A new creative venture ...

Photo by Yvonne Blacker

In my last post, I mentioned my love for picture books (or more specifically design magazines). I have always loved to read, and I remember when the books I read no longer had illustrations in them – it truly saddened me knowing that I could no longer turn the page and see a new picture to accompany the storyline. Even today, when I watch my son – who is just getting the hang of reading out loud – enthusiastically sneak a peek of the illustration on the next page just to see how the plot in the story is going to unfold, I am reminded of why a good picture is worth a thousand words. That is one of the reasons I love reading blogs. There are so many pretty pictures, plus there is usually an interesting story to follow as well.

Today I have a story for you ...

Photo by Yvonne Blacker

After setting up some of my design items at the lifestyle boutique New England Fine Living, I discovered that the owner, Linda Smith, and I have a lot in common – we both love creative design and enjoy sharing our favorite sources with others (her website provides all types of design related content and, yes, lots of great pictures, too!) She has even produced print magazines in the past. I asked her if she would be interested in having a digital magazine that represents the items and vendors in her boutique, but would also provide a lot of great creative content about life in New England. She said “God, Yes!”

Photo by Yvonne Blacker

With so many traditional shelter magazines out there closing up shop, I have discovered a lot of digital magazines are taking their place, and many are actually being produced by design bloggers (see Rue and Lonny for example). I figured now was a good time for me to give this new technology a try. I have been blogging about design for about two years now, and while I love decorating interiors, I still enjoy putting visuals together – both on paper and online – to promote the many creative businesses that I come across. The fact that Linda also loves to promote other businesses as much as she enjoys designing a room or putting together a great event, made me think that we really should combine our creative efforts ...





So today, I am happy to announce that the first issue of New England Finery Magazine will premiere next month! We have already shot our cover on location with a professional photographer, and feature stories are in the works.

As co-founders, Linda and I are hoping to showcase all that is wonderful about New England ... places to visit, stylish events, local fashion designers, great interiors, and fine products created in or inspired by the historic charm and Yankee ingenuity of New England. I am so excited to be working on this new creative project, and I know that it will be a great way to help other businesses to increase their exposure online.

If you have a business or product that is unique to New England and would like to advertise, contact us directly. Or if there is a New England-based story that you could imagine would be a great addition to the pages of this new online magazine, just let us know! We hope to share a little bit of the best of New England with each issue : )

P.S. The photos on this post are just a sneak peek of what will be included in the first issue! Stay tuned, there’s more to come ...

For advertising rates and information, e-mail
Linda@NewEnglandFineLiving.com

This month @NewEnglandHome

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New England Home, Jan./Feb. 2011

Cover photo by Laura Moss

The January/February issue of New England Home magazine just hit the newsstands and guess who’s in it? Actually, a lot of local talent is featured throughout, but I felt especially honored to be included in a shout-out to the Danvers Historical Society summer design show (see pages 122 and 124).

From New England Home, Jan./Feb. 2011

There are a lot of local design event photos in this current issue, making it easy to put a name with a face in the Boston design community. Also in the magazine, this month’s feature articles include some really neat spaces that are a twist on the traditional. In fact, New England Home seems to be on the verge of redefining itself, and is apparently catching on to the value of today’s social media driven design scene.





I was happy to discover this week that they just launched a daily design blog that will feature behind-the-scenes glimpses of magazine features, editor design pics, designer interviews, previews of upcoming events, and much more. Today, editor Stacy Kunstel wrote a post referencing the dramatic cover photo of this month’s magazine and the current trend of designing with black (check it out by clicking here.)

I am particularly interested in tuning in for the “guest blogger series” which will begin next Tuesday. Linda Merrill of The Skirted Roundtable and Surroundings will share this series for the month with Leslie Fine of Leslie Fine Interiors. More bloggers will follow. Sounds like something I would be interested in ...

I am slowly transforming my new office into a
grown-up space. This Pottery Barn bookrack used to
hold the kids picture books and now it holds mine.

To view the digital version of New England Home online, visit their website. This month’s issue is not up yet, so you will have to get a copy the traditional way or wait until the end of the month to view it in it’s entirety. I have one print copy of my own, but I just might have to run out and pick up a couple more copies to have on hand as keepsakes : )
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Secrets from a Macy’s Stylist ...

A few years ago, I was asked to come in to help style what was soon to be the new Macy’s Furniture Gallery at the North Shore Mall in Peabody. Under the direction of Jason West, the District Visual Manager, a team of us spent a few days adding finishing touches to the showroom floor. We hung artwork, set up lighting, arranged bookcases, accented with pillows, and “accessorized” where needed. The room above was one of my favorites — a combination of traditional and modern with a great mix of hot and cool colors. Isn’t that artwork great?! I think this room could still work today.



Back in January of 2008 when I took these pictures, the predominant colors in the showroom were red and chocolate brown. The look was heavily traditional, and many of the accent pillows featured the look of Indian textiles with bits of mirrored sparkle and lots of embroidery. My favorite piece in this room is the black metal “tree.” The other visual merchandisers had some serious stylist-envy when they saw me snag it from the stockroom first!




I was asked to come back again this year, right before the holidays, to help implement some new design schemes from the corporate office. This time around (is it really three years later?) the colors have switched over to bright yellows mixed with neutrals like gray, black, white, cream and brown. Walls were being painted gray and large scale wallpaper patterns were scheduled to be installed. New artwork included modern images like the chandeliers above, and far less landscapes and still lifes were used than last time. Faux fur throws and pillows were added to the mix to create a look of cozy-modern. And lots of metallic finishes were seen throughout the showroom.




Greens are still popular, but in smaller quantities than a few years ago. For this room I was asked to freshen it up with some new accessories. The three glass fishing floats in the large dish on the coffee table were my contribution, along with new accent pillows, a birdcage and some rearranging of the objects in the television armoire. A lot of the accessories that I found in the stockroom looked vaguely familiar to me which made re-decorating a little challenging, but these days even big department stores will reuse and repurpose objects like the rest of us. Can you see something in this space that I used back in ’08?



Books are timeless design elements. I grouped this set with spine colors that matched the rest of the room along with the horse’s saddle. I could do a whole post on horses in design ...



For this bookcase I tried to fill it up with a unique assortment of “found objects” from the design inventory. I faced some books backward in order to see the array of pages instead of the spine. My goal was to have the objects stand out as visual texture in front of the dark wood.



A styling tip that I picked up from Jason: if you have a piece of abstract art, don’t be afraid to hang it vertically or horizontally. We turned this one on its side so that it would look better in relation to the sofa below. Why not?



Jason also had me cover a few books with paper, which is a technique that I often share with my clients. If you have a lot of photo albums on your bookshelves that all have different covers, for example, try wrapping each of them in the same solid wallpaper or kraft paper. Add a number to each and they will look less cluttered and more collected.



Some new light fixtures, like this branch lamp, were a nod to one of my favorite trends – bringing the outside in. There was another table lamp that really caught my eye that I forgot to take a photo of, but luckily I just saw it recently in Rue Magazine as a favorite design pic of Kelly Wearstler (I love her sense of style). It is the industrial looking hanging light bulb table lamp shown below. Cool, huh?

Rue Issue 2 pages 28-29 featuring
design pics from Kelly Wearstler

What every vignette had in common was a large, colorful arrangement. Of course this would not work everyday when sitting a group of people around the table to eat, but for visual display it attracts attention.



I saw this guy when I was leaving on my last day. Part of me thinks he is really cute, the other feels bad for him. How do you feel about animal skin rugs (real or stylized?) Either way, animal prints are a classic trend that are forever in style.

Making room for creativity

Last photo taken of what used to be the boys room: beds weren’t made and a few toys were left on the floor, but at least the room was clean.

Over the holiday break, I spent a lot of time cleaning, getting organized, and clearing clutter. During the gift-giving season there is often more coming in than going out. Where does one put it all? This is always one of our biggest challenges as a large family. Especially considering I have a saving (hoarding?) problem, combined with a house that is always under construction, which constantly forces us to shift items from room-to-room to make way for work to get done.

We had gotten to the point that behind every closed door there was a box of stuff that I was supposed to “get to later.” Well it was time for “later” to be “now” so I put on comfortable clothes, rolled up my sleeves, and sent the boys outside to play in the snow for a few days (thank you, Mother Nature : )

Meanwhile, I methodically sorted through closets, boxes, drawers, under beds – looking for items that were no longer played with or needed, could be donated to charity, or recycled. Special items worth saving were put away for safe keeping. My goal for January is to redistribute the items we don’t need. I have a small problem with throwing things away ; )

All that sorting was hard work, but well worth the effort. The end result? First, a sense of relief mixed with a tiny bit of pride. Clearing clutter is a great way to achieve home-makeover satisfaction without actually spending any money! Second, and more important, by reducing the amount of objects in each space it was that much easier to shift some rooms around again (it is just what we do around here!)

Now that we finally moved the master bedroom up to the third floor, two of the boys are moving into our former room. I was going to turn their small vacant bedroom into a boys game room, but, you know what? Virginia Wolf must have been whispering in my ear, because I started to think about just how much work I do from home (whether I am sourcing items for decorating clients, creating graphic design, writing about design, doing paperwork, etc.) and I figured it was time for me to step up and claim some real estate for myself! Bottom line ...

I now have a *room of my own!*

While it is not completely emptied of its previous owners possessions, I have moved in and made this sunny, backyard facing room my new office! Meanwhile, all four of the boys are in one bedroom (we were able to fit the bunk bed between a set of two twin beds) while we have some floor sanding done in what will be the new bedroom for two of them. Fortunately, they are all getting along pretty well, as they have come to look at this time together as an extended sleepover.



Unfortunately, I brought a lot of filled boxes with me into what was a cleaned out space, so I will have to start the sorting and de-cluttering once again. Even so, I am very excited to finally have a room that I can decorate as girly as I want in this home I affectionately call “Boys R Us.”

The view outside my window.

Click here to read why Honeysuckle is
the chosen color of the year for 2011.

What will the new room look like? Will it include the Pantone color of the year, Honeysuckle? Hot pink has always been a decorating favorite of mine (take a look at my last three design show spaces: The Summer Nursery, A Decorators Before & After, Tea for Fairy & Me). Pink on the walls would certainly communicate “no boys allowed,” although, I have to admit, I truly enjoy the daily visits from the guys, who come in to share stories of their day and check in to see what creative project Mom is working on.

Sometimes they still leave some toys hanging around, but I am okay with that : )

A look to the future ...

Yesterday we discovered this large ice sculpture set up on the common in the center of our town. We have never had an ice sculpture greeting us on our way to and fro before. Who put it there? Will there be more? After seeing it, I could picture a whole common full of sculptures much like First Night in Boston. I will let you know if I see any more pop up before midnight ...

A holiday angel ...

Last Wednesday, I received the news that a friend of mine had passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm. Stacee was 41 and has left behind her husband, four young children, a large extended family and many close friends. Her passing brought together our community and put meaning behind the holiday spirit of celebrating the people who share our lives. It is still hard to imagine that she will not be with us any longer. Stacee was always extending herself to others, coordinating community events, laughing out loud at the funny day-to-day experiences that fill a life. She will be missed and remembered.

Secret Santa gifts ...

After spending an afternoon running around doing holiday errands last weekend, I returned home to discover a Secret Santa had left a gorgeous arrangement of red flowers and winter greenery on our front porch. The boys were actually the first to discover the red velvet wrapped vase (so pretty!) Along with this surprise bouquet was a family of decorated ginger bread cookies (four boys, a mom and a dad) that we promptly devoured. Thank you, SS (and cookie decorating elves) for brightening our day!

If you are looking for some last minute surprises for the people on your list, may I suggest a few? (Consider leaving flowers and treats as suggestion number one : )

How about a basket of goodies?

Or something luxurious?

Perhaps something bold?

Or maybe something personalized?

Are you looking for something unexpected?

Or would something bright and sparkly do the trick?

Something cute and practical?

Or maybe just “a little something?”

All of these items can be found at New England Fine Living along with some one-of-a-kind items from my design collections (while supplies last ; )