Happy Pink New Year!

New Year’s Day is one of my favorite days of the year. One January 1, two words are stuck in my head all day - fresh start. This year, to help inspire new beginnings Pantone has picked Honeysuckle as the color for 2011: “While the 2010 color of the year, PANTONE 15-5519 Turquoise, served as an escape for many, Honeysuckle emboldens us to face everyday troubles with verve and vigor.”

Every room should have a dash of verve and vigor. This doesn’t mean you need to toss everything out that’s turquoise and swap it with honeysuckle, but there are easy ways to add a little pop of pink.

Maybe with this Jonathan Adler pillow.

Or perhaps a Robert Abbey double gourd lamp.

Look to style magazines not to replicate their looks but to be inspired. Find something you like from an article and add it to your own. Pantone intends this when they forecast a color trend . You don’t have to rush out and buy pink wallpaper, but if you did this is stunning!

Buckets of Honeysuckle paint for LOTS of verve and vigor.

This color makes me happy and wanting more. If I meet someone new who is wearing pink, I know there is something about that person I’m going to like. I get that same vibe when I walk into a room with pink: “This is a place I want to spend some time in.”

As we head into 2011, be courageous, confident and vital, just like Honeysuckle. A brave new color for a brave new year, let this color’s bold spirit infuse you, lift you and carry you through 2011.

How can you resist that? Happy New Year!

Dining Room: Before & After

I believe changing a light fixture is one of the easiest things that can most transform a room. Good and beautiful lighting is necessary to all the activities in your home, especially in the dining room. If you are considering a change in the light about your dining table taking the extra step and center the fixture over your dining room table. More often than not an electrician you never knew (and long before you even moved into your home) hung the current fixture in the center most spot of the ceiling. This makes sense to an electrician but certainly not an interior designer. Now you are stuck with a table and a light that don’t get along. A handy person can do a quick internet search and find a how-to on moving the junction box yourself or, as a fan of out-sourcing, you can hire an electrician for the job. It will seem like an inconvenience and cost some extra money, but this simple change will make you’ll fall in love with your dining room again and every time you sit down for a family meal or just walk by you’ll appreciate the harmony you created. That is priceless.


That’s exactly what we did in this Bryant dining room. The smoked and etched glass fixture had to go. We swapped it out with the more elegant Round Pendant Shade from Restoration Hardware. It was centered over a consignment shop dining table and pulled together with oval back dining chairs from West Elm. Now the modern lines of the seating compliment the classic shape of the fixture and the expandable table fits the period of the mid-century home.

Preserving a bit of autumn

The boys and I drove up to Leavenworth, 2 hours east of Seattle, to meet out of state family. Along the drive through the Cascade Mountains, yellow, gold and red started to peek through the green leaves and I was wishing I had brought a saw and cut a few branches for a leaf preserving project I’ve wanted to try out. As luck would have it, there in park in the middle of Leavenworth was a pile of tree branches bursting with autumn colors. Always a good sport, my Aunt Lora Lee helped me load some rather large branches in the back of the car. Then the real quest started. My leaf preserving project required glycerin which helps keep the leaves pliable and keeps their colors from fading, sometimes for years. Finding this agent (a by-product of soap making) was not easy, and after 3 days of phone calls, visits to every craft and natural store I could think of, I finally found it at Zenith Supplies in Seattle. By now, even though I kept them in water, my branches started to dry out a little. Still I crated these two arrangements in the house, mixing glycerin with water and a little dish soap to help break up the surface tension and to allow the glycerin to be more easily absorbed. I’m very pleased with how the leaves look and if it they don’t preserve this time, there’s still a few weeks to head to the hills and try to find a fresh batch of leaves. I’ll let you know how things turn out. Happy autumn!

Add style and wit with the x-bench

I’m obsessed with the x-bench. Impossibly chic, it is the perfect accessory to any room and adds unexpected style and a pop of color. It goes anywhere: the foot of the bed, under a console table, opposite the sofa for extra seating when needed. The yellow bench above provides a bright counterpoint to the room’s palate and pulls the interior together with a sizzle.

If you really want to add sharp style to your room, get two! Ballard Design may be your best bet with a price range from $179 - $371. You can get the bench in a wide range of upholstery options and can preview the look from a big selection of swatches. Don’t hold back, go for a print!


For a touch of luxury, Jonathan Adler has the x-bench in a wide range of colors and prints starting at $495 --- but you are worth it.

Serena & Lily’s Parker x-bench comes with piping options, adding a very sophisticated detail and a $599 price tag to match.

Bastille Rooftop Garden Tour

Michael and I got to tour -- and taste -- the bounty of the roof top garden at Bastille, one of our favorite places to eat in Seattle. With a French inspired bistro menu that includes up to 30% of their own roof grown crop, this Ballard old restaurant reminds us of Pastis, one of our most favored NYC spots. With a similar décor and vibe, you know you aren’t in NYC when you come up to the roof to find buzzing bee hives and wading pools full of peppery arugula


Bastille offers garden tours every other Wednesday during the summer. For our spin through the garden, Chef Fletcher took a break from the kitchen to show us around while we sipped cocktails made with honey from the rooftop bees.


Installed by Colin McCrate of Seattle Urban Farm Company, several custom built irrigated and heated boxes make up the majority of the garden, providing the restaurant with organic and seasonal produce all year. We saw that last sprigs of lettuce, soon to be replaced by chard and kale. Beets are thriving in a kiddie pool, wrapped for insulation. I’m sure Nick and Linus won’t mind if I coopt their pool for vegetables.

Just as Executive Chef Shannon Galusha assures us that no one has ever been stung by their bees, I get stung. But it was a small price to pay to peek inside the hive and sip their handiwork.

Chef Fletcher sent out a treat. It always pays to chat up the people who make delicious food.

It’s all about back to the land….or in this case, back to the roof. Growing one’s own food can be done in the most unlikely of places, and as Bastille demonstrates with great success, a little dirt, water and sun can connect you directly to the food you eat in ways a grocery store simply cannot. I’m eyeing our backyard now, wondering how many boxes we could get in there and what I should plant first.

Modern decorating style you can steal!

I can’t help but be inspired by these pictures from the September issue of Martha Stewart Living. One of Martha’s chief lieutenants, Kevin Sharkey, had his apartment renovation chronicled in the magazine and I’ve been following his blog on the project for the past year. The overall color palette with the mix of vintage and modern furniture and accessories is stunning. Everything shimmers, too, from the use of mirrors, black marble table tops and velvet pillows. The final results are a look I would love to work with.

Sideboards from Bo Concept but personalized with black marble tops, an idea I plan to steal for the night stands in my bedroom.

Custom paintings in the style of Franz Kline. Love that idea! I'm thinking of hitting up a local art schools to ask one of the students to do the same thing for my home.

I love this: painted "wallpaper"

I am in love with this woodland wall pattern that, despite appearances, is not expensive wallpaper but a work of paint. Country Living’s September issue features this creation from rollerwall.com. As you drag the genius tool down the wall, the rubber roller picks up a thin layer of paint from the foam roller. My favorite motifs are the woodland print and a wood grain, but with the right color combinations the other options will work well too. The editors at CL have two good bits of advice: practice painting on scratch paper so you get the hang of it, and remove molding before painting and then reattach to hide any unpainted spots.

I love this: Seahorses

This summer my favorite accessory is the seahorse. The elegant shape of this tiny creature lends itself to pillows, lamps, even cocktail napkins. A little seahorse goes a long way in adding something playful to your décor.

Seahorse Outdoor Pillow by Thomas Paul

Jonathan Adler Seahorse Lamp



Seahorse pillow at Williams-Sonoma Home


Caspari Seahorse Cocktail Napkin

A new lamp for our fine feathered friends

Just when I thought I had reached my limit on bird décor, this little gem landed in my lap. The Voliere lamp is a most elegant cage of copper wiring and faux birds. This bit of whimsy is available as a pendant, table lamp and floor lamp. Not only is it super stylish, there's no newspaper to change.. Available at The Conran Shop in New York City and online.

Add some Mid-Century to your mix

My blogging has been slow these days as I’ve been spending most of my time in the mid-century, combing some of Seattle’s best vintage and antique shops looking for lounge chairs, dining chairs and tables with just the right touch of Mad Men chic: understated beauty, simple lines, streamline shapes. One item that caught my eye for both my clients and my own home is a credenza. Once the item to store your turn table, a credenza can easily be converted to house a modern entertainment center (that’s what I’m holding out for) or sleek storage in a home office. If you are looking for a touch of the mid-century to add to your décor, this sleek and functional piece is the one to have.

The lamp that almost got away

When Michael and I first moved to Brooklyn nearly 11 years ago we fell in love with the clean simple lines of this teak floor lamp at an antique shop in Park Slope. At the time, we hadn’t officially moved into our apartment in the same neighborhood, so buying another piece of furniture seemed extravagant. Still, after two days of thinking about it I rushed back to the shop to buy it and, of course, it was gone. I’ve spent years looking for it at every vintage shop I’ve came across… until this week. On a shopping trip for a client at The House in Magnolia I found the one that got away, complete with the exact same shade. I didn’t think twice, this time blurting out “I’ll take it!” That lamp taught us a hard lesson about pulling the trigger fast when you see something that truly is love at first sight.

Inspired by Green

When it comes to flower arranging, I like to exercise some restraint. While it would be too easy to buy everything that catches my eye at the flower shop, I resist that urge and stick to one or two color combinations. Green and white are one of my favorite color pairings. I love how crisp and clean they look together. The long stems of this viburnum flower compliment the tall piece of pottery nicely.

This small piece of white pottery is one my prized possessions. I use it in table settings, holiday decorations and flower arranging any chance I get. I’ve often thought it would look great full of white rinoculous and I am not disappointed.

This seemed like a timely opportunity to introduce Nick and Linus to the shamrock. I put this plant on our dinning table and it has inspired a lot of conversations.

Sneak a peek inside the SDC

You aren't suppose to take pictures inside the Seattle Design Center but last week at the two-day NORDEX seminar so many people were milling about, no one noticed me taking a few snaps. To be honest, this flower arrangement was getting a lot of attention and pictures. I love it!

I also love they way these paint chips are displayed.

You REALLY aren't suppose to take pictures of furniture, so don't tell on me. What I really love here is the green sofa with the matching green wall. That's a trend I think we're going to see a lot more of, furniture and walls matching. I'll look for more examples, but keep your eye out for exact color matches in furniture and walls or even fabric prints on furniture being copied on the wall. Very cool.

Shell Terrariums

Walking around the Seattle Design Center this week, I fell in love with these shell terrarium. Such a great idea and so easy to do. Perfect way to display your shell collection, or just buy one that's already done (which is probably what I'll do).

This Spring Think Pink

We are enjoying an early spring here in Seattle. The plum trees have peaked, magnolia flowers are opening and the cherry trees are just about to pop. This time of year my color of choice turns to pink and I look to bring splendor of the blossoms inside. While the blooms only last a few days, why not enjoy their beauty and promise all year long? You may think green in spring, but the hue after winter is in the pink.

Hadley Hutton Print

Roost Cherry Blossom Glass

Birds of a Feather Plates

Cherry Blossom Screen & Needlepoint Pillows



Orchard Blossom Wallpaper

Benjamin Moore Paint: Pale Cherry Blossom

Stationary