I Brought Nate Berkus Home With Me

I'm tardy to the party for Nate Berkus Day, but nonetheless, here I am!


Apparently Nate doesn't have enough love, so this day was designated to let him know he has blog love, and nearly 100 bloggers (and still counting) are making this Nate Berkus Day.

Do you all remember this Elle Decor cover? It launched stripe rug love even more than the rug in the movie Somethings Gotta Give!


I got one for my living room back then! I was just at the beginning of a major living room revamp, and brought Nate into my house HERE

Visual Vamp living room revamp - then

Right now this Nate Berkus stripe rug is on sale for $299. for an 8 x 10! HERE

Nate Berkus stripe rug

I brought Nate into my bedroom HERE, and purchased two of his fab mercury glass lamps from Home Shopping Network, where he sells his well priced wares.

Nate Berkus in the bedroom of Visual Vamp!

I also had one of my clients get two of these settees in this Ikat pattern. In this day and age, designers have to shop high and low, and this Nate Berkus settee is low in price, but high in style.

Nate Berkus Ikat settee

I also bought something for myself that I thought I'd never buy! Fake candles! Nate has these on HSN, and I really love them.

Nate Berkus flame less candles

I love how they look in my giant hurricanes! I put sand in the bottom of the hurricanes and nestled the Nate candles in. They are so cool and have timers, and I swear they look realistic and not tacky.

Visual Vamp uses Nate Berkus flame less candles on the dining room sideboard

I'm thinking of getting these branch candlesticks too!

Nate Berkus branch candlesticks

So there you have it, my humble contribution for Nate Berkus Day!

Like so many others, I respect and adore his work, admire him as a person, and wish him a ton of bloggy love!

Thank you Moggit Girls!

Upgrading InThe Bedroom - The Big Girl Drapes!

Alberto (the hubs) wants to know if I ever will be "done" with decorating our home, or rather will I ever be satisfied and just leave things alone. What do you think ?
You can click on images for larger unstyled snap shot style I'm in a hurry to show you this photos.


I am having my 60th birthday July 21. I tell you this so I can own it ha ha, and to let you know I have had a life long love affair with decorating each and every home I have ever inhabited. I have never had the luxury of a big budget. I am very resourceful and often make do and make it look fabulous too.



Working at Perch has afforded me the ability to get a couple of really nice things. Custom made drapes. Big Girl Drapes. No drop cloths drapes, no hand sewn pieces of fabric by me, no off-the- rack curtains masquerading as drapes, but really beautifully made drapes. The rooms that got the Big Girl Drapes are my office, our bedroom, and the guest bedroom for now.


My fabric of choice is Dupioni silk without a slub. The color is the same for both bedrooms, as is the size, to afford me the flexibility of using them as a pair in another room if I choose to do so sometime along the line. The color is called: Rain.
Jack Mayberry the head designer of Perch, and Eva Spencer our head seamstress advised me (and have been teaching me how to measure, order the fabric, and choose the finishes, etc. for our custom drapery clients).


I chose thermo suede lining, a heavy cotton lining encasing the thermo suede, and the finished silk top sewn with seven inch French pleats. There is a small puddle at the bottom. It's like getting luxury insulation for the house! Not a drop of air or light penetrates this beauty!


The rod is the return rod, meaning the ends return to the wall. Perch makes a hefty, made to measure return rod, with a custom hand painted finish that is gorgeous. A local artist who works in many mediums including metal, makes them. Even with an employee's benefits, this rod is a little pricey for me, and I wanted to have the flexibility of an adjustable rod, always keeping in mind how I move things around. I found the perfect rod at the perfect price from Country Curtains on line HERE.
Jack from Perch, painted the rings for me, in his signature color he always uses for Perch clients.

I also upgraded a couple of accessories in the bedroom. I love these metal antlers, which also look like a branch, placed on top of the old cabinet that houses the television. I like the simplicity of one unique object, as opposed to the fussy vignette I had before. The old wood lyre is a piece of found folk art.

The new metal antlers from Perch
I think it adds a "wow" factor to the old armoire

"Before" a sweet little vignette on the armoire that I found too fussy

I also painted the dark brown wood nightstands a pale turquoise (and added a cut-to-size piece of 1/4 inch thick mirror for the top). It's the same color I used to paint the accent wall in the kitchen. I like to carry at least one color from another room to the next. I also have been taking color cues from the painting over the bed. As always I combine antique, vintage, and contemporary things with touchstones of French furniture.


There's a different painting in a little nook by the door that combines the new and the old.


I also upgraded the lamps that are on the dressers. I use one lamp on each dresser. Two would be too much. I got these lamps on HSN (Home Shopping Network) HERE, from the Nate Berkus line there. They are mercury glass, and very good looking. They cost $129. each and came with the nice linen shade. I think they are great quality at any price.

Almost sold out at HSN! Go HERE to get yours now

While I'm at it I'm thinking of upgrading our bedspread. Right now it's all white with a deep 28 inch drop ruffle, and I love the look. This was another bargain basement make-do. I found two twin spreads on line at a pretty pedestrian site called Brylane Homes. I had my local seamstress sew them together to make a king size bedspread..
After a couple of washes, the cheap poly fill shifted and bunched up, so I slit a small but large enough opening in one end, and pulled all the stuffing out. Now the spread looks like it's made of vintage handkerchief fabric, and lays much better. The stitched trellis effect has grown on me, even though I prefer a plain and pattern free look.
All is well, except that there are a couple of ink blots (made by a black Sharpie) on the spread (hidden by toss pillows at the top), because my lovable school boy Alberto likes to do Sudoku in bed, and sometimes falls asleep with pen in hand. He promised me a new spread of my choice.

I like the deep drop ruffle ones from Horchow.


They are made of twill, a heavier fabric, and they look very nice. I like both colors, the white or the tan.


I also love these contemporary sets from Dwell Studio at Target.
This beige-y one is the most conservative one, and would pick up on the fabric covered wall behind the headboard, and play off the white accents throughout the room.

This shade of green is one of my favorite colors, and I use throughout the house as an accent color. If I got this spread, it would bring this color into our bedroom, thus fulfilling my philosophy of having a little color from another room travel into the next. Somehow this allows the eye to see the house as a total picture.

This turquoise blue bed covering would play back nicely to the colors in the painting over the bed.



So which do you like best? Remember I change out the bedding from summer to winter. I have a black and white contemporary duvet cover now that looks pretty good for winter.

The winter look of the bedroom with the black and white duvet
So much has changed!
The stripe rugs are gone replaced by mountain grass (a beautiful cousin of sea grass)
The nightstands have been painted
The pink lamps are now faux finished to look like alabaster

PS Stay tuned for photos of the Big Girl Drapes in guest bedroom and my office, and the kitchen where other small upgrades have happened.

This And That

Another hot trend trickles down to the masses. Nate Berkus moved his affordable design line to The Home Shopping Network. He had it at Linens 'n Things, which is closing its stores forever. Material Girls has a story about it. Nate brings the hot trend of Suzanis to HSN in the form of these pillows, priced at $59.99 for TWO! And you can split the payment in two, using something HSN calls Flexpay. So for $29.99 you get them in your house. Your credit card is charged twice with no interest. Nate's Suzani pillows are made in India, and are printed cotton with sequins. They come in three color ways. Though not a real Suzani, the gestalt is there.The other flavor of the month is still Ikat. I bought one of Nate's Ikat pillows from Linens 'n Things, on sale for $9.99. It's okay. Again it's kind of the gesture of the real thing. His is the dark brown square pillow. The custom Ikat pillow from Perch Home shown on the couch cost ten times that, and alongside Nate's pillow they look like they are in the same family. However the custom pillow is so much nicer in person.
Joni Webb of Cote de Texas loves Suzanis, and one that she has was recently featured in a nice little article about her called French Tex in the November issue of Better Homes and Gardens. I tried to find photos on the BHG web site to no avail. I believe Meg at Pigtown covered this, and of course Joni has tons of photos and information about Suzanis on her blog. I would also like for her to toot her own horn, and (pretty please) post the photos from the BHG article, and tell us her back story about the shoot.Pottery Barn is selling authentic vintage Suzanis from $650. - $800. Now you know the trend is totally main stream. With genuine Ikat and Suzanis being costly, do you think this a trend that will become a classic? Will we still use and love these beauties ten years from now? Twenty?
From the PB web site:
These stunning panels add magnificent color and incredible character. Rich in culture and history, the suzani was originally used as a wedding canopy in central Asia. Each of our exclusive limited-edition suzanis was carefully selected from a collector who buys the elaborately hand-embroidered textiles from artisans throughout the Middle East and Asia. Ranging in age from 50 to 80 years, each panel is handcrafted and completely unique, showcasing details and variations characteristic of an authentic vintage piece. Details include occasional timeworn holes, missing threads and artful patterns created by piecing together scraps of fabric. Each comes with a certificate stating the age of the piece and the region where it was originally created. I'm always rearranging the furniture in my house. Maybe you do this too. This antique French metal folding chair has a wide stance, and has always been difficult to fit in. I've moved it from the living room...
...to the bedroom...
...to my office...
It's a rather nice chair, with a lovely patina, though not very comfy to sit in.
So I folded it up, and was thinking of just stashing it in the magic closet that holds all the odds and ends: Pillows, lamp shades, vases, lamps, pictures - all the little things that get rotated when I start moving things around.
Then it came to me that folded up it was very beautiful and useful, and I turned it into a magazine rack that has been in my office for a couple of months, which is a long time with my nomadic furniture always roaming around the house.
Maybe you have such a chair, and I know you have the magazines! So give it a try.
After all the hoopla and emotion of the election, it's kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around interior design and the blog right now. So forgive me for a "this and that" kind of post.

Stripe Rug Dreams, Nate Berkus and Elle Decor - Shop Like A Rich Girl

I have been looking at striped Dhurrie rugs for about a zillion years. Seriously folks, I saw one in my youth that has been haunting my decor fantasies forever. I keep a little clipping file, hoping for the day I can work one into one of my rooms.
The Mac Daddy is the blue and white Dhurrie beloved by many on the East coast for years and years. It was made famous in the movie Somethings Gotta Give, well documented by Joni at fabulous Cote de Texas. Blue was not a color I used much, so I let the rug dance around in my mind's eye.
Then I started to notice other colors. Red, green, tan - none appealed. I made a half ass attempt with two jute stripe mats in our bedroom, a very pale and wimpy idea. Then black and white stripes started to appear, as in this vintage Nate Berkus room (like he did this a few years ago).Black and white seemed like a good option. But the price point was not great for me, so I even considered painting a faux ironic Dhurrie on the floor - you can't get cheaper than paint. But it was just too much work, and maybe a tad too ironic even for a smart ass like me.
I finally took the plunge after I painted the living room the oh-so-sexy-Billy-Baldwin-brown. Of course you can mix brown and black! Haven't you heard the saying: Black looks good by itself and brown looks good by itself, so brown and black can go together...I don't know, go ask David Bromstad...
Right after I put the room together, I found this photo in a magazine. Mmmmmmm.
OMG Nate Berkus is stalking my mind's eye!!!! The room composition is almost a line by line (ha ha ha) reading. His rug is by the fabulous Madeline Weinrib HERE
She's the darling of Magazine Street here in New Orleans, and her rugs (and pillows) are gorgeous, and cost in the thousands. This rug is called Versa Black and you can get it HERE
Well since Nate is in my mind's eye now, I decided to get into his, ha ha ha. This is a fake magazine cover people, a fun and pathetic thing you can do HERE
Send me your cover, and I'll "publish" it!
But moi rug is sadly not a Madeline Weinrib. It is a Pottery Barn 8 X 10 for $179. HERENow that I have it in my hot little hands, I love it. The quality is very nice indeed, and I think it looks pretty good.Ikea has a wool version HERE
They will ship it, if you are not lucky enough to have an Ikea where you live. The nearest one to New Orleans is in Houston, and watch out Joni, I may just take a ride your way.

The rug comes in 5 X 7 for $179. 0r 9 X 12 for $299. I kind of like my cotton one better, because I have the idea I can take it the laundromat and throw it in one of those huge ass washers. Also cotton is easiest to deal with in the same old sub tropical climate here in the new Nola.
I am showing more pictures of Nate's space in the current issue of Elle Decor, because I really love it, and I am very surprised that no one else has posted them yet.
He uses stripe rugs everywhere. I love the art work, especially the long graphic pieces.

Good old Pottery Barn often has some great art work online. I was slow to order a really great piece with New York Subway stops written in white on a black canvas. When I finally had the cash, it was long gone. When you slow you blow. Anyhoo, the current online catalog has this nice tall piece (about 6 feet tall), that I think is very Nate worthy. You can order it HERE
It's only $99., which I am sure a lot less than Nate paid for his art work.


Another great stripe rug in the entry hall, and two fabulous big lanterns.
More stripes, this time a wider black and white. The linen chair is Nate's design.
This man even has a stripe rug in his pretty closet, along with a couple of Paul McCobb stools. I thought I'd finish this off with some shopping info on some of my recent purchases. I don't ever mind sharing a good source.
First up is the big ass lantern. I stalked it in the store for a couple of weeks, hemming and hawing, is it too big, is it too cheapie looking. So I measured the old chandy, and the big ass one really wasn't that much bigger.
Cheapie. Mmmmm. Well it certainly was a good price that I could afford. Anything else I liked cost 3 0r 4 times more. I have a knack for inserting less costly items into a decor . My designer buddy Michael Pelkey almost fell down when I told him one of my chandys was not a French antique, but a $100. knock-off from Lowes. And so is this one, and you can get it HERE
Next up are some new pillows. Like everyone else I love beachy things, and coral. I have loved it before it was trendy, and I will love it after it's over and out. Hello! The beach is never over. So when I saw this sweet little pillow, I just bought it, not knowing exactly where it would end up.

It was on sale at Pier One for around $7. You can look at it HERE, and toddle on over to your local Pier One and see if they still have it.The Pier One pillow is embroidered. If you can't find it, and you have some real money to spend ($145. each), you might check out these pretty needlepoint ones online at Gumps HERE
While you're in Pier One, look for these Foo Dogs HERE. I bought just one for $20. I actually only wanted one, though most folks go for the pair. They're on sale now for $14.99 each, and they come in the trendy turquoise color made famous and popular by Ivanka Trump (among others perhaps not as famous as she).
Ikat is here to stay. More on that later. This yummy pillow is one of two I borrowed from my favorite store PERCH for the photo shoot. I am keeping them, and have yet to find out the price. The color is so right for the room. They are very well made, perhaps silk, with a nice rope trim. They look and feel expensive. Jack and Caroline at Perch are so nice, and they are letting me pay them off over time. Sometimes a girl just needs the quality and the luxury.


This is a Madeline Weinrib silk Ikat pillow very much in the same vein as mine. There are no designer labels on mine, and I don't know if MW does labels. Her pillows cost in the hundreds, and I am sweating it a bit. You can look at her beautiful Ikat pillows HEREYou can find Ikat pillows at all price points, both in silk and in cotton. eBay has a ton of silk pillow cases that come up if you search Ikat pillows, and they are very reasonable. The trick is finding the right sophistication in the print. I found this cotton Ikat at Linens and Things, done by Nate Berkus!

It was on clearence for $9.99 online, but they seem to have sold out of it. Perhaps if you hot tail it down to your local Linens and Things store, you might still be able to find one. It's so funny, whenever I start shopping for things, they suddenly get hot and sell out. Maybe I'm a decor witch! Woooooooo.

Like I said, Ikat has been around forever, in fact it's one of those ancient ethnic crafts. I recall it in American decor as more of a 1970's thing, when flame stitch was all the rage. To me flame stitch looks like Ikat. It's so hippie dippie looking, but at the same time, kind of fabulous.

This sofa looks like mine! And I could almost do this flame stitch. These last photos are from Google Images, from an auction house HERE. I don't know if these are still up for auction.This is an updated version of flame stitch, which is far less hippie dippie looking. I got this photo from Style Court, a very tasteful blog indeed.
And here's the end of it - finally! But I just have to show you this wonderful rug covered trunk, also found on the auction site with the link above.
Now go out there and shop like rich girls (and boys)!