They do, eventually, warm up.  Cheerful and chatty by mid-day, they stand at my desk and enumerate the places I need to take them, mystified at any sign of impatience that they are interrupting my “playing” on the computer.

At night they are exhausted.  The youngest lay their sun bleached heads upon their pillows, smelling of chlorine even if they have had the rare shower, and we read adventures of children in the Everglades or of a teenaged spy single-handedly saving the world.

After they are tucked in and I am able to relax, the sounds of my teenaged son laughing at marathon episodes of Friends in the background, I take care to do something really good.  I wanted to thank you for a few delightful moments spent with wicker and printed linen and a floral bedroom with a door painted the most delicious color green.  The work was not for me, I know, but the images inspire me and while my talent is not Redd-y, it reassures me that I am on the right track.

Devotedly, Patricia

New York-based decorator, Miles Redd, hails from Atlanta as you likely know.  I spent a couple of days in Atlanta recently and Suzanne Kasler treated me to a shopping tour of the city.  You can find the highlights on archdigest.com here.

Three images, top, the home of Jennifer and Dominic Moross, design by Miles Redd, photography Miguel Flores-Vianna, produced by Howard Christian, Architectural Digest, July 2012.  Kasler image by Pieter Estershohn.

I’ve been to Zim Loy’s house loads of times.  I’ve been there for large, catered holiday parties and I’ve been there for small, casual weeknight dinners.

Zim is my editor at Spaces Kansas City magazine and the first time I was in her house I was a new to the line-up.  And I was a little nervous.  For about four minutes.  Four minutes was about as long as it took to point me in the direction of the spot to drop my coat and to put a drink in my hand.  As all good hostesses do, she attracts a lively crowd.

And now you’ve been invited to Zim’s, too.  Her new house is on the cover of the June issue of House Beautiful.  I’ve shared a few images here, but there is more to see inside and her DIY advice is pretty handy as well.  On newsstands pretty darn soon or hopefully dropping in your mailbox as we speak.

All images courtesy of House Beautiful, June 2012; photography Jonny Valiant.

I think I have commitment issues.  I have a pile of pictures and swatches and tear sheet sitting on the right corner of my desk. They are right there where I could pick any one of them up at a moment’s notice and fire off a purchase order. (Scot Meacham Wood can testify; he’s seen them.)

I’m not floundering on selection.  I’m quite firm in what I want.  Even my budget says, “yes, I’d love to, when?” But instead of answering, I put David Hicks Garden Design on the top and pretend the pile is not there.

This is “before.”  We even have the same-ish floor.

Lindsey Ellis Beatty offered some counseling in the May issue of Southern Living (though she didn’t know it.)  Beatty waited to decorate her sunroom/entry with great results.  I’m crazy about that Jim Thompson Bamboozle fabric at the windows; this is the first time I’d seen it in a project and it is zig-zaggy genius.

Katie Ridder, who is quite comfortable with every hue on the color wheel, is in the issue as well.  (I’m sticking to sunrooms, here, perhaps because that is where I spend most of my time.  Maybe that should be the place to start.)  There are rattan chairs by the dozen out there just waiting for a coat of white paint to make them happy.  Do.

And, best for last, a woman whose to-do list is loads longer than mine and seems to to manage with such aplomb, Erika Powell is featured as well.

The Beatty project is on-line here, the rest are in the book – on newsstands now.  All images from Southern Living, May 2012, all photography by Laurey W. Glenn except Ridder’s project which is by Eric Piasecki.

Hey, look what Tom Britt and his associate Valentino Samsonadze did with this house.

They decorated it.  Sure, there is the influence of Brighton, references to Duquette and Groussay, but the result is a simply beautiful home.

Paint.  Fabric.  Interesting things.  (Ok, and a whole lot of talent.)  Find it in the May/June issue of Veranda (including the nine images I didn’t share.)  You can find Britt’s decorating tips on Veranda’s site here.

All images Veranda, May/June 2012; photography Max Kim-Bee, Produced by Carolyn Englefield and Victoria Jones.