Go Gray

Gray has gotten a lot of attention lately. It can create so many different moods in a room & can be warm or cool. It's got such an effortless elegance about it & fits so many different styles.

Ralph Lauren's "Hopsack" got me loving graywhen I painted it in my bathroom (walls & ceiling)against white beadboarded walls:

These next few pictures are of a home from a House Beautiful article about a year & a half ago. I love the color schemes & the Belgian style of the rooms:

Amazing antique table from Belgium.

Above, the natural cypress ceilings, Belgian antique table, Chairs slipcovered in gray linen, simple linen roman shades & strong, rustic antique hanging lanterns just give such a simpl, natural elegance to this room. I love it. It looks so effortless.

Here's their bedroom, with warm gray walls. I love the antique dresser with the vase of flowers on it:

House Beautiful

Check out these really different & beautiful rooms from this month's issue of Country Living, which features Monique Keegan's home in Ohio. (Photography by Don Freeman):

I love this bathroom.
Her basement studio.
Dark, moody living area. Just makes you want to hunker down & have a glass of wine by the fire.
Monique collects vintage medical paraphanelia & displays it beautifully. If you look at all of the pictures above, you may recognize lots of items.

A natural yet more formal feeling room in shades of grays & beige from House Beautiful:

Country Living House of the Year 2008:

If you have time, I think it's worth checking out more of Country Living's 2008 House of the Year, which was inspired by a gorgeous gray wallpaper (above)

And also this amazing home in Connecticut:1795 Home


Maybe you'll want to go gray like me!

Ina Garten's New House

I just had to share pictures of Ina Garten/ The Barefoot Contessa's new home from this month's issue of House Beautiful. It's a newly constructed barn. I'd happily raise my family in this barn! Her island is 16 feet long! (Ok, wiping down a 16' island doesn't sound fun to me, I'll be honest, but it would be a lot of fun to entertain with.)

This is the headboard I want now: Upholstered linen. (I'd do a slipcover though, so I could wash it & possibly switch it out seasonally... although this oatmeal color would look beautitul with any seasonal bedding.) It's so natural & simple. Love it. And I'm sure you've seen this slipper tub by Waterworks, but how perfect is it in this nook of windows? (As long as you have lots of land!)

A Great "Fall" House

One of my favorite things to do every season is to reaccessorize & make my house feel warm & cozy or light & airy or however that season feels to me.

Here's a great house from Country Living that is perfect for Fall & I just wanted to share:

I LOVE the wall color in the kitchen. Not too warm, not too cool. (In the magazine it's a hint more olivey. Oh why didn't they list the color?!) Gorgeous.

And lanterns are so great indoors to give a more outdoor-in, natural, aged feel:

This stone fireplace is really warm & strong but the room still manages to feel bright & airy:

I'm helping my dad redo his home- it's a huge restoration of an old lake cottage which I'll write more about later- & he's got a really beautiful stone fireplace in the living room. We've got lots of dark, heavy furniture pieces in there that I think are just making the room too dark. I'll have to see what I can do to lighten it up.

Anyway, have a great weekend! Enjoy the Fall weather & go eat some apples & cheese!

All photography by Matthew Gilson

ware clay.

On of my best friends, a ceramicist- Lindsey Augustine- has just started up her new ceramics company, Ware Clay. Check out her wesbite at wareclay.com

Her handmade jewelry & pottery is so earthy & fun! She also does custom work.

AMAZING BED TIP - this will change your life!

Above is the Westin Heavenly Bed & for me it's been the model of a perfect bed since I first ran & jumped into one in a Westin hotel room. (It looks THAT inviting: All white, fluffy but tailored, tons of pillows, just barely pulled down so you want to get right in... You pretty much have to jump right into the bed when you walk in the room the first time.) All-white bedding has become almost a hotel staple, but let's remember who did it first.

an english caribbean bedroom with modern twist I did

Anyway, here's the REALLY AMAZING TIP I learned from some hotel (I can't remember which!)

When you're adding the top sheet (pretty side down) leave a little 3" fold down at the bottom where your toes are so that they don't get "trapped" down there by the sheets! Tuck in at the bottom & I don't do the sides because I kick them out anyway.

I hate it when my feet get trapped so this little fold has been my lifesaver! No more pointed toes in bed. FLEX AWAY! ;)

The nursery

Here are some pictures of my son's nursery.

We wanted to give it a nautical feel without it being over-the-top "baby" or themey so the room could easily grow with him. (Okay, okay... In all honesty, since I realize that nurseries are truly for the parents & not the kids, I used it as an outlet to satisfy the nautical kick I was on. ;) We can do that to our kids, right?)

We painted tone-on-tone stripes (in high-gloss & eggshell) on the walls, I made the linen striped quilt with fleece inside (more for me than him!) hanging on the crib & the sea shell mobile.

The oil painting of the old fisherman was a $36 thrift-store find & I made one of the pillows & the other is from Target (!)

The round portal mirror was an old Ikea mirror I'd had since high school & painted & distressed for the room. The turquoise lamp was $5 thrift store find that I topped with a linen shade. The ship painting on wood was the perfect finishing touch found at Old Luckett's Antique Store, one of my favorite places.

His "ship's lantern" sconces were $30 outdoor lights from Home Depot.

It's hard to tell from the pictures but our carpets are Shaw's "Sisal Touch" and it's one of my favorite carpets ever. It looks like sisal but is soft like a burber.

And, just had to add a little picture of the cutie who lives in the nursery, Christian:

The Something's Gotta Give House

Ok, I also need to express my love for the house in the movie Something's Gotta Give:

To read more about it check out Architectural Digest's article: Something's Gotta Give