Velvet & Linen

inspiration at giannetti home...

Thank you to everyone for all of your suggestions regarding my accidental deleting of my iPhoto library. Much to my relief, I was able to retrieve most of my pictures, however this was a wonderful lesson. I am backing up to Carbonite online as we speak. I let you know how that goes.

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Whether we are shopping at our favorite flea markets,  traveling with our children or on a buying trip, Steve and I are always searching for inspiration for our shop, Giannetti Home. I thought you might enjoy seeing what is inspiring us now...

The pale apricot, citrus green, aqua blue, and amethyst of these sculptures from the sea have inspired the color accents to our neutral color scheme. 

 

 

 

The same colors appear in our Fortuny pillows...

 

 

 

and the moss on a small pot.  

 

Our love for the warm tones of aged wood can be seen throughout the store...

 

in the wood display cabinets...

 

 in our antique chairs...

 

vintage instruments...

 

the old doors we use everywhere...

 

in a collection of well worn spoons...

 

and in a wonderful wall of antique breadboards.

 

Our chalky palette is inspired by...

coral and sea fans...

 

The plaster pieces from Giannetti Studio...

 

 

the depth of the glaze in an Asian vessel...

 

and the creamy linen that covers our furniture.

 

Our appreciation for gilt wood, that's a little less than perfect,  adds a sense of history here...

 

and a little bit here...

 

and a little more here. 

 

 We can't get enough of aged rich brown leather...

 

It brings the memories of  losing yourself in a novel by a crackling fire in a warm wood paneled library... 

 

in France, perhaps   :)

 

The character of a Ethiopian beaded basket next to one of our Courtney sofas...

 

can be appreciated in every bead.

 

To view more of the items that are inspiring us, please visit our Giannetti Home 1st Dibs and Giannetti Home Dering Hall Store Fronts.

 

 

What is inspiring you?

xo

Brooke

 

A BIG THANK YOU to Kate Burger of K8 Vision...

 

and her  fabulous merchandising team: Jen and Aaron Johnson, and Paul Dove!

 

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 & Linen via email click here.

To follow Velvet & Linen on Facebook click here.

Please visit the Patina Style Barnes and Noble page or Amazon page  to order our new book.

Signed Copies of Patina Style are available through Giannetti Home.

 

a magical evening at the home of penelope and adam bianchi...

It's been an interesting day here at the Giannetti residence. I accidently deleted my entire iPhoto library, all 30,452 photos! It has definitely been a lesson in acceptance and letting go. I am hopeful that we will be able to  retrieve the images from my back-up, but so far...not so good. 

Fortunately, I was already working on this post about the amazing Patina Style book signing event at Penny and Adam's gorgeous Montecito home.

The Autumn colored vines were the only decorations necessary for the party.

 

I asked Steve to snap a quick picture of the Bianchi's garage, with the perfect pale gray doors. 

 

Penny's garden sphynx greeted us as we walked inside.

 

A variety of delicious nibbles were set on the table for guests to enjoy before the hors d'ouevres were served. 

 

We arrived a little early to share our latest drawing of Patina Farm with Penny. We also had some time to take in the beauty that surrounded us. If I had to chose my favorite room at the Bianchi's it would be this covered garden room. Penny uses it as her office... so would I!

 Wouldn't it be di-vine to look at this view as you worked?

 

Penny and Adam's al fresco dining room is shaded by a canopy of mature trees. 

 

The duck house in the center of the pond has saved many ducks from local preditors. 

 

As guests began to arrive, Penny shared her fascinating life stories. 

 

The lovely Francesca Wolf and the other beautiful women from Rue de Lillie came to celebrate with us.

 

 

 

It wasn't too long until the patios went from quiet to...

 

bustling!

Journalist Richard Mineards (chatting with Francesca on the right) was kind enough to write about the evening in the most recent edition of the Montecito Journal (Thank you Richard!). 

 

It was such a happy evening. 

 

 

Penny, Jermaine Chastain (from the French Kissed blog) and Penny's design associate, Gilda Hariri and I were all smiles at the end of the night. 

 

Jermaine took some amazing photographs of the Bianchi's home...

 

 

 

To read Jermaine's blog post about the evening please visit French Kissed. 

You can see more of this Bianchi's Montecito Farmhouse here.

To read some of Penny's wonderful story, please visit her blog.

Thank you to all of you who helped us celebrate that evening. 

A HUGE thank you to Penny and Adam Bianchi for their friendship and for an evening that Steve and I will never forget!

 

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 & Linen via email click here.

To follow Velvet & Linen on Facebook click here.

Please visit the Patina Style Barnes and Noble page or Amazon page  to order our new book.

Signed Copies of Patina Style are available through Giannetti Home.

 

 

 

big daddy's antiques grand opening this saturday november 12th...

When I'm searching for cool one of a kind items for my design projects, my first stop is always my friend Shane's place: Big Daddy's Antiques. Last week, I was particularly excited to pop in for my first visit to Shane's new warehouse in Culver City.

Big Daddy's new space is fantastic! Originally a movie sound stage (this is LA!), its white walls make the perfect backdrop for Shane's displays. I'm loving the ancient stone chairs. Don't they look like a mini Stonehenge?

 

Of course Shane needed to warm up the place a bit, so he covered some of the walls with vintage gray wood planks. 

 

A wall of weathered wood cubbies works well for creating vignettes of smaller items. 

 

Although Shane's color scheme leans towards neutrals, there are always small dashes of color, provided by unusual collections: of paint brushes...

 

and bowling pins.

Antique vellum books (one of my weaknesses!) are stacked on the shelves of this large library cabinet. 

 

I admit, I have no idea what those things on the wall are... but I'm loving the tribal vibe they add to this display.

 

Wood trunks are finding their way into my designs these days as storage and side tables. I can see stacking this pair of pale wood and chalky gray beauties under a window or by a bed.

 

Sometimes I just walk around Big Daddy's Antiques to get inspired and get my creative juices flowing. As I lose myself in Shane's displays, I can feel the wheels turning (pun intended!).

 

 

I need to find a home for this whimsical dining table!

 

 

A vintage typewriter... a sculpture in the computer age!

 

I also adore vintage portraits. They have so much character! 

 

A little bit of black as an accent adds drama.

 

Beautiful!

 

 

 

Big Daddy's Antiques has a fantastic selection of interesting lighting.

 

I'll be heading back to Big Daddy's Antiques this Saturday, November 12th to shop, party, eat, drink, dance and celebrate the Grand Opening of their new location. Hope to see you there!

Big Daddy's Antiques Grand Opening

Saturday, November 12th, from 4:00 to 11:00 pm

3334 South La Cienega Place, Los Angeles, Ca 90016

tel: 310.769.6600

rsvp: [email protected]

 

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 & Linen via email click here.

To follow Velvet & Linen on Facebook click here.

Please visit the Patina Style Barnes and Noble page or Amazon page  to order our new book.

Signed Copies of Patina Style are available through Giannetti Home.

 

 

three "must read" books...

We had an unusally rainy weekend here in Los Angeles, so I decided to take advantage of the time indoors to finally read the stack of books that is overtaking my office. There are three in particular that I think you will enjoy...

Reading Living in Provence by Barbara and Rene Stoeltie made me want to do just that! I used up an entire pad of Post-it notes, saving almost every image as inpiration for Patina Farm  as well as for our clients' project...

 

The French know how to create beautiful, imperfect displays. I'm saving this image for future cabinetry inspiration!

 

I'm contemplating using a farmhouse table in the center of my kitchen. This looks like a wonderful place to have a casual dinner with close friends and family. 

 

Gravel, old stone walls, long farmhouse table... what's not to love?

 

We plan to have several fountains on Patina Farm. I prefer rustic fountains, similar to this. Oh, and I'll take some grape vines as well.

 

My present garden is filled with blooms of many muted colors, but lately I seem to drawn to gorgeous green gardens, with plenty of boxwood balls. There's nothing wrong with a chaotic mass of intertwined vines to balance out the manicured topiaries. 

 

This is the best pool I've ever seen... a simple rectangle surrounded by garden. 

 

Details to note: Rustic: old beams,  chalky gray floor, creamy aged plaster walls, casual bedding... added to  Refined: elegant fireplace, crystal sconces, tall trumeau = Perfection.

 

The Dream Bathroom: Chalky blue paneling, antique brass fixtures, unfinished wood floors...

 

Finally, some Chicken Kitchen inspiration: a rustic stone sink, and a quirky little window looking out towards the chicken garden.

If you love Provence as much as I do, I highly recommend Living in Provence!

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After lunch, as the rain continued to drench my garden outside, I wrapped myself in a blanket next to the fire and began turning the pages of Country Chic by Beatrix Kleuver. 

 

I first read about this wonderful book on my friend Greet's blog, Belgian Pearls. I love Greet's taste, so I wasn't surprised by the beauty inside this book.

 

Every image is stunning.

 

 

To preview Country Chic, please visit Beatrix Kleuver's website.

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I spent the rest of the day underlining and taking notes as I tried to absorb all of the indispensible information in my friend Keith Granet's new book, The Business of Design: Balancing Creativity and Profitablity. 

 

Keith has worked with many of the top architects and interior designers, helping them to create business plans that have allowed many of them to expand their design businesses to include successful publishing ventures and licensing deals. 

A couple of the products designed by Keith's clients, including one of my favorites, the Morris Lantern by Suzanne Kasler. 

As Keith states in his book, there are thousands of design books that provide visual inspiration, but there aren't any books that address the specific business challenges of the design industry... until now!

In The Business of Design, Keith explains in depth: how to write a business plan, how to structure your financial system, the importance of marketing and public relations, the role of human resources, the steps of project management, and finally the trend in the design community to develop products. 

Samples of designer brand books.

The Business of Design is well written and easy to understand, even for us "artsy" people. After years of working with designers, who is better to write this book than Keith Granet?

I loved reading the interviews with noted architects and designers at the end of each chapter.

I highly recommend The Business of Design for anyone in the design industry.

What are your reading? I'd love some recommendations!

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 & Linen via email click here.

To follow Velvet & Linen on Facebook click here.

Please visit the Patina Style Barnes and Noble page or Amazon page  to order our new book.

Signed Copies of Patina Style are available through Giannetti Home.