Inspirational Shopping–Close by and On line!

I love finding new shops and on line sites with unique items– especially with the Holidays coming up. I wanted to share with a few of my all time favorites and some of my new finds!  First, for those of you in the Boston area one of my new favorite shops is Pine Straw in Wellesley!

This shop is decked out with cool architectural elements and walls covered in antique barn wood.  It is a perfect spot to find a unique hostess gift, or a great little home accessory.

I love the new tin place card holders I just bought-

and the old glass doorknob that is a wine stopper,  but there is so much more!!

Owner Tracy Cranley also has selected some beautiful jewelry, sweaters and bags – perfect gifts for the holidays!

You can read more about Pine Straw HERE.

 

For the most chic and stylish items all in one place you must double click over to Splendid Willow Avenue (SWA) .  Created by Famous Blogger, Monika Claassen of Splendid Willow, her on line store is a dream!

You might remember Monika started her store with her wonderful Isla Jacobsen boots which I featured last year – read about them HERE.  I own a pair myself, and following Monika’s keen advice I packed them for my trip last year to Aspen.  I wore them during Fashion Week and felt ever so cool and “in the know”!

Monika has since expanded to home furnishings, like this awesome sheepskin rug.

But what is so exciting is Monika’s new line of clothes by JARBO  – Europeans have a high standards for quality and style and these clothes are really stunning. I just love the new duster  – Wear it one way and it’s a great duster…

Upside down and it’s a chic wrap.  Love this!! Monika’s style is classy, cool and hip.

 

I also love this dress – just stunning!! ( Hubby, if you are reading this, please order one of these for me for the Holidays!) You can read Monika’s blog HERE, and connect to her store Splendid Willow Avenue HERE.

 

Next stop is a favorite for myself and for my clients:   Boston Consignment. What a huge inventory they have- every month it feels like a brand new store!! Here are some of their new items that caught my eye!

A great silver lamp by Barbara Cosgrove – What wonderful lines!

And they always have a fabulous selection of mirrors – like this one above

And this wonderful antique one!  You can see their inventory and get more contact information for Boston Consignments HERE.

I also wanted to share my most recent favorite ETSY find –  I adore these bowls from Suite One Studios –

Just a spectacular shade of turquoise in wonderful, organic shapes. You can see more of her beautiful work HERE.

Finally, I am cleaning out my attic and basement and have so many items that need new homes. Do you all think I should offer them for sale on WD or provide you the links to Craigslist or EBAY?? Very interested in your comments on this!

Hope you enjoyed our cyber shopping trip!! Would love to hear your favorite stops!

xxx-Gina

(all content property of Willow Décor and not be copied with out permission)

Re-working My Home– From Conservatory to Library

You have all followed the décor of my Conservatory.

My wonderful framed intaglios, (Dave hanging them just right), my crystal and mercury glass holiday decorations, landscaping the gardens beyond. But, what you may not know, is how little this room has been used over the past year.

You see I believe this is one of the most beautiful rooms in my home. I used to love to sit with my children and listen to them practice scales and new songs. But alas, homework, sports and friends have distracted them and sadly I am giving up every Mother’s fight “You need to practice your piano!” – They have moved on to other things and finally so must I.

So what to do with this room? My husband has always wished for a library. A wonderful wood paneled space to work, read and relax. So we have decided to say goodbye to the piano and hello to a new library.

Here are some of my inspiration photos. This is Christie Brinkley’s Great Room of her Tower Hill home. Not quite a library but I have always loved the light wood and the detailing on her crown molding. The room is beautiful, and with windows on two sides the light is similar to my Conservatory.

This has been in my files for a long time. I found this wonderful room on MLS. I adore the wood ceiling, leaded glass bookcases and glass arched door.

This room, from Mrs. Howard, really shows the type of wood I want. I love the paneling, although this room has much higher ceilings and is much more grand than my smaller space.

These light tones are perfect, but I do not like so many knots in the wood. This room also from Mrs. Howard.

I am sure you remember my adoration of David Easton’s library in Aspen. This light wood is limed and then washed with grey antiquing glaze. This is interesting as my painted doors will need to be stripped and a glaze may make the new wood and the old wood much easier to match.

If you look closely you will notice I only have one wall for bookcases to the right. It is also very narrow from wall to door molding. The Conservatory is very open to the Living Room right now, so I will need to add some doors. I want to keep the light coming in and do not want to lose too much space with swinging doors. I love pocket doors but I am afraid it will close off the room too much. However, it would give me another area for more bookcases. Hmm – lots of choices to make.

These glass does are similar to what I want. They slide over themselves so I won’t lose any space, but I prefer them to have glass to the floor.

I like the arch over the bar in this library. It mimics the arches of my French doors. I wonder if my wall with the intaglios should have an bookcase with and arch.

Here is a wonderful arched window in a library just being built down the street from me. The bookcase is straight, even though the main window has an arch.

I love the niche in this library for the couch. If I create a niche I think I would place Dave’s desk in front of it but should the niche be arched? I think this niche would have looked great with an arch.

This Library from Fairfax and Sammons is a bit closer to what I was thinking, but the arch is much too deep for my space. It would definitely need to be scaled back.

I am hoping to have the sketches done by the end of November, but as you can see we are still in the design phase, so let me know your thoughts! Light wood or darker wood? Stained or Glazed? Glass sliding doors or closing in the room a bit with pocket doors? Arched bookcase or straight? This is turning into such a fun project! Excited to hear your thoughts!

Stunning Aspen Home

Last Spring when we were in Aspen I was flipping through a wonderful local, mountain magazine and spied the most incredible home. Built by a Connecticut couple, it was not your typical heavy, dark wood and stone fireplace mountain retreat. Designed and decorated by the famous David Easton, I immediately tore out the pages to keep in my inspiration file. Fast forward to September and again I spy the same beautiful retreat. I am even more smitten with new images in Veranda Magazine. Of course this house is worthy of 10 magazine shoots so I wanted to share it with you in case you missed it.

The entry is stunning! All the wood in the home was limed, brushed to bring up the grain, and then washed in a pale gray and antique glaze. The effect is a lighter Scandinavian feeling – and it is a stunning change from the usual mountain décor.

The dining area is beautiful. Notice the gorgeous hand painted wallpaper; it was carefully recreated from a palace in Stockholm. The crystal chandelier adds just the perfect amount of elegance and sparkle and the limestone fireplace completes the room.

The Great room is a stunning mix of soft blues, creams and taupes. The view is as spectacular as the room décor. David Easton reminds us how to design a room where the decor compliments rather than competes with the view. Very few designers could orchestrate this as masterfully as Easton. This room is breathtaking.

In the library we see a better close up of the wood tones.This particular room has been an inspiration for me in my home. I am in the process of creating a room with a very similar feeling in the near future so stay tuned.

The master bedroom is another spectacular space. The iron bed, Chelsea textile linens, antique rug and limestone fireplace just make me swoon. What do you think readers – would you love to ski all day on the mountains of Aspen and then return to this gorgeous home. I am not sure I would ever even get to slopes!

I own and love Easton’s book Timeless Elegance. You can order it HERE. To see more of David Easton’s work click HERE.

(All content property of Willow Décor and not be copied with out permission – Photos: Laura Resen/Veranda)

My New Kitchen Slipcovers!!!

Back to school and back to projects that needed to get to done! I am so excited to share with you my new kitchen slipcovers!

Let’s start at the beginning, with two teenagers, a big, hairy dog and an Italian family who loves Marinara sauce; my kitchen was not a perfect environment for my linen, upholstered chairs! We’ve been living with dish towels draped over the seats to catch any spills– not very pretty. I needed some washable slipcovers and I needed them pronto!

As always I had an inspiration photo to show my wonderful seamstress (Photo: Things That Inspire). These were close to what I envisioned. I liked the straight lines and the overall length. I wanted something to cover the chair but not be too fussy.

I also needed the slips to be washable. I found these wonderful oversized napkins from French Laundry Home. I like their “grainsack” look and feel. They were big enough to cover just the seat, so we needed something extra for the skirting piece.

You might remember my wonderful linen blend curtains I found on sale last year at Country Curtains.

I bought extra fabric for $6 a yard and had these wonderful slipcovers made for my club chairs. Read all about my Family Room redo HERE. Fortunately I had enough fabric left to use for the skirting.

Here is the chair before…(not pasta friendly!)

And here is the slipcover after! Large enough to handle any spill and simple to throw in the wash!!

I love the back – I didn’t want any ties.

The hidden Velcro does the trick of keeping it neat and in place.

The bench also needed a bit of covering up. As much as I loved the Antique printed grainsack I bought from Kym Fraser of 3 Fine Grains, it was much too valuable to be stained with hot fudge!

A quick call to my dear friend, Wendy Lewis of Textile Trunk, and a more reasonably priced antique grainsack was on its way. We took out the stitching on both sides, sewed in the corners and added the ties. Look closely and you can see the fold (that was the bottom of the sack) still in the cover.

An indestructible and beautiful slipcover!! You can also see the chairs with their new, pretty dresses peeking through!

The lighting was not the best when I took the picture this afternoon, but I wanted to show you how wonderful the new slips look in the Breakfast Room!

Sometimes it seems daunting to live with linen or all white furniture. Slipcovers are the secret! Your kids can eat hot fudge and still live in a beautiful room without worry.

Do click HERE to see the wonderful new stock of antique fabrics available from Wendy at Textile Trunk. She just got back from Europe and you will go crazy!! And get ready to see some kitchens I have been working on, some reader’s renovations I am thrilled to share and some more personal and professional projects I am starting for the Fall!!

So happy to be back!!

(all photos and content copyrighted by Willow Décor and not to be copied with out written permission)