Source Perrier

When I moved back to the US, I was staying with my friend K, the Queen of Catalogues, and found the Source Perrier catalogue. It is full of wonderful home ideas and beautiful things for inside and out. There was a quote in the catalogue by Thomas Jefferson, architect and US President that I fell in love with (see right sidebar).

But when I went to retrieve the catalogue, it was gone with the recycling. I hunted around around and found the e-mail address for Anita Taburzi, the Design Director for SP, and she very kindly e-mailed me the quote. She is the design talent behind the SP catalogue and she's got a terrific eye. Take a look and see if you agree.

Yesterday, I came home from a snowy walk with Connor to find the newest SP catalogue and fell madly in love with a number of things in it! I adore dots of any kind and found this great bedlinen set, which I now have my eyes on... I love this set because you could pick any of the dots and create a look around the specific colour.

When I was in the UK, I worked on a project in Paris, which required me to fly over there every couple of weeks for a couple of months (lucky me!). I got to know the city and some of the arrondissements that tourists and casual visitors don't see. The SP had these two wonderful framed maps of Paris and Rome that had the most unusual framing. The maps are sandwiched between two pieces of glass, so the wall colour shows through.

Anita Tiburzi is credited with introducing the coral theme to decorating with this wonderful beaded coral fan pillow. The story is that she had found these and ordered about 25 for the catalogue, but they sold out the original lot and again, thousands of times over. I love the colour, which is a warmer, softer version of the usual red.

Everyone's been talking about swirly and curly garden chairs, and SP has a fun set, light and airy, and with a pillow popped on the seat, perfect for sitting in the garden and reading Jane Austen or a trashy gossip magazine.

Images: Source Perrier

David Hicks

Somehow, David Linley is related to David Hicks... but it's royalty and therefore, very convoluted. If you want to figure out the branches, check here. It's all through the Mountbatten side - he was married to Lady Pamela Mountbatten.

I have been a fan of David Hicks for years, ever since I was someplace, which I can't remember, in London and saw one of his hotel designs. I have first editions of two of his books: Living with Design and Garden Design. David Hicks' logo was a stylized H's formed into patterns.

After his death in 1998, his design mantle was taken over by his son Ashley and daughter India, who was a flowergirl in the fairy-tale wedding of Charles & Diana.

This morning, I got something from West Elm and they have the lovliest David Hicks-inspired dining room chairs. The come in some stunning colours including a pale blue, pale green and white. They're finished in a high gloss.

The proof of a classic design is how it keeps re-appearing through the years, each time looking fresh and new.

David Linley

David Linley, the son of Princess Margaret and the nephew of Queen Elizabeth II, is also a noted cabinetmaker, with shops in the Pimlico Road and Mayfair sections of London. He also runs a small interior design section with clients around the world.

Several years ago, at the architectural antiques and salvage group I helped found, we worked with one of his people to supply chestnut beams for a job they were working on in New York.

It is said that Linley pieces are the antiques of the future. His current lines include:

• Linley Classics, reinterpreting classical styles
• New Classics, pushing the boundaries of tradition while simplifying lines
• Salon, light, elegant and refined.
• St. Petersburg, with its echoes of Tsarist Russian furniture,
• Attica, reflecting Greek antiquities
• Helix, inspired by Danish modern furniture
• Lizard, with its "floating" look in Madagascar ebony

Linley also does upholstered pieces, larger furnishings and bespoke pieces. Their small collections of picture frames, vases, cases, tableware and much more are stunning, and are mostly inlaid wood, which makes them all the more amazing. They also have a line of fragrances. David Linley has also written three books on furniture and furnishings.

Linley's website does have a catalogue, and will ship to the US, but be warned, nothing is inexpensive. However, anything you purchase will become an instant classic.

images: Linley

DEPARTURES Magazine

Apparently, if you're a Platinum or Centurion member of American Express, they send you Departures Magazine every other month or so. My boss gets it, but isn't very interested in it, so I get to look at it.

This magazine is aimed towards the high-end market, as evidenced by the articles and advertising. The inside cover is Ferragamo and the back cover is Lancôme. The inside back cover is for a jet service. But the articles are what makes the magazine so interesting. This issue features articles on Beverly Hills, Santorini, Jaipur and Paris for men.

The smaller articles are also worth reading and one caught my eye - an auction at the Doyle Galleries in New York of 600 pieces from David Easton's home in New York. The article mentioned two ivory inlaid tables with an estimate of $8,000 to $12,000 from a Welsh Castle.

I worked at a castle in Wales that was once owned by William Randolph Hearst and magnificently furnished. The contents of the Castle were scattered to the four corners of the earth in an auction in before WWII. I will write more about the castle some other time.

Looking at high-end auction catalogues is a great way to educate your eye as to what's what and what it's worth.

Take a look at the Doyle Catalogue and if you can, go to the auction!

I LOVE City Life

I went to drop off the sink I'd won at the local Habitat for Humanity Re-store this morning. I just had no use for it at all and thought better donate it to someplace that can use it, than have it sit in my basement.

I rounded a corner and there was an elephant standing there. Just kinda hanging out, waiting for the circus to begin later on today. So, I parked the car and went over to shoot a couple of photos. I got into the habit of carrying a camera with me all of the time a couple of years ago, and am always glad that I have it.

I don't think I've been that close to an elephant before and was intrigued to see his skin and eyes and especially his trunk.

I love city life - you never know what's around the corner!

March On!

Can you believe that it's March already? In Baltimore, it's getting ready to rain for the next couple of days, but at least it's not snow or ice.

I need to begin thinking about things for the garden - such as it is - for the coming months. I bought some freesia bulbs, and if you've never smelled freesia, it's wonderful. It's peppery and sweet at the same time. I've chucked the bulbs into the fridge for a couple of weeks to mimic winter, and then will plant them in containers in the back 40 (which is in square feet, not acres!).

Last summer, I grew tomatoes, basil, mint and lots of geraniums, both in the front and back of the house. I tried to grow gourds, but they didn't work too well, as I don't have any dirt in the back yard, just cement. (I live in an 1880's townhouse in the center of the city.)

I have some fun furniture for the back. A couple of years ago, when I was a partner in an architectural antiques and salvage business, one of our pickers came by with some great little wrought iron chairs and table. My sister kept them for me while I was in the UK. I also picked up some wrought iron plant stands last year at yard sales and they work perfectly for smaller plants.

I feel like we're headed up to the final stretch until spring and summer. That said, I just read that two of the ten major snowstorms in Baltimore have been in March, including a rare winter hurricane!

I've Got a Sinking Feeling

I went to a little shindig in Pigtown the other week. After I left, my name was drawn for a door prize. I won a sink.

Now, I am not renovating my house, and I only have one bathroom, so I am not sure what I am going to do with a new-in-box sink.

They brought it over last night and I was all excited to see what I'd won. But it was a sink.

It's white and oval and shiny and I am still not sure what to do with it. Any suggestions?

Update: I think that I am going to take it to the local Habitat for Humanity store. It's just not useful for anything but a sink - too many holes and too shallow. Not even funky!

Stylish Storage

Monogram Mama's and Petite Tresor's blogs had postings about stylish storage and it got me to thinking about it. I only have TWO clothes closets in my late 1800's eleven-foot wide townhouse, and they're small, so I have to think of innovative ideas so I can store things that I am not using. The idea of using Rubbermaid plastic storage bins is anathema to me, because I know I can find something a lot more chic.

My good friend K gave me a set of about 15 nesting boxes with the iconic map of the London Underground on them. They are brightly coloured and remind me of all of my trips on the Tube when I worked in London. I labeled them with a Brother P-Touch labeler so I don't have to root through each box to find what I want.

I use baskets to store my stash of yarns so I will be inspired to make something creative. I use matching magazine files to store my collections of magazines, including Domino, assorted Christmas issues, British Homes & Gardens, and some others. They're also marked so I can find things. Before I moved to the UK, I sold my complete collection of Martha Magazines, including the first issue, for which I got $250.

My out of season shoes are stored in a serpentine-front sideboard, and coats are hung in storage bags along the stairway to the cellar - which is a dry cellar, luckily. I do have a few under-bed boxes for clothes and try to make sure my extensive collection of cashmere sweaters are washed and stored in boxes lined with dried lavender.

When you live in a small space, you have to be creative to take advantage of every single inch you have and make the most of it.

Duchess of Windsor

The Peak of Chic had an article about the interior designer Billy Baldwin the other week and we got to thinking about some other notable Baltimoreans. Another style-maker of Baldwin's same time period was the Duchess of Windsor, former Baltimorean, Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson Windsor.

As I was out-and-about yesterday, I noticed this hanging in the neighbourhood where she was born and lived until she got married. The Warfield side of her family is an old Maryland family, but her father died when she was an infant and she lived with her mother in relative poverty, or shabby gentility.
In 1998, the contents of her house outside of Paris, which were owned by Mohammad Al Fayed, owner of Harrods in London and father of Dodi Fayed, who was killed in the accident with Princess Diana, were auctioned by Sotheby's for more than $23 million.

Much of her jewellry was designed by the Duke of Windsor and made for her by Cartier in Paris. Much of the jewellry is shown in the book The Jewels of the Duchess of Windsor, which is now out of print, but is available on Amazon. Another book, Windsor Style, by Susie Menkes is also out of print, but at Amazon.

More than 20 years after her death, the Duchess of Windsor still fascinates us.

American Craft Council Show

I am all excited to go to the American Craft Council Show in Baltimore this weekend. The ACC was founded in 1943 to "promote understanding and appreciation of contemporary American craft".

This is not your country, homespun, kitchy craft show with calico and straw. This craft market is comprised of 800 juried craftsmen and women who produce glasswares, jewellry, fiberwork, ceramics and myriad other amazing goods. The Baltimore ACC show is the largest in the country and people fly in from everywhere to attend.

Pieces in this show range in price from less than $100 to the mid-five figures. But there is literally some thing for everyone. A few years ago, I tried on a hat made from industrial felt which was in the shape of a ziggarut, but P. wouldn't let me have it... I bought a great topper in fleece instead, and wear it all of the time.

This year, there will be a special Children's section and the usual Spotlight on new talent. A number of years ago, my friend John Gutierrez was one of the spotlighted talents.

I am always interested in the jewellry and am looking to replace some of what was stolen last year. A few years ago, I got the most wonderful bangles which were silver, cast from bent twigs. One of the things I used to collect was spheres and I got some copper wire ones of assorted sizes at the ACC Show.

I will write more about the show this weekend, after I've gone.

All images: American Crafts Council