Les Toiles Du Soleil and a "Beachy" giveaway

I visited a wonderful shop in NYC that I want to share with you.  The name  is Les Toiles du Soleil.  It is a happy and colorful fabric store that was founded 150 years ago in a small town in the Catalan part of France called Saint Laurent de Cerdans. 

The shopkeepers, Sandrine Guibert and Jean Luc Carrucciu are a delightful husband and wife duo from the Catalan region that brought Les Toiles du Soleil to New York City in 2008.  The shop is located at 261 West 19th Street. There is also a website that you can order the items from.  To view, go here.

                                                         

Above is the collection of subrella fabrics.  They are perfect to brighten any outdoor space!

They also have 100% cottons that are great for upholstery, curtains, roman shades,  etc.

The fabrics are still made on the traditional looms to keep their ancestral quality.

Here some samples of items that are made from the fabric:

Aprons

Deck chairs

Espadrilles in many colors!  Les Toiles Du Soleil is well known in Europe for their Espadrilles.

I could not resist these red, green and orange ones!  Had to buy to go with:

This red jacket!  (The colors are off in the pictures, but they are a perfect match.)

I am going to wear the shoes and jacket with jeans rolled up to show the shoes and white t-shirt.

Tori Burch is showing a very similar shoe in her 2010 summer collection for double the price!

Les Toiles also make the fabric into great napkins, tote bags, and beach bags.

There are stuffed bears and bunnies, too!

Here is a little designer hint- if you want to order samples from the Les Toiles Du Soleil website.  Because each fabric is 72" wide with a large repeat, a swatch is not going to be large enough so order a 9" piece.  It will cost a little but will be worth it.

Sandrine told me that many people come in to buy just enough for a pillow because they are afraid to use so much color BUT they seemed to always come back for more.  The fabrics are so bright that they enliven the mood of your room.  Especially, she says, when it is gray and cloudy outside.

 I can totally see these fabrics in a beach house,  a kid's playroom or bedroom.  If you have white slipcovered furniture, add mitered striped pillows in the bright colors for the summer season. To die for!

NOW, for the giveaway!  I am going to give a Les Toiles Du Soleil beach bag to one lucky reader.  Here is all you need to do:

Either...

1. Leave me a comment.
2. Become a follower.
3. Add me to your blog list and let me know that you added me.

It is that simple!  A winner will be chosen randomly.  I will put all the names in a bowl and have one of my kids draw the winner. (I know too many of you to choose myself!)   Please, make sure to leave an email so I can email the winner.  I will name a winner on Wednesday, 4/14.

Here is the bag!!  Sorry for the "not so great" picture, it was getting dark outside when I took the photo.  I promise the bag is yummy!  

Au Revoir for now!

A Beautiful Connecticut Easter!

Welcome to  a gorgeous Easter Sunday in Connecticut!!!  We have had soooo much rain and today was the first really pretty day!  I decided to have our Easter brunch outdoors on the terrace.  Here are some photos....

This is my family- step kids with the boyfriend and girlfriend, my twin boys, and my husband.  I am very blessed to have a great family!!


Hope your Easter or Passover was great, too!

Au Revoir for now!

Is Restoration Hardware diluting the integrity of Belgian and Industrial design?

I received the new Restoration Hardware catalog the other day.  While flipping through, I noticed how  their new designs are heavily focused on swedish design with reclaimed wood and industrial designs.

As a designer, I am never happy when a unique design aesthetic becomes mainstream.  It waters the integrity of the design down AND lowers the value of the true antiques.

Here are some photos of some very talented designers and antiques dealers that have made their name from Swedish and French design.

Houstonian Designer Pam Pierce via Cote de Texas

Houstonian Designer Pam Pierce via Cote de Texas

Lars Bolander Designs

Lars Bolander Designs

Lars Bolander Designs

Suzanne Kassler Design

Tara Shaw Antiques

Brooke and Steve Gianetti's kitchen via Velvet and  Linen Blog
(notice the industrial stools - I believe they are vintage medical chairs)

Steve Gianetti office - Giannetti Home and Velvet and Linen Blog
(He collected industrial artifacts and gears)

Industrial Light from South of Market in Atlanta - photo via Velvet and Linen

Each one of these designers and/or architects has a very special gift in finding unusual antiques and a wonderful design aesthetic.  I think that Restoration Hardware has really taken something from them and other designers who specialize in this aesthetic.

Here are the Restoration Hardware items:

Belgian linen covered french chairs

Reclaimed wood trestle table

                            Reclaimed wood baker's shelves           Industrial stool

Reproduction Gears

Reclaimed wood kitchen island

Brickmaker's Table

(Velvet & Linen blog had a giveaway of this table several months back - not a restoration hardware one)

Reproduction French Feed Sack Pillows

Belgian Linen upholstered sofa, reclaimed wood mirror, industrial tripod lights....

I wonder how these designers feel?

 Once, we sold a home that I had designed and the person who purchased it took photos of everything I had designed in order to replicate it!  She even went so far as to bring a woodworker in to measure my antique dining room table to have it built.  Now, I would have sold her the items which were all antiques but she was trying to do it on the "cheap".   (This is extremely insulting to a designer...it feels like stealing.)

I would love to know your thoughts on the Restoration Hardware reproductions.

Au revoir for now!

Does Size Matter?....um, I mean chairs!

I was reading a great post on Visual Vamp about a Eames rocking chair she bought for a client and the scale was really small for her tall client. Go to syndrome.htmlttp://visualvamp.blogspot.com/2010/03/mezuzah-syndrome.html to read the post.

It started me thinking about the scale of antique furniture vs. the size of Americans today.   I have two 19th century english fireside chairs that have moved to many different locations in houses that we have lived in.  Here are the fireside chairs in our family room.

These chairs were originally used by the gentlemen of a manor to take a "warm" by the fire.  Now, I got to tell you that these chairs are mine and my 12-year-old twin boys favorite chairs to sit in. They are the perfect size for us.  I am only 5' 3" and the twins  are rapidly catching up to me. These chairs are ergonomically correct for a 5'3" person and are super cozy BUT certainly not for my husband (or for most grown men, for that matter.

So I did some research...in the 1800's, the average height of a man was or 5'2" and now is 5'10".  The height of an average woman in 1940's was 5'2 1/2" and now is 5' 4 1/2 to 5'5" (all info from wikipedia).

Boy, I feel short!

Visual Vamp Blog photo

The Eames rocking chair was designed in 1948.

Just to give a visual scale of club chairs today that men love to sit in because they are  big and hugging. 

Our living room

Wow, big difference!  Maybe that is why most men do not have an appreciation for antiques chairs and couches.

Thoughts?

Au Revoir for now.

Where For Art Thou Spring?

This is looking out the door of our home in Connecticut!

I can not wait until spring.  It has been a hard winter in the Northeast.  To anyone living in California, Arizona and Florida, you are lucky ducks!  Seems like you are the only states that escaped the snow. Last weekend, the snow was falling like crazy and the flakes were the size of plates! 

I am so anxious for spring that when we had our first sunny 45 degree day on Monday, I took my camera out for a stroll in NYC in hopes of finding a sign of spring.  Here is what I found:

See the sad, little, dried hydrangea clinging on for dear life!  Yep, that was real wishful thinking!

See the tiny black thing in the snow? That is a bird looking for spring, too!

Oh well, I guess I will have to MINDFULLY WILL spring to come!  Here are the wonderful things I LOVE about Spring!

The signs of spring life begin with the emergence of the little leaves pushing through the ground to become beautiful tulips and crocuses.

Along with the blossoming trees, don't you love Cherry Blossom and Dogwood trees?

Love the fresh, baby blades of grass that get thicker and thicker to make a soft carpet to walk on barefoot!

Spring is a celebration of new babies of all kinds!

I also find that everyone is affected by "spring fever". You just feel more alive!!! Isn't this a gorgeous photo of Sophia Loren and her niece?

I actually feel that I peel a layer of protection off  when spring comes.  I have been shrouded  in coats for so many months....

Now, I can wear pretty florals and feel like a "girly" girl.

And finally, after long months in a house or apartment, it is time to dine al fresco!!

I hope these images inspire all my readers to WILL spring to come.  What do you love about spring?


Au Revoir for now!