Checking out the Ballard Designs catalog

Oh dear, another snow day here in Alaska North Carolina.  The up side is that it gives me time to check out the latest catalogs littering my house.  Pottery Barn is always good for a look--plenty of great staging ideas and I like a couple of their ready-made drapery panels.

The catalog that I really enjoyed this morning was Ballard Designs.  I've pulled out some favorites to show you on this icy day:

This is the Eldridge chandlier.  It's 40" x 14".  Very handsome.  As lightbulb technology continues to change, you might get some crazy shapes to put in there (as long as they're dimmable), furthering the ability to make it your own.

Garden district mirrors.  There are so many places these could go!  They're sold in pairs and, of course, could be hung horizontally or vertically.  They add interest to a wall, reflect light and views and add sparkle to a space.

These are indoor/outdoor rugs that would give a great graphic punch to any area.  Today I'm loving the orange (near a green, blue or brown wall--wow!), but all the colors are excellent, and they wash off with a hose!

The Celine rug is an easy way to get an animal print into a room without much commitment.  It's subtle (I'd choose the darker color), reasonably priced and soft.  I'd get a big one to place in front of the living room sofa, then put the big cofee table on top, so it's just peeking out.

Here's a picture from the catalog that's just for a laugh--

Book bundles.  They take old paperback books, rip the covers off and tie them together with twine--then sell them to us!  Thank you, Ballard Designs, for a good laugh.  Oh!  You think they're serious?  Oh dear.

Mr. and Mrs. pillows.  These would make me smile every day.  They're made of trendy burlap and the letters are just stenciled on.  Yes, you can do that yourself in any number of ways.  All catalogs are filled with ideas for things that you can do yourself.  I saw some throw pillows on the HGTV site for their Dream Home (I'll do a post of that fabulous place that I'm going to win another day) that had words like "hike" and "bike."  Fun!

Ballard Designs is an excellent source for inexpensive, ready-made curtains.  Here are their burlap drapes.  They're unlined (which works with burlap) and come in great lengths.  I would leave off the fringed valance, not my cup of tea. These are cheap, but look great.

Confession time; these are my all-time favorite ready-made drapes.  Small check, ribbon trim, attached valance, lined.  They come in nice long lengths and they're VERY reasonably priced.  They even come with drapery pins!  There are several colors, but I want the black. The above picture shows the brown and it's looking pretty darn gracious in that room.  I'm originally from New England. so the small check is in my genetic code.  I don't think of it as a "country" style, but as a classic, warm, you-are-home style that would mix well.  I have just the window for these drapes, but the room is currently being used for trains (as in Thomas and GeoTrax), so I'm waiting. 

Lastly, I liked this piece of art.  Hey, we can do this!  While I think the artist did a great job on this, it's also a wonderful example of  an idea that many of us could use as a jumping off point for a project of our very own.  How about making dog profiles, tree shapes or houses and framing them?  The list of possibilities is long.  See how the artist used black and white newspaper as well as yellowed paper, and also added some solid accents?  Remember those little details. 

Has the ice melted yet?  If not, I'm going to be forced to make some cookies.  I know I'm going to regret it!

Ciao,

Anne



The benefits of custom bookshelves

I enjoy designing custom bookshelves.  They can be built to suit a client's wants and needs, fit into just about any space and give a plain room some nice character.  Even if the built-ins are going to span the entire wall, I don't want them to overwhelm the space. The way I do that is to really watch the depth. The above cabinet shows a completed project that the homeowner loves.  The entire piece is only 12 inches deep, which is lovely for books, but kind of narrow for other uses.  BUT I just had doors put on the lower half, installed shelving inside and laid down that non-stick shelf liner (in black) on those shelves.

Two of these cabinets give the client a ton of storage space for china and glassware in the room, while leaving plenty of space on the rest of the wall for books and collections.  You can see that the homeowner could easily add another shelf inside, but it's important not to pack things too tightly--makes it a little dicey when pulling out those antique goblets and cake servers.  We put baby locks on the doors since the room is also used by children.  They don't even know all that breakable stuff is nearby (hope they don't read this blog)!  It works really well.

Ciao,

Anne