Sister Parish Designs

I got inspired and here I am again so soon.

Did you notice the pillows in the chairs by the fireplace in the first photo from the Cashiers Designer House? (Most recent post.) No chevron.  No lattice. The pattern looks like one I saw recently on the Sister Parish site.  When I first saw it I was not impressed but after seeing those pillows I took another look.  It was interesting to me that the Parish samples I saw showed no geometrics.  Is that a trend turn or just them pursuing their ethic?  I don't know but I saw patterns that appealed to me in a softer, more gentle way.  

This is the design I thought of when I saw the pillows.  It isn't the same but reminiscent.  Do you see the Moroccan influence?  

Here are a few others I like and would consider using.

A seat on a straight chair in a blue and white room.

I see a quilt design and might try to work it into a room that features an antique pieced quilt.  

Sun porch.  Dining room draperies as backdrop for a table set with richly patterned china from Mikasa.  

Remember, they won't exactly be side by each.  This is called "Plum Blossom" and I think both patterns show a markedly Asian influence.  Be not afraid of mixing designs for depth.  

Just one more.  I'm told I go on too long by one viewer.  

 It is called "Old Wick".  I've looked, for years, for a fabric that suits me to make throw pillows for my covered porch.  I would not pay the price and put this outside but it has launched me on a deliberate search.  How will I describe the design?  An amoebic leaf with squiggles. 

It's a stormy day here in the mountains but I'm snug inside with my critters and little visitor whom I'm babysitting for the day.  He likes storms even less than Molly so he is under the desk at my feet tickling my legs with his nose.  

~Sami

STICKS!

Sticks are in.  In the house.  They have been for a while.  Over the last year I have run across and saved some  photos of sticks used in decorating.  I was not surprised to find them since I've been collecting sticks and twigs and bird's nests and buckeyes and rocks for decorating for a long time.  Here are some of my stick photos. 

Sticks mounted in a footed container with moss and stones in an elegant setting. 

A few sticks in a big jar...great for a corner. 

Awesome!  A plant would do nicely in this spot but why not a mass of twigs that don't have to be tended.  Imaginative and carefree. 

In my own world I have a fantastic scrap - a fallen twiggy branch - mounted on the rail near my bird feeder on Pontifical.s Porch. 

Birds love it and use it as a way station to take turns at the feeder.  Small birds like Carolina wrens, black capped chickadees, a few orioles and the little sparrows who have God's eye have all enjoyed the easy access from twig to feeder.  They are polite and take turns. No matter how hard I tried with the photo, the twig always looked ghostly because it is weathered.  It is fastened to the railing with flexible lengths of vine.  If I were staging, I would pressure wash the rail, fill the bird feeder and trim the hedge.  The hedge will get its fall haircut later this month. 

Another of my sticks.. 

This one is in the corner of my living room.  The container is a Billy Ray Hussey jug.  The prints are of antique tapestry, lacework and ribbon fragments.  The chair is an authentic antique as is the table.  In a later post I will share how I use the antique English chest just peeking in on the right. 

Sticks are in.  Inside and outside. 

PICKER SISTERS.

It is raining on my end of North Carolina.  Raining and raining and raining.  Molly, my pocket beagle,  and I walked in the rain earlier.  She wasn't interested in my story about how much fun it was for Gene Kelly. 

Stuck.  Bored.  TV on while I play on the computer.  Lifetime.  I don't watch the channel often and can't remember why it was on.  In other words, whatever was on I wasn't paying attention.  I did look up when the Picker Sisters showed up.  What?  Who?  Aw, come on. 

There they are.  The photo doesn't show what I guess is part of the appeal of this show.  They wear short shorts while shopping in what seems to be a man's world.  Prowling through barns, attics, knee high weeds and old industrial plants...in short shorts.  Aw, come on.

I'm still watching as they cajole people into accepting their offers and then use their charm to get someone to move the bigger items for them.  Yeah, short shorts.

They have some fellow on retainer back in Los Angeles who is willing to cut up radiators and create chairs for them!!!

I don't think I'd like to sit and read in that chair.  In fact, I don't think I want to sit in that chair at all.
The wire shelves aren't bad.  They like wire...

They're actually moving these themselves...in short shorts.  Here's the result after the carts visited Alan.

Maybe this is what's selling in LA.  I know we've seen a run on industrial and then there's shabby still hanging around, but I don't know.  I like comfort and I don't see much here.  The light fixture created from an old pipe is neat.  There is a similar one in a new restaurant over in Asheville. 

Those of us who have been around for a while smile and say how Antiques Roadshow has ruined the antiques business. That's about the good stuff and now everyone believes they have the good stuff.  Look out!  Now even the rust and rot is going to escalate.

These gals payed 1,000 bucks for a termite riddled tree trunk and some copper wire.  Aw, come on.

They did make this coffee table, or Allen did, using old chain.

I might use it in an office.  They consider the lighted arrow and bull, art.  No bull!   

As I write, they are buying a silo that they plan to cut up.  Moving a silo?  Yeah, the fellow who sold it to them has a neighbor with a tractor and the phone calls begin to find a truck.  Pay the farmer's price, the freight to LA, factor in travel expense and a paid invoice to Allen who is really the one with talent and still make a profit??  Aw, come on.  

I don't have many followers at this point, but I would appreciate opinions. 

Got Velvet?

A fellow blogger on My Notting Hill  @ http://mynottinghill.blogspot.com/ recently posted a photo of a small bolster pillow covered in velvet with an unusal welt and asked if anyone knew where to get the fabric.  Ever interested in an internet quest, I took off googling.  I didn't find the fabric she was asking about; others commented with resources; but I found a site with an incredible supply of velvet fabrics.  It is Fashion-Fabrics-Club Online. The prices are...well, inexpensive.  I'm thinking cheap but didn't want to say it.  I want to share this swatch sample of what I found.

My former mother in law had an exquisite loose cushioned velvet sofa in this color.  I grieved when I learned that my ex had given it to the Salvation Army after her death.  He disliked it because it was a low sofa and uncomfortable for him.  Complimentary colors in her room were mostly shades of tan and yellow in linen weaves and a small open-armed loveseat in pale yellow brocade.  One wall was panelled in wormy chestnut with bookshelves and the fireplace.  The rest of the room's walls were a creamy natural linen to pale yellow color.  Draperies virtually the same, maybe a couple of shades darker.  Her decorator, who passed away many years ago, was great.  Her own house was a feast to the decorator's eye.  One thing she did that kept folks talking for a while was carpet a stairway with an oriental runner nap down.  In other words, she used the rug upside down.  She collected figas and glass candlesticks and we adored her. Who would have thought a tour through velvet fabrics would have brought her memory back so strongly today?   "I am a part of all that I have met" and she influenced me to break the mold or at least test the limits. 

Add:  I realized when I cleaned off my desk last night and found the note, I didn't offer the identification of the swatch above.  It is called Cannes Swirl Mushroom Velvet and is listed at $12.85 per yard.  I want it on something.