Need: Holiday Dining Rooms

Hard to think of the holidays without images of a food laden table and, usually, people knee to knee...if you need to spread out the seating, flip-top consoles are perfect.  Oversize cocktail tables and floor pillows can work for the kids to pretend they are on a picnic - just don't expect party manners...below are some great double-duty consoles, as well as some holiday table ideas...

Stickley flip top harvest table

From Fairfied Chair; nice smaller size

From Henredon, both rustic and polished

Best in Show: Mount Gretna 2015

Overall, the caliber of talent was higher than the last show I attended in 2013, even though the subject matter in art tilted to the ordinary. I love seeing how past favorites are evolving and thrilled that several won the Judges Choice Award - all deserving, too...
Got stopped in my tracks (and bought) by the work of Annette Poitau, a Frenchwoman now residing in Ohio. She prefers the term "non-figurative" to abstract-  her technique is one of minimal brushstrokes and many layers of diluted oils, acting like watercolors. In many, the chroma all but shimmers and the impression is much like a Rorschach landscape - and as such, they evoke different responses. Check it out here and on her website www.annettepoitau.com

From Ben Nelson, a Plein Air artist from Lancaster-  one of my favorites and winner of Judges Choice Award. He incorporates soil and water on location as part of his medium...love, love, love and own one that always makes me pause...see more at www.bennelsonart.com

From Teresa Haag, another past favorite and Award winner...see more at www.teresahaag.com

From New York artist, Joseph Greico - these are smaller pieces and don't enlarge well...but love his moody landscapes and have one in my collection of 'smalls'...more at www.josephgreico.com

April Market: Highlight on Harden

I always like seeing if I could do a room using new offerings from Market; Harden came closest with everything but the cocktail a new introduction...ok, if you have little ones you won't be settling in with popcorn and a movie, but for those spaces where there are conversations this is a great modern look - with a little organic zen thrown in with a live-edge floor mirror...

Love the cherry buttons and front stretcher

Two of these opposite the sofa

Always need storage

Simple and shapely works best here

Best in Show: Artsfest 2015

For the first time in memory - which granted, isn't long- the weather for the Fest weekend was perfectly lovely...almost like being somewhere...
There were lots of new vendors, some past favorites, some great music and the crabcake sandwich which is a traditional must-have. ..although I still miss the debauched hours spent on the Civic Club lawn of past fests, listening to a variety of scheduled and pick-up bands, people swilling beers...

There were a few standouts that deserve mention:

Metal sculpture by Eugene Perry- sizes range from tabletop to landscape; the words fluidity and steel rarely collide in the same sentence, but here it's perfected...

Eve Greiner and her Geometals: fusing metalsmithing and a proprietary ceramic marbleizing technique make for stunning switchplate covers...jewelry in the room...

Ralph Hlavacek is the photographer aka Mad Butterfly - wide ranging content and technique where each piece has quiet power and beauty...

Because...

(we can't take ourselves too seriously)

...omitting the front door is not where you want to save money

...laughter is the best defense...

...all I need is a comfortable wall and thou

..."self-rearing" is fraught with pitfalls...

...nothing says "welcome" like all-plywood-all-the-time...

images: unhappyhipster,dwell

Love: Updating Traditional

I just love everything about these rooms; going modern within an American version of "old world" envelope is one of the hardest things to get right...here, the build out is respected, but not worshipped; the exuberant color palette is repeated in varying doses throughout, providing continuity and the artwork...oh, the artwork...especially like the fact that many pieces were kept and recovered, laquered or repurposed, which lends an inherited feel...these are rooms that get better as you move about them, a quality hard to capture in 2-d...

I'm a big fan of reusing quality pieces in a new design; here the familiar shape of the recovered bergere chairs are actually taken down a notch by swapping gilding for a wood tone finish...and how much fun is that recovered ottoman...the overall effect is much like relaxed parents watching their imaginative child at play...

On the other side of the room, a wonderful ratchet sofa reupholstered with acrylic finials replacing wooden ones...also love the movement of the ring table and art arrangement on the wall

...your guests could be boring and you wouldn't care! Note the contrast of dimensional velvets, clear table legs, movement in the art, texture in the chandelier and patterned ceiling...sigh...inspired by a fun rug and grounded by laquered chinese chippendale chairs; just a pure visual treat!

Credits: traditionalhome.com