Domino-No!

I received a copy of the new Domino magazine when I was in High Point last week and so excited to get it! Until I started reading it.

I realize that all of the former editors and writers have moved on to new things, and that the new staff is just that… new. But almost everything in the magazine is old. I do not have the encyclopedic recall of the magazine like many do, but I certainly recognized much of the content. Because a lot of the items in the images are no longer available at their original source or price, many of the image sources say “similar to shown”.

Although there is no advertising in this special issue, I would have been seriously unhappy if I’d paid the $11.00 cover price. One of the things I did like was the Catty Corner, but it only listed four things, and there could have been loads more.

I hope that the new Domino staff reads some of the reviews of the magazine, and believe me, there are PLENTY, and takes the advice of the blogosphere. Look what happened to Nate Berkus when he made the bloggers unhappy… his show got cancelled.

So, what I am saying is that Domi-NEW is really DomiNO!

Q&A With Carolyne Roehm

As I’ve mentioned, designer, author and gardener Carolyne Roehm will be at Ladew Gardens this weekend for the Garden Festival to talk about her passions for gardening, antiques and more.  While the 11:00 a.m. lecture is sold out, there are still tickets available for the 2:00 p.m. lecture. In anticipation of her arrival in Maryland, she was kind enough to answer some questions for me.

Pigtown*Design: I love how most of your books have the word passion in the title. Blue and white, presentations, classic homes, parties… are these passions that have been with you for a long time? And do you still find new passions?

Carolyne Roehm: Ah, that is a big question --- the answer is yes I have new passions , and not all things are my passion,s but publishers get on to something that works and they do not like to give it up. So I actually do not have a passion for parties but love the deign process in preparing for them. My three great passions are dogs and flowers and learning.

PD: How is your garden this spring? Have you found that the warm spring has helped it? Or have you lost plants because it’s warmer than usual?

CR: It is strange because everything is out of sync --- basically everything has bloomed a month early. We are so far ahead …by a month in our garden preparation, but this weather is so volatile it makes one a bit nervous. Work-wise in the garden it has been great to get a jump start in the garden but heaven knows how this season will play out.

PD: Have you found any new and unusual plants for your garden this year?

CR: I have not done a lot of shopping as yet, but last week I found a fabulous columbine.  It is new to me, but beautiful and I will be planting it this next week ----- I hope!

PD: I know you’re a great traveler. Which garden (aside from Ladew!) is your favourite? Is it English, Dutch, Asian?

CR: I have so many gardens that I love and lust after. But one of the great gardening moments is when I went to the Priory d'Orsan for the first time. What a dream one feels one has entered. The other garden,though totally different, is the garden at Vaux le Vicomte. What a great understanding of perspective Lenotres had.

Last spring I visited Het Loo which is fantastic. I, of course, love the great French rose gardens, Bagatelle and L'Haÿ-les-Roses . Ninfa out side of Rome is romantic and beautiful as well.

PD: Your newsletter was one of my favourite reads. Are you planning on reviving it? It is such an amazing resource for so many things. I always felt elevated when I read it.

CR: I have prepared a blog/information site which I have been editing and hope to have it up around the end of May to reconnect with people and to replace the newsletter. It will be an unconventional blog, I guess--- just with thoughts, ideas and information from my travels.

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I hope you’ve enjoyed my Q+A with Carolyne Roehm. I have been a big fan of hers for ages, and am so pleased to finally have the opportunity to meet her at Ladew Gardens this coming weekend. For tickets or information on the Garden Festival at Ladew Gardens, please click here.

High Point: Part 4

One of the things about High Point is that it is just so massive, you  hardly know where to begin. It wasn’t until the third day that I really got a handle on where some of the showrooms I wanted to see where located. And in reading the reports from other bloggers, I am realizing that there are a lot of places that I would have loved, but never found.

On my third day, I headed over to the Market Square, a restored mill that was where two of my long-time favourites were located. Thibaut, who has made wallpapers and textiles, now has a line of furniture, which was all wonderful. It’s all made in the US, including the feathers and down. I noticed a mini-trend of cut velvets on a matte fabric, which gives an incredible depth and shape to the colours. You can see it on this chair, and on this sofa.I loved that Thibaut’s furniture was very well-sized – perfect for a small house like mine!

The other showroom I visited was perennial favourite:I’ve been a Lilly Pulitzer fan for ages, and have a lot of their fabrics. I just finished a pillow in their fun “Tail Lights” fabric earlier this evening. I know that Lilly isn’t for everyone, and I certainly like it in small doses, and not on all of my clothes, but I do love their patterns and colours.Most of all, I love the names they give their prints. The Tail Lights is dragons with street lights on their tails. Racy Lacy is a Queen Anne’s Lace print, Dirty Shirley is a play on the drink, Shirley Temple. Many of the Lilly prints have the name “Lilly” somewhere in the pattern and it’s always fun to see where you find it. The colours that Lilly uses are so bright and cheerful and make me happy!I loved these subdued chairs that they’d placed on the breezeway between two buildings. The detail is great, especially the closely spaced nail head trim.There’s still a lot more to come, so stay tuned!

Today’s Highlights: One Small and One Big

I am still sorting through the 700+ images I took at High Point, and trying to assemble them into some sort of order so that I can post about the trends that I saw.

I had two highlights of my day today.I took Connor to the local DIY dog bath. I’ve always been happy to pay for someone to do this, but when I heard that there was a doggie wash a few blocks from my house, I decided to do it myself. Let’s just say that Connor wasn’t happy, I wasn’t happy and we were both soaking wet when all was said and done.But Connor is so soft now and his fur is all fluffy.

The second highlight of my day was attending a lecture at Evergreen House by the Devoted Classicist, John Tackett. His lecture was on “A Devotion to Classicism: The Enduring Popularity in Decorative Arts”, a subject about which John is passionate.His lecture was filled with gorgeous examples of classic architecture and design from Monticello and the Hermitage to the Kluge Mansion. I’ve e-mailed back and forth with John since he started his blog, The Devoted Classicist, about 18 months ago. It was such fun to meet him in person and chat.

Also, thanks to Diane who drove down from New Jersey for the lecture and who was kind enough to introduce herself to me, and to Sally Steponkus, who brought her “crew” up from DC for the lecture. It was great to meet you all!

High Point: Day 3

Ugh… it’s after 11:00 p.m. and I have just arrived back at home. It’s been a long and rewarding three days, and I want to publicly thank Cheminne Taylor-Smith, who is the VP of Marketing for the High Point Market for inviting me to High Point, and to Kim Shaver and everyone at Hooker Furniture for sponsoring me.

In addition to seeing miles and acres of gorgeous furniture, I also attended some seminars on Pinterest, trends for Spring 2103 and more. I will share some of the things I learned with you, but now it’s time to head to bed and have a good night’s sleep, with my pup right beside me.

High Point: Day 2

Day two at High Point was a little less daunting than Day 1. I took the shuttle around the town so I could get the lay of the land and understand the scope of the town and the market. I would have walked through town, but it was FREEZING! Someone told me that it was one of the chilliest days this year in High Point. Brrrr.I attended a couple of seminars today, mostly on marketing via Pinterest and social media. It was all fascinating, and part of the reason I am down here in High Point. I had a chance to walk through some of the showrooms and saw the gamut of items from large to small, from bright to subdued.Hmmm. Looks like body parts are going to be big this year. Ok?

After a couple of years of greys, colour seems to be back in vogue.

Bright colours.

Pops of orange.And oranges or clementines.

Everyone’s at the Market this year…

including lots of blogging friends, including Tartan Scot, Maison 21, Architect Design, Mrs. Blandings, and many more.

High Point: Day 1

High Point is just amazing! Massive. Huge. Maze-like. I’ve only seen a very small percentage of it on my first day, and realize that there’s no way that I will ever see everything, so I am going to have to pick and choose what’s a priority for me to check out.

We went to a fun party today at Halo, which had a British theme, right down to beef Wellington hors d’oeuvres, and Wine Gums. Lots of fun things in their showroom, including this fun strand of pennants… made from coffee cups.

After that, we headed over to Bunny Williams’ BeeLine Collection at Wesley Hall. SO much pretty!Great mirrors,beautiful prints,

and patterns,stunning details,

and much more.All so much fun! Lots happening on Monday, so stay tuned!

Heading to High Point!

I head out early Sunday morning to High Point, North Carolina, for the Furniture Market – the next six days that matter!  I had dinner with pal, David Wiesand this evening, and this was my fortune:

I am very excited to have this opportunity to visit High Point Market and am charging up the batteries and emptying the memory card on my camera, and taking a note book and plenty of pens.Luckily, I checked the weather forecast, because it’s not going to be warm and sunny North Carolina in the spring, but cold (upper 50’s) and rainy. Guess I need to put the linen tunics and trousers away and get out something a wee bit heavier, along with some rain shoes. I’ll be posting updates while I am there.  I hope you’re looking forward to seeing what’s new at the Market as much as I am!