Porch Passion

Life
April 4, 2014

Happy Friday! Busy weekend here in Charleston: Cooper River Bridge Run, First Fridays on Broad, Historic Charleston Foundation’s Annual Festival of Houses and Gardens, and a houseguest! I plan on taking advantage of this beautiful weather and spending a lot of down time on my porch, or piazza as we say in Charleston. I sit up here and listen to the sounds of Charleston and Church Street; children laughing, Michael from Charleston Footprints telling the history of our flag, and my favorite – the wind rustling the palmetto leaves. I blog from up here, lounge with Hamish, and catch up with friends. It also happens to be where W proposed. Where is your happy place?

Photo by Francesco Lagnese

Louisville, No Longer a Mystery

Architecture
April 2, 2014

I recently found out that one of my dearest friends here in Charleston is leaving the Holy City and headed to Louisville, Kentucky for her husband’s medical residency. So I did what any northern girl who lives in the South would do, I went to the Garden & Gun website and searched Louisville. What came up was Lincliff. Built in 1912, this Georgian Revival mansion on the banks of the Ohio River is home to famed mystery novelist Sue Grafton and her husband Steve Humphrey. The couple bought the abandoned and dilapidated house in 2000, and Humphrey, a newly enthusiastic gardener, spent the first five years of ownership clearing, fixing, and researching the beautiful gardens surrounding the house. During their research, Grafton and Humphrey discovered that the hilltop site plan had been designed by John Olmsted, nephew of famed Central Park landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted. Since then, Grafton and Humphrey have been restoring the gardens and even adding touches of their own inspired by their travels in Europe. I think I have mentioned that W is the gardener in our marriage, so maybe one day we could take on a project like this. Whaddya say Mr. B? In the meantime, knowing that there are places and people like this living in and around Louisville, my friend is going to be just fine … and I have now found an excuse to go visit.

Photos via Garden & Gun

For the Love of Linens

Designers
April 1, 2014

Last week when I was in New Orleans, Lindsay of The Pursuit of Style recommended that I go to visit the Leontine Linens showroom. I was not disappointed. The space was beautiful, and the product? Well let’s just say I was in heaven. Between coverlets and shams, napkins and placemats, it was a full linen sensory overload. We had just come from an amazing lunch at Lilette, and ending our lunch outing ogling over beautiful linens was the perfect accompaniment. We had the pleasure of meeting Jane Scott Hodges, the woman behind Leontine Linens, and she couldn’t have been more fun, welcoming, and happy to chat, despite the fact that her book, Linens for Every Room and Occasion, hits stores today. The book is being published by Rizzoli, and has a foreword by Charlotte Moss. I was lucky enough to check out a preview copy at the shop, and I cannot wait to get my hands on one of my own. The book is available through Amazon here and Barnes & Noble here. After an experience like this, I will be hard pressed not to be ordering some napkins and a coverlet! The question is, how do I choose? Jane Scott and I have similar taste in china, she loves Herend Fish Scale like I do, and we agreed that the chopstick font (shown in the second picture) in green might be a great accompaniment to our Herend Fish Scale and Meissen Ming Dragon II. Any thoughts?