I just about DIED when I flipped through the Restoration Hardware Outdoor catalog the other day! FINALLY, a new + fresh option for outdoor furniture, (don't get me wrong, there are fantastic options out there, but they all start to look the same after a bit!)....a classic, iconic, elegant Klismos collection! For outdoors! Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, (and so "classique"!). Its so pretty, you could put it indoors. Great job, Restoration Hardware!

The Klismos Collection from Restoration Hardware

The Klismos Side Chair from Restoration Hardware, $360

It doesn't get more classic, easy or affordable than this!  Check out Crate and Barrel's new "French Kitchen Island". This piece is a very reasonable solution to either upgrade a "Builder Basic"* island or have a brand new island! I'm a sucker for open storage and anything Carrara Marble. I also adore the towel bars on each side.

Crate & Barrel "French Kitchen Island" $999

And, if you don't have room for an island (or the one you have is great already), consider the table. Would look great in a breakfast room or a Kitchen/Dining combo area (just don't use both of them together- it'll look too "matchy-matchy").

Create & Barrel "French Kitchen Table" $1,299

* "Builder Basic" is what I refer to as the standard finishes a builder may put into a home with no other design input from the client, designer or architect. Typically it follows convention and usually saves the builder money.  In this case, its an island created using the same cabinetry as the cabinets lining the walls in the kitchen, typically very narrow and not in proportion to the space available for an island.

I have a thing for windsor chairs. Imagine my interest when I received a mailing from Thos. Moser with their take on the calssic windsor chair- two toned with exposed joinery. Ummm, yummy! Love it!

Check out their site to see all of their gorgeous creations- there is something for traditional and contemporary styles alike. They have photo "sharing" blockers on their website (and a google search was fruitless), so I had to scan their mailer to give you an idea of what they do. Simply gorgeous.

And, since I'm talking about windsor chairs....here is the first piece of antique furniture I ever purchased (great story on this, but I'll save it for another day). I love this chair.

This is a story of a petite wingback chair. In every project, there is an issue (well, lets be honest, sometimes there are more than one!). For this project- it was these chairs. I won't go into the details (or out the vendor!)- but lets just say that the normal, nice and cooporative Ms. Janelle Steinberg can turn into a hard-hitting, sharp shooter when anything having to do with my client's project is on the line. This was the case with these chairs. BUT! In the end, all turned out fine and my client is happy (which, at the end of the day, is all that really matters). I am constantly amazed that everything always works itself out. So, the "Behind the Scenes" evolution of this pair of wingback chairs is as follows...

We needed some great head chairs for this gorgeous dining table (excuse the Sharpie- we marked up the spec sheet when sourcing for this project):

We went shopping at the PDC (one of only a few trips- this client was a pro at fast decisions...an interior designer's dream!). We were looking for upholstered chairs for the heads of the table. Possibly a wingback, maybe something else if it struck us as "perfect". I pre-sourced a few options and we visited the showrooms to sit, touch, feel (basically ohhh and ahhhh), and we both decided that this petite wingback with Fruitwood finish was perfect in every way for my client's Dining Room and for the above table:

Now that we had the furniture piece selected, we could find the fabric for it! For me, selecting fabrics if one of the most enjoyable ID activities- its like picking colors for a painting or selecting jems and baubles for making jewlery- both of which I enjoy as hobbies. (Oh, any by the way, you really want to select fabrics after finding or designing your furniture, that way the scale and porportion will be right on.) We went shopping again and my client fell IN LOVE (she really, really loved this fabric!) with this gorgeous and fun stylized Jacobean flower motif printed on silk. Its by Quadrille (lovely, lovely Quadrille!). This was the *first* (see where I'm going with this?) fabric selection:

I received the yardage estimate from my vendor for those perfect petite wingback chairs. Wrote up the PO. Then realized they severly underquoted me as I was double checking everything (you always want to double check EVERYTHING!). Even though I gave my vendor the fabric info...they were wrong. At the very last minute, right before ordering, I realized something wasn't right- thank goodness. I went back to the vendor, waited on emails from their factory on the other side of the country...and they wanted double the fabric they initially quoted me. DOUBLE! Since I take budgets pretty seriously, I was not happy about the situation, and the fact that they misquoted me AGAIN. This fabric is nearly $200 per yard. On top of that issue (which turned out to not be an issue for my gracious client), the REAL issue was Quadrille does custom yardage runs and there just wasn't enough on hand to fulfill the extra yardage needed. The leadtime for European production for more yardage was about three months. This was the straw that broke the camel's back and made us reselect. I was disappointed, knowing how much my client adored this fabric!

So, naturally, I take her to Schumacher (one of my favs). Almost instantly (remember how I told you my client has that super-decisive thing going on?!) her eyes met the gaze of this super fun linen by Celerie Kemble:

I was thrilled (thrilled!) my client went for orange. Anyone who knows me, knows I've been obsessed with orange for awhile now. So, we took a memo (a "memo" is loaner sample of the fabric that showrooms loan out to designers) so I could find trim. The Dining Room has this great shell chandelier with lots of corals, orange-pinks, bisque yellows, pinks and whites.

I thought pink trim would be super fun against the orange and incorporate some of the pinks from the shells (which you can't really see in the photo- but its in there). I found this at Kravet a few days later, on a solo shopping trip:

The trim was perfect in every way. It was simple (I am known as the anti-trim designer with my fabricator...I stay away, far, far away from frilly trims! They have their time and place- but aesthetically, I am not a fan of drippy and goopy trims), AND it had orange with two shades of pink....perfect! I got back to my studio and sent a mock up to my client via email:

She loved it and approved it for purchase. Now...back to the chairs. My vendor quoted me on the yardage. I double checked, *specifically asked* and made sure that their quote was okay. I got a confimation. I then ordered the yardage they told me to order and has it sent to their factory on the East Coast.

A few weeks later, I get a call. They need to back the linen. Okay- fine. This sometimes happens. (They do it to add support to certain fabrics, and/or make it easier to work with.) Its extra money, okay, fine- its not that much and it needs to happen. Client understands, I understand. We submit the paperwork which pretty much says if they mess it up in the backing process, we can't blame them (kind of a scary document!).

A few weeks later I get another call. The knit backing won't work on this fabric (even though they already told me everything would be okay....not to MENTION this is WEEKS after we submit both approval AND payment for the backing....why are they just calling me NOW about this?!). They need to upholster in muslin first (which means more money), then apply our fabric...oh, and....they need more yardage! I was not happy. At. All. My rep was caught in the middle- shes just the messenger. My client has no idea anything is wrong or that we could possibly go over budget (afterall- it is my job to make it easy on my client! and Im happy to do it!), and these chairs which should be IN my client's house already are not even half way done. It was a headache.

I double checked with MY fabricator that fabricates all my custom designs from the smallest pillow to custom upholstery and drapery to just about anything else I need created. They told me the yardage my vendor had should be enough and that I donn't need more. So...after going over everything with my client, we opted to have the chairs shipped to my workroom to be finished.

After all that....the chairs came out amazing (and with no extra yardage or double upholstery needed- which means my client didn't have to add more to the budget for this room). This is the type of situation designer's handle for our client's. Its all in a day's work! (Well, it was actually spread out across a month or two!). Here is the latest photo I took from a design meeting at my factory. It still needed one more row of brushed brass nail heads...but it came out great! Now, I can't wait for the photoshoot in the beginning on 2010! (We are waiting on the custom rugs!).

And, here is the drapery right after installation (it stays tied the first few days for shape)

I love the idea of stand-by furniture that actually looks nice. The idea behind "break down" furniture came from the need to travel during political campaigns...all the comforts of home would be neatly folded up, packed, and unpacked at various locations. Portable furniture broke down fast and it was the easiest and best way to transport everything along the trail. Now that we have hotels, "fold-able" furniture usually makes its debut when we go to the beach or the lake, throw a Bar-B-Q...or when we host unusual amounts of holiday company (think cold aluminum chair with a cushion the thickness of a pancake). Now there is no excuse. Find the entire line of British Campaign Furniture here, and visit this site for other fold-able options.

Havana chair in Rosewood with matching table. By Lewis Drake.

Makes a chic picnic setting, don't you think?

The Havana chair, folded.

Rosewood Lounger by Lewis Drake.

Would look great on the deck of a yacht.

Officers Lounge Chair in Rosewood by Lewis Drake

Barbados Croquet Chair by Lewis Drake, also in Rosewood

Great for extra seating for various home styles.

French Cane Back Folding Chair from Stacks and Stacks.

Diamond back folding chair, Stacks and Stacks

I love everything French Heritage makes (well, just about everything). I received the French Heritage market booklet with a preview of their new pieces for High Point market. I can't find them on their site yet, so I scanned the booklet in order to show you- circled with a sharpie and all! Great styling on this coffee table and etagere*, very masculine and chic. I'm pretty sure these pieces are part of the new Beaulieu collection by Michel Koehl. You saw it here first!

*Despite my aunt and Mr. Wonderful poking fun at me and all the fancy technical names of furnishings and decorative objects, the word "Etagere" is not pronounced "Ed On A Chair". Just had to throw that in there for them.

Also, in case you are wondering what makes an "etagere" an etagere- its a set of open shelving, sometimes having a door on the very bottom for storage (most cases, its open top to bottom).

I adore the "4154 Chest" (see below) from Polidor, a furniture manufacturer out of Greenwich, CT. I had to clip it to my Polyvore in order to save the photo, so the colors are a bit off (the foam green is actually brown). To see this chest with better color rendering, click here.

Either way, this piece reminds me of Burberry Nova Check plaid. A great example of how fashion inspires interiors, even if this wasn't the original intent (which, I would like to think it is- what a great take on Nova Check!). I love making these connections. Reminds me of my time spent in the fashion industry.

To see other Polidor pieces, visit their homepage here.

Top Photo: Burberry "Nova Check" plaid pattern

Bottom Photo: Polidor "4154 Chest" in Chocolate Brown

Antiques: Filtered - by Janelle Steinberg on Polyvore.com

For one of my current clients, we are doing these amazingly fun and fresh chairs from Oly Studios. Its the Bobby chair. And its perfect for classic tastes of today. Its a hybrid of a Chippendale and a Queen Anne. I am so excited to have these chairs on order- can't wait for delivery! All of Oly's offerings are just great. Check them out here.

I am on the mailing list for many, many (many!) product lines. This one came across my wire today and I drooled a bit, thought about where I could put it in our place, decided I didn't have room for it- and that I would just post it here. I'm pretty sure I have an affinity towards British Colonial styling from growing up on "Pippy Longstocking", "The Swiss Family Robinson" and Disneyland's "Jungle Cruise" as a child. I also love the dark wood in British Colonial style- just like American Georgian and Federalist, which I (surprise!) admire as well. Enjoy this gorgeous settee! I would get a long down stuffed, self-welted cushion made from cut velvet for this chair. In white or possibly my signature mossy green from my living room. I would then place it in the foyer or somewhere in my bedroom. No pillows. Wouldn't want to hide that gorgeous canning or fluting!

"Settee BR003SE", Chocolate stained Mahogany wood.

$4,200 retail. By British Regency.

Fauteuil Pacha by James Duncan Collections

Cane /kan/, n.: stems of bamboo, rattan, or wicker used as a material for making furniture or baskets.

Fauteuil /fo-te'y...for us Americans, it sorta' sounds like "fo-toy"/, n.: an upholstered chair with open arms and a wooden frame.

I love this chair because it proves my theory on caning. It looks better painted, rather than stained. Its more graphic and fresh when its painted a solid color. Love it. Also, contrary to popular mistake, this type of chair is not a Bergere. A "Bergere" is an enclosed upholstered arm chair.

Perhaps people call it a Bergere because its easier to pronounce than "Fauteuil", but technically, an open arm chair such as this is a Fauteuil. Or, perhaps people think these are Bergeres due to sites like this. No matter- now you know! Impress your antiques dealer and your interior designer next time you discuss chairs.

For those of you who are desperately bad at French, like myself (due to four total years of Spanish in both high school and college- I just mix up all the rules and pronounce French words like a train wreck), just take a stab at it. Its better to call it what it is, rather than call it what its not.