The Luxury of Classic Architecture

Hello all, I hope your week is well - Just wanted to share this as when I saw the photo, it took my breath away. From our friends at Architectural Antiques (http://www.archantiques.com/), this mantle detail shows you what many of today's reproductions miss. Look at the detail given to the acanthus leaf. From the mid-19Th century, this carrara marble mantel piece glows. It is no wonder that the great sculptors of the Renaissance chose to work with the material. When have you seen something so pristine white, glow with warmth, it is just amazing. Oh, that I had a fireplace to use this on. And if you need it before me, you can look at it here www.archantiques.com/id223.html.

The Luxury of the Moon

A few posts were fluttering around twitter yesterday regarding the moon. One was a beautiful shot of one from my friend @maybellinete of the moon over a body or water. It occurred to me that I had not seen the moon in a while. Not intentionally, just hadn't stop to notice. Then another post from @CatherineGrison comes along about the Full Moon (last night) with a vlog from a Feng Shui practitioner in San Francisco touting the Yin properties of the moon (http://www.frenchshuicafe.com/). So I decided why not, I could use a bit more Yin. I went out early, around 9, and there was no moon to be seen. I thought that was strange. But it turns out the moon was not due to rise until 10pm. So I waited until 10:30 pm to go out and look for it. There was no doubt of it's location, as its glare forced its way through the trees. It turns out that the moon had a 97% illuminant last night (never knew they rated those things). I was absolutely beautiful, like a beacon and a mirror all at once. I had to stop and give thanks just for the beauty of it all. I watched it rise for quite a while, and yes even did the Feng Shui ritual. Why not? I was there, and like I said, felt like I could use some Yin. In case you missed it, here are some photos (and no, I'm not a professional, so excuse the lack of focus in a few) - Enjoy - ;)

For Fun Friday

Goodness, it has been a busy month! We have installed a new master bedroom for a client and have been working on pulling together a project for a home in Bellaire. I wanted to share a few things with you that we've seen today.

The first is bedding from Lee Wilder & Co (http://www.leewilder.com/.) Many of our clients are requesting machine washable bedding, which is hard to find that will wear well and last - plus look good. We put this bedding in our Master Bedroom Project and our client can not stop RAVING about it. We steamed it before the install and since then it has remained wrinkle free, much to the delight to our client. Lee Wilder is available through the trade, such as yours truly.

We actually only ordered the shams and duvet covers and then did custom accent pillows that focused on blue (there is a blue pin stripe that runs through this pattern). Take a look at the website, the colors are much better there.

An important designer tip: Find good basics and build from there - you do not need the entire suite or collection. The room will be better if you pull from several sources versus one.

Also, for those do-it-yourself style mavens, Macy's is having a really good sale on bedding right now. I picked up a king coverlet from the Hotel Collection for $100, and a queen set of 100% egyptian cotton for $77.00. You just can't beat that!

Have A Great Memorial Day Weekend! I'll be enjoying mine in San Antonio - can't wait to share the trip with you!