What Do You LOVE And Why Does It Matter?
It’s hard for me to say exactly why this charming little dining alcove at The Inn on The Green (at Gedney Farm, Monterey, MA) makes me swoon, but I’m going to try here. I love the colors and the candle light too, how it enhances the overall ambience. There is a sweetness to this without being precious and the imperfect becomes perfect, to me. I love seeing work that was clearly done by hand. From hand sewn to hand drawn or even hand hewn beams for instance. Handmade has my heart. I love the look and feel of a hand blocked fabric like @seemakrishdesign or hand thrown pottery as seen @Heidi’sClayHouse. Handmade makes my heart sing.
See here, too, from the book, 'The Swedish Room’ by Lars & Ursula Sjobergand, one of my favorite room details, these two painted panels in this Circa 1846 Swedish home. Their hand stenciled patterns in the corners of the frames inspire me to consider more often the use of stencils.
These panels share the charm of the dining alcove mural. As you look at these two spaces, at once you can get a feel for what I love as it relates to interiors.
About 20 years ago a vendor put an antique Suzani in my hands asked what I thought of it. He was in the process of recreating the Suzani’s unique pattern in a line of fabrics. My hands started to tremble & my eyes welled up. I really felt something. That antique Suzani was made by hand at least 50 years prior to me holding it. Suzanis are made with shapes of fabric cut and then hand sewn to another fabric creating a pattern with the shapes. Shown here is one made in Uzbekistan in the Early 20th Century available through 1st Dibs. You can see how the coffee colored ground fabric is the back drop for the applied red and white shapes sewn onto it. You can also appreciate the hand-work which is the appeal.
A client once said, “Gretchen, I am not in the habit of loving inanimate objects” after I asked him if he loved the new painting we did throughout the house. And OK, yes, I love my husband, my dog, my family and friends, too.
But we had done something spectacularly different on the windows, doors and surrounding trim, painting them a darker color than the walls. It was inspired by a Benjamin Moore brochure on ‘Timeless Neutrals’ and I just LOVE the look and yes, he liked it a lot.
Revealing with you what I love illustrates how integral it is to creating a space that is personal. Share with me what makes your heart sing, what inspires you, what do you like a lot or rather what do you LOVE?
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Gretchen Reinheimer Design
Creating extraordinary spaces together
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