Carolina Irving

You don't have to be in the decorating world to have seen and admired Carolina Irving's work.  Her work has been published in magazines and is everywhere online from Pinterest to blogs.  Born from a Venezuelan family in Miami, then raised in Paris where she studied  art history and archaeology at the Ecole du Louvre.  She specialized in 17th Century Italian art and began her never-ending fascination with design and antique textile documents.

She is an art historian, was an editor at Elle Décor, House & Garden and Vogue Living, has a successful fabric line – Carolina Irving Textiles, and is the creative director for Oscar de la Renta Home. A busy traveler, Carolina has sources in France, England, Sweden, India and the Middle East for inspiration.



Carolina, center with her sisters. More here.


Carolina's Paris apartment in Cabana Magazine, photographed by Miguel Flores Vianna.


Elegant textiles from Carolina Irving's Paris home as well as her friend's, Penny Morrison Interiors. Cabana Magazine.


Architect Daniel Romualdez combined three rooms to create the Irving library/livingroom.



Layers upon layers in her home.  "Surround yourself with objects and colors that speak to you and make you dream, and don't be afraid to mix patterns." - Carolina Irving.

Her favorite pattern is stripes.  “I particularly like fabrics that are easy to live with, look handmade, slightly old and colors that are not jarring, but never beige…I’m not a beige person!”








Carolina Irving Textiles here.





Stripes!  Carolina's Manhattan apartment circa 1993.  Seen here.


Carolina and former husband Ian, 55, purchased their home in 1998.  Ian lives in their former home with present wife Emilie, 32.   You can see the influence from Carolina is still quite strong.


For more go here.



Jan

Curtains Table

This is what I call my "Curtains Table" because the tablecloth is made out of leftover fabric from the curtains hanging in my living room.

Different colors of roses scattered on the table. Vintage plates paired with vintage glasses holding a sweet drink.


You remember the curtains, right?  And the runner?

When I fall in love with a fabric, I fall hard.  Then it gets used liberally.

Coffee cups and saucers repeat the roses theme.
























Jan

Drying Sunflowers and Hydrangeas

This is a summer harvest vignette from our yard.  I am drying the hydrangeas.  A lot of them turned brown on the bush this year.  I don't remember having so many turn brown before I could cut them off in get them in water.  The zinnias are producing well.  The sunflowers were spent and I wanted to enjoy letting them dry indoors because I knew the birds would likely eat all the seeds.



My mother in law's teapot.  My grandmother's wooden pedestal along with a garage sale vintage mirror. 







We had one sunflower with this massive head.  I plan on saving the seeds from this big one separately from the others.  That way if I just use those I will increase the likelihood of having bigger sunflowers next year.












But I love the look of the smaller heads as well, I think especially now at this stage while they are still green around the outside.














Jan

It's Been Such A Long Long Time

It's been such a long long time but I didn't give up hope.  Then Joni Webb of Cote de Texas,  a known blogger wrote, "Floral, patterned fabrics are back in style. Maybe not yet quite a trend, but there is a renewed interest in prints. Driven by a rejection of all-beige and all-white interiors - bright, color drenched rooms have been popping up in magazines, looking very fresh and new."  Which was followed by a photo of a room with green walls and floral prints.  She then wrote," This library by Miles Redd, recently shown in House Beautiful, says it all.  Prints are back.    And to satisfy the demand, fabric houses are busy introducing new designs, but, the old patterns are as popular as ever."  Her post is here.

Let's savor this, shall we?!!  "Driven by a rejection of all-beige and all-white interiors."  I wondered many, many times if I was alone on this island of despair.  But I was paying attention and reading comments made on magazine sites.  There were so many that were not buying the neutral look.  Many that wondered out loud what was being sold to them.  After years of wanting to pull my hair out and fussing and a little cussing I am elated with reading this.  I know with all things in the decorating world it may be a little while before it trickles down.  But at last there is vindication for the  florals that have been held captive, hidden away from admiring eyes.

This is fresh from Architectural Digest showing Nancy Hoguet's home.



I literally felt such a sense of relief.  This is how it's done correctly now with some updated fabrics.  It's just enough to keep the granny look away.  Do you see the freedom in this room with the exuberance and life from the patterns?!  They don't match but get along so well.  Do you notice that you cannot take the whole room in a glance as we so often do now with the simple decorating that has pervaded our homes?  This is exquisite layering that is interesting to the eye.



How about that wall color, not a neutral for sure.



Now I really do realize that most white sofas don't look like this all the time.  But yes this is what I have always been so afraid of with one.

I know many including me are jubilant, joyful and looking forward to seeing florals coming back out in the open!  You know I wonder if a lot of this is because the manufacturers were looking at the millennials when it came to purchase power.  They say there are one million more of them then the baby boomers.  Of course they (the Millennials) would want a totally different look then the looks they saw in their parents home.  I know there is a market for those that desire the looks we have seen.  But then our sheer number demanded that they listen to our desire for furnishings that are prettier to the eye.

 So I raise a toast (mine being sweet tea but you get the point) to my fellow boomer, that we did it!  We brought back the florals!  Now I can listen to Etta James sing and not cry about those florals!


Jan

Delightfully Overdone

With so much ugliness in the world today, I wanted to share a few photos.  Delightfully overdone (which is a requirement for me) and full of color, I hope they bring a bit of happiness and escape from today's troubles.

Miniature roses in every hue possible, I think.  They are sharing the mirror on the coffee table with seashells.







Blue brandy snifter holds the roses.













Yes, I rearranged again.









Jan