WISH LIST: SCIENTIFIC STUDIES IN THE HOME

At last my light has come.  I've been wanting something milk glass for the kitchen for awhile now.  But everyone and their sister has the Thomas Obrien Hicks pendant {that really is still on my wish list}.  But, when I found this amazing Sandy Chapman zodiac pendant on the circa lighting site today, I decided I needed three. No big deal.  They cost $2G a piece.  One can wish, right?  

It has smart design written all over it.  Plus an ode to the 30's with the milk glass.  {Sigh of the SKY!}

Want, need, and will do these lithograph prints above somewhere in my house as well as my clients'.  I think one could do these a number of different places in the home.  I want to do a grid of different plates in the kitchen nook with emerald green frames over some wall paper {yet to be decided}.   {Antique Haeckel original rare botanical lithograph print: 1st edition-plate 33-folio-nature print.  A 10x14" is $44.  Etsy Shop:  Discover Prints

 I'm basically obsessed with heavy brass.  Found these cute little book marks for like $4!  Wouldn't they make great little favors or valentine, or teacher gifts?  Etsy Shop:  Yan4u

Loving these odd creatures for gracing a wall to be more than interesting.  Also from Etsy shop, Discover Prints

Happy Tuesday!

xx
sharon

Design Obsession and Crushes: Black and White + Girl Designers

It's no secret that I'm a fan of black and white.  

When I first saw Jenna Lyon's apartment seven years ago in Domino Mag, I was totally awe struck.  By her.  By her style.  Everything about her.  Especially by her daring black rooms and trim color.

This bathroom got a bajillion repins on my pinterest page.  I can see why.  The old school subway tile meets noir black trim.  Totally digging it.  Not sure who the designer is.  Let me know if you know:)  Plus the David Hicks pendant that is all over the web right now, is one that I'm really coveting for our kitchen, butler's pantry, and nook.

 And my new design crush:  really falling hard for designer Bailey McCarthy.  I just discovered her this week, and I must have been living under a rock to not know who she is as a designer.  I love that she's from Chicago too.  {Midwest designer!} But all I can say about her is she's rocking it with her latest.  What about this bathroom above?!  Classic, COOL, black-to-brass bath that I am just utterly dying over!

Here's my shop exterior with nothing but...black and white of course.   That's my little guy running off in the foreground.  One of these days I hope to do a post about the before and after of this building renovation and reface.  You wouldn't recognize the before as the same building.  

Here's the kitchen progress this week.  We decided to paint all the trim black in this room to break up the all white cabinetry and appliances.  Our walls will be all subway tile with grey grout.   Our honed marble countertops and drawers, brass hardware are all going to be installed today!  By next week, our kitchen should be complete, minus the banquette, and refinished ebony floors.  Boy, this has been fun!

Happy Friday!  What are you all doing this weekend?

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for full service and consultation design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

xx
sharon

Recipe of the Week: French Beef Stew w/Red Wine

After close to four months from placing the order, we are finally receiving our AGA appliances today!  I'm told it's worth the wait.   As I've said before, I'm not a very diligent or explorative cook, but I figured I better become one even if I'm the only one who appreciates it.  So, my new years goal was to start cooking something new each week.  Outside of my regular 'mom' meals like basketti, tacos, and pizza.

I'm on pinterest so much that I decided to do one pinterest recipe a week.  Usually Wednesday nights.  My oldest daughter, who's a foodie, usually joins us and we rate how well we like it.  I hope you'll join me and also let me know what some of your faves are too.

                                                          source

This was seriously heaven.   It melted in our mouths.

I like quick and easy meals, but this one looked like it was worth the extra effort that it involved.    It was a little more than I bargained for, because my baby was sick and I got distracted a couple of times. I missed a few steps like adding the garlic and onion to the marinade until just before cooking, but it turned out just fine.   I had one happy family after we ate this up!  Btw, I wasn't sure about adding the pitted olives, but did anyway, and ended up making it really delish.

Oh, and the mashed potatoes didn't call for butter, but I added a stick anyway:)  I left the garlic out of the potatoes too.

Daube Provençale (French Beef Stew with Red Wine)

Recipe from Home Made Winter, by Yvette van Boven.  Serves 8.

• 3 lb stew beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 (750-ml) bottle Cote du Rhone [I used regular red, cooking wine and it was fine, but Yvette recommends Cote du Rhone, Vacqueyras, Gigondas, or Minervois]
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme {I used dried}
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 1 orange, washed well and cut into 8 wedges [I substituted grapefruit]
• 1 large onion, peeled and cut into rings
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
• olive oil
• 1 6-oz can tomato paste
• 3 1/2 oz. pitted black olives

1. Season meat with salt and pepper on all sides.  Place meat in a big bowl with wine, thyme, bay leaves, carrots, orange, onion, and garlic.  Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 12 hours, and preferably 24 hours.
2. Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a large stockpot.  Remove the meat from the marinade and brown the pieces in the oil on all sides.  Pour the marinade (including the oranges, bay leaves, etc.) over the meat and bring to a boil.  Boil for 5 minutes, skimming any foam from the surface.  Lower the heat to a simmer, stir in the tomato paste, and add 4 1/2 c. water.  Cover, and let stew on low heat for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
3. 15 minutes before the stew is ready, add the pitted olives.  Let cook for 15 minutes on medium heat without the lid to thicken the stew.
4. Serve over mashed potatoes, rice, or pasta.

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Serves 6-8.

• 6 russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• salt
• 8 cloves garlic, cut in quarters
• 1/2 c. heavy cream

1. Place cubed potatoes in a large saucepan.  Cover with cold water, salt liberally, and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Boil for 10-15 minutes until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork, skimming starch foam from top occasionally and checking to keep from boiling over – lower heat if necessary.  Drain potatoes and place in a blender.
2. Return saucepan to heat, lower heat to low, and add garlic and heavy cream.  Heat until garlic is fragrant and cream begins to simmer, then add to blender.  Blend until potatoes are a totally smooth puree.  Add water or skim milk as necessary to even out texture.

What are you cooking up lately?  Have a favorite?

xx

sharon

VINE & Banquettes

Heard of vine?  Banquettes?  Both words conjured up french wine/grapes  + french entertaining seating style for me today.  Haha.

Join me on VINE and let me know where I can find you!  Here's a loop from a meeting we had at the new house yesterday to discuss the breakfast nook and banquette design with the finish carpenter.    vine.co/v/b1libbTYDVW

Now onto banquette talk:  Having a breakfast nook is something I've always wanted.  Having a dining room is great, but nooks with banquette seating are just so cozy and relaxed seeming for breakfast and lunch.  Here are a few inspiration pics from Pinterest that I'm loving.  I'm collecting and morphing a few of all these design details together for my sketch up design for our custom built banquette.  Follow my little thought bubbles below to see just what I've come up with so far.

LOVE the deep tufted backs.  Ours will be short-angled-tufted back like this.  The height will come just under our window sill.  

The tufting on this looks like perfection.  Loving the massive amounts of buttons!  The ledge on the top of this is something we're incorporating with our design.  It will be great to set plants and coffee cups on.  

LOVE this one so much!  The two toned color on the banquette mixed with different side chairs is so cheery, wouldn't you agree?  Can you imagine the breakfasts eaten on this one?  It seems to beg for friends to stop in for a morning cup of coffee a newspaper read, followed up with a friendly neighborhood walk!

Here we are with tufting again.  LOVE it.  We are however, purposefully not going to be tufting the seats.  Food would definitely get caked into the tufted seats.  Haha.  

Ours will curve and wrap around the square room.  We are going to be boxing in the bottom as seen above.  The boxes will have sliding door panels for easy storage access for the littles craft supplies.  I think it'll be great for storing crayons and art supplies in basket cubbies, so that the kids can have them easily accessible.

You might wonder why I'm posting this trunk.  I wanted to show you an example of furnishings with tacks.  I'm loving tacked furnishings so much.  Especially leather.  So, I hope to also incorporate tacks into the design of the booth.  LOTS of brass tacks.  We'll see.  I'm sure they are expensive.  

Here is a rough sketch up of my design.   Wish us luck as we choose our fabrics for the upholsterer today!  Thinking of using a recycled leather seat for the easy to clean factor , and an indoor/outdoor fabric for the banquette-backed tufting.  

Talk of these booths/banquettes brings back memories of the Boca Mocha booths I designed not too long ago.  To see that post, go here.

Also reminds me of a lot of the pieces of old furniture that we've revamped to become new again.  Pictured below are some 1960's club chairs that we completely revamped by painting and reupholstering with indoor/outdoor fabric. The idea of using indoor/outdoor fabric was so that it would wear well and hold up to the test of time for anyone with animals or small children.  We had six of these chairs done in several different styles of mix and match black and white.  We showcased them in Pickwick House almost two years ago for our store opening.   That was two years ago, and even still, I am in love with their design and miss them being in my possession:)

source

I sure do love customizing furnishings to be one of a kind like this.  The satisfaction it brings is so rewarding!

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

Happy Tuesday!

xx

sharon

RUE Daily Launch Feature

Around a year ago, Twin Town Studios photographed my workspace here at the shop.  Well, I am excited to announce that it was a part of the exciting new launch of RUE Daily, which happened yesterday. HOORAY!!!
 
You can see my 'Workspace Style' Feature here:-)  Find out what I think everyone must have is!  It's my favorite.

Hope you're having a wonderful week so far!!

xx
sharon

Building Character

Even homes with good bones benefit from extra attention to architectural detail from floor to ceiling.  Our new house could use some more attention to these types of details.  For instance, our current crown molding is wimpy, but we will eventually get to that over time.  

Starting this week, just before the finishers swoop in to the coop next week to paint and prep for the floor refinishing, we decided very last minute to splurge on custom made wainscoting panels to be added all through the front foyer/hallway, up the stairs, and in the dining room.  Eeek.  SO excited!  Being a designer, I feel like this added embellishment will add immense flair, sophistication, and a lil' bit of french panache:)  

source via pinterest

This image above is very similar to the look we're going with.  Ebony stained floors, Benjamin Moore 'white dove' walls, high gloss super white trim, ballisters, and newel post.

How grand are these crown molding details above?  Not sure about the floors or the creme colored stair runners, but the architectural details...to die!

Happy Hump Day!

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com

Living With Kids

source

It was a pleasure to collaborate with Merit Creative Consulting and Twin Town Studios for a photo shoot of my sister's home.  AND today that shoot of my sister's {Julie Blackmon} home is featured on Design Mom !  Hooray!!

I helped stylize the shoot and sourced many of the furnishings she has purchased over the years from my boutique studio design firm, Pickwick House.

Julie's interview made me well up with some tears.  Hope you enjoy!

Pickwick House is a full service design/build company in the heart of the Midwest!  {Springfield, Missouri's Rountree Neighborhood}.  We handle all aspects of residential renovations from small to large projects and are available for design, and/or stylizing from East to West Coast.  Call or email us today.  We may be on location, but we'll get back to you in no time.

 417-459-8988 *sharontaylordesigns@yahoo.com


xx
sharon