Great New Home Products from The Well Appointed House!

We have been hard at work updating The Well Appointed House retail site to get ready for all of you who will be doing Fall redecorating in time for the holiday season.  Here are a few favorites of mine from our New Products collection, and I'll be featuring new products for you to see every few days for the next month.  You'll be the first to see our new product additions, fresh off the presses from High Point!

If you can't afford to hire a designer to craft custom pillows for you, don't worry.  We are here to help!  Shop our huge collection of designer pillows.  We have one of the largest pillow collections on the internet.  Here are some new ones, just added last week!

Blue Chenille Ivory Pillow, $260

Pair it with some beautiful aqua silks pillows!  Custom made to order and $330:

If you want a punchier, more modern look, check out our new silk pillows from Dutch artist Mariska Meijers, who has exhibited her collections throughout Europe and Asia and is renowned for her richly colored still lifes and interiors:

 

Purple Blossom Pillow, $234 and Pink Blossom Pillow, $276.50

Redecorating a bathroom?  Need a new shower curtain?  I just love these new Delphine Shower Curtains with a tailored and colorful embroidered design at top.  They look very custom and are priced well at $195.  Best of all, they are available in 16 colorways!  Paint the powder room a soft tangerine and pop the turquoise and orange shower curtain on the rod, and presto!  A designer bathroom!

Now, here is something you don't see every day and certainly something only offered at The Well Appointed House.  Have unsightly, messy trash bins?  Well, contact us for a quote on a Custom Trelliage Garbage Hideaway.  Enhance the overall appearance of your driveway and trash storage area  with a custom wood covered bin area, expertly crafted in lattice and elegant woodwork by our master craftsmen in California.  Made in the USA:

Stay tuned this week for more of our new product introductions!  Please note that we are having a big 20% OFF sitewide sale now in effect at The Well Appointed House!  Start your holiday shopping early! Coupon code and sale information can be found on our home page!  Also, please follow us on TWITTER!

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Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse: Opening Night Cocktails

I stopped by the Thirty Eighth Annual Kips Bay 2010 Decorator Showhouse last night before heading on to dinner at Park Avenue Autumn.  My favorite room was called, "Room for Daydream" by Elizabeth Pyne for McMillen Plus.  It was such a magical space with glistening Sherwood Park fabric by Osborne and Little adorning the walls.  Here is a photo I snapped last night of Elizabeth in front of the daybed on my phone camera, my apologies for the grainy photos:

To personalize the space, Elizabeth hung her very own Portrait of Evelyn Sloane Pyne (her grandmother) by Bernard Boutet de Monvel over the daybed.  The room couldn't have been more delightful and inviting.  I almost couldn't leave.    A wire tree sculpture by Maison Gerard sits on a shelf space over to the right of the photo.  "Birches Blue" and "Herringbone Aqua" by F. Schumacher & Co was used on the daybed, canopy and large pillows.  Anthony Lawrence-Belfair did the upholstery work on the valences, canopy, side chairs, pillows and frame.  Daybed is by Charles H. Beckley, Inc.

"Face" table and pedestal is attributed to Joe Columbo, and Philos wire chair through R.E. Steele Antiques.  Ribbon #6, 2008, by Elizabeth Turk (artist represented by Hirschly and Adler galleries).  Wall design after the mosaic floor of the Belvedere, Trianon, Versailles.

Elizabeth Pyne joined McMillen in 2009, after having worked at Sotheby's, where she was a specialist in the old master paintings department.  She graduated in Trinity College in 2002, with honors in Art History.

Elizabeth's apartment was showcased in the November 2007 issue of House and Garden.  As we saw last night at the Kips Bay show house preview, Elizabeth has a talent for mixing traditional motifs with fabulous works of art.  I really loved the portrait of her grandmother and the colors worked harmoniously together.  Elizabeth works for Lynne Stair at McMillen and is also part of McMillen Plus.  

I'll have more photos later today and in the meantime, go get your tickets and visit the show house!  Kudos to Elizabeth Pyne! Pin It

Check that Chimney! Chic fireplace accessories!

It's that time of year again!  Time to start thinking about crisp Fall and Winter evenings and cozying up with a good read by a crackling fire.  There is nothing like awakening the senses with the smell of wood burning logs and a gourmet dinner roasting in the oven!   It's a good idea to have your chimney inspected and cleaned by a professional to be sure that there are no blockages and that it is free of creosote (a flammable substance that builds up inside flue walls).  Some people cap their chimneys to keep debris out and deter animals from entering, which is not a bad idea seeing that in the Spring I often hear birds in my chimney.  Gas fireplace owners should clean their gas logs and have a plumber come check the gas lines to be sure that the fan, pilots and burners are working properly.  Check your fire detectors, be sure that if they are battery operated that they are functioning and keep some fire extinguishers handy.  While we are on the topic, make sure your carbon monoxide detectors are working as well!

Here are some of Interior Designer Mark Cutler's "Favorite Fireplaces" from Elle Decor:

Check out this fancy fireplace with stained glass windows

Modern fireplace surrounded by stainless steel

Sitting by an outdoor fireplace can be equally as cozy, especially if you also have some of those fabulous heat lamps on your patio area and a fabulous faux fur throw on hand!

Outdoor fireplace in California

Outdoor concrete fireplace in the Hamptons, installed by designer Eric Hughes

Outdoor fireplace photographed by Steven Randazzo for Country Living

This is unique: a company called "Ridiculous Design" actually makes slip covers for fireplace mantles!  Really!  You can even personalize it with lettering!

An elegant new fireplace created by designer Candice Olson, from Elle Decor

Fireplace in fashion designer Nanette Lepore's Victorian townhouse in Manhattan's West Village as featured in Elle Decor.

Shades of pink and purple in a California home designed by Mark Cutler.

Paris pied-a-terre, photographed by Simon Upton for Elle Decor

Here are some fabulous fireplace room shots from our friends at Country Living Magazine:

 

(Photo Keith Scott Morton)

(Photo Tria Gloven)

(Photo Robin Stubbert)

A charming antique blue mantel adds charm!  (Photo Keith Scott Morton)

Great design idea: a tight grid of prints with flowers in vases above the mantel.  Perfect!

(Photo Jon Wayne Kishimoto)

Vintage mantel adds romantic charm.

Photo Michael Luppino

Architectural Digest has some incredible fireplaces as well!
(Photo Credits: David Glomb, Roger Brooks, Michael Calderwood, Steve Hall/Hedrich Blessing, Michael Moran, Gordon Beall, Scott Frances, Peter Aaron/Esto, Robert Reck, Steve Hall/Hedrich Blessing)

This floating fireplace is from a small Vancouver apartment designed by Patricia Gray for Kevin Louie

Fireplace at hotel Awasi in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile designed by architects Francisco Rencoret and Gonzalo Dominguez

Sleek fireplace designed by Margaret McCurry of Tigerman McCurry Architects

Gothic arched fireplace in a 1932 Tudor Revival house in Washington, DC renovated by Jose Solis Betancourt and Richard Williams Architects

Fabulous kitchen fireplace in a NY carriage house designed by Beth Klomparens

Fireplace in Greta Garbo's New York home.  Renoir's 1909 Leontine et Coco, depicting the artist's son Claude, hangs above the mantel. (photography by Billy Cunningham/Gray Reisfeld)

Check out our fireplace accessories.  Here are a few favorites from The Well Appointed House:

Elegant Lion Andirons, $300

Adirondack Log Bag in Brown, $350

Brass Fireplace Tools Set, $400

Kent Fireplace Tools Set, $362.50 

Enjoy your fireplace this Fall and Winter and check back at The Well Appointed House regularly.  We are adding new seasonal items now!

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Trend Alert - Animal Prints?! What Are Designers Doing to Save the Tigers?

I was browsing the October 2010 issue of Elle Decor this evening, when I came across the "Trend Alert: Animal Prints" on page 124, and I was quite surprised!
This lovely piece was produced by Parker Bowie, but I felt as though the declaration that animal prints are and will continue to be big was a bit passee, to say the least. Add that to the endless list of articles on how animal prints are hot year after year after year.....Elle Magazine, Fall 2010 Fashion Trend: Animal Prints...and sometimes I feel as though I am in living in the movie Ground Hog Day, reading the same fashion and home decor magazines over and over and over again.  (Do I sound repetitive?)

Sydney Wasserman said on 9/2/2010 on Elle.com that Leopard Prints are a must have for Fall.

Elle Magazine had similar things to say in their article in May 2010 on Leopard Print Accessories

(Ellyn Chestnut and Kate Davidson Hudson for Elle)

Reported in January 2010, Leopard was to be the big trend (original).  Celebrities from Mary-Kate Olsen to Angelina Jolie were seen sporting Leopard prints:

Violet Moon Gaynor posted some "Ladylike Leopard" fierce animal prints to Elle.com in November 2009:

Look at this gorgeous tiger coat at Celine:

Go to Harpersbazaar.com and do a search for "Animal Prints" and see what you come up with.  It is literally page after page of animal prints featured in fashion.  

Designers such as Charles Faudree have used leopard prints in fabric collections:

Photo Credit: Michael Garland for Veranda

See the punchy pink tiger print at the Grand Entrance Hall at the Graystone Estate.  Photo by Peter Vitale for Veranda

Designer Markham Roberts creates a cozy nest for a Connecticut family, as shown in the photo above.  The ottoman is upholstered in Tiger Velvet by Brunschwig & Fils.  The room shots that I could put here with examples of designer installations featuring animal prints are endless.  It has almost become so cliche.  What I would really like to know is, how many of the design firms, top interior design personalities, fashion houses and shoe companies know how endangered our dear tigers are?

I have become involved with the Wildlife Conservation Society over the past few years.  I have been completely dumfounded to learn that our beloved wild tigers, might very well be gone forever.

Stopping poaching is the only way to bring back the estimated 3,200 remaining wild tigers from the brink of extinction.  I just received a letter from Joe Walston, Director of the Asia Program for WCS.   WCS has long been at the forefront of the tiger conservation efforts throughout the world and they are at the core of one of the only wild tiger recovery projects to achieve long-term increases in the tiger population.  

My wish is that every designer out there who has been inspired by tigers and other big cats in their design of fabrics, coats, shoes, home furnishings, etc. make a donation to protect the tigers.  I cannot believe that there are less than 3200 tigers left in the world!  If every reader who thumbed across yet another fashion magazine declaring that animal prints are the next big trend would become even slightly interested and donated just $4, I think we would make some progress!  If you love animal prints and are as interested in protecting wildlife as I am, click here and donate $4 or more!

There are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild, according to WWF.  

Great news is that six tiger cubs, including three Amur and three Malayan tigers, have just made their debut at the Bronx Zoo last week.  Out of the 3,500 remaining tigers left in the wild, only 1,000 of those are breeding females, so this news was very exciting for those of us interested in conservation of these beautiful creatures.  Most of the tigers' host countries are poor and conservation is not the top priority, so those of us who are privileged enough to purchase decorative accessories and fashions that are modeled after tiger skins might want to consider furthering the conservation efforts.

Please join me in donating today!  Click here to read more about our world's tigers through the Wildlife Conservation Society and donate now!

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