Velvet & Linen

a beautiful mess...

Yesterday, Steve arranged to have Charlie watch our other two children so that we could spend the day together for an early Valentine's Day celebration. I'm blessed to share my life with a wonderful man who loves antique shopping as much as I do. So we decided to take advantage of our childless moment and spend our day visiting a couple of the antique shops that have been on our list to explore.

Our first stop was A Beautiful Mess in Agoura Hills. The quote on the Beautiful Mess website says it all: "A Beautiful Mess: Where antiques, design and oddities meet pure and simple elegance".

Owner Kymberley Fraser opened the store last year. She created a team with fellow Bungalow antique dealers Karen Chambers, Marilyn Thompson, Victoria Stoehr, Leah Cox, Tina O'Flaherty and The Junk Girls. The result is a  fantastic antique collective that is filled with all of the things I love. 

A collection of vintage landscape paintings were the first items that caught my eye.

Stacks of Kymberley's gorgeous vellum books are placed around the shop. 

All of the books are for sale! It was hard to resist buying a stack or two...

A wonderfully aged vignette made up of a vintage horse painting and stacks of vellum books and parchment colored luggage.

One chunky volume works well on its own, adorned with a simple rosary. 

A group of aged silver was place on a sideboard waiting for their floral arrangements.

I thought this light fixture made with sea fans was so romantic!

Simple and lovely.

An old ship's porthole was used as a frame for a piece of coral displayed on a wall.

The owners of A Beautiful Mess are masters of display. Their vignettes allow visitors to see the beauty in every day objects.

My friend Gina Milne, a very talented interior designer and writer of the blog Willow Decor, first introduced me to Kymberley and her company Three Fine Grains a couple of years ago. Like many of Gina's readers, I fell in love with Kymberley's  gorgeous vintage grain sack pillows and upholstered furniture. It was exciting to see them in person!

To see more of Kymberley's pieces please visit the Three Fine Grains Website.  

While I was busy eyeing these great baskets, Steve was admiring the galvanized cabinet that the baskets were hanging on. 

We both thought it would make a perfect storage cabinet for our chicken and garden supplies, so we bought it. Happy Valentine's Day to me :)

Steve had to drag me out of A Beautiful Mess. I really did feel right at home. 

Until you have the time to visit A Beautiful Mess in person, you can enjoy more eye candy on their website!

I hope you had a Beautiful Valentine's Day!

xo

Brooke

 

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services. You can also purchase many items found here on Velvet and Linen as well as "to the trade" furnishings through Giannetti Home. Email Kelly about the details.

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gilt home and ashton kutcher showhouse sale starts saturday...

We've had a busy week getting ready for the Gilt Home Ashton Kutcher Showhouse. The online sale of a select number of pieces from each room will go on sale starting tomorrow, Saturday February 12th until the 14th. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to DNA, a charity started by Ashton Kutcher and his wife Demi Moore to combat human trafficking.

The rooms created by the designers are gorgeous! All of the following images are from the Gilt Home Facebook page. 

Architect William Hefner and his wife, Interior Designer Kozuko Hoshino created a beautiful and comfortable living room and outdoor sitting area by the pool.

Todd Nickey and Amy Kehoe did a stunning job with their dining room space. I love those green chairs!

Nobody does Hollywood Glam better than Ron Woodson and Jaime Rummerfield. The peacock wallpaper in this bedroom is just gorgeous. 

Erinn Valencich transformed the master bedroom into a warm chic den. 

I love how each designer created a room that reflects their own design style!

As many of you already know, we transformed one of the bedrooms into an artist's studio with several pieces from Giannetti Home and Steve's artwork. 

The Gilt Home sale officially starts tomorrow, but you can visit the Gilt Home site to preview a few of the items that will be included in the sale.  Unfortunately we were only allowed to have 10 items represented in the sale. If you are interested in purchasing any of the items in our room that aren't part of the Gilt Home sale please contact Kelly at Giannetti Home or visit GiannettiHome.com.

For those of you who purchased tickets for the tour of the home, we are looking forward to meeting you in person tomorrow :)

xo

Brooke

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services. You can also purchase many items found here on Velvet and Linen as well as "to the trade" furnishings through Giannetti Home. Email Kelly about the details.

 To Subscribe to Velvet and Linen click here.

To Become a Fan of Velvet and Linen on Facebook click here. 

 

the chicken coop...

I want to thank all of you who sent me links to some of the most amazing chicken coops that I've ever seen. Who knew?

Kathysue from Good Life of Design sent me the link to Holland Hen Houses. They make several beautiful coops. 

I know this isn't a chicken coop, but I had to include Blayne's post about this amazing home that her family just sold (their company is one of the best brokerage companies in Atlanta). The best part? The dovecote. 

I love how the doves use pots as nests.
 
Thank you to Gwen from Smocking with Gwen for the link to Heather Bullard'sgorgeous coop. Not only does Heather include fabulous pictures of every coop detail, but she also shares how to build it! 

Joni from Cote de Texas shared this ultimate chicken coop with me. This is what my coop will be when it grows up.

And finally there is my friend Penelope Bianchi's coop (or bird haven!). It was our first visit to Penny's home that started the chicken wheels turning!

For our first coop we decided to start modestly. We purchased this coop from My Pet Chicken.  It was the perfect size for our chickens and for the space on the side of our home. Unfortunately it only came in this orange redwood, but that could be easily modified.
 
Here's our little coop after we painted it white and grayed out the roof. We added a 6" base to keep the coyotes out and the chickens in.

We enclosed the side yard with gates on either side so the chicks can roam a bit. We put wires across the top to deter the birds of prey. As we've learned, everything eats chicken. It's hard being delicious!

The whole family has fallen in love with the chicks. Henrietta is shyest of the bunch, but she became a little curious about the geraniums that will be planted in the chicken garden.

The darker chicken is Kung Pao. She/He (we won't be sure for another few months) is the ruler of the pack.

I highly recommend adopting a few chickens. They are such a wonderful addition to our family!

 

xo

Brooke

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services. You can also purchase many items found here on Velvet and Linen as well as "to the trade" furnishings through Giannetti Home. Email Kelly about the details.

 To Subscribe to Velvet and Linen click here.

To Become a Fan of Velvet and Linen on Facebook click here. 

 

 

exciting new blog posts...

Every week I try to carve out some time to visit my favorite design blogs and to discover new ones. Last week Leah Konen, Associate Editor at Elledecor.com, asked me to share one of my favorite blog posts of the week for her Design Insiders' Weekly Finds article. 

Here's one of the gorgeous images from the blog post that I selected from a new blog that I just discovered this week. Visit Elledecor.com to read about my blog pick as well as what other bloggers, editors, and designers found on the web last week! 

During the process of writing our book, Steve and I had the pleasure of working with freelance travel and design writer  Sara Bliss. Sara is also the author of the blog Hotel Chic, a travel/design blog where Sara shares details about the most beautiful hotels around the world. 

When Sara asked us to share our favorite hotel with her readers, Steve and I chose our romantic get-a-way. Visit Hotel Chic to read our interview and discover other gorgeous hotels to visit.

I also want to thank Sarah from Storibook Designs and Natasha from Schue Love for featuring our work on their blogs. Two more beautiful blogs to discover!

xo

Brooke

If you would like help creating the home of your dreams, email me about our design services. You can also purchase many items found here on Velvet and Linen as well as "to the trade" furnishings through Giannetti Home. Email Kelly about the details.

 To Subscribe to Velvet and Linen click here.

To Become a Fan of Velvet and Linen on Facebook click here.