Cottage Charm

These simple cottage rooms are cosy, colorful and inviting.  

Each of them has at least one or two of the following elements - open rafter ceilings, studded walls, painted floors or plain pine floors, floral cotton fabrics, slipcovers, quilts, painted and/or distressed furniture, area mats, wallpaper, beadboard walls, planked painted walls and fresh flowers in every room!

Just charming!

 

Libby Cameron

BHG

Kate Forman

Alexandra Stoddard

Throwback Thursday - The Former Home of Annie Selke - Part 1

Good morning, Everyone!

Hope you are all having a great week!  

I'm running a little late with my post this morning, but I love this house and have had some of the images tucked away since I found them in Country Living magazine in 2004!  A lot has changed since then and Annie Selke no longer lives here, but her story continues.

First of all, I'll give you a bit of Annie's backstory.  If you are familiar with the retail shops Pine Cone Hill, Dash and Albert, Annie Selke Luxe and Fresh American, you already know that Annie Selke is the founder of all of these companies.

Back in 1992, Annie (who happens to be a graduate of Miss Porter's school in Connecticut) began designing textiles at her dining room table.   While a student at Miss Porter's, where all the bedrooms were decorated with Colefax & Fowler wallpaper, she became entranced with the floral designs.....and still loves them to this day.

In 1994, she founded the company Pine Cone Hill which, at that time, sold very traditional bedding designs - gingham sheets, traditional quilts and that sort of thing.  Loved the look and when you see her house below, you'll see how classic the look was and would still look beautiful today.

She eventually established Dash and Albert (rugs), Potluck Studios (pottery), Luxe (linens) and Fresh American and parlayed the businesses into a $50,000,000 annual business (and this info is from an article in 2010).  Sometime during this period, she and her husband were out driving one day when they came upon this 9 bedroom, shingle style Victorian home for sale.  And it was love at first sight for Annie.  She couldn't wait to get her hands on it and turn it into the home she had always dreamed of.

So, she went to work decorating her new home with a beautiful mix of old and new, her own linen designs and antiques from her favorite Brimfield Antiques.

Next Thursday, I will continue the story of Annie Selke.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this beautiful home and the updates she made over the years until she sold it after her divorce.

$25.00 side table from Brimfield Antiques

Country Living 2004

Kitchen dining

Master bedroom with Pine Cone Hill's 

Annette Quilt and striped linens

Colefax & Fowler  Fuschia wallpaper

Master bedroom sitting nook

Master bedroom updated with new furniture and linens 2008

Annie Selke bed, carpet and linens

Colefax & Fowler Fuschia wallpaper

Sweet Pea Colefax & Fowler wallpaper

Guest Room

Third floor guest room (formerly maid's quarters)

Pine Cone Hill quilt and linens

Polar Bear lamp Brimfield Antiques

Painted furniture

Living room 2004

Farrow & Ball stripe wallpaper

Same living room 2008

Farrow & Ball stripe wallpaper in a green colorway

Other end of living room 2008

Dining room 2004

Dining room 2004

Dining room 2008

Rectangular table with a demilune added to each end

Annie's collection of pink dishes 

Bath 2008

A Lake Cottage by Sarah Richardson Designs

Sarah Richardson's design team has been hard at work on this newly built cottage for a family of six.

Even though it's new, it looks like it's been there forever.  

With beadboard, board and batten and vintage touches throughout, the cottage is a sheer delight.

Enjoy!

   

The soft green ceiling is a nice addition.  The large windows and natural light bring the outdoors in.

And the distressed looking floors would be so low maintenance.

Antique corbels add to the aged look.

Nice pattern on the ceiling.

Country Living

TBT - Ainsworth Noah Cabin

Hi Everyone,

I hope you don't tire of my cabin posts.  This should be the last one for awhile, but I wanted to share this beautiful home in - guess where? - Cashiers, North Carolina!!  Remember here and here?  So, Toby West, Ainsworth and Noah were neighbors with the late Charles Faudree who also had a cabin here and who decorated the home I featured in 'Cabin Fever'.  Apparently, this mountain area is a haven for other decorators, too.

It's a small world and a an awful lot of talent in these hills.

So, Hal Ainsworth and Winton Noah, who at the time of this publication, owned the largest space at the Atlanta Decorating and Design Centre, a condo in Atlanta, and an apartment in Paris decided to build this log home as their weekend getaway.

With it's massive 32-foot ceilings in the entrance hall and the living room, they needed large scale furnishings to make the spaces cozy and welcoming.  As an example, the living room sofa is 109" long and 46" deep.  The doorways are 8' tall.

Since they regularly travelled to Europe 6 - 8 times a year for their valued finds and clearly had lots of great pieces to choose from, they then proceeded to fill their home with a collection of antiques, folk art, twig and willow furniture - all complemented by the homey touches of quilts, toiles, plaids and checks.  All just beautiful.

But, the biggest surprise of all was the white shiplapped and beamed guest room with blue and white decor!  At first, I thought there were some pages missing from the magazine and that I was looking at another story, but, no it was all part of the plan......as well as another white walled guest room and games room.

Quite a partnership these two have considering that Ainsworth was quoted as saying in the article that "I can decorate and Hal can't add"!  Obviously, they work as a tandem team and fill in the voids for one another as needed.

Enjoy!

They have three wraparound porches.

The very big sofa I mentioned.

Hal's bedroom with a Niermann Weeks bed and Carleton Varney toile.

Winton Noah's bed is made from local wood.

And this is the surprise - love the shiplap walls and painted beams.  Also, the blue and white is just lovely.

Another guest room with patchwork and plaids.

 Games room.

The back porch.


 Veranda
July - August 2001