austin harrelson....

my beloved magazines did it again...they introduced me to people i love. no matter how many times i may have looked at them, i constantly find things that excite me. this AM i was fumbling through looking for inspiration for my bedroom (wow does it ever need some help). you know how you always get caught up in this one article, well my eyes constantly go back to this house in domino's november 2006 issue...i have used it many times for inspiration for my clients...austin harrelson's florida home is so perfectly put together. its livable but classic...it constantly has me in awe b/c he has two small children and it looks so great...now i just wish he would share more of his work on his website...it's still under construction but his home is worth checking out.

here they are....

so sweet courtney took the time and got all of the pics i wanted to share w/ y'all yesterday and emailed them to me!! wasn't that so nice? i wish i had a mac b/c apparently that is super simple...but unfortunately i have a PC so i am stuck hoping that one day it will die and i can upgrade to what the cool kids have!! so here are the pics of the beach houses i loved...top 3 are laid back beach house; bottom is FL one!! hope you have a wonderful hump day!!

a little taste of our town....

i thought i would share a house that is featured in our town's magazine, charleston home...it's an 1895 cottage located on sullivan's island. the quirky couple refurbished the entire cottage and painted it entirely white. it makes me realize why i like white so much...and it allows you to show off color soooooooo well. i adore the texaco sign in the kitchen. its just a great house and thought you might enjoy seeing it. the couple is really interesting and owned a great kitchen store on King St. before trading in their downtown address to move permanently to the beach! all the pics and the article is found here.

some kind of wonderful....

i am in love with the projects that the architectural firm bosworth hoedemaker create. just feast your eyes on these beauties! wouldn't make a bad spot to have to hangout for the weekend... happy friday!!

having a fam doesn't make style stop....

if i had to "classify" myself as the type of mom i want to be then make me a cookie mom. that magazine just screams stylish when it comes to having a family. and that is where i found these "fierce" homes (i had to do a shout out for christian...i won't start using that word)!! they have a whole section of house tours that features their readers' homes. i don't know what it is but i love some online house tours...its like you are spying on someone...taking in how they live. i'm a total sucker for that!

bringing the outdoors in...

the items you see at marsh, a new orleans shop, just might have you rethinking exterior decor...i can see so many of these pieces translating beautifully inside of a home. this month's cottage living featured b. braithwaite's own, chaffee braithwaite, and her bungalow is all about bringing the garden indoors.

are you a victim...

of over design?? when i reached this page in southern accents, i just stopped and stared. i fell in love with the simplicity of this look. it just felt right. so many times, we get caught up in getting things "perfect" that we tend to overdo...here is a perfect example of how nice modesty can feel....oh, and a hint of patent leather never hurts....

he said it.....

anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination- ocsar wilde....this quote popped up on ken faulk's website ...how funny and what a sassy slogan for designers!!

my outfit looks better then yours....

all of these outfits reminded me of a room so i thought it would be fun to do a little "outfit = room"....

shop bop = windsor smith
tory burch = david jimenez

tracy porter = w&r house of design

i love this quote...

"You can sit and obsess forever, but you'll always be happier if you just go for it. That's how you find your personal style." quote from domino by designer krista ewart (recently named one of next "kelly wearstler's") so are you an obsesser??

i HEART barn doors....

well, if you are looking for a valentine's post reread mine from yesterday...that's all i've got. instead of telling you about how wonderful this holiday is and how awesome it is to get giant balloons that say i love you, i'm telling you about barn doors. i love barn doors. if i can ever afford to build a new house, this will be a major addition to it. it gives so much character to a space. i adore the first door and the track that it hangs on (remember i love wheels). this door was purchased from here and that is also where i found the second pic. the third pic is a fellow blogger, erika's office...as if i am not jealous enough of her space, she has an old barn door incorporated into her amazing office! alright, happy v'day for you love birds out there and for my sos!!

you are so beautiful to me....

so you know when you become obsessed with something...well this harlequin decadence paper is my latest obsession. ever since ruthie sommers's office was featured on style court, i can't get it out of my head. when i was in ADAC, i went straight up to ainsworth-noah to make sure i left with that wallpaper sample....and i did. and i am in love. the sheen of the paper is so beautiful...like what a satin paint gives off. i think i am also obsessed w/ the fact that ruthie (i talk like we are on a first name basis) papered the ceiling.....

* the second pic is a better representation of what the paper actually looks like...please forgive harlequin for the awful bedding and pillows that cause a complete distraction to my beautiful paper....i think it was a momentary lapse of judgement on their part :)

i'll have mine straight up...

i don't know what it is but my husband totally got it right last night when he said "you hate things on the diagonal". it's true, i am not a diagonal kind of girl. another revelation i have discovered is that i like balance and repetition. i think it makes a room feel unified. these rooms are perfect examples of just that....

suzanne kasler's room looks so well unified between the color coordination of the books with the frames and the balance of height b/w the bookshelf and the arrangement of the pictures above the chest. barrie benson achieved a gorgeous room w/ the awesome way she displayed this Hermes plate collection above the two leather club chairs. and lastly, this dining room by tom scheerer is just perfection. the repetition of the circular mirrors above the white unconventional wall shelves is so pleasing to my eye. it's strange, i am not a black and white kind of girl but straight on, balanced designs are quickly becoming my cup of tea.

viceroy...part 2

ok, so this is part two to my viceroy piece and i must say, the bed side of this room is a little challenging. to really capture the look of the bed wall you need a carpenter and a glass cutter/ mirror guy. i know, kind of a cop out but i looked for some cool mirror that you could play w/ to create this patterned wall and it just didn't excited me like the original. the bedding is all white so i went w/ an Italian sateen collection and for the grey blanket at the bottom of the bed, i went w/ cashmere. the sconce was way hard to find so i had to opt for a drake table lamp (you have to scroll down on the website to see it). i adore this company and think it still stays w/ the feeling of the room. for the accent on the shade, we will need to add a yellow banding ourselves...sorry. now the chairs, i searched and searched for something close to the porfirio armchair...i found this 60's style asian armchair which looks pretty close if we have to swap out something for the original. you will need to remove the nail head trim and add a kelly green linen fabric. but most importantly, you need to have the fabric embroidered before upholstering it....kelly loves the embroidery palace if you live in LA. ok, the last element i think we need for this room is the coffee table. i adore this 1970's vintage one and think it fits right in w/ ms. kelly's look. well, i hope you like your room...until i have the chance to actually visit it in person, this will have to do! have a wonderful weekend!

make my room a viceroy one (part one) ....

ok who doesn't adore the wearstler? so i thought it would be fun to take her widely popular "viceroy" hotel room and recreate some of its key components...(please bare w/ me- i am not very computer savvy and i don't know how to display a grouping of pictures.)

one of the key items in this room is the wallpaper. it's a foil and has a cane pattern appearance- couldn't find that one exactly but i thought that this trellis has the same feeling so i went with this one. oh, and did i mention that i am tweaking the room slightly...mainly b/c i like this chair and think it would look great w/ the wallpaper but still follows the idea of the Chippendale design and of course we will upholster the cushion in a slate grey linen. now, this dog lamp is different b/c its a foo dog (but kelly likes the foo) and it has a black shade but i think it works b/c it echos the black in the desk. oh i guess we need a desk- you will have to add the marble top, sorry! and we need the decorative hexagon plates. let's do this phone b/c after all, at your house you don't need a button for the front desk. ok, that should keep you busy for a little while. tomorrow, we will tackle the bedside of the room!

pink is my favorite color

i have a problem...i am obsessed by the color pink. i don't know exactly when this happened. i feel like when i was a little girl my favorite color was purple...isn't this when your love for pink is suppose to develop? well, mine hit probably right after i got married. i noticed all of my clothing was pink...a turtleneck (wow, that sounded so conservative), a patagonia jacket, a pair of pink cords, pink high heels, pink bum around pants, pink dresses...my husband started banning me from buying anything that was pink...he would say "one day you are going to hate this color and you will be looking in your closet and be so sad b/c that's all you own." i think that made me want the color even more (you know when someone tells you not to do something, it makes you crave it even more)...so i started my own company and what do i do? i have my logo designed...pink and chocolate brown...business cards, letterhead, and envelopes. next, i get pregnant and what do i find out- its a girl...so naturally, i fill the room w/ pink! i can't help it. finally, i start a blog...what's the name PINK wallpaper. so i confess...my name is shannon and i have a problem. i want to live in a sea of pink. just when i thought i could move on from this color, i found myself telling my husband last night "i think i want to paint my desk pink"...he rolled his eyes and said you have got to be kidding me......

atlanta homes and lifesyles

we spent new years in atlanta (football game...not my number one choice of ways to bring in the year but it was fun none the less). in our hotel there was a magazine of atlanta homes which somehow happened to make its way home w/ me (i justified it by thinking of it as if it were the toiletries they offer in the bathroom...just another friendly jester to welcome you). it's a very good magazine. i especially loved this one house which was featured in an article titled "the un-white house". the architecture was amazing. it was a contemporary house built in a traditional bungalow neighborhood. the architect used angular walls and windows that really make the house stand out. it has loads of light pouring into the house and the kitchen is beautiful. i love the limestone ann stacks tile they used in the backsplash, very modern- sleek and sophisticated. i was also pleased to find that the magazine had a great website. (i can now access the mag even if i am not staying in an atl hotel!)

a coat of polish...

(picture Southern Accents Dec. 2005, Miles Redd)

i love it when people share experiences or things they have learned in the industry. that being said, courtney at in(side) the loop left a very informative comment on my painted chairs dilemma: I JUST had a refinisher come out and look at 3 antiques I recently inherited from my Dad's side. When I mentioned "painting" them, he almost fell over. HOWEVER, he also thought they would look better "painted" but he educated me. Lacquering does not mean it has to have a high gloss...it's just a finish but it can be matte or shiny. That said, it costs a bit more to have your furniture professionally lacquered but if you ever wanted to strip it and refinish the wood, it comes off very easily. If you were to paint it, paint would always be in the wood and you'd never be able to get it back to the original condition.

this led me to think more about this process...i love the look of lacquered walls and furniture. it can be placed in a tradition or modern home and is virtually timeless in it's appearance. it is an extremely labor intensive process therefore, the professional painters can charge out the you-know-what to achieve this look. a quality lacquer paint job should allow you to see your reflection in the sheen of the paint! this can require up to 30 coats....but man, you cannot replace the beauty of this look. walls look magnificent in both candlelight and day light. i did research to see if there was a DIY way out there and came across this article...basically to sum it up- NO, consult a professional and your accountant when contemplating lacquer to grace your home.

is it really a sin...

to paint a precious antique?? i have loved these painted chairs since they appeared on the cover of Charleston Home last sept. which brings me to my dilemma...is it okay to go there...there begin taking an antique that has been in your family for decades and painting it!! my finger tips sweat a little just thinking of that thought!! i am all about painting an antique that you pick up at the local antique mall but what about one that has meaning and a past w/ your family??!

i think that my DR chairs would look amazing lacquered like these...maybe in a chartreuse color. the chairs are gorgeous as is, but they don't give me the pizazz i am looking for in this space. my mom said to do it...but we haven't even told dad that it might happen, and those just happen to be from his side of the family- i am scared to even go there...dad can't really let items go to easily...in fact, he built a barn on some land of ours, just to house our unused furniture. i am also plagued with the dilemma of "will i ever regret doing this"?? as my neighbor says, you can always have them refinished down the road...well, lets hope we win the lottery by then!!

BUT sometimes i think i would love to just not have those chairs at all and replace them with these....that's the problem w/ being an interior designer...there are so many possibilities that its hard to actually make up your mind!! HELP!

make me a bird....

i think it was from forest gump and jenny was standing in the fields and said "lord, make me a bird so i can fly far, far away"...that's how i feel about my office...better yet, make me a bull dozier. my office is utter chaos!! there are fabrics, wallpaper, random papers, and magazines EVERYWHERE! it is not a pretty site at all (thank goodness clients don't see this part).

I need a major room makeover. i would love for ruthie sommers to come and wave her magic wand and "poof" this beautiful imagine appears....is that too much for a girl to ask??