House & Home's New Free Online TV - A Basement Makeover

Click here to watch House & Home's premier episode of H&H Online TV. (***If you get a message that says access denied, just click again on that statement and the show will load.)

This 13 minute show features:

Senior Editor Meg Crossley's bright and budget conscious renovation of her basement. Her reno was featured on the cover of their most recent Before & After special publication.

DIY & Thrifter Michael Penney turns mirrors into chalkboards. I think he makes a good point for using a mirror for a chalkboard since it's already framed.

Food Editor Claire Tansey shares her favorite pastry recipe.

I know this post sounds like an infommercial for House & Home but after the depressing news of Met Home's demise, it's great to see this well respected magazine broadening their brand and hopefully their online advertising revenue. So click away and support H & H's new online TV!

- This is my personal opinion and I do not receive any form of compensation for this endorsement.

It's Official - Hoard Your Old Magazines!

I'm sure you've already heard - Metropolitan Home is closing. Their last issue is Dec 2009. It has been a few years since I've read Metropolitan Home but the news is still disheartening.

Here is the future I imagine: A network of private interior design "Magazine Libraries" where you knock on a door, pay your entrance fee, and are handed your white gloves. You then sit and read as many issues as possible before your "admission time" has expired. These relics of the past - paper magazines - are treasured...

Bleak, I know, but I'm not going to recycle anymore of my magazines. I will be hoarding...

1 Room - Styled 2 Different Ways

I came across designer Antony Todd's room on House & Home editor Suzanne Dimma' s blog here. The styling is spare - two metal benches that allow a view to the armless sofa, a beautiful urn on the corbel and an ikat pillow. I think it creates an arresting image that highlights each element.
Here is a larger view of the same room, via La Dolce Vita's wonderful post on the color Peacock Blue. The two open, metal framed benches have been replaced by two solid cubes and a number of pieces have been added - floor lamp, x bench, two chairs and a lamp on a pedestal. Possibly a more functional room... Here it is on the cover of Australia Vogue Living May/June 2007. Almost the same room except that the x bench is gone and it appears that the chairs are covered in a brighter turquoise fabric. Which do you prefer? For me, it's the first one.


(second image via La Dolce Vita via Domino, my apologies as I do not know the photographer credit in these pictures.)

Luxe Eye Candy

These beautiful interiors are from Lorenzo Castillo's Madrid home and were recently featured in Nuevo Estilo magazine here. I love the contrast of the dark furnishings against the white walls, the eclectic mix of antiques and contemporary styling, and the incredible marble flooring. The basket of African violets is a great touch - you don't often see these in photo shoots.

I like how the gallery of paintings and mirrors is wrapped around to the adjoining wall.
Here's another view of the lattice work that borders the doorways and runs along the lower part of the wall in this part of the home.

For many more photos of the interiors and the courtyard, click here. (All images from Nuevo Estilo magazine. I was unable to locate the photography credit.)

The Room that Launches a Color Craze

Every so often a singular room launches a color craze. You might think of it as the "tipping point room" - that one additional photo that makes you think, "I've got to have this color in my house!" In my opinion, Anna Beth Chao's bedroom, recently featured in All the Best's bedroom contest, is that tipping point room. Painted in Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe (26), it is modern, stately, chic and cozy all at once. I could be wrong, but I think the success of Anna Beth's room may inspire alot of people to try this gorgeous deep blue gray in their own homes. **Update - Anna Beth has a blog - www.hashai.com **Design by Anna Beth Chao, Reader's Choice Award and Honorable Mention - All the Best Bedroom Contest

Farrow & Ball's Down Pipe is used on the ceiling of this formal dining room with it's very hip gold chandelier. Designer Jessica Lagrange Interiors, image from Chicago Home, Sep - Oct 2009

Anna Beth said her choice of Down Pipe was inspired by the designs of Abigail Ahern. Here are two rooms from Ahern's own apartment.

A room featured in Ahern's book, A Girls Guide to Decorating, graces the November 2009 cover of Living etc.

In Canadian House & Home's Makeovers special edition they feature Down Pipe in their Most Wanted section, pg.24 (thank you Terri of Windlost). They also offer two alternative paints that are close in color: Brainchild CL3216A by General Paints and Knight's Armor 518-6 by Pittsburgh Paints.
I'm not sure if the wall in this interior by John Jacob Zwiegelaor is Down Pipe, but it's fairly close.
Back in the beginning of September, I painted the fake 50's stone hearth and surround of my fireplace with Down Pipe after I changed the wall color from a green yellow to a light blue gray.

At the time I was feeling quite pleased with myself because I only spent $14 to finish the project, $7 for each sample pot. But now it's all gone and I'm sitting around here conjuring up what other surfaces in my house I can paint Down Pipe!

I guess I should have forked up the $89 and bought a gallon...