Blog

Hampton Designer SHOWHOUSE

Last summer I was lucky enough to decorate the master bedroom of the 2017 Hampton Designer Showhouse for The Mine, where I’ve worked as Style Director for a year. Traditional Home always sponsors the house, so I knew I wanted to design a room with a fresh, vibrant take on classic decorating in the Hamptons. Glossy white walls lacquered in…
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GUEST STYLING FOR BALLARD

This summer I teamed up with Ballard Designs to create three spaces, combining several pieces from their assortment with a few vintage surprises of my own. That’s the kind of modern mix I love and live with every day. First up: the dining room I designed and styled, layering playful patterns and pops of color over a neutral backdrop. The walls…
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DREAM DECORATOR

Round Top’s Marburger Farm is one of those shows where decorators meet dealers in manicured booths, furnish houses on the fly, and then load up their trucks in a precarious game of Texas-style Tetris—all before noon. I’ve made three trips to Marburger: years ago, I led a guided flea market tour; later, I shopped it for my old column in Southern…
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OUR NEW HOME

Call it the big house for china. And glass. And silver. Cocktail napkins and tablecloths. Compotes and cake plates. Samovars and soup tureens. So many of my pretties are in PODS right now—three in total, all of them in a warehouse in central Connecticut. For the past year, ever since we gave up Pine Hill Farm, I’ve been without my props.…
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MY HOLIDAY TABLE WITH BUNNY WILLIAMS

Bunny Williams is a luminary of interior design and one of the biggest names in the business. She also happens to be one of the nicest, most down-to-earth decorators I know. I met Bunny years ago when I was a newbie editor at House Beautiful and she was already a star. But over time, while it’s tempting for any designer…
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CRIMSON TIDINGS

If red and green make you feel more blah than fa-la-la, turn up the flame with chili pepper, lava red and hot, hot pink. Over at BHG this month, we’re packing a punch with a palette that's ready to party.     Teaming up with my friend/co-worker/life coach Jessica Thomas—she designed Modern Mix!—we kept things simple and graphic. A classic cake plate puts…
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THANKSGIVING AT PINE HILL

Last year's Thanksgiving was one of my favorites. It was actually more of a Friendsgiving, which always seems to get more rowdy as the night goes on. Luckily, every plate, platter, salt cellar and smoked glass goblet stayed in tact. After putting up new vintage chintz curtains in the dining room at Pine Hill Farm, I borrowed their pink-and-teal combo…
READ MORE

HOME LABORATORY

If you follow me on Instagram, another vice of mine as tempting as vintage chintz, blue opaline glass and Chinoiserie everything, you’ll know I’ve been a lot better about posting there than here. Instagram’s great for those of us who want to a quick fix, but I have to admit: I miss this thing! And so just as suddenly as the…
READ MORE

Hampton Designer SHOWHOUSE

Last summer I was lucky enough to decorate the master bedroom of the 2017 Hampton Designer Showhouse for The Mine, where I’ve worked as Style Director for a year. Traditional Home always sponsors the house, so I knew I wanted to design a room with a fresh, vibrant take on classic decorating in the Hamptons. Glossy white walls lacquered in…

GUEST STYLING FOR BALLARD

This summer I teamed up with Ballard Designs to create three spaces, combining several pieces from their assortment with a few vintage surprises of my own. That’s the kind of modern mix I love and live with every day. First up: the dining room I designed and styled, layering playful patterns and pops of color over a neutral backdrop. The walls…

DREAM DECORATOR

Round Top’s Marburger Farm is one of those shows where decorators meet dealers in manicured booths, furnish houses on the fly, and then load up their trucks in a precarious game of Texas-style Tetris—all before noon. I’ve made three trips to Marburger: years ago, I led a guided flea market tour; later, I shopped it for my old column in Southern…

OUR NEW HOME

Call it the big house for china. And glass. And silver. Cocktail napkins and tablecloths. Compotes and cake plates. Samovars and soup tureens. So many of my pretties are in PODS right now—three in total, all of them in a warehouse in central Connecticut. For the past year, ever since we gave up Pine Hill Farm, I’ve been without my props.…

MY HOLIDAY TABLE WITH BUNNY WILLIAMS

Bunny Williams is a luminary of interior design and one of the biggest names in the business. She also happens to be one of the nicest, most down-to-earth decorators I know. I met Bunny years ago when I was a newbie editor at House Beautiful and she was already a star. But over time, while it’s tempting for any designer…

CRIMSON TIDINGS

If red and green make you feel more blah than fa-la-la, turn up the flame with chili pepper, lava red and hot, hot pink. Over at BHG this month, we’re packing a punch with a palette that's ready to party.     Teaming up with my friend/co-worker/life coach Jessica Thomas—she designed Modern Mix!—we kept things simple and graphic. A classic cake plate puts…

THANKSGIVING AT PINE HILL

Last year's Thanksgiving was one of my favorites. It was actually more of a Friendsgiving, which always seems to get more rowdy as the night goes on. Luckily, every plate, platter, salt cellar and smoked glass goblet stayed in tact. After putting up new vintage chintz curtains in the dining room at Pine Hill Farm, I borrowed their pink-and-teal combo…

HOME LABORATORY

If you follow me on Instagram, another vice of mine as tempting as vintage chintz, blue opaline glass and Chinoiserie everything, you’ll know I’ve been a lot better about posting there than here. Instagram’s great for those of us who want to a quick fix, but I have to admit: I miss this thing! And so just as suddenly as the…

A Day to Celebrate

A Day to Celebrate Every summer, I'll throw a big party. The guest list isn't so big as the thought and planning that goes into it. I'll call up my inner circle of overachieving crafty types and together, we'll pull out all the stops, dreaming up menus, creating handmade invitations and doing DIY decorations. Sometimes, we'll hold up in the…

Shopping the Rose Bowl

I've shopped the Rose Bowl here and here, and also here, but this time I did it with my good friend Anna. She interned with me at Martha back in the day, cut her teeth at Kelly Wearstler and has since gone on to do fantastic things. We were both a little hungover tuckered out that morning, but after beelining to the…

Guest Room Ready

I was in Pennsylvania last week, crossing the Wright's Ferry Bridge over the Susquehanna, when I stopped (abruptly, heart racing) at Burning Bridge Antiques in Columbia. Amid aisles of charming American-made antiques, this striped wonder caught my eye. I'm a sucker for antique linens, especially in their original boxes. Original Box (often but not always) = Never Used. Inside I…

WARMING WINTER PASTA

Last weekend's storm cloaked Pine Hill Farm in white, leaving an icy chill in its wake. After a couple of selfies in the snow, my friend Austin and I were craving a hearty, warming pasta... ...and for that, I knew just where to go. Every Villarina's store feels like a beautifully curated pantry full of fresh, artisanal foods. The pasta and sauces…

HELLO AGAIN

I'd like to think that if all good things must end, even better and more beautiful things start right up again! 2013 brought changes at home and at work, with family and friends and, most of all, in our selves and the course ahead. After three and a half years of life in the country chronicling our adventures, shopping flea markets…

A Country Living Christmas

If there's one thing I learned living in our quiet patch of country, it's that a house is so much more than rafters and beams, windows and doors, wallpaper and paint. We go to such great lengths, you and I, inspring ourselves and others to decorate our homes more beautifully that sometimes, we forget to stop and share them, graciously…

All Fun, No Fuss

If you haven't seen the new issue of Better Homes and Gardens, I have a fun, little story on how to throw a festive holiday fete with plenty of party flourishes to impress even your most finicky guests. It's everything you need to throw a stylish holiday cocktail party with quick and easy crafts you can make yourself. My favorite? Festive…

Out of the Blue

I love styling Thanksgiving tables, especially in colors that delight and surprise my guests. For an event at my friend Phoebe Howard’s store in Charlotte, I updated traditional brown transferware plates with bright pink runners made from inexpensive fabric from Jo-Ann’s. For our first Thanksgiving table at our old farmhouse in upstate New York, I paired a purple tartan blanket from the Goodwill with antique…