Surrounded by Books

Books
May 15, 2013

Penguin Books. Just looking at these brightly bound classic paperbacks brings on a sensory overload. I smell the old paper, mingled with sun and sand, and I see the light filtering through the windows of the tiny library on the Floridian Island where we used to visit my grandparents. If I close my eyes, I can even feel the air in that little library. There is something about these little Penguin books that stir up memories in all of us – feelings that you want to surround yourself with as often as one can.

Penguin Books published its first ten paperbacks in 1935. For the first time, classic titles were available to the public for the price of a pack of cigarettes. No longer did reading require a library card – you could now buy your books at the newsstand. In this respect, Penguin Books stood out from its other publishing house counterparts with their expensive, overly decorative hardcover books. The famous paperback covers were designed by Edward Young, a 21 year old office junior, who would later go on to become Penguin Books’ Production Manager. Fun fact: the different colors on the covers have significance; orange is fiction, blue is for biographies, green is for crime novels, and so on.

Wallpaper! Now you don’t even have to go to a bookshop or a library to get that Penguin Books sensory overload. This Spring, Osborne & Little, Britain’s premier wallpaper and fabric house, has released Penguin Library wallpaper. Featuring tons of different classic titles, such as Wuthering Heights and others, now you have the ability to surround yourself with these classic books in any room of your home.

Like a Pantone color chart, these books breathe life into any space they are assembled in. And what a cocktail party conversation they would make! I can imagine having a few drinks and wandering around the room looking at the titles. Might also be wonderful in a kids play room – it might encourage your children to read! I wish I had a place for this wallpaper, because I think it is absolutely wonderful, don’t you?

Photos courtesy of Osborne & Little & Stephen Small on Flickr

Amelia’s Folly

Architecture
April 30, 2013

Still on a beach kick here in Charleston, so I thought I would introduce you to our other popular beach – Folly Beach. As shown in the pamphlet above, Folly Beach has been a popular destination in South Carolina for years. One of my favorite Charleston-based interior designers, Amelia Handegan, has a house at Folly Beach that was photographed for Architectural Digest, which I thought I would share.

This is perhaps one of my favorite parts of Hanegan’s Folly Beach home. The change in the pattern on the floor is meant to represent where the old house ends and the new house begins – so that the viewer is aware of the passage of time and of the home’s different building campaigns. This is an extremely preservation minded piece of Handegan’s design, and something that I have also done in my home in Charleston to distinguish the new from the old.

I could get pretty comfortable with that view, what about you?

Photos courtesy of Architectural Digest & Amazon.com

Serenity on Sullivan’s Island

Interior Design
April 29, 2013

I just spent the weekend at the beach in Pawley’s Island, SC, and as a result I am in an extremely beachy mood at the start of this week. So to kick of the week, I thought I would post about Sullivan’s Island, SC – a place just twenty minutes outside of Charleston, which is where W, Hamish, and I go to the beach. Sullivan’s Island is located at the mouth of Charleston Harbor and was historically used as a defense of Charleston. The Battle of Fort Moultrie, which took place on Sullivan’s Island during the Revolutionary War, was actually the origination of the Palmetto tree and crescent moon on the South Carolina state flag.

Sullivan’s Island is a special place. The long flat beach seems to go on for miles. Facing South, looking out over the Atlantic Ocean is spectacular, and facing east, you can see peninsular Charleston in the distance. Sullivan’s Island has that laid back vibe that a true beach community should have, has not been spoiled by over development.

This Sullivan’s Island beach house was featured in Charleston Home Magazine a few years ago. The all white palate exemplifies seaside living, and the open air feeling of the house, with its porches and breeze ways, is typical of Sullivan’s Island beach houses.

Can’t you just see yourself sitting on that porch with a glass of sweet tea and a book? In the hammock perhaps?