french renaissance

FRENCH RENAISSANCE

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JUST PUTTERING AROUND THE HOUSE, in Vanderbilt style. Our very own castle in North Carolina is the French Renaissance-style Biltmore Estate. If I could live on this property, I would grow my own food, take care of a herd of horses, and completely isolate myself from the current mayhem of misinformation and malignant ignorance. It was like being in Europe, surrounded by well-preserved and curated architectural works of art. I must have undiscovered manor house genes because the genteel life speaks volumes to me. The artisan restorationist here was Derek Tickle, who trained and certified me as a master wood grainer. I feel quite proud of his stunning accomplishments here. I know my training and my place in this work are valid and necessary yet invisible here. A day among a colleague’s beautiful accomplishments restores my determination to find home. My lovely UK brother thinks I should live in a National Trust property in England and work as a restorationist there!! He is absolutely correct!!!! #behousedesign #findinghome #restoration #preservation #artlife

LOVE LANGUAGE

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CLASSIC GEORGIAN is my love language. It’s the architecture that speaks to my London life. London is my reset button. Unequaled around the globe, except for maybe Sydney with its Georgian and Victorian heritage architecture. It’s the stories that are important, especially later in life, as you’ve accumulated art and artifacts that mark your milestones. At the end of the day, what calms your soul is the best medicine. #behousedesign #findinghome #londonlife #CuratedSpaces

DESIGN INNOVATION

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THE CRYSTAL HOUSES PROJECT represents a 2016 Amsterdam design initiative by MVRDV architects, which featured a transparent façade installation of over 6,500 solid glass bricks, mimicking the original 19th-century brickwork. This innovative self-supporting glass masonry system was developed with TU Delft and other partners to preserve historical character while creating a modern, upmarket environment. This project was initially for a Chanel store, but it later reopened with a new tenant, Hermès, in 2019. This photo perfectly captures the luminous quality of the innovative use of materials. This is NOT AI! The architectural design industry has always been way ahead of the curve on initiatives for next-level design immersion experiences. Beautifully taking museum quality installations into everyday life.. #behousedesign #surfacedesign #artlife #BrandImmersion #designinfluencer

STYLE JOURNEY

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BRITISH COLONIAL: Personally, there has never been a style more indicative of my ancestry. I was home the first time I ever visited a National Trust property. It has nothing whatsoever to do with wealth, caste systems, global conquests, or anything Royal. Although my ancestry includes all of that! It has to do with collections of things that tell stories. Anyone who has ever watched Downton Abbey and read into the history of Highclere will understand this topic better. In those days, artists were hired to create oil paintings of nobility, and furnishings, art, and decor had a rich history behind them. Everything had a storyline. Some of the stories are beautiful, some are tales of struggle, and some are not worth mentioning. The same holds true today, but storytelling has been sacrificed on the altar of convenience. You do not have to live in a manor house to tell your stories. They should never be tucked away in seldom-opened photo albums. My personal art collection chronicles my creative journey from childhood to now. It will continue to evolve along with me across all destinations. It is a permanent fixture that will be a lifelong part of my style story. #behousedesign #findinghome #CuratedSpaces #ArtLife

GIDGET STYLE

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SURF’S UP PEEPS! Whenever a tropical storm hits the East Coast, the surfers hit the waves. However, the interiors here lack a certain vibe. This is a Malibu coast style vibe, straight out of Gidget, with millenial overtones. I personally love the energy of this interpretation! I have always been a doer, not a lay around on the beach lump. So this fits my recollections perfectly. I was learning to surf on a raft when I was about 11 or 12, and graduated to a borrowed surfboard in high school. Learned how to windsurf after college. But I still prefer traditional board surfing or body surfing. I think I gravitate towards spaces like this because I haven’t been in the ocean since 2008. I’ve almost forgotten what salt water feels like on my skin, but I haven’t forgotten what it does to my hair, which is a whole other kind of crazy! Climate change is destroying what I used to love about NC coastal towns. It’s reclaiming the beaches stolen by residential real estate. One of the reasons that I stopped visiting my beloved OBX was because I was deeply disturbed by the density of the buildings on a designated National Park that should be a Heritage Site, the litter on the beach, the lack of respect for the Graveyard of the Atlantic sites, and just the general misuse created by cashing out on ‘tourism.’ But overthinking aside, there is just something happy about this space. As soon as I saw it, I was smiling. The colours, the art, the focus on relaxation and entertainment, the illusion that there’s not a phone or a television in sight! You never see this level of design on the East Coast; it’s way more conservative. This is back-to-basics relaxation personified for me. I love the touches of a Mid-Century Modern, white-washed classic beach house style. It’s unfettered by materialistic decor, preferring a more collected, playful approach. If you could be anything, be this emotionally free with your design style, because it promises to put a big smile on anyone’s face! #behousedesign #findinghome #coastalstyle #WestCoastVibes #curatedstyle

RECURRING PATTERNS

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QUEENSLANDER CAROLINA: Well, this won’t make sense to you if you’ve never been to Australia, and you’ve only ever lived in the low country of the Carolinas. But it makes perfect sense to me! My favourite house design is Mediterranean, with a touch of Queenslander thrown in. It’s the floor-to-ceiling windows and engineering airflow throughout the dwelling. Spoken like a true air sign, Gemini me! I don’t believe in coincidences in colour palettes, art, curated collections, or furniture styles that attract my attention. I am salvaging an aesthetic from the past to make a statement in the present. You know what’s missing since the pandemic? Clever antique places to rummage for ideas. Artists have been struggling to find other ways to put their storytelling work out there. I am one of them. When your whole career has been about solving other people‘s problems, wayfinding design opportunities for yourself become an unsolvable challenge. Why is that? Skill set is there. Acute problem-solving skills are there. Critical thinking is ramped up to the ceiling. I am paying very close attention to recurring patterns. Unraveling inconsequentials has been my dominant skill set since I was born, no lie. But sometimes you do need an outside influencer to pull yourself out of the rêverie. Travel has always been my instigator!! #behousedesign #findinghome #StyleInfluencer

NATURE INSPIRED

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NATURAL INSPIRATION: Nature-inspired artisan-painted spaces bring the outdoors inside. I love this nod to European country life. When nature has a hand in anything, it turns out perfectly. I would bet money that the tree peeking around the door frame inspired this interior interpretation. This is what I deeply miss about artisan work and creating impact out of a blank wall. My whole art direction and design career has been about just that. This is food for thought as we lead up to Earth Day tomorrow. Why is it that we exclude nature from our interior design by closing it off with doors, windows, and that intimate conversation that a breeze can have with a space? I see a lot of cookie-cutter homes built without a connection to the environment around them. It’s just a box sitting on a lot without very much thought behind what will be viewed from the windows and the doors. Most of the new construction that’s going up in the area is static rows of houses with tiny windows, and little or no garden space to buffer the neighbours or nearby highways. This takes away from what makes a house a home. Country life is overrun by chemical farming, so there’s no clean, breathable air. This is why Europe owns me! Tomorrow’s Earth Day post will literally hit home. #behousedesign #findinghome #curatedinteriors #styleinfluencer

MODERN RUSTIC

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ANTIQUES + MODERN RUSTIC: Salvaging, or even inheriting items that don’t particularly fit your impression of your style, creates compelling environments. The juxtaposition automatically draws your eye to the unpredictable. This is storytelling on an intensely personal level. As I’ve said before, style creates a dialogue. Like it or not. I was grilled about this while staging log homes for marketing when homeowners were struggling with hanging art on rounded log walls. More recently, I was asked quite a few times during my gallery curation about hanging art in an environment with brick wall backdrops because I was doing it! I was designing around the historical context and found ways to display without drilling into the brick. Most people have problems fitting their preconceived notions about design into old buildings. I love it. A long time ago, we had an antiques store downtown, with the most beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows upstairs I’ve ever seen!!! It was run by a lovely guy who used to just call me up and ask me to come walk around in the store because he liked to watch my brain work with the items. One day he called me up and asked me to come over, and immediately sent me upstairs, which he had recently opened. He said he would talk to me after. I was up there swooning!!!!! He was grinning ear to ear when I came down. To this day, I miss Booty May and his gifts to me of those magical experiences. He thought I was the bee’s knees because he could throw me in a pile of junk and I could just curate the hell out of it. I thought he was the Wizard of Odd magical experiences. Retirement to Florida claimed him from me, and it’s never been the same here for me without him. In a historic preservation situation, there is an absolute necessity to tell the story of the history behind the space. There are a million ways to integrate existing styles into industrial design. Don’t get rid of your existing items if you end up here. Trust me, they will work. I had modern art hanging in the gallery alongside a beautiful piece of innovative salvage art representing a local business, curated by the president of PRM and me. It is on my Instagram feed @behousedesign. We created a paradox that lured people in. It was just magical to watch people‘s faces in a small studio area with very modern art next to antique reproduction art in gilded frames alongside a piece of salvaged assembly items. The unexpected is what you have in your favour in whatever environment you find yourself in. Go big and go for it! #behousedesign #findinghome #curator #influencer

BUILDING STYLE

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BUILDING STYLE is quite simple once you know your story. If it captures your attention, it’s your style; it will work. It’s all about becoming aware of the connection. Someone in the UK told me not to worry about mixing styles. Even if you don’t see it yet. It’s got a storyline! I exemplified this in my house, and I have made the same discovery with every space I’ve ever curated. Even if the decades of the furniture don’t match the modern art, it’s still telling your story. I highly encourage the juxtaposition of contrasting colours and styles because it creates intrigue. I love the leaning of the summer art over the hanging art! What a great way to seasonally update without rehanging!!! A life that stays the same from birth to death is almost as boring as store-bought style in a bag. Let’s face it, nobody’s style stays the same. That’s not how an artful life works. #behousedesign #findinghome #influencer

GLOBAL FAMILY

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IMAGINATION is a terrible thing to waste. I don’t intend to waste one second of mine. This week, someone told me that I have an amazing mind. I wasn’t sure how to take that. But ENFP personality types do have brains that never shut up. This is our biggest asset. It’s also our biggest problem for people who want to control how we think, react, and pursue that vivid imagination that never shuts up. As a global family, we are wide awake to everything that’s going on around us, to the point where we lose sleep over it. Because our minds are constantly assessing and processing. I am vividly proud to be a part of the global family of designers, artists, activists, and instigators of change. Because in the back of my mind, the world looks like this photograph. It’s my hidden happy place, and it is worth fighting for! #behousedesign #findinghome #curatorlife