A dark palette is anything but boring when a black and white tiles and a mix of patterns are involved. I am drawn to darker rooms these days; must be the bright springtime sun. Although I'm not brave enough to do this in my home, I find the mix of patterns and limited color palette intriguing. But black and white tiles in the floor of this kitchen sets the theme and make it … [Read more...]
Decorative Interior Barn Doors
Decorative interior barn doors can become masterpieces when embellished with artwork and trim. Decorative interior barn doors are currently trendy. They are everywhere. But when this collection first caught my eye wasn't the hardware or vivid color that drew me. In the case of the theatrical horse with Siamese cat at his back leg it was the charming subject matter. This … [Read more...]
Urban Chic Kitchen
Mixing styles creates a sophisticated industrial style kitchen in an urban London loft. I have been a magazine junkie most of my adult life and in the last decade I have added several European journals to my list. This industrial chic urban London kitchen found its way into my ever expanding idea file for several reasons. While I tend to surround myself with vintage, I am … [Read more...]
Rustic Master Bath Retreat
In a rustic master bath, the custom tub surround is reminiscent of a French wall fountain. Wood salvaged from a North Carolina barn is used to create a rustic master bath retreat that is also romantic. The setting helps. The bath was created in a room with large windows and a high, pitched roof clad in wooden planks. A Waterworks Cambridge tub nestles underneath the expanse of … [Read more...]
Timeless Modern Master Bath
The modern egg-shaped tub in a master bath creates a perfect sanctuary for a long soak. In this luxurious master bath, washed horizontal wooden planks wrap the tub alcove and continue beyond. Set against that background is a freestanding Waterworks .25 tub, with sensuous curves said by the homeowner to be remarkably comfortable -- a tub everyone should experience at least … [Read more...]
White Pine Beach House Kitchen
Eastern white pine brings the color of sand into a beach house kitchen. Simplistic and rustic are usually not the first words that come to mind when I'm asked to describe a white pine beach house kitchen. But that is exactly what the owners of this timber-frame home received from their architect. It is located in Seaside, Florida, a "new urbanist" town that began development … [Read more...]
Warm White Kitchens
In warm white kitchens, opposites are mixed for a custom look and feel. Everyone has heard the phrase "opposites attract," but can that be applied to warm white kitchens? It can, indeed. Mixing the old with the new, the sleek with the chic, the hard with the soft, the dark with the light... well, you get the idea. In this kitchen, a chic custom island was crafted from an … [Read more...]
Alabama Stone Cottage Details
A closer look at stone cottage details in the Alabama home of home our blogging partner Allison. Our two-part virtual walk-through of Allison’s house was designed to highlight highly original living spaces she has worked so hard to create. This one will focus on her stone cottage details. If you haven’t yet toured the main rooms in part one, or explored her elegant French Gray … [Read more...]
Alabama Stone Cottage
Tour our Allison's idyllic Alabama stone cottage lakeside home. Calling a five bedroom four-and-a-half bathroom home sitting on 4-1/2 acres an Alabama stone cottage is a way of describing the style of the house our Allison and her husband lovingly built on an Alabama lakefront lot. Designed by Tulsa architect Jack Arnold – who the couple has never actually met – the house … [Read more...]
California Heritage Bath
A California Mission style bath relies on textures and materials from historic local architecture. Distressed wood with nailheads and ring-pulls is reminiscent of the rough darkness of wood found in California Misson architecture. This master bath takes its inspiration from that era in California design with white stucco walls straight from the hacienda. Wrought iron is also … [Read more...]
