t e r l y ~ stunning work (here). I am awestruck.

I can't put a finger on precisely why I love her rooms so much. We all see so many beautiful rooms, but Ashley's strike a perfect note and seem to gather all my tastes up into one perfect box. Isn't the bedroom above gorgeous? I am nuts about it.

All her rooms are clean and uncluttered, lightly layered with beautiful and interesting things. She finds a lovely balance of modern and traditional elements. And her colours - Ashley has already mastered the most beautiful colour palettes, my favorites being those with plenty of white and grayed out blues and browns.

I also *L O V E* the balance of dark notes (exquisite antique furniture) with pale walls (which remind me of Darryl Carter and Mariette Himes-Gomez).

I think we can all take a lesson from her restraint and her beautiful palettes.

I am very sorry to gush, and I also hate re-posting items others have already discussed. I try to keep my content mostly original and personal, but I am so inspired by Ashley's rooms I just had to share them (in case you missed Joni's great post, where she featured several of Ashley's projects).

Ashley's work reaches right into my heart and filters my tastes to a "T". Of course, there is a side of me that loves academic clutter in a room, romantic country florals, and other styles, but Ashley certainly sums up the side of me that likes classic elegance.

I honestly can't get over her rooms. So perfect. And she's so young! I wish I lived in Houston (if I did I'd probably say to hell with engineering and go into interior design for a living). Ashley makes me want to toss out everything I own and start over (with her on retainer)!

Thanks Ashley for sharing your beautiful talent with us and taking the time to email me!

Dark & Light: The Essential Mariette Himes Gomez

I have become obsessed with clean traditional rooms that feature an airy, pale background with a few striking dark elements. These rooms are by my interior design idol, Mariette Himes Gomez.

The furniture in these rooms is architectural, which adds to its beauty and impact. The dark furniture is a beautiful accent in these light-flooded rooms...

I used to think the lightest airiest rooms were full of white, but the lightness is highlighted best by the touches of darkness. It is high contrast that accentuates paleness best.

Mariette chooses important pieces and elevates them with her quiet, pared down, but carefully orchestrated interiors. She can do no wrong in my book. You have to be a master to achieve simplicity like this. This kind of simplicity is the ultimate sophistication (to misquote DaVinci!).

Her work is my inspiration as I slowly try to pare down, declutter, and distill my rooms to a purer form. I love antiques and I want to create classic rooms with beautiful things I never tire of. I am not a trend follower, but even a trend can be added to these timeless rooms without disturbing their quiet perfection.

It will be a long process for me (lacking time and this kind of budget...), but I intend to slowly create a home with just this feel...which I call pared down classic, with the interplay of light and dark.

Imagine living in quiet perfect rooms like these (her own Manhattan apartment):

Bliss!

Check out Mariette's website and her beautiful books: "Rooms", "Houses", and "Apartments". They are as wonderful to read as to look at...her philosophy on decorating resonates deeply with me. If I could do my life over again, I would study design at some great school and then in my fantasy world, beg Mariette to let me learn from her and her beautiful mind!

Enjoy.

A few favorite things....

I haven't had much time to post lately and do apologize.  Work has been draining and my headaches and back pain have been exceptionally bad.  The cortisone shots in my neck, for which I missed 4 afternoons at work, have not helped.  And David's away for business this week, meaning that I am doubly busy after work, keeping up the garden, cooking a meal or two, reading for my book club, and trying to exercise more (which isn't easy when you have a very bad back and come home from work every day with a blistering headache).  Ahhh...my woes!  

So to drown my sorrows and string you along, I'm posting a collection of somewhat disparate images I've collected over the past few weeks that seem to sum up my current "style" crushes.  

This little hare (above), by Renaissance painter Albrecht Durer, will soon be mine.  I plan to buy and frame this print for my front hall (of course, it will end up elsewhere). 

He is particularly fitting since our neighborhood is full of wild hares...you see a dozen if you go for a walk in the evening!  

I also love these fabrics (below) from Designers Guild, one of my favorite drool-worthy English fabric sites.  They have a wonderful historical look:

Or you can buy these beautiful fabrics, made up into charming pillows.  These are in my favorite shade of brown (which reminds me of milk chocolate), a colour on which I am currently fixated!:

I am also fond of this Gustavian chair, from Country Living.  I've been writing a post on neo-classical furniture for some time now, but I can't wait any longer to post this handsome beast:

I also love this little shelf and candle holder from Tracy Porter:

And the pièce de résistance, my new dining room!  Just kidding - this room is by London's modern glamour decor goddess Helen Green who threw in some traditional elements just for me. Bless her timelessly sophisticated heart):

The chandelier!  Those slate drapes!  The architecture!  Those sconces!  The fireplace!  The chaise!  The table!  The chairs!  But you could remove all the furniture and I would still be happy to live in this room.

Have a great week!

Mirror Mirror on the wall

A very tall zinc-look mirror from Wisteria.  If they shipped to Canada, I would own this (heaven knows where I'd put it)!

One of my favorite design elements is the humble looking glass, which is simply that, a piece of mirrored glass.  Nothing could be more basic, yet mirror designs and styles are endless.  I am even more of a mirror junkie than I am a lamp junkie.  I immediately gravitate to mirrors, the more elaborate the better, the larger the better, the more "old world" the better.   I would love to have a grand antique mirror, particularly one where the old glass has taken on a weathered silvery patina.

My love of mirrors has nothing to do with vanity.  I don't care how I look in them - I love what they do to a room.  I love light and space and airiness and mirrors confer that on a room.  They expand a space and its light, mightily. 

Decorators and designers say that a mirror should only reflect what is already a wonderful view.  And I can't help but agree with them.  I find that mirrors look best in places where they can reflect the light from a window, or where they are adjacent to a window so that you see "outside" in them...trees, the sky...a doubling of the view. 

Below are a small selection of mirror photos I've compiled.

Though I was just chatting with a blogging friend today about the fact that I don't think a room always needs a focal point, I do think a great mirror makes a captivating feature in an otherwise simple bathroom: 

Images above from: Traditional Home, "Dwellings" by Stephen Sills and James Huniford, and Phoebe Howard 

There is also the ubiquitous over-mantle mirror, a classic look I never tire of.  One may love their art, but a mirror can be just as captivating.  And for the budget-conscious decorator...you rarely tire of a mirror like you might a work of art!

This contemporary frame over a character mantle is from Martha Stewart:

And nothing says classic like this traditional mirror (below) from Australian House Beautiful (via Simply Natural):

Another old world charmer from Shoot Factory:

This room, with its rather traditional bones, is by William Hefner (via Things that Inspire...a favorite room of both of ours).  It looks crisp and fresh with clean-lined transitional furniture and a modern, nickel mirror over the mantle: 

Celebrated NY designer Christopher Maya agrees with the mirror over mantle approach.  Even harder than finding great art for this prime spot is finding a mirror this good!:

  

And you can't help but love an OVERSIZE mirror, leaning casually against a wall.  I really covet this gigantic architectural mirror, in Windsor Smith's California house: 

And this beauty, in a beautiful country living room from House to Home:

I also love the look of mirrored closets, which one does not see often enough (images from Shoot Factory):

Or how about a mirrored armoire, which isn't something you see every day?  It captures both the light, and your attention (image from Shoot Factory).  Note also the mirrored panel on the wall, adjacent to the armoire, which doubles the effect!:

I also adore trumeau-style mirrors, which have a carved panel above the mirror:

I snapped this photo (above) of a reproduction trumean in Paris at one of my favorite shops, Blanc D'Ivoire on rue du Bac.  Trumeau mirrors look especially nice atop mantles.  I am unsure of their origin or original purpose.  I wonder if they were used on dressing tables, or in hallways, or perhaps always used over mantles? 

Speaking of dressing tables, vanities are a wonderful location for a beautiful mirror (image below from Brissi UK).

Mirrors also look lovely above a headboard, and form a perfect focal point. Typically small mirrors work best (and are safest) over a bed.  I like this small but elaborate round mirror from House Beautiful (and would like to see it up close):

Mirrors are also the perfect complement to a console table, in a bedroom, living room, or hallway (images below House to Home and Country Home):

Another favorite image, which I have posted before, shows a classical living room with a note of whimsy in the selection of the modern chandeliers and the mismatched console tables, complete with mismatched mirrors and lamps.  The symmetrical arrangement lends a traditional air, but the owner clearly has a devilish streak (image House to Home):

I have many, many more mirror photos on hand, but these are some of my favorites.  

Which one(s) do you like best?

Introducing The Howards

My favorite hallway/stairwell ever from James Michael Howard.  I saw this photo recently (here) on one of my favorite blogs, Things That Inspire, who I credit for introducing me to Mr. Howard!

In my last post, I talked about the dining room at Jim & Phoebe Howard's house in Jacksonville.  Jim Howard is the interior designer behind James Michael Howard Interiors, while his wife Phoebe is an accomplished decorator and shop keeper. Together they run the Mrs. Howard and Max & Company growing chain of stores (with locations in Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Atlanta, and soon-to-be Charlotte).

I was going to post about Mr. Howard, whose website is rife with pictures of stunning rooms, all with lovely architecture and a quiet, historical style that reaches straight to my heart.  But the more I investigated the pair, the more I realized that Mrs. Howard often has a hand in the decoration of the rooms.  Without knowing them or spending hours decipering rooms, I cannot really separate which rooms are strictly his, which are hers, or which they did together.

What I did notice was that her style is more colourful and vibrant (at least according to the articles featuring her work alone) whereas his rooms (from his site) appear considerably more sedate.

There is no use trying to distinguish at this point.  So for now, I shall show you some rooms featured on his site, because I love so many of them.

Above: The exquisitely arranged hallway in their Atlanta apartment.  I would like to bring everything here home.  Mrs. Howard is attributed as having decorated this apartment whilst Mr. Howard looked after the architecture and interior layout.  I love the console table, the baroque mirror, the X-bench, the pair of Lucite lamps, and even the brown rug.  The walls are a greyish-blue called "Blue Hubbard" by Sherwin-Williams.

Above: The front entrance at the couple's Jacksonville riverfront home, in the historical Ortega neighborhood.

Above: A quiet and lovely transition space.  I like the use of neutrals, graceful antiques and small works of art, all in slightly different frames, for a collected-over-time feel.

Above:  A welcoming neutral bedroom (seen first on Things That Inspire, I believe).  In addition to soft browns and creams, the couple like to use pale blues.  They get my vote for their gentle colour schemes!  Again, note the glass/lucite lamp, a common feature in their rooms.

Above:  The other side of the same bedroom, almost perfectly symmetrical.

Above: I believe this is the bedroom in their Atlanta apartment.  The graceful armoire likely holds a television.  Isn't the chaise pretty?  If I lived here, I would lounge around all day feeling smug and self-satisfied.

Above:  I think this shot might be from one of their stores, but I'm not entirely certain.

Above:  This room, designed by the couple, is from the 2007 Atlanta summer showhouse.  What I like most here is the sepia-toned map of London.

Above: Another pleasing vignette with a Gustavian feel.

Above:  A gracious living room with vaulted ceiling and herringbone-tiled fireplace.  Things That Inspire posted a lovely photo essay about herringbone fireplaces here.

Another architectural detail from Mr. Howard's site.  I first saw this image on Things That Inspire. Thanks again TTI!

Above:  This exquisite living room is in the couple's Atlanta apartment.  Again, note the architectural detail, the soft neutral palette, and the use of varied antiques.  I like the simple sofa, which I believe is Danish modern.  The coffee table is rosewood.

Above:  Another pretty bedroom, in the usual colours.  Note the ubiquitous sunburst mirror and Lucite lamp.  The mirrored night table is a surprising bit of glamour.  Things That Inspire posted a beautiful feature on sunburst mirrors here.

Above: The Howard's dining room in Jacksonville, with a stunning Federal mirror and a pair of knife boxes.

Above: Another pretty passageway with a pretty brown and blue rug and what appears to be a marble-topped table.

Above: I love this vignette with its delightful display of platters.

Above: I am not terribly fond of the dark stone sink, but this mirror is to die for, darlings.  Notice also the lantern in the bathroom (reflected), a favorite fixture of Mr. Howard (and moi).

A dining room vignette (above and below), with a surprisingly modern twist.  The modern painting and styling surprised me, but I think it is quite elegant and livens up the otherwise staid room.

Above: A darling and utterly classic tiered bathroom cabinet holds plush towels.

Above: Another pretty bedroom vignette with a contemporary art work.  I am not sure of the style of this dresser, but think it might be Georgian.

Above: A very posh bedroom belies Mr. Howard's generally restrained tastes.  I think Mrs. Howard may have got her hands on this one.  Thankfully they placed a bench at the end of the bed and not the ubiquitous sofa he seems to be so fond of (a look which I dislike, sorry to say...see below!)

Above: A darling urban bedroom, but I could do without the sofa at the end of the bed.  This is a look I really dislike but which Mr. Howard seems to enjoy.  It just looks too smooshed together for me.  Otherwise, he is perfect in my book.  Perfect!  But what do I know - I didn't go to the Parsons School, now did I?

Above: The refined dining area in their Atlanta apartment.  I love the pale blue-grey velvet upholstery on the dining chairs.  The banquette seating is versatile for working and lounging.  This apartment is like being inside a cloud.

Above: One last bedroom, with Jacobean-style bed, a lofty ceiling and a cool palette.

I hope you've enjoyed the tour and please forgive any errors as I am just beginning to learn about the Howards and intend to study their styles more fully.  I have a huge design crush on this illustrious pair.  Oh, and they have a daughter who is a chemical engineer like me!  More reasons to feel kindred!