DEMYSTIFYING DESIGN

Transforming Your Dining Room Table!

Demystifying Design — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:41:47 +0000

Gang: Are you ready for Memorial Day? I sure as heck am. Give me a bottle of rose wine and a daybed, and I will be conked out in the shade with Jasper, Weenie, and Amy Petunia. I need some serious sleep catch-up time. If you are a Facebook follower, you know that last Sunday I guided a terrific group from WithIt, Professional Women in the Home Furnishings Industries, on an afternoon-long tour of NYC's bustling SoHo neighborhood. We started our tour on a drizzly and dark day at one of my most favorite outposts, The Rug Company, on Wooster Street. The Rug Company is the genius British company that crafts the most delicious rugs in all sorts of amazing colors and sizes. Plus, the Rug Company folks have developed relationships with the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Paul Smith for fashion luminaries to bring their vision to the floor, literally. As I was looking about the stunning Rug Company showroom, I noticed their wonderful displays upon a dining table and a library table, and that got me thinking. Why not "prop" your dining room table when it's not in use... Add gorgeous coffee table books, a few glass garden cloches, some objects, and maybe a gorgeous orchid... Transform that barren landscape into a whimsical wonderland. Here are a few ideas.

Transforming a Wall with Art.

Demystifying Design — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:57:41 +0000

Gang: Greetings from very rainy New Orleans! John and I have crisscrossed the country, traveling from High Point, NC where we broke down our room at the Junior League of Greensboro/Traditional Home showhouse to Little Rock, Arkansas to speak at Tobi Fairley's Design Camp A to Z... And now we are doing a bit of consignment shopping paired with a few Bloody Marys (natch!) in Nola before we jump back in the trusty Subaru en route to North Carolina to collect Jasper and Weenie at Camp Bow Wow. Whew! One of the discussions at Tobi Fairley's camp was how to hang artwork, so I decided to run some images of a client's wall that we restyled a few years back. This was not a full-on client situation but rather a "come over for a Sunday afternoon consultation and have a glass of Champagne or three and let's tackle a project or two." The challenge was to take our client's artwork and hang it in a way that would give a drab wall new life. See how artwork (both "good" and "bad") can take a wall and really give it some oomph.

Tip, Top Terrific Thomasville!

Demystifying Design — Wed, 01 May 2013 02:38:59 +0000

Gang: John and I are just back from an amazing two weeks in North Carolina for the High Point Furniture Market... We launched our fabulous new Madcap Cottage pillow line (available on our website for now, Madcap Cottage, and coming soon to a very chic retailer near you) and crafted a room for the Junior League of Greensboro/Traditional Home magazine showhouse. We also met many amazing folks, including the terrific Lisa Kahn-Allen and her spot-on husband, Phillip Allen; gorgeous and fun Lisa Mende; Southern spitfire Anita Phipps; antiques guru Todd Nabors; and so many other wonderful folks. Lots more to tell on that front. A highlight of our visit to furniture market was the tour of the stunning and really exciting Thomasville showroom. John and I used to drive out to the Thomasville factory-cum-showroom in tiny Thomasville, NC during Furniture Market, and the experience wasn't very illuminating... The Thomasville brand was a bit tired and needed a big kick in the butt. The best thing about our visit to Thomasville was the giant Duncan Phyfe chair sculpture downtown (John and I would scamper about the enormous chair and pose provocatively, natch). Well, that was then, and this is now. Fast forward a few years, and Thomasville now occupies a high-style showroom in the High Point nexus, the IHFC tower. And it is headed up by two dynamos: Lisa Hanly is the head of corporate communications for Furniture Brands International, the parent company of Thomasville, and she really gets "it." Lisa is a dynamo, capital "D." And Greg Heller is Thomasville's vice president of retail, and he has brought his beautifully trained eye to the furniture company. And, folks, the results are stunning. Thomasville is back, and in a big, bold way. And not just for Heller's gorgeous furnishings, but also for bed linens and all sort of other delectable home goods. Here are a few of our favorite Thomasville introductions... And just to come clean, Thomasville did "host" my hotel room for three nights at High Point in their role as a blog sponsor, but I wouldn't write about the brand if I wasn't goo-goo, ga-ga for it. A stay at a Sheraton can only go so far, n'est-ce pas?

Showhouse Showdown!

Demystifying Design — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:28:13 +0000

Gang: Morning! John and I have been down in the High Point, North Carolina area for the past week preparing our room for the Junior League of Greensboro showhouse. We have designed the breakfast nook in the amazing, circa-1930 Adamsleigh estate, and we have been hanging curtains, steaming, scrubbing, and propping. John and I are thrilled to be working with our dear pals at Thibaut, and we employed their fabulous fabrics, wallpapers, and upholstery in the room. Plus, we added loads of vintage case goods and "props" to add a layer of dimensionality to our room and take it from looking like a showroom.The showhouse opens tomorrow night with a Gatsby-themed gala, and we are so excited to show off our wares. Here are a few photos from our room in progress. See you at High Point Market!

The breakfast nook at Adamsleigh "before"... I can't wait for you to see the "after" shots.

Here's the fabulous jute rug that we picked up at a World Market in Florida and drove up to the showhouse. There's a World Market just down the street from the showhouse, but it did not have the rug that we needed. Happily, we were in Florida, so it was easy for us to swing by the WM outpost near Orlando. John and I just love World Market!

And We Have A Winner…

Demystifying Design — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 18:56:19 +0000

Gang: I hope your week is going along swimmingly! John and I are up to our eyeballs and loving it... So much fun! John is on the mend from his surgery, so he is up and about and the Madcap Cottage team is full-steam ahead... During our presentation at the Miromar Design Center near Naples, Florida a few weeks back, we announced to the audience that they should email us and tell us about a room in their home where they best used color and pattern. John and I would review the entries for the most creative use of color and pattern and general all-around fun, and the winner would receive a Madcap Cottage pillow and a one-hour consultation with us over the phone. Well, we had many entries, but we have selected a winner... Drumroll, please. Miss Sue Ann Till of balmy Bonita Springs, Florida has won the golden ticket. John and I loved Sue Ann's eagerness to take a dull wall and transform it with art. Talk about a terrific mix of high-low! To quote Miss Sue Ann Till: "I attended your presentation, and I was so inspired by your design! We purchased a 2,400SF home in Bonita Springs 3 years ago, and I have 50% decorated from consignment and goodwill etc. I have this blank wall (gasp! I know), so I came right home and began planning. I am an amateur artist, and I had three art pieces unframed in a closet. I went to consignment and found some frames and a few things and this is what I came up with! It makes me want to keep going. I think I need to fill in with a few more things but this is the beginning of something happy. I also switched out some pillows with color and more. Thank you again for your inspiration." Well, Sue Ann, we love nothing more than a blank wall that transforms from a caterpillar into a glorious butterfly. Here's Miss Sue Ann's handiwork... Voila!, Miss Till's work just after we inspired her at our presentation and, again, after we encouraged to keep pushing the envelope. Let's talk, Sue Ann, you are Miss Madcap Cottage Miromar Design Center 2013! And, Sue Ann, spread out over the wall... Don't just cluster everything in that one tight space. Expand, and fill that entire blank wall and make it fabulous!

The Marvelous Miromar Design Center!

Demystifying Design — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:42:25 +0000

Gang: Morning! Apologies for being a tad remiss of late with our blog posts... Our dance card has been full to the brim. Between working on the Junior League Showhouse that opens in mid April in Greensboro, North Carolina, redesigning my parents' guesthouse in Tampa, Florida, and John having surgery to repair damage from a car accident three years ago, holy moly! Calgon, take me away! Last week, John and I were in Florida to give a presentation at the truly amazing Miromar Design Center. Situated just north of Naples, Florida and right off I-75, the Miromar Design Center is a delicious surprise. With the Miromar Outlets just across the street, you might think the Design Center would be an amalgam of home-focused outlet shops, but it's not. Rather step inside, and enter a Juan Montoya-designed, sprawling center that houses world-class showrooms including Baker, Ann Sacks, and our favorite, Webster & Company. John and I were invited by Webster & Company's wonderful Mark Fanta and the Miromar Design Center's fabulous Lynne Groth to talk about color and pattern, and we had more than 200 engaged design enthusiasts attend our lecture. John and I were also lucky enough to meet the visionary behind the various Miromar developments, the lovely and gracious Margaret Antonier, who introduced us. Afterwards, we were all treated to champagne and cupcakes in the Webster & Company showroom. We met wonderful folks and had a blast. John and I are thrilled to now be part of the Miromar community... Here's to further madcap adventures at the Miromar! P.S. Previous lecturers at the Miromar Design Center have included Charlotte Moss, Mary McDonald, and Martyn Lawrence Bullard, so John and I were humbled to be included in the mix.

A Madcap Cottage Close-Up!

Demystifying Design — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:32:22 +0000

Gang: And how is your week going? John and I are always thrilled to receive coverage in magazines, especially publications in Europe and abroad (maybe that will get us a client in London or Beijing, and then we could then spend months abroad!). So here's a lovely feature in the Dutch magazine Residence on our Brooklyn home that has just hit top Amsterdam newsstands. Who know what the Dutch folks wrote about us, but, hopefully, it is all about how fun we are and why we should be hired to design top Dutch households...

Viva Liberace!

Demystifying Design — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 15:05:13 +0000

Gang: As you know, sometimes John and I live by the "more of more is more" sentiment... Not that we are always over-the-top, but it can be fun to push the envelope. Someone who certainly lived life over-the-top was renowned performer Liberace... Watch for his biopic, Behind the Candelabra, to air on May 26, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. Yesterday, the New York Post asked me my thoughts on Liberace's interior design aesthetic and whether we will see mirrored pianos and gobs of chandeliers hitting interiors anytime soon. And here is what I said...

A Visit to London’s Georgian-Era Brunswick House!

Demystifying Design — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:59:45 +0000

Gang: OK, OK, I have been a tad remiss in my blog posts... Apologies. But running around Russia and London tired me out! But I am back... Last week, John and I paid a visit to one of our most favorite, tucked-away spots in London, Brunswick House, a tumble-down former stately home that is now occupied by Lassco, a fabulous source for architectural salvage items and antiques, and the Brunswick House Cafe. The Georgian-era manse sits in the middle of very modern buildings in London's Vauxhall neighborhood--and just around the corner from MI6, the British secret service headquarters made famous by James Bond--and is a totally unexpected and magical delight. Step inside, and enter a world of inspiration and tatty glamour. Here's a little tour...

Color, Color, Color: Moon Over Marrakech!

Demystifying Design — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 00:32:37 +0000

Gang: I hope your week is going swimmingly... Hello?! Has anyone tackled their lampshade re-do yet? John and I are currently in London and savoring ever drib and drab. London is so damn inspirational! We leave for Moscow on Friday morning, so get ready for lots of updates from the steppes. On another note, Better Homes and Gardens magazine asked us--along with several other wonderful designers such as Elaine Griffin and Lauren McGrath--to come up with fun color palettes to inspire their readers. Of course, John and I did not do anything that was remotely beige. Instead, we turned to Morocco as our driving force and culled gorgeous wallpapers and fabrics from the likes of Thibaut and furnishings from C.R. Laine. Take a look, and let us know what you think of our selects.