Afternoon Delight

May 18, 2012

Afternoon Delight

Annie and all of us here at Fresh American are jazzed to welcome a quartet of talented bloggers to our headquarters in the Berkshires. Joining us for a day of design dish and a peek behind the curtain of Annie’s studio are Lynn from Décor Arts Now, Amy from ABCD Design, Liz from Shorely Chic Interiors, and Tamara from Nest by Tamara. Design junkies that they are, they even put together a brand-new Annie Selke Pinterest board! Stay tuned for more behind-the-scenes details of their visit. In...

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Rust in Peace

May 17, 2012

Rust in Peace

Annie’s always on the move, looking for the coolest, the oddest, and the most inspiring people, places, and products. On her recent trip to the Round Top Antiques Fair in Texas (check out our two photo galleries here and here), Annie turned up these a-may-zing pendant lights by Tony McCray of Rust in Peace. (Yeah, we agree: the company name is just as wickedly fun as the lamps.) An Atlanta-based artisan, Tony remembers a childhood filled with family trips to country-road dump sites, where he...

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Silk Route

May 16, 2012

Silk Route

Annie is an expert hidden-gem detective, and on her trip last week to Lake Como, Italy, she came across the Museo Didattico della Seta (that’s the Educational Silk Museum to us Yanks). Situated on the banks of “The City of Silk,” the museum documents Como’s long history of providing Europe with 75 percent of this luxury fabric. The 10,000-square-foot museum opened on the grounds of the Setificio Silk School and University in 1990, and features an overview and videos of silk...

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Let the Games Begin…

May 15, 2012

Let the Games Begin…

  And so it begins, after all the gut-wrenching, agonizing, and debating, the final plan goes into action. Note: the plan below is version 21B—meaning my friend, travel “husband,” and fabulously talented architect, John Gilmer, and I have gone through 21 different iterations of the house until we started knocking down walls! Version 1 was about three times over the amount I wanted to spend. What can I say? John and I both have champagne tastes but I’m on a Poland...

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Tulip Fever

May 14, 2012

Tulip Fever

If the ridiculous number of tulip photos we Fresh American staffers have been posting on our Facebook pages, tweeting, and pinning on our Pinterest boards is any indication, we’re just a teensy bit excited that the sun is shining and the flowers are blooming. And what’s not to love about these happy, showy, rainbow-colored blossoms?   The tulip, a perennial bulb belonging to the 100-plus species Tulipa, is a native of Central Asia, though it’s been expertly cultivated by the Dutch...

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Rock the ‘Block

May 11, 2012

Rock the ‘Block

  We lived through the eighties, yet somehow we’re still into colorblocking—there’s something incredibly cool about the wow-pow graphic effect you can give a room by combining two or more solid hues. As the High Priestess of Home, Martha Stewart, puts it in the May issue of Martha Stewart Living, “Just as an orange belt or a pair of red pants can amp up an outfit, one bold decorative gesture, be it a tricolor bookcase or an unexpected combination of throw pillows, can freshen up...

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The Eyelet of the Beholder

May 10, 2012

The Eyelet of the Beholder

’Tis the season for lightweight fabrics and delicate details, and we’re tickled to see all the options for fashion and home that include eyelet. A quintessentially romantic technique, eyelet softens the edges of a room and adds a layer of visual interest. The origins of eyelet are a bit sketchy, but it seems to have been developed in Europe as an offshoot of traditional cutwork sometime in the 1700s. It’s made by creating a tone-on-tone pattern (historically white thread on white fabric...

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Como as You Are

May 9, 2012

Como as You Are

Designers get to do some incredibly cool stuff, including globe-hopping in the name of research. And what better way to be inspired than on the shores of a postcard-perfect Italian lake town, among drool-worthy scenery and gorgeous textiles? Annie sends a big hello from Lake Como, Italy, this year’s home of Proposte, an invitation-only showcase of the finest in European furnishing fabrics. (Also part-time residence of George Clooney. Annie assures us she’ll pass along our contact info.)...

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La Vie En Roses

May 8, 2012

La Vie En Roses

Roses have inspired centuries’ worth of clichés, but we get it: they’re one of the planet’s most treasured natural beauties and most enduring symbols of love and friendship. So on a recent trip to the Lone Star state, gardening nut Annie was jazzed when she stumbled across the Antique Rose Emporium, a Brenham, Texas-based nursery and mail-order source for exquisitely beautiful blooms. Eschewing fussy modern hybrids that can drive even the most experienced gardeners to fits of hair...

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Ahoy!

May 7, 2012

Ahoy!

I am embarking on a bittersweet journey that I had not anticipated. Some of you may have followed my post-divorce, monthly house makeover project in House Beautiful in 2010. I made the transition from a 5,000-square-foot, 1880s shingle-style house to a midcentury modern “ranch burger,” as Steven Drucker called it. Court Hill Farm—this was home from 2001 until 2009. It was a wonderful, if enormous, house, with an extraordinary view. Its eight bedrooms gave me lots of opportunities to...

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Let’s Take It Outside

May 1, 2012

Let’s Take It Outside

  Summer is slowly creeping around the corner, and we’re ready to tackle it, shackle it, and hold it hostage for as long as we can. In the meantime, we’re prepping our porches and patios for the season of outdoor entertaining, and found some fun, preppy-esque options that would look great just about anywhere. Take a peek, and add suggestions in the...

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Carry On

May 1, 2012

Carry On

If you’re like us, you love a practical, roomy, everyday bag you can use to cart around work files and supplies, a wallet or smaller purse, your emergency hair and makeup kit, an umbrella, toys and snacks for the kids (and maybe a few for us), and even gym clothes or a pair of flats for walking. When it comes to versatile totes that can stand up to daily abuse and still look crisp and cute, nothing beats cotton and canvas. Lucky for us, these bags have come a long way from their boat-tote...

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