A Beautiful House

House Beautiful, a favorite magazine of mine and my mothers, has featured a beautiful house in Illinois of designer Annie Brahler and supplier of "Euro Trash" a company that imports old furniture from Europe and not fussing "about fancy-pants provenance," the furniture and accessories that people have used and don't want anymore.

 

The dog looks like Seamus

 A hall of mirrors

Annie's use of mirrors and chandeliers give this house elegance, the use of whites keeps it simple and clean and enables the use of gilt and crystal without going over the top. A beautiful balance of lighting,  color and design.  The use of white with brown, gray and touches of gold. I like how she is not afraid of using mirrors, they always lighten up a space. The hall of mirrors over the stairwell looks fabulous.

10 pendants for Dark Nights

Tonight we have to turn the clocks forward an hour. It will mean the night will come earlier, by 5 pm it will be dark, by the end of next month it will be dark by 4:30 pm, so that by Christmas 3:30 in the afternoon it will be dark. Not my favorite time but we use artificial light so much more in the winter months and it is with our pendants we can fill the space with light.

Make the pendant a piece of sculpture, an illuminating sculpture. Here are 10 of my favorites: classics, minimal, industrial, decorative, opulent:



1. Folded linen from Pinch

2. A drum shade in linen from Crate and Barrel

3. Glass industrial pendents from West Elm

4. A glass globe from West Elm

5. A Copper space ship from Conran Shop 

6. Hand lacquered steel and brass pendent from Conran Shop

7. Plumen lamps, no need for shades.

8. Moon like pendants from Design Within Reach

9. Pillar candle chandelier form Restoration Hardware

10. Mayfair Chandelier from Ralph Lauren

All of these give a beautiful quality of light in the evenings. Any of these will make the dark nights warm and welcoming.