Atlanta–Design Inspiration Trip

I really believe that Atlanta sets the design standard for the South.  Some amazing designers have come from there (Suzanne Kasler, anyone?) and there are boutiques galore down there.  After having subscribed to Atlanta Homes magazine for quite some time and salivating over the copious amounts of interior design boutiques they have, I just had to go.  My dream is to open a home boutique so I chalked it up to research and inspiration.  I grabbed my dearest friend, Shannon who shares my love of a good boutique, and promised a weekend of interior design eye candy.  And some good food.  And a comfy hotel room with wine and no kids.  Needless to say, I didn’t have to ask her twice. 

We had a whole list of places to go: Huff Harrington Home, The Miami Circle Shops, B. D. Jeffries, J. Tribble,  just to name a few.  Not to mention the Ballard Designs outlet (there are two!) and a great furniture warehouse called The Dump. 

Here is a bit of what we found.

 

 

 

 

 

I fell in love with these lights at The Lighting Loft.  I think I will have to go back to Atlanta and buy them when I have a house to put them in!

Oh, and this chandelier too!

All in all, we had a wonderful trip.  Such a good time, in fact, that I forgot all about snapping pictures half the time!  There were plenty of interior design boutiques to inspire, and plenty more that we didn’t make it to.  We’ll save those for next trip!

Catalogs for Christmas

I seem to get every catalog under the sun.  I’m sure we all do.  Most of them I throw away, especially when a new company sends one.  I breeze through my home décor ones (my favorites) and Williams Sonoma and then recycle them.  I love getting ideas from their pages and WS has some great recipes.  Yesterday I went to my mailbox and discovered a new catalog, Mark and Graham.  What a great catalog!  Super for all of you monogram junkies out there, like me.  The parent company is Williams Sonoma, so it is very simple yet chic.  Love it!  I want to order everything!  Just look at these great linen wine bags.  Perfect for hostess gifts for holiday parties.

I am particularly in love with these paper placemats.  You can write the menu on them for dinner parties!  How brilliant!

And something I have always wanted (Santa, are you listening?), monogrammed napkins.  They come in almost any color monogram you can imagine.  And you can choose your font.  Free personalization and $5 flat rate shipping!  Yahoo!