Did anyone follow Stylebeat's contest last year?

Marisa Marcantonio is a former style editor for House Beautiful and O at Home.

Marisa challenged her blog readers to ''submit an example of how you or someone stylish you know turned a page into reality with an idea brought to life from the book’s pages."

Winners received one of five terrific new design books - click here for full details.

I could not resist and submitted two entries:

My Inspiration came from Charlotte Moss's books,

A Passion For Detail, and Creating A Room,

which were both illustrated by the talented James Steinmeyer

whose watercolor illustrations were infinitely more interesting

than photographs.

I loved Steinmeyer's illustrations so much

that I bought the series, printed on card stock,

from Charlotte Moss's first store.

Years later I discovered a stash of artwork by a grand aunt.

I wasn't wild about my grand aunt's pen and ink drawings,

but I loved the frames.

I found five more frames to match,

then framed the James Steinmeyer illustrations,

and hung them in a group

in my living room

to mimic window panes.

Voila

A Room With a View

In fact,

a room with many views

of other interiors;

mini views where the viewer looks in instead of out.

My series of views,

grand rooms, famous in the annals of interior decoration history,

are a fun curiosity in my quirky, antique, Connecticut cottage.

A list of the illustrated rooms

Diana Vreeland's living room, Coco Chanel's living room, Bedroom of Mark Twain, Dining area of Thomas Jefferson, Ogden Codman's sitting room at the Grange, Cecil Beaton's drawing room at Beaton House, Elsie de Wolfe's bathroom; Winston Churchill's drawing room at Chartwell, Duchess of Windor's dressing room and Vita Sackville's writing room at Sissinghurst.

I love maps.

Where I am sitting right now is sometimes called the map room.

I love to know where I am going.

Navigation is my job on car trips,

but I am not so good on the iphone directions.

I much prefer the real thing.

You have got to admit that these furniture pieces covered in maps are very clever.

I have seen rooms wallpapered with old nautical maps.

And look at this room from the October 2010 House Beautiful; it was designed by Daniel Sachs. a bloomsbury life (one of my regular reads) showcased this room on her blog.

a wider view of the room

Imagine reading stories at bedtime with that expansive map on the wall.

Exciting

Travels

Adventure

House Beautiful, October 2010.

Interiors by Daniel Sachs. Photos by Ngog Minh Ngo.)

I have seen trays decoupaged with more old maps.

Of course I have many maps on my walls,

but maps on furniture - this is a first.

I saw the mapped furniture on Elements of Style here - the creator is Bryonie Porter here.

Something I might attempt sometime

for a dear girl I know who is REALLY into maps too.

You got it - the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Maps are her latest dorm decoration.

The earth was squishy this morning

and the snow drops were a delight to the eye.

Spring is coming.

I have had the nesting instinct;

got the studio all tidied up last weekend

and then took a look at the faded carpet.

Remember my post about use it up, make it do, do without

click here.

Well this rug has seen better days,

but we are not in the position to replace it just yet,

so the next best thing; turn it over!

See below to see what it looked like before.

I am not in bad company with this faded oriental;

check out Jenna Lyons own faded rug on the cover of domino.

In memory of my mother

JSR

19 August 1929 -

4 January 1986

I was going to publish this a month ago

but something intervened and it just did not seem to be the right time.

My mother loved Sister Parish's work.

Pictured above is SP's NYC apt.

This decorating scheme looks so current,

yet it dates back to the 70's or 80's

watercolor by Mita Corsini Bland

in the new book

Did you know

that Sister Parish made it into 2010 decorating trends

according to Mrs. Blandings?

Read some excerpts from the Kansas City Star via Mrs. Blandings:

“More craft and things that have been touched by hand,” said Keith Johnson, buyer-at-large for Anthropologie stores and the subject of the Sundance Channel’s “Man Shops Globe.” This trend is good news for my business, mrr design and my products: new fangled pictures frames and memento boards made by hand in the USA - the entrepreneurial spirit lives on.

We’ve heard “this ain’t your grandma’s …” A new buzz phrase just might be “that’s so granny.” Patricia Shackelford thinks we’ll see more patchwork quilts, hooked rugs, needlepoint and chintz.

Shackelford said it’s the return of Sister Parish design, using heirlooms or pieces with history. “It’s a way to bring comfort to formality,” she said. Susan Bartlett Crater, granddaughter of Sister Parish, said using family pieces can be stylish. “My grandmother always said houses should be receptacles of memories,” Crater said. “What better way than using grandmother’s things?”

Looking around my own house I see Sister Parish's influence... I love her style and use lots of objects and pieces from my family...in fact, I see my heritage everywhere in furniture and objects. Each piece brings back memories and is a touchstone for a story to tell my daughter.

Not only furniture but clothes. My mother died a long time ago. She was too young. We did not dismantle her closet for a few years. I have five siblings. I think we all stopped at the closet and gazed and thought about her - it wasn't morbid. It made me think she wasn't gone. She was still with us somehow - it was something real we could touch. She is still with us - in thoughts, in conversation, in a random memories sparked to life by a word, an action, an image, a color, a flower... I talk to her often. I miss her terribly. Somehow we all managed to have our babies and to raise our families without her. There were so many questions we wanted to ask but never got the chance.

But back to the clothes. We finally did dismantle the closet years later when my father sold the house. We saved the very special things. My sister P just mentioned to me that she wore Mom's Bonnie Cashin coat a few days ago when she was walking the dog on a frigid morning in Vermont. Now it is hard to picture my mother walking a dog, but she did love that coat in the winter and she looked beautiful in the warm salmon color with raccoon fur.

My mother was a great knitter. I have lots of her sweaters. They have been stored away and just the other day my daughter and I explored the cache. So many hand knit treasures and so beautiful and they fit Miss Is to a tee so she started wearing them. When Miss Is is complimented she proudly says they were her grandmother's. Some other 17 year olds might think that is bizarre but I think it is wonderful.

My mother influenced me in so many ways; she had great style and a great eye. Years after she died I found magazine articles about the Isabel O'Neil School of Decorative Painting in NYC that she had saved.. and what is stranger still is that I had taken a dozen decorative painting classes in nyc years after she died ... talk about being in sync... I never knew she was interested in painting...she was artistic...she would have loved all that my sisters and I have done...and my brother too...more on my sisters' talents in upcoming posts...and so in a tribute to my mother and to all mothers, especially one new mother, sarah and her beautiful baby Huck...and for my dear friend d as she moves through these dark days, I toast mothers and their children and leave you a few special photos of my daughter and me.

happy and cozy mother & daughter

For anyone interested in American Decorative Arts, especially furniture,

you must visit Yale University's Furniture Study.

It is a fabulous resource.

"Furniture Study is a working library of approximately

one thousand examples of furniture and wooden objects

- American made and made for the American market -

ranging in date from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries."

On Fridays the Furniture Study is open to the public.

Soon after your arrival at the Gallery,

you will walk outside to Chapel Street,

then into the depths of a non-descript building on York Street.

It was all quite exciting...as we did not know what to expect.

In the temperature controlled basement the furniture was lined up on

platforms in an orderly fashion: arranged in chronological order in groups of

chests, tables, chairs, desks, clocks, sideboards, wood turnings,

fireplace equipment and looking glasses.

My friends and I had the most amazing private tour.

The curator had placed 5 chairs on display to begin the discussion.

Starting with information on the origin of the collection:

a donation in 1930 from Mr and Mrs Francis P. Garvan, collectors from NYC,

to a quick review of periods from

colonial to federal to neo-classical to revival and finally to modern.

Photographs are not permitted to be published

so I decided just to listen and enjoy the tour.

The collection's focus is on learning.

I encourage you to travel to New Haven for your own tour.

Listen to an audio slideshow here if you cannot visit.

Did I mention that it is free. You can make a donation if you like.

And lunch afterwards - there are so many good restaurants in New Haven.

I cannot wait to go again with my sisters.

Here is an example of how the Furniture Study was helpful to one family:

AH: What’s the most interesting thing that has happened in your job since you started?
KCh: A person called up about a group of chairs that he had grown up with. The caller’s family was originally from Connecticut, and he wanted to compare one of his chairs to our side chair from Wethersfield, Connecticut, in order to ascertain if it was from the same maker, the same set. The family came en masse. Our chair still had its original upholstery, and the needlework—from the mid-1700s—was in pretty good condition. So we put them together and measured and photographed. We were able to share some information from the accession documents and our comparative files on forms and makers. It was so rewarding to share this with them—it turned out to include not only information on the chair and its provenance, but also aspects of the family’s own genealogy. They retired their own chairs once they saw the difference in condition between a chair under our care and one in active use. The caller decided to hire someone to remake his chairs so that he could give one to each family member. All this was inspired by their visit.

Read the whole interview here :

And Thanks to EB of Diligent Joy for discovering this hidden treasure trove.

oh i couldn't; i just ate a grape.

One of my all-time best finds

gorgeous chandelier

from the 19th century

Got it at a local country auction.

It was the 2nd to last item

on a rainy summer day

almost 16 years ago.

Miss Is was still in the stroller

most everyone had left

I had very little competition

luckily

because I didn't have a lot to spend

S O L D

to me

the winning bidder

It gets a little dusty so I rigged up this clever cleaning apparatus

much better than the last cleaning technique

when I laid the chandelier carefully on the ground

close up of the grapes and leaves

the purple glass is beautiful

Here is where it hangs

with the haying picture that I love so much.

There is a story behind everything you see

in this photo.

This may be the beginning of treasure posts.

I thought about this chandelier when I saw this on

Pigtown Design

A treasure recently spotted by PD

PD commented that this would look nice in a garden.

Yes, I agree.

I have been admiring just such a garden in my neck of the woods

at this wonderful little antique

you can see two fun chandeliers hanging in their garden

look carefully

do you see the pulley system

how ingenious for the candles

another view

The second chandelier has twigs winding all over it

I do not know the people who live here

nor have I ever driven by when the candles are burning.

It must be lovely.

Dining under the stars, with the sounds of the garden

and candles flickering overhead.

Check out the faded oriental carpet

on the cover of this month's domino.

Now check out some of the carpets in my house.

Makes me feel almost stylish!

I love the faded worn look and have them all over my house.

Most of them came from my grandmother and grand aunts.

The carpet pictured above was on my Aunt Mary and Aunt Alice's sunporch,

maybe that's why it is so faded.

Now it has a new life in my living room.

The "good" rugs were scooped up by someone else.

The rug, desk, chair and picture frame all came from my

Grandmother.  She even needlepointed the chair seat.

The rug above has a big hole, 

but it is on my side of the bed so I am the only one who sees it regularly.

Remember the post about my friend Mary's tent sale

I mentioned my wedgewood-like tin with the Greek goddesses,

there it is on the bookcase.

I love my cozy house

and all the old stuff from family and my treasure hunts.

This rug came with d.h., not sure of its "provenance".

 

 I found treasures at auctions estate sales or antique stores

 that I will showcase another day.

Of course, one person's treasure is someone else's junk!

Last year blue and brown was hot

now we see green and brown sprouting everywhere

the green movement maybe

or just because they look good together

start in the natural world

what works there, works everywhere

then move to the shelter magazines

then to the blogosphere

My Notting Hill was the Washington Post's "pick to click of the week"

according to their blog watch on May 16th -

for her post on green and brown

kudos

This picture is lifted from My Notting Hill's blog (with permission)

It is a photograph from Living etc June 2007 - Wallpaper by Cole & Son

look at everything happening here - I especially love the shocking pink

Craig Henson's room at the Washington DC designer showhouse

Another picture from My Notting Hill

Traditional home 2005

May 1st in NYC   

the first part of the day was all work and no play 

but the late afternoon was just grand.  

One stop: Kips Bay Show House 2008. Here are just a few pictures.   

  1960's inspired decor or as the designer says "for the swinging 60's chic"

Image, Washington Post, May 1, 2008    

 Ellen Ward Scarborough and Pariscope Design

Two other blogs featured a photo of this room and commentary, Decorno and Habitually Chic, and clearly did not like the room at all, nor did the readers of their blogs, except me!  I have to say that I liked it.  It put a smile on my face immediately.  The room was fun, fresh and alive. The pineapple, constructed with thick, vibrant, wide-wale corduroy, is a sign of hospitality or welcome - so the haven was welcoming its owner home perhaps or welcoming the visitors to the show house?

Extenzo - very cool 

designer's initials disguised

 on pillow monogram

    

Image New York Times, April 24, 2008  

Philip Gorrivan Design

Stretch vinyl ceiling called Extenzo from France - the effect was fantastic,-

clever and unusual

Free Bird

Image New York Times April 24, 2008  

Jennifer Carpenter, Truck Product Architecture

The New York Times quoted a photographer who had just finished going through all the apartments and said that this last room with paper airplanes suspended from the ceiling in a loop pattern and heading out the window, "felt like oxygen".   Somehow I missed this - how I don't know, but what a shame.   I imagine floating away from this room in a total state of happiness.

just delicious

A wonderful walk up Park Avenue over to Madison to visit the Charlotte Moss Town House - delicious as Diana Vreeland would say - so much to see, floor after floor and then back east, to the Kips Bay Decorator Show House. 

It has been years since I trekked to the KBSH, but this year because of the unusual venue, Manhattan House,  I thought it would be fun.   The difference this year is that the event is staged in apartments, 6 in fact, rather than a town house.  So there is a "bit" of reality for the viewer.

I lived in NYC for 12 years, in many apartments from the East 60's to 90's over to the West 90's and finally down to Charles Street in the West Village.  I had a taste of so many neighborhoods - hard to say which I liked best - I know which I liked least!  So viewing this show house in an apartment building gave the what could have been the usual over-the-top show house a different dimension for me.  This particular building - a full city block surrounded by mature plantings - is quite a haven when you view the city through its windows.  It was a building that I walked by so often but had never been inside. Famous for its modern architecture and because it was the first of the many white brick boxes,  but this one was unique - it was the first modern luxury building built after WWII just after the Third Avenue el came down and it was designed by Gordon Bunshaft.  It rented in 1952 for $75 to $250, imagine!  Today the building is being converted from a rental to a condominium - studios start at just under $1 million; a 6,000 square-foot penthouse is $20 million - wow is all I can say.  I also enjoyed seeing and listening to the tenants of the building while in the elevator, lots of wonderful old New Yorkers who have probably lived in that building for decades.  So a slice of reality and fantasy all in one.

Mix and Match... wondering what to say tonight and I saw my daughter studying diligently...she was sitting in a fun chair that we had reupholstered last year in the Sea Cloth fabrics that you saw a few days ago...

Check out the desk.  I found it at the Brimfield show two years ago.  It was a boiling hot day and I was determined to find a desk at a good price that we could fix up - I was almost ready to give up when I came across this beat up piece - it has the old-fashioned metal kitchen table top and a pretty crystal knob on the drawer.  I love the vibrant acid green color we used on the desk - same color as a band of color on the walls where we pulled off a very childish border... we cheated and just repainted the border area not the whole wall, but who's looking!