Recently in Design Category

I need a decorator in the worst way. Have had several opportunities lately to submit my house to big blogs and magazines, and it's not cutting it. It has me feeling down. I gravitate way too easily towards that Oklahoma "let me put toile everywhere and then top it with MacKenzie Childs" look. UGH. I need someone to push me towards modern, but help me balance it with family antiques and classic.

The look I'm going for is Hamptons modern meets old school (meaning, I have stuff I can't get rid of). We'll see how this goes.

I don't know what it is about weekends, but it leaves me with a hankering to DIY. Having no energy to DIY after chasing a 10 month old around all day, I've sufficiently satisfied my DIY urges through the use of Photoshop. Tour with me, my dining room, in its current state:

Blah walls. The paint color is Pratt & Lambert's Contemplation, flat finish. It's the same color as in our bedroom, but the north facing light and shaded front yard doesn't do it any favors in our living and dining room. It has bugged me since the day we painted it, I just thought I could work around it or live with it. I cannot. Enter Photoshop rendering number 1:

Ummm, NO. I know damask is a hot (fading?) trend, but it's never been a personal favorite of mine. It reminds me of all things Victorian, and ahem, we've been there, done that in decorating. It is fun for stationery (we have plenty of that to prove), but the interpretation here is old spaghetti western saloon meets French country. Gag. We are so not going there. Enter Photoshop exhibit number 2:

{Sigh.} This is SO much better. This is it. A tweak here, a tweak there, but this would be perfect. A little pinky-red (but not salmon), a little French blue. Until I can afford to get rid of the inherited dining room furniture (not gonna happen), or figure out how to modernize it, might as well work with it.

So I'm wrapping up the designs for our January release. I've timed myself over the course of the past few weeks, as I've hammered through the design process from start to finish. Just for the record, posterity's sake, and my benefit, here are the numbers:

• Sketching - 20 hours. A few lengthy, crampy stints where I found myself gripping the pencil so hard I thought my hand was about to fall off. I also always use some sketches from previous drawing sessions, so it's hard to determine exactly how many drawing hours go into building a release.


• Outling - two very intensive 8 hour days = 16 hours.


• Scanning - 6 hours. You wouldn't think scanning would take that long, but remember, we're talking PAGES of stuff.


• Photoshop - 4 hours. It's about a half a days work, a lot of button clicking, but pretty easy. Just gotta be done.


• Coloring and layout - I'm still in the middle of this process, but I'd say I can average completing about 15 designs a day. So, if I want 90 designs, that's going to take 6 days, as long as I have enough sketches.


• Grand total: 94 hours. If I had to start from scratch, and not use previous sketches, I'd say we're probably talking about 120 hours. Two or three weeks from start to finish.

Good to know.

A few weeks ago, when we were in Atlanta for market, we had the pleasure of dining at Abbatoir. We were joined by Sara (of Party Perfect blog fame) and Ashley, of Simply Put. To summarize the experience, it was in every aspect the most perfectly branded restaurant I had ever been to. I should have taken more pictures, but here are a few I snapped with my iphone.

The entryway was casually elegant, with sisal carpets, gray velvet on the refinely-shaped sofa, and comfortable with flakey woods.

The maitre'd stand showcased business cards and this charming cast-iron cow.

Hubs had a watermelon and fennel salad with fresh ginger and a touch of cilantro. Delicious! The menus were old diner-style, disposable paper menus, covered in great typefaces.

My favorite food category on the menu was "Food in a Jar". I ordered this cucumber mint gazpacho as an appetizer.

For dessert, I ordered a fried cherry pie served with buttermilk sorbet. The entire meal was a highlight of our trip, and we hope to try another Star Provisions restaurant next time we visit Atlanta!

Now I have the gimmes. This picture makes me want French doors, white marble counter tops, and white kitchen cabinets. [sigh]

From Things That Inspire.

I'm bored. Hubs and I are over at the 'rents. He and dad are trying to put together a new server for work. I'm here for moral support. And strawberry shortcake. Thank goodness I brought the trusty (knock on wood) laptop. Really and truly, all I need to have fun these days is the laptop, a wireless connection, iPhone and charger. (Which, by the way, I did not have, but managed to scrounge from dad's massive Closet of Chargers. Not kidding.)

View above was taken from about halfway down the ninety-foot gallery that runs the length of my parent's house. It was a cool feature when they bought the house, but having now sat here for an afternoon, I've now decided that it's not so functional. Everything is VERY far away from where you want it to be when you need it.

What would I do without my blogs? I just learned that domino--dear, dear domino--is closing.

This is darling.

If I was to honestly describe myself, the mirror would reveal a collection of dichotomies. One part shabby chic, one part mid century modern; one part beach house, one part hollywood regency; one part traditional American, one part French roccoco. My house is full of sea grass and oriental rugs, chenille and leather, quilts and cashmere. Most of it is inherited, all of it is a collection, a story of my life.