Velvet & Linen

Linnea's Lights Candle Give Away and some exciting blog friend news...

As many of you know, I love C Magazine. They always feature everything that is fantastic in California: fantastic clothing, fantastic  jewelry,  fantastic  home furnishings, fantastic restaurants. So I wasn't surprised when I saw that Linnea's Lights soy candles were included in the "What's Hot: Gifts" section in the new C Magazine Winter issue. But wait! Look where you can buy those fantastic candles... Giannetti Home!

 

To celebrate the holiday season and our mention in C Magazine,  I'm giving away two of the Linnea's Lights new limited edition scents. I know you are going to love them!

 Pomander - A rich orange expertly blending with cloves and spices of the season.

 

Winter - A refreshing twist of evergreen, mint and cranberry.

I love the double wicks. Plus, because Linnea's Lights are soy candles the burn incredibly clean.

 

To enter in the give away all you have to do is leave a comment about your favorite kind of post. Do you like the interviews? my own projects? my inspiration? my resources? Is there another type of post that you would like me to do? This is your opportunity to let me know. I'll randomly pick the winners this Sunday.

Oh, and if you'd like to order any of the Linnea's Lights Candles that we carry just click here. They make fantastic gifts and they're only $28. e-mail Gina for a shipping quote here. 

A big Thank You to Andrea Stanford, the design and style editor at C Magazine, and Eva Johansen at Linnea's Lights for including Giannetti Home in this article. 

 

Apparently 'tis the season for wonderful give aways! My friend Anne Sage is having a give away that I'm definitely entering. Go here to enter to win a pair of Tory Birch Alexandra Shoes from Simply Soles and the many ways that Anne has styled these cozy moccasins. 

 

Some more happy bloggy news... As many of you know, the beautiful and talented Lauren Liess of Pure Style Home is having her second child! Michele Ginnerty of My Notting Hill invited me and several other bloggers to Lauren's virtual baby shower. To see all of the great gifts that we "gave" Lauren (like this bedding I gave her from Annette Tatum) click here.

 
 

  xo

Brooke

my interview on ivan meade's blog

I remember several months ago I stumbled upon Ivan Meade's blog. Ivan must have what us Jews call Chutzpah (translated to mean "a lot of guts", if I don't want to be more crude), because he seems to be able to get all of my favorite designers to do interviews on his blog. 

If you don't believe me, just check out his interview with: Darryl Carter, Barbara Barry, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, and Thomas O'Brien to name just a few. 

So you can only imagine how honored I was when he asked to interview me!!! I'd love you to check out my interview and please leave a comment, so I don't feel completely out of my league!!! 

I know you'll love Ivan's blog. Not only does he do wonderful interview, but he's a man who is willing to do anything for a good cause, like donning a beautiful brassiere for Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

 

Thank you Ivan for all of you support, in more ways than one!!!

xo

Brooke

my friend visual vamp

I've always heard that opposites attract, and that has never been more true than my friendship with Valorie Hart. Perhaps that is why I am so intrigued by her. For those of you who have yet to discover the blog Visual Vamp, Valorie is the writer and  wonderfully artistic woman who now lives in New Orleans with the love of her life/tango partner Alberto.  

Julie, Julie Neil, Valorie, and (the very sweaty) Me at Porch in New Orleans last April. 

Why do I think we are opposites? Valorie tells it like it is. I am a people pleaser at heart. Valorie is all colors. I am all neutrals. Valorie has learned to live her life unabashedly. I'm still learning this! I am so thankful to have Valorie in my life, so when I saw that she entered a room in the Apartment Therapy Room for Color Contest I couldn't wait to see it.  Her room  was so Valorie! It was daring, beautiful, and unexpected. I immediately voted for her room. 

I wasn't surprised to find out that Valorie's room made it to the next round! 

Not only do I love this room because it exemplifies Valorie's style, but it also perfectly reflects the beautiful spicy colors of New Orleans, the city that Valorie loves.

I don't know anyone other than Valorie that would hang these vintage educational skeleton posters in their breakfast room! I love that the one on the left is sporting a cool Mardi Gras mask.

This is Valorie's office. I haven't had the pleasure of actually being in this space, but I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to be fully surrounded in the Place Late Tomato color  on the walls and ceiling. So dramatic, just like Valorie.

If you are as impressed with Valorie's talent to create such a beautiful, fully realized and daring room a I am  then vote for Valorie!

The voting process is a bit confusing, but Valorie has made it a bit easier. Here is the advice that Valorie gave to me to pass on to you:

It's a bit of pain the way Apartment Therapy has set up their Room For Color contest.
You have to register to vote.
And now you have to vote again for those who have made it to the next round!
My room has made it to the next round.
I have lived in New Orleans for ten years now, and I bring my New York roots to my love for my adopted city of New Orleans.
The room you are looking at is my office. 
You peek through an original archway into my office, which is flanked by the pair of vintage skeleton charts. One of them sports a Mardi Gras mask.
The color palette is Late Creole Tomato (a coral based red), Vibrant Turquoise, and Sophisticated Chartreuse.
Generous  built in shelves house my collection of design books. A white cowhide rug makes the space cozy. A pair of pale aqua lamps with couture lampshades from Paris grace my desk, an antique table from France. Nestled into a corner is a Gris-Gris altar, filled with mementos found and given to her over the years. During Katrina, the home was spared, and many credit the power of this altar for saving it!
So please vote! A vote for this room is a vote for New Orleans, as well as for The Visual Vamp!
But please vote right away! You only get 24 hours to cast your vote in this round. If you pull me through to the next round, you'll be ready to make me a winner!

Go HERE to vote NOW! Look for the skeletons in the thumbnail photo.
It's a little confusing, so try to vote HERE too - but remember you can only vote in this round on Wednesday October 21.

xo

Brooke

bloggers that i love and a linen binder update....

Every now and then I feel the need to share what my fellow bloggers are up to...

As those of you who follow Cote de Texas, know our friend Jackie Von Tobel has written a new book called The Design Directory of Bedding.

 Oh if only Jackie had written this book before I had to make this bed I wouldn't have been suicidal trying to figure out the proportions for this bed corona! 

Usually I tear apart my books and scan the images to include in my posts, but this book is too good to tear apart. You will have to trust that it is filled with Jackie's beautiful drawings that depict every bedding option every imagined. Like Jackie's book The Design Directory of Window Treatments, her new bedding book is a wonderful resource for any interior designer.  

Her directory of window treatments helped me to explain the difference between this flat roman shade...

and this soft pleated shade in a home that we are working on right now. 

Jackie's drawings are quite convincing! You can order The Design Directory of Bedding  here. To order The Design Directory of Window Treatments click here.

Onto another amazing blogger....

A few months ago I discovered Kelley's blog, The Polished Pebble. What she is creating is my dream property... a home in Ojai, California with its own sustainable garden.

Her recent post on her gravel driveway provided so much inspiration for my own gravel project. 

How charming is Kelley's drive shaded by those stunning Oaks (oh, gosh, I think they are Oaks, Kelley?). Kelley is such a generous blogger friend. We have been e-mailing back and forth about the how to's of gravel driveways. 

 

Kelley also shares her interior design projects... Her Bamboo Daybed post is just 

wonderful, and we share a love of dried hydrangeas!

I know you will love the Polished Pebble as much as I do!

Okay, so now we come to the linen binder update.... I still haven't found the binders but I did find everything else covered in natural linen at Exposures. 

Their sailcloth linen is the perfect color. It's exactly what I was looking for, although I'm not sure why they didn't do a coordinating 3 ring binder!!!

I also LOVE the steel colored Margo storage collection. They are the perfect grey blue color.

I'm off to pass out on the couch with the kids, dogs and Steve before I read with Leila (our book group is reading one of my favorite childhood classics The Phantom Tollbooth). 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

xo

Brooke

willow farm, a blog award and my wisteria chandelier...

I wasn't going to do a post today, but I had to thank Sara from Nantucket Home for the link to Willow Farm. How cool is this?

 

This thatched roof reminded me of my friend Greet in Belgium (of course, her thatched roof is on her gorgeous outbuilding here). If only I could fit this little hutch somewhere...

I also want to thank my friend Laura Casey for giving me this wonderful blog award!

Laura's blog quickly became one of my daily reads. This post about Suzanne Kasler's inspiration was one of my favorite posts, and so was this one (who doesn't love a little Palladio?)!

Oh, and my Wisteria Regal French Lantern was delivered today! Valorie, you may end up loving it much as I do. It really is pretty!

Thank you to everyone who left comments about my home projects. I love hearing your ideas. Design bloggers are so creative!

xo

Brooke

home office update and a blogger get together...

I've always been very affected by my environment. When my surroundings are in disarray it causes me to go a little crazy. This is my way of explaining my lack of posts this week. 

You see, I'm in the middle of moving my home office from my tiny desk in the kitchen....

To my sunroom. My Bobo cabinet was delivered from the pool house that we staged, and my new Natalie desk from Tritter Feefer arrived a couple of weeks ago. 

I love the Sausalito finish that I chose. It's the perfect French grey.

It compliments my old crusty Belgian chair.

I just ordered the Regal French Chandelier from Wisteria (my favorite catalogue) to replace the white flea market chandelier. What do you think?

I'm not quite using this as an office yet (I'll explain in a minute), so I am keeping all of my treasures in the cabinet. My vintage hotel silver teapots found a temporary home. I fell in love with their little curvy shapes and aged patina.

Some of the Giannetti Studio ornamental plaster pieces are hanging out until they go up to Oxnard. I have some interesting ideas about using them in my Powder room.

I really love the way my office is coming together, but there is one problem: I can't find any three ring binders that are pretty enough to put in the cabinet. I have been searching high and low for natural linen binders. Has anyone seen such a thing? I've been Googling and Binging for hours. No pretty binders, and I don't really want to put fabric on the glass cabinets. Any ideas?

I did take some time off from my search to go to the All the Best and Sferra cocktail party last night at Nathan Turner's beautiful store. The best part? Getting to meet so many of my favorite bloggers in person. It's so odd, because I feel as if I know them so well already yet I've never actually met any of them before. Thank you Ronda for including us!

Here we are: Ronda, Me, Megan, Christian, Scot, and Jill.

image via Maison21  . 

I'd love to hear your ideas about my binders. How have you solved the ugly office supply problem?

xo

Brooke

Michael Abrams and a few updates

This has been a very exciting day for us. This morning I received an e-mail from Ronda Carman of All the Best letting Steve and I know that our clients' bedroom won third place in the All the Best Bedroom Contest! We want to give our congratulations to all of the winners. It really was an honor to have our work included with such beautiful bedrooms. To see all of the results click here. I also want to thank all 515 of you who voted for us in Ronda's reader poll.  It was a bit scary submitting our work to this contest, but having your support was like getting a big hug! 

Ok, I know this is a lot of thank yous, but I also want to thank all of you who left comments on my bird panel dilemma post. All of your comments led me to decide to let them go. Even those of you who told me to buy them helped because I knew that you saw the beauty in them that I did, but ultimately I knew that I had to have restraint. As many of you pointed out, the artwork I have in my dining room is beautiful. Given the fact that my powder room is in need of a mirror and lighting, it is best that I focus my efforts there. 

My crazy small,  crusty mirror that I found for my powder room. It's going to look great on the simple plaster wall above the rustic sink. I know, it's over the top!

And now, Michael Abrams....

Last year when Steve and I decided to move our offices, we found a space that would allow us to have a store as well. I think we both had dreams of having a place to fill with all of the things we love, but we also wanted to create a space where we could connect with the artist/design community. Our friend Macie Sears has been instrumental in helping us fulfill our dream. 

Macie and her partner Gaines Peyton, own an amazing art gallery. Last year we had an art exhibit at Giannetti Home for Linda Broadfoot, an amazing artist represented by the Sears Peyton Gallery. 

Linda uses an enormous 20x24 polaroid camera and then hand works the images to create her stunning pieces.

I loved having Linda's work fill transform our shop. 

Macie and I enjoyed the combining of our two worlds so much that we  decided to do it again. This time we are fortunate to have the work of Michael Abrams visiting our shop. 

Michael Abrams grew up in the Hudson Valley. His paintings actually convey an idealized version of the memories of this beautiful part of our country.  Steve and I are thrilled that Michael is coming to Los Angeles to attend the event. We can't wait to hear him discuss his artwork. 

We would love to share this event with you. So this is your invitation! 

We'd love you to see you there!

xo

Brooke

giveaway winner and a special gift for v&l readers

Thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway for Annette Tatum's new book, The Well-Dressed Home! It was so much fun to read everyone's descriptions of their style. I would have to agree with many of you, my style is a little all over the place. It seems like every time I travel my style changes a bit. After my trip to Roundtop and Marburger this week, I'd have to say that my style is European, Romantic Modern!

 Anyway, enough about me... The winner of the book is comment #78, Susie Q. Susie q is actually a wonderful graphic designer with great style. To see more of her style check out her blog eye spy.

For those of you who didn't win, all is not lost! Annette was so touched by all of your comments that she is offering a special price for her book just for Velvet and Linen readers. Instead of paying $35 plus shipping for Annette's book, Velvet and Linen readers can buy a signed copy of The Well-Dressed Home for just $25 plus shipping. All you have to do is buy the book through Annette's website here by Tuesday and enter the code V&L in the coupon box. You can see my original post about Annette's book here. You can also see excerpts from the book on Annette's website here.  I know you are going to love The Well-Dressed Home as much as I do!

Annette also has a fantastic new blog. I loved the post she did on the two nurseries she designed for actress Minnie Driver's little Henry. 

xo

Brooke

personal style defined

One of my favorite blogging series is the "Personal Style Defined Series"  by Paloma at La Dolce Vita.  Paloma always chooses interesting people to participate and discuss their personal style. So, when she asked me to be a guest blogger for her series I was only too thrilled to say "YES"! Well, actually I was nervous too, but I try not to listen to that part of my head or I'd do absolutely nothing. 

I really want to thank Paloma for asking me to do this. I never really sat down and thought about my design style in this way. I explain why at the beginning of my guest post. To check out my  post  on La Dolce Vita click here. I would love for you to leave a comment about what you think about my style!

Also, a big THANK YOU to those of you who have voted for the bedroom that Steve and I entered in the All the Best Bedroom Contest. Right now we are in second place. If you haven't voted yet, you can vote here. It would be a great way to show your appreciation of our work. Thank you again. :) 

Oh and to see more images of our bedroom entry click here!

xo

Brooke

steve's interview by things that inspire

Things That Inspire was one of the first blogs that took my breath away. Not only are her posts stunning to look at, but they are always well written and thought provoking. I share each of her posts with Steve, and we always seem to learn something new. Her recent post about The Third Dimension in Architecture and Design is a perfect example. 

If you can't tell yet, Steve and I are huge fans of Things That Inspire, so you can only imagine how honored, touched, and just plain thrilled we were when she asked if Steve would be interested in being interviewed for her blog. Of course he would love to!

Thank you Things That Inspire! To check out Steve's interview click here.

xo

Brooke