Seeing Design -

Published July 20, 2011 by Anne Collins Howard

The Freshest Bed and Breakfast

Staying at a bed and breakfast always sounds like a romantic notion but I’ve found that its decor rarely supports the theory. In search of a B&B in New Hope, PA for a recent getaway weekend, the options all looked Victorian-charming on the outside, but like Granny’s quarters on the inside. Then I came across Porches on the Towpath. No quilts, no wooden ducks, and no doily-knit bed skirts—this bed and breakfast was the perfect marriage of sophisticated and cozy.

Staying here felt like you got the keys to a friend’s country house for the weekend. And the owner John Neville Byers’ passion for collecting makes the space feel loved and lived in. Byers has always been avid collector and can’t help but shop for the B&B. “I have a side table for a room that I don’t even have yet,” says Byers. Porches is decorated down to the desk accessories but to keep things fresh he believes decorating “is all about having a closet full of treasures and pulling them out when you need them.” I love the fact that he has three storage units and uses them as constant reference of inspiration for the B&B.

design-hotels-dining-room — The dining room is the first room you see when you walk through the door. The carefully-selected antiques, rich art collection, and sunny colors let you know you are in the hands of a decorator.

design-hotels-sitting-room — The entire hotel has a help-yourself quality. Whether it's coffee service or grabbing a book from the shelf, each element is inviting. This sitting room is place I'd want to sit and read all day.

design-hotels-fireplace — Suite #6 was the room we stayed in. The original fireplace and incredibly wide-plank floors show a bit of the history of the 19th-century space. The fireplace isn't functional anymore but with just a simple bronze tray as a reflector, a candle can light up the space.

design-hotels-powder-room — Art filled the walls in this hotel. Even the tiniest powder room got three paintings.

design-hotels-canopy-bed — Room #5. Nothing is more romantic than wall-mounted canopy.

design-hotels-plaid-room — Room #3. Sunny yellow, navy blue, and plaid--this space is so preppy, it's fabulous.

There are 12 rooms on the property, each one completely distinct and lovely. The prices are all incredibly reasonable with rates as low as $105 for a room in main house and as high as $250 for the carriage house on weekends. And no matter where you stay or what you pay, the entire experience at Porches is one well-spent.

Places

decorating hotels

Published June 27, 2011 by Anne Collins Howard

Bookshelf Runoff

how to choose a bookshelf — Which bookcase should we put here?

Between the expansive blank wall and the stacks of books in our living room, it’s pretty obvious we need a bookshelf. Now the question is . . . which one? Á la our Rug Runoff, I’ve selected a handful of my favorite bookshelves and I’m hoping you can help me pick the one that will work best for our space!

Things to Keep in Mind
Positioned directly across from the front door, this bookcase will essentially be the first thing guests see when they walk into our home (no pressure). That said, it should blend with the room’s decor but make a statement on its own. Plus, it’s got to comfortably fill out this 70”w x 108”h wall with ample breathing room on the sides and enough height to draw the eye up.

The Contenders
Rockwell Bookcase
Without being matchy-matchy, I love that this crisscross-piece from Jayson Home and Garden has a similar look and feel as our bricklayer’s coffee table. At 36.5”w x 84”h, the reclaimed wood and metal unit is one of the taller and narrower options in this group, leaving a good amount of the wall exposed on the sides (not sure if that’s good or bad but it’s something to consider).

Left Bank Bookcase
This option from Vivaterra is Mike’s favorite for its straightforward-industrial look and for me, the exposed rivets and gray-washed wood shelves have a raw Parisian charm that could win me over.

Naturally Beautiful Bookcase
From Wisteria, this 53” wide casegood would practically fill the whole wall but a bookshelf that feels more like a built-in could be a nice effect. . . . With pretty wood spindles and an X-back, it would play on the updated-traditional elements in the room like the sofa and fireplace.

Scala Bookcase
This white and black metal bookshelf may seem too modern for my home but imagine it with bamboo shelves and a silver frame . . . it could work perfectly. Faktura Design makes this piece in a variety of finishes and materials and can even make the 70”h good taller for a couple hundred. I love that these cantilevered shelves act like bookends in the center and have a look like nothing else on the market.

Which bookcase is your favorite for our home? Please cast your vote in the comments below!

Finds

casegoods decorating our house storage

Published January 24, 2011 by Anne Collins Howard

Designing Wedding Invitations

Unlike most things in the wedding process that have some sort of example to follow, creating invitations is a total free for all. They’re supposed to symbolize the couple, the wedding destination, and attempt to be pretty and unique at the same time. That’s a lot to fit on a piece of paper but here’s our attempt at the process.

Our design inspiration all started with a plate, our birch log table project, and a wintry Vermont forest. With this hodgepodge of photos, we went to letterpress genius Meredith Kurosko of Regas New York. In addition to being an incredibly talented graphic designer, she has the patience of a saint (a former magazine editor is no easy client) and I’d like to thank her for an amazing job.

After a passionately collaborative process, our whimsical birch forest came to life (top). From a distance, icy winter birch branches become a feathery and ethereal frame to our invitation text.

For the RSVP card, the idea is that you go deeper into that forest and find our special spot. (BTW…Check those Sunday Festivities! Going to be fun, right?)

To kick off the festivities and to help my Southern California family find the fun in cold weather, we’ve decided to make the rehearsal dinner a vintage ski costume party. This means get decked out in funny ski gear from the era of your choosing–anything from 80s neon jackets to 40s leather goggles.

Since we had no idea what our invitations would look like when we created our Save the Dates, we tried to work backwards and give the two pieces of stationery a bit of consistency. Playing off of our original “Speckled Stones,” design we gave the envelopes a similar snowdrift but with more of a bubbly champagne effect.

We love every piece–and this is just a PDF! In silver ink and letterpress, they become the perfect invitations to our chic and quirky Vermont wedding.

Projects

artisans NYC stationery Vermont wedding

Published November 11, 2010 by Anne Collins Howard

Adventures in Burgundy: Part 2

France is just ridiculously charming. The vine-covered houses, stone walls, chipping paint, corner bakeries, family chateaus, all of this unabashed cuteness can leave you in a blur–but with a good guide, all the delicious details start to come into focus.

Throughout the five-day William Ethan Experiential Art tour, Ethan took us to his favorite little villages and vistas–the places that resonated the most for him over his three years living in Burgundy.

Here are a few spots that will be hard to forget.