Brunching with my favorites

Some of my very favorite people in this design business are Lauren Liess and Eddie Ross, both of whom I had the honor of spending a good part of the day with when Eddie came to town last week for a book signing of his fabulous book Modern Mix.  In the lovely setting of Lauren's Great Falls, VA studio, we lunched, networked and visited with local design friends, sipping champagne and talking for hours.

The food was impeccable and the company even better. I loved perusing her studio and touching her textiles up close and personal. The studio blew me away, so let me share it with you.

Eddie Ross is such a breath of fresh air.  His energy and magnetism are infectious.  His book is filled with so many great ideas.  This, along with Lauren's book Habitat, are serious guides for professionals and novices alike.

Thank you Lauren and Dave for hosting this wonderful event and for being so genuine and generous. It was a wonderfully inspiring day.  

Happy Holidays to all!

Handling my business & new items for sale!

I've been a busy bee, gathering and sprucing up.  It's actually time to start concentrating on the great outdoors now.  But before I shift my focus, here's what we've been up to at my house:

My new [old] dining room table got refinished.

It went from this guy:

To this guy:

Next, my hallway got stencilled:

We made the stencil.

Levelling all the while for uniformity and handpainting it on the walls.

[this pic reminds me I need to get serious about changing that yellowed thermosat.  Maybe it's the lighting but everything looks tinged more than normal here]

I ordered new curtains for the living room that are currently at the upholsterers' getting a trim added.

We took down the roman shade.

And realized when I changed the paint from little-old-lady blue to minty green, we never painted under the shade!  Bad form ladies…

We also hung the new rod twice.  Yep.  First time, midway between the window trim and the ceiling.  But it was way too hard to get it completely level.  So we decided to raise it higher.

Sorry the pics are so dark, but you can kind of see the difference in colors under the new rod.

So we started leveling.

And drilling.

And then patching holes.

Thank God I have a partner in all this crime!

Next, we put up the sconces I bought at the DC Flea (after we walked the floor with Eddie Ross!)

Up next… tiling the guest bathroom and adding a new pedastal sink and toilet.  Wahoo!


What's on your project plate?


-Bethany


PS - We have some new items for sale under our Tag Sale page!

Two Jiti bolster pillows in grey and white Waverly Quadrangle with orange trim.  

$40 for both.

Small footstool covered in taupe and white French linen $15

Gold-leaf wall adornment $20

If interested, contact Bethany.Brower@gmail.com.

Meeting Eddie Ross

One of the bloggers I identified with very early on in my blogging career was/is Lauren Liess from Pure Style Home.  Besides having an awesome eye for design in a really down to earth way, Lauren is a local, she's my age and she often talked about how much she loved her grandmothers' style.  Somewhere along the lines I realized she was speaking my language.

Lauren would often mention her friends Eddie and Jaithan and I came to realize Eddie was a staple on Martha Stewart's show and for his work styling many of the pics in the glossies that we look at every day.

[their previous home featured in Lonny]

While in San Francisco for work last week, mom wrote to tell me she signed us up to go to the DC Flea Market, which would have been cool enough in and of itself.  But we were also going to walk thru the booths alongside Eddie Ross to learn a few things about thrifting and styling.  I was super pumped!

[Pay close attention to how GORG these two dudes are.  Envious of their effortless style!!]

Already feeling their welcoming vibe from the correspondance with Eddie's cofounder and partner, Jaithan, our sentiments were amplified after our tour around the Dulles Expo Center while Eddie opened our eyes to things we hadn't really thought of.

What we learned:

1- Even sets (of china, glasses, napkins, etc) are never something to worry about or a cause for passing up something you love. You will almost always be able to find the missing parts at another round up, on eBay or Replacements.com.

2 - To remove stains from linens, try Laundress non-chlorine bleach.

3 - Take inspiration from the things you find along the way.  Maybe you love some Transferware plates but don't have a need for them.  Take their color combo as inspiration for a tablescape… cranberry and green or brown and mulberry make great color combos.

4 - The seamstress at the local dry-cleaners will make a fabbo tablecloth for a lot cheaper than your upholsterer.

5 - If you stick to buying what you love versus what you think you should get, you'll never go wrong.

6 - Always talk to the vendors about their stuff.  They have been collecting for a long time and will be able to pass along the history of your 'find'.

7 - Mother-of-pearl goes with just about anything.  Snatch up any pieces you find that you love and you'll always have a place on the table for them.  MOP and horn can be cleaned with good ole' mineral oil.  But no harsh detergents or it will crack.

8 -  If you can't remove stains from linens or to revamp a tired look, dye it with RIT dye.

9 - "Barkeeper's Friend" is great for rust stains on linen and cleaning just about everything!

10 - Traditional serverware has many non-traditional uses.  For instance, use a funky, curved banana dish for holding linens in a powder room.  All sorts of linens, from cocktail napkins to hand towels, make for great guest bathroom towels, when having a gathering.  Load up a basket and have your guest s use individual hand towels instead of a communal towel.  

11 - If you spot a must-have table cloth in the wrong size or color, it can always double as upholstery fabric for a headboard or pillow.  

12 - Don't be discouraged by the price of something.  Especially if it's a set.  If you break it down, a set of 10 glasses may be $100, but you are getting each glass for $10 and if it's a collectible or part of something you already have, it's a great price.  Collections are built over time, not all at once.  It's OK to pick a pricier item to scoop up along the way.

13 - Mix your antiques and flea market finds with current, relevant pieces.  Pick up a few yards of ikat or chevron fabric to make a tablecloth and add your polished silver collection and funky old plates.  If you intermix your vintage finds with newer things it will tend towards eclectic and collected-over-time versus grandma's attic.

One of my favorite quotes of the day had to be when Eddie shared that Jaithan often says there is an old grandmother deep down inside him waiting to be let out!   Hence his magnetism towards doilies and fine silver.  

[Eddie, Nancy, Bethany, Jaithan]

[Eddie talking about Flow Blue china]

[Enlightening us on fine linens]

The Big DC Flea was chock full of goodies.  

They are hilarial, I tell you, and so real.  Eddie spoke to all budgets and all tastes, making everything super approachable and never once sounded highfalutin.  Mom and I are so interested in learning - we are like little sponges.  And as creative as we think our little selves are sometimes, when you learn from someone with the real-deal Holyfield chops in design and styling, you are left feeling better for having known them.  


If you have the chance to meet up with Eddie and Jaithan next time they run through your town, do it to it! 


-Bethany

BTDubs - why is my mom so cute??