From One Exotic to Another

So in the last few weeks you all have been privy to my excitement over Peter Dunham’s Samarkand fabric, seen here. Unfortunately, my excitement was ill-focused. I received the sample in the mail, looked at it in the kitchen, was absolutely thrilled, brought it into the dining room and it was wrong. More than wrong … ugly.

The dining room walls are Farrow & Ball Pointing, seen here on the left; and the trim (windows, fireplace, bookcase, wainscoting) is Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue. Seen here, these two colors look completely different than they do on my walls. The room is relatively dark with three windows total, two facing south and one facing north. The window facing north faces an old wall covered in fig vine (rampant in Charleston) and the two southern facing windows are underneath the piazza – so the light isn’t great. These two colors look wonderful by candlelight. However, Pointing looks much lighter, and Wythe Blue looks much darker. When I put the Samarkand fabric up against the wall in the evening, and then again in the daylight, the background of the fabric is so much darker than Pointing that it looks almost dirty – killing all the other colors in the fabric. Back to the drawing board.

Enter John Robshaw – another mention in a recent post. This fabric is called Ginger Coral, and I absolutely love it. The background is much lighter than Samarkand, and the repeat is not as big, which may make curtains in a smaller scale room much more feasible. I have ordered a sample of the fabric through John Rosselli in New York – we shall see.

Remember that all fabric looks different in all different light, just as Samarkand worked on the computer, and it DID NOT work in the dining room. I think that the dark nature of the dining room will bring down the tone of Ginger Coral just enough that it may be perfect. I love how this fabric is equal parts exotic and traditional – I would say that is exactly the vibe that I am going for in that dining room.

I think we should all pick up a copy of John Robshaw’s Prints. It gives wonderful explanations of block printing, Robshaw’s travels and inspirations, and interiors that he has done. Plus, let’s be honest, it would look great on a cocktail/coffee table. If you are not familiar with John Robshaw, I highly recommend visiting his website, www.johnrobshaw.com, to check out not only his fabrics but his pillows, bedsheets, headboards … the list goes on. I will keep you all posted when Ginger Coral arrives and whether or not it is “the one.”

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Birds of a Feather

If you ever read Lacquered Life, you know that Tom Scheerer is one of my favorite decorators. I love his use of color and pattern and how rooms can feel extremely casual but so well executed that they read formal. He actually lived in Charleston for a time, and then gave it up in favor of the Caribbean. Funny, he did the exact opposite of Charleston’s early settlers from yesterdays post. One of the themes in Scheerer’s decorating is the use of bird prints, and I love them.

They are not an obvious choice for chic wall art – if you say, “how about a bird print?” as a suggestion for wall decor in a room, I’m sure that ones mind immediately goes to kitschy duck prints in otherwise outdated and “grandparent-like” studys. But this is the antithesis of what Scheerer is doing with birds. In clusters of varying sizes, with simple frames, these birds become more of a statement than one could ever imagine.

Here again in an entry hall, Scheerer uses the birds to make a really fabulous gallery wall that is both simple and unique.

Through the door of the bedroom in this house in Maine, you can see Scheerer’s use of birds in the hallway …

And in this stair hall …

And again in this stair hall. This is where I want to use birds in our house. I think a bunch of different birds would look great going up the stairs. The question is – where does he get all these birds? They cannot all be antiques – and he frames them all in mahogany bamboo frames! It is a signature move of his. I love his bird prints specifically because of their blank backgrounds and the sitting positions that all of the birds are in. So many bird prints have birds diving and playing and hunting with scenes in the background, which is not nearly as cool as the prints that Scheerer has. So does anyone have any suggestions on where to find prints like these? I could use the help! Thoughts?

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Thank You John & John (Robshaw & Derian)

This is the photo from the cover of the most recent issue of Elle Decor. It is a picture of textile designer John Robshaw’s NYC living room. What jumped out at me immediately from this photo was his sofa. Most of you aren’t aware of the fact that since WWB and I relocated to Charleston in September, I have been living with a living room void of furniture. Why? Because I cannot commit. I am in a stalemate. Why? Because the room is quite small, with an early 19th century fireplace that is not original to the house jutting into the room, but really I can’t commit. However, when I saw this sofa, I immediately started to google.

It is called the Geranium Sofa, and it is from John Derian – no surprise there on things/places that I love. It is manufactured by Cisco Brothers out of California, and is modeled on antique Hepplewhite sofas/settees. The beauty of this sofa is its depth – because this is my biggest concern in our living room. This sofa is only 27″ deep. There are not many sofas that are this shallow … well there are but they are antiques that cost upwards of $7,000 – and who wants to spend that on a sofa!

As I said, the Geranium Sofa is loosely based on a Hepplewhite sofa. Along with Sheraton and Chippendale, Hepplewhite was one of three famous English cabinet makers of the 18th century. The majority of 18th century English antiques that we know of today are based on the designs of these three craftsmen. Above is a good example of a Hepplewhite settee. Notice the similarity in the clean lines and simplicity of this piece and the Geranium Sofa from John Derian.

These are the beautiful Belgian Linen fabrics that you can have the Geranium Sofa come in, or you can send in your own fabric. I am not sure whether I want to send in my own fabric or use one of these beautiful linens. Typically you are meant to use something simple on your largest piece of furniture in the room, and dress it up with throw pillows and smaller pieces of furniture with patterns. However, as seen above Robshaw did just fine with a busy pattern, as I did on my study sofa with China Seas Lysette Reverse.

Above I mentioned the importance of the depth of the sofa, and how 27″ is very rare, and really fabulous for what I am dealing with. Above is the floor plan of a Charleston Single House, our house actually. A Charleston Single House is an architectural style that is native to Charleston and popularized in the 18th century because of the way it takes advantage of the breezes off the water to combat the lowcountry heat. The thing about a single house that is important to note is sight lines. As you can see above, the red lines mark sight lines in our house. You can stand in a room at one end of the house, like the kitchen, and see all the way through to the far wall of the living room, and vice versa. The doorways all line up. So in choosing a sofa for the living room, and assuming I am putting it across from the fireplace, one has to be aware that you will be seeing the side of that sofa from the kitchen and the dining room – which means the more shallow the sofa, the better. Making sure the viewers sight lines are not too hindered is an important part of decorating in a small Charleston Single, because if you can see all the way to the far wall of the house, it can give the illusion of space and depth.

Here is the Geranium Sofa in John Robshaw’s living room again – from a different angle. This helps showcase the shallow nature of the piece and its clean lines. Although the sofa is shallow, it does have high arms, which again is something one needs to look out for in a Charleston Single House. I will keep you posted on where I end up. I have taped out the size of the sofa on the floor of the living room, and I am awaiting my mother’s arrival on Thursday to help with the final verdict. I will keep you all posted – but would love to hear your thoughts.

photos courtesy of Elle Decor & John Derian

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