Reader Question: What is Bobbin Furniture?

A few months ago, a reader asked me a very good question. What are these bobbin chairs that I keep referring to and praising? Originating mainly in the 1800's in England, the furniture ornamentation changed to a lighter look with bobbin or spool ornament. Bobbin furniture is mostly antiques and you can find a lot of beautiful ones on 1st Dibs and some less expensive ones on Ebay HERE, for example.

This gorgeous corner bobbin chair is one that I found on 1st Dibs from Yew Tree Antiques; one of my favorite antiques stores. A corner bobbin chair is quite rare.

These dining chairs are especially pretty as you can see the finish is worn down revealing the wood. By Victoria Hagan (her house on the Hamptons!)

Isn't this painted bobbin bed AMAZING? The answer is yes. By James Michael Howard.

The beauty of these chairs is that you can see their framework and they are still quite comfortable. The room by Mollie Johnson is very elegant yet very inviting.

Dan Marty, who has his own showroom, sells bobbin chairs as well! I love the upholstery on these. As a side note, how gorgeous is the color of these walls?

In searching I noticed that Martha Stewart also makes a bobbin chair HERE. Can you blame me for getting excited when a designer uses a bobbin chair in their work? They are so pretty and versatile. Thanks for the great questions--keep them coming!

Alicia B.

Closet Lighting Lover (Me)

From reading my blog, you wouldn't necessarily know it but I'm a closet lighting lover. I love a good sconce, or a fab nautical lantern. A really amazing lantern can take your breath away (yeah, dramatic). If lights are plain you don't notice them, if they're ugly, they can ruin a room but if they are something really special and beautiful they can become a work of art. They can make a room amazing. These are a mere smattering of pendants that I've seen that have caught my eye. Enjoi.

I find it very precious and glamorous when a sweet chandelier like this one is above a bathtub. By the brilliant Nate Berkus.

How much would you love to have a bowl of fresh berries and yogurt in this calm looking breakfast room? I think the soft square lantern with fretwork at the top really makes this room. By Mollie Johnson.

Very uncharacteristic for me, but this funky glass globe pendant looks so glam here. By Madeline Stuart.

I am obsessed (like the show) with this cut out lantern from the Veranda Estate showhouse. The shadows that it casts on the walls and ceiling is breathtaking.

This interior by Alex Papachristides, has a pretty but not too delicate chandelier over a cocktail table. This room is just plain amazing and the chandelier is what makes it.

Too bad I'm a renter otherwise I'd have so much fun with lighting in my apartment. I just have to make due with cute lamps.


Alicia B.

Non-boring Side Tables

If you show me this boring thing again I'll die. I don't want to be dramatic or anything, but it's a very real possibility.

Since the big move, I've noticed that my new apartment is really lacking a great side table in which I can put things; bowls, frames, and stack papers (that go in cute containers, duh). So I've found some fun and different side tables that include shelving! I can't take this modular look for another moment, so I've branched out and I hope you enjoy them.

This little unassuming table is from LL Bean Home and comes in many fun bright colors for $99. Great price for so many shelves!

This bobbin table from MGBW would be perfect, but I need more shelves. I still love it though and it's only $325.

Perfect for small spaces, here is an Asian inspired table, the Harbour Tea Table from Gumps for $259.

J'adore this faux bamboo etagere on castors, also from Gump's for $649

Very attractive 4-shelf bookcase from Ballard Designs. The Dunstan for only $289.00

This one is plain, but classic. The Conservatory Garden End table from Ralph Lauren Home for ONLY $7485.

When I'm a high end designer, I plan on using Hickory Chair all the time. The Chippendale lamp table HERE.

I like the brass accents on this; especially the fretwork top! This 3-tier etagere is from Baker for $3038.00 Hmm.

This beautiful mahogany antique table that I found on 1st Dibs is most certainly going to be out of my range, but aim high...right? From Burden and Izett who has very beautiful antiques.
I've really fallen in love with Victoria Hagan's Designer collection through Target. I am leaning towards this one. I like the wood ornamentation on the sides and its only $79.99. And Victoria Hagan designed it so...I'm in!

When I said I was "leaning towards" the Victoria Hagan one, I really meant that I bought it four hours ago. Oops! I'm so excited to get some things off the ground--literally. Next stop: the Container store for some more cute boxes. What?! They're having a sale!!


Alicia B.

Striped Love

Okay, who is with me when I say that I'm super sick of the downtrodden mood that the "recession" has brought down on the world? I know we are all cutting corners and saving and that's REALLY GREAT. Really. But, it's the mood that goes along with it. Maybe it's the rain, or the fact that people have to "shop their closets" now but I say let's take that attitude and turn it around! Let's enjoy beauty in simple things. I chose the theme of stripes for today! Enjoi!

I know this isn't an overwhelming use of the stripe but it is accentuated by those cute little Gothic mouldings above it. LOVE IT. Robin Bell astounds me.

Markham Roberts used these stripes diagonally. How clever. This makes it super busy but using the colors that he did, it appears more subtle.

Eric Cohler designed this amazing horizontal striped shower. Is that an ipod I see on the right? Rad.

Uber glam Victoria Hagan used a tone-on-tone green stripe on the wall and then mirrored it in the fabric of the chair. Subtle and pretty. Love the nail head accents on the bedside table!

One of my fave designers, T. Keller Donovan used Jane Churchill fabric on these chairs. I love the wide stripe of alternating blues but I do NOT care for the flat screen t.v. above the fireplace. Woah.

Miles Redd designed this busy little room, but I feel like the stripes on the walls really ground the space very well.

Miles Redd uses a horizontal stripe which makes the space seem wider. I love this cute sitting room right off the water. Is that my little tug boat I see through the window?

Michael Whaley used these striped curtains to frame out the space in the transition from room to room. I love the colors he chose.

Designer Joseph Abbati used a painted stripe that continues from the wall and onto the floor. This looks uber vintage glam to me with the mirrored surfaces, the Phillipe Stark Ghost chair, and the overall graphic feeling of it.

Celerie Kemble. Again, in a small space stripes are used to create an illusion of more space. I love how she used vertical stripes on the wall and then placed the throw pillows so that the stripe was horizontal.

As beloved (by me) designer Barry Dixon says, "Wallpapering horizontal stripes on the ceiling of a long, narrow room can make it look dramatically wider."

I love stripes. I'm the type of person who had to be TOLD that horizontal stripes are not slimming. I took that advice slash comment and threw it out the window because with interiors it seems to do wonders for the space!


Alicia B.

Hello Yellow

As I was working on a blog about the color yellow, I started reading things everywhere saying that yellow is coming back in! I read up in Metropolitan Home, Southern Accents, from what I could understand in Marie Claire Maison, and Miss Raina from HERE. I, for one, could not be more excited. I love yellow (it also looks good on me) . This yellow is sunny, happy, intense. It's just what we need right now in the world of grey winter. Also, so sorry about the lapse in blogging, I've been busy with my REAL life (who am I kidding, I mean school. I have no real life anymore). Yes I do.

In this room of neutrals, the bright yellow floor length drapery really brightens up the space by Sills Huniford.

Meg Braff chose bright yellow and white Clarence House wallpaper. Look how it reflects on the opposite wall in the shell mirror!

From Marie Claire Maison (amazing mag), this yellow so citrus-y, it almost looks greenish.

I know this one isn't as intense, but I found it very soothing. I love that bookcase that goes all the way to the ceiling and the yellow tone-on-tone wallpaper. By Libby Cameron.

Karen Marcus designed this adorable space in a house in Colorado. Yellow wallpaper, painted wainscoting on the outside of the tub (amazing idea), and yellow painted walls. I super love that painting above the tub (Rothko?).

Sheila Bridges created a sweet happy little scene with a lamp, table and book with a sunny yellow backdrop.

Victoria Hagan uses yellow paint on the walls and yellow fabric for the floor length drapes. She even extends the yellow with that mirror on the back wall.

Diamond Barratta, who love bright colors, really played up the yellow in this room. So sunny and feminine.

Fashion designer Lisa Perry used a very intense bright yellow in this mod interior.

It seems as if yellow looks great with nearly everything; blue, brown, giltwood, green. And if you didn't want to be one of the cool kids and redecorate entire rooms in yellow, you can add little accents. Paint one wall, add some throw pillows, a bright yellow painting or poster. A little can go a long way, too.


Alicia B.

Kitchen Dilemma

Kitchen featured in the 1950s in House Beautiful. WOW.

Yesterday afternoon as I was looking out the window in my parents' kitchen to watch the neighbors walk by (it's what we do in the country to pass the time apparently), I was blinded by the sunlight streaming in and had to look away. It made me start to think about the idea of curtains in the kitchen. My mother says she doesn't want them because they will get cooking debris (oil etc) on them and get dirty. She also really likes the light and openness in the kitchen and doesn't want to feel closed in by curtains. I wanted to see what other designers have done in kitchens, as the 3M filters on the windows my parents have just isn't cutting it. See below.

T. Keller Donovan uses a pretty blue toile valance in this otherwise white Nantucket kitchen.

Wooden roman shades would def solve the problem of cooking oils/dirt and since these are pretty thin, they still let the light in. By Noel Jeffrey.

In this uber colorful french style kitchen the designer, Michele Allman uses a red toile fabric and a traditional pinched pleat drapery style in the windows.

One of my now favorite designers John Peixinho who works mainly in Newport, RI also used a roman shade style in this kitchen, but I think it's a thin parchment colored fabric. Low maintenance, light blocking and good looking.

James Michael Howard designed this sleek clean kitchen and used an ivory linen shade in the large window. I like how he continued the strong dark horizontal line on the mouldings into the curtain.

Though the stove is right in between the two windows with long drapery, the designer used floor length drapery and a valance. This may seem like a lot, but it starts to become an architectural element as it echos the door off to the right. From Domino.

Another simple roman shade style but with a little kick with a small vertical stripe running down it. By Caroline DeCesare for the movie Something's Gotta Give. (Good movie but uncomfortable to see with your grandmother.)

One of my many design heroes, Victoria Hagan solves the entire problem of the light by creating these beautiful clerestory windows which provide great but indirect light.

If you're feeling DIY-ish, Martha provides this how-to on making your own curtains in my old fave magazine Blueprint. I like this one because it lets in light but it has very pretty and subtle polka dot texture. So cute!

Well, I helped my parents with their ivory shades from Kravet in our den, so maybe I can help them solve the dilemma of being blinded by too much light and feeling too closed in inside a big kitchen.


Alicia B.