Peach

Last year I found incredible peaches at Costco, of all places. I peeled them, sliced them, squirted them with lemon juice, and sprinkled them with brown and white sugars. They were tart and sweet, silken and slick, slippery and juicy. Perfection. This year I discovered a cache at Sam's, having been tipped off to the find by another peach freak. Once again, they did not disappoint. The whole trick is to buy them nearly ripe. They should have that peachy fragrance, and be firm and just slightly yielding to touch. Here in Ohio I haven't bought a good peach in a supermarket in years. So Big Box stores - the new farmstand?
There were beautiful peach roses at Costco yesterday. Here they are in an Old Paris pitcher in my living room with its peachy-coral grasscloth walls.
And, staying in the same color family, I made baked salmon for dinner this evening. So simple. Here's the recipe.

                                                               Citrus Salmon

Salmon

Tangerine and lemon slices

Fresh dill

Olive oil, kosher salt and pepper

Put the salmon on aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and fresh ground pepper. Top with a large sprig of fresh dill. Layer thin slices of tangerine and lemon on top. Fold up the foil into a sealed packet. Bake at 400 degrees for about twenty minutes.

Emma's House

Our Office

The New Bedroom Scheme

I have been decorating for Emma and her family (husband, three children) for more than ten years. Now we are redecorating the master bedroom, which was the first project I did for her. Over the years we have decorated every room in her house, and now we are circling back to the bedroom for a fresher, brighter design.

Originally the room had dark green wallpaper, light green and white patterned Stark carpet, and chintz curtains in a yellow, red, pink and green floral pattern. There was bullion trim on the sofa, and tassel trim from Brunschwig and Fils on the valances. The curtains had blackout lining, and there were dotted swiss sheers underneath. That's all gone now. 

We started the process of selecting a new scheme for the room at my office, where we have stacks of fabrics, trims, carpets and wallpapers from which to choose. Emma has an art background, wonderful taste, and is not a bit afraid of color. We played with different color combinations for hours, focusing primarily on a blue and white scheme. We pulled carpet samples - large scale trellis patterns to be paired with a broad stripe in blue and cream silk for curtains, and printed floral linen and small embroideries for upholstery. In the end Emma said, "What about yellow?"  I said, "I like yellow." 

And so, all the blue schemes were scrapped, and we started over with yellow in mind. We have since replaced the elaborate curtains with white Plantation shutters, and installed a nubby yellow and white wool carpet and yellow strie wall covering.

 Fabrics have been selected to recover a small sofa, two club chairs, a large French-style chair, a foot stool, a chair for her dressing room, two large chairs for the hall, a large ottoman for the bath, and two small side chairs. There will also be two silk cloths for round tables flanking the sofa, new lamps, and numerous new pillows. All of this - fabrics and furniture - has been delivered to the workroom with my instructions for reupholstering.

The room also includes antique English mahogany pieces: end tables, a linen press, a chest of drawers. The bed is an Italian, black four-poster, hand-painted with a floral design. It looks wonderful against the yellow walls.

The new color scheme is yellow, white, pink and green, which, now that I think about it, is much the same as the old bedroom. But the emphasis is different, and florals are few. The overall effect will be, I think, fresh and crisp within an elegant and traditional setting.