New Towels

My order of new towels just arrived from Gattle's [(513) 871-4050]. They are made by Matouk; the style is "Milagro". The pile is very thick but not particularly long, because this sort of ornate monogram is better on a shorter pile. I like the simple, narrow selvage edge; when the towel shrinks it is less likely to distort the shape.

I always order bath sheets - I much prefer them to the smaller bath towel . And I order an equal number of hand towels, also monogrammed. Washcloths I order plain. 

New towels need to be laundered before use or they'll leave bits of lint on you as you dry off. The tags say no bleach; no fabric softener; use warm water.

For as long as I remember I have had white, monogrammed towels, but this is the first time I have had a three color monogram! I love it! They are SO very traditional; I am enjoying swimming against the trend tide on this one. I had a simple block-style monogram on a set not long ago and I got bored quickly.

Usually I ask Grace or Beth to help me at Gattle's; they are experts on all things linen. 

Ellen's Entrance Hall

 The new trellis wallpaper and a butterfly painted on the woodwork.

 The stair carpet has a serged edge. Notice the small frog.

 A leaf and a lady bug on the newel post.

This is the third time I have decorated Ellen's front hall. The first version had a simple rose and cream paper selected to coordinate with her existing beige carpet. The second round got a black background Stark carpet with pink, yellow and blue flowers. We then changed the wallpaper to a yellow on yellow stripe, and we added a black tole light fixture.
This time around we decided to ditch that black carpet and replace it with a really beefy sisal runner up the stairs, and NO CARPET at all on the hall floor. And we  had a talented artist paint scattered flowers, bugs and a few dog biscuits  in a pile (she has three annoying pipsqueak animals). There are butterflies painted on the casings and lady bugs mixed in the design. The wallpaper has been replaced with large scale green on cream trellis pattern. We are going to put the black tole fixture over the poker table downstairs, and move the crystal light from the dining room into the hall.
There is a beautiful tall case clock against one wall, and a round Queen Anne table in a corner. Altogether it's a traditional entry in a lovely country home. And now it is lighter, fresher, and more playful.

Rebecca's new master suite-almost finished

Last fall when Rebecca and Peter began remodeling their master bedroom we planned to paint the walls a peach color. Well, the thing about peach paint is that it can look awfully fleshy. Not so good. Wallpaper, on the other hand, especially a strie or a grasscloth is wonderful in peach. But plain old flat paint, no. So we switched to yellow paint, which is always a winner. As you can see, they purchased lovely Persian carpets. This one is in the sitting area, and it complements the new coral chenille sofa and comfy green club chair (with a swivel mechanism). The new cabinetry has bookshelves (she's starting to collect vintage gardening books and Staffordshire cottages). There are two window seats with chintz cushions (a Cowtan and Tout fabric of wire baskets of flowers), and a black tole tray beautifully handpainted by her mother as a coffee table.
Rebecca was adamant about not wanting to block her windows. She only wanted a valance. This one is silk, with a knotted rope trim at the header, and a two inch fringe at the bottom. We recovered her chaise in the same chintz as on the window seat in the adjoining sitting room. There will be three "Euro" square pillows in the chintz on the bed, later - still to be completed.
The TV is on an articulating arm. It can be pulled out from the wall and viewed from the bed. The TV and fireplace are across from the coral sofa.
More chintz for two pillows on the coral sofa. Still no paintings for the walls, yet.
Rebecca's room is almost finished.

Collecting

Some collections are useful, and some are mostly decorative. My collection of cast iron, flower basket doorstops dating from around 1900 serves no useful purpose anymore. But I really enjoy seeing them all lined up on these three shelves. This is on a stair landing heading down to our exercise room. Many people, when they first see the doorstops are very puzzled. "What are those?", they ask me. 

My theory about collections is that you should determine where you want to put them and ONLY buy enough for that space. Do not be tempted to expand. It just looks obsessive. So if I buy any more doorstops they will have to fit neatly in this space. I will not be adding more shelves. Most full blown collections - which I could define quantitatively as more than three, and subjectively as more than you need - look best when grouped together. Doorstops also look good marched up a stairway, say one or two on each tread. 
When I moved into this house a couple years ago I took all my 1930s quilts and piled them on this yellow arrow back Windsor bench. In a sunny window, where they will surely fade. I really need to get that 3-M film that reduces sun fading applied to my windows. I used to have my quilts hung on walls, draped across sofas, hung behind a bed, etc. I'm sort of over that now. I just like this stack on a bench.
This table holds my collection of vintage silver trumpet vases. There are at least twenty of them, and I use them all the time. It's a lot of polishing, but so worth it. If someone sends me flowers I take them out of the dopey glass florist vase and rearrange them in my silver vases. 

I once knew someone who collected vintage glass reamers. You know the dish-shaped tool with the cone thingy in the center used to juice lemons and citrus? I am sure these objects are useful, and they may have a certain - limited - aesthetic value. But would you really want HUNDREDS of these? This person had them stored in boxes by the hundreds.

 Just say no.

Susie's Bedroom

Susie's new bedroom.
A Roman shade with an embroidered banding in the new bath.

The cream silk curtains have a valance with a picot-edge trim and linen sheers.

Susie's bedroom was a complete re-do. We made a new headboard - with one of my all time favorite fabrics (Travers'  "Wolcott Woven" in blue), and a blue and cream silk check bedskirt with a sweet little banding at the hem. There's an antique mahogany chest of drawers on one side of the bed and a white, Parson's-style desk from West Elm on the other side. The walls are pale, icy-blue paint (a custom mix color), the curtains are ivory silk, and the carpet is a lively stripe in coral, yellow, blue, gray, green and white. The pillows and the desk chair are absolutely my favorite details in this room. The French chair has a hand-painted silk fabric on the back (butterflies and ribbons), and the three "Euro" square pillows are embroidered silk polka dots. There is a mix of bright whites and creams and ivories in this room - a trick that keeps the room elegant and not stark. Susie loves the colors, the crispness, and the luxury this room provides. We are still looking for just the right piece of furniture to go at the end of the bed (across from a wall-hung flat screen TV.)

Details

The kitchen cabinet with sliding glass doors and twelve labeled drawers.
Napkins inside one of the drawers.

The drawers of this cabinet in my kitchen are all labeled "Napkins", "Flatwear",  "Placemats" or "Et Cetera".  The four "Et cetera" drawers hold platters, bowls, and serving pieces. I asked an artist with pretty handwriting to make the labels, and then I laminated them. The labels are really useful, and I like the way they look. The four top "Flatwear" drawers are lined with silver cloth from Guardian to prevent tarnish. The cabinet-maker supplied the liners, but you can just google "pacific silver cloth".  There are numerous sites that sell custom sizes of inserts or just the fabric, which comes in many colors.

Weathervane

We recently returned from a ten day trip to Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, and one of our stops was at Acadia Weathervanes, in Trenton, Maine, where we purchased this watering can weathervane. We also bought a molded horse weathervane, and a hip roof cupola, with a copper roof. The weathervanes and the roof will be treated  chemically to "age" a greenish-gray patina. The horse will top our old stone barn, and the cupola and watering can will go on the kitchen end of our house. They should arrive sometime next month. I'll need to get the cupola painted white and have it all installed by the roofers, I guess.

There were a number of fabulous designs at this shop. My favorites were the Golden Retriever, the racing bike, the golfer, and the guitar - none of which particularly applied to us. Acadia Weathervanes; 1-800-698-5538; and www.acadiavanes.com