All Is Bright

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This Tuesday, Christmas took place in my house and I wanted to share a few of the pictures with you without giving it all away. What I thought would be a piece of cake turned into quite an ordeal! But then isn't that what Christmas decorating is usually about? Beads and baubles, ornaments and wire, paper and ribbon, festive food and greens. I am stilling piling up the debris after all was said and done.


Better Homes & Gardens does a special issue each September titled Christmas Ideas and this year I will be included. The editor, Ann Blevin found my blog, saw my style and thought I would be a good fit. (or diversion!). After twirling my mantle in five different ways I suddenly thought, 'Has anyone ever done a Goth Xmas?!' -because it looked like I was about to! I had an idea to use this fabulous black tree I bought for a friend last December. After helping her decorate it I was in love with the contrast of the black tree against the bright turquoise ornaments we used. With her modern decor it looked like something for Domino magazine. So I thought I would buy one for me. After adding some appropriate ornaments, hurricane candles and gold frames on the mantle, I was very happy but couldn't help but wonder how it would fit with all the other green and red the issue will indoubtably have. It did look a bit Gothic because of the black but as I said to the editor, "If I saw this in the magazine it would make me stop!" So on I went doing the black tree.
Here are some other shots:

A hodge podge of silver (most on the table that you cannot see)

A great shot on the porch with champagne cooling in a giant urn of snow...

A shot with my friend Julie Reed's folded paper sculptures and Wendy Addison's new line coming this Christmas...

My vanilla vignette using every ivory prop I could find (many off camera here)...

Not shown, a sofa set-up with a giant lamb painting, stone angel and French sconce. Only six months until you can see more!

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Debut Column

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My new column for the Kansas City Star, premiered Sunday, March 15

TEXTURE IS A COLOR TOO.
A neutral palette doesn't have to be boring.

You either love it or hate it. Some people walk into an all white room and sink into the sofa, put their feet up and say, "Ahh.. I'm in Heaven!" Others look around and wonder why everything seems so bland and colorless. I happen to fall into the former group.

For me, I love shades of stone, sand and concrete. Although lately, it has become more about texture than color. I can live with 'boring beige' as long as I can add dark galvanized metal, white linen and a favorite driftwood table. The marriage of dull metal mixed with soft white linen and adding a coarse, grainy table is right up my alley. Why? Because texture can keep your eyes moving and make a one-note room come to light. Entering a room with a specific color palette is nice, but when a variety of textures have been added- now you're designing!

Stop right now and look around. Don't look at color but start looking at texture. What is the sofa fabric? Is the chair the same? Is the table the same material as the other table and the other and the cabinet and so on?

WHAT IF...
-Your leather chair has a thick cable throw over the back?
-Your sofa has a few pillows; one shaggy, one pleated, one with graphics?
-Your picture frames were heavily carved or maybe glossy white.
-Your curtains has a pattern where your walls were a solid color (or vice-versa!)
-What if you added a crooked fallen branch in a giant glass bottle on a thick burlap tablecloth? Get the picture?

Adding texture can be easier than trying to decide if that green tray is right for your blue table. If you start with three complimentary colors you love, find the shades of those colors that are the most soothing and then add accessories that are primarily from natural materials- you're home free. Suddenly a no-color room takes on a different life as you start to add some nature (plants, stems, seashells), paper (books, sketches, magazines), metal (lamps, tables, frames), fabric (throws, curtains, pillows) wood (unfinished, varnished, painted) and objects (glass, stone, porcelain)... the list is endless.

Paying attention to these interior details will make others notice something is different about your home. This could be the one time touchy-feely is not such a bad thing!
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Hurry Spring

Take a look at the March issue of KC SPACES magazine and the 10 page spread on my home. We have 45 copies for sale in the store if you cannot find it on our local newsstand.

March SPACES with a spread of my home.