Inspiring your Home and Lifestyle
Are you a reader of At Home’s travel section, On the Road?
This month we’ve traveled to Bentonville and Rogers for a weekend getaway combining the best of both worlds: historic downtowns and modern amenities (including a great hotel and lots of good shopping). You can read the full story online.
Time and again we’ve shown you how fashion and home design intertwine, as with our Fall Fashion Stylebook. Here are a few examples of fashion and interior design meeting in some of the most stylish hotels worldwide.
The Berkley, London
draws visitors from around the globe to its afternoon Prêt-à -Portea inspired by the themes and colors of the fashion world. This season’s confections (below) pay homage to Jason Wu, Sonia Rykiel and Chanel.
Hotel Missoni, Edinburgh, Scotland
The Missoni family’s trademark colorful graphic knitwear style is combined here with Missoni Home fabrics and an eclectic blend of furniture.
Round Hill Hotel & Villas, Jamaica
Ralph Lauren infused a breezy seaside feel with white-washed walls, bamboo four-poster beds, and splashes of tropical pinks, blues, and yellows, just has he has on the runway (below).
Palazzo Versace, Australia
Opulent is the key word for Palazzo Versace, with exclusive Versace furnishings and gold-covered accessories.
The St. Regis Grand Hotel, Rome
The Bottega Veneta Suite at St. Regis has the same serene, sophisticated style as the runway creations, always featuring earthy tones and beautifully hand-crafted leather handbags.
(images via style.com and hotel web sites)
In case you missed them:
At Home’s Fall Fashion Stylebook, photographed in a luxurious high-rise residence
Room of the Week with ideas for storing and displaying tableware
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In yesterday’s post I mentioned the new Cash for Appliances program. We’ve got a great tool for you to see the latest and greatest new products launched at this year’s Kitchen and Bath Industry Show. Click on the link below for a video preview and start making your wish list. https://athomearkansas.com/At-Home-Arkansas/Featured-Video/
ps: just some random trivia–former governor Mike Huckabee was the keynote speaker at the show. Apparently not chosen for his kitchen skills, rather that he’s great at motivating a crowd.
We love the idea of a mother-daughter design team, and one blog that caught our attention is Good Bones Great Pieces, helmed by mother Suzanne (Emmy-winning producer at Martha Stewart Living Television) and daughter Lauren (former fashion features writer for Teen Vogue magazine). Their styles meld into an aesthetic that’s neither outdated nor overly trendy, and they are a great source of inspiration.
This explains the appeal of roommates Natalie Smith and Casie Williams’ hand-me-down-chic apartment in Little Rock’s Hillcrest neighborhood. Natalie’s mother, Alcinda, owns Periwinkle Place in McGehee, and she seems to have passed a discerning eye for design down to her lovely daughter. Casie and her mother, Claire, added a few key elements of their own. (For the full story, written by Elizabeth Owen of Mabel’s House blog, visit athomearkansas.com)
Natalie and Casie’s vintage style appears in the dining room, where they host dinner parties on an antique pedestal table set with aqua dishes and linens.
The roommates have some thrifty tricks up their sleeves. Natalie recovered an heirloom wingback armchair in a damask print. She constructed valances from materials purchased at a local craft store–constructing the frames from foam core, covering them with batting and fabric, and then mounting them using PVC pipe. Casie and her mom, Claire, collaborated together on the pillows, and added a strip of fabric to lengthen the pre-made curtains. They also spray-painted the lamp and painted the coffee table.
Green bedding and floral fabrics freshen up Natalie’s bedroom, where little details include succulents in vintage cups along the windowsill.
And what self-respecting vintage apartment would be complete without a telephone nook and international wall clocks?
It’s a big week on our social calendar! One of our favorite design & entertaining pros, Eddie Ross, is visiting Little Rock for a special luncheon on Oct. 28th at the Governor’s Mansion, sponsored by the Fine Arts Club. And then a few days later, it’s Halloween of course!
How about a few design tips that combine these two fun events? Courtesy of Eddie Ross, some Halloween party decor inspiration.
Love these Ric Rac pumpkins as a centerpiece or mantle decor.
Or these glowing perforated pumpkins to line the staircase or a foyer table.
Check out these fun glitter placemats to showcase your party treats.
And finish your table with spooky-cute batkin rings.
Love these ideas? Head here for all the project how-tos. We’ll keep you posted on Eddie’s visit to Little Rock and his holiday decor tips–which we’ll share in future posts as well.
In case you missed it:
Gracious Living Tips Day 1: A Baby Shower at Marlsgate Plantation
The summer heat waves have hit, and those lovely waterfront locations in New England Home’s Land Meets Water issue are looking especially inspiring. While a trip north is always a summertime treat, my family and I recently headed even further south to the Florida beaches for a Gulf of Mexico getaway. Yes, going further south may seem counter intuitive, but the Gulf breezes and architecture evoking an island state of mind combine to beat the heat.
One of our favorite destinations is beautiful Alys Beach, with architecture inspired by Bermuda and Antigua. The European-meets-Caribbean aesthetic, with its pristine white rooftops set off by colored shutters and accents, is cool and crisp against the blue sky and the emerald waters.
Designed by the New Urbanism pioneers Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, Alys Beach is geared toward meandering down sidewalks and pathways on the way to the beach, stopping for an iced coffee at the neighborhood gathering place…
playing at the park or watching an al fresco movie in the evening on the greenbelt…
and–my very favorite–gathering at the idyllic Caliza pool for a dip in the water or a siesta in a shady cabana.
Ready for a dip in that pool right about now?
Designed to mimic Bermuda’s whitewashed limestone and traditional slate roofs, stucco-over-block and cement roof tiles capture the island feeling while the white exteriors reflect sunlight, keeping buildings cooler. After your dip, there are plenty of places to seek refuge from the sun.
I can attest to how lovely those long benches and the breezy ceiling fan are for a post-swim nap!
Stay cool, enjoy some waterfront time, and pop on over to the At Home in Arkansas blog for some more summertime inspiration.
–Diane Carroll
For us Southern girls, the holiday season always brings up two topics: food and tradition. When I married into the Fraiser family, I inherited a lot of traditions, along with bringing some of my own, like my mother’s Whiskey Ball cookies. But for my husband David’s family you can always count on finding Pumpkin Cheesecake at the Thanksgiving table.
This is truly a heavenly dessert, and it’s actually pretty simple to make. (I have to admit that no one’s sure where the recipe originated. It may have even come off the back of a can of pumpkin!) This year it’s our turn to spend Thanksgiving with my family, and one of my contributions will definitely be Pumpkin Cheesecake. I’m sure it will become a Jackson family favorite as well.
Enjoy, and have a happy Thanksgiving!
Pumpkin Cheesecake
2 packages of cream cheese, softened
½ cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla
2 eggs
½ cup canned pumpkin
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Dash ground nutmeg
½ cup whipped topping
Graham cracker crust (My mother in law usually makes her own with graham cracker crumbs and butter, but the pre-made crusts are tasty too.)
Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs; mix until blended, but do not over beat after adding eggs. Remove 1 cup batter and stir in pumpkin and spices.
If you’re not using a pre-made crust, spray a 9-inch spring form pan with non-stick cooking spray and spread graham cracker crust in pan and along sides.
Pour reserved batter into crust first, and then top with pumpkin batter.
Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes, or until the center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight. Top each serving with whipped topping.
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Another rainy day…and I’m thinking about how great the rain would sound if you were in this treehouse at Camp Aldersgate in Little Rock. If you’re not familiar with the camp, it’s just on the edge of the western side of town and has been around for about 60 years, providing a traditional camp experience for children with disabilities.
Added to that wonderful mission is the fact that they have great architecture, courtesy of some talented Arkansas architects. For the past several years, U of A architecture prof Laura Terry has conducted a summer design/build workshop for students, and the result has been some amazing recreational spaces, like the treehouse above, and the archery pavilion below.
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And these ribbon wood benches, where kids can get out of their wheelchairs, recline on the bench, and look up at the sky. Bet that’s a great sight.
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For the full story:
https://athomearkansas.com/At-Home-Arkansas/August-2009/Outdoor-Access/
At Home in Arkansas offers you a look inside the state's most inspiring homes. The magazine features monthly advice from the experts to help you plan your next remodel or redesign, entertain at home, or find Arkansas's best kept secrets. It is your definitive guide to the state's finest homes and gardens, design professionals, fashion and entertaining essentials, and premier shops and showrooms.
