Details, Details....

Elsie de Wolfe said "Good dressing is largely a question of details and accessories." This applies to dressing people and rooms. The details of pulling together a room are often the most fun to design. Trim, pillows, lampshades, decorative accessories, books, objets d'art - all of these are the icing on the cake that define a room and make it sparkle.

On a recent project we have had the pleasure of working with a client whose parents' decorator in New York was Sister Parish. There have been many beautiful pieces of furniture, artwork and accessories with which to work. We are looking forward to sharing that project when it is complete in the Fall.

Fortunately, the kind client saved an old lampshade of his mother's for us - I love the detail and scale of it. It is no longer usable (the silk is falling apart), but I wanted to save it for inspiration and to perhaps copy the detail. The lampshade has a beautiful detailed top and bottom, with shirred gray silk. We just don't see shades like this anymore.

I wonder if this came from a Parish/Hadley design?





Click on the images to enlarge.

ps - this lamp is not what the shade calls for, but I needed a place to put the shade.

House of the Week

This beautiful Keith Summerour designed house is located on one of the most desirable streets in Buckhead. Built in 1995, its simplicity, perfect execution and European charm draw you in immediately. The house is currently for sale, and is listed by Studie Young of Harry Norman.
















all exterior photos above via Whitehaven

A few pictures of the interiors from the listing. Click here to see the full listing by Harry Norman.

The Architect Next Door - Joel Kelly

Above, a house on which Joel Kelly was the designer - image via Modern Atlanta.

The new house next door is designed by Joel Kelly, architect and interior designer. He is a very well known loft designer and has received awards in that design community. His work has been published in Veranda, Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles, and Home and Garden. I wonder if he is doing the interiors as well as the architecture next door? The project is at a holding point while they order windows and brick so I thought I would post images of Joel Kelly's work.


images above and below via Aspirations of a Southern Housewife







To see more of Joel Kelly's work please visit his website or his Facebook Page. For a wonderful photographic tour of his houses visit the blog Aspirations of a Southern Housewife.

New View

Yesterday when I looked out of my kitchen window I saw this:



So,I made a run to the fabric store, hardware store and spent a couple of hours in the afternoon sewing, and now we see this:



It's hard to tell in these photos, but the red in the fabric is a perfect match for my walls. Now I don't have to look at the new house all day long. I think the new house will be attractive when finished (the owner told me today that it will be painted brick), but in the meantime it's nice to have a break from the Tyvek view.





Now I am going to make the cafe curtains for the breakfast area. I had to order the rods (16 inch rods are hard to find, but I ordered them online) and I'll make the curtains this weekend. They will be out of the same fabric, but in flat panels. Photos when they are completed.

How to Make Cafe Curtains

Today I will be busy at home making cafe curtains for my kitchen window and breakfast room windows. These curtains will give us some privacy from the workers on the new house next door. I'm not sure if they will stay up after the house is complete. But cafe curtains are a quick sew and are also a fun way to add a punch of color to the kitchen. image at right via good housekeeping

Here are the instructions I'm using:
How to Make Cafe Curtains

And here are some more from Martha Stewart:
Simple Cafe Curtains

I'll post photos when I'm finished.


image via Martha Stewart

Peek Inside This Atlanta House

image above via Whitehaven

Remember this house from my guest post on beautiful front doors at This Photographer's Life? It was featured in Traditional Home and you can peek inside by visiting their website - click here.



photography by Emily Followill, interior design by Martha Reeves


photography by Emily Followill, interior design by Martha Reeves

House of the Week

I have long admired this beautiful, jewel box of a house while on my way to various errands around Buckhead. I love the symmetry, the scale, and the details (like the Chippendale porch railing, the painted detail on the porch pediment, the boxwood bushes and the black windows). It has pretty side gardens and a fountain.

Now you see it....Now you don't.

Update on the house next door

Last summer the house next door to me (a cottage) was torn down and the lot was bare for a year. I wrote posts about it here and here. From the street this is what my house looked like -



I nicknamed it the Titanic - sailing along on the sea. It doesn't look like that anymore -






Now the new house sits in front of my house. It looks like two new houses, but in the front is the garage and the living space is the larger structure in the back.



Above is the view from my breakfast room now - I miss the trees! (see below)