In spite of their torturous heel placement and the fact that they run ridiculously narrow, I love Christian Louboutin’s shoes. The man owns homes in Egypt, Paris, Portugal and the French countryside, so like the shoes he designs, he is ridiculously extravagant, but the resultant beauty seems worth the high-maintenance issues. I’ve seen his Egyptian sailboat featured here, but I had not seen his 13th century French chateau until I finally cracked open the October issue of In Style. It’s dreamy, and he accomplished his mission of making the place look like it “belongs to a family that has been traveling and accumulating for decades.”

Louboutin has such a wise attitude concerning what makes a house a home, and the value of the signs of age and life. I recommend picking up the issue just to read what he has to say about decorating.

all photos shot by Francois Halard for In Style Magazine.

From Julie:

Fernlund + Logan—a New York City firm that counts design god Ted Muehling among its clients—creates a thoroughly mod interior within a classic Manhattan townhouse, mixing classics (a Le Corbusier LC4 chaise) with future classics (Jasper Morrison Glo-Ball lights and a Marcel Wanders New Antiques table). Candelabras and a ghoulish crucifix over the mantle add an edgy note. Photos by Herman Verne.

Below: Recreate the look with the Le Corbusier LC4 Chaise Longue in natural canvas with black leather headrest and matte black enamel steel base; $2,585 at Design Within Reach.

Below L: Felted Wool Stones, $298 for small, $495 for medium, and $595 for large at Viva Terra. Below R: Gray Ludde Sheepskin, similar to the one draped on the Le Corbusier chaise; $39.99 at Ikea.

Below: Marcel Wanders New Antiques table for Cappellini; $2,529 at Unica Home.

Below: The Moroccan Zig-Zag Rug, handknotted in ivory and chocolate wool, starts at $1,825 for the 9-by-12-foot size at Williams-Sonoma Home.

Below L: Designed in 1962 by brothers Achille Castiglione and Pier Giacomo Castiglione, the Toio Floor Lamp was inspired by a car headlamp; $1,212 at Design Within Reach. Below R: Jasper Morrison’s large Glo-Ball Basic 2 Table Lamp by Flos is $872 at Lumens; Glo-Ball Basic 1 Table Lamp, a smaller version, is $596 at Lumens.

Below: The formidable (and formidably priced) Dorian Table by Dominique Matthieu features curvy lacquered legs and a heavy glass top; $10,500 at Conran USA; available in black or red.

Below: Beech Black Enamel Bentwood Chairs; $79 each at Kurt Peterson.

Posted by Bluelines

Happy Independence Day. Have a festive, fun holiday wherever you are...

Eat, drink, and sing as loud as you want.

The blogging girl

 couldn?t help but 

wonder

 what lay behind

 the pink door????

 Perhaps pots of Moroccan gold?

Yikes, when Simple Mom jolted me out of my Fall bliss to remind me that we only have 12 weeks until Christmas {faint}, I nearly passed out. How could it be? Now you all see why I wanted to get a jump on Fall, just about the time you realize Fall is really here it is time to start singing Christmas Carols!

While I am not wanting to rush the seasons, I do like to take some time at the beginning of a month to think about what is ahead. I want to make certain I am living a life of purpose and intent through each season of life. And Christmas isn’t one of those things you can whip together overnight, I need to plan ahead to fully enjoy the holidays.

Here are my top three holiday things to think about now:

1) What are the holidays going to look like for our family this year?

While we keep our basic traditions the same from year to year, we tend to zero in on a particular focus for what our family will do or how we will celebrate. Some years this has involved going out of town to focus on our family, some years we have very simple and frugal holidays, and some years we throw big parties and go hog wild with the celebrations. Identifying what our holidays will look like helps us to plan accordingly for our budget, time and expectations.

2) In light of our holiday plans, what will I teach my children this season?

Every thing in life is a learning opportunity (for kids and parents!), so with the different ways we celebrate the holidays each year we are able to cover a variety of scenarios to instill different values. From hospitality, to organization, to social skills, to the joy of simplicity, frugality, family and giving rather than receiving, the holidays are full of opportunities to grow and learn.

We try to teach our children the true meaning of the season and yet fully enjoy traditions and all the fun the holidays bring. The holiday lessons for my children begin as I start to make plans and involve them in the process. In other words, I need to get going on this!

3) What can I do now to prepare ahead?

Now is the time to decide what gift giving will be like for my family this Christmas. Because this year we will be having a very frugal and simple holiday, I need to start now to find easy (remember, I am not crafty!) and creative yet meaningful gifts.

Because memory making and traditions are important to me, I need to incorporate them into my plans or they end up being forgotten or crowded out by less important things. The best way for me to maintain traditions is to schedule them on my calendar now (assigning a cookie baking day, or designate a budget and time for a shopping excursion for new PJs for Christmas eve, for instance).

In the coming weeks and months, even as we continue to celebrate all the goodness of fall and everyday home decorating, I’ll be sharing simple ideas & traditions that will help us enjoy all the wonder of the holidays while keeping the meaning of the season in focus. Plus, I’ve got lots of exciting and BIG NEWS to reveal!

Speaking of living with purpose and authenticity,
here is an excerpt from my CWO article for October:

The crisp air and falling leaves outside my window remind me of how fleeting life is. Days turn into nights and before I know it, another month has passed in the blink of an eye. My son in second grade, my daughter is now a married woman and my middle daughter will be applying to college soon. Where is the time going?

One of the things I am so aware of as I watch my family grow and change is my need to remain committed to living a life of intent and purpose. It isn’t enough to let days slip through my fingers and hope for the best. I need to embrace each opportunity to build my home from the inside out. [To read the rest of this article, click here.]

Top photos: Hostess With The Mostess
Bottom photo: This Old House

I've been trying to get a hold of this magazine all week! Lauren and Derek (of The Curiosity Shoppe) are featured in it--and they're on the cover! Their home looks so cute, colorful, and ultra DIY--exactly the way I imagined it would be. Until I get a copy, you can see more of the magazine here on their blog.

With all the depressing economic news this week, wouldn’t it feel good to win something for free? How ’bout a boxful of lovely John Derian products from Target? The kind folks from their PR team have contributed a pile of goodies, as you can see in the photo above. It includes a wastepaper basket, desktop notes, wall art, and serving tray all decked out with airy birds, butterflies and fauna.

How do you win this bounty, you ask? Simply email us a JPG of the stuff you collect, along with a short description. It could be wall-ful of paint-by-numbers, a gaggle of squirrels, Niagara Falls memorabilia, straw hats — you name it! We’ve gotten a few entries but would love a few more, so we are extending this contest to the end of next week, Oct 3rd. So grab those digital cameras, snap some pix and send them in today! Email to us at letters at sheltterific dot com. Don’t miss this!

P.S. The first runner up will get a copy of To Each His Home by Bilyana Dimitrova.

There is one design legend who I fear is slipping into obscurity, and it would be a dreadful shame if that happened. That person is the late Sybil Connolly. If some of you are not familiar with her name, I'm sure you would recognize her work.

Born in Wales to Irish/British parents, Connolly began her career as a clothing designer, first in London and later setting up shop in Dublin. Proud of her Irish heritage, Connolly worked tirelessly to promote the native crafts of Ireland. Many of Connolly's clothing designs incorporated tweeds, woolens, and most notably Irish linen. In fact, Connolly garnered praise and notoriety for her pleated linen dresses. The handkerchief linen was so fine that it took nine yards of linen to make 1 yard of pleated material. Much adored in Ireland, Connolly also developed a devoted fan base here in the States with Jacqueline Kennedy, Rockefellers, and Duponts becoming clients. (You might recognize the official portrait of Kennedy below in which she is wearing a Sybil Connolly design.)

As the swinging Sixties and early 1970s rolled around, Connolly's designs fell out of favor with the liberated woman. Refusing to capitulate to the latest trends, Connolly once said "There comes a time in everyone's life as a designer when you have to decide whether you want to create the beautiful or the merely fashionable. Sadly, there can be a conflict between the two." With her glory days of fashion design waning, Connolly ventured into designs for the home. And this, to me, is the work that is most striking.

Connolly designed collections of textiles for Brunschwig & Fils and F. Schumacher as well as tabletop items for Tiffany & Co. Ever the champion of Irish handiwork, Connolly incorporated Irish motifs- flowers, basketweave, and the like- into most of her creations. In fact, I'm sure many of you recognize Tiffany's classic Tiffany Weave China which was designed by Miss Connolly.

But her greatest work of all had to have been her beautiful home on Merrion Square in Dublin (in my opinion, one of the most charming areas in all of Dublin). With the ground floor dedicated to her design business, Connolly's private quarters were comprised of the upper floors as well as a mews house. Her home reflected her style, her elegance, and her passion for the best that Ireland had to offer. Connolly once remarked: "Perfection is not human and we shouldn't pretend that it is. The ideal house should look lived in, as if somebody reads the books on the shelves." This sentiment is one with which I agree wholeheartedly and one which I have tried to convey on this blog, although not as eloquently as Miss Connolly.

Back in the mid-1990s, I had the opportunity to hear Sybil Connolly speak while I was employed with Tiffany & Co. Unfortunately, a fellow employee fainted and Connolly's talk was cut short. It was something that I always regretted, especially as Connolly died a few years later. But, I suppose I can take consolation with photos of her work. As you can see, she had a varied, productive, and fruitful career, and it is one which deserves some posthumous attention.

(An aside: when I was researching this post, I came across a New York Times article from October 1980 announcing a buffet dance at the downtown Rich's department store here in Atlanta. The dance was a benefit cook-off for the March of Dimes. And...Sybil Connolly cooked a marinated lamb, Robin Roberts of Clarence House made deviled chicken breasts, and Mary Jane Pool prepared an avocado salad called riboon. Now that was a stellar event! Had I been older and known who these people were at the time, I would have paid my $100 to attend.)


The Mews House's cheery yellow Living Room. The plaster shells on the cornice were duplicated from some real shells that she purchased in California with Tony Duquette.


The Living Room in the main house. The curtains were made of an Irish floral fabric.


Connolly's bedroom which was inspired by her antique Angoulême porcelain. Connolly found the Angoulême patterned wallpaper in London, and she then had the Irish textile industry copy the same print onto linen. Nancy Lancaster was so taken with the charming green and white bedroom that she asked Connolly if she could copy it.


A table set for tea in Connolly's garden


The dining room of the Mews House. Connolly's collection of blue and white Irish delftware grace the walls. It also looks as though the panelling on the walls was actually painted on in shades of blue.


The dining room of the main house. The wallpaper's floral print is fuschia, which grows wild in Ireland.


A blue and white toile that Connolly designed for Brunschwig & Fils (Image courtesy of The Hunt Museum)


"Tipperary" wallpaper designed by Connolly for Brunschwig. Do you think this looks like the Angoulême print in her bedroom?


A glazed chintz pattern, "Lily of Galtee", designed for Brunschwig (image from The Hunt Museum)


Tiffany Weave china, designed by Sybil Connolly



The late, great, and discontinued china pattern known as "Mrs. Delany's Flowers". Designed for Tiffany & Co. by Connolly, the floral pattern was inspired by amazing collages created by Mary Delany in the 18th century. Delany was admired throughout England and Ireland for her charm, intellect, and artistic skills. She used thousands of pieces of colored paper to create collages of flowers.


A paper collage by Mary Delany, c. 1777. Delany's collages inspired "Mrs. Delany's Flowers". (Collection of the British Museum)


One of Connolly's famed pleated linen dresses (photo courtesy of The Hunt Museum).


Jacqueline Kennedy's White House portrait, painted by Aaron Shickler, features Kennedy wearing a Sybil Connolly gown. (Image courtesy of The White House Historical Association)

Posted by Lena

I just got back from a quick trip to Portland, Maine. I was there to work, but spent a big portion of the time eating!

Dining in, dining out... both simple food and sophisticated... it was all so delicious.

Here are some snapshots of my meals in Portland, and a list of restaurants I highly recommend.

FORE STREET
Fantastic local, seasonal food in a beautiful old building.
288 Fore Street

BRESCA
A sweet, intimate restaurant with great Italian dishes, also made with fresh, local ingredients.
111 Middle Street

BLUE SPOON
The perfect place to get a really delicious soup and salad for lunch.
89 Congress St

FLAT BREAD COMPANY
Wood fired pizza with toppings like organic vegetables, homemade maple fennel sausage, and goat cheese.
72 Commercial Street

SARA'S TEA SHOP
This sweet little tea shop doesn't have a website, but the loose teas are wonderful and the homemade scones are to die for.
195 Congress street