A Little Luxurious Levity

If you always play it safe, that's ok. But not everyone does. For some, life is tough enough out there; when they get home, they would like a bit of cheer. Something unexpected that makes them smile again when they see it. Something just a little luxe, but in a fresh way.

Enter the designs of Christopher Guy and Emma Gardner, two of my favorites for clients who emphatically don't want a plain vanilla aesthetic. Hey, they probably like Christian Liaigre, but they want to mix it up, shake things up. Here they are shown alongside iconic French designers Frederic Mechiche, Jacques Adnet, and Jean Royere.

Emma Gardner's "Whole Baby Fish" Rug in Acid Hand-Knotted

Silk and Wool

Christopher Guy's Playful Headboard

Made up of Silk and Mohair Upholstered Ellipses

Iconic French Designer Jean Royere's

"Upholstered Bear Chairs"

Emma Gardner's "Joy" Rug in

Springtime Green Hand-Knotted Silk and Wool

Pair of Raspberry Fauiteuls by Jacques Adnet, Celebrated Icon of

Luxurious French Modernism

"Fire Island" Rug in Pale Shell Hand-Knotted Silk and Wool

by Emma Gardner

"Fishtail" in Chocolate Fossil Hand-Knotted Silk and Wool

by Emma Gardner

Emma Gardner's "Koi Pond" in Aqua

Hand-Knotted Silk and Wool

"Canape Allure" by Frederic Mechiche, French Designer

Known for Injecting Playfulness Into Luxury Designs

"Palace" Rug in Midnight Hand-Knotted

Silk and Wool

Christopher Guy's Design Squared Headboard

Made up of Silk and Mohair Upholstered Squares

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Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design

Our Love is {Sphere} to Stay!

Adults spend an astonishing nine hours per day looking at rectangular screens: computer, TV, iPhone, blackberry (aren't I this very minute looking intently at my Mac screen, scrutinizing every word and pixel, in a rush to get this post done before the season premiere of Mad Men?).

And, as a designer, I spend an extravagant amount of time concerned with rectangles: graph paper, doors, windows, floorplans, tiles, floors, picture frames, rugs, cabinets, countertops....on and on the list of angular items grows. And it seems the younger and hipper the client, the more straight lines there are.

The Artist Model Keeps Two of Artefact's Wire Spheres Company

Is it any wonder then, that where ever I go, I see spheres? O happy sight! Roundness, curves that are so curvy they meet themselves again in an eternal embrace! No angles to square? Relief!

Out scouting design ideas yesterday, I fell hard for spheres. The antidote to too many angles in our worlds.

Starfish-Covered Spheres on French Deco Club Chairs

Mossy Green Spheres in an Old French Urn for the Garden

Big Statement Spheres From Reclaimed Wood

A Spiky Little Guy Adds Oceanic Interest

Galileo Might Have Liked the Way These Spheres are Shaping Up

We Can Only Wonder What The Buddha Is Thinking About This Big Red Sphere

Rustic Sphere

Waterballs...Reclaimed From New England

Water Filtering Plant in Last Century..

Beloved by Designers Everywhere

Stunning Wire Sphere Crafted by Dave Allen at Artefact

A Tower 'o Balls 12 feet Tall...

Just In Case You Miss the Point

Equal Time to the Rosary, Since Buddha is Pictured Above!

A Tactile Soft Sphere

Small Delicate Orb Spheres in Blown Glass

Contemporary Chandelier in Crystal Daisies, A Diaphanous Sphere

Sources for These Spheres Click on the Store Names Below:

Artefact Design & Salvage, at Cornerstone in Sonoma, California

Extremely creative and talented team of David Allen and Wade Hines for very cool furnishings from repurposed items

Zipper, at Cornerstone in Sonoma, California

HIp and chic, not to be missed!

Chateau Sonoma, just off the Square in Sonoma, California

Well, if you can't make it to France anytime soon, just drop by toute de suite!

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Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design

Lowcountry Lowdown

If you don't really know what Lowcountry means, that's OK; you're probably not from Savannah, Georgia. Lowcountry is a good thing. It means you have a house made from wood (in case there is a hurricane, wood is good) circa 1905 with at least one porch, if not four (to catch the breezes and the latest gossip). It means your ceilings are high (heat rises), your overhanging eaves are deep (shade from the blazing subtropical sun), each room in your house has a ceiling fan (to keep that still air moving) and your old wooden floors are painted glossy white.

One of Four Porches on this Tybee Island Former Franciscan Convent

Lowcountry Cottage, Circa 1905

A Lovely Old Wicker Couch Inherited and Made Fresh With

Blue Pillows and Cover

Ten Foot High Double Door Entry to Circa 1905

Lowcountry Cottage on Tybee Island

A Beach is Never Far Away in the Lowcountry

The Front River, One of Dozens that Spill into the Atlantic

in the Lowcountry Around Savannah

Twelve Foot Ceilings with Cypress Walls in Circa 1905

Lowcountry Cottage on Tybee Island

It means your furnishings are simple (antiques inherited, found, made to work again), your decor clean and inspired by the surrounding beaches, marshes and rivers. It means that outside grow palmettos, palm trees, crepe myrtle, wisteria, dogwood, magnolia; with lots and lots of Spanish moss hanging around. It means you can probably hear the ocean, or at least throw a stone in any direction and hit a waterway of some sort: bayou, river, stream, bay, ocean.

Series of Oyster Shell Paintings Found at

One Fish Two Fish in Savannah

An Oyster Shell Lamp Found at Paris Market & Brocante in Savannah

The Carmelite Monastery on Front River on Coffee Bluff

Near Savannah

The Chapel of St. Mary in the Cathedral of St. John

the Baptist in Savannah

The Cathedral of St.John the Baptist in Savannah,

Founded by French Nobles Fleeing the

French Revolution in 1789

It also means you just might also have a city home half an hour away....in downtown Savannah. This home is situated down the square from the magnificent Cathedral of St. John the Baptist...founded by French nobles fleeing the French Revolution in 1789. This home can be Georgian or Regency, and can be splendid by anyone's standards. It sits proudly on a street paved with cobblestones and with sidewalks of herringbone brick made 300 years ago.

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Kit Golson Design

for elegant, sustainable and pragmatic

Chic Provence Interior Design