World of Color Confusion: picking the palette take 2

So as predicted, Jo-Jo shot down the color selection I so carefully made with a NO!  Not even a kind, no, no et non.  Just NO!  I don’t want gray and Nantucket Red is too muted.  The only other hint of a direction she’s given me is she wants the navy blue whale wallpaper I found on Instagram over a year ago, and I can no longer track down.  Of course, she is adamant about that paper.  It was very cute.  She has a playful side – she likes a little tongue in cheek whimsy.  I’m not trying to deny it to her.  The Manse should be an expression of her personality…but for the life of me I can’t locate it.  I keep presenting alternatives, to which she responds…NO…I want the whale paper.  This may require divine intervention, or at  the very least inspiration.  Help!

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The Chronicles of Home always has such beautiful style.

The plastering is complete and now I really need to pick the colors.  I’ve turned to Instagram thinking I would find a clear direction, but while I many primary colors my natural inclination is to move toward softer hues. I fear if I mix it up too much, it will be a hot mess.  Some of the colors should remain in the rainbow, don’t you think?

Cory Connor Designs right – gets an A+ for painting the baseboard and the molding in hot pink.  One Kings Lane displays an array of colors that look beautiful together.

Left:  Schumacher wall covering is the color palette I typically gravitate toward.  Right:  Is Christopher Farr’s wall covering that I am dying for.

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The Every Girl . simply perfect uncomplicated beauty.

While I I still really love the kelly green, I have a feeling that it’s just a trend and my affection for it will pass.  While paint is the least expensive, and most impactful of your styling options, it still costs money and requires a fair amount of disruption to change it.  With that in mind, I’d like to get it right the first time.

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My Bella Storia . who doesn’t like a polka dot?

In my search for that dang whale wallpaper, I came across quite a lot of inspiration.  I only hope that one, or a combination of several of these will illicit a resounding YES – see, just like I told you…..

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OKL . I LOVE PINK.

Happy Sunday.

 

 

 

Time to pick the palette: The Manse Awaits

Time.  It’s such a funny thing.  I should have had this palette picked a decade ago.  When we jacked the old house up and poured its first ever foundation, I should have kicked it into high gear.  After the electrical was done – what about when the HVAC was installed?  The installation, boarding, and plastering should have been a red flag that I was now – dangerously behind schedule.  But it was summer and my mind was on other things.

Left:  Benjamin Moore’s Maple Leaf Red  Right:  Benjamin Moore’s Mineral Ice

Time to fish or cut bait.  I like my projects to have a cohesive color palette.  Not ever designer agrees with this philosophy, and I certainly don’t adhere to a minimalist all white, all beige aesthetic, rather I like to choose moments that I introduce a theme color or paper into a room.  Here’s where the struggle comes in for me.  The front door color – Nantucket Red was selected by my sister Mary Beth.  I love it, but in truth, it isn’t the way I would have gone.  Now I feel beholden to it – a need to bring it inside, and I am not at all certain how I will do that.

Plaster Perfection.  Smoothing out the rough edges.

The exterior is a pale gray – my favorite, and a lovely compliment to the Nantucket Red.  I am going to push for gray on the interior walls – pale, and in keeping with a neutral, but I have 3 bathrooms, and 4 bedrooms to design.  I am leaning toward using the Nantucket Red as a small, complimentary accent in each of the rooms.  It might come in the form of an accent wall that’s papered.  It might be hidden on the interior of a closet – painted walls or shelves, a pretty little pillow, a throw, a vase, the grosgrain ribbon detail at the bottom of the roman shade.  All to be determined, but I like where that’s going – you?

Hygge and West . Mermaids in Coral

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Now I need to settle on the primary palette for each of the rooms.  The living room wants to be splashed in Benjamin Moore’s Mineral Ice.  Jo-Jo will accuse me of being a one trick pony, but finding that perfect gray took years off my life, and now that I know it exists, I can’t un-know it.  It’s begging to be recognized in all its subtle perfection.  And besides, this isn’t about me – the living room is making the decision – it’s the one that has to live with it.  Come to think of it, it’s neighbors – dining and kitchen have to live with it too.  They flow one into the next so really do need to share their colors. I could fall in love with a dark, dark navy for the secondary color in these rooms.  Maybe hang the painting of the fishing vessels I got at the Nice Flea Market in France on the wall.  It has a fisherman wearing that signature Nantucket Red.

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Brahms Mount in Coral

Share your thoughts with me.  Don’t leave me hanging to make the decision alone. Jo-Jo is tough, she’ll shoot it down, and then where will we be?

Happy Sunday.

It Takes heART

The last few weeks of summer always have me out of sorts.  I’m still longing for a lazy day on the beach with a good book, a glass of rose in the afternoon on the deck, an outdoor shower before dinner…throw in a yoga class, repeat, replay, it doesn’t get old for me.

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Chairish . Closer $1450.

I do love fall, but I am not ready for the traffic, the school buses, and normally I can get very excited about fall fashion, but I am trying to refrain from spending my hard earned dollars on a fantastically outrageous pair of high fashion pants, that I would likely wear twice, have absolutely no room for weight gain or loss, and would be wildly out of style the following year.  Can you say $1400. down the drain?  I’m trying to, but what I hear is, come get me, you’ll be the envy of the IIDA Fashion Show.  Oh lord, sometimes I am too much to handle.

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Chairish . Passionate Heart $810.

So I am turning a blind eye to the fabulous fashions that are racked and waiting, and am in need of some inspiration. ART and NATURE.  I find that they gently tug me through tough political and economic climates, bad break-ups, low moments in construction when the project seems as if it will never come to an end, and I’ll be covered in dust forever!

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Etsy . Carl Thomas Gallery . Beginnings $400.

Of course you can go to a gallery and see some amazing masters, but I like to scroll through the pages on Etsy, and Chairish.  There are so many unknown artists that have incredible talent.  So much of what Etsy has to offer is incredibly affordable too.  Like the names given to nail polish I find it fascinating and illuminating to read the titles of paintings.  They open my imagination to so much more than the image alone and allow me to craft a story – make it my own.

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Etsy . Make Believe . $150.

One of my favorite paintings I loved before I knew the title, but when I learned it was called:  Time After Doubt, I fell in love with it.  I have collected a lot of art while on this flipping adventure of mine.  My most recent acquisition was the inspiration for the color palette in No. 4, and is prominently displayed in the living room.  I adore it, and expect it will make a reappearence before I reach No. 10, but it is Time After Doubt that once published, you will see in every single flip – all ten chapters of My Life in Sawdust.

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Etsy . Landscape No. 8 $89.

To finding a little inspiration in this time in-between.

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Etsy . Linda Monmori . Visitors $360.

Why Should Fall Fashionistas Have All the Fun?: On trend trims

Ava

http://video.wmagazine.com/watch/fall-fashion-advice-from-a-very-young-stylist

This little gal, Ava Ryan, is one of the funniest people I have seen in ages.  She nails the fashion industry with her prima donna attitude, her outrageous references to food and fashion, and her over-the-top statements like:  “Big Bird is the fashion icon of our time.”  and “Why be the Fire Fighter when you can be the Fire.”

Left:  Moonlight Feather Taupe Ostrich Fringe Trim  Right:  Prada

I’ve decided to follow Ava, via W Magazine’s sage advice, and accessorize with the 2017 hottest trims for the home.  After all, why should Ava have all the fun.

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Samuel and Sons . Rhodes Trim in Cabernet

DON’T BE INVISIBLE:  Silver is the new gold.

Left:  Kravet Liquid Metal Nickel Trim  Right:  Ava showing off a Silver Channel Boot

Mauves, feathers, vintage inspired hats, plaids, power reds, florals, and leopard take center stage in this season’s fall fashion round-up.  Pleats, skirts of all shapes and sizes, asymmetrical, mini, mid-calf, and long.  Coats, coats, and more coats.  Velvet, fur, and baubles galore.  More is more – so get ready to bundle up, mix and match, and nail the runway trends in your home the way this little boss lady attacked the industry with her clever insights, wit, humor, and satire.

Left:  Kravet Peace Turquoise Trim  Right:  Gucci Pleated Floral Silk Crepe Midi Skirt $1800.

DRESS IT LIKE A FABULOUS CARPET

Left:  Kravet Snow Bunny Ermine Trim Right:  Miu Miu SSENSE Shoe

BOAS FOR THE BRAIN – Getting Feathery

Left:  Miu Miu Oversized Faux Fur Coat  Right:  Kravet Boa Brush Fringe . Ocean

ACT LIKE AN ANIMAL:  Trim it in Leopard

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Leopard and Floral Melange 

New York Fashion Week can be a jungle, but you can avoid the wild life, and still emerge on trend and the envy of your neighbors with these couture looks.

 

 

Join The Club:

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A Nantucket Institution, The Club Car has undergone a transformation that has created a stir in more than the kitchen.  Generally speaking, people don’t like change.  Me, I am so habitually acclimated to disruption that while I might not always embrace it, but I accept it.  I was sad to learn that not everyone has warmed this latest iteration of The Car.

It’s storied history began in 1881 when Nantucket developed its first rail service in support of its burgeoning tourist industry.  Modest in size, just two open air passenger cars, named Dionis after the wife of island’s settler, Tristram Coffin.  The train first went out to Surfside and later Sconset.  The service ran for 36 years until it was supplanted by the automobile.

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Main Dining Room

The rail car, first stood alone at its new location on One Main Street, and served as a diner.  Later the restaurant expanded, connecting to larger building, becoming the restaurant and piano bar that serves as the current day memory most hold dear.  Keys banging, drinks splashing, the sound of Piano Man carried out the door and down the street on the hot breeze of a summer night.  Add in a hangover, and you’ve got powerful memories of place.

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Additional bar seating adjacent main dining.

Under new ownership, its the design that drew me in and had me crushing hard.  Tharon Anderson, of Tharon Anderson Design, a native Nantucketer, is responsible in part, for the transformation.  The co-mingling of her coastal roots, with the historic tones of the original cars interior are a far cry from the blood red enclave that preceded it.  I love the high gloss paint that glints and sparkles like stars in the night sky on the car’s dome.  The brass scones that line the interior in the form of a hand grasping a torch, the brass pipe fittings that hold the shelves of old fashioned glasses, and the industrial light fixtures that are a major feature of the main dining room’s design.  Garden elements pop up in art work, and hanging planters.  Pale blue leather seating – some of the most comfortable I have seen a restaurant dare to install, least their patrons refuse to leave, create an airiness to the overall space that is powerfully hypnotic.

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The piano remains a fixture of the restaurant and patrons can lend their voice to performances twice daily – certain songs will cost you dearly, so select carefully.  The food however diverges from the well worn track its predecessor laid.  The Chef chose a largely gluten free menu, and a serious farm and fish to table commitment that drives the dishes.

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Luscious leather seating invites patrons to relax.

Like a train chugging down the tracks, mindful consumption has a momentum that is changing the way we eat.  I like Beef Wellington and Baked Alaska as much as the next guy or gal, but I really like the vitality and energy I get from eating clean.  The new Club Car is a breath of fresh air.  Given the chance, I bet your fall in love all over again.

 

ACKting Coy

 

Harry Benson . Berlin Kiss

Harry Benson (Scottish b. 1929)  Berlin Kiss. 40 x 50 – $16,000.

This modest little island – Nantucket – may not have the glamorous storied past of its sister island Martha’s Vineyard with its Presidential visits and star sitings galore, but it sure knows how to flirt.  From your first step off the boat or onto the tarmac she draws you into her alluring embrace.  The wink and glint of the sun off the water, the salty perfumed air, mingled with the sweet smell of Rosa Ragusa, and so begins the indelible impression she will leave.

Centre  Point . 28 Centre Street, Nantucket

Cape Cod may have my heart, but Nantucket has my soul.  Wandering the cobblestone streets, narrow, uneven, meandering – you bare witness to the island’s whaling history, to  its architectural simplicity, and its secret gardens.  The trellised roses, the hydrangea, the daisies, between the fragrant breeze and the swaying of the sea grass – its downright hypnotic.

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Starburst Mirror . John Rugge Antiques

Now you all that have been following along for some time now, know that I am a shopper.  I am an addict.  I have a deep and shamefully, uncontrolled desire to acquire beautiful things.  It’s true.  I thought in the past that by coming clean I would being a process of recovery — NO!  That hasn’t worked.  They may need to try shock therapy on me next.

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Malachite Lamp.  John Rugge Antiques 

I have worked to restrain myself, but the baubles and benches, and brass mirrors, the brushed cotton covered slipper chairs, and bent wood mid-century tables – the unending array of beautiful things – ah, they lure me back in, whittle their way into my dreams, and no amount of resisting will work once that happens.  It’s destiny.  See how deep seated this problem of mine is.

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Garden Bench at Bodega – $250.

I am working on it, and have decided that if you all help me by snapping up some of the amazing things I find along the way, I can console myself with the knowledge that your home will be made more special with something I helped you discover.

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Happy Saturday.