Slate

Hey!

Have I mentioned Slate Interiors, over on Central Avenue?

No?

Well, it's there and it's super fun and if you're in Charlotte, North Carolina and inclined to decorate your house with cool stuff, you should definitely go!

I went over this past Saturday and left with $20 worth of happy!

A little porcelain dish for my living room.

I know y'all are stunned!  Tonya bought a little bowl/dish for her house?????  NO!!!

Yes.  Yes, I did.

You know I have a thing for little bowls and dishes.

And how could I not? Especially when I have the perfect stack of unadorned books to put it on top of!

I'dnit precious?  I'dnit perfect?

Slate advertises itself as "Paris Flea Market Meets Soho" and well, that should tell you everything you need to know about why I first went in there.

Go. Shop.  Decorate.  Thank me later.

Bryn Alexandra Interiors

Last week, I met with a new designer who is going to help me here at Chateau Bee Charmer.

Her name is Bryn Dunn and her company is called Bryn Alexandra Interiors.

You can check her out here and here.

If you are local to Charlotte and you need a little help making your house beautiful, give her a call!

This Charming House

The Elliott Puckette is back!

Are y'all sick of it yet?  I don't care if you are.  I am excited about this. 

As I've told you before,  I bought an Elliott Puckette lithograph late last fall and immediately rushed it off to the framers.  And when it came back it was just ..... wrong.   I missed.   I don't often go wrong with my framing decisions but I just really messed up with the Puckette.   I think I overthought it.   You can go here and see what it looked like before.

But because I paid money for that frame job, I hung it in my bedroom and decided that I'd live with it for a while.  Well, last week I decided that I'd had enough and that despite a valiant effort on my part, I still hated it.  So back it went and today I picked up the re-framed piece and I have to say....

I LOVE IT! 

Here it is hanging in it's new spot in the entry hall. I just cannot get over how much difference the frame and mat color makes.  It literally made my heart skip a beat when I hung it on the wall.

And as an added bonus I moved the piece that was previously hanging here (an Imogen Cunningham print) upstairs to the empty spot in my bedroom, where it looks so wonderful and completely new. 

I need to thank the lovely and patient guys at my frame shop, Corners, to whom I owe a debt of gratitude.  If you're a Charlotte area reader, definitely give them your business.  There are no words to describe how great they are. 

Jennifer Aniston Bores Me

I like Jennifer Aniston, I really do.  I was a Friends fan and I think she is very likable in her movies.

However - 

A while back, my friend Sarah was over and we were talking about Brad and Jen ('cause it's like everybody knows them) and Sarah says:  "I think he left her because she's so boring."

And I had never thought about it before, but since that night, that's all I can think about her.  Damn, but she's boring.  Same hair.  Same jeans.  Same damn black dress and strappy shoes.

I see from JustJared.com that she has gone off to Cabo - again - for her birthday.  Geeze - if you had as much money as she does, don't you think you'd go somewhere else every once in a while?  She's either shopping in Malibu or going to Cabo.  It's like people here who think the only vacation destination is Myrtle Beach.  And money is no object for this woman!  I just don't get it.

I also looked through Architectural Digest (which features her house this month) because one of my favorite things to do in the world is look at other people's houses.   And I have to say that I was - I don't know the word.  Underwhelmed?  Disappointed?  Bored?

The house was definitely not my personal cup of tea and I have to say that they really didn't show very much of it at all.  It is really a few carefully edited snips that don't give you much of an idea about either the interior of the house or the person who lives in it.  And I get that a person in her position might want to protect her privacy, but then again she did invite a national magazine in to take pictures.  Suffice it to say that I saw nothing personal or illustrative of anybody in this house.  Oh, I take that back.  There was some funky Hermes ashtray full of packs of cigarettes.  I'm sure that says something about her.  But other than that, there were no photos, no tchotchkes, no quirky art.  It looked sort of hotel-like .....

A 1970's, wood paneled, stone walled, dark, shag carpeted hotel with a fish tank in the lobby where you could smoke where ever you want.  

There are a lot of West Virginians who live like that today and they get made fun of - I'm just sayin'.

And lastly, before we leave the subject of Ms. Aniston behind, I want to say that I saw a trailer for her new movie last weekend.  It looks like every other romantic comedy movie that she's made in the past 10 years.  But the close ups - my goodness.  Ms. Aniston really needs to get her ass out of the sun and put down the smokes.

'Cause the cigarettes and the sun damage -

Have. Caught. Up.

This Charming House

The other night my friend was over and said to me:

"You know almost all the furniture in your house is new."

I freaked out a little because I had never thought about it like that, but she was kinda right.  The fact of the matter is that I needed a lot of new furniture when I moved into my townhouse just because it was so much bigger than my old place.  So I ended up buying some new stuff that I knew I needed and some new stuff that I wanted simply because I was moving into a new house.  Since the move,  I've ended up buying some more new furniture that I hadn't intended on buying, namely the master bedroom stuff and a new sofa and chair for my living room. 

One of the things I love most about interior decorating, is mixing old things with new.  Despite my new purchases I have several pieces that have been given to me by my family or that I have picked up at yard sales, flea markets, whatever.  I think that these odd little pieces give life and character to your home and I also love that they always come with a story.  Who you got it from, where you got it, how many times you got lost looking for the yard sale....

One of my favorite things is this little table that belonged to my Grandmother.  It sat in her bedroom, over by her radiator, and for as long as I can ever remember she had magazines and books piled all over it.  After she died, I took it because nobody else seemed to want it and I figure a little occasional table is always nice.  It was finished in sort of a mahogany stain and had a lot of dings and nicks on the legs.  Grossly, there were a couple of wads of chewing gum stuck underneath it and I wondered which of my father's siblings (or even my Dad) were responsible for such a thing.

After I moved in here, I stripped it and spray painted it semi-gloss black and then added a coat of spray polyurethane.  I'm so pleased with the way it turned out. 

 

Now it sits beside my very mid-century modern chair in the living room.  The little tray top is so cool and I have added the black and white tray that I picked up a couple of years ago in Charleston. It looks so crisp sitting beside by white chair and the contrast of the details on the table against the squareness of the chair just never fails to make me happy.  My mother couldn't believe what it looked like painted and I often wonder what my very proper Grandmother would make of the desecration of her table with black spray paint.  Somehow, I think she'd approve.  She was always a lot cooler than others gave her credit for. 

So keep your eyes peeled for an interesting little table, whether it's at your neighbor's yard sale or your Grandma's basement.  If you love it, I promise it will always find a place in your place.

This Charming House

My sweet friend came over to hang out on Friday night and wanted to see "the new stuff".  I thought I'd show y'all, too.  Although there isn't much of it!

This is my new star shaped ash tray that I found for $4.00 at Sleepy Poet.

You know, when I was growing up everybody smoked and every house had a cool and/or handsome ash tray sitting around.  I miss them!  Even though I don't smoke and never have, I always enjoy finding a cool ashtray.  So I snatched this one up.  It'll make a cute candy dish.

 

And here's the new office lamp.  It's Robert Abbey and it was on sale at Crate and Barrel.  I know, I know, I need to branch out.  But it was cute and convenient and the price was right.  Never fear for the other, vintage lamp, though.  I am sending it out to be rewired and it is going to my office office (at work) which is what I bought it for to begin with.

 

This Charming House

I worked on the office this past weekend.

The whole work area is a little bit schizophrenic. Target desk, vintage lamp, vintage chair, ubiquitous "Keep Calm" poster and state of the art computer.

In this picture, it looks a little bit like an Apple Shrine.

Strangely, even though it doesn't go with the rest of the house, I like my little desk area.  I think it's got pizzazz and it makes me happy to sit there and work.  Which may be half the battle.

As for the main mess in this room - I spent several hours cleaning out and organizing the office closet  in order to accommodate my printer and all my office stuff.  I put it all in the closet because it's a small room and I had room in the closet and even though it looks nicely organized, I still don't want to look at it all the time. 

I am really happy with it!

Two days and $40 worth of Ikea organization boxes makes a HUGE difference!  And now that I can actually FIND all the stuff that used to be piled on this shelf in no particular order - for two years - well, I just love it and I wish I had done it before now.  The only bummer is that I really wanted pink boxes but they don't have them anymore, at least not at my Ikea. 

Here's a close up of the new wireless printer.  I'm getting an outlet installed in the closet so I can plug it in without a hassle.  Notice all my pretty sharpies in their cups.  I have a friend who used to work for Newell Rubbermaid and she hooked me up! Now I can write boldly in any number of colors!

And just so ya know, we listed to ADELE while we put boxes together... I'll just say that her CD lent itself to that kind of work.

This Charming House

My friend, Sarah, thinks that I should win the award for loving the most impractical desk.

I love this desk.

So I think she's right.

A Little Pretty for the Weekend

This room was designed by Carrier and Company for a home somewhere in Connecticut.

I have two things to say about it.

It's pretty.

That's an Elliott Puckette hanging over the fireplace.

Home Style

I took the HomeGoods StyleScope test, which was created by Deborah Needleman, the founding Editor in Chief of Domino Magazine and co-author of "Domino: The Book of Decorating".

This is what it had to say about me:

You are a Dramatic Modern

You keep up with culture, style, and trends, but have a classical appreciation for beautiful forms and well-made, functional objects. You are inspired by good design and quality craftsmanship, but have a sense of the theatrical and the fun. You liven things up and infuse personality into your rooms. You like how something ornate mixes with modern, or how daring flourishes, like bold color or a wild pattern, can inject some humor and contrast to the serious, straight lines of modern pieces. You are a style leader, and your friends look to you for advice. You are not afraid of glamour. Because you embrace color, art, and elegance, your home makes a happy impact.
You value serenity. While there are probably a lot of interesting things in your home, they are joined by your taste or a certain palette that keeps them in harmony. You appreciate the beauty in simple forms. Whether fancy or plain, you appreciate things that are well made and function as well as they look. You also have a strong respect for the environment and craftsmanship. You care about how things are made, and how they are used.

I think it's stunningly accurate! Dramatic! Modern! The embrace of elegance!
The Bee Charmer STRIVES for elegance - so there ya go.

You can take it here, if you are so inclined.

Dream Bathroom

If money were no object, this is what my bathroom would look like.

Elliott Puckette, Part Two

I really don't have a lot to say about Elliott Puckette, except:

I love her I love her I love her.

Seriously, if I won the lottery, I'd build a house and have it designed around all of her art that I would buy.

That's how much I love her.


She's Southern, born and raised in Tennessee, educated in New York.

I don't think that her Southern-ness is either here or there, but it makes me love her more.

I'm really not a fan of abstract art, but something about these works speaks to me. And they aren't as easy as they look. She makes her abstracts with gesso (whatever the hell that is) and colored inks and then scores the marks and flowing lines with a razor blade - at least that's what Vogue has to say about her.

I just find it mesmerizing. Modern and yet, elegant and not formal or harsh. Kind of how I want to be - so maybe I'm projecting? Maybe just hopeful.

She sells her work through Danziger Projects and the Paul Kasmin Gallery.
And you can check her out there if you want to know more.
Photos from Vogue and Domino Magazine

2010 Wall Calendar

I've been looking around for a new wall calendar for next year.

I wanted something a little unusual - but not weird.

Enter Hammypie.

I ordered the lovely, simple and elegant Penmanship Practice Wall Calendar from her Etsy shop.




It hasn't arrived in the mail yet, but I'll be sure to update when it does.
If you're looking for a new calendar, there are some super cool ones on Etsy and you should go there and shop! Support local artists and swank up your house at the same time.
What could be nicer?

New Dinette Chairs

Here's Lola Bean - isn't she pretty? - showing off the new dinette chairs.

They're not finished yet because they have to have new seat cushions, but you get the gist.

They are midcentury modern and were made in Sweden. I picked them up at the Sleepy Poet Antique Mall where I find most of the cool stuff in the house. I committed blasphemy by spray painting them black but after a lot of thought I decided "They're my chairs. I can spray paint them if I want to." I'm on the hunt for something cool to upholster the seats with. Then they are off to Darren at The Upholstery Shop in beautiful, scenic Lincolnton, North Carolina.

We're sending a special smoochie out to Julie and The Chris for their invaluable help in hauling them home!

The Stairwell

I know that y'all have just been dying to see the stairwell!

You remember what it looked like before: Builder's Beige and Home Depot Bargain Basement Builder's Grade Banisters (say that five times fast)


And here it is now:

I had the stairwell painted the same color as the rest of my downstairs - Tuscan Beige by Behr.

And I painted the banisters white.
At first I couldn't decide what to do with the banisters, because I hated them with a red hot passion.
I got a quote on having them all ripped out and replaced - but in the end, I didn't think replacing them would be a good investment.
Then I got a quote on having them professionally painted - $300.00.
Now I am willing to throw money at problems, but when it comes to something that I can paint myself - well - I just couldn't do it.
So for the price of a quart of paint and some blood, sweat and tears, I got a much cleaner look - or at least one I can live with. I also happen to think that it works more cohesively with the rest of the moldings in my place.

I must warn you that it was a miserable job and I hated every minute of it. It took three days and three coats - including one coat of oil based primer - but it looks clean and bright and I'm kind of a little proud of it. And the professional painter told me that I did a good job (when he was here to paint the kitchen) and that made it all the better.

New Couch Pillows

After two years of looking, I have finally found the perfect couch pillows - or at least perfect for now. They are, strangely enough, purple.

The little ones for the green chairs kicked off the whole thing. They are kind of perfect. And they were on sale.

I really love this one:

I found them at Isabella in Myers Park.

I'm having a couple of more made in lavender silk. I'll post updates when they come back from the seamstress.

Elliott Puckette

I've been a big fan or Elliott Puckette for a few years now, ever since I read the article in the May 2003 issue of Vogue.

I never thought I'd be able to own her work.

Happily, she offered a limited edition print through Conde Nast and I was thrilled to be able to buy it. It's happily hanging in my bedroom now.

Yay!

Here it is in the room -

Why Can't I Be Her?

This rug was featured in the September issue of Martha Stewart Living. It's in the home of Jennifer Chused, partner in DwellStudio.


Here she is wearing her cute dress and posing by her gorgeous rug.

I was so excited to get the issue and study the rug more closely.
Happily they listed the design source in the back of the magazine (Suzanne Sharpe, available at The Rug Company).
Sadly, it costs $80 per square foot. That's $4,320.00 if I get one big enough for my sunroom.
Damn! Why can't I have less expensive taste?
In the rug's defense, if it were available at Pottery Barn, I wouldn't want it.

Hipsteria Modern

The broken dining chair is already paying off....

I decided to check out the Raleigh Craiglist listings and happened upon this place -

Hipsteria Modern.

I think I may be in heaven.

I also think that a road trip is definitely in order.

Anybody want to ride along? If you have a truck, that'd be even better.

I'll do a full report after I visit, but it looks promising. Very, very promising.

If It Isn't One Thing

This weekend we had an "incident" with one of the zebra dining chairs in my dinette.

I love to say "dinette". It makes me feel mod and if I had a cigarette, a martini and a pair of capri pants, I'd be right there.

But I digress, as you all know I do from time to time.

The upshot of the whole thing is that I used to have four zebra dining chairs and now I have three. I immediately went online to CB2 to see about ordering another, but, alas, they are no more.

What is a girl to do?

I've decided to look at this as an opportunity for improvement.

The truth is, I've been a little bit iffy on my zebra chairs since I bought them. They are a little more yellow than I thought they would be when I ordered them. I love them, I just think that I should store them and find a perfect place for them later.

I've decided to scour the internet and western North Carolina in search of cool second hand chairs.

So far, these are the ones I love. They're on Ebay and I'm watching them. I don't believe they are going to be within my price point, but you never can tell.


Stay tuned.