My lifelong friend Brennis Booth has an art gallery in my hometown of Canton, Ohio. Located downtown and a few blocks from the church we grew up in, visiting last week made me realize how very proud I am of him.
Brennis and his partner Todd run a first class organization. They moved to this fantastic larger space about a year ago. The building, once a small manufacturing plant, is Art Deco. Permanent smaller galleries look down into the main space from the second floor. The basement has just been converted to a small theater.
The art is displayed perfectly. The calendar is filled with children’s art classes and other events. Live music is a part of the First Friday Gallery Walk.
Did I mention the coffee bar?
Today was a rough day, hence the late post. An infestation has occurred in my house. I will spare you the details and suffice it to say I have spent the entire day washing every article of bedding in scalding hot water.
I blogged Tuesday about my love of white dishes and serving ware. All my laundry piles illustrate that I love white linens as well. White towels are perfect. They can be bleached clean and one stack can outfit the whole house.
White looks clean and works in any decor.
I am stunned by the location settings in the CB2 catalogue that I blogged about yesterday. I find it interesting and amusing that no effort has been made to HIDE the fact that the furniture is being photographed on a set in a warehouse. And some of the sets are unbelievably beautiful.
This wood slate wall would be a dream come true for me, the self appointed queen of texture.
The white painted brick sets a clean background.
Have you ever seen such wonderful wainscot? It works well with the herringbone floor.
A wall of logs…
The first hint that we are in a set…Notice the exposed platform. The Stage Floor Lamp and the jet black walls complete the illusion.
Why not just turn our mock walls around? So bold!
And finally here, have we the photographer? Tatted up with the studio lights in the background. The designers of this catalogue certainly made me spend more looking through this book than I normally would. Will it result in a sale?
I received my new CB2 catalogue yesterday in my huge stack of mail. (I have been gone 10 days. Many of those without Internet or even cell service.)
This collection of white dishes and serving ware caught my eye. You may have read before that I am nuts about pure white dishes. The best part of this collection is the price. CB2 sells these for $2.95-$6.95. The large rectangular platter is $14.95.
CB2 has two stores in Chicago, one in New York and one in San Francisco. Anyone ever been?
The more I drive by the Frank Lloyd Wright homes here in Canton, the more I fall in love with his work. My style, if I admit that I have a style, tends toward clean linear lines, and Wright was a master at geometry.
At the convention I attended last week I learned of Unity Temple, a Untarian Universalist Church designed by Wright in 1906. This Chicago area congregation is still rejoicing in their building. They have an excellent website. I have this terrible urge to get in my car right now and head out to Chicago.
Shopping in Ohio for my daughters’ birthdays today, I spotted a very nice display in Sears for the Land’s End division.
Obviously, the Land’s End department caters to a very different crowd then the regular tools and what not. The entire area is decked out in a nautical theme–bad pun, I know!
A navy sofa piped in white, two matching club chairs and a coffee table in heavy rough pine create a sitting area. I love the huge jars of rope, sand and river rock.
Frank Lloyd Wright built three homes in my hometown of Canton, Ohio. They are known as the Nathan Rubins House (1951), the John J Dobkins House (1953), and the Ellis Feiman House (1954).
The Dobkins house is a few yards from my sister’s house. Anthony McCue writes in his blog that the owners told him that Wright specified 14 pin oaks to be planted in perfect relation to the structure. Having grown up worshiping this house, the trees have always been an integral part of my admiration.
I have passed by the Rubins House thousands of times in my life as it is on the way to the grocery store from my childhood home that my mother still owns. I can, in all honesty, say that it too captured my attention on most drivebys.
A friend of a friend once owed the Feiman house. They sold it to build their own design. I was lucky enough to be invited to their new home once. They had incorporated many Wright features such as custom tile and heavy use of wood trim.
For better pictures that I could ever take click here.
Today’s Target Circular featured a Quilt and Tote Set in bright Pinks. The set comes in a reusable bag, that certainly resembles the Vera Bradley duffle my daughter’s BFF brought with her on our Ohio trip.
I can see this set in a teen room, or in a Beach House Guest Room. Smashing with chocolate brown walls, don’t you think? It is available in Full/Queen or King sizes for only $54.
Wanting for my sister to return home (when I only traveled 7 hours to see her…) I flipped through her current Wine Spectator. On page 17 I noticed a well plated pork belly appetizer sitting on a Chilewich placemat.
I had forgotten how much I love Chilewich Plynyl. Apartment Zero in DC first introduced me to these vinyl products, finely woven to rival cotton. I have recently also admired Chilewich area rugs in Richmond at La Difference.
Sandy Chilewich has created innovative floor coverings, table ware, and handbags by weaving vinyl like other fibers. The result is durable products which combine contemporary function with organic style.
I see a Market Tote in my future.
