Café Design

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I don’t know about you but as I grow older, I’ve noticed I start loving fall and winter more and more (although ask me again in a month or two and I may give you a different answer). We’re wrapping up the last of the garden work these weeks (we still need to add compost and manure, and mulch the last of the fallen leaves) but all of a sudden there’s that bit of extra time indoors that we can use to relax, dream and plan next year’s garden, and it’s around this time that I most want my home to feel like a warm hug, be comfortable for all of us and our guests. I also LOVE making lists so I thought I’d share with you my list of 10 ways to prepare our home for the cold season, starting with the big jobs, like cleaning, and decluttering.

You may or may not recall that earlier this year I started offering long-distance decorating consultations to readers who are faced with a decorating dilemma and need a fresh pair of eyes, or a second opinion. It’s been an incredible six months since and I had the best time meeting (on Zoom) and working with some  wonderful clients across the country and today I’d like to take you to Georgia and share with you a glimpse into one of my most recent projects for a sweet client in Atlanta. She and her husband recently purchased a beautiful Tudor Revival style home and she needed help figuring out her entry hall. My client has excellent taste and loves decorating but the room was somewhat of a puzzle and she reached out for my help. Here’s the inspiration she sent me: 

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Don’t you just love old decorating books, especially those on cottage style? Even if some of them are dated and feature rooms that may seem irrelevant for the way we live today, they can serve as excellent guides on the short life of trends vs. the staying power of good design. Perusing old bookstores and finding hidden treasures is one of my favorite pastimes and although I rarely get the chance anymore, I do enjoy browsing the shelves of local antiquarians and make up for lost time when I do. On my way home from the dentist the other day (ouch!), I stopped by one of my favorite booksellers in town and was rewarded with a little gem I’d love to share with you today. It’s an old decorating book that perhaps many of you already have, or know about – Putting the Heart in Your Home – Decorating That Nurtures Your Soul by Jean LemMon, published in 2004.

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Today I’d like to share with you a new book that’s come my way that I think many of you will find fascinating. Sketchbooks – Collected Measured Drawings and Architectural Sketches by George Saumarez Smith is a collection of architectural drawings, exclusive artwork and previously unseen images collected over the years by British classical architect George Saumarez Smith. His home, which we’ve seen here on Café Design, is filled with antiques, old books and  framed architectural drawings, many of them his own, and quite a few prized sketches by esteemed members of his profession. 

Over the weekend, The Garden Conservancy welcomed back visitors for a limited edition of their Open Days Gardens program and Clove Brook Farm, renowned ceramicist Christopher Spitzmiller’s Millbrook, NY, home, was one of the private gardens open to the public. I was delighted to make the 2 hour drive and to be honest, had a difficult time leaving. Clove Brook Farm is everything we’ve seen on social media and in Spitzmiller’s beautiful book A Year at Clove Brook Farm, only better. The amount of planning and hard work that goes into creating such beauty is humbling and I definitely left inspired. The most dramatic element in the garden right now are the hydrangeas.  They have just turned that deep, rusty pink that signals fall, and they stole the show for me. I know they’ll look splendid in Spitzmiller’s dried hydrangea arrangements.