Remember this post?  Well, Graham & Brown is offering 20% off the "Frames" wallpaper, now through August 31, with the code "SummerSale."  So act fast!

In the mood for more than wallpaper?  Baker Furniture (you know I love them so!) is having their Fall Sale through October 19, with special discounts on Baker, Milling Road and McGuire furniture, lighting and accessories.  For an even better deal on Baker, head to Boyles Distinctive Furniture ASAP!  Boyles - probably Charlotte's largest Baker dealer - is offering a special "tax break sale" through August 31, during which they'll give you a discount equal to the sales tax amount on your furniture, bedding or accessory purchase. 

Happy shopping!   specistorewide discount equal to the
sales tax amount on your furniture, bedding or accessory purchase

I may have stumbled across the perfect housewarming gift.  (Well, technically speaking, Daily Candy turned me on to it.  Whatever.) 

But how cute is this?  What a fun way to always know which key is your house key ... among all of those others that you aren't sure what they belong to any longer!  You just buy the blank and take it to your local locksmith to cut to fit your door locks.  Love it!   

Photo from Stat Key Company

Tonight I saw a commercial for the new Dutch Boy Refresh paint, which - with its Arm & Hammer Odor Eliminating Technology - claims to eliminate household odors.  I'm totally not buying that story.  Note the disclaimer on the Dutch Boy website: "The beauty of the paint lasts a lifetime. The odor elimination life span depends on the concentration of the odors, the frequency of exposure and the amount of surface area you cover. "   Hmmmm ... I wonder what the average "odor elimination life span" is.  Their FAQs say that some field tests have been in place for over a year and that the odor eliminating technology is still working.  I realize I'm no scientist, but this does have me baffled.  And do I really want my paint to trap the odors ... even if the walls won't smell afterwards?  I find this very, very strange.  At least it's zero VOC. 

Photo from Dutch Boy

I am so not a morning person!  Ever since my twin boys arrived, my alarm clock has been banished to a nightstand drawer.  After all, I have two built-in alarm clocks!  But every once in a rare while, I pull my trusty alarm clock out ... and last Friday was one of those days.  Why, you ask?  The Baker factory sale, of course!  Despite having a late meeting the evening before, I woke up way too early, rolled out of bed and into gym clothes, and hit the road to Connelly Springs.  It's an easy hour and fifteen minutes from Charlotte, especially easy when you are on the road way before the morning commuters.  Ths time, I remembered to bring a folding chair (although I forgot to bring it home - oops!) and a magazine, so I passed my time in line reading the latest InStyle and eating a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut generously shared by another shopper.  Yum, yum!  Thank you, whomever you are!!

And guess what was waiting for me???

Can you believe it?  A Barbara Barry iron tripod table, exactly what I daydreamed about!  I cannot even express how excited I was.  As I made my way through the rows of furniture, I was thrown off for a moment by the marble top (Emperador Light, I believe).  I haven't seen the tripod table like that before, and the website doesn't show marble as an option.  My best guess is that this was a custom piece for a customer who changed her mind or perhaps just a one-off for a showroom or other display.  Either way, I scored!  And here's the best part - the marble top is not attached to the table, so if I want to use it "plain" (which also makes the table much smaller), I will simply have a antiqued mirror top cut to fit, et voila!  Pricing-wise, I paid about 1/3 of retail for the "standard" table (with an antique mirror top).  I have no way of knowing what the additional charge would have been for the marble top.  Most of the tags at the sale indicate the sale price and the regular retail price, but the regular retail price on the tag for my table was blank.    Regardless,  I'm thrilled!  

Overall, the sale was great.  I didn't come home with anything else - I got what I came for! - but there were a number of pieces that I really loved ... and a few incredible deals.  If I were furnishing a home from scratch, I would have come home with more than a few things!  No news yet on the next sale, but I'll let you know when I get word.  I wouldn't expect another for six months or so.   

Oh, and a big hello to Kathleen, a fellow designer from Charlotte.  Kathleen and I were neighbors in line.  We hadn't met previously, but she recognized me from the blog.  Kathleen, email me your contact info if you get a chance!      

I just love corporate "families."  It's so interesting to me how a company uses different brands to appeal to different market segments.  I'm fascinated by the similarities and differences you see in the brands.  For instance, with Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy, Gap, Inc. hits three different price points ... and presumably three different consumers (although I shop at all three - mainly Banana Republic but occasionally Gap for me, Gap and Old Navy for my twin boys).  There's also Janie and Jack, Gymboree and Crazy 7, as well as Martin + Osa, American Eagle Outfitters, and 77 Kids.  In the home arena, you have Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, Williams-Sonoma and West Elm. Oh, and I almost forgot Crate & Barrel and The Land of Nod. 

Well, I guess Restoration Hardware got jealous!  Not only did they debut Restoration Hardware Baby & Child (which I love) a while ago, now they are going more upscale.  According to an article in the New York Times, Restoration Hardware is opening The Flatiron Gallery in NYC on September 10. The Times quotes Gary Friedman, the company's CEO, as saying "With the unsettled economy, a lot of retailers are going down-market.  We decided to go in the opposite direction."  I find that to be an interesting strategic choice - especially considering other recent news - but I'm excited to see the store (both its merchandise and its price point) when it opens!  You can bet that's on my list for my next visit to the Big Apple.    

Now here's a design philosophy that I can get on board with.  How refreshing to read this from an editor of a major shelter magazine! 

"[I]n the real world, outside the design-magazine bubble, I prefer to avoid saying that the light fixture someone has just purchased is now a bit overexposed or that this style rug should stay and that one must go because it's currently out of favor with the decorating gods.  Because truly, none of that really matters if you love it."

"While there are certainly always new products and trends that capture our attention, we try to bring you the ones we think will endure beyond a turn in the calendar year or a fickle heart, because we firmly believe in the value of design that lasts.  More important, the real key to having a home you think is beautiful is surrounding yourself with whatever speaks to you, regardless of what the latest big thing may be."

- Karen Carroll, editor of Southern Accents (July/August 2009 issue)

I couldn't agree more!  While we all want to stay current, that shouldn't come at the expense of your comfort or style.  In my view, the most important design feature of a home is that the owners love and feel comfortable in their space. 

Of course, it just figures that Southern Accents would be the latest victim of this economy; Time, Inc. announced earlier this month that it would shutter Southern Accents magazine.  SouthernAccents.com will remain online, however, so at least that is some small consolation. 

Consider this my vote to have Karen Carroll or Dominique Browning - someone a little more in touch with reality! - replace Paige Rense at Architectural Digest.  Thanks to Heather of Habitually Chic for letting us know that might be in the works.  I've got my fingers crossed!  

Back in May, Benjamin Moore rolled out the red carpet of publicity for ben Color Capture, an iPhone application that lets you snap a picture and then digitally match any color in that picture to one of the 3,300 colors that comprise the Benjamin Moore color systems.  If I read about it once, I read about it at least a dozen times.  Well, as one of the millions of Americans who are addicted to their iPhones (I'm on my third) and the owner of a Benjamin Moore Pocket Palette (which I love), I was excited.  I made a mental note to check back June 1 and download the app.  Well, at some point during the first week of June, I launched the App Store and tried to download the app.  Interestingly, however, I couldn't find it!  I used the keywords "benjamin moore," "ben moore," "color matching," "paint color," anything I could think of.  You name it, I tried it.  So what do you think came up?  Some random apps, to be sure, but also - drum roll, please - the Sherwin-Williams Color Snap app.  What?!?!?!??!!!  I could not believe my eyes.  I hadn't heard one word about the Sherwin-Williams app, but here it was ... already available and easy to find.  My first thought was - how on earth, with all that publicity, could Benjamin Moore either (a) not get the app up on time or (b) do such a cruddy job of employing keywords so that consumers could find its app?   My second thought was - why on earth did Sherwin-Williams not publicize their application??? 

Well, it turns out that the App Store was notoriously non-user-friendly, so maybe my trouble locating ben Color Capture wasn't all Benjamin Moore's fault.  I checked today and didn't have any problems finding the app.  But how many other people had the same problem ... and found the Sherwin-Williams app?  The Benjamin Moore folks should find that troubling. 

Moving on to what really matters, however ...  How well do the apps work?  The big caveat to both of the apps is that they are necessarily dependent on how accurate the photograph's colors are.  If the photograph doesn't faithfully capture the "inspiration," it's not possible to get a good color match using either ben Color Capture or Sherwin-Williams Color Snap.  When trying to use my iPhone to match an existing paint color in a room that wasn't particularly well-lit, the results were disastrous. 

That being said, given a particular photograph, which app provides the paint color closest to the photograph's color?  My money is on Sherwin-Williams Color Snap.  When working on a color for new bathroom cabinets, I used both ben Color Capture and Sherwin-Williams Color Snap to match the slightly-off-white tile.  Sherwin-Williams Color Snap led me to Snowbound SW7004, which turned out to be perfect!  The results using ben Color Capture were way too gray.  Will I always prefer Color Snap?  I'm not sure.  Some of the variance was probably in what area of the photograph I used for the matching; it's hard to make sure that you are using precisely the same area.  I also really like the Benjamin Moore colors generally, so I'm likely to use the Color Capture software to get the Benjamin Moore recommendation.  But, at least in this instance, Color Snap was way better.  So I give Round One to Sherwin-Williams.  Stay tuned for Round Two!         

Photo from Unpluggd

I am totally mad about these fabulous handmade storage boxes!   We all know how I feel about organization, so when you combine fashion with organizational function, I am over the moon ... not even to mention the fact that aqua and red has been my favorite color combo for about two years now.  Credit Martha, of course - I stumbled across these boxes while flipping through her latest magazine.  Of course, Martha even includes a template to print labels for your boxes.  She thinks of everything.  Be still my beating heart.  

The boxes are available at Bell'occhio, a specialty shop in San Francisco.  The shoe box and letter box sizes are currently out of stock, so order now and get on that waiting list!  I won't be surprised if you are tempted to add just a few more things to your shopping cart while you are there ... maybe these faux bois place mats (love!), handmade caramels or perhaps the letter press bon mot cards (love, love!) ... although I must say that this necktie creeps me out a little bit. 

I'm not the only one totally in love with aqua and red.  Check out this Martha Stewart Weddings article from a few years ago ... and a few brides who appear to have been inspired!   Aqua and red don't do much for you?  Check out Bell'occhio's other choices, including pink/gold and green/navy.  I could totally see the green/navy version looking all preppy chic in Kate Spade's house!

By the way, September is a really good issue.  Martha Stewart Living is usually a little bit too happy homemaker for me - it's envy, really; I love design and some crafts, but I just don't cook! - but this "Special Decorating Issue" was right up my alley.  

Photos from Martha Stewart Living and Bell'occhio

Another Calico Corners private sale!  This time, it's 20% off storewide from August 15 to August 29.  I think they'll ask you for the mailer when you check out, though, so if you need to borrow mine, just ask!