Velvet & Linen

38 reasons why i love carmel by the sea...

Steve and I were fortunate to get to spend a couple of days walking around Carmel. Here are a few of the reasons I love this beautiful town...

Squishy brick arches.

 

Stone Homes.
 

Charming stone chimneys.
  

Wonderful stone window details.

 

Whimsical chimneys.

 

Stone chimneys on wood homes.
 

Arched stone garages with fantastic aged wood carriage doors.
 

Rose covered arbors on stone homes.
 

Old tile roofs.
 

Weathered gray wood gates, 
 

with iron details.

 

Weathered wood fences, 
 
 

overgrown with flowers.
 

Weathered wood arbors, 
 

draped in Clematis,
 

or roses.
 

 

Weathered wood wavy roofs.

 Weathered gray wood garage doors.

 Charming garage doors next to beautiful gates.

 

Charming garage doors with window boxes.
 

Secret stone stairways that lead to...
 

secret bridges...

 

that lead to...
 

secret gardens.
 

Carmel lavender.
   

 Sweet hotels with doors that are the perfect size!   

 

Friendly cats to greet us.

The Normandy Inn with its gorgeous old roof and woderful wood details.

 

Wood cupolas aging to perfection.
   

Moss covered roofs on yummy sweet shops.
   

Inspiration filled home stores.
   

Gorgeous architecture nestled in the trees.
 

Magnificent views of the coast.
  
 

Rolling green lawns that meet the water.
   

Gnarled trees that look like they are dancing in the breeze.

What do you love about Carmel by the Sea?

xo

Brooke

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services.

 

 

 

 

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giannetti home inspiration and a heartfelt thank you...

Before I start this post I want to take a moment to thank Lisa Porter for letting me know that Velvet and Linen inspired her to start her own beautiful blog! Thank you Lisa!

 I also want to thank Circa Lighting for mentioning Velvet and Linen on their blog! 

To all of you who leave me wonderfully supportive comments, I want to thank you. They inspire me and help me to keep perspective when I receive the occasional snark. 

So, here is what Kelly and I did today...

Having a store is like having to redecorate my home every week. As we sell furniture and accessories and receive other treasures, we are constantly creating new vignettes in the shop.

Steve and I found three wonderful framed French Milliner Embellishment Color Samples from 1910 on our recent trip to San Francisco. 

 

Our 1940's Fenching Masks are now watching over the Linnea's Lights candles on top of a two tiered industrial table. 
 

An industrial pendant hangs in the foreground of this beautiful cabinet designed by   Claudia Benvenuto...

 

A vintage light designed by the Junk Girls hangs above an industrial console.

Steve fell in love with this vintage Piano Key Action Store Display. 
 

It was used to show how a piano works. 

 

Our Theater Seats are draped in Peruvian textiles.
 
 

A set of mercury glass vessels sit atop some vintage blue and camel luggage. 
   

A collection of cobalt bottles on a silver tray. 

 

We brought this industrial tripod floor lamp back to the shop  from S.F.
 
 

I love the feeling of the store because it has the perfect balance of the masculine industrial furniture and  feminine accessories. There is nothing like adding some hydrangeas  to add some feminine energy!
 

Their faded lavender and pinks are perfection!
 

I hope you find inspiration at Giannetti Home. 
 
 xo 

Brooke

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services.

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chair post...

In his spare time (lol), Steve is working on our new "Clive" wing back chair. I thought you might enjoy seeing a bit of his design process. 

After Steve feels like his drawings of a chair are close to the vision he sees in his head, he makes life size card board templates of the piece and sticks them on the wall (or our closet door!).

These full size templates allow Steve to analyze the scale and proportions of each section of the chair.

Once Steve approves the card board cutouts, our fabricator makes the frame. 
 

The frame looks great except the wings are too narrow. So, a little sawing is necessary...
 

That's better! I know it looks a little awkward now, but once it's upholstered, the Clive will look fabulous and be so much more comfortable.
 

I've been looking for the perfect slipper chair, so Steve is designing this lovely "Brooke" chair just for me. It's going to look so elegant in soft gray velvet.
 

Steve isn't the only one working on furniture pieces. I found this quirky chair frame at the flea market a few weeks ago. When I met him, he wasn't upholstered and the stain was too yellow.....
  

 I asked my wonderful upholsterer, Sherry to cover the chair in homespun linen.

 

Rather than try to hide the flaws in the fabric, I asked Sherry to upholster the chair so that the seams and patches added to its beauty.

 

I love seeing how the chair is put together, so the upholstery tacks and the frayed edge of the fabric are left exposed. 
 

The jute webbing is left uncovered as well, adding to the chair's character. 

A closer look at Sherry's beautiful work!

 My little chair only visited the store for a day before Kelly introduced him to his new owner (a wonderful new shop client :)

xo

Brooke

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services.

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children's study inspiration...

While our kids are away at camp, Steve and I are tackling a couple of projects at home. Our first priority: our children's study....

This room used to be my home office, but since then it has been the terribly design neglected study for my children. While the kids are away we wanted to turn this into a beautiful but practical space for the kids to study and to do their many messy projects...

 

This image from our new favorite book, French Country Style at Home by Sebastastian Siraudeau, became the inspiration for our children's study. Steve and I both loved the industrial feel of this room. 
 

This is our interpretation. 

To create the mood, we painted the walls Farrow and Ball "Lamp Room Gray".

We wanted this space to be a place where our children could explore their world, so we hung some of our vintage black and white photos of Europe in the room. 

 

We found this classic library chair at the flea market this morning.
 

All of the light fixtures are from barnlightelectric.com.
  

All of the leather accents add warmth to the room. The leather "Frasier Chairs" will only look better as our kids beat up on them!

 

Steve and I discovered these gorgeous vintage  boat paintings at the Rose Bowl Flea Market. We're hoping they will remind our children of all of the fun we have boating with them.
 
 

All of the boxes contain art supplies...

Steve is always drawn to metal industrial lighting and boxes. They work perfectly in this space for our children, because they are indestructible .

Shameless plug: metal round table and desk are sold through Giannetti Home!

 

The study is almost complete...
 

The shades for the windows and the drapery for the closet storage area are still not finished. They will be made from burlap, one of our favorite textiles. Because burlap is so gauzy, the lining becomes more important. We found that drop cloths from Home depot to be the perfect lining (only $9.99 for two!). 

 

Frasier, one of our toughest critics, seems to approve!
 

The best part of being a designer is to be able to create wonderful spaces for the people we love. This is why we do what we do! 

xo

Brooke

 

f you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services.

 

 

 

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