If I didn’t know it before, looking at lots of houses online has confirmed something – gray is the new beige.  The default wall color in this day and age has shifted from beige to gray.  It’s the non-white choice of color that is neutral enough to not be offensive to potential home buyers.  Now, I’m not knocking on gray walls.  Most of the walls in my previous home in Minnesota were painted gray.  Stonington Gray by Benjamin Moore to be exact.  But as I’ve felt an aversion to old homes painted in neutral, cold grays, I wanted to try to articulate why it wasn’t working for me and some of the keys to making gray walls work and look their best. making gray walls work | it has to be the right gray for the house People often pick neutral colors like gray, beige, and white because they seem

When I was hunting for pictures of my French dining chairs to share their makeover all in one post, I found myself admiring old pictures of my blue and white curtains I made out of fabric by Waverly.  Would I want to revisit that fabric again in our next house? I fell in love with this fabric over ten years ago.  Tucker Resist Chambray is a fabric pattern that is a reproduction of a fabric used in historic homes in Williamsburg.  So, of course, when you put blue and white together in a historic pattern, I am going to be a fan.  The pattern initially was offered in two different fabric options – a linen blend, and an outdoor-friendly fabric.  For my curtains, I ordered the outdoor version of the fabric because it was less than half the cost.  The fabric also was thick and had a nice drape to

As I’m sharing decorating books and pictures that inspire me as well as some of the things I’ve purchased for our future home (which is still just a daydream), I’m often asked about the decorating direction for our next home.  The simple answer is, that I won’t fully know until we select the house.  I believe in working with a house, really listening to it, and melding my vision with its best features.  I don’t like to forcefully impose a style on a house that is completely at odds with what it was originally designed to be.  The longer answer, which I will expand on in this post, is that I am feeling drawn to a more traditional style.  I’m especially smitten with architecture and decor that showcases federal style.  As with all architectural and decorating styles, the federal style can encompass a variety of features and aesthetics and it

When I first started working on the book , I knew I wanted to shoot some local Rochester homes.  My friend Cheri’s home was a no-brainer.  But I was hoping for at least one more house that I could photograph.  I ended up finding that house in an unexpected way and I thought I would share this curated, traditional home tour with you. I had been on the hunt for a settee, small sofa, or daybed to fit in the alcove in our master bedroom for a couple of years when I finally tripped across a wonderful antique daybed on Facebook Marketplace… You can read more about the daybed HERE and the cushion I made for it HERE. I messaged the seller right away and set up a time to pick it up later that day. As we drove through the neighborhood, following the GPS to the seller’s house, I