My picks from Pottery Barn

It’s easy to mix plaids, prints, solids and textures in one area when

they have a color in common (this year it is a rich red).

Walk into any Pottery Barn and you will leave with either bags filled with home decor goodies or a mind full of I-can-do-that ideas. Last month, my friends and I from the Village Home and Garden Club of Lynnfield (we officially added a home decorating component to our program this year) had our meeting hosted at the Pottery Barn located at the North Shore Mall. Two of their design associates shared with us their tips for setting a holiday table and switching out everyday living room decor with holiday inspired pieces.

Everything in their showroom works together visually, so you really can’t go wrong when bringing home new pillows covers, blankets, table top accessories, etc. You can save a little money, however, by shopping around at lower priced home good type stores, but the styling at PB is worth the trip.

I did see two items that spoke to me ...

Caterer’s 12-piece Dinnerware Set

$49.00 for salad plates

$59.00 for dinner plates

When entertaining for the holidays, having an extra dinner set on hand is so much better than resorting to paper or plastic. I would use them for everyday as well since we are constantly running out of clean dishes. A dozen dishes could just about get my family of six through the day, and we would only have to run the dishwasher once.

My favorite gift-worthy item from Pottery Barn were these hand-hewn Blonde Wood Pedestals that look just as good on their own as they do serving food. They range in price from $24.50 – $89.00. While they may be ordered with a monogram, I like them better as is. They remind me a little of a family of turtles. Cute, efficient, and smile generating.

image via Pottery Barn

Design Home 2012 ...

The Boston Magazine Design Home 2012 in Norwell is open for just a couple more days (extended thru November 18th). The interior design coordinator for this project, Vani Sayeed, was a contributor to the last issue of New England Finery (she shares her style tips here). It was a real treat to experience her thoughtful design planning throughout this well-appointed, architecturally detailed home. Here is just a glimpse of some of the spaces that I saw while enjoying the tour. If you get the chance, make the trip and see it for yourself ... there are lots of inspiring design ideas to take home. All proceeds benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Eastern New England.  

Vani was recently interviewed by fellow designer Cecilia Walker.

Read it on the design blog Everything in 3’s

Setting a holiday table at the BDC

Mix natural elements with a generous serving of shiny objects, add a dash of artistic details along with a shot of traditional touches, and your holiday setting is sure to sparkle!

Last week I attended a Boston Design Center lecture and presentation featuring holiday table settings as influenced by Historic New England properties and collections. The table settings were displayed on the 6th floor of the BDC, where the yearly Dream Home event takes place (click here after reading this post to see views of designed spaces
from previous shows).

One of three tablescapes on display at the BDC

A Bauhaus-influenced Dining Room, circa 1938
The Gropius House of Lincoln, Massachusetts
{Photo from Historic New England website}

The Gropius House was the inspiration behind one of the three modernly-festive tablecapes. The Gropius House was the New England home of Walter Gropius, founder of the German design school known as the Bauhaus, and his family members from 1938 to 1983. His wife, Ise, willed the property to Historic New England (at the time it was called The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities) to be used as an historic house museum. Wendy Hubbard of Historic New England presented numerous images of this unique property including this view of its modern dining room. Note the pair of Sori Yanagi Butterfly Stools by the fireplace, leather and chrome chairs by Marcel Breuer, and the round Eero Saarinen tulip table which were loosely interpretted with modern design pieces from the BDC, along with items from the collection of reproductions offered for purchase through
Historic New England.

Placemats were fashioned out of “Shoot for the Moon” wallpaper reproduced by Christopher Norman for Historic New England, and the outside was brought in with this table from Janus et Cie adorned with fresh cut greens, pine cones and faux bois silver candlesticks. Simple black and white ceramic Japanese place settings, as favored by Gropius, complete this modern winter tablescape.

In the second two vignettes, designers Susan Newberg and Phylllis Tracy of Neptune 1 Studios showcased pieces from their collections of decoupaged plates inspired by historical wall-coverings.

The dark blue colorway of “Shoot the Moon” provides a rich backdrop to this table setting featuring plates designed with scenic images captured from the 18th-century English wallpaper that still adorns the Jerimiah Lee Mansion in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Susan Newberg, whose graphic design expertise has brought new-life to these historic wall-coverings, is pictured here with designer Rosanne Palazola. All of us have design pieces represented at New England Fine Living in Middleton, Massachusetts.

Nancy Faye Glass (a design friend of mine that I met while working on The Stevens Estate in North Andover) and Phyllis Tracy are both wearing designer fashions from the Peabody Essex Museum boutique. I recognized Nancy’s black and white wool dress-coat as a piece from the Iris Apfel collection.

Iris would love this third table setting adorned with birds, feathers, and jewel-toned glassware and botanicals. The plates are designed with sectional representations of the pretty and bright floral paper that graces the walls of one of the glamorous rooms in the Beauport Sleeper-McCann House in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Interior decorator Henry Davis Sleeper actually designed homes for members of Hollywood’s elite including Joan Crawford. His design sensibility was intelligently whimsical and theatrical.

I am putting “visit the Beauport”
on my 2011 to-do list!

Neptune 1 Studios Decor Chinois Collection is available at The Martin Group at the Boston Design Center and online through Historic New England. Click here for more retail locations.

Neptune 1 Studios at New England Fine Living:
JOJ Frost Collection and The Lee Mansion Collection

Neptune 1 Studio’s Ashley Bowen Collection
is also available at New England Fine Living

Contact Neptune 1 Studios if you are interested in carrying their line or commissioning a piece.


If you are in the design profession in the New England area and are interested in learning more about Historic New England and their curated collections, they have a new design group membership that includes visits to the historic properties on their register among other benefits. For more details on the Ogden Codman Design Group Membership click here.



{Images from Historic New England website}

For a wealth of information on historical architecture and design in New England, click here to view past issues of Historic New England Magazine online.

Summer style tips ...

Party in summer-style ... space designed by Martha Sutyak

We are half-way through summer and now is a good time to start really savoring it (in other words, throw
a party!) Here are a few warm-weather inspired decorating ideas that I have collected
from a few design shows ...



What a cool idea to turn a surfboard into a mini-bar! Martha Sutyak of Sutyak Style created this beauty and then adorned it with fishing net, island artifacts and festive mini paper lanterns. It attracted quite a party-loving crowd at last May’s
North Shore Design Show.

Completely cover a table with ocean imagery. This detail-rich table was set by Nanette Chandler
of Interior Style in Brookline. Most requested item? Glass sea-life napkin rings from Pottery Barn.

Add outdoor lighting that you don’t have to worry about. Floral designer Lyndsay Pollard of Hamilton used flameless tealights (batteries included) to add glimmer to her summer tablescape from
last year’s North Shore Design Show
at the Wenham Musuem.

Create a nautical get-a-way. Marine varnish, port hole art, high-gloss beadboard and a mapped ceiling made this seaside retreat by Siemasko + Verbridge look authentic, yet cozy. A quiet place to
relax after the party is over!

Add a touch of summer whimsy. A ball of brightly-colored silk flowers adorned the tent at last years NSDS preview party at the Wenham Museum. See more summer decorating ideas from
design shows highlighted on my blog:

Sea-inspired silverware by Mariposa

A summer birthday party: Kim Smith Designs

Al fresco dining by Tuttle and Company

For more summer decorating ideas, visit my space at:
Reflecting on Danvers History through Interior Design
open through August 1st at Tapley Hall in Danvers.

How do you decorate for summer?

Dancing Rabbit Designs

{photo borrowed from the Wenham Museum Facebook album}

A painterly tablescape created by Robin Sears
of Dancing Rabbit Designs was displayed at last year’s
North Shore Design Show: Tablescapes

“I believe that good design combines function and beauty and has the power to transform and bring joy.”
-Robin Sears of Dancing Rabbit Designs

Recently my sister and I took a class on how to paint wine glasses held at TaggArt Studio. I made a set of four glasses, one for each of my four sons, marked with their first initials (I imagine serving whip cream-topped desserts in them or something “fancy” like water with lemons : ) The hardest part of the artistic process for most of us in the class was coming up with a pattern for the design. While I chose initials, my sister chose a dash and dot pattern, another chose hearts with stripes, and the teacher, Mary, effortlessly combined swirling vines with initials on her set of six. This exercise in creating functional works of art reminded me of one of last year’s participants at the Wenham Museum North Shore Design Show.

Robin Sears of Dancing Rabbit Designs created
this showstopping spring table inspired by nature
and one of her (and my) favorite little creatures ...


A painting Robin did featuring one of her bunnies.
It is titled: Leaping Josephine

Confectionery colored silk drapery panels serve as a
pretty backdrop to this spring dinner party for six.

Robin specializes in one-of-a-kind custom hand-painted furniture and accessories. She works very closely with her clients to produce works of art with a personal touch. I love how she added cheerful whimsy to this very traditional table and chair set. Her pieces have been featured in magazines including Traditional Home, Victoria, Gourmet and Bon Appetit, and they have been sold through retailers like Horchow and Bloomingdales.





See these and more on Robin’s blog: Dancing Rabbit

I expect there to be lots of visual treats like the above space of Robin’s at this years design show (May 15th through the 22nd). Tickets are $15 in advance or
$20 at the door. Contact the Wenham Museum to
get yours. Look for me there, along with some decorative bunnies of my own!

Sun-drenched decorating for the holidays

Photo by Nicole Yee

With Boston temperatures reaching a balmy 70 degrees on this 3rd day of December, I thought it would be fitting to share these gorgeous images from my West Coast friend, Nicole Yee of NY Interiors. I met Nicole this summer at the Museums of Old York 20th Annual Decorator Show House. Her decorated space – the Master Bedroom and Balcony – was warm, chic, and stunning (just like Nicole, herself!) I loved this dressing room entry to the master ...


Photo by Nicole Yee as posted on Ava Living.com

Read Nicole’s blog post for Accent Magazine describing
her participation in the York Decorator Show House.

NH Magazine article/photo credit: Susan Laughlin

Since meeting at the Decorator’s Q & A Luncheon, Nicole and I have been keeping each other posted on our decorating projects (she has been very busy since returning to the West Coast). She recently sent me some inspiring photos of her holiday table setting, along with a very thoughtful letter (I simply adore virtual mail!) that I am posting for your enjoyment. Maybe next week I will be able to post some East Coast decorating images if the temperature decides to go down to a more traditional level.


Holiday ornament at the Design Studio

It is New England, remember, so I’m sure it won’t be long before we’re all complaining about that “white Christmas” we claim to be so fond of around here (as long as the snowflakes arrive after all the shopping is done!) For the time being, however, let’s just imagine that we are looking outside at a gorgeous sunset ...


A breath-taking view at a San Franciso winery, Nov. 96


sipping some great California wine, and enjoying the company and conversation of good friends ...


Photo by Nicole Yee


Photo by Nicole Yee

Dear Yvonne,

I’ve been thinking about you on the East Coast lately. We’ve had an unbelievably beautiful fall and early winter here in the San Francisco Bay Area. We put up our Christmas tree when it was 72 degrees outside!

Being a NH native, I normally incorporate traditional deep reds and garlands of spruce in holiday decor, but this year I found inspiration from the golden California sun! I thought you would enjoy this rustic holiday setting I created from a simple gold and white palette.

I started with elegant tableware, and threw in a few natural materials including some deep green magnolia branches from the backyard. My goal was to create a festive, warm and welcoming spot to inspire comfortable conversation for family gatherings over the holidays. Here’s wishing that we all have time for lots of those this season!

Warmly,
Nicole

Photo by Nicole Yee

Keep up with Nicole by becoming a fan
of NY Interiors on Facebook.

Photo by Nicole Yee

Photo by Nicole Yee

Nicole Yee, IDS Associate, IRIS
NY Interiors 510.531.3973
nicoleyee@sbcglobal.net
www.nicoleyee.com

Thanks for sharing your
work with us, Nicole!
Happy holidays –
xo Yvonne