Henry's Nursery

I got a call this spring from my dear friend Teale asking for "help with a nursery!" I, of course jumped for joy - not only is Teale one of my favvvvorite people who I would love to help, but what is more fun than picking out digs for a little baby? The client, in utero: Henry Taggart Smith. (Teale is in labor with my client as I write this very post). Henry's mom has great style herself, so I knew the nursery would have to hold up to the rest of their adorable house in Memphis. Here we are a few years ago doing who-knows-what with Lord-knows-who. I miss her terribly. So, I in Austin, Teale in Memphis, we began the back and forth beginnings of long-distance design. First, I requested photos of the now-emptied guest room....

I then cruised to Dallas to gather many fabrics. I did a quick sketch, gave her 3 different options with fabrics, and popped them in Fedex over to Tennessee.

Also did a CAD layout to make sure the daybed she liked, etc would all fit! We also needed to determine the best layout for the room...

We began with the selections. We ordered a matelasse coverlet from Matouk with a big 14" monogram with his initials.

Teale ordered this cute, cute mobile...

We gave her grandmother's glider a new facelift with white linen fabric and eliminated the tufted back...

We also gave new life to this cute little stool. (I think this was also her grandmother's).

Ta-Da!! The final result..

Daybed pillow fabrics are Manuel Canovas and Lulu DK.

Crib by Bratt Decor. Bedding by Serena and Lily.

I hope little Henry will approve when he comes home. :)

Proud.

You can always bet that when I find a new Elle Decor or House Beautiful in my mailbox I let out a mini shriek with excitement, but last Friday was extra special. I grabbed the House Beautiful and parked it on a barstool in the kitchen for my usual quick first glance. I was immediately drawn to the "cottage" and then I read the caption: Interior design by Melanie Pounds! Melanie and I were KD pledge sisters at the University of Alabama where we had almost e-v-e-r-y class together. (For those of you who majored in design you will remember the loooong labs every week). One of my funnier memories of Melanie (in terms of design at least) was when our entire sorority was getting ready for "Black Widow Blast", our huge Halloween party. We had all of our drafting tables set up in the KD house basement, where all of the costumes were also conveniently located. 6 sad design students jacked up on caffeine were stuck in the dunge the entire night while all of our friends were running down to the basement to find their costume for the night. We were bitter - we had to miss the fun party to meet our deadline, but at least we had each other. :) I would LOVE to see the before photos of her house in Birmingham...I have a feeling this guy went through a tremendous renovation. Enjoy: Saladino meets McAlpine meets MELANIE.

I love it.

Smoke and Mirrors

You know what all the Texans say about their state, right? "BIGGER is Better." In some cases, particularly and stereotypically in Dallas, this unfortunately applies to hair, cars, homes, boobs, you name it. I will, however tell you that (some) Texans have it right when it comes to "big" style. I picked up the latest issue of F/D LUXE when I was at the Design Center this week, and was delighted to find these images that seems to dance across the pages. Smoky mirrors, brass, antlers, mohair, and lucite were on the brain when Samantha Reitmayer Sano was tapped by Dallas fashion collector and blogger Judy Aldridge to give her home a "more grown up" feel. I bet you'll like it as much as I did. Now this makes me proud to call Dallas home. Sano seemed to be the ever-eclectic shopper for her client, making purchases from places like Ebay, Horchow Finale, and Dallas' Again Studio.

Happy Friday and Happy 4th!