I was doing some cleaning and reorganizing at my office yesterday and came across some photos of old work that had been published in various magazines. I'll share some of them in the next few days, I enjoy taking a trip down memory lane!

This room was one I did for the St. Louis Realtors Designer Showhouse in 2000. Interesting story, I had done many Designer Showhouses in the preceding years and always but a lot of time, planning and thought (and money!) into creating a room but this time I wasn't planning on participating but received a call from one of the organizers saying someone had dropped out and they had this big empty room, could I please do SOMETHING last minute. I quickly got into the room, painted the horizontal stripes on the wall exactly to match my living room banded linen curtains from home and then loaded up a truck of my personal furniture, artwork, accessories and put this room together!

Everything in the room was from my own home, just rearranged and mixed up! I loved the end result and it was published 4 times on both local and national publications. What is especially fun for me today is looking at the photos and seeing what is still with me and what has moved on to new homes. the gorgeous Fornisetti sun prints are now in a dramatic dining room in North Carolina, the 19th century Wedgwood black basalt bowl on the low table was added to a clients collection here in St. Louis, the curved inside leg low table is in a grouping in another home as night stands. But for the most part, what you see is still with me. Actually, the three tier Art Deco table I did sell to a dealer when I moved, regretted selling and when I saw it again 5 years later in a gallery, bought it back!

I feel this room is still very current and chic a decade later and that is the goal of all my design work. Timeless, elegant, simple. Being "current" and "on trend" has it's merit but the trick is to do it without being a cliche that will be dull and dated in 5 to 10 years. I feel I got it right here!

I meet with a young couple in the chic Central West End last night. I've been advising them for a few months on taking their townhouse from young college student to grown up. We are rearranging a long, narrow family room that leads to the kitchen. I flipped around some furniture and freed up a wall that is perfect now for floor to ceiling bookshelves. Every home needs floor to ceiling bookshelves somewhere. First, it encourages reading! But well designed and placed shelves give a room weight and substance and can really add a lot of storage. Besides books, they can hold magazines, baskets for storage of DVDs and CDs, wedding gifts that otherwise might sit in a cabinet or closet waiting for a special occasion. Bookshelves really don't need to be an deeper than 10" and if space is an issue, 8" will hold most books just fine. One of my favorite architects, Hugh Newell Jacobsen, does bookshelves better than anyone. His work almost always features what we refer to as "egg crate" shelves. Very simple, square shelves with no detail. Very simple, elegant and practical. Here is a picture of one of his rooms with bookcases. Look for a space in your home for some!

Here is another offering from my recent project in the Caribbean. This is one of the bedrooms facing the beach and ocean. The pecky cypress headboard was a custom designed and fabricated piece from my firm. I love the warm look of this wood! Instead of traditional nightstands I used a small black lacquer table from Ralph Lauren and a John Rosselli designed faux bamboo desk. I like having a desk in a guest room, everyone seems to travel with laptoops! The gorgeous fabric is a printed linen that has also been embroidered over with multi colored threads. It has amazing color and dimension! The shell pink walls really let the bolder fabrics and art stand out while providing a soothing setting. The four watercolors are by an English artist, John Matthew Moore. I used a lot of his work in this project. the client loves it and had been collecting peices for a while, I just added to the collection! the two wonderful spindle arm chairs and ottoman provide the perfect spot to watch the sunset!

Hi everyone and Happy New Year! It's been very busy over the holidays and into January playing catch up after finishing my project in the Caribbean. It turned out fantastic! I am very happy with the final result after almost 2 years of planning and work. Here is a photo of one end of the living room featuring a seating area. The vintage French travel poster is one that was purchased for the owners previous condo and one of the few items we brought over. It gave me the color palette to work with but i turned up the volume a bit and added some brighter versions of the colors in the poster. This was essential for the bright tropical sunlight. If I had matched the color exactly it would have fallen dull and flat. All of the upholstery is covered with fabrics suitable for the outdoors so bring in the wet swimsuits! I mixed in some antique pieces like the bow front chest with some contemporary pieces like the faux shagreen cocktail table. I love this sort of mix! Hands down, my favorite part of this room are the wonderful blown glass pieces on the wall brackets by MO artist Sam Stang. I love Sam's work and I was thrilled to use these in this room. All in all, I feel this is a warm, relaxed condo that reflects the tropical setting but doesn't fall into any of the cliches one finds in the islands.