By now we all know that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and we are doomed for six more weeks of winter, ugh. Here in our shop we are battling the winter blues with bright buds in warm colors. What better way to bring some cheer into these last few weeks than with Spring’s natural bounty-fresh flowers! Just remember-warm thought, warm thoughts… Set of 3 glass bud vases available in our shop for $33. Call 850.231.6755 for inquiries.
This past Saturday was yet another ‘Craft Time’ in the Tracery Shop. Bess hosted girls and boys of all ages ready to make fun felt fortune cookies & tiaras fit for a queen. Fun was had by all! The wheels are turning for an Easter Themed Craft Time….stay tuned.
Good morning friends! We hope your week is off to a good start. We thought we’d begin today with a cheerful image of a Breakfast Room in Watercolor, Florida that Paige designed a few years ago.
Here the classic silhouette of ladder black chairs is enhanced with sharp black paint which contrasts with the sunny color palette of the room. Tall white cotton grommet drape panels call attention to the peaceful coastal Florida views outside. The classic white milk glass school house style pendants are the perfect complement to crisp white trim. We think this room is the perfect embodiment of a cheerful and comfortable space and that this room must be a great place to start the day!
[photo by Brian Gassel]
Filed under: our work | Tags: before & afte, Doug Davis, furnishings, Mountain Brook, Paige Schnell
Regardless of a project’s size or budget, we don’t believe it’s necessary to throw out everything and start over when redecorating. In fact, we like finding ways to use our clients’ existing pieces, especially when we can help reimagine those pieces in a new way.
Our clients had purchased and reupholstered these french bergeres just a couple of years before we began working on a renovation and total redecoration of their Mountain Brook, Alabama home. Paige and Doug debated leaving the chairs as is but as we developed the color scheme for the new interiors, it became obvious that the chairs were going to be too brown for the charcoal and white look of the home. Before reupholstering the chairs (in a super cool and super chic metallic silver damask) we had our decorative painter Jan Hale touch up the wooden frames of the chairs and add some more white to the chalky tone of the wood. The result is the same pair of chairs in a much different look.
While we were able to reuse many pieces in this project, due to the increased size of the home it was necessary for us to buy a lot of new pieces too. It’s well established by now how much we love breathing new life into antique furniture and in this house we were able to completely change the look of some older pieces with a few upholstery tricks.
When our client emailed Doug a photo from Scott’s Antique Market in Atlanta, showing a set of 6 camel-back French side chairs she’d just discovered, Doug immediately said ‘Buy them!’ The dowdy red and gold tapestry look was never going to fly in this house so we selected something completely different to recover them in. At first glance a lot of people who visit this home are shocked that we covered the chairs this family of 6 sits in every night for dinner in pale grey upholstery, but the fabric is in fact some seriously commercial grade stuff! Manufactured by famed textile mill Maharam, this upholstery fabric is 60% nylon and 40% polyurethane, making it nearly indestructible. Doug worked with our upholstery shop to find oversized nailhead trim for the chairs (in lieu of the more standard issue size that came on the pieces originally) to add some updated detail.
Doug bought the pair of chairs below literally in the middle of the street one day. Circa Antiques, which has stores in both Mountain Brook and Charlotte, North Carolina frequently ships items back and forth between their two stores. Doug and our client happened to be in the right place at the right time and scored the pair as they came off the back of the truck!
Although they were in pretty rough shape when we found them, it was obvious that these chairs had potential. Paige and Doug debated swapping the pair with the silver damask pair in the Living Room but ultimately decided to place the chairs in the home’s Guest Suite instead. Refreshed with a beautiful Italian linen (that has just the slightest hint of lavender in the grey weave–which we love!) the chairs are now the centerpiece of the room. An elaborately detailed Ankasa pillow from our shop is the perfect finishing touch.
Have a cool basket or funky bowl around the house and aren’t quite sure how to display it? Take a que from our shop and use unique fillers to create a small vignette that represents your own personal style.
We filled these old market baskets with bleached and natural cocoa pod sticks to create an organic look. Perfect to add texture and depth to a neutral palette the sticks are $4.90 for the natural & $11 each for the bleached.
This hand made pedestal bowl was unique enough, but filled with vintage printing blocks it has so much more character. The printing blocks are always a great conversation piece and are priced around $22 each.
Want to add a bit of glamour to your coffee table but worried about small hands? These stainless steel balls are lightweight and strong–very, very kid-friendly. They are also available in an out of this world orange guaranteed to fill your home with warmth and cheer. They’re perfect for spring! The balls range in price from $1-5 each.
Since our shop is at the beach–shells are a given. We created a unique vignette in the shop by filling these hand crafted paper bowls with different sized white starfish. Our shells range in price from $3-$6 each.
Remember we ship anywhere in the continental United States, just email us at shop [at] traceryinteriors [dot] com or call 850.231.6755 if you’re interested in anything you see here!
Since fuchsia is one of the signature colors of the impending Valentine’s holiday, we thought there was no better time to begin showcasing a recently completed project which features doses of this color throughout the interior. Located just off of Scenic Highway 30A at The Retreat, Paige and Bess designed this home which overlooks a dune lake and the Gulf beyond, to have an unexpected and sophisticated twist on ‘beachy.’
The master bedroom [pictured above] is warm and inviting with its oversized chenille upholstered bed and serene neutral color palette. You’ll notice bits of fuchsia on the bed, in the artwork and in the drapery trim. The deep reading chairs feature a beautiful curved arm that plays well off of the bases of the bedside lamps. Often pink can come across as too girly, but this space is rich and sophisticated.
It was time to get a little more playful when it came to the daughter’s space. Her bathroom is full of ultra femme crystal accents that are fit for a princess. We love the look of horizontal wood planking , especially with a quarter inch reveal between boards. We added a pink stripe to the white painted room to create a room any little girl would love!
The adjoining bedroom is equally as fun! The custom-made boxed euros have punches of pink, fuchsia, orange and even a tad bit of neon yellow. The occupant of this room is well on her way to becoming an art aficionado with a budding collection starting on the ledge behind her tufted upholstered headboard. The Thomas Paul Bird Cage pillow was the perfect accent to pull it all together.
Stay tuned-we have many more elements of this home to share with you in the near future…
[all photos by Michael Granberry]
Filed under: our work | Tags: Anna Kay Porch, Birmingham, Doug Davis, Lake Martin, Mountain Brook, Paige Schnell, Rosemary Beach
There was a great post on Things That Inspire a couple of weeks ago that dealt with the often-discussed problem of where to attractively place a television within a room. We face this question frequently when designing interiors. We try to be realistic about the issue–almost every one has a television and we think at this point there’s little use in trying to hide them. We’ve relocated more than one bulky armoire that suddenly became outdated when a flat screen television came into the house. Today, we think it’s perfectly okay to hang a flat screen on the wall without elaborate camouflage.
In this Rosemary Beach living room we’ve showed you before, Paige and Anna Kay hung the television directly over the fireplace. In a vacation home where casual living is the goal, we think this solution is just fine. The clean-lined stone cladding which was added to the fireplace is a fitting complement to the sleek black tv. Components and other accessories are housed in the small cabinet to the left of the fireplace. [photo by Michael Granberry]
Some people can’t sleep without a television in the bedroom. In this Mountain Brook, Alabama bedroom the only place for a tv to go in view of the bed was the wall opposite the headboard. With a double window and pair of doors at either end, there wasn’t enough room in between to place a piece of furniture so we again opted to hang the tv directly on the wall. An all black tv would have been way too heavy visually in this nearly all-white room so we had the frame and mount of the television painted to match the wall color. As a result the tv blends in as much as possible with the wall rather than standing out. [photo by Colleen Duffley]
Space was again an issue in this Birmingham, Alabama keeping room–there was not wall bigh enough to place a piece of furniture to sit a tv upon. Because of this, Paige opted to hang the television up high in one corner of the room. An articulating bracket allows the tv to be swiveled toward the adjacent kitchen. The higher placement of the tv also allows a comfortable arrangement of furniture for fireside conversation when the tv is turned off. [photo by Ryan Davis]
In this Mountain Brook, Alabama breakfast room, when a black television looked too heavy we first tried swapping it out for a silver-colored model. When we still didn’t love the very modern looking tv in conjunction with the beautiful suite of French and English furnishings, we solved the problem by having the tv framed in antique oak stained to match the woodwork in the space. [photo by Colleen Duffley]
Sometimes, we find a wall-hung television needs a piece of furniture beneath it to anchor it into the space. In this Lake Martin, Alabama media room, an antique French farm table is the perfect complement to the tv. Three antique metal boxes fill the space between and create an attractive focal point for the lower half of the wall.
Doug used a similar trick in his own Mountain Brook, Alabama living room, placing a painted sideboard beneath the television.
Doug’s collection of design books and a few pieces of white pottery create a tablescape that keeps the scene from being all about the tv.
So where’s the tv in your house? Have you embraced flat screen on the wall look yet?
Filed under: our shop | Tags: 30AFunn, Bess Marshall, Rosemary Beach, seasonal, shop
Tracery is teaming up with 30A Funn again to host a fun-filled afternoon of crafting for Valentine’s Day. Next Saturday, February 6 from 2-4pm we will be making these funn felt fortune cookies here in the Tracery Shop! [Image & idea via Martha Stewart Website] This is free & open to the public. For more information feel free to call us at 850.231.6755.
Filed under: our community, our designers | Tags: 5 favorite things, Bess Marshall, Seagrove Beach, shop
Want to know what makes your favorite designer ‘tick’? What we can’t go one day with out? Well, we have all taken the time to compile a list of our [5 favorite things], gadgets, foods, accessories…the small details that set us all apart and keep us all sane. We will start our new series with one of our Rosemary Beach based designers, Bess Marshall.
1. Google Reader
As one of the two ‘official’ Tracery Bloggers I feel it is mucho, mucho importante for me to keep an eye on what is going on in the rest of the blogosphere. About 3 years ago I discovered the world of blogging and had developed quite a list of blogs that I found myself going back to day in & day out. I was oblivious to the world of online feed readers, or as I tell my friends not in the blog world: its email for blogs, everything is in one place. Thank you Stacy Pritchett for helping me to see the light! My life has never been the same & it is purely shameful how many blogs I follow now. Image from here.
2. Tazo Zen Green Tea
I started drinking green tea daily back in 2004. I started out with Lipton, no offense, but yuck! Starbucks finally turned me on to the Tazo line of teas & I have come to cherish Zen as a part of my everyday existence. Zen boasts a “harmonious blend with lemongrass & spearmint.” I think it’s the perfect blend of flavorings-not too sweet, not too spicy & doesn’t leave that weird dry feeling in your mouth like so many green teas. I also highly recommend Tazo’s Passion tea. I’m currently using it to try & curb my sweet tooth. Tazo teas can be found at any Starbucks or your local grocery store.
3. Saijo Persimmon candles by Voluspa
I have had a Saijo Persimmon candle somewhere in my home since I was just a wee little intern here at Tracery. It has a fresh, sweet scent that I can’t get enough of. Everyone is attracted to different scents. Vanilla & woodsy scents have never been my thing & if it’s too floral I get a headache, this scent is none of those. I love the Voluspa candle line [offered in the Tracery Shop] because you can simply leave one of these around the house sans lid, not even burning & people will ask what that scent is?
4. TNT Roll at Old Florida Fish House
The Fish House, as we locals say, is the best place on 30A to grab some sushi and enjoy tunes & dancing. I lived next door for two years and found any reason possible to go see James [sushi chef extraordinaire]: birthdays, girls’ nights, holidays, family/friends visiting, or simply because it was a Wednesday night & why not? I have tried sushi up & down this scenic highway & although I am no expert-this is the best, I promise! The TNT is definitely the house favorite [& mine]…tuna inside & on top, crunchy tempura batter, avocado, eel sauce & spicy sauce plus lots of things I can’t recall at the moment. It’s amazing. I also recommend the Amazon [bring your appetite for that one], DAT & Spider. If you are feeling adventurous just go sit at the Sushi bar, tell James a few of your favorite things & ask for a surprise. He does not disappoint. Order the Up Town Beef too…so hungry now.
5. bareMinerals Refillable Buffing Brush
This was a life changing purchase for me this year. I love the way bareMinerals makeup looks on my skin-covers up flaws and doesn’t make me look cakey. ‘Cakey’ is an easily achievable look here on the Gulf Coast, especially during the summer months. If you have ever used bareMinerals makeup then I’m sure you will recall how messy it can be. Maybe I’m just too clumsy for a loose powder? Anyways-this refillable retractable brush is AMAZING & so easy. Makes my everyday routine speedier & ‘veil of powder on every surface in my bathroom’ free.
What 5 things could you not get through a day/week/year with out?
Filed under: our work | Tags: Doug Davis, Dungan Nequette, fixtures, Homewood, kitchen, Paige Schnell
When you have a 7 foot long, handmade French Lacanche range; a standard range hood just won’t do. This signature appliance was the jumping off point for the entire kitchen we designed for foodie and internet personality JB Hopkins and his partner when we undertook the renovation of their 1920’s Spanish Revival residence in Homewood, Alabama. Working in conjunction with architect and principal of our sister company Dungan Nequette Architects (and original co-founder of Tracery), Louis Nequette, Doug helped designed a range hood worthy of such an amazing piece of cooking equipment–and of the room at large.
When JB and his partner first bought this house, it was obvious it needed a lot of reworking to become the home they wanted. The original kitchen in the home was about three miles away (slight exaggeration) from any living space and was dark and small–definitely designed for household help in the 1920’s; and not for homeowners who love to cook and entertain. Louis imagined an entirely new space housed in an addition to the original structure.
Louis’ first vision for the space (dated 4-07), illustrated in a very early conceptual space below, was for perhaps the entire room to have a gothic-arch vaulted ceiling, with a dramatic range hood made of rustic wood planks.
Doug took Louis’ early vision for the room and began to interpret it into drawings in AutoCAD. He prepared several options–two of which are reflected below. The first is very similar to Louis’s early sketch (although the gothic vault had already been replaced with the flat ceiling and skylight that exist today). The second reflects a totally different vision, a more traditional tapered hood resting on corbeled brackets–much more European and expected.
The design that Louis, Doug and the homeowners eventually agreed upon is based upon the scalloped gothic arch version Doug drew based on Louis’ sketch, but rather than be crafted from planks of wood it’s made from sheets of blackened steel.
You can see in this construction drawing that Doug prepared, the final design for the range hood coming into shape. Once this drawing was ready (complete with dimensions verified to the actual space), we charged the execution of everyone’s vision to the very talented artist and metal worker Darren Hardman. Darren took Doug’s drawing and constructed the amazing range hood that graces the space today.
Made from sheets of blackened and clear coated steel with brass rivets, the range hood is absolutely the centerpiece of this kitchen and the perfect companion to the Lacanche range. Early on, JB Paige and Doug toyed with the idea of making the range (and also the island) a color–pale greyish purple and light green were both discussed–but in the end we all decided the black was the most classic and distinctive choice. It’s perfect with the blackened steel isn’t it?
A few details to note in the above photograph: Louis Nequette likes to add an extra stud and frame a low wall behind ranges. Here you can see this technique displayed perfectly, with a handy ledge for utensils and spices within easy reach of the cooking surface. The entire inside of the range area is covered in terra cotta bricks, layed in a herringbone pattern and stained dark. Just above the point of the arch, two Broan commercial hood inserts are installed between stainless steel trim to properly vent the massive cooksurface. Halogen pin lights light the inside of the cavernous surround. A Rohl pot filler is always handy in the wall beyond–JB requested unlaquered brass for all of the faucets in the kitchen which over time are acquiring a wonderful patina.
Want to learn even more about this amazing kitchen? Check out JB’s blog where he’s documented nearly every square inch of 11 Bonita, and be sure to read this post which discusses the Lacanche range in even more detail.
