Barn and Cottage Living

When I did a post on quilts a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't help but notice on my blog's Pinterest page that one of my readers chose the living room shown below by Justine Cushing as one of her favorites, and remarked that she would love to see the rest of this place.

By sheer coincidence, I was tidying up some House Beautiful magazines last night and one was smaller than all the rest..........I picked it up to casually peek at it again and, lo and behold, it was the magazine with this house in it from 2007.

I really love the large size of the living room, large windows throughout, faded wallpaper, chintz fabrics all combined with beautiful antiques and art collected over a lifetime, as well as the coziness of  all the rooms.

So, to my reader Barbara, here is the rest of this very lovely home in the Hamptons.......the main house is called 'the barn' and the smaller rooms shown here are in their nearby cottage.

Enjoy and Happy Valentine's Day!

The barn bedroom

All images via House Beautiful

It's a Pink Kind of Day!

  

  

Image 1 Gary MacBournie, House Beautiful

Image 2 House Beautiful, Images 3 & 8Christian Dior, Image 4 Country Living,

Image 5 Jonathan Adler, Image 6 Ruthie Sommers,

Image 7 Traditional Home,

Image 9 Marjorie Merriweather Post's 1935 wedding dress New York Social Diary

Image 10 World of Interiors, Images 11 -14 Royal Hawaiian Hotel Traditional Home

Image 15 Pottery Barn, Image 16 Google, Image 17 Oprah at Home

Red and White Quilt Heaven

In honor of Valentine's Day, I am re-publishing one of my earlier posts on this exhibition of red and white quilts that was held in New York city last year.

After a decades long passion for quilt collecting, 80 year old Joanna Rose wanted to share her 651 red and white quilts with the public and, with the help of the American Folk Art Museum of NYC, had a temporary 6 day show which appeared to be absolutely stunning........and I missed it by one week!

Here it is again for all of you to enjoy!

All images via American Folk Art Museum, NYC

Pink Guest House of Martha Stewart

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, I thought I would feature some pinks and reds in the coming days.

I wondered how many of you have seen Martha Stewart's pink guest house at her Skylands estate on Seal Island off the coast of Maine.

Martha purchased this estate about 10 years ago and it came completely furnished.  Since it had formerly been owned by the Edsel Ford family (that's right, Henry's son), you can only imagine what treasures it beheld.  The vintage wicker itself is to die for.  The laundry room in the main house is unlike any laundry room I have ever seen (I will show you that after Valentine's).  Not only were the linens and china from all over the world left behind, but an original Edsel car was still parked in the driveway........like new, of course.

Martha has worked her magic on the estate bringing it right up to snuff.  The mile long crushed pink granite driveway is raked, washed and stored every winter and laid again every spring!  The main house has pink granite fireplaces, as well.

So, in keeping with the pink tones already installed in the guest house, Martha worked with it and embellished it as only she can.  Pure decadence!

Enjoy!

Pink dining area

Pink and gold is always perfect!

Pink porcelain tea service

Pink and gold Venetian canal art commissioned

by Martha

Venetian glass candleholders

Vintage wicker - gorgeous!

Mismatched pieces were spray painted gray to co-ordinate

Pink linens

Bedroom corner

Bedroom wicker desk

Pink Venetian mirror picked up

at an antique shop to go in the pink bathroom

with the original pink glazed tiles

Pink bath with pink embroidered hand towels

All images via Martha Stewart

Ali Wentworth

Anyone who watched The View or Good Morning America this morning would have seen Ali Wentworth and her antics.

She is truly one of the funniest people ever and I always enjoy her sentiments.  Last night, I was browsing through the current issue of Town & Country when I came upon an article written by her about her mother, Muffie, who served as Nancy Reagan's social secretary during Nancy's White House years.  Muffie sounds like quite the character, as well, and apparently thinks very highly of the Four Seasons in New York as the balm for everything and anything that ever happened to them - good, bad or indifferent!

Ali is promoting her new book, Ali in Wonderland, which also sounds pretty funny.

Ali and her husband, George Stephanopolous of ABC, have their New York apartment featured in the current issue of Architectural Digest (the celebrity issue) and I thought you might like to take a peek at it.

Michael Smith, the White House decorator, is the designer of this apartment as well......a beautiful home for a family with two young girls and two dogs.......pretty, functional and cosy with low maintenance materials (like the leather upholstered dining rooms chairs and leather banquette), a huge bulletin board for the girls' artwork, library, desk overlooking Central Park.......something for everyone in the family to enjoy!

Foyer

Living Room

Living Room

Dining Room

Breakfast nook with Charlie and Daisy

Kitchen

Library

Master bedroom

All images via Architectural Digest