Back to School Shopping

The boys started school yesterday. A friend snapped a picture of me and Mr. B in the parking lot. I’m foolishly grinning from ear to ear; you’d think I’d just received a reprieve from an undeserved prison sentence.

What to do, what to do, what to do? So much time. So much quiet.

I did have an article to finish, but I wrapped that up by lunch.

Like a moth to a flame I headed to the shops at State Line. To see my friends. I’d like for you to meet them – aubusson cartoons in the window at Christopher Filley’s. The colors are startlingly vivid. And there are more coming from the framer soon.
You can reach Christopher at 816/668-9974.
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Gifted

There are a few additions to the dream house. Mr. Blandings’s Father’s Day present came back from the finisher. I’d completed it in plenty of time but drove around with the canvas, pillow and fabric for weeks before I made it to the shop. Mr. B is the fourth Blandings with the same name, not my fourth in any way.

The dusty tarnished jumble in the office continues to acquire some stuff.

The spider, which will occasionally be jewelry, but mostly decoration.

And the malachite box. Both pieces from the Rock Shop. I’d really like the boys’ quartz pieces here, too, but 1, 2 and 3 are quite firm that their treasures remain in their own rooms. A little stingy considering I gave them life and all, but I let it go.

And, Mr. Blandings surprised me with Girl with Purse by Tom Corbin for my birthday. I’ve wanted her for a long time. My youngest said, “I think she’s waiting for the bus.” She’s wearing a strapless dress, so I don’t think she is waiting for the bus. But I agree that she is waiting for something.
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Disarmingly Incongruent

The blog break was caused by two things. The first was my weariness with making the boys wait while I scanned or posted or replied and the resulting sulking.


And the second was the buzz in my brain that was growing louder, “Why am I doing this?” The emphasis was on the subject and not the verb. Some would say this is typical.

In any event, this home provided the tipping point. You see, this is where I thought we were headed. After our mash with mid-century, every room a greatest hits, I thought we were on our way here.

Climbers do occasionally become part of the mix and a generation later they are “old guard.” I had an inkling that those precocious youngsters would eventually settle in with their elders – simply become part of the vocabulary.

Then I stumbled upon Bernd Goeckler’s home in Classic Style. Viennese chandelier, Louis XVI writing desk, German day bed, Beidermeier secretary and Le Corbusier armchairs. A lot has been said lately about incongruent chairs, but these seem quite comfortable in their Neo-classical nest. Published in 1998.
Unfamiliar with Mr. Goeckler, I googled him. Sakes. Already in the midst of an engaging exchange with reader Toby Worthington I all but wailed, “I didn’t even know who Bernd Goeckler is.” And he typed back, “So. You didn’t and now you do.” Or something like that.
And the book sat open on this page for two weeks. Each member of my original audience surely saw it but it elicited not one comment. And then I remembered why I was doing this in the first place.
All images from Classic Style by Judith Miller, photography by Tim Ridley.
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Off the Rack – Back in Black

At first I thought the altitude was making me light-headed.

But after returning to the plains I was assured that my original assessment was correct.

Black is the new black at least when it comes to wall color in the September shelter mags.

Shiny or matte, paint or paper, I applaud them all.

I considered matte black walls in the dining room of our first house and a friend with solid, if conventional, taste gasped, “It will look like a chalkboard! Don’t!”

In a crisis of confidence I demurred. It was not the the first time nor the last that I allowed someone else’s opinion to change my course.


I rarely look back on these shifts with relief and often with remorse. Life is shockingly unsure. Be bold.
Images from top: Bookshelves and tray-top table, Mark Badgley and James Mischka’s Kentucky library, Elle Decor, photography by Roger Davies; Robert Duffy’s Provincetown library, Elle Decor, photography by William Waldron; Windsor Smith’s entry and glimpse of game room, House Beautiful, photography by Victoria Pearson; Eric Cohler’s Manhattan bedroom, House Beautiful, photography by Jonny Valiant; Houston home designed by Rob Southern, House Beautiful, photography by Victoria Pearson (the paint here is actually a smidge brown); Jane Krakowski photographed for Town & Country by John Huba in Steven Gambrel’s New York townhouse. All images appear in the September 2009 issues.
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Speaking of Transitions

By now I am sure you have heard that Time Inc. will cease publishing Southern Accents. There are people, I know, who will see the demise of the shelter magazines as a sign of the times, as a by-product of the choppy economic waters. All I can see is the loss of a gracious publication from which I have torn countless pages of inspiration for my own home. It feels very personal. I am heartened to know that the website will continue and I hope to find Karen Carroll and her crew there offering me entree into their distinctly lovely, Southern world.
Image courtesy of Southern Accents. Room design by Heidi Friedler.
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