THE FINAL BOOK SISTER PARISH GOES TO WINNER # 1 KELSEY HUBBARD AND CHRISTOPHER ROLLINSON

Sister Parish On Decorating goes to New York apartment dwellers Kelsey Hubbard and Christophher Rollinson. Rollinson, a decorative painter and designer used his paint line, Rollinson Hues to create a bright oasis in the city. The couple embraced a bright, mood-altering hue for big impact. Their furniture and accessories choices make their home young and fresh.

The inspiration: A room by LA designer and expert colorist Mary McDonald is full of life with bright pink, zebra and blue and white plates and vases.The vignette provided insight to placement, scale and working with color.

The creation:
The couple searched high and low for things they loved. "The mirror and chandelier we rescued from the Plaza Hotel sale before it turned into a condo. The stools we found from the Somerset Hills Visiting Nurses Assosiation rummage sale at Visiting Nurse Association. They were painted black with a blue velvet covered board, so I stripped and reupholstered them. The botanicals are from a street vendor in Paris and the carpet is from Source Perrier. The walls were the fun part. They are a metallic strie I mixed with a Rollinson Hues, my paint line, as a custom pigment formulation. Kelsey loved this picture (shown above) and while she was away one weekend, I hand mixed the color that Mary Mcdonald had used and put it on the wall. It was INTENSE! Like "Pepto" intense, so I figured I would try an experiment. With paint there is no such thing as a mistake, just another layer on the way to a beautiful finish! I grabbed some silver metallic paint and added pigments to make a raspberry glaze which I stried over the intense pink. The result made the walls look like pink ribbon candy. While quite a bit darker, the reflectiveness of the metallic along with the colorful Rollinson Hues pigmentation of both layers resulted in a colorful but mellow pink. It works really well with the adjacent high gloss chocolate brown walls in the living room." Their dog Matisse is actively involved in all major design decisions.

COVET IT: THE VAN DAY TRUEX CHAIR

A recent visit to Hinson stopped me in my tracks. The reason is this chair!

Van Day Truex, the legendary designer, president of the Parsons School of Design and Tiffany's Design Director, lived with such great style. He designed my favorite flatware pattern, Bamboo, which won the 1966 A.I.D. International Design Award for Silver. His home was a true reflection of his trained eye, where is sense of scale and proportion was evident. Truex was given a pair of circa 1870 Louis Napoleon chairs as a gift. They graced his New York apartment, and were coveted by many for their charming scale and simple silhouette. He redesigned the darling pull- up chairs in 1978, together with Harry Hinson, who made the model to his specifications. The sketch of the piece appeared in the the book Van Day Truex: The Man who Defined Twentieth Century Taste and Style, by Adam Lewis. His friend Albert Hadley wrote the forward.

The chairs are now available! The re- editions have just been introduced in limited numbers at Mrs MacDougall in Hinson. Choose from a black satin lacquer or polished mahogany stain on English hard maple. On March 1st Hinson moves into Brunschwig and Fils in the D and D and PDC in LA.

JAN SHOWERS GLAMOROUS ROOMS GOES TO WINNER #5 ANN DAVIS

Jan Showers Glamorous Rooms goes to Ann Davis of Atlanta. She owns the showroom Travis and Company, one of the great resources there. I have not visited, but it is on my list of places to hit when I go to Atlanta. The influence of great design ideas and techniques found in books cannot be underestimated. Using design elements, Davis found her inspiration and brought it to fruition.

The inspiration: To Your Taste: Celerie Kemble for her painted floors, artwork arrangements and vibrant print applications.

The wall in Kemble's project is arranged with modern art of mercury glass spheres. Davis liked the way the light played off the surface and used a hanging technique similar to the one seen here.

The creation

"I have a fabric showroom in Atlanta, Travis and Company, and your blog updates me with all the New York happenings. I love it! I was inspired by Celerie Kemble while creating the fire place area in my living room. We ended up using the picture for my showroom's website Travis and Company. I was inspired by photo in Celerie Kemble's book, To Your Taste. I just love her philosophy of "creating modern rooms with a traditional twist." The way Celerie worked with the space around a traditional fireplace, to make a modern room, inspired me. She added a great blue zebra print to spice up the room and shake up the traditional look.

My living room has a similar traditional fire place. I also used a zebra print to achieve a modern feel and create something fresh. I wanted a fabric that was bigger and bolder though. I used the Peter Fasano zebra print we carry in our showroom. I also kept a few traditional accents like the oriental rug."

BOOK CONTEST ENTRIES FROM DESIGNERS AND SAAVY READERS ARE OUTSTANDING!

Wow, you guys really stepped it up. This was a homework project that people took as seriously as a thesis! I must say, I have been thrilled at how amazing the entries have been for the book giveaway. The thought, energy, passion for design and insight you all put into their submissions was truly inspired. Entries came in from the Netherlands, Texas, Massachusetts, Virginia, New York-- all over. There were even multiple entries. Two titles stood out for inspiration's sake: Celerie Kemble's To Your Taste and So Chic by Elle Decor. It is good to know what books are influential and spark imaginative creativity. Thank you for taking the time to show your beautiful work and sharing what you love about design. The problem now is choosing the winners! But it is a good problem to have, so I look forward to making the selections.

STEP INTO KATE SPADE'S BOUTIQUE INTERIORS

Fun! Fashion! The Fifties!

When Kate Spade began expanding into fashion, she created a boutique-within-a store at Bloomingdales. The design of the space is exactly like her retail environments-- highly edited and curated spaces blending the lifestyle brand with a whimsical vision. At Bloomingdale's in NYC, the retail experience is like stepping into her shop, with wallpapered dressing rooms, vintage furniture, great art and a 1950's mixed with vintage modern vibe. By cross merchandising leather goods, fashion and home, the look is complete.

Red, apple green and pale blue come together with mirrored stripes in the display racks. A vintage lamp, Mid Century modern table and carnations in a Lenox glass flower vase from her collection make the space uniquely KS.

The blown up rose paper adds watercolor blooms that look randomly strewn across a landscape. The pop of red in the roses plays nicely off the dresses.

The entrance to the dressing room has a feature wall filled with gallery style hung artwork, featuring small mirrors, photos of the brand's signature Peony flower, graphic fonts and animals.

The Rose design paper was made up for the retail stores.

A bold black and white stripe plays off the red bench in the dressing room.

Scalamandre's signature leaping zebra's have been a Spade favorite for years, even influencing her stationery designs.

Palm Leaves from British wallpaper trendsetters Cole and Sons add a tropical tempo.

MY Q AND A WITH BRAD FORD: BLOG TALKING

Here I am with Brad Ford at the Holly Hunt reception

Not jive talk, blog talk! This past Tuesday, I was thrilled to do a Q and A with Brad Ford at the D and D at Astra in partnership with Quest Magazine. As the editor of godesigngo.com, the Cohen Design Center's blog, I had an engaging talk with Brad, also known as The Accidental Blogger. He calls himself this since the blog came out of his design practice-- he designs by day, blogs by night. Like so many! He started his blog, Design Therapy, to support his website, start a dialog in the design community, to share the behind- the- scenes in his projects and what he loves as a designer. We spoke to a room filled with fellow bloggers, interior designers, fabrics and furniture companies, all eager to learn the ins and outs of why a blog is important to get your views and interests across, how to generate readers and ways to maximize your exposure at large. I got to meet newer bloggers like Lisa of Hampton Toes Blog and Barbara of Hampton Hostess Blog. It was great to catch up with Celerie Kemble, who recently launched a fun new website for Kemble Interiors with a strong social media component. All in all, it was great fun to get be part of the design dialog at the D and D, discuss where blogging is going, and what is next. On that note, we ended the discussion with this: will the ipad be the game changer with all these forms of media converging? What do you think is next?

SAY IT WITH...

Flowers, gifts and chocolates! Really, what is so wrong with the classics?

Hello gorgeous! Exquisite flower arrangements from the supremely talented New York Event planner and floral star David Beahm are now available to order online. His Signature Collection with Flora 2000 can be shipped anywhere, yes I mean anywhere in the US. The company is the best at what they do, and Beahm's romantic, imaginative and unique arrangements are often filled with rare flowers not usually available in online delivery service. The Brenda arrangement is one of my favorites, for the range of blooms and the unique, twisted vine container that can be reused for your own arranging talents.



Share the love with Matouk's embroidered pillows, a new addition from their highly successful Lulu DK collaboration. Large letter script makes your sentiment known.

Leontine Linens gives you yet another reason to adore their monogram lettering styles--their Be Mine pillow is done in a signature font I have always liked. Lovely linens and a boudoir pillow centered on the bed add a dash of sweetness.


Yum! Pink Marc de Champagne Chocolate Truffles from Charbonnel et Walker are so decadent. They carry them at Saks, 611 Fifth Avenue or order online.