The Windsor Smith Home Collection

Windsor Smith, a young interior designer from California, is hot, hot, hot right now. Today, she expands her dominance as she officially launches her own furniture line, the eponymous Windsor Smith Home Collection. This launching is just the beginning for Windsor as more pieces will be added in a timely manner. Additionally, Kravet will be rolling out Windsor's own fabric designs in 2008. It doesn't get an hotter than this in the design business. Windsor's furniture collection is fun and youthful, yet it takes a cue from classic designs. She credits her love of color from growing up colorlessly in Kansas and describes her furniture as "a new spin on elegant classics."

In this except from Elle Decor magazine, Windsor talks of her inspirations: "I like to create libraries where men with names like Howard, Bing and Spencer sat in cashmere sweaters and contemplated the 13th hole on the Bel-air golf course. I am drawn to a simple but elegant time when the women were so legendary that surnames weren't necessary.... Slim, Babe, Coco...", Smith says as she twists a sterling pen on the palest aqua velvet ribbon that once belonged to the Duchess of Windsor.

The fabric options for her furniture include linens in fun colors like lavender. Domino readers will be familiar with many of the pieces in the collection as they were shown in her own Californian home featured in the August issue. Below are a few of my favorite pieces from the new collection. Note: while I find the pieces very accessible for a vibrant, busy house with lots of children and dogs, be sure to include a major breadwinner in this picture. These pieces do not come cheap!

The Brittany Secretary, $12,000.

Chloe Sofa, while shown in this vibrant pink, the website says it is not available in this fabric. Strange.



Slipcovered wing chair with monogram.


Morrocan inspired ottoman.
Gwen curved arm sofa.
Medici arm chair.

Directoire chair shown in leather.

In Windsor's own home, you can see the Directoire chair, two benches from her line, and the large Brittany secretary.

Another picture from Windsor's house, shows the large double sided slipcovered sofas from her collection. In front is the Moroccan upholstered ottoman.

In a client's beach house, Windsor uses her slipcovered sofa. I love the detail pleating on the edge.


In the kitchen, a gorgeous aqua floor.

Casual living room with gorgeous hand painted wallpaper pieces. Windsor uses the same hand painted wallpaper in her own dining room. Note the painted wood floor, perfect for a beach house.

Dressier living room, with light pink sofas, square, tufted pillows and large, silver mirror.This room shows the collection's curved arm sofa and Medici chair.

Another beach house view, with clever use of striped fabric on ottoman. The pink color pops on the green stripes.

Can You Spell Chandelier?

While on the internet on one of my favorite sites, Houston Real Estate, I came across this lovely home for sale. It's in the Memorial area, one of the toniest neighborhoods in Houston, and as you can see, it's quite a huge house. It's for sale for close to 9 million, just in case you're interested in buying it. But, like they say, money can't buy you taste. I got the biggest case of giggles looking at the pictures of the interior, and I just had to share them with you. Enjoy!


So far, so good. It looks interesting, wood bordered limestone floor, Niermann Weeks sconces, french settee, not quite sure about the hall table, but ok. Personally, I wouldn't have put a skin like this on my stairs, but, that's what makes horse racing.


Master bedroom: Not bad. This kind of cove lighting drives me crazy and I don't really care for the large dark whatever-it-is kneeling in front of the mirror, but, all in all, it's nice. Except, wait, why do they have two duvets on the bed? Uh oh, shades of things to come??? Beware!


Living Room: Ok, we have two back to back sofas, good idea for a large room. But, does each sofa have to have a humongous chandelier over it? I'm not sure that even one of these behemoth's centered in the room would have been good. But two of these are two too much.


Another view of living room. Mucho animal skins. Here the chandeliers don't look so overwhelming. Maybe it's because the second one looks like a reflection of the first one? The Two Theme is really evident here. Two sets of two matching chairs. On the far left, you can see two matching settees side by side.

Two for dinner? This designer really likes the "two" theme. In the dining room, we have two matching tables, each with matching bowl, and of course, two matching chandeliers! I'm beginning to wonder if there was a 2 for 1 sale at the local lighting company? Oh and look, we have two matching Oriental horsemen on the mantle!!! I'm kind of sorry there aren't two fireplaces!

The Kitchen: Surely, gentle reader, you didn't think there would be ONE pendant light here, did you? No, I don't mean to disappoint, but there are, of course, TWO lights, yet again. And two dishwashers. At least we're consistent here.

TheGarden Room: Are there two chandeliers in the garden room, too? Yes, of course! It gets really dark in garden rooms, you know, so there has to be lots of lighting. One for the sofa, and one for the two matching side by side chaise lounges. Actually, behind the plant on the left, I'm pretty sure that's a matching sofa with a matching lamp. Of course.

And finally, the family room. Oh no, oh no!!!!! What happened to the Two for Two Theme? Well, it IS a large sectional and everyone needs their own light, I guess. And carrying the Three Theme further, note that the ottoman actually IS three sided, so that makes more sense. And if you look closely, it appears there are Three Sets of Three Decorative pillows on the sectional. Ok, I understand now, I think?

I'm wondering, do all the chandeliers stay with the house when it sells, or are the owners going to take them all with them? Hmmmmmm. I'll keep you posted!

There's No Place Like Home

Well, like the old saying goes: there's no place like home. After three wonderful weeks at the beach, we came home today to huge stacks of unopened mail, plants that desperately need to be cut back, a dog with a swollen eye (ouch!), hydrangeas dead from heat stroke, messy clutter left from leaving in a hurry three long weeks ago, a teenaged daughter who announced that she didn't really miss her old mom and dad (sniff), and still, we're glad to be home. I've been missing my stuff: my candles, my books, my antiques, my sheets, my sconces, my style!



I did have a few surprises waiting for me. Gorgeous wallpaper samples from Farrow and Ball. I'm thinking about wallpapering my bedroom in pink damask. What do you think?

The only problem is the pink in the Farrow and Ball sample is much more orange than in the picture. (Hi Sammi Jo, looking busy there!) So, I may have to start my search over again with something more like this:



And also waiting at home for me was this gorgeous huge cigar box full, I mean stuffed full of fabric samples from Raoul Textiles. Eat your heart out, designers! I am SO excited about this package. I have never before seen such gorgeous packaging from a fabric company. This beats Rose Tarlow's sample box by a mile. I was forced to order the Raoul samples because no one displays the fabrics in Houston. But, truly, the samples they sent are huge, so they are worth it. Here's the cigar box:

And while I was at the beach, I placed a few orders with Amazon. So, there were wonderful books waiting for me. Like this: Florence Broadhurst.

But, I'm afraid I won't get it finished in time to discuss it with the blogger's Book of the Month Club. Maybe next time. Also waiting at home was this book, recommended by Bibliostyle. It looks great:

But the crowning glory was this, recommended by Domino's guest designers' this month: The old Vogue's Book of Houses, Gardens and People. It cost a small fortune, but from the looks of it, it may be worth it. Gorgeous Horst photos of people like the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the Pucci Family, and other long ago socialites. Since the book is tres over priced, I'm willing to let anyone who wants to borrow it to do so. Just let me know and we'll trade addresses. Seriously. It's my gift to bloggers! I am going to try to scan some photos from it later. It looks like this book is a serious example, yet again, of how classic design does not date or go out of style.


Pictures from the chapter on the Pucci Family.


Chapter about Cy Twombly.

Bloggers Make the Best Friends

In case you didn't know, or have been hiding under a rock, I've been on vacation for the past few weeks in South Padre Island, a little bitty island at the tip of Texas right across from the border of Mexico. You can't get any further south and still be in America than here. Being the dutiful blogger, I wrote a few posts about the island and showed off the beach here on Blogger. Imagine my delight (and surprise) when I received an email from a stranger who reads my blog, Cote de Texas, but has never left a comment. Her name is Teri and she told me that she lives in Harlingen, a small city 30 minutes away from South Padre Island, and she, also, has a family bay home on the island. She was flabbergasted to read that I was here visiting. Would we want to meet for a drink or dinner? Now, I don't know about you, but meeting a stranger over the internet is not my idea of a good time, but somehow, knowing that Teri was reading my blog seemed to make it all ok. Well, almost ok. I still hesitated to say "yes."

It's a small world out there people, beware!

I have good friends from Harlingen and, in fact, one of those friends is down here with me now. Her name is Julie and we vacation together every summer in South Padre Island. Julie was born in Harlingen but moved to Dallas when she married. Is it possible, I ask my new blogger friend, does she know Julie? Well...she not only knows Julie, but grew up right next door to her, AND had just been with her at a party on the island last Saturday night (while I spent that night alone!) There were many twists and turns and coincidences to this story, too many to get into here, but suddenly drinks and dinner with a perfect stranger didn't seem dangerous at all, in fact, it sounded fun.

The three new friends at dinner: Julie, MOI, and Teri

So tonight, Julie, my new blogger friend Teri, and I had dinner together and talked about blogging, and decorating, and French design, and furniture, and interior decorating and all those good things that decorating bloggers like to talk about. Julie was a little bored with all the design talk, but she was a trooper! Thanks, Jules! Tonight Teri explained to me how she discovered my blog to begin with. She was reading Absolutely Beautiful Things, a delicious blog from Australia and ABT had my blog, Cote de Texas, listed under favorite reads. Of course the word Texas attracted Teri, being from Texas and all, so she clicked right over to my blog. Little did she know that when she first clicked onto my blog, she would be making a new friend. And so, what is the best part about meeting a new blogger friend, besides promising to get together every summer for dinner down at South Padre Island???? Teri brought me the new Elle Decor AND Veranda magazines !!!!! Yes!!!! You can't get those magazines on the island and I've been DYING to read them. Thank you Teri!!!

S0 Bloggers, have YOU ever met someone in real life who reads your blog? Or have you been too afraid to do so? Tell us YOUR story!

The two new blogger buddies: Moi and Teri

The two old Harlingen buddies: Julie and Teri

Having a great time at dinner ON THE BEACH: Julie, Moi, and Teri

Besides being interesting and adorable and having great taste in magazines, Teri is also very chic. She drove up in her new car, a Mini Cooper. To die for! This has to be the cutest car in all the world:

Even cuter is the dashboard. Check out the speedometer, it's the size of a basketball! Too cute:

Reclaimed Building Materials

I'm currently reading, well, really looking at the pictures in, Building with Reclaimed Materials, published by Beta-Plus, 2007. If you are interested in how you could build a new house and have it look like it is 200 years old, this book is for you. I'm fascinated with that concept because my husband only likes new construction and I prefer old homes. So, using reclaimed materials such as old roof tiles, antique tiles for backsplashes, used flagstones for the floor, to make a new construction house look old is very intriguing.

Ruth Gay thinks the same way. Several years ago she opened a shop in Houston called Chateau Domingue which sells reclaimed building materials from France and Europe. Walk into her cavernous warehouse and you will certainly forget you're in Houston. Ruth herself is a pretty, diminutive mother of three, who is tres chic, of course. Her web site is gorgeous, as is her warehouse, filled with all kinds of building materials and antiques. Here are a few images from the web site. Amusez-vous en regardant ces peintures!

Gay sells antique window surrounds and door surrounds. A pair of these on the exterior of your house will age it by 200 years.

Gay also sells an assortment of concrete garden elements, to be used inside or outside as you desire.

Imagine your roof made from reclaimed tiles from France. It sure would stand out on the block.

Here's an antique fountain or animal trough, you decide.

A pair of these on opposite sides of your front door would be wonderful.

An antique shop fixture would make a perfect kitchen cabinet.

Hanging antique lanterns would distinguish any exterior.

How would you like a painted buffet deux corps for a kitchen pantry?

Iron railings would look great on a second story landing.

Original French shutters - leave them this color or paint them khaki.

These sconces are a personal favorite of mine. I'd love them in my dining room.

I wonder how much Gay charges for the blue hydrangeas?