Thanks, Walla Walla!

Thank you, Walla Walla Union Bulletin! They interviewed me for a story on inexpensive, accessible decorations for Thanksgiving.

So what were my bright ideas? Well, that sentence was a clue, and here's an equally subtle visual hint...



(Bonus points for identifying the quotation I wish I could take back. That's what happens when the reporter is super cool and you end up laughing really, really hard.)

It's come to this: pretty picture book

I'm now entering the 3rd day of sitting at home with a sick kid, and let me tell you, the novelty has worn off.

It's not the pig plague (I don't think), and she's feeling much better today. Thank goodness for Netflix's "Watch Instantly" feature, which introduced us to Pingu, Milo & Otis, and the Angelina Ballerina cartoons.


Thing is, when you're watching new stuff, you never know when a scary part is going to come up. So any hope of sitting with her, laptops side by side, as I work and she watches are...how shall I say...

Unrealistic.

So starved was I for any modicum of adult entertainment (not that kind) that I was THRILLED when before naptime Ruthie produced the library book, The Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child.


You know Lauren Child. She the brilliant Brit responsible for the Charlie and Lola series. The series responsible for a camp counselor pulling me aside last summer and asking, sotto voce, "Do you know Georgie sometimes speaks with an English accent?"

She wasn't concerned so much as excited, so I didn't have the heart to tell her that while she does, in fact, have a British grandparent, the reason for the accent is more likely attributable to a tv show and a flair for the dramatic. (No idea where she gets THAT.)

But I digress. So we open the book, and imagine my delight and surprise when I saw how the book is illustrated.


Interiors! Beautiful ones! They're little dioramas, with 2-D cartoon people inserted into them.


I would TOTALLY live in this room:


I especially love that the scale is a little mixed up, which keeps the mood lighthearted. Check out the mattresses:


In the back of the book, it says that Lauren Child is influenced by Vermeer, at least for this project. I totally buy that.










Have to sign off..."Angelina's Big Day" is over. Sigh.

Sheers + drapes = modern and versatile window treatments

Poor master bedroom. So often, so neglected.

And yet, it's important, isn't it? I mean, this is supposed to be our sanctuary. I have yet to have a client say to me, "Y'know, my bedroom's a little dead. Could we maybe take it up a notch? Make it a little more, I don't know, energizing?"

These clients had the sanctuary part down. Lovely wall color, neutral palette, nice comfy chair.


But they needed help on the practical side. Their window treatments just were not cutting it.


Too flimsy, too insubstantial, not enough privacy...you can't quite see it here, but too short...and the gromits were ill-advised.

They knew all of that. Which is why they called me :)

Here's where we ended up:


Oh-ho! Subtle, isn't it? We installed linen sheers underneath a heavier textured linen-y fabric. Both are from Robert Allen. The panels are Audrite in Ivory...


...and the sheers are Curtain Call in Pearl. They have a very faint, occasional, vertical stripe, which adds a bit of interest.

The new window treatments give them three degrees of light and privacy:
- Light but privacy (sheers only)
- Maximum privacy, no light (sheers and curtains)
- Maximum light and view, no privacy (everything open)

We looked at some edgier fabrics, including Stoney Path, at right. But there is a LOT of window action in this room, and ultimately, subtlety won out over potential seasickness. The clients also thought the solid linen would age better; less chance of them tiring of it. I thought that was a great point.

The hardware helps keep the overall look clean and contemporary. It's called Tribeca, also from Robert Allen.


When you're using a double rod, minimal, clean-lined hardware will make the overall effect modern, not stodgy. We took the modern one step further by using elbows to connect the rods in those soft bay corners. Now there's a sense of continuity rather than: curtain, wall, curtain, wall, etc.

The client had expressed concern about the number of rings involved in FOUR windows' worth of double-layered drapery. Totally valid.

But it doesn't look messy, in part because the rods are lined up one behind the other, at the same height. Often, the rod for the sheers is hung below the rod for the drapes.


From a practical standpoint, Tribeca rings slide really easily, so you're not dragging the drapes across the rods and putting pressure on the brackets. Old plaster walls don't take kindly to that kind of abuse.

The clients are delighted, and so am I. Score one for the sanctuary.

Office drapes are up, with Benjamin Moore's Ice Blue...AND tips for Aura paint

It's official: I now love my office.

The Beacon Hill drapes of living room fame finally have been paired a wall color that does them justice: Benjamin Moore's 2052-70 Ice Blue. In bossy color's world headquarters, the drapes are slightly edgy, not frumpy. They look tall and proud, not puffy and excessive. They're fresh, not sickly.


Benjamin Moore was kind enough to mention my office painting project on its Facebook page. But the first several comments were along the lines of, "Brrr! Too cold!" Not an enthusiastic response to the wall color initally.

But I'm thrilled to report that in real life, the room is anything but cold. Counterintuitive, perhaps, because, the wall color is called Ice Blue, and we all know that green is a cool color...

But it's a yellowish green. And the walls have just enough turquoise in them - not grey - to make them just a teeny tiny bit tropical. And the floor is glowing orange heart of pine; very warm. AND the room faces south and gets so much sun that I sometimes had to wear sunglasses inside before the shades were installed. So, cold it is not.


The wall color was a bit of an experiment (better to goof around in my own house than in my clients'), but the delightful surprise is that it's kind of invigorating. I feel focused in this room.

A bluish grey - like that in my bedroom, Benjamin Moore's 1646 Lookout Point - would have been cooler, and more serene. Lovely for my bedroom, but not the effect I wanted in my office.


A side note to this project is that I used Benjamin Moore's Aura paint, as I did with my my daughters' bedroom in the spring...but as I mentioned earlier, this time I experienced an odd technical difficulty. As the day wore on, the roller seemed to pick up little "crumbs" of paint (for lack of a better word), and by the end, I had to smudge them off with my fingers as I went. It was really annoying.


But this didn't happen to me in the spring, so what gives?

Benjamin Moore's Jim Rayball was on the case immediately and invited me to tell him more about the problem so he could weigh in thoroughly and thoughtfully. But surprise surprise, I got sidetracked by my super fun client projects (that's not ironic; they ARE fun) and didn't get back to him.

I did, however, remember to ask my best painter about this when I saw him at a job site.

The bottom line: I was too slow.

Aura paint dries so fast that you need to move quickly and methodically so you don't roll over areas you just painted. In the spring, by myself, I was a madwoman: I had 2 days, and by God that room was going to be DONE.

But in my office, I had help in the form of my father and brother...we were a lot more leisurely. I'd pick up where someone left off...we'd take a little break...where did you finish, again? I'm just going to re-roll this right now...

To get the full benefit of Aura paint, my painter tells me, your technique has to be good. This doesn't mean that us mere mortals can't use it, it just means we should practice. Work quickly, get the right amount of paint on the roller, don't re-paint wet spots, let it dry completely before putting on another coat - if you even need another coat.

I'd been skeptical about that one-coat claim, but in my office, it held true. Ah, wait - I did lose my nerve and slap a primer coat on the grey wall, but everything else was one coat. And we used a single gallon for the whole room.

My painter says that only drawback to Aura paint is the price. But he said that if you're willing to pay a little extra, in his opinion it's the best paint out there. And he has no reason to fib.


As for my office's rapid decline into messiness, what can I say. I work in here.

My mind is tidy, I assure you.

Back story on the drapes from Wednesday's "You asked..."

Gentle Readers: a story like this comes along but once a year. It would be cruel not to share it with you. Here it is, the back story on the drapes featured in Wednesday's post.

"Then came the curtains. I'm from no-where Illinois and my favorite aunt has made it big and bought an amazing $5 million house in North Atlanta that looks like a country french wonderland:


"When she moved in, her designer girlfriend immediately took down the custom window treatments in the kitchen and dining rooms. She left them on the floor in the three car garage next to the matching jaguars.

"Then my Beverly Hillbilly family came to visit the big house. Grandma Betty saw those fancy curtains on the floor and couldn't believe the girls were going to just throw them away. She threw them in the back of the 1983 Crown Vic they had driven down to Atlanta in and took those bad boys home.

"She thought she'd be able to use them at her place that my Grandpa built himself over 60 years ago. Unfortunately, the 12 foot high panels didn't really work in her little ranch house with 10 foot ceilings. She can't sew and they ended up in a cabinet above the closet in the extra bedroom that was originally the garage but converted when they had kids # 4,5, and six (the triplets).

"The curtains stayed in the unheated Illinois closet for the last 13 years-except for two panels that escaped when Grandma put them in a garage sale.

"In early January 2009, I went to visit Grandma Betty when she got out of the hospital just before she passed away. She had me rooting around in the closet looking for some old photo albums and I came across the curtains. I immediately knew they had come from my rich aunt's house and asked Grandma how they came to be stuffed up in the closet. She told me about the visit and the garage and the trunk.

"Next thing you know, those curtains were rolled up, put in an old dehumidifier box I found in the basement, checked on Delta and flying back to Atlanta with me."
- Jenna

Now THAT, as they say in the art history world, is a heck of a provenance. Thanks so much for telling us about it, Jenna!

You asked...about a rug that works with dining room drapes

Any Gentle Reader who sends me an e-mail saying, "I've had a glass of wine and am getting ready for Monday night football..." has a special place in my heart.


Here's some background information from her original e-mail, to which, tragically, I couldn't respond right away:

I just discovered your blog and LOVE IT. I'm hoping to write something witty or interesting enough to get your attention and advice. Tonight, I'm going to ask about the dining room.

Background: I live in a beautiful two story Victorian home built in the late 1880s in a historic neighborhood (Grant Park) near downtown Atlanta. There are only a few real two stories in the neighborhood (mostly bungalows) and I have one of the oldest houses in the neighborhood, so I feel like I need to respect the house and its history.

The house was renovated in the 80's ...The next owners did all kinds of unsexy but important work on the house like reinforcing the floor joists and replacing bad exterior boards and repainting...

And here's the next e-mail:

Hey Annie!
I've had a glass of wine and am getting ready for Monday night football, so I thought I'd try to narrow down the request for help in my previous email...

I'm working backwards, as I already have curtains and paint colors I love in my dining room.


The question: what to do for the rug and accessories? The pictures don't make the paint look great because it's so dark and I'm a bad photographer. Paint on walls is Restoration Hardware "Slate." Paint on ceiling is Duron Millenium Plantation Beige.

Floors 100+ year old 5" pine plank.


I've got a great old table with original chairs and my husband's mom's china and hutch:



Only other thing to consider is the green tiles in the fireplace:


I hate the fireplace surround, but that's a conversation for another day (I think). I'm all ears on ideas for rug color and accessories. Also, I could also use help in deciding which metalic collor to use (silver, gold, platinum, bronze, etc.) wherever possible.

Best, Jenna


Dear Jenna,

And this is why we always start with the rug :) No, no: I'm not here to chastise. My job is to help. Happily, we have options.

Your house is beautiful, and I absolutely love these wacky drapes! The back story is so great that I'm going to do a separate post about it, if it's ok with you.

I also like the wall color, and good for you for painting the ceiling a warm beige. (You know white ceilings aren't my fave, and they would have made this room feel very cold.)

That's our primary challenge here: warming up the room. The beige ceiling, gorgeous reddish floors, and wood furniture help a lot, but a rug will help, too. Think warm: camel, gold, orange, dark pink...red is going to be awfully traditional, which leads me to...

Our second challenge, which is adding a dash of modern. You could use a traditional deep red Oriental or Persian rug in here, and it would look lovely. But we don't want your house to feel like a museum. (Or maybe you do, but you shouldn't. You're too young and cool.)

CLASSIC UNSTODGY SOLUTION

A seagrass or sisal rug is a perfectly acceptable, no-risk solution. It's not thrilling, but it's fresh, contemporary without unwanted edginess, and visually if not physically warm.

Choose a herringbone pattern to offset the casual feel, and please do NOT add a contrasting binding (border, edging, etc.) - too beachy. Omit a binding altogether if you can, actually.

From a practical standpoint, it's easy to move dining room chairs over flatweave rugs. It's extremely important that you use a rug pad, though; over time, sisal and seagrass act like sandpaper on wooden floors.

A BIT MORE COLORFUL BUT STILL SAFE SOLUTION

A custom-cut carpet in an allover pattern is another option. It's no edgier than seagrass, but it's uncontroversial and effective. Robertex is terrific; I use them all the time for wall-to-wall wool carpeting and stair runners. Look at a pattern such as Maggie in the color Tuxedo Park:


A distinct advantage to this approach is that you can get exactly the size you need. Very important in a dining room: the chairs have to be able to slide away from the table without slipping off the rug.

BOSSY SOLUTION

Naturally, I'd love to see you go all out with a contrasting color to jazz things up. Madeleine Weinrib Atelier is the place to go for beautiful, colorful cotton flatweaves. (Dash & Albert is great for cotton stripes, but that's too beachy for you.)

Here is Madeliene Weinrib's Rose Mandala:


Coral Otto:


Orange Brooke, which would blend into the floor in a good way:


The Indigo Chi Chi Kari is subtle and elegant:

A bit more whimsical is the Stilton Jellybaby - the background color will NOT match the walls exactly, and that's ok:


And for the bossiest of all, the Celery Olivia. I actually love this color with grey, and remember, it will be underfoot, not right in your face:


Colorful art - watercolors, oils, pastels - will be critical in pulling the room together. I'm picturing contemporary but representational pieces in gilded frames. No mirror unless it's in a big fat gold frame...even then, though, mirrors can be cold.

Good luck, Jenna! Please let us know what you decide.

You asked...about a paint color for two-story living room

Hi Annie-
I am thrilled to be writing to you because I LOVE your blog, and I finally have a BIG problem I would love your help on! We built our home two years ago, and painted our fairly large, two-story living room Ralph Lauren Reisling, and my husband and I both detest the color.


We are finally going to have the room re-painted, and would love your opinion on a color.


It looks into both our dining room...


...and kitchen, which are green, and nutmeg colored, respectfully.


I am thinking some sort of brown, and as you can tell from the pictures, my swatches are not helping me.

Can you suggest a great color that will help me tie in the dining room and living room together? We will be putting a leather sofa in the living room, and it gets bright morning light.

I would greatly appreciate your expert opinion!! Thank you so much!
- Stefanie Bradshaw, Louisville, KY


Dear Stephanie:
Ahhh, Louisville. A city that is near and dear to my heart...when my husband and I were engaged, I visited him in Louisville, where he was working on a campaign. We stayed at the utterly charming Seelbach Hotel,


and a big wedding was happening there...the lieutenant governor and Miss Kentucky? Something like that. Royalty. Anyway, it was one of my favorite weekends of all time. It was there that I also met my future right hand at the Smithsonian, who sealed his fate by saying, upon meeting me, "I love your shoes!" Awesome town.

But back to your living room. BROWN IS WRONG. I understand the impulse to go darker after that anemic yellow (Ralph, don't go screwing up my favorite color, ok?), but darker is simply not consistent with the architectural intent of this soaring space.

Light, airy, open...these are the effects you want to preserve. Especially because the side rooms (the dining room and kitchen) are rich in color, let's keep the living room light and neutral. I know it sounds like a cop-out, but it's the space, not the color, that needs to do the talking here.

Try to match the kitchen cabinets, but keep yellow out of it. This might mean you're looking at the very lightest taupes your paint manufacturer has to offer. In Benjamin Moore, take a look at Benjamin Moore's OC-35 Spanish White, shown on the innermost picture frame moulding below, or good old OC-17 White Dove, which is outside the picture frame moulding.

Either of them should look soft but NOT yellow; if it does, reject it. (Its feelings won't be hurt, I promise.)



In any other paint line, pick up swatches that look like your kitchen cabinets and see what works.

If it were me, and I had a free weekend (or a free few hundred bucks to pay someone else to do it), I'd also paint my banister and newel posts high-gloss black to emphasize the contrast between them and the walls. (Aren't the balusters black wrought iron?) But that's me.

I'd probably also change the ceiling fan to something white or silver so it doesn't draw attention to itself. But spend your time - and your money - on the walls first, and then see how you feel.

Thanks for the great question, Stephanie. This may not sound like an inspiring solution, but I guarantee you'll love the space when you banish the yellow. Keep us posted!

"Whites" photo from decorati.com, courtesy of xJavierx's photostream on Flickr.