Country Living magazine grows stronger and stronger all the time, they continue to inspire by featuring lots of great homes filled with fabulous vintage finds. If you haven’t picked up a copy lately of Country Living I seriously hope that you’ll change that, starting with the March issue because it’s an inspiring one for sure. One article that caught my attention as a lover of all things rusty, crusty, and slightly worn features design consultant Caroline Keith of C.Keith Vintage. The talented Caroline shows her beyond creative home in New York with orderly collections of vintage goods peppered amongst slightly worn antiques and lots of black, cream, and gold. Caroline also owns C.Keith Vintage in Nyack, N.Y, a store currently on my list of must-sees in the near future.
For those living outside of America, you can view bits of the article online right here and here. But the magazine has the best images, many more not shown here, so if you can get your hands on a copy try to do that. I particularly enjoy seeing how everything is arranged, old with new, very nice. And there are some vintage photos again (above), we talked about how we’re seeing more and more of them in homes lately just yesterday. I like how casually Caroline displays hers – around the frame of an old wooden mirror. Simple displays can often be the most interesting.
(photography by steven randazzo for country living magazine)
Thought I’d show you a few images and links that I’ve been collecting over the past few days, a virtual inspiration board is what I guess we can call this…
The hallway in Ez’s California home, you may know her as the lovely blogger behind Creature Comforts. I adore her blog and I’m smitten with this little peek she gave us into her home. What a tease!
A dining room in Sweden via More Ways To Waste Time. See the complete home tour here. Seems all the blogs are doing home tours like crazy, it’s a big blog trend right now and I like it!
My Spring Orla Keily bags are bringing some color to my space, waiting for the snow to melt so I can use them! I plan to add more hooks to my ladder to display a few of my pretty necklaces and a silk scarf or two. My bags are from Twig, I hope to pick up this one next. Hey it’s my crack, okay? I can think of worse addictions. :)
Chez Larsson has her home office ready for Spring and I’m lovin’ this clean look of white, grassy green and bright yellow. See more photos of her lovely home here. The box bench cushion is the best. This is an inspiring space to work!
Anna’s home tour made its debut today on Apartment Therapy and it’s awesome. I’ve been following her decorating adventures via Flickr for months so I’m very happy to see the finished product. For the AT Tour click here, or to see all her home photos try this link. I adore her entryway so much.
Sandi Henderson’s gorgeous Ginger Blossom fabrics. Oh, the colors! And her blog is a real treat, too.
A page torn from the pages of Australia’s Inside Out magazine by AnastasiaC. I wish we could get this magazine in America. Vintage card catalogs are hot right now, if you can find one don’t pass it up. Check Craigslist or eBay and search for “card catalogs”, “library files”, etc. I like the addition of vintage wheels on this one for that industrial touch.
A collection of vintage dog photos from somethings hiding in here. It’s clever how she’s displayed them collage style. Collecting vintage photos is another trend I’m seeing on the web more and more and I’m currently into this myself. I recently started collecting photos of my aunt taken in the late 1960′s. I’ll show you a few of my favorites…
This is my aunt, a photo taken by my uncle when they lived in Argentina. It really makes me happy when I see this photo because she passed away but for some reason when I look at this photo, I imagine she’ll turn around any moment and call for me. Strange I know, but it feels like she’s still alive when I look at this photo. That’s Alfi her poodle. He traveled the world with them, visiting more countries than I ever will. ;) I plan to enlarge this to 11 x 17 and frame it for my living room. My aunt was one of the most amazing women I’ve ever known.
Here’s another photo that has really inspired me lately, this one was taken in the late 1960′s in her Buenos Aires apartment. I can see where my obsession with mismatched chairs comes from. I really love her painting shown here, she was also a lover of the color turquoise just as I am.
Ann Louise Roswald cushions via Selina Lake, photographed by David Giles. These are delicious for Spring – so bold!
(images are all linked above.)
I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the work of the talented Tracy Porter on decor8 before. Time to talk Tracy! Let me tell you how I first found out about her because I didn’t discover Ms. Porter on my own. It was through my friend Sondi that Tracy’s work came into my life back in ’01 when I moved from my Boston apartment into a huge barn in the country. I was completely overwhelmed by having to decorate a massive 2-story space with a mostly open concept on an extreme budget (under $300!).
Bohemian inspired Tracy Porter Rosewater bedding.While I loved the old wide pine floors and the ceilings that went on forever, I was newly married and only had 3 rooms of furniture to fill a home with 7+ rooms, 2 bathrooms, a huge entryway, and a loft space. I had to tap into my creativity like never before. I relied on sewing and making things by hand a lot more back then. One can get lazy when there’s no longer a strict budget to follow… That’s when I started a little eBay store selling French-inspired vintage finds from flea markets — the money I made was what I used to buy things for my barn.
A few of my Tracy books. :)
A picture of a glass cloche with a deer inside that inspired me backthen from one of Tracy’s books.
I remember Sondi visited from Maine right when I moved into the barn and felt drained and taxed from having such a large home. Perfect timing. She had with her piles of books to inspire along with her little truck so we could go to junk and antique stores to find goodies. It was our decorating girls weekend, a weekend I highly suggest for times when you’re stuck in a creative rut. One of the books Sondi had was Tracy Porter’s Dreams From Home. The Porter design vision as it was then felt a little busy for my taste, but elements of it appealed to me so I picked up a few of her books and allowed the diverse mostly country styles to influence a few of my decorating decisions in the barn – I painted the dining room pale mustard, made cafe curtains using French toile for the windows out of pillowcases, installed a petite chandelier in my walk-in closet, and started using cloches as table centerpieces. I was a city girl gone country, an apartment dweller suddenly in a ginormous old barn. I needed Sondi, Tracy, and anyone else to encourage me that I could do it.
Since those days, I no longer have my eBay store and my husband and I live in a different space (a carriage house now, we joke that eventually we’ll have a home that wasn’t first constructed for animals!), and of course my style has evolved along as I’ve (gulp) aged. But I’ve held onto books like Tracy’s because they helped to inspire my overall design sense along with my travels, family, and other influences of course and so I find it hard to get rid of them. I can tell from Tracy’s website that her style has evolved as well and parts of it I really like, like the blue Napoleon cabinet and the writer’s desk and chair. In addition to furniture, lighting, and objects for the home, there is a complete collection of clothing, shoes, bags, and jewelry. Tracy is a busy lady! See for yourself…
Gorgeous Skylark bedding. Aw, just look at the transom window over that doorway. I vow to have them in my home someday, I’m so sad that so many have been removed from old buildings here in America. They aren’t only charming, but they fill the room with light saving on energy making them very responsible and pretty.
Tracy is one designer that was a huge source of inspiration for me at one time and only recently have I tapped into some of her work again – like the gorgeous bedding and furniture that she carries. It’s exciting to be at a point where I can look back to trace the steps of my own design journey. I’m sure you can trace your steps as well and if you haven’t, give it a try today. Sit down with a pen and paper and list all the people, places, and things that have had an influence on your personal design sense. You may unearth some interesting and fascinating finds!
Who has inspired you? Please feel free to share them with us. :)
Psst: Tracy is a blogger and you can ‘meet’ her right here via a video she recently posted. Fun!
(images from tracy porter)
Fabienne wrote in from Paris today about her work as a graphic designer along with the opening of her new etsy shop Labokoff where she sells prints of her art. She merges photography with paint by embellishing her photos with subtle painted motifs like circles, starfish, and swirls.
I enjoy seeing France through her eyes, it’s like taking a mini vacation. Muted imagery of the eiffel tower, lazy days along the coastline of Normandy, the calmness of the countryside, it’s all very inspiring. This work gives us a glimpse of the French lifestyle through the eyes of Fabienne, each telling a story as you gaze into them. Go ahead and see for yourself, look closely and use your imagination…
(images from labokoff)
Monday is a holiday here in the states, and I’m taking Tuesday off to work on a few projects, but I’ll be back blogging on decor8 Wednesday, February 20th. I’ve included lots of links below to keep you busy until then.
There’s so much I don’t want you to miss out on until 2/20, so here’s a list:
Swedish blogger Emma has covered the Stockholm Furniture Fair so please visit her blog for complete coverage, trend spotting, and more. Great stuff Emma.
A beautiful loft in Paris to take you away…
A fabulous chandelier to shed some light (and empty your wallet).
Vintage maps from After Noah.
New Freshcut Pink books from Rag + Bone. Great as inspiration or art journals. And don’t miss the amazing Jim Deneven. Wow, now there’s a new medium for ya.
Rasta floor cushions and an industrial-style clock that is super unique.
Amy Butler’s Sew Inspiring Contest over at Craft: magazine (stay tuned for a decor8/Amy Butler contest in April!)
A stationery sale that will make you see Stripes.
Tour the home of Christiana Coop of Ferm Living (great job, A-M!).
A lovely Flickr group dedicated to still life photography.
Nectar & Light for inspiration (just lovely).
Karlsson lights that I want to know more about.
Creative way to display plates for a little DIY this weekend.
Fabulous online scheduling.
Beautiful Shweshwe fabric from South Africa.
Pupe Girl is a strange but cute little website for making adorable Japanese versions of yourself. Burns hours so beware.
This new tool called Animoto to show your craft creations online. To music. MTV style.
A grey flannel mannequin photo sent to me by artist Amy Gross after she read this.
decor8 press: Thank you Real Simple and Selvedge magazine! Also thanks to Cookie for a little mention here and to Amy at Blogged for rating decor8 a 9.5 because well, that’s not too shabby.
(image from Trina Dalziel represented by Lilla Rogers Studio in Boston.)
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