Design Post Update

I had the pleasure earlier this week of attending a presentation by husband & wife fabric designers Elizabeth Hamilton and Peter Fasano at the beautiful John Rosselli showroom here in Washington earlier this week. I had first heard of the design duo on everyone's favorite design blog Style Court who frequently references their work. Events like this aren't only great learning experiences but a fun chance to catch up with friends.
Due to some unfortunate weather the crew was small but vivacious.  The ever lovely Sally Steponkus, Josh Hildreth, Frank Babb Randolph (who doesn't have a website but then again is a self-professed NON-reader of blogs), and Atlanta's notable blogger 'The Blue Remembered Hills' (amongst others) were on hand to learn about hand printed and hand painted fabrics.
The banter between Elizabeth and Peter was almost as interesting as the discussion of how they produce their fabrics; both those readily available (at John Rosselli) and their custom projects. You probably saw in last month's issue of House Beautiful magazine an article of 4 designers working with them on completely different custom fabric designs.
Naturally the fabric swatches of the husband and wife team are mounted side by side in the showroom.
Peter specialized in hand painted fabrics while they lived in NYC and after their move they've been concentrating more on silk screening. For all the pattern they are known for professionally Peter said in their own house they prefer more texture and no pattern!
As always the showroom was filled with goodies that I wanted to take home. I also loved that the store is scented with delicious candles. It's more like visiting a stylish friend's home instead of a showroom!  I particularly loved the lounge chairs below with the cute drinks table, available in wood or metal. Stop into John Rosselli in Georgetown to see whats new and prepare to be inspired by visiting all of the links I've included in this posting!
Many thanks to the staff at John Rosselli for making me quite at home and all of my dear friends who were in attendance making for such a fun mid-day treat.

Last week I attended an event at Hines & Company in the new nearly finished Washington Design Center. I'm happy to report the new design center is a HUGE improvement on the old one (which isn't saying much), spacious and light filled.
The Design Center officially opens in about a week on November 12, 2014, but many of the showrooms are already open for business. Walking into most of these showrooms just make you want to redo your entire house with so much eye candy, which is always a problem!
 I'm dying to find a place for this Zoffany Wallpaper called 'Trade Routes'.
Lighting is one of my many passions ( see all of my previous posts on my favorite antique lighting store, Artisan) and the selection at Hines ranges from the contemporary to the classic.
My favorite lamp was this rock crystal column from Vaughan. It bridges the line between classic and contemporary with a luxe material; it would look great with a gilded and/or black shade.
I always love paisley fabrics, particularly natural linen, and this Fonthill fabric by Stark checked all of the boxes, named Amelie.  Thanks for inviting me Hines & Company and thanks for all of the inspiration too!

At this past weekend's estate sale HERE I purchased a Biedermeier stool for use with my comfy reading chair, another estate sale find which I recently had reupholstered (see that transformation HERE). You can see the upholstery that came on the stool is in good shape, a synthetic material from the 1960s, but doesn't quite go with my apartment.
I have some lovely black mohair I purchased for another project and never used. I worry this is the opposite - too dark.
Some striped velvet left from a chair I recently had reupholstered in my bedroom would work but I'm not sure it works here.
The last choice I already own is an embroidered paisley silk in blues and french grays. I think the colors seem to go with the room, the darker colors may mask any dirt, and the paisley patterned fabric relates to the chair.  I'm obviously leaning in this direction but what do you think, will any of these work?