Nod to the Nautical: Cape Cod in almost summer.

Posted in Coastal Design, Designer Profiles, Fabric, Uncategorized by jackiefalla

View from the Marshside . 28 Bridge Street . East Dennis .

It takes a long time to warm up here on Old Cape Cod. There really is no spring, but as we await the arrival of the Easter Bunny the sun is shining, and I continue my quest to outfit my sister’s nest. Wheee.

Waving the Lauren Flag – “naught” bad.

Of course with the entire gang here, my plans for getting things accomplished have been turned on end. I’ll have to work double time in the final weekend to get it all done. My stomach drops as I think about the unthinkable – that it will never be done in time for the shoot. It will be what it is, when the 28th rolls around, and God willing it will be enough.

Schumacher. Old Cape Cod.

I stumbled across a new store on 6A in Brewster, and as its name: Nautique suggests, its chock a block full of nautical furnishings, fabrics, curiosities, custom signage for your home, and screen doors too. I spend hours pouring through the fabrics, because while I love nautical, I don’t love being knocked over the head by it. A nod here and there is enough to remind me of where I am. I’m no Ralph Lauren after all. Anyone that can reinvent themselves going from Lipshitz to Lauren, and creating a dynasty, can without argument do nautical to the nines.

Stove with scallop motif. Stunning.

How I admire his style. At Nautique he is well represented among other designers. This sailboat fabric from Schumacher really pulled at my heartstrings. It feels like its from the 50’s and even though I said no to the overt, I found myself dreaming of this design as a roman or a wonderful sofa or bed pillow. The wood stove with the scallop motif was to die for and I am trying to figure out if we can incorporate one into The Manse and at what cost – oh everything can be done if one has money….

Mark your territory with a custom sign.

27Mar2018

Snare the Chair

Posted in Uncategorized by jackiefalla

It’s time to fish or cut bate, but LORDie – there is nothing worse than sitting in an uncomfortable chair. So I am in the uncomfortable position of making a decision without first taking a seat.

Noir Penelope Chair $1260.

I’ve looked at structured chairs, upholstered chairs, slipcovered, wood framed, rattan – with cushions and without, and I feel no closer to my decision. But before this post is through, decide is exactly what I must do, or we will be shooting a space with nary a chair in site. A tough sell for a living you, you could agree.

Selma Justina Blakeney Eden Occasional Chair $675.

On the one hand I really want a chair I can sink into and read a book, cozy in the corner, side table to hold my tea, standing lamp to shine a light on the page (yes, I still read a book with paper pages – though I have a Kindle too).

Candelabra Home Loom Club Chair – Platinum $825.

The other hand is waving wildly in the air, awaiting the opportunity to say – NO – go architectural, go sculptural – make statement – do it for the photo. How very impractical. How very shortsighted. It comes down to “cool” or “comfy”.

Noir Gigi Chair $828.

Can you guess which one I went with?

Serafi Accent Chair Gray Linen $999.

25Mar2018

NYC Studio Design Challenge Part II

Posted in DIY, Uncategorized by jackiefalla

I threw together quickly the options for a 402 sf, NYC studio on Monday, but I would like to add a few more thoughts to it. I do like a rug to make a space cozy, and I know they can be expensive. I am not opposed to buying large Sicil carpets and throwing a small Oriental, Oushak, or matte sized natural fiber rug underneath. It allows your style to shine through and highlights a special jewel of a piece atop a disparate material. Wool, cotton, silk, or some combo of the same will do nicely.

Bringing personality to a space.

I also don’t like to worry about stepping on my iPhone is my everything, even though I wish sometimes it was not. I use it for my alarm clock as many do, and I need it nearby – so a bedside table is the natural thing to get for the solving of this issue. Having said that – there is no room for side tables in 402 SF. A shelf overhead will have to suffice. I would do one of two things. I would use a wonderful and inexpensive acrylic box that can be mounted to the wall, and decorative and useful items alike can sit on display.

Acrylic Shelves keep the space clean and simple.

That’s the easy solution. If you are feeling a little more ambitious, get a handy man to create a surround for the bed. Tuck the headboard between two planks – at least a foot in width. Create a shelving system above, affix some pretty fabric to hide the shelves et voila – you have yourself some invaluable storage.

This is a brilliant design that creates closets on either side of the bed, while hiding shelving above, and building in shelves that serve as a bedside table. Love. Love .

Metallic strips to hang knives from the wall in the kitchen are tremendously useful. I am not a fan of displaying pots, pans, plates and the like – particularly in city apartments, when try as you might, dust and dirt seeps in from the streets. Clutter is the other reason. I’d rather it be hidden away, but that’s a personal choice.

Schmidt Brothers . Acacia Magnetic Bar.

A final must have if the apartment were for me – a pretty bookshelf or etagere.

PB Teen Etagere – why should teens have all the fun? $475.

Happy designing.

20Mar2018

NYC Design Studio Challenge

Posted in Uncategorized by jackiefalla

Just 402 SF, but it’s NYC. Small spaces are exciting to me. They offer a rare opportunity to get super creative, resourceful, and find ways in which to use single pieces for multiple purposes.

Here is Option No. 1 – $2805.38

Top Left: CB2 . Flat Iron Apartment Sofa 60″ $799. Bottom Left: Ballard Design Color Block Linen Pillows $39. Right: Zara Golden Sphere Side Table $199.

CB2 . Astoria Wardrobe $899.

In small spaces it helps to have a calming palette, but not everyone wants a space without a pop of color. If you go neutral with big pieces you have more flexibility to make inexpensive changes by changing out pillows, accessories, and inexpensive art.

CB2 . Peekaboo Coffee Table. $279.

The use of acrylic in small spaces is brilliant as it allows you to see through the room, creating the illusion of grandeur.

Left: Queen Headboard from The Inside in linen. $499. Right Top: Zara Linen Curtain $49.50

I would propose hanging the curtain by a traxx.com ceiling mounted rod, and hanging a piece of artwork on the dining room side of the curtain – also from the ceiling. This gives great separation of space. Etsy has wonderful artwork at very reasonable prices. It’s a go to resource.

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Zara . Floral Print Pillow Covers . Inserts separate . $17.90

Throw these on a bed with white cotton sheets and you have a happy pop of color.

Left: Target Sconce Light $37.99 . Right: Urban Outfitters Pink Velvet Dining Chair $99.

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PB Apartment . Mission Modular $249.

Option 2 – $6343.98

Happi Nest by Verellen to the Trade.

Dealers can be found by visiting Verellen. These are wonderful pieces and should be considered heirloom – you will have them for life if you take care of them. I recommend use of either the chairs or the sofa, which is apartment style available in 70″.

Etsy . Midcenturysacremento . Console $1098.98

Storage is key to a happy life in small spaces. In cabinets, under the beds, stashed under sofa’s – use it.

The Inside . Cocktail Chair in Emerald Climbing Back. $649.

The Inside is a wonderful site. Very reasonable prices, hip design, and design collaborations, all made in the USA and ships direct to your home – no middle man. Think 2 – 3 weeks. Hello!

The Inside . Hex Ottoman. $349.

I would recommend getting two of these hex ottomans. They work well as a coffee table or side tables.

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Urban Outfitters . Marie Woven Windsor Platform Bed. $898.

18Mar2018

Design Challenge

Posted in artwork, Furniture, Uncategorized by jackiefalla

2 days, 4 rooms, furnishings and accents. No lighting, no renovations, no wall coverings. I went to Dallas with no plan in place other than to visit my beloved Blue Print Store. The timing and the demands that I am currently facing are both exciting and challenging, and didn’t allow for the pre-planning that I recommend so strongly when putting down cold hard cash, and working to turn your house into a home.

I spy a magnificent pice of art.

It sounds a little dramatic when I write it like that, but our home is a sanctuary of sorts. Many of us don’t recognize how supportive, restorative, and healing our environment can be, and any environment that can be all that can certainly be the opposite. Whether it’s “unfinished” or “disorganized” you are contending with, like a constant complainer at the office, it wears on you. Having the opportunity to help someone create a space that will nurture and make them happy is a pretty awesome gift to receive.

Bungalow 5 Camille 2 Drawer Side Table . Moss Gray Tweed

So we started with art. I’ve decorated 2 of my 4 places with a single piece of art in mind. One of the paintings came from Blue Print, the other from a local artist with whom I have great respect, and who casts swirls of paint on the canvas like the ocean waves of my youthful upbringing. Talk about generating joyful feelings. I loved my Cape Cod upbringing, so it seemed fitting that one of the designs would reference my earlier years. My friend and I felt the same way. Art is such a personal thing, and while no price tag can be put on something that elicits strong emotion, the pricer price tags can elicit the same for reasons contrary to our objective. Still – we launched off with that in mind, and as is often the case with Blue Print, we fell in love with not 1, not 2, but a slew.

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Restoration Hardware Belgian Linen Single Cushion Sofa. The cleanest look with no messy cushions!

With the clock ticking, we immediately decided on one main piece from which to build the design, and a secondary, and quite different abstract to help pull together the elements of the dining room.

Ethan Allen Barrymore Dining Table – sale on now through the end of March!

Every project requires a budget and we had one – though generous, the task of furnishing two complete bedrooms, a living room, which we only going to allow 2 chairs, a carpet and some drapes to remain, proved daunting. I’ve made enough mistakes with a sofa to measure twice and cut once, but I’m always a little nervous. No space is going to accommodate all that you want without some compromises, sacrifices, and cleverness, but dare I say we did good.

One Kings Lane Seagrass Console Table.

Paintings really help to bring disparate colors into the palette and create interest in a room. If you know roughly what you like, and you are exhaustive with your search, you can come up with a close approximation, as we did when we realized the bed room set for a young boy wasn’t in the color we hoped for. Houzz provided a perfect substitute and at a price that was jaw droppingly low.

Houzz . Coaster Zachary Full Bed. $318.66!!

A long weekend, but an incredibly fun one. We did good. Now if we could just find that elusive coffee table.

Ballard Designs . Linen and Burlap Color Block Pillows from $39.

Happy Sunday.

17Mar2018

Into the Blue: Blue Print You’re My Home

Posted in artwork, carpet, Furniture, Uncategorized by jackiefalla

Blue Print Warehouse . 1516 Edison Street . Dallas Design District

I take a deep cleansing breath right before I open the door to Blue Print. That door that I have come to know so well, that door that says: “Hello”. To say its welcoming seems so insufficient, but it is, just that. It’s southern without being steeped in sweetness. It’s friendly without being overly solicitous. It’s passionate about the artists it represents, and excited to share the stories of the lands from which their very special rugs have traveled. It’s unapologetically happy, bright, and light. Even the antiques when rested gently atop a rug in bright oranges, purples, and pinks take on a more cheerful countenance without loosing their sophistication.

Color collection perfection.

They have a very special gift – these gals. They have an eye for art, a nose for the next trend, and a head for business, and I love and admire them for it. I want to move right in, tuck away in one of the back living rooms, in close proximity to their lovely garden. Even the kitchen, which is meant only for employees, but which I have stumbled upon during previous visits, is perfection with it’s raised moldings in the shape of a diamond – J’aime bien!

To feel grounded and uplifted all at once is a heady feeling. I aspire to be one of them, and in the interim, am happy to be among them. My visits there inspire me. It’s like visiting Paris or Bali or being on the water. It’s like grapefruit Perrier (which they always offer me when I arrive), mint chocolate chip ice cream (which is one of my very favorite things in the world), it’s like wild sock-eye salmon (which I need like the air I breath). It’s like being loved.

Black Birds Singing in the dead of night….

I will admit to feeling a little worried that they were moving away from the Turkish Oushak, which came into my periphery four years ago during one of my first visits to Blue Print. A new rug has made its debut on the big stage. It’s a little nappier, and decidedly happier than an Oushak. One of them looks just like a Picasso Painting, and the price only slightly reflected the reality that it is not. It could easily reside in a kids bedroom, or in the uber sophisticated Upper East Side Apartment of a socialite style-maker. In other words, it brings some serious bang for the buck.

The new nappy – Turkish carpets gone wild.

Today will be a test of my will. The question of course is will I leave with one of those rugs. I’ve put it on hold. Pugga (my boyfriend) said that it was a foregone conclusion. I want to prove him wrong, but I’m not sure I’m strong enough to do that. I can be stubborn, but I don’t want to cut my nose of to spite my face. Is saving face more important than the sheer joy I’ll get from having that rug? These are the universal questions I grapple with. Give me strength and a little of that Irish luck.

Gone Fishing.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

11Mar2018

Setting the Table

Posted in DIY, Furniture, Lighting, Uncategorized by jackiefalla

Turkish Oushak . RH Home . Woodstock . VT.

I have looked at so many chairs they are all starting to look alike. I fell in love with two tables – a very reasonably priced Ballard Design Trestle table, and a mid-range Dovetail Campbell table, which I was surprised wasn’t more expensive. Why you ask? The answer is simple – I was born with silver spoon taste. It’s legs are turned, and have a beautiful curve, it’s finish rustic. The combination is refined without being prissy, coastal without being kitsch.

Ballard Design . Tatum Trestle Table . $1099.

That’s the trick. Being suggestive without being overt. That’s why I have spent so much time looking, looking again, second guessing, and finally making my selections. Trust me when I tell you – mistakes will still be made. It’s the nature of the process. Some will be easy fixes, some will cost a disgusting amount of money to fix. Ouch. Those, however, are the ones I will never make again.

Dovetail . Campbell Dining Table . $1362.50

After all that searching, I landed on chairs from the most unlikely of places. Will I consider them a mistake. Time will tell. I chose a version of the Windsor Chair in a dirty blue. High backed – arm chairs that will sit at the head of the table. Side chairs are going to be a simple Parsons curved back chair from IKEA. Yup. In the end, frame plus slip cover is just $129. a piece. The will be used most frequently. Everyone likes to sit in the “kitchen” – since the dining room is open to that tiny, but incredibly sweet, u-shaped kitchen, I know that is where people will hang out.

Tick Tock . Perfect accent to play off the gray.

I am going with a Cirque Pendant by Louis Poulsen. The colors are muted – not the bright primaries you would normally think of for a seaside seeing, but the strips scream nautical and French. What more could I want?

Cirque . Louis Poulsen . $314.15

I imagine a red and white ticking stripe napkin, with a gray matte, metallic charger, and a rough hune string, tied loosely around the cloth. Maybe a sprig of thyme or rosemary tucked into it for effect. At the center of the table I would have one of Jill Rosenwald’s vases or platters. Her pottery is perfect. I might even go for one of her leafier patterns. Dare to go wild.

Jill Rosenwald Pottery . South End

Piece by piece. Bit by bit. It is beginning to come together.

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Jill Rosenwald Pottery . South End .

Happy weekend.

4Mar2018

That Girl: Keeping it from coming undone

Posted in Coastal Design, Furniture, Lighting, renovation, Seating, Uncategorized by jackiefalla

Decisions . Decisions.

My brother-in-law refers to me as “The Girl”. You know, the help that’s hired to make things happen, the one in the background, who has no name. That’s me. I know I am someone that can get things done. I’ve always been a doer, a producer. Nonetheless I prefer to be thought of more as “That Girl”, rather than “The Girl”. Marlo Thomas was so quirky and cute and like Mary Tyler Moore, she was making it on her own. True one lived in NYC and the other in Minneapolis, and I live in Boston, but still….I’m going to make this thing happen on my own.

Laying it all out helps to pick a balance of high and low.

This thing of course is The Manse, and like the middle of any good TV show it looks more like disaster is about to strike than it’s ready for the flash bulbs to start popping, but I’m confident. Sort of…Oh I have a million decisions to make still. Bed sets to buy. Dining chairs, lounge chairs, desk chairs, occasional, and every day. I’ve got furniture to paint, miles to go before I sleep.

“Chair”ish this time because once you’ve bought it, there’s no going back.

If money were no object. I wonder if I would have no creativity at all. It’s a possibility. Not to worry, right now, I am being forced to get seriously creative, because I have spent WAY too much, and here I thought I was doing well. By that I mean, maintaining a budget that I never wrote down, but had a rough idea in my mind I was willing to spend. No – that ship has sailed, so now my living room looks like a grade school art project. All the surfaces are covered with cut outs of furniture, lighting, linens, and all the items I need to complete this place before 28 April.

Struggling with the right mix of coastal and comfortable.

That Girl will pull it together, and she’ll do it in style. You just keep the faith.

3Mar2018

Farming is no Fable: Farmhouse Pottery

Posted in Designer Profiles, Shop Locally, Uncategorized by jackiefalla

Shhhh….can you hear that? It’s the sound of serenity. The traffic thins, the mountains rise around you, the rivers start to rush, and the people slow down and smile. It’s not a Splenda smile either – all Emily Post etiquette. It’s warm maple syrup, tapped from the tree where the wind whispers a happy tune.

Vermont is a special place. Oh it has it’s troubles like any place, but when it’s you, the smell of firewood burning in the distance, a brisk breeze making your cheeks rosy, the smell of fir pines as you tromp through the woods, they do seem far away.

Eight Days a Week.

On my annual work retreat we tucked away to Woodstock, Vermont, a storybook New England town, to work, and to hear one another, away from the noise of the city. We worked, and it worked. Maybe it is as simple as clean air, clear ideas, renewed spirit? Whatever the reason, I feel lucky and inspired.

Artisan’s at work.

On my way out of town I stopped into Farmhouse Pottery. My Boss Lisa gave me a beautiful parting gift from this store, and having seen a blog post from Erin Gates – Elements of Style, I couldn’t leave without seeing more.

Zoe and James have created their very own American dream. Harvested from the land, mined, tooled, and worked by artisans – all here in the states, they have created something sophisticated in its purity, and simplicity. The retail store and the workshop juxtapose mud and beauty. Thoughtful vignettes abound, a wall of pottery, a whitewashed stump turned side table, a linen pillow, apron or napkin, a custom crafted table set with wooden bowls, dried flowers, and decorative clay fired trees. A floor stained in a custom pale gray. I’d move right in – though I am pretty sure that Zoe, James and their two little girls live upstairs and would find my presence unwelcome. Now if I could perfect my pottery making skills, it might be a different story all together. One of the artisans assured me that after making 500 or 600 vases – I’d really get the hang of it. He wasn’t kidding.

Linen Pillows . from $85.

Quest For the Nest

In search of ten homes, to transform, to flip, and ultimately to find my perfect nest….maybe.

Monthly Archives: March 2018

Nod to the Nautical: Cape Cod in almost summer.

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Snare the Chair

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NYC Studio Design Challenge Part II

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NYC Design Studio Challenge

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Design Challenge

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Into the Blue: Blue Print You’re My Home

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Setting the Table

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That Girl: Keeping it from coming undone

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Farming is no Fable: Farmhouse Pottery

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