Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission on all qualifying purchases. Thank you!
Happy Sunday, friends! I hope you’re staying cool and enjoying a relaxing weekend, wherever you are. Here in Western Mass we’ve had a terribly rainy July so far and are currently under a tornado warning but, regardless of the humidity and the heat, we’re wrapping up a fun weekend of celebrations at our house as my girl is turning 11! Can you believe it? Although we’ve been navigating the turbulent preteen waters for some time now, I need someone to pinch me… Where did the time go?
On the design side of things, I’ve collected a few items I found on my internet travels that I thought you’d enjoy. The first find of the week is a stunning vintage / antique wrought iron chandelier, inspired by one I’d seen in a project by G.P. Schafer Architect. I’ve been slightly obsessed with it ever since and was happy to find a very similar piece HERE, if anyone is interested (and willing to pay a pretty penny for it)! 🙂
And speaking of G.P. Schafer, Amazon has his first book, The Great American House, now a classic among lovers of traditional architecture, on sale and shipped overnight with free delivery for all Prime members. So, if you haven’t gotten your copy yet, now may be the time to change that.
The Great American House, by G. P. Schafer
Acclaimed architect Gil Schafer illustrates how he blends classical architecture, interior decoration, and landscape to create homes with a feeling of history. As a traditional architect, Gil Schafer specializes in building new “old” houses as well as renovating historic homes. His work takes the best of American historic and classical architecture—its detailed moldings and harmonious proportions—and updates it, retaining its character and detail while simultaneously reworking it to be more in tune with the way we live now—comfortable, practical, family-oriented.
In his first book, Schafer covers the three essential cornerstones of creating a great traditional house: architecture, landscape, and decoration. He discusses the important interplay between the interior architecture and the fabrics, furniture, and wall treatments. In-depth profiles build on these essays, including Schafer’s own new “old” house in the Hudson Valley; the renovation of a historic home in Nashville designed by Charles Platt in 1915; and the restoration of a magnificent 1843 Greek Revival mansion in Charleston. Filled with hundreds of interior and detail shots, The Great American House is an invaluable resource for anyone who loves old houses and traditional design.
Other books on my mind these days:
Knole – A Private View of One of Britain’s Great Houses, by Robert Sackville-West
The Sackville’s have inhabited Knole, one of Britain’s greatest houses, for more than four hundred years. Robert Sackville-West, the thirteenth generation of the family, takes the reader on a personal tour of this “calendar house,” with its legendary 365 rooms, fifty-two staircases, and seven courtyards.
Sumptuous photographs by designer Ashley Hicks—who recently photographed the interiors of Buckingham Palace—capture the smoldering spirit of Knole, from the state rooms, which house possibly the finest collection of royal Stuart furniture in the world, to the private apartments and gardens to the behind-the-scenes labyrinth of cellars and attics.
Knole provides a window onto English history. The characters who populate the pages—the grave Elizabethan statesman, the good-for-nothing gadabout at the seedy court of James I, the dashing cavalier, the Restoration rake, the 3rd Duke of the ancien régime—are all representative of their eras (members of a family described by Vita Sackville-West as “a race too prodigal, too amorous, too weak, too indolent, and too melancholy”). Vita’s own disinheritance from Knole prompted her dear friend Virginia Woolf to pen Orlando, furthering the place’s fame and glamorous luster.
Similarly, the architectural and decorative features of the house illustrate the different tastes of successive ages, from Thomas Sackville’s seventeenth-century makeover of a ramshackle medieval mansion to an early twentieth-century suite of rooms designed in the Bloomsbury style. Knole has never been illuminated in this way before.
Daily visits to Northumberland with inspector Vera Stanhope. I just finished The Glass Room, by Ann Cleeves, and loved it!
The Evolution of Home – English Interiors for a New Era by Sims Hilditch
How cute (and timeless) are these?
French Wooden Patio Chairs, Set of 4
Scalloped Edge Terra Cotta Planter Pots
I love your daughter’s sweet picture and hope the storm passed by your area without much trouble. I always appreciate the book ideas. I have had my eye on Gil Shafer’s book for quite sometime. I may actually splurge now, even if it is on a used version. Love your “finds” and inspiration. Hope you have a good week.
Author
Thank you, Lynn! I’m glad to hear that. No sign of a tornado, just a few droplets of rain so far – we were lucky.
You’re going to love Gil Schafer’s book!
xo, Eva