Best dressed ...

Taryn photographed by
Elizabeth Wertz Photography

With the 2011 Oscars on deck for tonight, all eyes will be watching the red carpet for that most coveted award ... best-dressed! Much like a model working the runway, the woman wearing the gown is the real star who brings the design to life.

Taryn modeling for Seams Couture at the
Fenway Park Bridal Festival in Boston

While on the topic of working the dress, if you are wondering where to find Taryn, our beautiful cover girl for the first issue of New England Finery, she is currently listed with Model Club, Inc. of Boston. Not only is she naturally gorgeous, but she is also a joy to work with, smart and very professional! And she would get my vote even if she wasn’t my niece ; )

Click here to see one of Taryn’s recent runway shows in Boston at the Liberty Hotel, and check her out as she models the winning design for Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Project Tchaikovski.

{Screen shot from Oscar.go.com}

Starting at 6pm tonight you can visit Oscar.com for an interactive experience (including red carpet coverage) with this years award ceremony.

Come back later and tell me who you thought was best dressed. Enjoy the show!

Thank you from New England Finery

This is the cover of a journal that I received from a friend
to congratulate me on my new creative endeavor. The artist,
Leigh Standley of Curly Girl Design, is Boston-based
(sounds like the perfect story for New England Finery!)

I cannot say “Thank You!!” enough to everyone who has supported the launch of New England Finery Magazine since it went live on Saturday! Linda and I have received so many thoughtful emails and comments on this premiere issue which has been viewed over 1,300 times to date! It took a team of many to create the content that fills the 70-plus pages, and we are super grateful to all of our contributors who allowed us to include their beautiful images, fabulous products, and their unique points of view.

We really loved putting New England Finery together and honestly can’t wait to do it all again for issue 2 (scheduled for early April). While Linda and I are heading back to work (find her at New England Fine Living in Middleton each week, Wednesdays through Saturday) I want to leave you with a few design tips from the pages of New England Finery:

New England Finery Magazine, pages 60 – 61

If you are in my local area ... today (Thursday) is the only day of the week to visit the Cordani shoe outlet located at 76 Albion Street in Wakefield, MA. It is open from 10am to 3pm. Walk out with your own pair of these stylish – yet super comfortable – designer shoes at reduced prices! Tell them I sent you ; )

New England Finery Magazine, pages 40 – 41

If you are in the Wenham area, Harper Della-Piana of Seams is making room in her studio and doing some redecorating (she mentioned maybe painting the showroom the “color of the year” pink?!) The black decoupaged blanket chest seen in New England Finery was recently listed for sale on her facebook page! Contact her if interested.




And if you are looking for an amazing photographer to capture your special moments or to make a magazine come to life, all I can say is, Liz, you rock! Thank you!

Elizabeth Wertz Photography

New England Finery: Issue One

Open publication

Just in time for weekend browsing, the first issue of New England Finery Magazine is hot off the virtual press! While I still need to figure out some of the technical details associated with the online publishing platform, overall the process of putting this 75 page online magazine together was way more fun than it was work! Take a look and let us know what you think : )

PS Feel free to share New England Finery with others. There are a lot of great New England-based businesses (and bloggers) featured in this issue, and they each have a story to tell. We couldn’t have pulled this off without them!

A Valentine’s Day treat ...

I hope you enjoy this sneak peek
at the cover of the premiere issue of
New England Finery Magazine!

full online issue to come ...

xoxo yvonne

{Now go enjoy your Valentine’s Day!}

Coming soon ...

Putting together the first issue of New England Finery Magazine has been an energizing experience. Between coordinating photo shoots, securing product placements, interviewing our featured artisans and creating content worthy for a design-savvy audience, Linda and I have been very busy (not to mention, she has been running the retail anchor of the publication in tandem). It is the best kind of fun, though, and I am really enjoying getting back to my art director roots in order to pull this off : ) Check back early next week for the official launch of what we hope will capture a glimpse of our view of design in New England.

In the meantime, if you haven’t seen High Gloss Magazine yet, carve out some online time and be prepared to be dazzled. Put together by a group of super stylish design bloggers, it combines compelling fashion, glamour, travel and interiors in one shiny story-telling look-book.

What online publications have caught your eye lately?

Finished Project: New Hallway

By painting all the trim, doors and walls the
same color (Benjamin Moore Manchester Tan)
the seven doors in this 17 foot long hallway fade
into the background creating a seamless look.

It is easy to forget how far we have come when renovating a home for, oh, seven years or so.

This hallway on our second floor looks AMAZING to me, but if I were to give a “house tour” it would be hard to explain just what had to take place to make this calm and peaceful transition area look as plain and lovely as it does.



This is what the hallway used to look like. I took this picture on a second walk-through after we had decided we wanted to put in an offer.

I am pretty sure this view would have scared most people away, but we could hardly contain our excitement “We love it! We’ll take it!!”

Here is the mathematical equation
for how we achieved our end result:

Subtract:
One chimney
One fire alarm bell
One wall niche with little purpose
One wall and door way to second floor landing
All doors, trim, walls, ceiling
Linoleum floor covering first,
then existing maple hardwoods second

Add:
One larger linen closet where existing closet was
New central vac closet where chimney was
One set of brand new stairs to third floor
New doors, hardware, trim, walls and ceiling
New lighting and updated electrical
One french door (not shown in pic above)
New red oak stained medium brown hardwood floors
Fresh coat of low VOC paint

All that is left to do is to figure
out what to hang on the walls

A huge thank you goes to just a few of the many contractors (it probably took about half a dozen contractors – including my husband – over the course of this more-complicated-than-it-looks project) who recently helped us cross “finish 2nd floor hallway” off our list:

Weaver Brothers Construction, Lynnfield
C&R Flooring, Needham
LoConte Painting, Lynnfield



Come back later this week for a sneak peek of New England Finery Magazine which I will be able to cross off my design-to-do list early next week : )