I was recently fortunate enough to have made a new blogging friend in Maryanne Flagherty, the author of the fabulous blog, Beadboard UpCountry.

Maryanne has a fabulous  award-winning shop in Brenham, Texas, which is between Houston and Austin where she has some gorgeous things including linens, pottery and glassware.

She carries beautiful linens from such great lines as Arte Pura, Papillion, Peacock Alley and French Laundry. Her specialty is in bedding and table linens in natural fabrics such as linen and cotton, and her color selection is tremendous.

I'm very in love with these luscious blankets she has from Brahams Mount.

At Beadboard Upcountry it's  easy to set a  beautiful table with such lines as Juliska and Arte Italica.

But most importantly of all, Maryanne is a very talented decorator who can help you put it all together to make a fabulous statement in your home. And this is how she and I were introduced to each other.

Maryanne has a client from Louisiana who was looking for a pair of sconces. This client had a very narrow space for some sconces and she found some on my website and told Maryanne about them and how they can be ordered in exactly the size she needed since we are a custom line.

This is how Maryanne and I found each other and now we are mutual fans. In fact, she has done a fantastic post on some of my work, including some of my latest designs.

So go over to her wonderful blog and check it out. I see much more collaboration in our future since I am in the process of designing some new beds and Maryanne has such beautiful linens to dress them with.

Thank you, Maryanne, my new blogging friend for the wonderful post!

A few months ago, my dear friend, Mary Douglas Drysdale mentioned to me that she had been asked to participate in the Richmond Symphony League's 2010 Designer House. Mary said she saw in the house a great opportunity to showcase the embodiment of Southern Style by inviting a group of designers who live and work in the South to participate with her in this project.What a wonderful idea!  Imagine my excitement when she asked me to be in that group and to design some of the lighting for the Showhouse!

I have to say that I've been in awe of Mary's many talents since the first moment I laid eyes on her work, and have followed her career ever since.

I've long admired Mary's architectural approach to composing her interiors,  her exacting attention to detail and her fearless use of color. Her outlook has been a great inspiration to me throughout my career from the earliest days.

Mary's use of balance and symmetry create interiors that are both memorable (who could ever forget opening Veranda and seeing this room for the first time?) and timeless. They are deeply rooted in the classical and simultaneously modern and fresh.

In an interview on the Doxa Home blog, Mary says she sees herself as a sculptor of interiors, and she obviously draws inspiration from the sculpture and antiquities which she uses to such great effect.

She also draws on sculptural inspiration in designing the custom furnishings which grace many of her interiors.  I have always swooned over her tabletop compositions.

Mary's ability to create, find and compose fabulous objects and art within a room are part of her unrivalled signature style.

The painted furniture, rugs and floors Mary designs inject an additional element of delight into her richly detailed spaces.

In my opinion, Mary's unswerving attention to every detail that goes into the architectural and interior design of a room is the wellspring from which her talent flows.

Mary always makes sure all her i's are dotted and her t's are crossed. There is an underlying basis of classical order which creates the resonant simple elegance which always informs her work.

In her own words:

"The difference between something you take the time to see and something you just pass by is sometimes just a fraction of an inch."

So it is with great excitement that I approach my opportunity to work with someone whose work speaks volumes on everything that is good about architecture and interior design.

Mary was recently interviewed on The Skirted Roundtable, and Tobi Fairley has been blogging about her adventures with Mary and the Richmond Showhouse.

I'm so very excited about working with these two fabulous designers as well as some of the Richmond Showhouse designers, also.

So stay tuned because I will have lots more to tell as things progress!

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to see my friend Donna Maselli's gorgeous house featured in Country Living Magazine last July.

Donna, who worked for many years as a lawyer, decided a few years ago to leave that profession and pursue her dream of becoming an interior designer. It was a good decision!!

Donna's personal design philosophy, one which I wholeheartedly share, is that a neutral backdrop and a decided lack of clutter should serve as a  foil for beautiful furnishings and art.

Donna used only whites and neutral paint colors throughout the house and pickled the floors. Her "beautiful pieces" come in the form of such things as the many lovely antique pieces  she's collected, such as the walnut dining table, Italian chandelier, and the set of painted French  dining chairs she got from Karla Katz with the mismatched linen remnants on the back.

This George Marks painting hung over an 18th-century cherry buffet shows Donna's deft way with letting great art and antique pieces speak for themselves. Don't you love her easygoing composition of a frond of ginger in a confit pot  which echoes the curves of an Italian buffet lamp?

With only 2500 square feet of living space, Donna decided to enlarge her kitchen by enclosing a porch. I think it works perfectly. I love the way she carved out a cozy yet sophisticated eating nook with a built-in window-seat and scrubbed pine table. The damask pillows are just like little pieces of candy for your eye.

The entry really sets the tone for the house. White walls, neutral curtains, a clear glass Fifi Laughlin lamp, gilded wall sconces and a French console all take a bow to the pop of color provided by the kilim rug.

Donna's bedroom, a study in neutral serenity, with its crisp white linens and cashmere throw, carries the overall concept with the primitive piece  displayed on the antique bedside table topped with white marble.

Her dressing room follows suit. It is a picture of all-white femininity and chic.

Donna's daughter's bedroom is also a symphony of peaceful, dreamy whites.

One of the things I love most  about Donna's house is that it was built in the 1890's, and like so many of our beautiful New Orleans homes, it has been transformed into something fresh and modern which reflects the  love  and talents of its owner.

I say "Bravo" to Donna and to the many New Orleanians who have dedicated themselves to treasuring all the good things New Orleans has to offer, not the least of which is our amazing historic architecture.

Today was a great day to be in New Orleans!

It was a day to raise a toast to our city.

Mardi Gras in the Who Dat Nation!!

Today was the culmination of a long and intense season of celebration in a city that has made celebrating an art form.  We've been double-dipping lately, reveling in our historic, first-ever, long-awaited, and prayed for Superbowl championship running  concurrently with Mardi Gras.

We showed the world how proud we are of our team, and how much pride in our city our Superbowl Saints have brought us, and that we are championship partyers! We showed that we really know how to  stage a parade, with many Mardi Gras krewes lending floats to the Superbowl parade, and having team members throw beads in true New Orleans tradition.

We've been combining our love of our Saints with our love of Mardi Gras, with Drew Brees reigning as Bacchus.

But mostly, we've been feeling good about living in New Orleans.

Our city, which was under water not too long ago, is now on top of the world.

Mardi Gras is truly a day to have fun, and since the weather cooperated, that is exactly what we did!

We celebrated life in a unique place.

A place that is a feast for the eyes.

With many traditions.

A city which is optimistically looking at its future.

Which lately, many have been very proud and happy to call home.

Happy Mardi Gras!!!!

All photos are from flickr or nola.com

I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am to be included in the latest issue of Art Galleries and Artists of the South.

The lighting I design has always been an outgrowth of my fine arts background.

Form, line, composition, rhythm, color and pattern, as well as classical proportions form the basis of my work.

My finishes come from years of working with paints and other media to create beautiful pieces which I see as jewelry for the rooms they inhabit.

The interior shot which is included  in the article comes from an absolutely gorgeous New Orleans home owned by Tom, a good friend and client. The house is located in the Garden District and I think he told me it was built around 1830. I had created several pieces for the more informal rooms in his house and now he was ready to get some pieces for his living and dining rooms.

The two rooms line up along the right hand side of the house and are separated by a cased opening, so the two chandeliers needed to relate to each other as well as to the grand proportions of the rooms.

Each would hang from an ornate plaster medallion which was original to the house.

We decided to place a custom sized "Sheldon" chandelier in the living room because the Tom wanted something open and airy, gilded and with crystals. He especially liked the beaded fronds which are featured on the central band.

As soon as it was hung, we knew it was perfect for the room!

Next, it was time to hang the one in the dining room. Working closely with Tom, I created a piece that would be a good partner for the one in the living room. It is also gilded with crystals, but more ornate and festive.

We made sure to hang it at just the right height for the table as well as for the mirror we wanted to reflect it.

It has twelve lights which hang in pairs from six places around the band. There are leaves on each arm as well as spokes which radiate out from the center which form a relationship with the medallion above.

The mirror placed over the mantel reflects both the living and dining room chandeliers, doubling the effect of each.

I love the spare and uncluttered look of these rooms which create the perfect backdrop for these two over the top chandeliers. Since these pictures were shot, the addition of some great pieces of art has made these rooms complete.